AI Week in Review: July 27 – August 2, 2026

Amid soaring energy demand from AI data centers, Antora says it will use its new capital to speed up deployment of "large-scale" projects across the country.

The deal gives Okta identity threat detection capabilities as enterprises seek to secure AI agents and other non-human identities across cloud environments.

The deal is Cyera's third acquisition this year.

Data center builder Nscale Global Holdings Ltd. today announced plans to acquire Anyscale Inc., a venture-backed provider of artificial intelligence software. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Bloomberg cited a source as saying that Nscale is paying $1.65 billion.

Okta Inc. said today it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Permiso Security Inc., a startup whose software hunts for attackers abusing identities across cloud accounts, software-as-a-service applications and, more recently, artificial intelligence agents. No price was announced.

Data security company Cyera Ltd. revealed today that it is set to acquire nonhuman identity management startup Oasis Security Ltd. in a deal Israeli media report is worth about $1 billion. Neither company disclosed terms.

Shares in PayPal Holdings Inc. closed regular trading up 4% today after the payments company beat expectations on revenue and earnings in its second quarter and raised its full-year profit forecast, less than two weeks after a $53 billion buyout offer from Stripe Inc.

Add another member to the fast-and-furious AI unicorn club: Simile.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems raised $1 billion as the startup moves toward its first commercial fusion power plant.

When Microsoft reported killer fourth-quarter earnings for its fiscal 2026 year (which ended June 30), it tucked in an interesting little tidbit about how.

The biggest long-term gains from AI will not flow to heavyweight incumbents or many AI-native startups but to scrappy middle-market technology companies, the.

Spur Intelligence has raised a $200 million round from Insight Partners for its tech that can identify legit human traffic from bots.

Recursive's emphasis on self-improving AI systems means much of the budget that would traditionally go toward headcount and operations is put straight into.

Startups at the intersection of AI and security have raised $855 million across more than 150 reported seed-stage rounds this year, per Crunchbase data.

Telecom expects AI revenue from dark fiber deals and retrofitted data centers.

Antares has raised $470 million to build small modular reactors - 100 kW to 1 MW - for U.S. Air Force bases.

Israeli network chip startup Xsight Labs Ltd. said today it has closed on a $300 million funding round that brings its valuation to $2.8 billion.

Below, we break down some of tech's biggest stories, with analyst perspective on the moves that matter the most.

OpenAI Group PBC today launched a program that will give 100,000 researchers free access to ChatGPT's advanced features. ChatGPT for Academic Researchers is part of a $250 million OpenAI initiative designed to support scientific projects. The initiative also includes several other programs.

The U.S. government will provide GlobalFoundries with $300 million in funding to support its silicon photonics research. The U.S. Commerce Department committed to providing the capital in a letter of intent that was announced today.

Silicon Valley-based chip interconnect startup Eliyan Corp.'s valuation has increased to $1 billion after it closed on a $145 million Series C funding round today. Seligman Ventures led the round, with Cisco Ventures and Lumentum also backing the newly minted unicorn.

Meta Platforms Inc. today announced plans to build an artificial intelligence data center campus in El Paso, Texas. The project is a collaboration with BlackRock Inc., the world's largest asset manager. The two companies plan to invest $14 billion in the campus.