Starlink

2026-10-26

MONEY · 1 SOURCE · TechCrunch AI

SpaceX secures roughly $40B Apollo-backed GPU lease to expand AI compute

SpaceX disclosed a binding commitment for about $40 billion in financing from an entity managed by Apollo Global Management to buy GPUs and related server hardware, which Apollo will lease to SpaceX for roughly five to 5.25 years; SpaceX expects the deal to close by year-end and leases to begin as equipment (including Nvidia’s next‑generation Vera Rubin chips) arrives in H1 2027. The financing is intended to fund SpaceX’s rapidly expanding AI efforts — including Grok and cloud compute — and CFO Bret Johnsen said the company sees payback periods under one year on its AI infrastructure investments.

9.0

2026-10-20

COMPANIES · 1 SOURCE · TechCrunch AI

SpaceX’s 'Super Intelligence' AI business drives 52% of Q3 revenue; neocloud at 1.7 GW

SpaceX reported $14.6 billion in third-quarter revenue, with its renamed 'Super Intelligence' business — which includes Grok, Cursor and its neocloud compute fleet — accounting for about 52% of income and the neocloud reaching 1.7 GW of compute. The quarter also included roughly $1 billion tied to bitcoin-price recovery and unspecified related-party income, while capital expenditures totaled $19.6 billion as SpaceX continues building the Colossus II data center and investing in Starship and Starlink.

8.0

2026-10-14

MODELS · 1 SOURCE · xAI

Grok Voice 3.0 released — low-latency speech-to-speech model available in Voice Agent API

Grok Voice 3.0, a speech-to-speech model, is being rolled out in the Voice Agent API at the same $0.08/min price as its predecessor. Independent tests (Artificial Analysis) rank it #1 on a Speech-to-Speech Index and report sub‑1s latency and lower cost versus comparable frontier models; it is already deployed across millions of daily conversations in Tesla vehicles and Starlink/SpaceX call centers, with reported high task success and automation rates.

8.0

2026-09-23

COMPANIES · 1 SOURCE · WIRED AI

AT&T automates operations with AI, cuts jobs and retires copper network

AT&T is accelerating workforce reductions while automating internal processes with AI—using tools like a generative system called GeoModeler for network adjustments and deploying DriveNets cloud software to replace hardware at thousands of central hubs starting next year. The company is also retiring much of its copper landline/DSL network (saving energy) as it refocuses on fiber and wireless; a source said AT&T could target about 85,000 employees by 2030 if cuts continue, a figure the company disputed.

8.0

2026-09-16

MODELS · 1 SOURCE · xAI

Grok Voice Think Fast 2.0 released: vendor announces next‑gen speech-to-speech model with higher accuracy and reasoning

The vendor announced Grok Voice Think Fast 2.0, a next‑generation speech-to-speech model that it says improves transcription accuracy, conversational behavior, and on-the-fly reasoning versus Grok Voice Think Fast 1.0 and compared competitors (Deepgram Nova 3, ElevenLabs Scribe v2). The announcement reports 1.4×–2.0× gains on thousands of short phrases, ~10× advantage in noisy settings, A/B improvements in Starlink support/sales tests, rollout to grok-voice-latest on August 5, 2026, and pricing of $0.08 per minute of audio.

8.0