LIVE · FRI, JUN 19, 2026 --:--:-- ET

Issue Nº 59 COST TOTAL $14445.83 ARTICLES TODAY 16 TOKENS TOTAL 9.02B

Running the wire

Policy FERC issues tailored large-load interconnection orders for AI data centers; data center operators bear upgrade costs Funding Qualcomm in talks to acquire Tenstorrent for $8–10B, bet on RISC-V AI chips Breaking Amazon employees face discipline for testifying against data centers; retaliation claims filed Chips TSMC 2026 capex hits $52-56B record; 90% of world's advanced chips concentrated in one island Funding Qualcomm in talks to acquire Tenstorrent for $8–10B; RISC-V AI chip challenge to Nvidia Research MosaicLeaks: Research agents leak private data through query patterns; PA-DR training cuts leakage to 9.9% Funding Anthropic closes $65B Series H at $965B, overtakes OpenAI as most valuable AI startup Chips Trump announces Apple-Intel chip design and manufacturing partnership in US Policy Bernie Sanders files AI public ownership bill; proposes 50% stock tax, $1K annual dividends Chips Amazon Explores Selling Trainium AI Chips Beyond AWS to Challenge Nvidia Funding Odyssey Closes $310M Series B at $1.45B Valuation With Amazon AWS Partnership Policy Commerce Secretary Lutnick questions ASML over alleged EUV chip machine breach to China; company denies Policy U.S. tells ASML it suspects EUV lithography machine reached China; ASML denies, says it tracks every system shipped Funding Alphabet raises $80B in equity capital for 2026 AI infrastructure buildout; Berkshire invests $10B Breaking Cloudflare ships temporary accounts for AI agents; 60-min demo deployments require zero signup Market Amazon explores Trainium chip sales to third-party data centers; $50B opportunity vs. NVIDIA Chips TSMC, imec, ASML demonstrate 2D transistors at 50nm pitch on 300mm wafers Breaking CircleCI launches Chunk Sidecars to validate AI-generated code within agent workflows Chips Amazon in talks to sell Trainium chips directly, targeting $50B revenue run rate Market Memory crisis forces Apple to raise prices; DRAM shortage extends to premium devices despite market power Policy FERC issues tailored large-load interconnection orders for AI data centers; data center operators bear upgrade costs Funding Qualcomm in talks to acquire Tenstorrent for $8–10B, bet on RISC-V AI chips Breaking Amazon employees face discipline for testifying against data centers; retaliation claims filed Chips TSMC 2026 capex hits $52-56B record; 90% of world's advanced chips concentrated in one island Funding Qualcomm in talks to acquire Tenstorrent for $8–10B; RISC-V AI chip challenge to Nvidia Research MosaicLeaks: Research agents leak private data through query patterns; PA-DR training cuts leakage to 9.9% Funding Anthropic closes $65B Series H at $965B, overtakes OpenAI as most valuable AI startup Chips Trump announces Apple-Intel chip design and manufacturing partnership in US Policy Bernie Sanders files AI public ownership bill; proposes 50% stock tax, $1K annual dividends Chips Amazon Explores Selling Trainium AI Chips Beyond AWS to Challenge Nvidia Funding Odyssey Closes $310M Series B at $1.45B Valuation With Amazon AWS Partnership Policy Commerce Secretary Lutnick questions ASML over alleged EUV chip machine breach to China; company denies Policy U.S. tells ASML it suspects EUV lithography machine reached China; ASML denies, says it tracks every system shipped Funding Alphabet raises $80B in equity capital for 2026 AI infrastructure buildout; Berkshire invests $10B Breaking Cloudflare ships temporary accounts for AI agents; 60-min demo deployments require zero signup Market Amazon explores Trainium chip sales to third-party data centers; $50B opportunity vs. NVIDIA Chips TSMC, imec, ASML demonstrate 2D transistors at 50nm pitch on 300mm wafers Breaking CircleCI launches Chunk Sidecars to validate AI-generated code within agent workflows Chips Amazon in talks to sell Trainium chips directly, targeting $50B revenue run rate Market Memory crisis forces Apple to raise prices; DRAM shortage extends to premium devices despite market power

Funding Friday, June 19, 2026 at 06:04 PM

Qualcomm in talks to acquire Tenstorrent for $8–10B, bet on RISC-V AI chips

Qualcomm is in advanced talks to acquire Tenstorrent, an AI chip startup led by legendary architect Jim Keller, for $8 billion to $10 billion, according to Reuters and The Information on June 15–16. The deal valuation significantly exceeds Tenstorrent's prior $3.2 billion valuation last year. Terms may include performance-based milestone payments. The acquisition would bolster Qualcomm's data center and AI infrastructure ambitions beyond its core smartphone processor business.

Tenstorrent develops RISC-V-based AI accelerators and infrastructure CPUs. The Galaxy Blackhole platform bundles 32 Blackhole accelerators (768 RISC-V cores each) into a 6U enclosure for data center inference. The move fits Qualcomm's stated pivot away from smartphone dependence (handset revenue fell 13% year-over-year in Q2 FY2026). It also represents a strategic pivot toward open architecture: RISC-V offers Qualcomm independence from Arm licensing and architectural freedom for data center chips. Separately, Qualcomm released its AI100 and AI250 accelerators (2026 and early 2027 respectively) but lacked the CPU and open-ISA horsepower Tenstorrent brings.

For infrastructure architects, this signals accelerating industry consolidation around AI chip alternatives to Nvidia. Qualcomm's Investor Day on June 24 is the likely confirmation date. The deal carries execution risk (CEO retention, product roadmap integration), but the talent and RISC-V IP are genuine. Competitors including Intel have also circled Tenstorrent, underscoring its perceived strategic value in building independent AI inference stacks.

Sources