Intel

Recent news

• Jul 8, 2026

  SambaNova raises $1bn in Series F round, AI compute company valued at $11bn

  SambaNova has announced a $1 billion Series F funding round led by General Atlantic, alongside a new deployment plan with JPMorganChase for on-prem AI inference workloads.

  • The round valued SambaNova at $11bn and included investors such as Seligman Ventures, T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., Capital Group, BlackRock, Intel Capital, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), and Vista Equity Partners.
  • SambaNova said it develops Reconfigurable Data Units (RDUs) and packages them with Intel hardware; it also previously unveiled the SN50 RDU and an Intel partnership, while JPMorganChase said it will test the hardware for performance, control and reliability on on-prem inference.
• Jul 3, 2026

  Marvell boosts custom silicon push with AMD engineering lead hire

  Marvell Technology has hired former AMD engineering lead Jay Kirkland as SVP of custom silicon engineering.

  • Kirkland joins Marvell after more than six years at AMD, where he led customer engineering, platform engineering, and AI enablement for hyperscale and AI customers.
  • Marvell is also pursuing custom silicon, AI networking, and optical interconnects; the article cites a $2 billion Nvidia investment in Marvell and Marvell’s $3.25 billion acquisition of Celestial AI.
  • The story also mentions Marvell’s Teralynx T100 switch for AI and cloud data center infrastructure, and its acquisitions of Polariton Technologies and Celestial AI.
• Jul 2, 2026

  OpenAI considers giving five percent stake to US government, proposes other AI businesses join them - report

  OpenAI is reportedly debating a conceptual proposal to offer the US government a five percent stake in its business, with rival AI labs potentially expected to offer similar stakes as well.

  • The arrangement is described as conceptual and could involve transferring the stake to a sovereign wealth fund; it may require an act of Congress.
  • OpenAI is also said to be hiring Dean Ball and has proposed a public wealth fund; Sam Altman has spoken with Donald Trump, Howard Lutnick, Scott Bessent, and Bernie Sanders about AI and ownership questions.
• Jun 10, 2026 · GeoExPro

  “Running a company is like having a long-term relationship – you have to give and take, but always carry on”

  Rock Flow Dynamics has opened a new data processing centre in Serbia and previously received a $2M investment from Intel Capital which the company later bought out.

  • Main announcement: Rock Flow Dynamics opened a data processing centre in Serbia, reducing regression-test time from up to three days to eleven hours, and continues to run four major releases per year with about 10 minor releases between them.
  • Background and other details:Intel Capital invested $2 M in the company’s early years (the founders later bought Intel out), the company expanded offices to the USA (Houston) and sold first to an exploration company in Dallas; RFD has ~10 M lines of code, and is diversifying into mining, geothermal and lithium sectors.
• Jun 1, 2026

  Powering Prosperity: How Santa Clara Turned Data Centers into Civic Infrastructure

  Santa Clara city leadership frames the city as deliberately reorganized to support dense data center growth and ties that growth directly to municipal services and infrastructure funding.

  • Main action: The City of Santa Clara (Mayor Lisa Gillmor and city officials) has restructured municipal policy and utility planning to prioritize and accommodate high‑demand data center facilities, offering municipal power via Silicon Valley Power, streamlined permitting, zoned industrial land, and explicit revenue-sharing mechanisms (e.g., utility transfer tax) to make the city hospitable to data center growth.
  • Background and specifics:Fiscal and infrastructure details include: the utility transfer tax for FY 2025-26 totals $37.3 million, of which data centers contributed $24.6 million (~60%), a 95% increase since FY 2017-18; data centers have contributed >$3.9 million to affordable housing since 2019 with $1.75 million additional pipeline commitments; Silicon Valley Power is investing approximately $425 million in grid infrastructure; the Climate Action Plan requires 100% carbon‑neutral energy for new data centers and recycled water is used at 31 existing data centers (6 more proposed).
• May 15, 2026

  Phantom Data Centers Didn’t Break the Power Grid—They Proved It Was Already Broken

  Tom Bailey (VP of Energy at Flexential) argues that phantom data center interconnection requests have exposed an 80-year failure in U.S. grid planning and capacity investment.

