It’s been another momentous week in AI, with hardware and software developments that continue to reshape the industry landscape.
Snowflake Deepens Microsoft & OpenAI Partnership to Drive Forward AI Agents
Following its Q4 earnings call, AI cloud and Cortex solution provider Snowflake is planning to deepen its relationship with Microsoft and OpenAI to provide further AI business value to its clients.
Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy said:
When it comes to AI, last year was foundational for us. We introduced AI, which is now being used by customers to seamlessly build data agents for both structured and unstructured data with state-of-the-art retrieval using Cortex Search and Analyst.
Ramaswamy explained that Snowflake already has a “broad and deep partnership with Microsoft at the level of data,” and it can debut AI products on leading platforms like CoPilot and Teams.
Microsoft Reconsiders $500bn ‘Stargate’ AI Project
Microsoft looks set to end aspects of its artificial intelligence strategy, raising general questions about the pace and scale of AI infrastructure expansion. The company is reportedly backing away from participating in OpenAI’s ambitious $500 billion Stargate project, initially announced in January 2025 as a joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank.
Beyond the Stargate project, Microsoft has reportedly cancelled multiple data centre leases across the United States, amounting to hundreds of megawatts of capacity. According to TD Cowen analysts, the company has “let over a gigawatt of agreements on larger sites expire” and “walked away from multiple deals involving approximately 100 megawatts each.”
Despite speculation about potential shifts, Microsoft maintains that it remains committed to infrastructure growth. A company spokesperson stated: “While we may strategically pace or adjust our infrastructure in some areas, we will continue to grow strongly in all regions.”
Apple Matches OpenAI, Oracle with $500bn US Investment
In contrast, Apple plans to invest more than $500bn in the US over the next four years, matching the scale of the recent “Stargate” venture. The “largest-ever spend commitment” includes plans to create 20,000 new jobs, primarily in AI, research and development, and software.
A cornerstone of this initiative is a new, 250,000-square-foot factory in Houston, Texas, scheduled to open in 2026. The facility will produce servers that were “previously manufactured outside the US” specifically to support Apple Intelligence, the company’s AI system.
The announcement follows a recent meeting between Apple CEO Tim Cook and President Donald Trump, who has prioritized increasing corporate investment in the US.
Alibaba Commits $53 Billion and Releases Impressive AI Video Generator
Buoyed by the recent release of its excellent genAI engine, Alibaba Group has announced plans to invest at least RMB 380 billion (US $53 billion) over the next three years to advance its cloud computing and AI infrastructure. This sizeable investment exceeds Alibaba’s total AI and cloud spending over the past decade.
During the company’s latest earnings call, CEO Eddie Wu described AI as a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity, positioning Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) as Alibaba’s primary long-term objective:
Today, AI technology advancements are driving profound industry transformation… The AI era presents a clear and massive demand for infrastructure. We will aggressively invest in AI infrastructure. Our planned investment in cloud and AI infrastructure over the next three years is set to exceed what we have spent over the past decade.
While Alibaba’s shares have climbed over 40% this month, the stock slipped by more than 5% to 136.04 in premarket trading following the announcement. The investment announcement follows Alibaba’s release of its Qwen 2.5-Max AI model, which the company claims “outperforms almost across the board” compared to OpenAI’s GPT-4o, DeepSeek-V3, and Meta’s Llama-3.1-405B.
