High value: OpenAI has completed a deal to raise $6.6 billion in new funding, giving the artificial intelligence company a $157 billion valuation and bolstering its efforts to build the world’s leading generative AI technology. As Bloomberg reports, the funding round was led by Thrive Capital, the venture capital firm headed up by Josh Kushner, which put in $1.3 billion. Microsoft Corp., OpenAI’s largest backer, put in about $750 million on top of the $13 billion it had already invested in the startup. Other investors included Khosla Ventures, Fidelity Management & Research Co. and chipmaker Nvidia Corp. Bloomberg has the full story; a subscription may be required.
Powering data: The owner of the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear plant is pursuing a $1.6 billion federal loan guarantee to help finance its plan to restart the Pennsylvania facility and sell the electricity to Microsoft to power data centers, The Washington Post reports. The taxpayer-backed loan could give Microsoft and Three Mile Island owner Constellation Energy a major boost in its unprecedented bid to steer all the power from a U.S. nuclear plant to a single company. Microsoft, which declined to comment, is among the large tech companies scouring the nation for zero-emissions power as it seeks to build data centers. The Washington Post has the full story. A subscription may be required.
Clean energy connection: Louisiana is part of a newly funded electricity transmission project designed to serve the Southwest, Southeast and New England, Reuters reports. The U.S. Department of Energy has announced $1.5 billion in public funding to improve the grid’s resilience and connect customers with clean energy via the second phase of the Transmission Facilitation Program. It will enable nearly 1,000 miles of new transmission lines in Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. Reuters has the full story.
