Big Tech Companies

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Anthropic seeks valuation of about $1.3 trillion when it becomes a publicly traded company

Artificial intelligence giant Anthropic is looking for an approximately $1.3 trillion valuation when it goes public despite new concerns about the massive amounts debt and money flowing into the sector. Read More.   Nvidia and Jensen Huang face shareholder lawsuit alleging investors were misled about spy affair A shareholder has sued Nvidia and its CEO, Jensen Huang, accusing them of deceiving investors in their responses to media reports about Huang's affair with a purported Chinese spy that threatens national security. Read More.

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🔎 Nvidia's peril deepens

Data: FactSet. Chart: Matt Phillips/Axios Nvidia doesn't have a clear succession plan for CEO Jensen Huang, as growing spy-scandal revelations threaten his hold on the chips giant he founded, built and personified. Why it matters: The peril for Huang (pronounced wong) shows the vulnerabilities of an iconic company being so dependent on one executive — with huge risks to investors, customers and, in this case, the AI economy, Axios' Nathan Bomey and Emily Peck report. The mushrooming scale of the crisis: Nvidia controls the most valuable commodity in the world, and one man controls Nvidia. China is hungry to buy or copy Nvidia's chips, which could determine which superpower wins the AI race. After denying it, Jensen Huang admitted Sunday to an affair with Alice Huang, an executive of a Singapore-based data center company who is believed by U.S. intelligence to be a spy for the Chinese government. Jensen Huang was in frequent, chummy communication with President Trump during the affair. Trump ignored warnings from the top of his administration and allowed chip sales that benefited the Chinese spy's company. The Commerce Department was digging hard on Nvidia and the spy's company, until it abruptly wasn't amid Nvidia's interventions — reporting by The New York Times that opened a new front in the crisis yesterday. (Gift link) 🔭 The big picture: The storm over Nvidia "may exacerbate fears among investors over the durability of the AI boom, after a revolt against data centers by voters in America's midterm elections," The Economist notes. Go deeper: "Nvidia's crisis and the politics of an AI pause," by Axios chief tech correspondent Ina Fried.