Tracking the AI Gold Rush: How Much Does All This Innovation Cost? -- Pure AI

Tracking the AI Gold Rush: How Much Does All This Innovation Cost?

What big-ticket deals and strategic moves are driving the booming generative AI economy? From massive datacenter buildouts to blockbuster acquisitions, keep track of the most notable investments here.

By Gladys Rama
06/22/2024

The AI boom is driving unprecedented amounts of deal-making and strategic investing in the tech sector. Months-old startups are raising millions with each funding round, while IT's old guard are spending billions to populate the globe with datacenters purpose-built for AI workloads. Sky-rocketing demand for AI means that corporations are racing to build capital, market share and mindshare, all at costs that would rival many small countries' GDPs.

To wrap our heads around the sheer scope of today's generative AI market, the editors of PureAI.com are tracking the biggest, most consequential of these deals -- the companies behind them, what they involve and how much they cost. The bulk of our data dates from the start of 2024 (though a few notable moves previous years made it in). They are broadly divided into three categories: infrastructure investments, acquisitions and strategic partnerships.

This is not an exhaustive list. However, as a window into just how much corporate wealth is fueling the generative AI economy, it's definitely an eye-opening one.

WHEN	WHAT	WHO	WHERE	HOW MUCH
June 21, 2024	OpenAI acquires database database firm Rockset, which was reportedly valued at "a few hundred millions"	OpenAI, Rockset		"Nine figures"
June 15, 2024	Japan-based Sakana is set to raise $125 million, bringing its valuation to $1.1 billion	Sakana AI		$125 million
June 14, 2024	Microsoft plans to spend over $7.1 billion over 10 years to build new datacenters in Spain	Microsoft	Spain	$7.1 billion
June 13, 2024	AWS launches AI startup fund worth $230 million	AWS		$230 million
June 11, 2024	Mistral raises another $643.7 million, bringing its valuation to about $6.2 billion	Mistral		$643.7 million
June 11, 2024	Oracle lends Microsoft cloud capacity to support OpenAI	Oracle, Microsoft, OpenAI		Undisclosed
June 10, 2024	Apple partners with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into its products	Apple, OpenAI		Undisclosed (reportedly nothing)
June 4, 2024	Microsoft to spend $1 billion to build a new datacenter in northwest Indiana	Microsoft	Indiana, USA	$1 billion
June 4, 2024	Cisco launches $1 billion AI investment fund, with Mistral, Cohere and Scale AI its earliest beneficiaries	Cisco, Mistral, Cohere, Scale AI		$1 billion
June 4, 2024	Nvidia, Salesforce and Cisco contribute to funding round that earns Cohere $450 million	Cohere, Nvidia, Cisco, Salesforce		$450 million
June 4, 2024	AI startup Touchcast raises $100 million in funding from Microsoft, OpenAI and others	Touchcast, Microsoft, OpenAI & others		$100 million
June 3, 2024	Cloudera acquires Verta's Operational AI Platform for its machine learning group	Cloudera, Verta		Undisclosed
June 3, 2024	Microsoft invests about $3.2 billion over two years to expand its AI and cloud infrastructure in Sweden	Microsoft	Sweden	$3.2 billion
June 3, 2024	Microsoft and Hitachi ink a three-year deal to integrate Hitachi's industry software with Microsoft's AI technologies	Microsoft, Hitachi		"Multibillion"
May 30, 2024	Google commits $2 billion to build its first datacenter in Malaysia and start an AI literacy effort	Google	Malaysia	$2 billion
May 29, 2024	PwC signs on to become OpenAI's biggest customer and first reseller	OpenAI, PWC		Undisclosed
May 29, 2024	OpenAI and The Atlantic agree on a content partnership	OpenAI, The Atlantic		Undisclosed
May 29, 2024	OpenAI and Vox Media, owner of The Verge and other publications, enter into a content licensing agreement	OpenAI, Vox Media		Undisclosed
May 26, 2024	xAI gets $6 billion in funding round	xAI		$6 billion
May 22, 2024	AWS commits $17 billion over 10 years to expand its Aragon region	AWS	Spain	$17 billion
May 22, 2024	OpenAI inks five-year content licensing deal with News Corp, owner of New York Times, Wall Street Journal and others	OpenAI, News Corp		$250 million
May 22, 2024	G42, with backing from Microsoft, commits to $1 billion infrastructure buildout in Kenya.	Microsoft, G42	Kenya	$1 billion
May 21, 2024	French AI startup H raises $220 million in seed round	H, AWS, Samsung & other VCs		$220 million
May 21, 2024	Scale AI raises $1 billion in funding round	Scale AI, AMD, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta, Intel, Qualcomm & others		$1 billion
May 20, 2024	Google announces plan to spend about $1.1 billion to retrofit its Finland datacenter with energy-saving technology	Google	Finland	$1.1 billion
May 16, 2024	OpenAI and Reddit ink a content partnership	OpenAI, Reddit		Undisclosed
May 8, 2024	Microsoft to invest $3.3 billion to expand its AI infrastructure in Wisconsin	Microsoft	Wisconsin, USA	$3.3 billion
May 1, 2024	Microsoft announces plan to build new cloud and AI infrastructure in Thailand	Microsoft	Thailand	"Significant"
