Mega-AI Infra Spend, Markets & Trade Jitters

WHAT’S INSIDE

• Tech In The News: Crypto reserve, tariffs, chips exports, TMSC + more

• Companies to watch: Anthropic, Ramp, Honor, ServiceNow, Snowflake

• Feature: Mega-AI Infra Spend, Markets & Trade Jitters 

• Buzzy Tools: Latest Buzzy tech, AI and financial tools

• Deep Tech: The latest in deep tech, biotech, futurism and more

• Space Tech: Latest news in the space race and aerospace tech

• Crypto: Blockchain and crypto policy and startups or protocols to watch

TECH IN THE NEWS

Markets Tumble — US stocks fell sharply with Dow dropping 650 points amid poor manufacturing data, impending tariffs; automakers, tech hit hardest.

Intel's Foundry Hope — Nvidia and Broadcom are testing chips using Intel's 18A process, potentially offering crucial contracts despite delays in its foundry business.

Kung Fu Bot Goes Open — Unitree Robotics open-sources its G1 robot algorithms and hardware designs, a possible DeepSeek moment for robotics.

AI Hardware Crunch — OpenAI's GPT-4.5 rollout is delayed by GPU shortages; available to Pro subscribers at $200/month but costs $75 per million input tokens.

US-EU Content Clash — FCC Chairman Carr criticizes the EU's Digital Services Act as incompatible with US free speech, urging tech companies to resist censorship.

Trade War — Tariffs on Canada, Mexico, China imports start today. China prepares countermeasures targeting US agricultural exports.

Design for Government — Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia joins Musk's DOGE to improve government retirement processes, causing some hosts to pull listings.

COMPANIES TO WATCH

Anthropic — The leading AI startup raises $3.5B at a $61.5B valuation to enhance AI, expand compute. Amazon added $4B while optimizing chips for its models.

Ramping Up — Ramp nearly doubles to $13B valuation after a $150M secondary sale to GIC, Stripes, Thrive, and others, while hitting $700M ARR in January, up from $300M 18 months ago.

Honor — The Chinese smartphone giant pledges $10B for AI over 5 years, deepening Google ties with 7-year Android support for flagship devices.

ServiceNow — Launches Nvidia-powered AI agents for telecoms to autonomously solve customer service and network issues, to unlock significant value by 2040.

Snowflake — Adding $200M to a startup accelerator focused on early-stage AI startups, with funding coming from various VC partners while continuing heavy investments in AI initiatives.

HOTTEST THING IN TECH
Mega-AI Infra Spend, Markets & Trade Jitters 

The past week has been a whirlwind for AI infrastructure, as major players double down on U.S. investments. Yet, despite the continued influx of capital, AI markets are showing early signs of cooling off, raising concerns that hyperscale investments may be getting ahead of demand. Compounding these concerns is the ballooning dominance of U.S. equities in global markets. The U.S. now accounts for nearly two-thirds of the world's investable market, a surge largely driven by the tech sector and AI-related companies. This concentration has some analysts worried about a potential bubble, reminiscent of past market excesses like the dotcom crash. Analysts are cautioning that global investors are increasingly vulnerable to this huge bet on AI.

AI Infrastructure Spend

TSMC just announced a $100B expansion in U.S. chip manufacturing, including three new Arizona fabs, advanced packaging facilities, and R&D hubs. The newly announced $100 billion U.S. expansion is notable for its scale and scope. Unveiled during a White House meeting, the plan will add five facilities, including three advanced chip fabrication plants (fabs) and two chip packaging facilities. 

Apple revealed a Texas-based AI server factory as part of its $500B domestic investment strategy. Apple, meanwhile, has highlighted that its U.S. supply chain already includes 24 factories across 12 states producing silicon components for its devices. Its expanded Advanced Manufacturing Fund will direct “multibillion-dollar” support to produce advanced silicon at TSMC’s Arizona factory.

Meanwhile, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are all on track to spend over $300 billion on domestic AI infrastructure this year. Meta alone is in discussions to raise $35B for the development of data centers in the U.S., led by Apollo Global.

Meanwhile, OpenAI revealed its GPT-4.5 rollout is delayed due to GPU shortages, with Sam Altman saying it plans to add thousands of additional Nvidia GPUs soon. 

Market Gets The Jitters

Despite this, markets fell sharply Monday after the ISM manufacturing index came in lower than expected, as new orders contracted and the price measure surged. Investors are also cautious ahead of tariffs on Mexico, Canada & China coming into effect today and news of further China chip export bans. The S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones all closed significantly lower, with the Dow dropping 650 points, as this poor manufacturing data and impending tariffs spooked investors. Automakers and tech stocks were particularly hard hit. Leading AI infrastructure play, Nvidia has now dropped by nearly 9% in the past few days. This all came on top of the yield curve inverting last week and CPI increasing, alongside other worrying macro signals.

