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Former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to advise Microsoft and Anthropic  | TechCrunch

Former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to advise Microsoft and Anthropic  | TechCrunch

Rishi Sunak, who served as the United Kingdom’s prime minister from 2022 to 2024, has taken on senior advisory roles as Microsoft and Anthropic, The Guardian reports.  

Letters from the Parliament’s office of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) disclosing Sunak’s appointments revealed concerns that the ex-Conservative PM’s privileged information could “grant Microsoft an unfair advantage.”  

Sunak has some history with Microsoft, which has several active contracts with British government departments. In 2023, he unveiled a £2.5 billion deal with Microsoft to invest in new data centers and training in the U.K..

Acoba also noted that “there is a reasonable concern that your appointment could be seen to offer unfair access and influence within the U.K. government…given the ongoing debate about how to best regulate AI, and at a time of intense debate and lobbying around the world on what the approach should be.” 

Sunak said he would steer clear on advising on U.K. policy matters, stick to high-level perspectives on macro-economic and geopolitical trends, and avoid lobbying. He said he would divert his salary to the Richmond Project, a charity he founded with his wife earlier this year. 

The former PM also serves as a senior advisor to investment bank Goldman Sachs and speech writer for firms like Bain Capital and Makena Capital. 

Sunak isn’t the first British politician to take on roles helping Silicon Valley tech giants navigate governmental affairs. Sunak’s senior political adviser, Liam Booth-Smith, is also on Anthropic’s payroll. And former Liberal Democrat Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg served as Meta’s president of global affairs until January 2025.   

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In the United States, the revolving door between Silicon Valley and the U.S. government is ever-active. At Meta, Clegg was replaced by Joel Kaplan, George W. Bush’s former deputy chief of staff, as well as Dustin Carmack, a former adviser to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, joined the firm’s policy team in 2024. Microsoft’s current president of global affairs is Lisa Monaco, former deputy attorney general under Joe Biden.  

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#Prime #Minister #Rishi #Sunak #toadviseMicrosoft #Anthropic #TechCrunch

Minus Zero is set in 1949, two years after the first movie, “and continues the story of the Shikishima family as they face an all-new calamity,” according to the official logline. Apparently that includes shifting the setting from Tokyo to New York, as we see Godzilla right next to the Statue of Liberty. Stars Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe will be reprising their roles, while director Takashi Yamazaki — who is also making a giant robot movie called Grandgear — will once again be helming the film. Toho also says that Minus Zero will be the first Japanese movie filmed for IMAX.

It’s a busy time for the world’s most famous kaiju, who will also be appearing in the next entry in Legendary’s monsterverse with Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, and is currently featured in the Apple TV series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Godzilla Minus Zero, meanwhile, hits theaters on November 6th.

#Godzilla #stomps #York #teaser #trailerEntertainment,Film,News">Godzilla Minus Zero stomps through New York in first teaser trailer*insert Godzilla screeching sound* Here’s the very first look at the next big kaiju feature. Godzilla Minus Zero will continue the story of 2023’s Godzilla Minus One, which returned the franchise to the more grounded tone established in the original film, and while the new teaser trailer doesn’t show a whole lot, it suggests some big things for the series.Minus Zero is set in 1949, two years after the first movie, “and continues the story of the Shikishima family as they face an all-new calamity,” according to the official logline. Apparently that includes shifting the setting from Tokyo to New York, as we see Godzilla right next to the Statue of Liberty. Stars Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe will be reprising their roles, while director Takashi Yamazaki — who is also making a giant robot movie called Grandgear — will once again be helming the film. Toho also says that Minus Zero will be the first Japanese movie filmed for IMAX.It’s a busy time for the world’s most famous kaiju, who will also be appearing in the next entry in Legendary’s monsterverse with Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, and is currently featured in the Apple TV series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Godzilla Minus Zero, meanwhile, hits theaters on November 6th.#Godzilla #stomps #York #teaser #trailerEntertainment,Film,News

2023’s Godzilla Minus One, which returned the franchise to the more grounded tone established in the original film, and while the new teaser trailer doesn’t show a whole lot, it suggests some big things for the series.

Minus Zero is set in 1949, two years after the first movie, “and continues the story of the Shikishima family as they face an all-new calamity,” according to the official logline. Apparently that includes shifting the setting from Tokyo to New York, as we see Godzilla right next to the Statue of Liberty. Stars Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe will be reprising their roles, while director Takashi Yamazaki — who is also making a giant robot movie called Grandgear — will once again be helming the film. Toho also says that Minus Zero will be the first Japanese movie filmed for IMAX.

It’s a busy time for the world’s most famous kaiju, who will also be appearing in the next entry in Legendary’s monsterverse with Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, and is currently featured in the Apple TV series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Godzilla Minus Zero, meanwhile, hits theaters on November 6th.

