Bezos, Nvidia Join OpenAI in Funding Humanoid Robot Startup
- Figure AI also gets investments from Intel, Samsung and Amazon
- Company, valued at roughly $2 billion, is raising $675 million
Robots have emerged as a critical new frontier for the AI industry, letting it apply cutting-edge technology to real-world tasks.
Source: Figure AI Inc.
By Mark Gurman and Gillian Tan
February 24, 2024 at 1:56 AM GMT+8
Updated on
February 24, 2024 at 2:20 AM GMT+8
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Jeff Bezos, Nvidia Corp. and other big technology names are investing in a business that’s developing human-like robots, according to people with knowledge of the situation, part of a scramble to find new applications for artificial intelligence.
The startup Figure AI Inc. — also backed by OpenAI and Microsoft Corp. — is raising about $675 million in a funding round that carries a pre-money valuation of roughly $2 billion, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Through his firm Explore Investments LLC, Bezos has committed $100 million. Microsoft is investing $95 million, while Nvidia and an Amazon.com Inc.-affiliated fund are each providing $50 million.
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Nvidia Flirts With $2 Trillion Valuation as Rapid Ascent Extends
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Nvidia Flirts With $2 Trillion Valuation as Rapid Ascent Extends
- Chip giant up nearly 60% in 2024; ranks fourth-biggest stock
- Firm is biggest beneficiary of rush into AI-related equities
Signage at the Nvidia Corp. offices.
Photographer: I-Hwa Cheng/Bloomberg
By Subrat Patnaik
February 23, 2024 at 7:11 PM GMT+8
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February 24, 2024 at 5:13 AM GMT+8
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Nvidia Corp. is on track to become the first semiconductor firm with a $2 trillion valuation, another milestone in its ascendancy as the biggest beneficiary of a rush into artificial intelligence-related stocks over the past year.
The chipmaker’s shares rose 0.4% Friday to close at a $1.97 trillion valuation after briefly topping the $2 trillion mark in intraday trading. The gain cements Nvidia’s position as the world’s fourth-most valuable company after rallying nearly 60% since the beginning of the year, with a market capitalization that’s only behind Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc. and Saudi Aramco.
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Nvidia Flirts With $2 Trillion Valuation as Rapid Ascent Extends
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Quicktake
The AI Chip Behind Nvidia’s Supersonic Stock Rally: QuickTake
- Nvidia’s technology has few rivals at the task of training AI
- The chip’s successors are likely to be the H200, then the B100
Nvidia H100Photographer: Marlena Sloss/Bloomberg
By Ian King
February 23, 2024 at 10:37 AM GMT+8
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Computer components are not usually expected to transform entire businesses and industries, but a graphics processing unit Nvidia Corp. released in 2023 has done just that. The H100 data center chip has added more than $1 trillion to Nvidia’s value and turned the company into an AI kingmaker overnight. It’s shown investors that the buzz around generative artificial intelligence is translating into real revenue, at least for Nvidia and its most essential suppliers. Demand for the H100 is so great that some customers are having to wait as long as six months to receive it.
The H100, whose name is a nod to computer science pioneer Grace Hopper, is a graphics processor. It’s a beefier version of a type of chip that normally lives in PCs and helps gamers get the most realistic visual experience. But it’s been optimized to process vast volumes of data and computation at high speeds, making it a perfect fit for the power-intensive task of training AI models. Nvidia, founded in 1993, pioneered this market with investments dating back almost two decades, when it bet that the ability to do work in parallel would one day make its chips valuable in applications outside of gaming.
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Nvidia Flirts With $2 Trillion Valuation as Rapid Ascent Extends
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