  • Main announcement/claim: The article asserts that phantom data centers—queue positions secured by developers, brokers, and shell companies without site control or signed customers—have exposed a brittle U.S. transmission and interconnection system; cited figures include data center interconnection requests jumping from 1 GW to 25 GW in Houston, utilities projecting 5.7% annual demand growth through 2030, and FERC projecting demand growth revisions (from 3.7% to 29% in one cited comparison). The author recommends aligning load, generation, and transmission planning and securing utility contracts before land purchases.
  • Supporting details / background:Regulatory and cost responses cited include: ComEd charging $1,000,000 deposits for 50 MW+ requests in Chicago, Ohio requiring data centers to pay for at least 85% of projected energy use, Virginia locking large-load customers into 14-year contracts, and transmission shortfalls (U.S. built 888 miles of high-capacity lines in 2024 vs. DOE’s estimate of 5,000 miles annually needed). The piece is commentary from a Flexential executive describing actions taken by serious operators (phased schedules, conditional land purchases) and notes federal moves (FERC direction to revise PJM tariff and standardize large-load connections).
• May 14, 2026

  Stream Data Centers Names New CFO and New EVP of Construction

  Dallas-based Stream Data Centers has named Murray Woolcock as chief financial officer and Scott Greubel as EVP of construction.

  • Main announcement: Stream appointed Murray Woolcock (CFO) and Scott Greubel (EVP of Construction) to support hyperscale growth; the two bring more than 50 years of combined experience. Woolcock (25+ years) previously served as an operating executive at Apollo and will lead capital strategy, financial operations, reporting, procurement, and investment underwriting to scale for accelerating demand. Greubel (25 years at DPR Construction) will scale construction capabilities and replicable design/construction standards, having completed data center projects for Intel, Colo.com, Yahoo, T-Mobile, Intuit, Adobe, and Meta and helped grow DPR revenue from $650 million to over $10 billion.
  • Background/other details: In August (prior year), Apollo acquired a majority interest in Stream Data Centers from Stream Realty Partners; with Apollo backing Stream is positioned to execute on a multi-gigawatt pipeline, and Apollo Funds and affiliates may potentially deploy “billions of dollars” into next-generation digital infrastructure. No specific deployment timelines or dollar amounts were announced in this article.
• May 13, 2026

  Buckeye Mega Site Hits Market with $1B Economic Promise

  JLL’s Phoenix office announced it will market Grand View Arizona, a fully entitled, infrastructure-rich, 2,500-acre mega site in Buckeye, Arizona projected to generate over $1 billion in economic impact.

  • Main announcement: JLL Phoenix will market Grand View Arizona, a 2,500-acre, fully entitled mega site in Buckeye with 2.75 miles of Union Pacific rail frontage, highest availability of power, water and telecommunications, immediate access to Interstate 10 and the future Loop 303/State Route 30 interchange, and is projected to generate over $1 billion in economic impact. Marketing agents named include Marc Hertzberg, Anthony Lydon, Greg Matter, John Lydon and Nicole Marshall.
  • Background and project details: The site is located minutes from Phoenix-Goodyear Airport (≈11 miles) and Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (≈30 miles), is adjacent to the Verrado and Teravalis master-planned communities, and is proximate to Verrado Marketplace (a $275 million development by Vestar); the announcement frames the site as suitable for large-scale manufacturing, logistics, data centers and advanced manufacturing.
• May 8, 2026

  From Capacity to Chaos: How AI Data Centers Challenge the Grid

  Utilities and grid analysts warn that AI-scale data centers are creating new grid stability risks.

  • Main announcement/action:Dozens of data centers in Northern Virginia dropped off the grid in 2024 removing roughly 1,500 MW of load (reported by Reuters); the EIA projects ~2% annual electricity demand growth through 2027 largely driven by data centers, and regions such as PJM and ERCOT report sharp rises in peak demand and large-load interconnection requests. Utilities and analysts (Prithpal Khajuria of Intel and Ron Westfall of HyperFrame Research) say this event highlights that large loads can change in seconds, creating stability and protection coordination challenges.
  • Background and details:Utilities are lengthening interconnection evaluations as modeling must now capture ramp rates, operating modes, UPS/battery interactions, and fault behavior; efforts cited include modernizing substation architecture and improving real-time visibility. The article reports that many data-center developers still treat power as a procurement problem rather than an engineering-system problem, and that protection schemes rely on stable load assumptions which may no longer hold.
• May 5, 2026

  Meta’s Space Solar Bet Spotlights AI Power Gap

  Meta has announced partnerships with Overview Energy and Noon Energy to pursue space-based solar power (SBSP) and long-duration energy storage as long-term capacity solutions, with initial orbital demonstrations targeted for 2028.

  • Main announcement and timing: Meta is pursuing SBSP and long-duration storage via deals with Overview Energy and Noon Energy, targeting demonstrations planned for 2028; these efforts are described as a long-term capacity bet rather than an immediate fix for AI-driven power demand.
  • Background and context: Near-term constraints include US grid interconnection delays (~5 years on average per LBNL) and transmission limits; Meta already has >30 GW of contracted renewable energy and 7.7 GW of nuclear capacity through partnerships with Constellation Energy, TerraPower, Oklo, and Vistra, while experts note SBSP remains largely theoretical and multiyear due to technical, efficiency, and deployment cost challenges.
• Apr 29, 2026

  Oracle’s Project Jupiter Ditches Gas Turbines for Bloom Fuel Cells

  Oracle will replace planned gas turbines and diesel backup with a fuel-cell-based microgrid for its Project Jupiter AI data center campus in Doña Ana County, New Mexico.

