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Big Tech Eyes Blockbuster AI Acquisitions, But Antitrust Realities May Dash Splashy Deals

  • A wave of big AI acquisitions is expected as companies seek to bolster their capabilities. Recent deals include Databricks acquiring MosaicML and Thomson Reuters acquiring Casetext.

  • The article speculates on 10 hypothetical blockbuster deals, like Microsoft acquiring Hugging Face, Meta acquiring Character.ai, and Amazon acquiring Anthropic.

  • The rationale given for each imagined deal relates to the strategic value of the acquisition target for the acquirer. For example, Hugging Face could boost Microsoft's open AI ecosystem.

  • Big tech companies like Meta and Microsoft have a track record of making splashy acquisitions of social media and software startups.

  • However, antitrust scrutiny of big tech acquisitions makes any mega-deals unlikely in reality. The article presents imaginative examples, not serious predictions.

forbes.com
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This article discusses various business news topics, including a federal judge's decision on Microsoft's proposed takeover of Activision Blizzard, Nvidia's potential investment in Arm, Amazon's legal challenge against the EU's Digital Services Act, inflation rates in the US and China, Thames Water's emergency funding, pension fund reforms in the UK, Foxconn's withdrawal from a chipmaking joint venture in India, Ant Group's fine in China, Elon Musk's new AI startup, Meta's battle with Twitter, and the OECD's report on AI in the workplace.
- The venture capital landscape for AI startups has become more focused and selective. - Investors are starting to gain confidence and make choices in picking platforms for their future investments. - There is a debate between buying or building AI solutions, with some seeing value in large companies building their own AI properties. - With the proliferation of AI startups, venture capitalists are finding it harder to choose which ones to invest in. - Startups that can deliver real, measurable impact and have a working product are more likely to attract investors.
Main topic: Generative AI startups and their funding in Europe. Key points: 1. Generative AI startups in Europe have raised a record $620m this year. 2. Investors are showing a strong interest in these startups, with FOMO-driven deal-making. 3. Some notable generative AI startups in Europe include Charm Therapeutics, Nanograb, Dust, ElevenLabs, DeepSearch Labs, IOMED, Lucinity, Auto-Pilot, Gladia, PhotoRoom, Cradle, Orbital Materials, Sereact, Beam AI, Qdrant, QuantPi, Humanloop, Co:Helm, Briink, Eilla, and Embedd.
Main topic: Adobe's artificial intelligence offerings Key points: 1. Adobe has the best AI offerings among software companies. 2. The launch of Adobe's generative AI tool, Firefly, has been successful. 3. Bank of America upgraded Adobe to buy, with a revised price target indicating potential upside in the stock.
### Summary British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is allocating $130 million to purchase computer chips to power artificial intelligence and build an "AI Research Resource" in the United Kingdom. ### Facts - 🧪 The United Kingdom plans to establish an "AI Research Resource" by mid-2024 to become an AI tech hub. - 💻 The government is sourcing chips from NVIDIA, Intel, and AMD and has ordered 5,000 NVIDIA graphic processing units (GPUs). - 💰 The allocated $130 million may not be sufficient to match the ambition of the AI hub, leading to a potential request for more funding. - 🌍 A recent report highlighted that many companies face challenges deploying AI due to limited resources and technical obstacles. - 👥 In a survey conducted by S&P Global, firms reported insufficient computing power as a major obstacle to supporting AI projects. - 🤖 The ability to support AI workloads will play a crucial role in determining who leads in the AI space.
Investment bank Morgan Stanley outlines upcoming events in the AI sector, including conferences by Google, Amazon, and Meta, that could impact AI stocks by providing insights into each company's AI opportunities and risks.
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By 2030, the top three AI stocks are predicted to be Apple, Microsoft, and Alphabet, with Apple expected to maintain its position as the largest company based on market cap and its investment in AI, Microsoft benefiting from its collaboration with OpenAI and various AI fronts, and Alphabet capitalizing on AI's potential to boost its Google Cloud business and leverage quantum computing expertise.
The most promising AI startups in 2023, according to top venture capitalists, include Adept, AlphaSense, Captions, CentML, Character.AI, Durable, Entos, Foundry, GPTZero, Hugging Face, LangChain, Leena AI, LlamaIndex, Luma AI, Lumachain, Magic, Mezli, Mindee, Next Insurance, Orby AI, Pinecone, Poly, Predibase, Replicant, Replicate, Run:ai, SaaS Labs, Secureframe, Treat, Twelve Labs.
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Amazon and CrowdStrike are highly promising AI stocks that offer attractive investment opportunities due to their utilization of AI technologies in various business segments and their potential for growth in the AI-driven revolution.
Amazon has agreed to invest up to $4 billion in AI startup Anthropic, aiming to enhance its rivalry with Microsoft, Meta, Google, and Nvidia in the rapidly growing AI sector.
Apple has quietly become the top buyer of AI and machine learning companies, purchasing 21 startups since 2017, showing that AI is a core focus for the company's future consumer products.
European AI startups, including Mistral, ElevenLabs, and Synthesia, have attracted significant investment from venture capitalists, with investors pouring $51.9 billion into AI startups in 2023, surpassing the $65.5 billion invested in the sector in 2022. Notable investors in the European AI startup scene include Simon Menashy of MMC Ventures, Amelia Armour of Amadeus Capital, Mish Mashkautsan of Phoenix Court, and Remy Minute of Ascension.
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The article discusses the growing presence of artificial intelligence (AI) in various industries and identifies the top 12 AI stocks to buy, including ServiceNow, Adobe, Alibaba Group, Netflix, Salesforce, Apple, and Uber, based on hedge fund investments.
Amazon is making strategic moves in the artificial intelligence (AI) space, including developing its own semiconductor chips and offering AI-as-a-service, positioning itself as a key player in the AI race alongside Big Tech counterparts.
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Generative AI start-ups, such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Builder.ai, are attracting investments from tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet, with the potential to drive significant economic growth and revolutionize industries.
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