Oracle

Recent news

• Jul 29, 2026

  Brookfield, NextEra to Develop $100B Data Center Campus at DOE’s Paducah Site, Paired With 4.6 GW of Dedicated Generation

  Brookfield and NextEra Energy have announced a $100 billion plan to develop a privately funded AI data center campus at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Paducah Site in Kentucky, paired with up to 4.6 GW of dedicated generation.

  • The campus is expected to be fully built out in 2032 and support up to 1.8 GW of utility capacity and more than 1.2 GW of compute load; Brookfield will lease land from DOE and develop and operate the campus.
  • NextEra Energy will own and operate up to 2 GW of natural gas generation and up to 2.6 GW of BESS added in stages; the project also involves Big Rivers Electric, Jackson Purchase Energy Cooperative, and Paducah Power System, with KPSC approval still required for the power service agreement.
• Jul 27, 2026

  Ookla: Geographic Location Impacts Cloud Responsiveness

  Ookla has published an analysis showing that geography and network infrastructure affect cloud latency for AI workloads.

  • Mike Dano wrote that “cloud latency can be impacted by a variety of factors including geographic location, internet routing infrastructure and operators’ traffic steering, peering and interconnect policies.”
  • The analysis compared U.S. cities and found higher median cloud latency in smaller, rural cities; Providence, R.I. was noted as an exception at 104 milliseconds, while Chicago generally outperformed Roswell, N.M. in many cases.
  • Ookla said Oracle generally showed higher latency than AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure; it also noted that Verizon was often fastest in Roswell and T-Mobile often fastest in Chicago.
• Jul 27, 2026

  Intel Layoffs Show Data Center Workers Aren’t Immune to Corporate Job Cuts

  Intel has announced it is preparing another round of layoffs in its data center group while saying product commitments and roadmaps will not change.

  • First reported by The Oregonian, Intel notified employees in its data center group about planned cuts; the company did not disclose the number of positions or whether Oregon employees would be affected.
  • Intel said the reorganization is part of a broader strategy to become a more focused and efficient company and to ensure the group has the right roles and skills for long-term success; Intel also reported Q1 2026 data center and AI revenue of $5.1 billion, up 22% year over year.
  • The article also notes broader industry layoffs at Oracle and Microsoft amid heavy investment in AI data center expansion, and includes analyst commentary from IDC about AI being used as a pretext for job cuts.
• Jul 23, 2026

  White House Expands Data Center Ratepayer Pledge as Congress Moves to Codify Protections

  The White House expanded its voluntary Ratepayer Protection Pledge to 187 utilities, electric cooperatives, and data-center developers, while Congress advanced the bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act from committee 52-0.

  • The White House said the pledge now covers 187 organizations plus 23 governors, and the coalition “protects” 263 million Americans; signatories commit to fund generation and grid upgrades for their data-center loads without shifting costs to other ratepayers.
  • The House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced H.R. 9340 on July 21; the bill would require state regulators and nonregulated utilities to consider a large-load standard for sites with at least 100 MW peak demand and recover the full incremental cost of grid upgrades. New York’s Executive Order 62 separately put permits for 50 MW+ data centers on hold pending an environmental review.
• Jul 22, 2026

  Oracle expands Cloud@Customer with new database service for mid-sized workloads

  Oracle has announced Base Database Cloud@Customer, a managed database offering for running databases, applications, VMs, and AI agents in customers’ own data centers.

  • The new hybrid cloud service combines Base Database Service and Data Infrastructure Cloud@Customer X11; Oracle says it is now generally available and is aimed at enterprises that need data residency, regulatory compliance, and low latency.
  • The platform uses two Oracle X11 compute servers with shared all-flash storage, offering up to 60 usable processor cores, 660 GB memory per server, 47.2 TB storage, and 10/25 GbE networking; Oracle did not provide pricing.
  • The article frames the launch as especially relevant for regulated industries and for private AI behind the firewall, while noting that analysts expect adoption mainly among existing Oracle customers.
• Jul 17, 2026

  As AI spending surges, return-on-investment questions mount

  The New York Times reports that rapid AI infrastructure spending is creating financial risk for major technology companies, with Oracle especially exposed due to heavy AI-related investment and dependence on customers such as OpenAI.

  • Oracle is under financial pressure as it builds AI infrastructure, contributing to a debt downgrade and a decline in Larry Ellison’s holdings.
  • The article says major tech firms including Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle are investing hundreds of billions of dollars in AI data centers, while spending is increasingly outpacing free cash flow and forcing more reliance on debt.
• Jul 16, 2026

  Whitmer unveils data center plan that calls for legislation, promises from companies

  Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has announced a Michigan Affordable and Responsible Growth Action Plan and a voluntary pledge for data center companies, while also calling on the Michigan Legislature to codify data center safeguards into state law.

  • The plan would protect residents from higher energy rates and require companies to cover their own costs, create good-paying jobs, and follow state environmental, energy, and water-use regulations.
  • Whitmer urged lawmakers to adopt Michigan Public Service Commission safeguards; environmental groups said pledges are not enough and continued to back a temporary moratorium until enforceable protections are enacted, citing risks of natural gas expansion and delays to the state’s 100% clean energy by 2040 goal.
• Jul 13, 2026

  White House plans new pledge to shield ratepayers from data center related bill hikes - report

  The US government is expected to bring together data center firms and utility companies to announce a voluntary pledge aimed at preventing data center power demand from raising electricity costs for regular ratepayers.

