Alphabet To Acquire Data/Infrastructure Company Intersect – DTH

DTH-6-150x150Paramount Skydance amends hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, Italy’s AGCM fines Apple €98.6 million over App Tracking Transparency, Nvidia plans to ship its H200 AI chips to China by mid-February.

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Show Notes

Alphabet to Acquire Intersect

Alphabet announced it will buy data center and energy infrastructure company Intersect for $4.75 billion to expand AI-related data center capacity. Intersect will operate as a separate brand while partnering with Google’s infrastructure team. Some Texas and California assets will be spun off, with a focus on building power and data centers without passing costs to grid customers. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2026.

Source: 9to5Google

Paramount Skydance Secures Ellison Backing in WBD Bid

Paramount Skydance amended its hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery by guaranteeing financial backing from Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. Ellison agreed to an irrevocable personal guarantee covering $40.4 billion in equity financing and potential damages. Paramount maintained its $30-per-share all-cash offer but did not raise the bid.

Source: CNBC

Italy Fines Apple Over App Tracking Transparency

Italy’s competition regulator AGCM fined Apple €98.6 million over its App Tracking Transparency feature, saying it creates a “double consent” burden on developers and harms competition while financially benefiting Apple. Apple said it will appeal and defended the feature’s privacy protections.

Source: MacRumors

Nvidia Plans H200 AI Chip Shipments to China

Nvidia told Chinese clients it intends to start shipping H200 AI chips by mid-February, ahead of Lunar New Year, pending Chinese government approval. Initial shipments could total 5,000–10,000 modules (40,000–80,000 chips) from existing stock, with additional production capacity available for orders in Q2 2026.

Source: Reuters

Uber and Lyft to Test Baidu Robotaxis in London

Uber and Lyft will begin testing Baidu’s Apollo Go robotaxis in London in 2026, pending regulatory approval. Lyft plans to scale to hundreds of Baidu’s electric RT6 SUVs, while Uber expects to start testing in H1 2026, continuing a partnership announced in July.

Source: TechCrunch

NYT: Uber Allows Some Violent Felons to Drive

A New York Times investigation found Uber’s background checks permit some convicted felons to drive in 22 states if convictions are over seven years old. Lyft bans all drivers with violent felony histories. Uber internal documents describe its background checks as minimal, focusing on lower-cost safety initiatives. Between 2017–2022, Uber reported a sexual assault or misconduct incident roughly every eight minutes, though most were minor.

Source: Engadget

Waymo Resumes Driverless Service in San Francisco

Waymo restarted its robotaxi service in San Francisco Sunday evening after pausing operations during a widespread blackout that stalled multiple vehicles at intersections. The company suspended service proactively while coordinating with city officials.

Source: CNBC

Instacart Ends Item Price Testing

Instacart is ending item price testing after FTC scrutiny and a study showing some shoppers were charged higher prices than others. The company said the tests were randomized A/B experiments, not dynamic pricing, and didn’t use personal shopper data. Retailers will continue setting their own prices, but Instacart will no longer support price-testing tools.

Source: Engadget