Tether CEO warns AI giants' computing power subsidy model: Multiple cycles of mismatch continue to accumulate industry risks.
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AI giants like OpenAI and Anthropic are offering startups large amounts of free computing power in an effort to seize market share.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal on July 7th, as reported by Mars Finance, AI companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic are offering substantial free computing power and discounts to startups to compete for enterprise customers. The report states that Silicon Valley startup founders are receiving computing credits, token usage limits, and auction-style discounts from AI model companies. Some early-stage companies have received over $3 million in cloud computing and token credits, approaching the median of seed funding in the US according to PitchBook. AI companies hope to acquire customers in the early stages of startups, making their tools an integral part of their business as these companies grow. Cursor offered a 75% discount until July 5th; Google Cloud offered up to $500,000 in cloud computing credits to some startups, along with early access to the Gemini model and, in some cases, support from DeepMind engineers. Microsoft and Amazon Web Services also offer special privileges to startups. OpenAI and Anthropic have recently been particularly focused on Y Combinator startups. In May, Sam Altman announced that OpenAI would offer $2 million in tokens to each startup participating in its accelerator program in exchange for equity. Around the same time, Anthropic increased its free token allocation to Y Combinator startups from $30,000 to $500,000, without requiring equity. OpenAI subsequently adjusted its offer, providing startups with $500,000 in free tokens, without requiring equity, and offering the option to exchange equity for an additional $1.5 million in tokens. These offers reflect the fierce competition among model providers for future large clients. Y Combinator runs four cohorts annually, with recent cohorts featuring approximately 200 companies each, meaning that OpenAI and Anthropic could potentially offer a combined $800 million in AI tokens over the next year. Christopher Acker, co-founder of SuperPenguin, stated, "The AI world is being driven by OpenAI and Anthropic because they are giving startups money to pay for usage costs."
The National Development and Reform Commission disclosed five key work plans for the artificial intelligence industry during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, emphasizing the strengthening of key technologies such as models, computing power, and data.
According to Mars Finance, at a press conference held by the Shanghai Municipal Government on July 7, Wang Ruomeng, Deputy Director of the Innovation and High-Tech Development Department of the National Development and Reform Commission, disclosed the working plan for my country's artificial intelligence industry during the 15th Five-Year Plan period: First, accelerate independent innovation. Strengthen research on key technologies such as models, computing power, and data; increase basic research; generate more original achievements; and contribute Chinese wisdom to the global development of artificial intelligence. Second, strengthen application-driven development. Focus on areas with significant economic contributions, high strategic value, and good social benefits; open up a number of high-value scenarios; and create a number of benchmark applications. At the same time, pay attention to the impact of artificial intelligence on employment, promote the creation of new jobs and empowerment of traditional jobs through artificial intelligence, and prioritize its application in "dangerous, dirty, tiring, and heavy" scenarios. Third, deepen ecological collaboration. Continuously promote deep adaptation of software and hardware, common prosperity of open and closed sources, integration of industry, academia, research, and application, and differentiated regional development to significantly improve the efficiency of ecological collaboration. Fourth, adhere to openness and win-win cooperation. Extensively carry out international cooperation in artificial intelligence, promote open-source and inclusive technology, support the Global South in strengthening artificial intelligence capacity building, and actively participate in international governance in the field of artificial intelligence. Fifth, ensure safety and controllability. We must coordinate development and security, accelerate legislation in the field of artificial intelligence, improve the system of rules and regulations, prevent risks such as data misuse, deepfakes, and privacy breaches, and ensure that the development of artificial intelligence is for human use and under human control. (Cailian Press)
SemiAnalysis: Meta will accelerate, rather than slow down, its computing power procurement; it is in talks with Anthropic to build its own AI model service platform.
