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14 Jan 2026

Semiconductor Revenue Hits $793 Billion as AI Chips Drive Historic 21% Growth in 2025

The global semiconductor market reached a record $793 billion in 2025, up 21% year-over-year, fueled by surging demand for AI chips. NVIDIA became the first chipmaker to exceed $100 billion in annual sales, pulling $53 billion ahead of Samsung. AI semiconductors now account for nearly one-third of total sales, with AI infrastructure spending forecast to cross $1.3 trillion in 2026.

2 Sources

13 Jan 2026

Meta eyes doubling Ray-Ban smart glasses output to 20 million units as AI wearables surge

Meta and EssilorLuxottica are in talks to double production capacity of their AI-powered Ray-Ban smart glasses to 20 million units annually by year-end, potentially reaching 30 million if demand stays strong. The move comes as Meta cuts over 1,000 Reality Labs jobs, signaling a strategic pivot from high-cost metaverse projects to profitable wearable AI devices.

5 Sources

AI and automation will eliminate 6% of US jobs by 2030, but the real story is more complex

Forrester projects AI's impact on jobs will claim 10.4 million US positions by 2030, representing 6% of the workforce. However, research reveals that many current layoffs blamed on AI are actually financially motivated, with companies using AI as a scapegoat. The forecast shows generative and agentic AI will drive 50% of automation-related job losses, while early-career workers and customer-service roles face the highest risk.

15 Sources

SK Hynix commits $13 billion to world's largest HBM plant as AI demand creates historic shortage

SK Hynix approved a $13 billion investment to build the world's largest high-bandwidth memory assembly facility in South Korea, targeting completion by late 2027. The move addresses surging AI infrastructure needs as the company accelerates production timelines across multiple fabs. Memory prices have surged over 300% in Q4 alone, with DRAM expected to remain expensive through 2028.

13 Sources

NVIDIA's Vera Rubin AI systems projected to consume 9.3% of global NAND supply by 2027

NVIDIA's next-generation Vera Rubin AI systems are set to consume massive amounts of storage, with projections showing demand reaching 115.2 million terabytes by 2027. This represents 9.3% of total global NAND supply and could trigger significant storage shortages and SSD price increases, mirroring the ongoing DRAM crisis that has already disrupted the memory market.

2 Sources

12 Jan 2026

Meta layoffs slash Reality Labs workforce as Zuckerberg pivots hard from metaverse to AI

Meta is cutting approximately 1,000 jobs from its Reality Labs division this week, marking a dramatic retreat from metaverse ambitions. The division has lost over $70 billion in four years, prompting Mark Zuckerberg to reallocate resources toward AI glasses and wearables. The company is also discontinuing Meta Quest business sales and shuttering Horizon Workrooms as it bets big on AI infrastructure.

21 Sources

Morocco targets $10 billion AI GDP boost by 2030 with Mistral AI partnership and job creation

Morocco unveiled an ambitious plan to add $10 billion to its GDP through artificial intelligence by 2030. The country will invest $1.2 billion in digital transformation, create 50,000 AI-related jobs, and train 200,000 graduates. A new partnership with France's Mistral AI will support generative AI development as Morocco positions itself as a regional AI hub.

3 Sources

Meta appoints Wall Street dealmaker Dina Powell McCormick to drive $600B AI infrastructure push

Meta has appointed Dina Powell McCormick, a former Trump adviser and Goldman Sachs executive, as president and vice chairman to oversee its massive AI infrastructure expansion. She'll focus on securing strategic partnerships with governments and sovereign wealth funds to help finance Meta's ambitious AI projects as the company pursues superintelligence.

5 Sources

CoreWeave CEO Rebuts Nvidia Circular Financing Claims as Stock Surges 12% on AI Cloud Confidence

CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator forcefully rejected circular financing allegations involving Nvidia, calling the narrative mathematically unsound. The company's stock jumped 12% after Intrator addressed concerns about GPU useful life and debt-fueled expansion, while revealing older A100 chips retained 95% of their original value in renewed contracts.

3 Sources

TSMC calls AI demand 'endless' as chipmaker commits $56 billion to fuel sustained AI boom

Taiwan's TSMC reported record Q4 earnings of $16 billion and announced capital expenditure of up to $56 billion for 2026, signaling confidence in years of continued AI chip demand. CEO C.C. Wei personally verified demand with cloud service providers before committing to the massive spending increase, despite industry-wide AI bubble concerns.

35 Sources

09 Jan 2026

OpenAI and SoftBank invest $1 billion in SB Energy to power next-generation AI data centers

OpenAI and SoftBank have jointly invested $1 billion in SB Energy, with each company contributing $500 million to accelerate AI infrastructure expansion. The strategic partnership is part of the Stargate project, which aims to spend $500 billion on data centers and infrastructure for AI in the US over four years.

7 Sources

Meta signs massive nuclear power deals with Gates and Altman-backed firms for AI data centers

Meta has secured nuclear energy agreements with three power providers—TerraPower, Oklo, and Vistra—to deliver 6.6 gigawatts by 2035. The deals will power the company's Prometheus AI supercluster in Ohio and represent billions in investment. With these agreements, Meta becomes the largest nuclear power buyer among tech giants racing to secure energy for AI infrastructure.

20 Sources

ThreatModeler acquires IriusRisk for over $100 million to tackle AI-driven security risks

ThreatModeler has acquired its largest competitor IriusRisk in a deal worth over $100 million, creating a unified cybersecurity company focused on threat modeling. The combined entity will serve around 300 customers with $50 million in annual recurring revenue. The acquisition addresses growing security risks as AI coding tools accelerate software development.

2 Sources

Nvidia-Backed Nscale Eyes $2 Billion Funding Round Just Months After Last Raise

Data center company Nscale is in talks to raise about $2 billion, only three months after closing a $1.5 billion fundraising. The AI hyperscaler, which partners with Nvidia and OpenAI, is working with Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan on the deal. The move signals strong investor appetite for AI infrastructure despite market volatility.

2 Sources

OpenAI acquires Convogo team to accelerate AI cloud efforts in ninth deal this year

OpenAI has acquired the team behind Convogo, an executive coaching AI tool that automates leadership assessments and feedback reporting. The ChatGPT-maker is hiring the three co-founders to work on its AI cloud efforts in an all-stock acqui-hire deal. Convogo's product will be shut down, marking OpenAI's ninth acquisition in a year as it uses M&A to accelerate talent acquisition and capability building.

4 Sources

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