Silicon, Synapses, & Scale

📡 Radar

👾 Groq Joins NVIDIA’s Stack

NVIDIA agreed to acquire AI chip startup Groq in a roughly $20B all-cash deal, marking one of NVIDIA’s largest strategic hardware moves to date. This brings Groq’s technology and team deeper into NVIDIA’s platform while preserving flexibility around inference IP and talent, reinforcing how central custom accelerators have become to the AI stack. The scale of the deal underscores the accelerating race for next-generation AI silicon. TechCrunch

Groq is a portfolio company, and we will be sharing an update with investors soon on numbers and next steps. 💰

📈 SoftBank’s AI Infrastructure Push

SoftBank closed out the year by doubling down on AI, completing a massive ~$41B investment in OpenAI just before year-end and moving to acquire DigitalBridge for roughly $4B to expand data center and AI infrastructure. Given the scale of the capital involved and the compressed timeline, there are likely very few people in the world who could have pulled this off. The timing underscores how central AI has become to SoftBank’s long-term strategy. By deploying capital across both foundational models and the physical compute layer, SoftBank is positioning itself at the intersection of software and real-world infrastructure, a decisive end-of-year statement that mirrors the broader shift toward infrastructure-first AI deployment. Softbank

🧠 Neuralink Enters Scale Mode

Neuralink outlined a clear roadmap to scale in 2026, moving toward high-volume production of its brain-computer interface devices alongside an almost fully automated surgical process. Yes, fully automated. A major breakthrough is the ability for Neuralink’s device threads to pass through the dura without removing it, dramatically reducing invasiveness, infection risk, and recovery time. This clears one of the longest-standing bottlenecks in neurosurgery and meaningfully accelerates the path to broader clinical deployment. With FDA approvals, more than 20 implants completed globally, and significant capital behind the program, Neuralink is moving decisively from research into real-world therapeutic impact for paralysis, speech loss, and beyond. X

🔋 xAI Grows Its Infrastructure Base

xAI shared plans to build a third data center near Memphis, adding to its existing footprint and continuing to scale its compute capacity. The move reflects a clear decision to own more of the stack, including hardware, networking, and compute, rather than relying heavily on external providers. Expanding in-house capacity gives xAI more control over large-model training and inference as demand grows. Few people have a track record of building large-scale infrastructure as efficiently as Elon Musk, and this looks like another example of that playbook in action. SeekingAlpha

💬 Prompt

What can I help you with?

I need to fly from [departure city] to [destination city] between [date range]. Analyze the typical pricing patterns for this route. What are the cheapest days to fly, best times to book, and any seasonal price variations I should know about?

🧠 Content

⏱️ Green Ahead

We reference this visual frequently and have shared it with many friends and family. It’s a powerful reminder that while many paths close behind us, there is still far more possibility ahead than we usually realize. 2026 is here. LET’S GO!

📚 Word of the Year: Slop

Merriam-Webster crowned “slop” the word of the year, and AI deserves a lot of the credit. As it turns out, when machines can generate infinite content, signal gets buried fast.

🧠 Neuralink In Action

Check out this interview with Neuralink patient Brad Smith on his transformation since receiving the implant. No idea why the woman in the room looks like she stepped out of an ’80s sci-fi movie.

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