A confidential source indicated that while the framework remains tentative, the investment could exceed $10 billion. The Information originally broke the story on the developing alliance.

These talks follow an October reorganization at OpenAI that defined its Microsoft partnership boundaries, granting the startup greater latitude to court investors and collaborate across the AI ecosystem, according to CNBC.

Despite Microsoft's $13 billion support since 2019, an October release stated the software giant no longer possesses a right of first refusal for OpenAI's computing requirements. The report noted the firm may now co-develop products with third parties.

Amazon previously directed at least $8 billion toward Anthropic, yet CNBC suggests the retailer seeks further exposure to the generative AI sector. Microsoft similarly pledged up to $5 billion to Anthropic last month, joining Nvidia's $10 billion targeted investment.

AWS has engineered custom silicon since roughly 2015, providing essential hardware for model training. The provider introduced its Inferentia chips in 2018 and unveiled the newest Trainium processors earlier this month, the outlet reported.

Recent months saw OpenAI commit over $1.4 trillion to infrastructure, partnering with Broadcom, Advanced Micro Devices, and Nvidia. CNBC noted the company also finalized a $38 billion chatapacity deal with AWS last month, its inaugural pact with the cloud leader.

During October, a secondary offering totaling $6.6 billion allowed OpenAI staff to divest shares at a $500 billion valuation, the report concluded.

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In an unprecedented display of public discord, Silicon Valley's tech elite are engaging in heated exchanges over their support for presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal. This political rift tests long-standing business relationships and friendships in an industry traditionally known for its left-leaning stance.

The WSJ reports that the political divide has become increasingly visible as some influential tech leaders, including Elon Musk, have vocally supported Trump, breaking from the industry's historically Democratic leanings. This shift has triggered backlash from those maintaining their support for the Democratic Party, particularly as Harris, a San Francisco Bay Area native, secured the presidential nomination.

The tension has manifested in public spats on social media platforms. For instance, Trump supporter Elon Musk called tech investor and Democrat Vinod Khosla "deranged" on X over his criticism of the former president. In another exchange, Aaron Levie, CEO of Box and a Harris supporter suggested that investor David Sacks must be "high on cough syrup" for backing Trump.

"Silicon Valley is very tense right now because there are two opposing camps of individuals who do business together," Sam Singer, a public relations expert with experience in Democratic political campaigns, told the WSJ. "This is an unusual situation," he added, highlighting the rarity of such open political conflicts in the tech industry.

The political divide has extended beyond social media, affecting business relationships and personal connections. Josh Felser, a climate tech investor, expressed concern in a LinkedIn post about discovering colleagues supporting Trump, stating, "I don't know how any of them talk to their kids about their support of Trump" and "Our relationships will likely be forever changed & I suspect history will not look upon them kindly."

Both campaigns have received significant financial support from tech leaders. In July, Harris's campaign committee raised approximately $204 million, while Trump's campaign committee raised $47.5 million. Harris's tech supporters have been energized by her recent fundraising success and her campaign rhetoric. At a San Francisco fundraiser co-hosted by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, Harris raised over $13 million.

Her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, which touched on providing opportunities for founders and entrepreneurs and emphasized innovation in areas like artificial intelligence, was well-received by her Silicon Valley backers.

However, Trump supporters in the tech industry have expressed skepticism about Harris's tech-friendly stance. They worry about potential tax increases on wealthy individuals and corporations, as well as regulatory hurdles for emerging industries like cryptocurrency under a Harris administration.

The political tensions have led to the formation of new support groups within the tech community. Female tech workers have established organizations such as Tech4Kamala, VCs for Kamala, and Founders for Kamala to mobilize support for Harris. "We're witnessing an unprecedented polarization," said Edda Collins Coleman, co-founder of Tech4Kamala.

Some tech executives are calling for an end to the public squabbling. Mark Pincus, co-founder of Zynga, who has previously donated to Democratic causes, announced he isn't supporting either candidate this election. "We believe so deeply that our side is righteous that we morally judge the other side," he wrote on LinkedIn. "We have all gone too far."

