Microsoft is gearing up for a massive $80 billion investment in fiscal 2025 to expand its data center network for training AI models and powering cloud-based applications. The company shared its ambitious plan last week, emphasizing its commitment to AI […]
The post Microsoft plans $80 billion AI infrastructure investment in 2025 first appeared on Tech Startups.
Singapore-based data center startup Digital Edge has raised over $1.6 billion in funding through a mix of equity and debt financing, the company announced on Monday. This comes as demand for data centers surges, fueled by the growing need for […]
The post Singapore-based startup Digital Edge raises $1.6 billion to fuel AI-driven data center expansion across Asia first appeared on Tech Startups.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the U.K.’s antitrust watchdog, has opened an investigation into whether IBM’s planned acquisition of cloud software vendor HashiCorp would affect competition. The CMA said Monday it was inviting comment on the merger from interested parties by January 16. The regulator set a provisional February 25 deadline to decide whether […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Amazon
Amazon Web Services plans to cut back on one key supplier as it designs more data-center components in-house.
AWS is scaling down its spending with ZT Systems, an AI-infrastructure company that AMD agreed this year to acquire, Business Insider has learned.
A confidential Amazon document from late last year obtained by BI estimated that AWS spent almost $2 billion last year on ZT Systems, which designs and manufactures server and networking products.
The document said some of AWS's "server and networking racks" were "transitioning" to a custom hardware approach where it designs this equipment itself. This change, the document said, has the "potential to impact spend" with ZT Systems.
Two current AWS employees familiar with the relationship also told BI recently that AWS was reducing spending on ZT Systems. One of the people said the cutback could happen in phases over a long period because ZT Systems is tightly integrated with AWS servers. They asked not to be identified because of confidential agreements.
An AWS spokesperson told BI that the company continued to have a business relationship with ZT Systems.
"Across AWS, we are relentless in our pursuit of lower costs and improved performance for customers, and our approach to our infrastructure is no different," the spokesperson said in an email. Spokespeople for AMD and ZT Systems didn't respond to requests for comment.
AWS has in recent years been using more homegrown data-center components, where it sees an opportunity to save costs and improve efficiency. This helps AWS because it doesn't have to buy as much from outside suppliers that mark up their offerings to make a profit. In turn, AWS can reduce prices for cloud customers. AWS now uses various custom data-center components, including routers and chips.
AWS is the world's largest cloud computing provider, so any change in its spending behavior is closely followed by the tech industry. AWS's spending on individual suppliers can fluctuate, and any one change doesn't mean AWS is pulling back on its data-center investments. In fact, Amazon is expected to spend $75 billion on capital expenditures this year, and even more in 2025, mostly on AWS data centers.
AMD agreed to acquire ZT Systems in August for $4.9 billion. The company is best known for designing and manufacturing server racks and other gear to help run data centers.
AWS could still send in-house designs to ZT to be manufactured. AMD has said it plans to sell ZT Systems' manufacturing business after the acquisition closes.
In recent months some AWS employees have discussed concerns about working too closely with ZT Systems since AWS and AMD offer similar AI-chip products, one of the people said.
AWS has for years been a close partner of AMD. The cloud giant sells cloud access to AMD CPUs but hasn't made AMD's new AI chips available on its cloud servers, partly because of low demand, an AWS executive who talked to BI recently said.
It's relatively common these days for big tech companies to design custom hardware. Nvidia, for example, acquired Mellanox for $6.9 billion in 2019 to offer its own data-center networking infrastructure. Other cloud giants, including Google, also design their own chips and networking gear.
AMD said in August that ZT Systems would help "deliver end-to-end data center AI infrastructure at scale."
"AWS and AMD work together closely, as we continue to make AWS the best place to run AMD silicon," AWS's spokesperson told BI.
Do you work at Amazon? Got a tip?
Contact the reporter, Eugene Kim, via the encrypted-messaging apps Signal or Telegram (+1-650-942-3061) or email ([email protected]). Reach out using a nonwork device. Check out Business Insider's source guide for other tips on sharing information securely.
io.net, the decentralized GPU network, is redefining how businesses access computing power. Earlier this month, io.net teamed up with Matchain to broaden access to decentralized AI infrastructure with affordable GPU solutions. Now, the company has announced its latest partnership with […]
The post io.net joins Dell Technologies partner program as authorized partner and cloud service provider first appeared on Tech Startups.
Much of what we know about cloud software today comes from early innovators like Facebook, Google, and Netflix. While these companies helped shape the consumer cloud, modern B2B software faces an entirely different set of challenges. Traditional SaaS models often […]
The post Cloud startup Nuon exits stealth with $16.5M in funding to bring BYOC to the masses first appeared on Tech Startups.
