IBM's Power11 Chips Debut, SiPearl's €130M AI Boost, CoreWeave's $9B Acquisition - Silicon Brief #26

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In this edition of Silicon Brief, we're diving into the latest developments in AI chips and data centers. IBM has launched its new Power11 Chips, designed to enhance AI deployment in data centers, while SiPearl has secured €130 million to advance AI chips for EU supercomputers. Meanwhile, Ambiq Micro is making headlines as it files for a U.S. IPO amid growing demand for AI chips.

On the data center front, Kevlinx and Colt are expanding their AI-ready data center in Brussels, and Globe Telecom is set to launch the largest data center in the Philippines. Additionally, CoreWeave is acquiring Core Scientific in a $9 billion deal, reflecting the increasing importance of data centers in supporting AI technologies. Stay tuned as we explore these stories and more in this edition.

Google has agreed to purchase 200MW of power from Commonwealth Fusion Systems, marking a significant step towards sustainable energy for its data centers. Iozera has partnered with ZutaCore to enhance sustainable AI infrastructure by utilizing ZutaCore's waterless cooling technology. This collaboration aims to improve energy efficiency in AI data centers, supporting high-performance computing while reducing energy consumption and water dependency.

The Data Center Liquid Cooling Market is projected to reach $17.77 billion by 2030, driven by the demand for energy-efficient cooling solutions. WEKA has introduced NeuralMesh Axon, a storage system designed to optimize exascale AI applications, currently utilized by Cohere and CoreWeave. Innovations in solid state cooling technologies are emerging to address the needs of AI and high-performance computing. NVIDIA and F5 have unveiled BIG-IP Next for Kubernetes (BINK), leveraging NVIDIA's BlueField-3 DPUs to enhance AI cloud application delivery.

Chinese firms plan to deploy over 115,000 banned Nvidia AI chips in Xinjiang data centers, challenging US restrictions. This move is part of China's strategy to boost its AI capabilities, raising concerns in Washington about possible military uses.

Kevlinx Data Centers and Colt Technology Services are enhancing their AI-ready data center in Brussels, while Globe Telecom Inc. is set to launch the Philippines' largest data center by Q3 2025. The South Korean Government is initiating micro data centers to support local AI semiconductor firms. Blaize has secured a $56 million contract for edge AI in Southeast Asia, and SambaNova has launched SambaManaged for rapid AI inference deployment. In Armenia, Firebird, NVIDIA, and Team Telecom Armenia are discussing a $500 million AI data center project. Patria Investments and Casa dos Ventos plan a data center in Brazil, while Syntys supports Ooredoo's AI cloud services in Qatar. Data center infrastructure grew 17% in Q1 2025, and CoreWeave is acquiring Core Scientific in a $9 billion deal.

MarketsandMarkets projects the edge AI hardware market to hit $58.90 billion by 2030, driven by IoT growth. KAIST and Hyper Excel have developed low-power NPUs, improving AI performance. Arago raised €22.1 million for its photonic AI chip 'JEF'. Advantech launched edge AI solutions with Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite. IBM introduced Power11 chips for data centers and AI deployment. SiPearl secured €130 million for its Rhea1 AI chip for the EU's supercomputer. Ambiq Micro filed for a U.S. IPO amid AI chip demand.