  • The pledge is expected to be announced at an event in the coming weeks; no company names were disclosed for the new pledge, though several major firms are expected to join.
  • The story references earlier Ratepayer Protection Pledge signatories — Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, and xAI — and notes that states including Oregon, Oklahoma, Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, and Virginia have adopted or proposed rules making large-load data centers pay for new infrastructure costs.
• Jul 13, 2026

  UK Treasury designates big four US hyperscalers as "Critical Third Parties"

  HM Treasury has announced the first Critical Third Party designations for major cloud providers serving the UK financial sector, bringing Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Oracle under direct regulatory oversight from July 13.

  • The Bank of England, PRA, and FCA will jointly oversee the providers, with powers to gather information, assess resilience, and make and enforce CTP-specific rules to protect continuity of critical financial services.
  • The move follows concerns over banks, insurers, and financial market infrastructures’ reliance on cloud services; the Treasury said it is taking a “targeted and proportionate approach” and that more CTPs could follow. The article also notes a 2024 survey in which Microsoft, Google, and Amazon accounted for 73% of cloud computing services to UK financial companies, and references a $2.8 billion minimum-spend agreement for LSEG’s migration to Azure.
• Jul 10, 2026

  Tech giants are piling on debt to fund AI expansion

  This article is a Bloomberg analysis of Big Tech borrowing for AI infrastructure, not a first-time company announcement.

  • Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle have collectively added roughly $350 billion in debt over the past five years to finance an unprecedented expansion of AI data centers.
  • The five companies are expected to spend as much as $725 billion this year, mainly on AI data centers and high-performance chips; Amazon recently reported negative free cash flow, Oracle’s credit rating was downgraded, and a $25 billion Amazon bond offering was weakly received.
  • Combined annual interest expenses have more than doubled since 2019 to over $10 billion; analysts and investors are increasingly cautious about whether the capital expenditures will generate sufficient returns.
• Jul 10, 2026

  Siemens and FuelCell Energy partner on fuel cell power for data centers and other industrial offtakers

  Siemens and FuelCell Energy have announced a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on fuel cell-based power generation, with data centers identified as a key offtaker.

  • Siemens will design and supply electrical balance-of-plant systems for fuel cell installations supporting commercial projects above 100MW.
  • The companies will jointly develop distributed energy systems combining fuel cells, battery energy storage, microgrid controls, and medium-voltage electrical equipment, and will evaluate ways to scale deployments, improve timelines, and reduce costs.
  • The article also references prior FuelCell Energy deals: a binding agreement with Fit Energy USA for up to 380MW, and non-binding agreements with SDC for up to 450MW and Inuverse for up to 100MW in Daegu, South Korea.
• Jul 10, 2026

  FLOPS vs Megawatts: Who’s Winning in 2026 Supercomputing?

  The article provides analysis and commentary on 2026 supercomputing buildouts, contrasting public exascale systems with hyperscaler AI campuses. It is not a first-time announcement by one entity, but a roundup of recent developments and milestones.

  • The piece compares public TOP500 systems and private hyperscaler AI campuses, highlighting that private builds are measured in hundreds of megawatts to gigawatts rather than HPL scores.
  • It cites several recent milestones, including Microsoft’s Wisconsin Fairwater campus, xAI’s Colossus 2, OpenAI and Oracle’s Stargate, and Meta’s Prometheus nuclear power agreements.
  • It also notes Alice Recoque installation in France under a €354.8 million EuroHPC JU contract with Eviden and mentions the next TOP500 list at SC26 in November.
• Jul 10, 2026

  China $16 Billion AI GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) Startup Hong Kong-Listed Shanghai Iluvatar CoreX Semiconductor Raised $902 Million in Share Sale at 15% Discount to Closing Price (9/7/26), Share Price +234% Since IPO in 2026 January (8/1/26), Founded in 2015 by ex-Oracle R&D Director Li Yunpeng 

  Shanghai Iluvatar CoreX Semiconductor has announced a $902 million share sale at a 15% discount to the closing price, following its Hong Kong listing and earlier IPO fundraising.

  • The company said it raised $902 million in a share sale on 9 July 2026, priced at a 15% discount to the closing price.
  • The article also says Shanghai Iluvatar CoreX Semiconductor had its Hong Kong IPO in January 2026, raising $446 million at an IPO price of HKD 144.6 and closing at HKD 156.8 on day one; it was described as a $16 billion AI GPU startup founded in 2015 by Li Yunpeng.
• Jul 9, 2026

  Data Center Frontier Trends Summit 2026 Preview

  Data Center Frontier has announced a preview of the Data Center Frontier Trends Summit 2026, a conference focused on AI infrastructure execution, taking place August 4–6 in Reston, Virginia.

  • The episode features Matt Vincent speaking with Bill Kleyman of Apolo to preview the summit and its themes, including power-first site selection, liquid cooling, behind-the-meter generation, supply chain execution, and community acceptance.
  • The article says the industry has shifted from projection to execution and that announced megawatts are not the same as energized megawatts; it also highlights summit sessions and keynotes involving Rich Miller, Lee Kestler, NVIDIA, Meta, and the Open Compute Project.
  • The content is a podcast/article preview and commentary, not a new project announcement; it references the summit agenda and speakers, with the conference set for August 4–6, 2026 in Reston, Virginia.