Larry Dignan

CoreWeave launched two new consumption models designed for AI workloads that may differentiate the neocloud from the pack.

The first model is Flex Reservations, which guarantees peak capacity for workloads that ramp or scale unevenly. Customers buy a capacity ceiling with a lower 24/7 holding fee and only pay full usage rates when instances are active. Flex Reservations are in preview.

In addition, CoreWeave launched Spot, which is a lower-cost option for batch analytics and backfills that can tolerate interruptions. Spot is generally available.

Separately, CoreWeave announced a preview of Dedicated Inference, which gives customers the ability to run custom models in production on chose GPUs.

Nexthop AI, which is focused on efficient AI networking, raised $500 million in a Series B round and is now valued at $4.2 billion. The round was led by Lightspeed Ventures and joined by Andreessen Horowitz and existing investors.

The company also launched switches designed for neoclouds and hyperscalers. Nexthop said the switches were part of its Disaggregated Spine architecture. The Broadcom-powered switches include NH-4010, NH-4220 and NH-5010. Those switches are engineered for scale-up and scale-out infrastructure, but the theme is that they are more efficient and save power.

Ahead of Oracle’s earnings report, the company put out a statement countering a Bloomberg article noting OpenAI pulled back on a deal because facilities didn’t have the latest Nvidia GPUs. Bloomberg reported that the companies ended plans to expand a data center in Abilene, TX. Oracle reportedly secured the site, ordered the hardware and spent on construction and staff with the expectation of expansion in the future.

Oracle shot back in a post on X and said the Bloomberg report, followed by CNBC, was false and incorrect. Oracle said existing projects were on track but didn’t address the expansion plans. Oracle said:

“Recent media activity about the Abilene site are false and incorrect. First, Crusoe and Oracle are operating in lockstep to deliver one of the world's largest AI Data centers in Abilene at record-breaking pace. Two buildings are completely operational and the rest of the campus is on track. Second, Oracle has completed leasing for the additional 4.5GW to deliver on our commitments to OpenAI.”

Constellation Research analyst Michael Ni on LinkedIn covered CData's Software's latest news and how it applies to moving AI from pilot to production. He also analyzed Nimble's latest round of funding.

Qualcomm launched the Arduino Ventuno Q, a single board computer designed for AI and robotics. Qualcomm acquired Arduino in October 2025 in move to bolster its embedded AI and IoT efforts.

Arduino Ventuno Q is powered by the Qualcomm Dragonwing IQ8 chips and has 16GB RAM and 64 GB of storage for AI inference and multitasking. Arduino Ventuno Q will be available in the second quarter.

Anthropic has sued the Department of War over a long running flap over using Claude in war scenarios where it is used autonomously and for surveillance of Americans.

In the lawsuit, Anthropic said:

"Anthropic brings this suit because the federal government has retaliated against it for expressing that principle. When Anthropic held fast to its judgment that Claude cannot safely or reliably be used for autonomous lethal warfare and mass surveillance of Americans, the President directed every federal agency to “IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic’s technology”—even though the Department of War (Department) had previously agreed to those same conditions."

Anthropic argues that the decision to make the company a supply chain risk to national security is "unprecedented and unlawful" and the Constitution doesn't allow the government to wield its enormous power to punish a company for its protected speech."

Anthropic vs. SaaS: A nuanced view

OpenAI said it has acquired Promptfoo, an AI security platform that identifies and remediates security vulnerabilities. Promptfoo's technology will be a native capability in OpenAI Frontier.

• OpenAI launches OpenAI Frontier, aims to be AI agent orchestrator

UK data center company Nscale raised $2 billion in a Series C round of venture capital. The AI infrastructure company is now valued at $14.6 billion. The funding was led by Aker ASA and 8090 Industries.

MariaDB said it will acquire GridGain, an in-memory computing specialist and creator of Apache Ignite. According to MariaDB, the purchase will help it close the AI latency gap.

ABB launched ABB Ability Building Pro Suites, a "building intelligence layer" that brings HVAC, energy, IT and IoT systems together for integrated insights. The suite is aimed at real estate owners and operators.

Anthropic released research that aims to be an early warning job loss detection system for AI-related job losses. The company is looking to close the gap between perceived job losses and what's actually happening with AI usage. It's worth a read.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei posted an update on where things stand with the Department of War. In a nutshell:

1. Anthropic said it will challenge the White House assessment that it is a supply chain risk in court.
2. Most existing Anthropic customers won't be affected.
3. The tone of the most was a bit apologetic and indicated that negotiations may be going on behind the scenes.
4. Anthropic models are being used in Iran as we speak.

"Our most important priority right now is making sure that our warfighters and national security experts are not deprived of important tools in the middle of major combat operations. Anthropic will provide our models to the Department of War and national security community, at nominal cost and with continuing support from our engineers, for as long as is necessary to make that transition, and for as long as we are permitted to do so."