April 30, 2024	Microsoft commits $1.7 billion over four years to build out its AI and cloud infrastructure in Indonesia	Microsoft	Indonesia	$1.7 billion
April 26, 2024	Google to establish a new Indiana datacenter for $2 billion	Google	Indiana, USA	$2 billion
April 26, 2024	Google to spend $1 billion to expand its Virginia datacenter	Google	Virginia, USA	$1 billion
April 25, 2024	AWS plans to spend $11 billion to build new infrastructure in Indiana	AWS	Indiana, USA	$11 billion
April 24, 2024	IBM acquires HashiCorp to, in part, boost its capabilities around AI workloads	IBM, HashiCorp		$6.4 billion
April 24, 2024	Nvidia spends a reported $700 million to acquire AI container startup Run:ai	Nvidia, Run:ai		$700 million
April 23, 2024	Perplexity funding round raises $62.7 million	Perplexity, Nvidia, Jeff Bezos & others		$62.7 million
April 15, 2024	Microsoft invests $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi-based AI partner G42, making it a minority owner	Microsoft, G42		$1.5 billion
April 9, 2024	Microsoft commits $2.9 billion to build cloud and AI infrastructure in Japan	Microsoft	Japan	$2.9 billion
April 3, 2024	Nvidia to work with Indonesian government and local telco giant Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison to build an "AI Center"	Nvidia	Indonesia	$200 million
March 21, 2024	Microsoft pays Inflection AI $650 million to license its AI software	Microsoft, Inflection AI		$650 million
March 20, 2024	Google to invest $1 billion to open a new datacenter in Kansas City, Mo.	Google	Missouri, USA	$1 billion
March 27, 2024	AWS completes $4 billion investment in Anthropic	Anthropic, AWS		$2.75 billion (of $4 billion total)
March 18, 2024	Cisco acquires Splunk for $28 billion to, in part, strengthen the AI capabilities in its offerings	Cisco, Splunk		$28 billion
March 14, 2024	Apple acquires Canadian AI startup DarwinAI	Apple, DarwinAI		Undisclosed
March 4, 2024	AWS to build a cloud region in Saudi Arabia by 2026	AWS	Saudi Arabia	$5.3 billion
Feb. 29, 2024	AI robotics company Figure receives $675 million from Microsoft, Nvidia, Intel, OpenAI and others, giving it a $2.6 billion valuation	Figure, Microsoft, Nvidia, Intel, OpenAI & others		$675 million
Feb. 26, 2024	AWS to establish a new cloud region in Mexico by next year and spend $5 billion by 2039 on infrastructure	AWS	Mexico	$5 billion
Feb. 26, 2024	Microsoft enters into multiyear partnership with Mistral	Microsoft, Mistral		Undisclosed
Feb. 21, 2024	Microsoft has signed an estimated $15 billion deal with Intel to tap the latter's foundry services	Microsoft, Intel		$15 billion
Feb. 19, 2024	Microsoft commits $2.1 billion over two years to its datacenter buildout in Spain	Microsoft	Spain	$2.1 billion
Feb. 16, 2024	OpenAI is now valued at north of $80 billion after the close of a tender offer	OpenAI		$80 billion
Feb. 15, 2024	Microsoft commits $3.4B to expand its German infrastructure footprint over two years	Microsoft	Germany	$3.4 billion
Feb. 5, 2024	Nvidia acquires AI startup Deci	Nvidia, Deci		$300 million
Jan. 25, 2024	Meta to invest $800 million to build AI datacenter in Indiana	Meta	Indiana, USA	$800 million
Jan. 25, 2024	AWS commits $10 billion to build two new datacenter complexes in Mississippi	AWS	Mississippi, USA	$10 billion
Jan. 19, 2024	AWS to spend about $14.5 billion through 2027 to expand its Japan infrastructure	AWS	Japan	$14.5 billion
Jan. 18, 2024	IBM to acquire application modernization capabilities from Advanced in an AI and cloud play	IBM, Advanced		Undisclosed
Jan. 18, 2024	Arizona State University becomes the first higher education institution to work with OpenAI to use generative AI in education	OpenAI, Arizona State University		Undisclosed
Jan. 9, 2024	HPE acquires Juniper Networks for about $14 billion in equity in search for AI technology gains	HPE, Juniper		$14 billion
Jan. 4, 2024	Perplexity raises $73.6 million in funding round	Perplexity, Nvidia, Databricks, Jeff Bezos & others		$73.6 million
Dec. 4, 2023	Nvidia contributes to a $487 million funding round for Mistral, giving the startup a valuation of about $2 billion	Mistral, Nvidia, Salesforce & others		$487 million
Nov. 8, 2023	AWS reportedly plans to spend "millions" on an LLM called Olympus	AWS		"Millions"
Oct. 27, 2023	Google commits $2 billion to invest in Anthropic, starting with $500 million upfront	Google, Anthropic		$500 million (of $2 billion total)
Oct. 24, 2023	IBM acquires Manta Software to bolster its data and AI governance capabilities	IBM, Manta Software		Undisclosed
Sept. 25, 2023	AWS announces $4 billion plan to acquire minority stake in Anthropic	Anthropic, AWS		$1.25 billion (of $4 billion total)
July 19, 2023	Databricks acquires OpenAI competitor MosaicML	Databricks, MosaicML		$1.3 billion
July 13, 2023	OpenAI inks a content licensing deal with the Associated Press	OpenAI, The Associated Press		Undisclosed
Jan. 23, 2023	Microsoft invests another $10 billion in OpenAI	Microsoft, OpenAI		$10 billion
March 4, 2022	Microsoft acquires Nuance for $19.7 billion	Microsoft, Nuance		$19.7 billion
July 22, 2019	Microsoft commits its first $1 billion to OpenAI	Microsoft, OpenAI		$1 billion