  • Main announcement: Oracle has revised Project Jupiter to a single fuel-cell and storage microgrid sized to accommodate up to 2.45 GW of on-site capacity, eliminating combustion and using minimal water with closed-loop, non-evaporative cooling; Oracle says this design cuts nitrogen oxide emissions by roughly 92%. The campus spans ~1,400 acres with four hyperscale buildings and has been described as a long-term investment that could reach up to $165 billion, projecting ~4,000 construction jobs and ~1,500 ongoing roles; Oracle also has an agreement with Bloom Energy spanning up to 2.8 GW of capacity (including 1.2 GW already under contract).

  • Background and implementation details: Earlier plans included gas turbines and diesel generators but the current design removes those in favor of fuel cells and battery storage; Oracle expects to spend about $50 billion on AI infrastructure this fiscal year. Article notes typical operator practice is to deploy a limited microgrid first and plan to connect to the grid within two to three years, and highlights engineering challenges such as protection coordination, fuel-cell limitations for variable loads, and the need to size for peaks or pair with batteries.

• Apr 29, 2026

  Forward,Faster: The Environmental Dangers of Data Centers and Semiconductor Manufacturing Plantsnological

  Intel has announced plans to build two semiconductor manufacturing fabs in New Albany, Ohio and has invested nearly $30 billion in the project.

  • Project details: Intel selected New Albany, Ohio (a few miles northeast of Columbus) as the site for two semiconductor fabs, with nearly $30 billion invested for development and manufacturing; this follows federal policy under the CHIPS and Science Act to boost domestic semiconductor production.
  • Background and related concerns: The column cites data center electricity demand (Ohio projected to reach 11% of state electricity use by 2030, up from 5.3%) and rising greenhouse gas emissions at major tech firms (Google +50%, Amazon +33%, Microsoft +23%, Meta +60% over five years), and calls for greater transparency and public engagement from developers regarding environmental impacts.
• Apr 22, 2026 · IT Brief Asia

  Hetzner launches EX131 server with Intel Xeon 6731P

  Hetzner has announced the launch of the EX131 dedicated server line featuring Intel Xeon Gold 6731P processors and PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSDs.

  • Main announcement: Hetzner released the EX131 family (EX131-S to EX131-L) built on the Intel Xeon Gold 6731P (32-core, Granite Rapids). The range is the company’s first to use Gen5 NVMe drives and offers configurations from 128 GB DDR5 with two 1.92 TB Gen5 NVMe (EX131-S) up to 256 GB DDR5 with four 7.68 TB Gen5 NVMe (EX131-L). Hetzner claims up to 70 per cent more performance vs the previous model. Pricing starts at EUR €560.70/month (USD $661.90/month) with hourly rates EUR €0.8985 / USD $1.0607 and a one-off setup fee EUR €559.00 (USD $660.00); the package includes one IPv4 address.
  • Context and background: The servers operate in Hetzner’s ISO 27001-certified data centres and are positioned for database workloads, virtualisation and compute-heavy tasks. Hetzner maintains data centre parks in Nuremberg, Falkenstein and Helsinki (Germany and Finland) and notes infrastructure investments in Singapore and the United States; customer data remains subject to GDPR under European legal jurisdiction.
• Apr 16, 2026

  Industry Leaders Urge Congress to Boost Chip Policy to Win AI Race Against China

  Industry experts urged Congress to adopt policies to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing, R&D, permitting reform, and tariff exemptions to better compete with China.

  • Main announcement: During a House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade hearing (reported April 16, 2026), four industry experts testified urging Congress to pass policies to expand chip production, increase semiconductor R&D, extend tax credits, create tariff exemptions for semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and enact permitting reform to speed construction of semiconductor fabs and data centers. Key proponents include Jason Oxman (ITI), Jason Grebe (Intel), Asad Ramzanali (Vanderbilt University), and Representatives Gus Bilirakis, Darren Soto, Kathy Castor, and Yvette Clarke.
  • Background and details: The article references the CHIPS and Science Act (2022) which provided more than $50 billion in manufacturing incentives, warns of funding cuts and staff layoffs at the CHIPS program and the National Semiconductor Technology Center, notes the advanced manufacturing tax credit is slated to expire at the end of this year, and cites concerns about reliance on foreign supply chains (notably Taiwan) and slower U.S. approvals for specialty chemicals compared with Taiwan, Korea, and Japan.