Key insights
- The tech sector saw several developments this week. Amazon is reportedly planning a smartphone comeback. OpenAI is offering private equity firms guaranteed returns and early access to AI models to raise capital. Rivian struck a deal with Uber to provide robotaxis, boosting Rivian's stock. Amazon Web Services in Bahrain experienced disruption due to Middle East conflict, potentially impacting cloud computing clients.
STORY: From a potential smartphone comeback for Amazon to OpenAI's big offer... This is Tech Weekly.:: Tech WeeklyAmazon plans a smartphone comeback, more than a decade after one of the firm's most high-profile flops.The Fire Phone came out in 2014, but was cancelled just over a year later.Sources said Amazon's latest smartphone effort is known internally as 'Transformer'.The timeline for the project is unclear, and the sources warned it could be ditched if the strategy shifts or due to financial concerns.Sources said OpenAI wants to form joint ventures with buyout firms.They added the ChatGPT maker has offered private-equity firms a guaranteed minimum return of 17.5%, and early access to its newest AI models as part of the move.It aims to raise fresh capital and push forward adoption of enterprise AI products. The sources further said OpenAI is trying to offer a more attractive deal than rival Anthropic, which is also looking for partnerships.Rivian struck a deal with Uber to provide robotaxis to the ride-hailing service.Both companies said Uber will invest up to $1.25 billion into the electric vehicle maker.In turn, Rivian will provide 10,000 fully autonomous robotaxis starting in two years' time.Investors liked what they heard as Rivian shares jumped as much as a tenth on the update.The Amazon Web Services region in Bahrain was "disrupted" amid the current conflict in the Middle East.It marked the second time in a month its operations were affected by the war.Amazon said the disruption was due to drone activity in the area.The company said it's helping to migrate customers to alternate AWS regions while it recovers.Although it didn't provide more details on the extent of the damage or how long it believes the disruption could last.SpaceX and Tesla will build two advanced chip factories at a facility in Austin, Texas.That was the word from CEO Elon Musk, who unveiled the 'Terafab' project.He said one facility will make chips for cars and humanoid robots.While Musk said the other is due to make processors for AI data centers in space.