openai and deepseek advance as google updates

OpenAI announced a significant 10-year plan on January 19, 2026, to establish an AI hardware ecosystem within the United States. This initiative, dubbed a "Silicon Renaissance," aims to localize manufacturing for data center components, robotics, and consumer devices. The company's Request for Proposals seeks to build a resilient domestic supply chain, reducing bottlenecks and supporting its expanding compute needs, following the Stargate Project which is ahead of schedule for its 10-gigawatt power commitment.

Goldman Sachs' Kim Posnett, speaking from Davos on January 19, anticipates strong M&A and capital markets activity in 2026, with AI serving as a primary growth driver. She noted 2025 as a pivotal year for AI, moving from experimentation to industrialization with models like DeepSeek-R1. Meanwhile, Qatar's wealth fund, QIA, managing $500 billion, will adopt a selective approach to AI investments, focusing on businesses demonstrating clear revenue potential and productivity gains, particularly in financial services and industrials, while maintaining the US as a central investment hub.

In other company news, Wells Fargo and Needham analysts reaffirmed support for Braze's AI-enabled customer engagement platform, highlighting its data-first offerings and flexible Flex Credits. BrazeAI Decisioning Studio's launch on Google Cloud Marketplace further strengthens its market position, as the company targets $1.0 billion in revenue by 2028. Oracle's aggressive expansion into AI infrastructure, partly funded by new debt and a cloud partnership with OpenAI, is drawing investor scrutiny due to stock volatility and transparency concerns.

Looking at broader AI implications, Groq CEO Jonathan Ross, whose company was acquired by NVIDIA, predicts AI will lead to labor shortages and the creation of new job categories, rather than mass unemployment, while also causing massive deflation. The fundamental "transformer" architecture, utilizing self-attention, remains key to today's powerful AI tools, enabling models to understand context effectively. A new concept, "planetary intelligence," could emerge by combining large-scale AI with global sensing satellites to understand and reason about the physical world in real time.

Despite the rapid advancements, a PwC Global CEO survey released on January 19, 2026, indicates that most CEOs are still waiting for financial returns from their AI investments. Over half of the 4,500 surveyed CEOs reported no revenue or cost benefits from AI to date, with only 12% seeing both. Separately, Fidelity Digital Assets forecasts that 2026 will be a transformative year for digital assets, with AI, quantum computing, structured products, and tokenization shaping crypto's future beyond mere speculation.

Key Takeaways

  • OpenAI announced a 10-year plan on January 19, 2026, to build an AI hardware ecosystem in the US, focusing on localizing manufacturing for data centers, robotics, and consumer devices.
  • Goldman Sachs expects AI to be a major growth catalyst for M&A and capital markets in 2026, following 2025's industrialization of AI, including models like DeepSeek-R1.
  • Qatar's QIA will take a selective approach to AI investments, prioritizing businesses with clear revenue potential and productivity gains, especially in financial services and industrials.
  • Braze's AI-enabled customer engagement platform received renewed analyst support, with its BrazeAI Decisioning Studio now available on Google Cloud Marketplace.
  • Oracle's aggressive AI infrastructure expansion, including a cloud partnership with OpenAI, is raising investor concerns due to increased debt and stock volatility.
  • Groq CEO Jonathan Ross, whose company was acquired by NVIDIA, predicts AI will create labor shortages and new job categories, leading to deflation rather than mass unemployment.
  • The "transformer" architecture, utilizing self-attention, is the core innovation enabling today's powerful AI tools to understand context and relationships in data.
  • A new phase of AI, termed "planetary intelligence," could emerge by combining large-scale AI models with global sensing satellites for real-time physical world understanding.
  • A PwC Global CEO survey found that over half of CEOs are still awaiting financial returns from their AI investments, with only 12% reporting both increased revenue and decreased costs.
  • Fidelity Digital Assets predicts that AI, quantum computing, structured products, and tokenization will drive the future of digital assets in 2026.

OpenAI plans 10-year US hardware push

OpenAI announced a 10-year plan on January 19, 2026, to build an AI hardware ecosystem in the US. This plan involves a Request for Proposals to create US-based manufacturing for data center parts, robotics, and consumer devices. The company aims for a "Silicon Renaissance" to ensure supply chain stability and US leadership in AI. This initiative follows the Stargate Project from March 2025 and seeks to localize significant manufacturing portions.

OpenAI aims for US hardware leadership

OpenAI plans to expand into hardware manufacturing with a decade-long strategy to localize production in the US. Announced on January 19, 2026, this move aims to build a strong supply chain for consumer devices, robotics, and data centers. CEO Sam Altman believes this will secure US leadership in the "Intelligence Age." The company's Request for Proposals outlines an ambitious vision beyond software, focusing on silicon, motors, and cooling systems. This initiative builds on the Stargate Project and its 10-gigawatt power commitment.

