📋 Quick Takeaways

• OpenAI officially begins testing ads in ChatGPT for Free and Go tier users in the U.S., marking a historic monetization shift for consumer AI
• Anthropic fires back with anti-ad manifesto and strikes AI partnership with Man Group, escalating the OpenAI rivalry to new heights
• $2 trillion wiped off software stocks in a week, yet AI bull market holds as hyperscaler capex guidance surges 24% YoY to $660B for 2026
• Alphabet raises $20 billion in its largest-ever bond sale — including a 100-year bond — to fund AI infrastructure buildout
• Firmus Technologies secures $10 billion Blackstone-led loan for Australian AI data centers, one of the largest private credit deals ever
• Melius Research downgrades Microsoft, saying CEO Nadella has “lost the AI narrative” with Copilot underperformance
• ChatGPT returns to 10%+ monthly growth, with OpenAI teasing an updated chat model shipping this week

💰 AI Monetization & Platform Strategy

OpenAI Officially Launches Ads in ChatGPT — A Watershed Moment for Consumer AI

Historic Shift: On February 10, OpenAI officially began testing advertisements inside ChatGPT, fundamentally changing the economics of consumer AI. The rollout targets logged-in adult users on the Free and Go subscription tiers in the United States.

📋 Quick Takeaways

• NVIDIA invests $2 billion in CoreWeave at $87.20/share, becoming second-largest shareholder as AI infrastructure demand surges
• Synthesia raises $200M Series E at $4B valuation led by Google Ventures, serving 70%+ of Fortune 100 companies
• Microsoft wins approval for 15 new data centers on former Foxconn site in Wisconsin with $13B+ taxable value
• CoreWeave stock surges 14% following NVIDIA deal, reaching $53.87B market cap
• Zocks raises $45M Series B for AI financial advisor platform serving 5,000+ firms
• Agentic AI market projected to reach $200B by 2034, up from $5.2B in 2024

🚀 AI Infrastructure & Major Investments

NVIDIA Invests $2 Billion in CoreWeave, Accelerating AI Data Center Buildout

Landmark Deal: NVIDIA announced on January 26 a $2 billion investment in CoreWeave at $87.20 per share, becoming the AI infrastructure provider’s second-largest shareholder and marking the latest example of the circular financing deals driving AI valuations.

📋 Quick Takeaways

• $410M+ in major AI funding including Inferact ($150M seed at $800M valuation) and Neurophos ($110M Series A for photonic chips)
• Elon Musk at Davos 2026 predicts AI smarter than any human by end of 2026, warns electrical power is limiting US AI deployment
• OpenAI introduces ads to ChatGPT, surprising Google DeepMind CEO who says Google is thinking through monetization “very carefully”
• Apple reportedly training next-gen Siri on Google Cloud TPUs, signaling major shift in Big Tech compute partnerships
• Anthropic CEO criticizes H200 chip sales to China, comparing decision to “selling nuclear weapons to North Korea”
• Jensen Huang declares AI creates trade jobs rather than destroying employment, with plumber/electrician salaries nearly doubling

🚀 Major AI Funding & Infrastructure Investment

Inferact Raises $150M Seed at $800M Valuation for AI Inference Platform

Breakthrough Funding: The commercial startup behind open-source vLLM secured $150 million in seed funding on January 22, 2026, co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Quick Takeaways

• Meta becomes world’s largest corporate nuclear power buyer with 6.6GW deals from TerraPower, Oklo, and Vistra to power AI data centers
• xAI announces 20 billion dollar Mississippi investment for MACROHARDRR data center, creating 2GW most powerful AI system
• TSMC Q4 revenue beats estimates at 33.05B (+20.45% YoY), signaling sustained AI chip demand into 2026
• CES 2026 concludes with Physical AI as dominant theme as robotics and embodied intelligence take center stage
• Google integrates Gemini 3 into Gmail for 3 billion users with AI Overviews, Help Me Write, and AI Inbox features
• Retail giants Walmart, Target, Etsy partner with OpenAI to enable AI agent commerce, marking the AI Agent Economy beginning

AI Infrastructure and Energy

Meta Signs Historic 6.6GW Nuclear Power Deals for AI Data Centers

Landmark Announcement: On January 9, 2026, Meta struck deals with TerraPower (Bill Gates-backed), Oklo (Sam Altman-backed), and Vistra for up to 6.6 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2035—enough to power approximately 5 million homes.

📋 Quick Takeaways

• AI infrastructure spending to reach $602 billion in 2026 — a 36% year-over-year increase with 75% directed toward AI projects
• Google surges past OpenAI in AI race as Sam Altman declares “code red” to match Gemini 3 performance
• Alphabet acquires Intersect Power for $4.75 billion to secure renewable energy for AI data centers
• ByteDance plans $23 billion AI infrastructure investment despite U.S. chip export restrictions
• EU AI Act enters critical enforcement phase on August 2, 2026, requiring compliance from global AI companies
• CES 2026 kicks off January 4 with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang keynote expected to shape AI industry direction

🏆 Google Overtakes OpenAI — Sam Altman Declares “Code Red”

The AI Leadership Battle Takes a Dramatic Turn

Major Shift: In a stunning reversal, Google has surged ahead in the AI race, prompting OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to declare an internal “code red” emergency as the company scrambles to match Google’s latest Gemini 3 AI models.