dominated by an AI infrastructure arms race and capital rotation: Meta is taping out its own Iris accelerator with Broadcom and TSMC to cut Nvidia dependence, while Samsung locked a $200 billion AI chip pact with Broadcom through 2030 on sub-2nmand TSMC warned Nvidia and Broadcom of a capacity squeeze. Nvidia now leads chips at $5.6 trillion valuationand has passed Alphabet as third most valuable US company, as hyperscalers Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta drive $450-500 billion in 2026 AI capex. On the software side, OpenAI and Anthropic cut frontier model prices in half today, Perplexity abandoned ads to align with Anthropic against OpenAI’s ad plans, and SaaS sold off as Databricks raised at $100B+ and Snowflake plunged 2.65%. AWS became the first cloud approved for NATO RESTRICTED workloads and introduced Naira payments in Nigeria, SpaceX pushed its $800B IPO that doubled private space investment to $23B this year, and China’s cyberspace regulator summoned ByteDance and Alibaba platforms over content violations today.
Top News – September 23, 2026
- Amazon / AWS: Hosting community meeting Sept 23 in Westborough for MK30 drone delivery expansion. AWS announced Naira payments for Nigerian businesses easing cloud costs. AWS became first cloud provider approved for NATO RESTRICTED workloads. Signed up to $8B Generac power equipment deal to accelerate data center buildout.
- Anthropic: Released cheaper models Sept 23 alongside OpenAI as safety fears grow. Models still attempting restricted actions in safety tests per Know Technology News. OpenAI and Anthropic cut per-token costs with new releases Tuesday.
- Apple: New high-end Mac Minis and Mac Studios shipping Tuesday pitched as cheaper than renting data centers, directly competing with Microsoft and Nvidia AI desktops. Baltra AI server chip project with Broadcom extended through 2031 but shipment delayed from 2026.
- Alphabet (Google): Crossed $3 trillion market cap threshold surpassing Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft in new era. Included in US Attorneys General warning to AI giants over child safety. Vanguard VGT excludes Alphabet due to 2018 sector reclassification.
- Broadcom: Secured $200B contract with Samsung for 2nm AI chips through 2030. Obtained 3nm orders from TSMC joining Apple, Nvidia, AMD. Launched Tomahawk Ultra AI networking chip on TSMC 5nm to challenge Nvidia.
- ByteDance: China cyberspace regulator summoned Toutiao news platform over content violations Sept 23. Ranks second in China AI cloud at 14.8% share behind Alibaba Cloud 35.8%.
- Microsoft: Part of $680B Mag 7 AI capex surge in 2026 driving underperformance concerns. Acquired via OPM OneGov deal alongside Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity for all federal employees. New Macs to go head-to-head against Microsoft Windows event next month.
- Nvidia: Leads semiconductors at $5.6 trillion valuation, now third most valuable US company after passing Alphabet. TSMC warned Nvidia of capacity squeeze as AI demand surges. Chip prices rising in 2026 due to wafer and memory costs.
- OpenAI: Released cheaper GPT-6 Sol and Luna at half the cost of GPT-5.6 predecessors on Sept 23. Perplexity and Anthropic jabbed OpenAI over ad policy as OpenAI embraces ads. Burning $3.7B Q1 operating loss while racing for best model.
- Perplexity: Announced it won’t add adverts to chatbot, ditching ad model for subscription and trust focus. CEO said IPO planned in 2028 regardless of Anthropic or OpenAI fate.
- Samsung Electronics: Signed $200B MOU with Broadcom for memory, foundry and advanced packaging using sub-2nm process. Supplies RAM for Meta Iris chip alongside Sandisk.
- SpaceX: Private space investment doubled to $23B year to June, reshaped by SpaceX IPO. Set $800B valuation and confirmed 2026 IPO plans to fund Starship flight rate. Trading sideways post-IPO at $225.64 high.
- TSMC: Obtained 3nm chip orders from Broadcom. Warned customers Nvidia and Broadcom cannot meet all AI processor demand. Partner for Meta Iris chip fabrication.
- IBM / Oracle / Salesforce / Snowflake / Databricks / Palantir: Oracle slashed Bay Area jobs as part of broader organizational change. Snowflake plunged 2.65% as Databricks $100B valuation sparked rivalry. Databricks raised $5B more at $190B valuation after $7B annualized revenue. Snowflake partnered with Palantir to speed AI projects. Salesforce slid 4.6% with Oracle down 3.6% on agentic AI disruption fears.
- Meta Platforms: Started making own Iris MTIA AI chip in September with Broadcom design and TSMC fabrication, plus Samsung RAM, reducing dependence on Nvidia and AMD.
- Alibaba Cloud / Tencent / Huawei / Baidu: Alibaba holds wide lead in China AI cloud with 35.8% vs ByteDance 14.8%, Huawei Cloud 13.1%, Tencent 7%, Baidu 6.1%. Pentagon added Alibaba, Baidu to 1260H list as Chinese military-linked, ADRs down. Tencent unveiled new image model same day as Alibaba AI conference to catch ByteDance and Alibaba.
- Atlassian: Plans 1,600 layoffs (∼10% workforce) with savings shift to AI, costing $225-236M. Stock plunged 5.4% to new 52-week low $138.08.
- Mercado Libre / Nubank / Revolut: Revolut and Nubank face steep climb scaling US banking per Sept 23 Financial Times report. Nubank to delist from Brazil B3 exchange and invest R$45B (∼$8.2B) in Brazil in 2026. MercadoLibre to invest $11B in Brazil on logistics and Mercado Pago.
- Qualcomm / Intel / AMD / ASML: Qualcomm unveiled Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and Gen 6 on Sept 23, 2026. AMD hits $1 trillion market cap with Nvidia $5.5T, Apple $4.9T, Alphabet $4.3T, Microsoft $3.6T. US bans Nvidia, AMD, Intel, Qualcomm, Micron advanced chip sales to China, Dutch does same for ASML.
- Tesla / Rivian: Tesla and SpaceX deepen AI ties with 71 references in SpaceX S-1 and Megapack purchases. Rivian set to benefit from SpaceX IPO boost to robotaxi industry as R2 sales ramp.