Google on Tuesday announced support for third-party tools in Gemini Code Assist, its enterprise-focused AI code completion service. Code Assist launched in April as a rebrand of a similar service Google offered under its now-defunct Duet AI branding. Available through plug-ins for popular dev environments like VS Code and JetBrains, Code Assist is powered by Google’s Gemini […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Music streaming platform SoundCloud announced Tuesday that it is introducing a new, cheaper paid plan for artists simply called Artist, while renaming its Next Pro plan to Artist Pro. The new basic tier will cost $39 per year and put some limits on features like track amplification, distribution, monetization, and AI mastering. Artists subscribing to […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Jon Morehouse launched PowerTools in 2019 to help companies ship static sites and serverless apps to their cloud accounts on providers like AWS and Azure. When a customer asked him if they could use PowerTools to deploy their software into one of their customer’s cloud accounts, Morehouse was skeptical. Morehouse told TechCrunch that after that […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Ella Barak
In early 2020, Raaz Herzberg was a product manager at Microsoft Azure when she was offered a position at Wiz, a newly created cloud security startup. Since then, Wiz has turned down a $23 billion takeover offer from Google, expanded into Europe, and reached $500 million in annual recurring revenue.
Its next priority is to double that revenue metric — and then become a public company.
Wiz was launched by four cofounders who sold their previous business, Adallom, to Microsoft. It bills itself as a cloud security company that helps companies identify risks in their cloud providers.
"It felt like an opportunity I couldn't possibly pass on," Herzberg, now the chief marketing officer and vice president of product strategy at Wiz, told Business Insider in an interview from the company's new London office. "I started as head of product — but we started in the worst time. This was March 2020, when COVID-19 started," she said. "It's easy to remember because everything changed immediately."
It turned out that the pandemic was a boon for business. As more companies shifted to remote work, they increasingly relied on cloud services — expanding Wiz's client base. Four years since its launch, the scaleup has raised over $1.9 billion in funding from investing heavyweights such as Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive Capital, and Index Ventures.
It now sees huge opportunities to use the AI boom to cement its position in the market before it launches its initial public offering.
Cloud computing offers crucial infrastructure underpinning AI applications. As more companies rush to adopt AI, security and privacy have taken center stage.
"The adoption of AI is very similar to what happened with the accelerated use of cloud," Herzberg said. Wiz has found that over 80% of its customers are using AI services — which "are, in some ways, like cloud services. Companies don't buy their machines or chips, so they're using these technologies on the cloud," she added.
"Part of the reason we're growing so fast is because we have access to the public cloud, which is growing incredibly fast — and AI only pushes that growth further," she said.
Because AI services are often used on public clouds — a service offered by third parties rather than an internal network — cloud security has become a critical issue.
Wiz's rapid growth has also been bolstered by its arsenal of acquisitions. This year, it scooped up security startups Rafft, Gem, and Dazz in a bid to bulk up its engineering talent and product suite.
"When we acquire companies, we don't sell their product. They rebuild it from scratch in the Wiz infrastructure," Herzberg told BI, noting that the company is still on the hunt for more acquisitions. "We believe in this concept of growing inorganically."
Wiz's global headquarters is in New York, with offices in Virginia, Texas, Colorado, and Israel. In August 2024, Wiz established its European headquarters in London. Its plush office is a short walk from Silicon Roundabout — London's scaled-down answer to Silicon Valley.
"The European market has been an ideal fit for our technology because it's more constrained by security, and more privacy aware than the US market," Herzberg told BI. "We estimate we will be able to get 35% of our revenue from Europe."
Wiz works with industry heavyweights on the continent, such as Revolut, Tide, and BMW. In 2024, it says it reached $500 million in ARR — but is aiming to reach $1 billion before it IPOs.
Operating independently is a big priority for the company. Earlier this year, Wiz turned down a $23 billion offer from Google, instead opting to prime itself for a public debut.
Herzberg declined to comment about the Google deal but added that Wiz had lofty ambitions to establish itself as a market leader in the cloud security domain.
"We are building a company that I believe can be the biggest cybersecurity company in the world," she said. "And I think at this point we are on that path."
She likened companies buying security services to buying insurance packages, pointing to incumbents in the security industry with a similar model.
"So if I look at the wing of, for example, network security firewalls, it has a clear leader — people today buy Palo Alto firewalls. They used to buy checkpoint firewalls. Now the leader is Palo Alto," she said. "Another example would be like the endpoint production server protection, that's a big domain on its own, and then it has a clear leader, like CrowdStrike."
As the public cloud domain balloons, Herzberg believed there needs to be a "leader in place to protect that domain" — adding that Wiz had a goal of taking that mantle.
A slate of elections this year has pushed the company to prepare for more government-mandated cybersecurity measures, especially in the US. In anticipation of Donald Trump's second term, Wiz has started building on a federal sales strategy.
Still, Herzberg said the scaleup is in "no rush" to go public. It's now looking for a chief finance officer, a requirement for companies that want to IPO.
"With the place we are at in terms of revenue and publicity and everything, it just brings us better candidates than we had as little as a year ago," Herzberg said. "I don't think we necessarily need someone with cloud security experience," she added. "We're hoping to announce that hire soon."
Elsewhere, it's gearing up to release two new products as it cements its presence in Europe with an impending hiring spree.
Still, the team hopes to come full circle to its New York roots by the time it's ready to IPO.
