Foundations by Axented
OpenAI signs $10B deal for compute from Cerebra, Deepgram raises $130M at $1.3B valuation, Moroccan retail-tech startup Woliz raises $2.2m pre-seed funding round
Table of Contents:
AI | Artificial Intelligence
AI medical diagnostics race intensifies as OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic launch competing healthcare tools
OpenAI signs deal, worth $10B, for compute from Cerebra
VC | Startup & Funding
Moroccan retail-tech startup Woliz raises $2.2m pre-seed funding round
Deepgram raises $130M at $1.3B valuation and buys a YC AI startup
HI | Hardware & Infrastructure
Gigabyte CEO explains Nvidia’s potential GPU supply strategy amid crushing memory shortages
Taiwan to invest $250B in US semiconductor manufacturing
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AI | Artificial Intelligence
AI medical diagnostics race intensifies as OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic launch competing healthcare tools
OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic have each unveiled specialised medical AI capabilities within days of one another, signalling competitive momentum rather than coincidence, though none of the tools has regulatory clearance or approval for clinical use.
OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Health with integrations for US users’ medical records, Google released MedGemma 1.5 with expanded imaging interpretation, and Anthropic launched Claude for Healthcare with compliance features targeting enterprise workflows.
All three systems focus on administrative tasks such as prior authorisation, claims, and documentation rather than direct patient diagnosis, emphasising privacy and disclaimers about clinical use.
Regulatory ambiguity, lack of clinical validation, and ongoing integration challenges temper adoption in healthcare settings.
Source: AINews
OpenAI signs deal, worth $10B, for compute from Cerebra
OpenAI announced a multi-year agreement with Cerebras Systems securing delivery of 750 megawatts of compute capacity through 2028 in a deal reportedly valued at over $10 billion.
The partnership aims to integrate Cerebras’s wafer-scale processors to accelerate low-latency inference and enhance the performance of OpenAI’s AI services for customers.
Both firms highlight the importance of real-time AI outputs and faster response times, positioning the deal as part of OpenAI’s broader compute diversification strategy.
The agreement also occurs amid Cerebras’s ongoing capital raises and delayed IPO plans, with OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman noted as an investor in the chipmaker.
Source: Tech Crunch
VC | Startup & Funding
Moroccan retail-tech startup Woliz raises $2.2m pre-seed funding round
Moroccan retail-tech startup Woliz has closed a $2.2 million pre-seed funding round led by Sanlam Maroc to accelerate the development of its AI-powered, fintech-enabled platform aimed at digitising neighbourhood retail.
Woliz’s platform provides small merchants with tools for digital stock ordering, sales tracking, and income verification, helping formalise operations and improve access to credit and financial services.
The investment will support team expansion and merchant onboarding across multiple Moroccan cities, with the company planning later expansion into other African markets facing similar retail infrastructure challenges.
Woliz’s approach places independent shop owners at the core of a unified ecosystem connecting commerce, finance, telecoms, institutions, and consumers.
Source: Disrupt Africa
Deepgram raises $130M at $1.3B valuation and buys a YC AI startup
Deepgram has secured $130 million in a Series C funding round led by AVP, valuing the voice-AI company at $1.3 billion.
The round included participation from existing investors such as Alkeon, In-Q-Tel, Madrona, Tiger, Wing, and Y Combinator, along with new investors like Alumni Ventures, Columbia University, Princeville Capital, Twilio, and SAP, bringing total funding to over $215 million.
The raise reflects strong enterprise demand for voice AI in applications like contact centres, sales, and customer support, where Deepgram’s speech recognition and conversational APIs are widely used.
Deepgram also acquired a Y Combinator-backed AI startup to bolster its offerings and plans to use the capital to expand global support, multilingual capabilities, and penetration into new sectors such as restaurants.
Source: Tech Crunch
HI | Hardware & Infrastructure
Gigabyte CEO explains Nvidia’s potential GPU supply strategy amid crushing memory shortages
Gigabyte’s CEO outlined how Nvidia might prioritise production of certain GPUs in 2026 amid constrained GDDR7 memory supplies, suggesting allocation decisions could hinge on gross revenue per gigabyte of memory.
With some RTX 50-series consumer GPUs being phased out or shifted to end-of-life status, Nvidia may favour segments that maximise revenue from limited memory resources, potentially affecting availability of mid-range cards.
The discussion comes against a backdrop of broader memory shortages and industry challenges in balancing supply, demand, and profitability.
Insights from a CES interview hint that product supply could be adjusted based on calculated revenue contributions per memory unit, influencing what models are produced and prioritised.
Source: Toms Hardware
Taiwan to invest $250B in US semiconductor manufacturing
A landmark trade deal between the United States and Taiwan will see Taiwanese semiconductor and tech firms invest $250 billion into US semiconductor, energy, and AI manufacturing capacity to boost domestic production.
The agreement, announced by the US Department of Commerce, includes substantial Taiwanese investments and credit guarantees, while the US commits to reciprocal investment in Taiwan’s semiconductor, defence, AI, telecommunications, and biotech sectors.
The pact aims to mitigate reliance on foreign supply chains and address national security concerns, noting that only about 10 % of semiconductors are currently produced in the United States.
Additional tariffs on advanced AI chips are also part of the broader strategy to reshape the global semiconductor landscape.
Source: Tech Crunch
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