18: Compute is the new oil

Hey, it’s Marc.

The White House dropped a 90-step AI roadmap focused on deregulation, international exports, and wiping “ideological bias” from U.S.-built AI models.

What’s in it: [AI Action Plan]

• Export U.S. AI tech: Full-stack packages (chips to software) for allies

• Fast-track data centers: Easier permits + workforce boost

• Kill red tape: Remove federal rules that slow down AI development

• Bias crackdown: Government contracts only for “ideology-free” models

The takeaway: Trump wants to lock in U.S. leadership, flood allies with American AI, and take a hard stance against what the administration calls “woke” systems.

• Amazon acquires AI wearable startup, Bee

• Qwen3-Coder launches as an open model for agentic coding tasks

• GitHub Spark lets Copilot Pro+ users build full-stack apps from text prompts

• Proton launches Lumo AI chatbot

• Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is now stable—Google’s fastest, cheapest AI model yet.

• Replit launches Queue for efficiency

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• The Chip That Could Break NVIDIA's AI Empire (51)

• Apple Intelligence Foundation Language Models Tech Report 2025 (Apple)

• OpenAI's Data Center Ambitions Collide with Reality (Axios)

• Prompt Engineering for LLMs (O’Reilly)

• OpenAI’s Agent (51)

• The dark horse of AI labs (The Economist)

• AI Breaks the Chinese Room (Paul Siemers)

• AI Startups to Watch in 2025 (AI Valley)

Elon Musk’s xAI is reportedly raising up to $12B in debt to fund Colossus — a Memphis-based AI supercluster targeting 1M Nvidia GPUs. That’s up from the 200K already deployed. xAI has already raised $10B (50/50 debt + equity) in July. [NEWS]

So what? It’s an industrial-grade buildout of vertically integrated AI infrastructure, where X supplies data, Tesla provides energy, SpaceX handles distribution, and Grok runs inference. Think AWS + OpenAI + Twitter in one stack.

OpenAI’s $500B AI infrastructure plan with SoftBank has stalled, with just one small data center expected this year. While SoftBank and OpenAI pledged $100B “immediately,” internal clashes and unclear execution have sidelined Stargate’s moonshot launch. [NEWS]

By the numbers: Global data center capacity is growing 23% per year through 2030

• OpenAI projects 4M Nvidia-class chips (2M A100 equivalents) by year-end

• Oracle’s 4.5 GW data center deal = power of 2 Hoover Dams

• $30B+ annual spend for compute with Oracle alone — triple OpenAI’s projected revenue

Why it matters: OpenAI’s growing compute needs are outpacing supply chains, partner patience, and grid capacity. Enterprise AI roadmaps will bottleneck on chips, data centers, and sovereign compute policy, not models.

Qwen launches Qwen3 Coder, a coding assistant that enables you to use developer tools, solve coding problems and plan out complex software projects step by step.

Features of Qwen3 Coder:

• Reads and understands entire codebases, not just single files

• Remembers context from long conversations (up to 256,000 words)

• Can work with pull requests and understand how code changes affect the whole project

• Knows how different parts of your application connect together

Why it matters: Qwen3-Coder is an open-source model with no subscription fees for the base model. It is designed for programming tasks and performs as well as expensive commercial alternatives. Plus, it scales with the developer’s needs.

Zooming in: It plugs into popular code editors and development environments and uses the existing APIs and tools. It is compatible with the existing workflows and works through command-line interfaces that developers are familiar with.

This AI was trained on a massive amount of code and programming knowledge:

• Built using 480 billion parameters (that's the "brain size")

• Trained on 7.5 trillion pieces of text, mostly code

• Can handle conversations as long as a short novel

• Performance matches top commercial AI models like Claude

For Everyday Coding

• Write complete functions and classes based on your description

• Debug existing code by explaining what's wrong and how to fix it

• Add new features to existing applications

• Convert code from one programming language to another

• Generate documentation and comments for your code

For Bigger Projects

• Plan entire applications from scratch

• Design databases and how they connect to your app

• Create web applications with both frontend and backend

• Build APIs that other applications can use

• Set up automated testing for your code

• Web Development: Create complete online stores, social media apps, or business websites

• Data Analysis: Build tools to analyze spreadsheets, create charts, and find patterns

• Games and Simulations: Code simple games or physics simulations

• Automation Scripts: Create tools that handle repetitive computer tasks

• Mobile Apps: Help design and code smartphone applications

1. Command Line Tool (Qwen Code)

• Install with: npm i -g @qwen-code/qwen-code

• Type qwen in your terminal to start coding

• Works like having a coding buddy in your command line

2. Through Claude Code

• Install with: npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

• Use familiar Claude interface but powered by Qwen3-Coder

• Good if you're already used to Claude's style

3. Direct API Access

• Connect through Alibaba Cloud

• Integrate into your own applications or tools

• Use the same way you'd use OpenAI's API

Qwen3 coder is free to try, works with tools you already know, and can handle everything from simple scripts to complex applications. In the world of vibe coding, it is an attractive option as an open-source model.

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More from 51:

• Sovereign AI factories

• HBR study: What are people really using GenAI for in 2025?

• Google kills the checkout

• Top 51 AI x blockchain companies in 2025

• AI's biggest VC quarter

That’s all for today.

Thanks,

Marc & Team