OpenAI localizes data center supply chains

OpenAI launched a 10-year plan on January 15, 2026, to localize manufacturing for data centers and AI hardware in the US. This strategy aims to build a resilient and controlled domestic infrastructure. The Request for Proposals covers consumer devices, robotics, and especially data center components like power systems and cooling technologies. OpenAI believes this will reduce bottlenecks and support its expanding compute needs. This initiative follows the Stargate Project, which is ahead of schedule for its 10-gigawatt power commitment.

Analysts back Braze AI platform growth

In January 2026, Wells Fargo and Needham showed renewed support for Braze's AI-enabled customer engagement platform. Analysts highlighted Braze's data-first, AI-focused offerings and flexible pricing like Flex Credits as strengths. The launch of BrazeAI Decisioning Studio on Google Cloud Marketplace also connects to these AI and data themes. While analysts are positive, concerns remain about profitability and integration costs. Braze aims for $1.0 billion in revenue and $133.0 million in earnings by 2028.

Planetary intelligence could be AI's next step

A new phase of AI called "planetary intelligence" could emerge by combining large-scale AI models with global sensing satellites. This technology would help machines understand, anticipate, and reason about the physical world in real time. Instead of sending raw imagery to Earth, advanced processors on satellites would process data in orbit. This could significantly expand AI's real-world uses for disaster response, agriculture, security, and climate issues. The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2026 will explore ethical AI solutions for global challenges.

Goldman Sachs sees AI driving 2026 growth

Kim Posnett, Goldman Sachs' global co-head of Investment Banking, shared her outlook for 2026 from Davos on January 19. She expects strong M&A and capital markets activity, with AI serving as a major growth catalyst. Posnett noted 2025 was a breakout year for AI, moving from experimentation to industrialization with models like DeepSeek-R1 and the Stargate project. Companies are now focused on deploying AI rapidly, shifting from AI-assisted to AI-led processes. She also highlighted differing global AI policies, including US Executive Orders and the EU AI Act.

Qatar wealth fund takes careful AI investment approach

Mohammed Al-Sowaidi, CEO of Qatar's wealth fund QIA, stated on January 19, 2026, that the fund will take a more selective approach to AI investments. Speaking from Davos, he emphasized backing businesses that show clear revenue potential and productivity gains from AI. QIA, which manages $500 billion, will focus on sectors like financial services and industrials that benefit most from AI. The fund will also continue investing in minerals, commodities, and data centers, with the US remaining central to its strategy.

Crypto's future shaped by AI and new products

Fidelity Digital Assets predicts that 2026 will be a turning point for digital assets. Crypto's next phase will be driven by structured products, tokenization, and emerging technologies like AI and quantum computing. Institutional adoption and new market infrastructure are redefining digital assets beyond speculation. The integration of blockchain technology into capital markets is expected to deepen with more investment vehicles.

Oracle's AI push with OpenAI raises debt concerns

Oracle's aggressive move into AI infrastructure, funded by new debt and a cloud partnership with OpenAI, is drawing scrutiny. The company's shares have been volatile, with a 19.87% return over the past year but a 31.06% decline in the last 90 days. Investors are questioning the risks and transparency of this debt-funded expansion. While Oracle's cloud business continues to grow, analysts are examining how this strategy will impact its long-term financial health and competitive position.

Groq CEO predicts AI will create job shortages

Jonathan Ross, CEO of Groq, predicts that AI will lead to labor shortages and create many new jobs, rather than causing mass unemployment. Ross, whose company was acquired by NVIDIA, believes AI will cause massive deflation, making goods and services cheaper. This will lead people to work fewer hours and retire earlier. He also expects entirely new industries and job categories to emerge, similar to how jobs like software developers did not exist a century ago.

Transformer architecture supercharged AI

The "transformer" architecture is the key innovation behind today's most powerful AI tools. This approach replaced older recurrent neural networks with a radical concept called self-attention. Self-attention allows AI to compare every word in a sentence simultaneously, understanding context and relationships between words. This method helps AI models like those used for writing poetry or predicting protein structures to process information more effectively. AI researcher Ashish Vaswani notes it leverages vast internet data for tasks.

PwC survey finds CEOs await AI returns

A PwC Global CEO survey released on January 19, 2026, found that most CEOs are still waiting for financial returns from their AI investments. Over half of the 4,500 CEOs surveyed reported no revenue or cost benefits from AI to date. Only 12% saw both increased revenue and decreased costs. Mohamed Kande, PwC's global chairman, stated that companies with a strong AI foundation are more likely to see measurable returns. CEOs also expressed less confidence in short-term growth, with only 30% confident about revenue growth in the next year.

Sources

NOTE:

This news brief was generated using AI technology (including, but not limited to, Google Gemini API, Llama, Grok, and Mistral) from aggregated news articles, with minimal to no human editing/review. It is provided for informational purposes only and may contain inaccuracies or biases. This is not financial, investment, or professional advice. If you have any questions or concerns, please verify all information with the linked original articles in the Sources section below.

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