SoftBank Pours $2B Into Intel As Nvidia Plans China Chip, Databricks Tops $100B, KuCoin Launches AI Gaming Token

The AI flywheel kept spinning across chips, cloud, and capital. SoftBank wrote a $2 billion confidence check to Intel as Nvidia readied a new China compliant accelerator. Databricks lined up a >$100B round, Palo Alto Networks guided higher on AI security demand, and KuCoin’s Spotlight lit up an AI gaming token sale. Taken together, the tape still rewards compute, data gravity, and applied outcomes, while crypto leans on launchpads and promos.

📈 AI Market Movers & Trends

SoftBank will invest $2B into Intel at $23/share, roughly a ~2% stake, framing a bid to shore up U.S. chip capacity and signaling patience for Intel’s AI pivot. Intel popped on the news. Nvidia is developing a new Blackwell based AI chip for China (reportedly “B30A”) that would outgun the H20 within U.S. export limits, samples could land as soon as September, pending approvals. Strategy, keep China in the CUDA/NVLink ecosystem even with constraints.

On the gaming/cloud edge, Nvidia brought its Blackwell architecture to GeForce NOW, another tell that inference performance and latency are pushing deeper into consumer delivery. Security spend is tilting AI first, Palo Alto Networks’ revenue/EPS outlook topped Street on the back of AI security platforms, with shares rising after hours.

Macro sentiment remains edgy, a fresh Reuters/Ipsos poll found 71% of Americans worry AI will permanently displace jobs, politics and power consumption are now core parts of the AI investment debate. Meanwhile, Foxconn and SoftBank are retooling the U.S. industrial base, partnering to build data center gear in Ohio for the “Stargate” AI infrastructure push, another proof point that the supply chain is being rebuilt for AI era workloads.

💸 Funding Watch

Databricks signed a Series K term sheet valuing the company at >$100B, citing demand for AI apps/agents and an M&A war chest. Late stage capital continues to chase platforms owning data + model ops. Firecrawl (web data infrastructure for AI agents) raised a $14.5M Series A to put “web data on tap,” underscoring agent ecosystems’ need for reliable crawling/grounding.

Functionize secured $41M to accelerate AI driven software testing, another applied AI wedge with clear ROI in release cadence and reliability. ShiftUp landed $3M seed for AI sales intelligence, and Topline Pro closed $27M Series B to automate home services growth, evidence that workflow native AI in vertical SMB stacks is still attracting checkbooks.

🪙 Crypto Moves

Spotlight season, KuCoin launched a token sale for AKEDO (AKE) focused on AI gaming, with a 0.0004 USDT price, 320K USDT platform cap, and “principal protection” messaging, marketing that will appeal to some but isn’t a substitute for risk management.

Elsewhere, presale hype stayed hot, Ozak AI touted >$2M raised and plans to pitch at Coinfest Asia this week, classic “agents change trading” narrative, still early on real world delivery. Prices cooled after last week’s highs, Bitcoin hovered near ~$115K as profit taking and macro crosswinds persisted, risk assets remain sensitive to Fed cut odds.

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