For a few days, the labs went head-to-head on hardware and cash: OpenAI teased a future model by solving math problems, and Anthropic closed a ten-billion-dollar cloud deal. Infrastructure tagged along too — from chip batteries and memory to wallets for the AI agents themselves.
🤖 AI
OpenAI shows off what its future Astra model can do
An internal version of the model solved 10 math problems that had stumped researchers for over a decade — spanning group theory to quantum complexity. The company published a 249-page manuscript with proofs in Lean, and solving all ten problems cost $2,000 at GPT-5.6 Sol rates.
Microsoft is quietly testing a voice model called MAI Realtime
Insiders found hidden early access to MAI Realtime — the model listens and talks at the same time, no turn-taking, and switches between nearly twenty languages on the fly. TestingCatalog broke the leak: it reportedly sounds noticeably more natural than Copilot's voice mode.
💻 Software
Cloudflare open-sources the bot that zeroed out Astro's issue backlog
Four agents took turns reproducing the bug, finding the root cause, and prepping a preview release for the reporter — the backlog dropped from 200+ issues to about 20, a first in the project's five-year history. Cloudflare open-sourced the triagebot-action for other maintainers to use.
⚙️ Robots & hardware
Samsung unveils zHBM architecture for AI chips
The new memory sits stacked vertically right on top of the accelerator instead of next to it — promising 8x the performance and 10x the density of HBM5. The roadmap was unveiled at the FMS 2026 trade show.
Base Power raises $1B for its Core home batteries
The Series D round values the startup at $13B — the company has already shipped over 500 MWh of batteries and signed contracts for 200+ MW with power grids. Base Core units, up to 78.4 kWh of capacity, install in under an hour and are sold subscription-only.
💰 Business
Anthropic signs a $10B deal with cloud startup Volta
The six-year contract gives Anthropic capacity on Nvidia Vera Rubin chips at a new 133-megawatt Norwegian data center being built by Bitdeer. Volta was only founded in January 2026, by former Brookfield executives.
SpaceX sets its sights on AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile's turf
The company plans to build out ground infrastructure — towers and small cells — on top of Starlink's satellite internet and launch the service by the end of 2027. SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said on the company's first quarterly call that she expects to poach carrier customers on connection speed alone.
Cloudflare launches wallets for AI agents
Cloudflare Wallets give agents a persistent identity and a stablecoin wallet so they can pay for APIs and content on their own via the x402 protocol, with spending limits and an allowlist of approved merchants. For now, only handle registration is live — actual payments come later.