#Godzilla #stomps #York #teaser #trailerEntertainment,Film,News">Godzilla Minus Zero stomps through New York in first teaser trailer

*insert Godzilla screeching sound* Here’s the very first look at the next big kaiju feature. Godzilla Minus Zero will continue the story of 2023’s Godzilla Minus One, which returned the franchise to the more grounded tone established in the original film, and while the new teaser trailer doesn’t show a whole lot, it suggests some big things for the series.

Minus Zero is set in 1949, two years after the first movie, “and continues the story of the Shikishima family as they face an all-new calamity,” according to the official logline. Apparently that includes shifting the setting from Tokyo to New York, as we see Godzilla right next to the Statue of Liberty. Stars Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe will be reprising their roles, while director Takashi Yamazaki — who is also making a giant robot movie called Grandgear — will once again be helming the film. Toho also says that Minus Zero will be the first Japanese movie filmed for IMAX.

It’s a busy time for the world’s most famous kaiju, who will also be appearing in the next entry in Legendary’s monsterverse with Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, and is currently featured in the Apple TV series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Godzilla Minus Zero, meanwhile, hits theaters on November 6th.

#Godzilla #stomps #York #teaser #trailerEntertainment,Film,News
Fluidstack, a startup that builds specialized data centers for AI companies, is in talks to raise a $1 billion round at an $18 billion valuation, potentially led by Jane Street, Bloomberg reports.

Should this deal come to fruition, it would more than double Fluidstack’s valuation in a matter of months.

In December, the company was reportedly raising around $700 million at a $7.5 billion valuation, sources told Bloomberg at the time, although it didn’t formally announce the close of that round. That round was said to be led by Situational Awareness, an AGI-focused fund founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, and backed by Stripe’s Collison brothers, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, and the AI investor and entrepreneur Daniel Gross.

Talks were apparently still ongoing for this round in February, at least with Google, which was considering kicking in $100 million to the round, The Wall Street Journal reported.

There’s good reason for the hype over Fluidstack. In November, Anthropic announced that it had signed a $50 billion deal with the startup to build data centers custom-designed for its needs in Texas and New York. Unlike hyperscalers like AWS, which serve all kinds of computing needs, Fluidstack’s infrastructure is built specifically for AI.

The deal was a huge vote of confidence for Fluidstack, a company that was relatively unknown in the U.S. Anthropic primarily uses AWS and Google Cloud to serve Claude (though it also has a partnership with Microsoft to supply Claude to that software giant’s customers). But just like rival OpenAI, Anthropic is growing so fast that it needs more capacity, and this deal gives Anthropic more control over its own cloud infrastructure.

This partnership is so significant to the startup that Fluidstack — which was spun out of Oxford and had been a rising star in Europe’s AI scene — relocated its headquarters from the U.K. to New York. Last month, it also pulled out of a key €10 billion AI project in France, Bloomberg reported, to focus on U.S. opportunities.

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San Francisco, CA | October 13-15, 2026

In addition to Anthropic, it counts Meta, Poolside, Black Forest Labs, and others as customers. Prior to the deal with Anthropic, Fluidstack was probably best known for providing infrastructure to Mistral.

Fluidstack did not respond to a request for comment.

#data #center #startup #Fluidstack #talks #18B #valuation #months #hitting #7.5B #report #TechCrunchdata centers,fluidstack,neocloud">AI data center startup Fluidstack in talks for B round at B valuation months after hitting .5B, says report | TechCrunch
Fluidstack, a startup that builds specialized data centers for AI companies, is in talks to raise a  billion round at an  billion valuation, potentially led by Jane Street, Bloomberg reports.

Should this deal come to fruition, it would more than double Fluidstack’s valuation in a matter of months.







In December, the company was reportedly raising around 0 million at a .5 billion valuation, sources told Bloomberg at the time, although it didn’t formally announce the close of that round. That round was said to be led by Situational Awareness, an AGI-focused fund founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, and backed by Stripe’s Collison brothers, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, and the AI investor and entrepreneur Daniel Gross.

Talks were apparently still ongoing for this round in February, at least with Google, which was considering kicking in 0 million to the round, The Wall Street Journal reported.

There’s good reason for the hype over Fluidstack. In November, Anthropic announced that it had signed a  billion deal with the startup to build data centers custom-designed for its needs in Texas and New York. Unlike hyperscalers like AWS, which serve all kinds of computing needs, Fluidstack’s infrastructure is built specifically for AI.

The deal was a huge vote of confidence for Fluidstack, a company that was relatively unknown in the U.S. Anthropic primarily uses AWS and Google Cloud to serve Claude (though it also has a partnership with Microsoft to supply Claude to that software giant’s customers). But just like rival OpenAI, Anthropic is growing so fast that it needs more capacity, and this deal gives Anthropic more control over its own cloud infrastructure.

