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Nvidia becomes the first $5 trillion company, Intel eyes an AI chip acquisition, and startups like Poolside and Fireworks AI secure massive funding rounds.
Here are our main key takeaways:
Nvidia reaches a record $5 trillion market cap, solidifying its dominance as the backbone of the AI hardware revolution.
Intel enters talks to acquire SambaNova Systems, a leading AI-chip startup, signaling its push to reclaim ground in the AI hardware race.
Nvidia invests up to $1 billion in AI coding startup Poolside, doubling down on the AI developer ecosystem.
Fireworks AI raises $254 million in Series C funding, achieving a $4 billion valuation, and focusing on AI inference infrastructure.
The U.S. tightens export controls on advanced chips and AI model weights, marking a pivotal moment in global AI regulation.
Join us at AI Tangle as we untangle this week's happenings in AI!
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THE BIG AI STORY
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang speaks about how AI infrastructure and AI factories that generate intelligence at scale are powering a new industrial revolution, at the Washington Convention Center, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Nvidia has officially become the first company in history to hit a $5 trillion market capitalization, cementing its place as the core engine of the global AI economy. The surge came after a massive rally in chip stocks and a wave of demand for Nvidia’s H200 and B200 GPUs, which now power most enterprise-scale AI workloads worldwide. CEO Jensen Huang credited the milestone to “a new computing era” driven by generative AI, robotics, and data-center expansion — all fueled by Nvidia’s cutting-edge compute platforms.
But Nvidia isn’t slowing down. Just days after crossing the milestone, the chip giant confirmed plans to invest up to $1 billion in Poolside, a Paris-based startup building an AI-powered coding assistant that can translate natural language into full, production-ready software. Poolside, now valued at roughly $12 billion, represents Nvidia’s next play — moving from powering AI models to enabling the developers who build with them.
The move signals a broader shift in strategy: Nvidia is no longer just a hardware company — it’s building the ecosystem around AI creation itself. By pairing compute dominance with developer tools, Nvidia is tightening its grip on every layer of the AI stack.
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6 QUICK HITS
Intel is reportedly in early discussions to acquire SambaNova Systems, one of the leading challengers to Nvidia in AI chip design. The potential deal would mark Intel’s boldest move yet to reclaim its relevance in the data-center AI race after years of lagging behind rivals. SambaNova specializes in reconfigurable dataflow architecture chips optimized for large-scale model training and inference. The acquisition could give Intel a competitive edge in supplying next-generation compute for AI workloads.
Pinecone has introduced new agentic quickstart options that let developers build vector database applications using AI coding agents like Claude Code and Cursor. Instead of copying and pasting code snippets, these agents understand Pinecone’s APIs and automatically implement production-ready patterns — simplifying the development process dramatically.
Fireworks AI secures $254 million to scale inference infrastructure.
AI infrastructure startup Fireworks AI has raised $254 million in Series C funding, valuing the company at $4 billion. Fireworks AI provides optimized inference platforms — the “serving layer” of AI — enabling companies to deploy large models faster and at lower cost. The funding will accelerate global expansion and enhance its hardware-agnostic serving stack, which already competes with AWS Inferentia and Azure ML Inferencing.
Following Nvidia’s record rally, CEO Jensen Huang’s personal fortune has surged past $180 billion, placing him among the world’s wealthiest individuals. His rise mirrors Nvidia’s meteoric growth — from GPU manufacturer to AI infrastructure titan powering data centers, robotics, and supercomputing initiatives. Huang attributed the company’s success to “accelerated computing” becoming the new foundation of technology.
Riding the same AI wave, Microsoft once again surpassed the $4 trillion mark in market value, trailing just behind Nvidia. The surge reflects renewed investor confidence in Azure’s AI infrastructure and strong enterprise adoption of Copilot tools across Office 365. Analysts say this reinforces a new market structure dominated by AI platform providers rather than software-only firms.
The U.S. Department of Commerce has introduced sweeping new export restrictions on AI chips and certain closed-model weights, expanding existing controls from 2023. The update targets high-bandwidth chips like Nvidia’s H200 and seeks to limit foreign access to sensitive AI technology with potential military use. Analysts view the move as part of Washington’s push to secure leadership in advanced computing and mitigate national-security risks.
4 AI TOOLS
Weavy AI - from Figma’s recent acquisition of Weavy, this new tool enables creators to link multiple AI models and editing tools in a single node-based canvas—allowing image/video edits, branching workflows, and model comparisons without switching apps.
Lumio AI - a multi-model AI workspace launched in 2025 that lets users access and compare industry models like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude in one interface, with smart model-switching, custom agents, and cost optimization baked in.
Weavely - a Figma plugin that transforms design prototypes into fully functioning web forms without coding. Features include AI-generated form content, conditional logic, and seamless publish-integration from the design canvas.
Make AI - Figma’s prompt-to-app AI builder now generally available to all users. Designers and developers can create complete prototypes or web apps using natural-language prompts, connect to real-data back-ends, and skip much of the manual code/UX work.
AI EXTRA READ
Your Chatbot Might Secretly Agree With Everything You Say (4-min read)
A new study shows that AI chatbots frequently fall into sycophantic behavior—affirming users’ views and actions even when they’re harmful. For example, models like ChatGPT and Gemini were found to endorse user behavior about 50% more often than humans, potentially distorting self-perception and interpersonal dynamics.
MORE FROM THE AIE NETWORK
📻 AI Confidential Podcast - Are LLMs Dead?
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Your AI Sherpa,
Mark R. Hinkle
Publisher, The Artificially Intelligent
Enterprise (TheAIE) Network
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