The Briefing

By Nick Wingfield

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Masayoshi Son is a man who keeps adding zeros to his grand ambitions. Apparently, the SoftBank Group founder isn’t content with his $500 billion Stargate plan to build artificial intelligence data centers and is now trying to rally partners, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., to build a $1 trillion industrial complex in Arizona that will produce AI-powered robots, according to Bloomberg.

There are a lot of reasons to question whether this megaproject, code-named Project Crystal Land, will come to fruition (a SoftBank spokesperson declined to comment on the Bloomberg report). But one factor that could hamstring such a grand U.S. manufacturing hub for robots is vividly illustrated in our Weekend section’s Big Read today on the global race to build humanoid robots: Much of the supply chain for humanoid robots is located in China—and that is emerging as a big advantage for Chinese robotics startups.

One of our reporters visited the Huaqiangbei district in China’s tech manufacturing capital, Shenzhen, where robotics startups can grab almost any screw, spring or motor they need to prototype their robots. “Robotics startups based in Shenzhen can walk across the road to talk to their suppliers,” one Chinese venture capitalist told us.

That’s going to be hard for U.S. robotics companies to replicate, mirroring the obstacles involved in bringing the manufacturing of devices like the iPhone to the U.S. Perhaps Son’s vision for the Arizona robotics hub is that a high enough density of startups could naturally attract a supply chain as well. But those parts are still likely to be a lot more expensive in the U.S. than they will be in China. The Arizona project may be Son’s riskiest gamble so far.

The Information’s Stories of the Week

Meta Platforms continued to be a top topic for us this week even after its $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI last week. Cory got deep inside the negotiations between the two companies. Stephanie and Cory wrote a profile packed with scoopy details about the surprising success of one of Scale’s competitors, Surge AI.

And Kalley and Cory broke the news that two prominent AI investors, Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross, are in advanced talks with Meta about joining the company to help with its AI efforts. Those talks also include discussions about Meta partially buying out Friedman and Gross’ venture fund, NFDG.

Sri and Aaron revealed a slew of details about the haggling between OpenAI and Microsoft over the terms of their partnership, including OpenAI’s push for Microsoft to have a 33% stake in a restructured for-profit unit. And they also broke news of OpenAI beginning to discount enterprise subscriptions to its ChatGPT app. Meanwhile, Rocket examined who in venture investing is most exposed to AI.

Theo got inside Amazon’s thinking about AI-powered shopping agents. Ann and Cory broke the news that Liquid Death, Silicon Valley’s favorite maker of canned water, is looking to raise $20 million in cash to expand its production capacity. Ann had a behind-the-scenes look at a race for food-delivery supremacy between DoorDash, Uber and investment firm Prosus in Europe.

In Other News

• Meta Platforms held talks with Perplexity AI about buying the AI startup prior to its $14.3 billion Scale AI investment, Bloomberg reported.

• Foxconn and Nvidia are discussing the possibility of using humanoid robots at a Foxconn factory in Houston that makes Nvidia AI servers, Reuters reported.

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