This partnership is so significant to the startup that Fluidstack — which was spun out of Oxford and had been a rising star in Europe’s AI scene — relocated its headquarters from the U.K. to New York. Last month, it also pulled out of a key €10 billion AI project in France, Bloomberg reported, to focus on U.S. opportunities.

	
		
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In addition to Anthropic, it counts Meta, Poolside, Black Forest Labs, and others as customers. Prior to the deal with Anthropic, Fluidstack was probably best known for providing infrastructure to Mistral.

Fluidstack did not respond to a request for comment.
#data #center #startup #Fluidstack #talks #18B #valuation #months #hitting #7.5B #report #TechCrunchdata centers,fluidstack,neocloud

Bloomberg reports.

Should this deal come to fruition, it would more than double Fluidstack’s valuation in a matter of months.

In December, the company was reportedly raising around $700 million at a $7.5 billion valuation, sources told Bloomberg at the time, although it didn’t formally announce the close of that round. That round was said to be led by Situational Awareness, an AGI-focused fund founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, and backed by Stripe’s Collison brothers, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, and the AI investor and entrepreneur Daniel Gross.

Talks were apparently still ongoing for this round in February, at least with Google, which was considering kicking in $100 million to the round, The Wall Street Journal reported.

There’s good reason for the hype over Fluidstack. In November, Anthropic announced that it had signed a $50 billion deal with the startup to build data centers custom-designed for its needs in Texas and New York. Unlike hyperscalers like AWS, which serve all kinds of computing needs, Fluidstack’s infrastructure is built specifically for AI.

The deal was a huge vote of confidence for Fluidstack, a company that was relatively unknown in the U.S. Anthropic primarily uses AWS and Google Cloud to serve Claude (though it also has a partnership with Microsoft to supply Claude to that software giant’s customers). But just like rival OpenAI, Anthropic is growing so fast that it needs more capacity, and this deal gives Anthropic more control over its own cloud infrastructure.

This partnership is so significant to the startup that Fluidstack — which was spun out of Oxford and had been a rising star in Europe’s AI scene — relocated its headquarters from the U.K. to New York. Last month, it also pulled out of a key €10 billion AI project in France, Bloomberg reported, to focus on U.S. opportunities.

Techcrunch event

San Francisco, CA | October 13-15, 2026

In addition to Anthropic, it counts Meta, Poolside, Black Forest Labs, and others as customers. Prior to the deal with Anthropic, Fluidstack was probably best known for providing infrastructure to Mistral.

Fluidstack did not respond to a request for comment.

#data #center #startup #Fluidstack #talks #18B #valuation #months #hitting #7.5B #report #TechCrunchdata centers,fluidstack,neocloud">AI data center startup Fluidstack in talks for $1B round at $18B valuation months after hitting $7.5B, says report | TechCrunch

Fluidstack, a startup that builds specialized data centers for AI companies, is in talks to raise a $1 billion round at an $18 billion valuation, potentially led by Jane Street, Bloomberg reports.

Should this deal come to fruition, it would more than double Fluidstack’s valuation in a matter of months.

In December, the company was reportedly raising around $700 million at a $7.5 billion valuation, sources told Bloomberg at the time, although it didn’t formally announce the close of that round. That round was said to be led by Situational Awareness, an AGI-focused fund founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, and backed by Stripe’s Collison brothers, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, and the AI investor and entrepreneur Daniel Gross.

Talks were apparently still ongoing for this round in February, at least with Google, which was considering kicking in $100 million to the round, The Wall Street Journal reported.

There’s good reason for the hype over Fluidstack. In November, Anthropic announced that it had signed a $50 billion deal with the startup to build data centers custom-designed for its needs in Texas and New York. Unlike hyperscalers like AWS, which serve all kinds of computing needs, Fluidstack’s infrastructure is built specifically for AI.

The deal was a huge vote of confidence for Fluidstack, a company that was relatively unknown in the U.S. Anthropic primarily uses AWS and Google Cloud to serve Claude (though it also has a partnership with Microsoft to supply Claude to that software giant’s customers). But just like rival OpenAI, Anthropic is growing so fast that it needs more capacity, and this deal gives Anthropic more control over its own cloud infrastructure.

This partnership is so significant to the startup that Fluidstack — which was spun out of Oxford and had been a rising star in Europe’s AI scene — relocated its headquarters from the U.K. to New York. Last month, it also pulled out of a key €10 billion AI project in France, Bloomberg reported, to focus on U.S. opportunities.

Techcrunch event

San Francisco, CA | October 13-15, 2026

In addition to Anthropic, it counts Meta, Poolside, Black Forest Labs, and others as customers. Prior to the deal with Anthropic, Fluidstack was probably best known for providing infrastructure to Mistral.

Fluidstack did not respond to a request for comment.

#data #center #startup #Fluidstack #talks #18B #valuation #months #hitting #7.5B #report #TechCrunchdata centers,fluidstack,neocloud

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