Bonds boost the AI boom

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Tech Across the Globe

Xbox price hike: Microsoft surprised many video game enthusiasts this week with a 50% price hike for the highest tier in its Game Pass subscription, to $30 per month.

EV safety concerns: Rivian is reworking a key element of its electric vehicle doors after employees and customers raised concerns over potential safety issues with the current design.

Bitcoin keeps going: The crypto token reached a record price of $125,689 on Sunday, its first new high since August, as the US government shutdown dragged on.

Revalued

Aligned Data Centers, which nine months ago raised $12 billion, is in advanced discussions to be acquired by BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners in a $40 billion deal. It would be one of the largest transactions of the year and is further evidence of investor hunger for anything connected to AI. The company, founded in 2013 and backed by Macquarie Asset Management, has long focused on providing custom data centers for businesses.

Must Read

The AI boom has lured bond investors, with big debt issuances now serving as an invisible scaffolding propping up data center deals and other capital expenditures to fuel artificial intelligence work, Ed Ludlow reports in today’s Tech In Depth. While most are optimistic the financing is a good bet, some question whether AI work will generate enough revenue to pay it off, he writes.

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This Week in Game On

Electronic Arts’ decision to sell itself and go private in a $55 billion leveraged buyout is bad news for employees, Jason Schreier reports in this week’s Game On. EA will need to cut costs to service the debt and typically a company’s top cost is its employees. Even the most bullish analysts expect big layoffs ahead, he writes.

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