📉 *Tariffs, Trade Wars & The Market Rollercoaster

The geopolitical backdrop to the AI boom is heating up. The Trump administration just announced a 25% tariff on semiconductor imports, with gradual increases planned throughout 2025. Taiwan’s Vanguard Semiconductor warns that these tariffs could exacerbate inflation and ripple through global supply chains. Meanwhile, China is preparing countermeasures, likely targeting US agricultural exports, although Beijing still hopes for negotiations to avoid an escalating trade war.

The US reportedly may also impose more significant AI export restrictions to China, potentially impacting Nvidia's revenue by $4 to $6B and affecting other chipmakers like Broadcom. Microsoft is among those advocating for changes to U.S. policies that limit AI chip exports, arguing they could disadvantage the U.S. in the global AI race. This puts TSMC’s U.S. expansion into context— it's both a hedge against tariffs and a play for CHIPS Act funding.

🏗 Onshore Tax Credits & Strategic Land Grab

Federal and state-level tax credits are turning the AI gold rush into a land grab. The CHIPS Act is pumping billions into domestic semiconductor production, and state-level incentives like New Jersey’s AI tax credit program are making onshore manufacturing and AI infrastructure more financially viable. On the ground, U.S. real estate and finance sectors should expect a push for AI-driven manufacturing hubs, especially in states offering onshore tax credits (New Jersey, Texas, Idaho, and New York are at the forefront). 

Meanwhile, as Trump’s Ukraine minerals deal looks to be in jeopardy and China continues to control much of the vital supply chains, US firms are looking to secure raw materials through local projects – for example, General Motors invested $650M in a Nevada lithium mine to ensure battery mineral supply. In aggregate, these investments represent a historic drive to rebuild American capacity in chips, minerals, manufacturing, and data infrastructure.

⚡ AI's Next Inflection Point

The AI sector is at a strategic inflection point. The past week’s seemingly mixed news of massive capital inflows, tariff escalations, and stock market concentration concerns —signals that 2025 will be a make-or-break year for AI infrastructure plays. For startups, this means pacing growth in line with compute demand, avoiding capital burn traps, and watching how hyperscalers adapt to shifting policies. For investors, picking the right AI-adjacent bets (materials, supply chain, efficiency-focused AI infra) could be key to de-risking exposure. AI infrastructure is still a massive growth sector, but capital is shifting toward efficiency as Trade and tariff policies look set to dictate the next 12 months of AI investment flows. Being mindful of potential market bubbles, it may be time to diversify investments and mitigate risks associated with the U.S.'s dominant share in global equity markets. 

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BUZZY TOOLS 
Buzzy Tools To Watch & Use

Google Colab — Data Science Agent helps clean data, visualize trends using Gemini.

Deutsche Telekom — Voice-controlled "AI Phone" with Perplexity AI Assistant.

Nvidia — Blackwell Ultra GPUs coming late 2025 with 288GB memory.

Meta — Standalone AI app launching Q2 2025 to compete with OpenAI and Google.

You.com — ARI research agent generates reports from 400+ sources in minutes.

Qodo — 1.5B parameter code embedding model outperforms OpenAI/Salesforce AI.

DEEP TECH
The Latest Technology & Trends To Watch

Unitree G1 — O-s kung-fu capable robot software is robotics’ DeepSeek moment.

Stanford CO₂ Tech — Enhanced rocks absorb 1000x more carbon.

Shape-Shifting Bots — Mini robots transition between fluid/solid states, self-heal.

Apptronik — Humanoid robots for manufacturing with Jabil, targeting 2026.

SPACE_RACE

—SpaceX_Postponed Starship Flight 8 due to booster/ship issues until March 4

—NASA LEAP_Funding jumping robot to explore Enceladus' cryovolcano plumes

—Firefly_Blue Ghost lander captures first lunar sunrise, begins operations for NASA

—Mars Beaches_Zhurong rover finds evidence of ancient shorelines, oceans, life

CRYPTO WATCH

Federal Crypto Reserve — Trump proposes creating a federal reserve of Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Solana, and Cardano via executive order, boosting crypto prices as he aims to establish a national digital asset stockpile.

Crypto Pullback — Bitcoin fell after initial gains following Trump's reserve proposal, with eth and XRP also declining as experts criticized funding sources, taxpayer impact.

Kraken Victory — The SEC agreed to dismiss lawsuit against Kraken with no penalties or admission of wrongdoing, marking a significant shift in crypto regulation that the exchange calls a win for the industry.

SEC Meme Coin Ruling — The SEC declares most meme coins aren't securities, contrasting with former chairman Gensler's stricter approach.

TRENDING ONLINE#

Social Trends:

Andrej Karpathy drops another long-form tutorial about how he uses LLMs for everything from building custom GPTs to tackling advanced data analysis.

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