Ai Infrastructure

GenRobot AI • Series A+

GenRobot AI, a Beijing-based company providing data infrastructure for robot development, has completed a $100 million Series A+ funding round. Participating investors include SAIC Motor, Malaysia's Eastworlds, Baidu, Shoucheng Holdings, and Galaxy General Robotics, alongside financial investors including GL Ventures, CITIC Goldstone.

Fal • Unknown

AI inference startup Fal raised a $1.3 billion round led by Bessemer, doubling its valuation to $16 billion as demand surges. The five-year-old startup's new valuation reflects strong investor appetite for AI infrastructure.

AAPL

Apple posted its best-ever fiscal year for revenue and earnings per share, with iPhone revenue rising 17.5% in the fourth quarter and Mac sales growing strongly. The company is capitalizing on the AI boom without matching competitors' infrastructure spending.

Voters elected candidates favoring data center moratoriums and restrictive ballot measures in the 2026 midterms, dealing a blow to AI infrastructure expansion. NBC News polling found 76% of voters cited AI and data centers as an important factor, though exit polls ranked AI last among campaign issues behind corruption (90%) and cost of living (89%).

Policy • The Verge AI

DeepSeek reportedly plans to train its next-generation V5 model on Huawei Ascend chips, according to STAR Market Daily citing industry sources. The reported plan would extend Ascend's role from inference to the compute-intensive training of a new model.

Infrastructure • TechNode

fal • Series F

AI infrastructure company fal has raised $1.3 billion in a Series F funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from NVIDIA, Sound Ventures, HOF Capital and T. Rowe Price. The round doubles the company's valuation to $16 billion.