High costs and thin margins threatening AI coding startups

High costs and thin margins threatening AI coding startups

In February, AI coding startup Windsurf was in talks to raise a big new round at a $2.85 billion valuation led by Kleiner Perkins, at double the valuation it hit six months earlier, sources told TechCrunch at the time. That deal didn’t happen, according to a source familiar with the matter. Instead, news broke in April…

Tesla shuts down Dojo, the AI training supercomputer that Musk said would be key to full self-driving

Tesla shuts down Dojo, the AI training supercomputer that Musk said would be key to full self-driving

Tesla is breaking up the team behind its Dojo supercomputer, ending the automaker’s play at developing in-house chips for driverless technology, according to Bloomberg. Dojo’s lead, Peter Bannon, is leaving the company, and the remaining team members will be reassigned to other data center and compute projects within Tesla, per Bloomberg’s reporting, which cited anonymous…

Rocket Lab eyes big defense opportunities with new acquisition

Rocket Lab eyes big defense opportunities with new acquisition

Rocket Lab is signaling to investors, yet again, that it’s more than “just” a rocket company. Rocket Lab’s second-quarter results, which were posted Thursday, show revenues continue to be driven by its space systems business rather than launch. The results also highlighted the company’s acquisition strategy and how its purchase of a new optical payloads…

How to use Instagram Map and set your location sharing preferences

How to use Instagram Map and set your location sharing preferences

This week, Instagram introduced a new Snap Map-like feature called Instagram Map that lets U.S. users share their most recent active location with others and discover location-based content.  If you decide to turn your location on Instagram Map, your location only updates when you open the app or have it running in the background, meaning…

IPO hopeful Brex scored major win to sell in the EU, plans UK expansion

IPO hopeful Brex scored major win to sell in the EU, plans UK expansion

Financial services provider Brex on Thursday announced that it achieved a major milestone: it is now licensed in the European Union. That means it can now directly issue credit and debit cards and offer its spend management products to any business in all 30 EU countries with “no workarounds required,” as co-founder and CEO Pedro…

SpaceX is building a water pipeline to Starbase – but access comes with some conditions

SpaceX is building a water pipeline to Starbase – but access comes with some conditions

The newest piece of infrastructure coming to Starbase, Texas isn’t a launch mount or a booster. It’s a water pipeline, and who can hook up a tap (and on what terms) will shape the definition of “company town.”  The new line, which will stretch from Brownsville to the newly incorporated City of Starbase, will replace…

AI agents aren’t the ‘new Google,’ says Airbnb CEO

AI agents aren’t the ‘new Google,’ says Airbnb CEO

After a second-quarter earnings beat, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky shared his thoughts on the company’s AI strategy, cautioning investors that AI chatbots can’t yet be thought of as the “new Google.” That is, AI chatbots, while potentially driving new leads to the travel and services business, aren’t entirely a replacement for the referrals that the…

Elon Musk says X plans to introduce ads in Grok’s responses

Elon Musk says X plans to introduce ads in Grok’s responses

X owner Elon Musk told advertisers in a live discussion on Wednesday that the platform plans to introduce ads in Grok’s responses, as reported by the Financial Times. The move would help power X’s struggling ads business following the departure of former CEO Linda Yaccarino. “Our focus thus far has just been on making Grok…

Trump says Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan must ‘resign immediately’

Trump says Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan must ‘resign immediately’

Amidst heightening tensions with China, U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday insisted that Intel’s CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, must step down, accusing Tan of harboring conflicts of interest. “The CEO of INTEL is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately. There is no other solution to this problem. Thank you for your attention to this problem!” Trump…