According to BlockBeats, on July 3rd, SemiAnalysis stated in its latest report that after news broke that Meta might become a new Neocloud, the market's initial reaction was to sell off computing power cloud companies like CoreWeave and Nebius, and to renewed concerns about "AI computing power oversupply." However, the firm's assessment is the opposite: this concern may be wrong. Meta's data center and computing power procurement will not slow down, but rather continue to accelerate. The article mentions that in the first half of this year alone, Meta has already signed contracts for over 5GW of capacity in the cloud services and managed data center sectors, and this does not include its accelerating self-built projects. SemiAnalysis states that Meta is in final negotiations with Anthropic, hoping to obtain access to Claude private instances. If this comes to fruition, the significance goes beyond "Meta buying more computing power"; it suggests that Meta may be building its own AI model service platform. This model is somewhat similar to AWS's Bedrock, Microsoft's Foundry, and Google's Vertex. Meta can initially use Claude internally, or it can package the model capabilities as a token-as-a-service to provide services externally in the future. In the short term, it might use its own models externally and Anthropic models internally; in the long term, Meta might even incorporate Anthropic and OpenAI models into its external service system. SemiAnalysis states that the underlying logic is that Meta has computing power, advertisers, social network distribution capabilities, and consumer-end entry points. If it can combine cutting-edge models, intelligent agents, and sales and marketing SaaS, it will not just be a company that buys GPUs, but will be moving towards the upper layers of AI application and model distribution.
US pre-market news highlights: EDA giants focus on AI chip design; SpaceX officially included in the Nasdaq 100 index; Analysts say AI computing power demand is far from peaking.
Mars Finance reports the following key financial news from the US stock market that investors should pay attention to: 1. US stock index futures showed mixed results. Dow Jones futures rose 0.29%, S&P 500 futures fell 0.15%, and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.94%. 2. International oil prices rose slightly. WTI crude oil futures rose 0.61% to $68.967 per barrel; Brent crude oil futures rose 0.74% to $72.526 per barrel. 3. International gold and silver spot prices fluctuated narrowly. Spot gold rose 0.03% to $4166.01 per ounce; spot silver fell 0.64% to $61.62 per ounce. 4. European stock indices all fell. The UK FTSE 100 rose 0.47%, the French CAC 40 rose 0.20%, and the German DAX 30 fell 0.63%. 5. EDA giant Synopsys informed more than 10 chip manufacturers, including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, in April and May that it would "suspend" some of its wafer fab manufacturing analysis software, shifting resources to the more profitable AI chip design business. 6. SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, was officially included in the Nasdaq 100 index today, becoming the first company in the index with a space business at its core. JPMorgan Chase estimates its weight in the index at approximately 1.3%. Wall Street generally gave it an "initial bullish" rating, with a target price as high as $800. 7. Google invested over €400 million in Proxima Fusion, a European nuclear fusion "unicorn" company, with the aim of building a commercial fusion power plant by the 2030s. 8. Anthropic announced a 20-year AI data center lease agreement with AI data center operator TeraWulf. The project has a capacity of approximately 401 megawatts and is expected to be operational in the second half of 2027, reaching full capacity in early 2028. 9. A recent report from semiconductor research firm SemiAnalysis indicates that AI computing power demand is far from peaking. The firm predicts that Meta computing power procurement will accelerate, and capital expenditure may increase significantly next year. 10. Walmart and its Sam's Club announced price reductions on thousands of popular summer items and everyday essentials across the United States. 11. Microsoft raised its Microsoft 365 Enterprise subscription fee earlier this month, with increases ranging from 8% to 33%. Personal and Education versions are currently unaffected. (Cailian Press)
Zhang Yuhang of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology: Building a 10,000-calorie computing power cluster, aiming to add over 70,000 petabytes of intelligent computing power this year.
According to Mars Finance, Zhang Yuhang, a second-level inspector of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, stated on July 8th that the next step is to solidify the foundation of computing power and data. This includes building a computing power structure of "foundation within Beijing and expansion outside Beijing," constructing a 10,000-calorie computing power cluster, and achieving an additional intelligent computing power scale of over 70,000 petabytes within the year; exploring new models such as computing-power collaboration and direct green electricity supply; continuously improving the institutional system for data property rights, authorized operation of public data, and revenue distribution; creating a trustworthy data space; and improving the data circulation service ecosystem. (Beike Finance)
The computing power leasing concept rebounded after fluctuations, with Wangsu Science & Technology rising nearly 15%.
According to Mars Finance, the computing power leasing concept stocks rebounded in early trading, with Wangsu Science & Technology rising nearly 15%, followed by Sangfor Technologies, Cloudwalk Technology, UCloud, Aofei Data, and Xiechuang Data. Galaxy Securities believes that computing power leasing companies are currently exploring a "token factory" cooperation model with large-scale model providers, gradually evolving from the underlying "selling resources" model to a "selling output" model. Computing power leasing companies will provide MaaS services and share the benefits of the token boom through a token-sharing profit model. (Cailian Press)