In early January 2026, Intel made a bold declaration at CES: it is back, and it’s playing to win in the AI hardware race. Under the gleam of the Las Vegas convention lights, Intel unveiled its next-generation processors aimed not just at reclaiming relevance but at setting new standards in artificial intelligence computation. At the…

Despite macroeconomic volatility and tighter monetary policy, 2025 is charting a new trajectory for startup capital. Global venture funding surged past expectations in Q1 2025, making it the third-largest single quarter since Crunchbase began tracking investments, with $94 billion deployed globally. This resurgence in funding reflects a pivot in investor appetite toward profitability-centric innovation, AI-powered…

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, has raised a staggering $20 billion in fresh capital as of early 2026, signaling a market that remains resolutely bullish on AI infrastructure—even amidst intensifying ethical scrutiny over Musk’s chatbot product Grok. This funding round, one of the largest in AI history, repositions xAI among the most capitalized generative…

U.S. semiconductor startups have reached a historic milestone in 2025, closing out the first quarter with record-breaking venture capital inflows that underscore a seismic shift in both investor appetite and national policy orientation. According to a Crunchbase News report published in April 2025, venture investment in U.S.-based semiconductor startups surpassed $4.1 billion in Q1 2025—the…

In January 2026, the geopolitical lexicon acquired a new term: the Donroe Doctrine. Coined in a January 2026 Axios report, the phrase describes a noticeable shift in U.S. foreign and economic policy under National Security Advisor Ayanna Donroe. Where past doctrines prioritized ideologies or territorial alliances, Donroe’s construct orbits around strategic control of three increasingly…

In 2026, the venture capital landscape is tilting decisively toward a model of “bigger rounds, fewer winners.” Startups securing capital are raising larger checks—often exceeding previous stage norms—while the broader pipeline narrows significantly. Investors are deploying record sums but into a smaller basket of companies, particularly in AI-driven sectors. Following a turbulent macroeconomic period, VC…