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Five privately held Israeli-founded companies in California have reached or surpassed a $1 billion valuation in 2021, boosting the state's nation-leading unicorn count to 22, according to the United States-Israel Business Alliance, an organization founded strengthen the economic relationship between individual states and Israel. Each of these 22 companies has at least one Israeli founder and maintains its global or US headquarters in California.

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"California continues to attract many of the best and brightest innovators in the world," USIBA president Aaron Kaplowitz said.

"We're seeing today a new generation of Israeli entrepreneurs contribute to northern California's innovation ecosystem and benefit from a deep bench of venture capitalists."

With the exception of Orca Security, a cybersecurity firm for cloud-based assets, all these unicorns are located in Silicon Valley. In March, the Los Angeles company closed a $210 million round at a $1.2 billion valuation.

Eight Israeli-founded unicorns headquarter in San Francisco, the most of any US city behind New York. Deel, with its office just beyond Oracle Park's leftfield foul pole, is the most recent addition to the prestigious group. Last week, the payroll and compliance platform upstart announced the completion of a $156 million funding round, driving its valuation to $1.25 billion. Deel has raised $206 million total – all in the past 11 months.

Less than a mile away, ironSource, an app monetization and distribution pioneer, recently revealed its plans to go public through a special purpose acquisition company. The agreement with Thoma Bravo Advantage surges the company's value to $11.1 billion, surpassing the $10.4 billion SPAC merger between New Jersey-based eToro and FinTech Acquisition Corp. V. The hefty valuation follows ironSource's 83% year-over-year revenue growth in 2019 and 2020. The company anticipates 37% growth both in 2021 and in 2022.

Trailing San Francisco, Palo Alto now has seven Israeli-founded unicorns, including insurance disrupters Hippo ($5.0 billion) and Next Insurance ($4.0 billion). On March 22, Wiz closed a $130 million round. CEO and co-founder Assaf Rappaport proclaimed that Wiz had become the "fastest growing security startup ever," having achieved a whopping $1.7 billion valuation only "three months since emerging from stealth."

"Silicon Valley lives by the 'move fast and break things' mantra," Kaplowitz said. "Israelis, of course, have a word for that: chutzpah."

Mountain View is on the letterhead of Rapyd ($2.5 billion) and SentinelOne ($3.1 billion). It is also home to Coursera, which left the unicorns behind on March 31, when it debuted on the New York Stock Exchange. Coursera closed its first day of trading with a market cap of $5.9 billion.

Database management innovator Redis Labs ($2.0 billion) also lists its corporate headquarters in Mountain View. On April 7, Redis and San Francisco-based Trax ($2.3 billion), a retail analytics leader, raised $950 million combined. Although not yet unicorns, Blue Dot and WhiteSource, both based in Massachusetts, increased the total funding amount to $1.1 billion, setting a single-day record for Israeli-founded start-ups.

"When you unpack these astonishing figures," Kaplowitz said, "you begin to understand that the investments fund new jobs and boost local economic activity."

In San Mateo, Tipalti, the Hebrew word for "I took care of (it)," has grown its accounts payable and global remittance automation solutions into an enterprise valued at $2 billion.

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Dremio, a big data curating engine ($1.0 billion), and Innoviz ($1.4 billion), a LiDAR manufacturer, maintain headquarters in Santa Clara. They could soon be joined by their neighbor Cloudinary, a provider of cloud-based solutions for image, video, and data asset management. Cloudinary has impressively approached unicorn status without taking a single investment from a venture capital firm.

Last week, USIBA published research findings on the 21 Israeli-founded unicorns based in New York, which trails Tel Aviv as the city with the most Israeli-founded unicorns in the world. Soon after, Outbrain, a unicorn from the list, filed a confidential prospectus with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for plans to IPO. This development came one day after Israeli-founded ad software company DoubleVerify – headquartered in SoHo – closed its first day on the New York Stock Exchange up 33%, enough for a market cap of $5.3 billion.

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