"Which one has the gong?" Herzberg laughed. "New York is where we'd list."
Google's bringing its viral NotebookLM app to the enterprise via a new service for Google Cloud customers, Agentspace.
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Crusoe, an AI startup and provider of vertically integrated AI infrastructure, has raised $600 million in a Series D funding round led by Founders Fund, with participation from Fidelity, Long Journey Ventures, Mubadala, NVIDIA, Ribbit Capital, and Valor Equity Partners. […]
The post Crusoe raises $600 million in Series D funding to power the AI cloud, now valued at $2.8 billion first appeared on Tech Startups.
With AI gaining mainstream adoption, most companies are exploring generative AI applications powered by operational data, but delivering reliable and accurate results presents significant challenges. Today’s databases are often not optimized for AI, leading to issues like hallucinations, low accuracy, […]
The post Cloud database startup SkySQL raises $6.6M in funding to bring conversational AI to databases first appeared on Tech Startups.
The mainstream adoption of generative AI is driving a surge in demand for AI-focused data centers, pushing companies and investors to look for sustainable solutions. One of the key players in this space is Intersect Power, a clean energy startup […]
The post Google backs $800M funding round for clean energy startup Intersect Power to fuel sustainable AI data centers first appeared on Tech Startups.
Thousands of victims have sued Apple over its alleged failure to detect and report illegal child pornography, also known as child sex abuse materials (CSAM).
The proposed class action comes after Apple scrapped a controversial CSAM-scanning tool last fall that was supposed to significantly reduce CSAM spreading in its products. Apple defended its decision to kill the tool after dozens of digital rights groups raised concerns that the government could seek to use the functionality to illegally surveil Apple users for other reasons. Apple also was concerned that bad actors could use the functionality to exploit its users and sought to protect innocent users from false content flags.
Child sex abuse survivors suing have accused Apple of using the cybersecurity defense to ignore the tech giant's mandatory CSAM reporting duties. If they win over a jury, Apple could face more than $1.2 billion in penalties. And perhaps most notably for privacy advocates, Apple could also be forced to "identify, remove, and report CSAM on iCloud and implement policies, practices, and procedures to prevent continued dissemination of CSAM or child sex trafficking on Apple devices and services." That could mean a court order to implement the controversial tool or an alternative that meets industry standards for mass-detecting CSAM.
© NurPhoto / Contributor | NurPhoto
Apple is being sued over its decision not to implement a system that would have scanned iCloud photos for child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The lawsuit argues that by not doing more to prevent the spread of this material, it’s forcing victims to relive their trauma, according to The New York Times. The suit describes […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
io.net, the decentralized GPU network, is solidifying its position as a leader in decentralized computing. Just weeks after joining forces with GAIB to enhance GPU access for AI computing, io.net has announced a strategic partnership with Matchain, a blockchain platform […]
The post io.net partners with Matchain to democratize decentralized AI infrastructure with affordable GPU access first appeared on Tech Startups.
Veeam Software, a cloud data startup that provides secure data backups on remote servers, has secured a $2 billion investment from a group of top-tier investors through a secondary offering. The funding, announced Tuesday, values the Swiss-based company at $15 […]
The post Cloud data startup Veeam reaches $15 billion valuation in $2 billion secondary sale ahead of IPO first appeared on Tech Startups.
Andrew Harnik via Getty Images
A lawsuit says Apple illegally limits the freedom of employees by monitoring personal devices and iCloud accounts and prohibiting them from talking about their pay and working conditions.
The complaint was filed on Monday in the California Superior Court in Santa Clara County by Amar Bhakta. The suit says Bhakta has worked for Apple in digital advertising tech and operations since 2020.
"Apple's surveillance policies and practices chill, and thus also unlawfully restrain, employee whistleblowing, competition, freedom of employee movement in the job market, and freedom of speech," the suit says.
It also claims the smartphone maker "actively discourages" using iCloud accounts only for work.
"If you use your personal account on an Apple-managed or Apple-owned iPhone, iPad or computer, any data stored on the device (including emails, photos, video, notes and more), are subject to search by Apple," the lawsuit quotes Apple company policy as saying.
The lawsuit says that Bhakta was barred from discussing his work in podcasts and was asked to delete information about his working conditions from his LinkedIn profile.
Bhakta filed the suit under the Private Attorneys General Act, which authorizes workers to sue on behalf of the State of California for labor violations.
He is being represented by Outten & Golden and Baker, Dolinko & Schwartz.
Outten & Golden is also representing two women suing Apple in a suit saying the company paid more than 12,000 female workers in California less than male colleagues with similar roles.
"All California employees have the right to speak about their wages and working conditions," Jahan Sagafi, a partner at Outten & Golden, said in a press release about Bhakta's case.
"Apple's broad speech suppression policies create a danger of discrimination going unchallenged far too long, which harms all Apple employees and Californians in general," he added.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
In a statement to Reuters, Apple said the suit's claims lacked merit, adding: "At Apple, we're focused on creating the best products and services in the world and we work to protect the inventions our teams create for customers."
