Stargate, Starlink, & Star Wars

📡 Radar: This Week’s Top 5

🌍 OpenAI Plans Global Expansion with Stargate Data Centers

OpenAI is reportedly planning to establish a new data center in the United Arab Emirates as part of its global expansion under the Stargate initiative. This move aims to broaden OpenAI’s infrastructure and operations beyond the United States. However, the ambitious $100 billion Stargate project faces delays due to potential tariff impacts and economic concerns. OpenAI is also in discussions with Microsoft to renegotiate their partnership terms, potentially paving the way for a future IPO. The Economic Times 

🌐 Perplexity Partners with PayPal for Seamless Payments

Perplexity AI has announced a partnership with PayPal to integrate seamless payment capabilities directly within its chat interface. Starting this summer in the U.S., users will be able to use PayPal or Venmo to make instant purchases—such as booking travel or buying tickets—while interacting with Perplexity Pro. This collaboration supports the growing trend of agentic commerce, where AI agents not only assist with shopping but also complete transactions. Reuters

🏗️ CoreWeave Surges, Fueled by AI Infrastructure Demand

Nvidia-backed CoreWeave reported a standout first quarter as a public company, posting $981.6 million in revenue—well above the $852.9 million Wall Street expected. Shares jumped 11% in after-hours trading. The New Jersey-based cloud provider, which supplies high-performance Nvidia chips and data center access, is riding a wave of demand for generative AI infrastructure. Its $25.9 billion revenue backlog includes an $11.2 billion commitment from OpenAI, part of a five-year deal that also gives OpenAI an equity stake. Despite a muted IPO in March, CoreWeave’s stock has surged 68% since listing. Reuters

🚀 SpaceX Achieves Milestone with Starlink Launch

On May 13, 2025, SpaceX successfully launched 28 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit using its Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This mission marked the 28th successful flight of booster B1067, highlighting SpaceX's commitment to reusability and cost-efficiency in spaceflight. The launch also underscored the company's dedication to expanding global broadband connectivity through its Starlink constellation. The Times of India

🤖 Elon Musk Envision a “Star Wars”-Like Future with Personal Robots

At the US-Saudi Investment Forum in Riyadh on May 13, 2025, Elon Musk shared his vision of a future where personal humanoid robots are commonplace, potentially boosting global productivity. He introduced Tesla's Optimus robot, aiming for mass production despite technical and geopolitical challenges. However, Musk also cautioned about the risks, referencing the “Terminator” scenario and warning of a 20% risk of human annihilation from AI. Washington Times

📣 Updates

🔦 Portfolio Spotlight: Republic

Republic has partnered with Hamilton Lane to launch a tokenized private equity fund now accessible to U.S. retail investors with a minimum investment of $500. This collaboration aims to democratize access to private market investments, traditionally reserved for institutional investors. Crowdfund Insider

📈 Market

The market rebounded, echoing Warren Buffett’s advice to “be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.” In The Pomp Letter this week, Anthony Pompliano captured this market reflexivity well by saying:

“Humans are full of fear and greed. They get over-excited in good times and run in fear during bad times… You can’t change human nature, therefore you can’t change markets. The only thing you can do is study history to prepare for the future.”

⛳️ Golf Game

Chris was throughly humbled while golfing in Naples this past weekend to support Folds of Honor, but it was a fun time with wonderful people supporting a great cause. Big shoutout to my dear friend Mike Bellavia and Blackedge Capital for hosting an amazing weekend.

💬 Prompt of the Week

Where should we begin?

Please teach me something.

🧠 Wisdom

💬 Quote of the Week

“Think for yourself to decide 1) what you want, 2) what is true, and 3) what you should do to achieve #1 in light of #2 … and do that with humility and open-mindedness so that you consider the best thinking available to you.” - Ray Dalio

📚 What We’re Reading

In line with the quote above, Chris is currently reading Principles by Ray Dalio.

🔭 Perspective

From one of our favorite newsletters (Brain Food by Farnam Street), this week’s perspective really resonates with building a business (or career) and something that Rob reminds us of all the time: focus is a superpower.