Apple has announced the construction of a new factory in Houston, Texas, which from 2026 will produce, among other things, servers for artificial intelligence workloads. The project is part of the company’s largest-ever investment plan in the United States – with total commitments exceeding half a trillion dollars – and the Houston facility is expected to create thousands of new jobs.
In an unusual example of corporate use of generative AI, engineers at Uber Technologies have created an AI-powered chatbot modeled on CEO Dara Khosrowshahi that employees use to prepare presentations ahead of meetings with senior leadership. The development highlights how deeply AI is already embedded into the workflow of one of the world’s largest transportation and delivery platforms.
Japanese consumer electronics giant Panasonic has officially announced that starting in 2026 it will stop manufacturing its own televisions, transferring production, sales, and marketing to an external partner. The move can be seen as the unofficial “end” of Panasonic-made TVs.
The largest US technology giants are expected to collectively spend around $650 billion this year on artificial intelligence infrastructure and development, according to an analysis by Bridgewater Associates. At the same time, analysts at Goldman Sachs argue that AI spending so far has essentially failed to translate into measurable US GDP growth, raising questions about the efficiency and speed at which these investments convert into real economic gains.