This was a blessedly slow week — though less so than I thought it would be — so there were just a few highlights I’ll note in quick bullet points so you can get back to the fam too:
* Agentic AI is coming — but not for awhile, says theCUBE Research’s Dave Vellante.
* OpenAI hits a couple of potholes as an outage takes down ChatGPT and Sora, and Microsoft opens up to other models in 365 Copilot. On top of that, it has to figure out how to become a for-profit entity without angering too many current investors. And it needs that structure to get those and new investors interesting in ponying up more money for all that compute.
* Chinese AI models are getting more interesting as Alibaba announces an advanced visual reasoning model and Stepfun gets several hundred million dollars in funding.
* Late-breaking Friday: President-elect Trump asked the Supreme Court to give him time to try to save TikTok in the U.S.
* The printer market consolidates even more as Xerox acquires Lexmark.
* The Broadcom-Netflix patent battle intensifies as Netflix sues on VMware patents.
Here’s the rest of the week’s news:
AI and data: OpenAI moves toward for-profit status
Breaking Analysis: The yellow brick road to agentic AI
Confirming reports, OpenAI details plans to turn into a for-profit company
Outage takes ChatGPT, Sora and OpenAI’s APIs offline for many users
DeepSeek open-sources new AI model with 671B parameters
Alibaba announces advanced experimental visual reasoning QVQ-72B AI model
Chinese AI model maker Stepfun raises hundreds of millions in Series B funding
Microsoft reportedly integrating non-OpenAI models into Microsoft 365 Copilot
Report: OpenAI has considered developing a humanoid robot
Coralogix acquires Aporia to enhance AI and machine learning observability
Nodepay raises $7M to grow decentralized AI infrastructure
There’s even more AI and big data news on News
Around the enterprise: Google’s ally in Cupertino
End-of-year legal activity for Google:
Apple asks to participate in Google’s upcoming antitrust trial
Google tries to persuade judge in antitrust case not to force the sale of its Chrome browser
Japan targets Google over alleged Android ecosystem monopolization
And other news:
TSMC begins mass-producing chips at newly opened fab in Japan
Leaks reveal beefed-up specifications for Nvidia’s next-gen GB300 AI server
Xerox to acquire rival printer maker Lexmark for $1.53B
Netflix files suit against Broadcom over VMware virtual machine patents
Italian energy giant Eni cranks up world’s 5th most powerful supercomputer
EU reportedly set to sign off on Synopsys’ $35B Ansys acquisition
Report: Apple’s M5 chips will use TSMC’s N3P process and 2.5D packaging technology
Apple reportedly eyes home security market with face-scanning smart doorbell
Broadcom CEO Hock Tan claims he has no interest in buying Intel
US officials launch investigation into China’s legacy chip sector
South Korea accelerates construction of Yongin semiconductor hub to start in 2026
No-code industrial project software startup Sitemate raises $27.5M
Financial services giant Fiserv buys Payfare to move into gig economy financing
PayPal Honey browser extension accused of misleading consumers and creators
We have more news on cloud, infrastructure and apps
Cyber beat: Agentic cyberattacks
AI agents may lead the next wave of cyberattacks
US allocates $3B to ‘rip and replace’ Chinese technology at smaller telcos
Hackers compromise Chrome extensions with 400,000+ users
Botnets leverage decade-old D-Link vulnerabilities in new attack campaigns
Fortinet warns of malicious Python packages targeting credentials and user data
Japan Airlines delays, cancels some flights following cyberattack
Marriott and Starwood ordered to implement security overhaul in FTC settlement
More cybersecurity news here
Elsewhere in tech: Crypto advocates drooling
Report: Palantir and Anduril join forces to try to secure US government defense contracts
Crypto advocates push Trump to take action on day one
Russia’s finance minister reveals bitcoin is being used to conduct foreign trade
North Korean hackers linked to hack of 4,500 bitcoins from Japanese crypto exchange
ChainOpera AI raises $17M to build blockchain network for AI agents and apps
Avalon Labs raises $10M to grow its bitcoin-based stablecoin
Iran votes to lift bans on WhatsApp, Google Play and other foreign-owned apps
And check out more news on emerging tech, blockchain and crypto and policy
What’s next
Jan. 7-10, 2025: CES, Las Vegas
Jan. 14: Cyber Resiliency Summit on theCUBE
Image: News/Microsoft Image Creator
Your vote of support is important to us and it helps us keep the content FREE.
One click below supports our mission to provide free, deep, and relevant content.
Join our community on YouTube
Join the community that includes more than 15,000 #CubeAlumni experts, including Amazon.com CEO Andy Jassy, Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, and many more luminaries and experts.
THANK YOU
