🤖 Axios PM: AI biz kingpin

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View in browser   PRESENTED BY AMAZON   Axios PM By Mike Allen · Dec 01, 2025 💻 Happy Cyber Monday. Today's newsletter, edited by Alex Fitzpatrick, is 597 words, a 2.5-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing.     1 big thing: Nvidia's future is AI's future   Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios Nvidia's latest billion-dollar deal cements its status as a kind of Cornelius Vanderbilt or J.P. Morgan-style backer of the AI boom, Axios' Jeffrey Cane writes. 💰The company is taking a $2 billion stake in chip software designer Synopsys as part of a broader partnership. 💸 That comes after Nvidia (with Microsoft) announced a $15 billion investment in AI developer Anthropic, one of its many recent headline-grabbing deals. In 2024 and so far this year, Nvidia and its venture capital unit have made 117 investments totaling over $62 billion, per PitchBook. 📈 That's a big jump from the previous two years, when it made 46 such investments totaling about $6 billion. "This is really, really important work that we do," CEO Jensen Huang said on Nvidia's latest earnings call. "All of the investments that we've done so far, all of it, period, is associated with expanding the reach of CUDA [Nvidia's parallel computing platform and programming model] and expanding the ecosystem." 🤨 Skeptics question whether the piles of money Nvidia and others are pouring into AI infrastructure can ever be profitable. Yet there is logic to Nvidia's investments that can get lost amid the eye-popping numbers, like its recent $100 billion OpenAI partnership. 💻 That arrangement is "performance-based," per UBS — unlike the speculative commitments of the dot-com era. 💽 Nvidia's investment is contingent on OpenAI putting at least 10 gigawatts of AI data centers using Nvidia systems into operation. 🗓️ That's a colossal and time-intensive effort, with the first gigawatt not expected until late next year. 👀 What's next: Investors are watching whether Nvidia's strategy will change now that Google has emerged as a legit competitor. Go deeper.     2. ⚡️ Data center power boom   Data: BloombergNEF; Chart: Alex Fitzpatrick/Axios Power demand from U.S. data centers will hit 106 gigawatts by 2035, Axios' Ben Geman writes from new BloombergNEF research. 📈 That's up 36% from the group's April outlook, "illustrating just how quickly the sector is expanding." 🚛 Data center development is moving away from cities and into the suburbs as space needs grow, the researchers add. 🤖 Big tech and the Trump administration are all in on AI — and scrambling to find new power sources for the emerging tech. 💵 Yet the data center boom is fueling reliability fears and consumer backlash as electricity prices rise. "These pressures point to an inflection moment for U.S. grids: the desire to accommodate AI-driven load without undermining reliability or driving up power costs," the researchers say. Go deeper.     A MESSAGE FROM AMAZON Amazon invests $1 billion to raise pay and lower health care costs     Amazon is investing over $1 billion to raise pay and lower the cost of health care for hourly employees. What this means: Average pay is increasing to $23/hour. Affordable health plans that are $5 per week, and doctor visits start at just $5. Learn more.     3. ⚡️ Catch me up   Winter storms caused delays at Chicago O'Hare International Airport over the Thanksgiving break. Photo: Jim Vondruska/Getty Images ✈️ Air travelers without a Real ID or passport will be charged $45 starting Feb. 1, up from the TSA's originally proposed $18. Go deeper. 🚫 A federal appeals court disqualified President Trump's former personal attorney Alina Habba from serving as U.S. attorney for New Jersey. It's the latest instance of a court blocking Trump's efforts to install loyalist attorneys in big jobs. Go deeper. 🛩️ Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are investigating FBI Director Kash Patel's reported use of a government jet to visit his girlfriend and take other personal trips, Axios has learned. Go deeper. 🏡 Zillow "quietly removed" climate risk estimates from over 1 million listings after pushback from real estate agents and homeowners, the N.Y. Times reports. Gift link.     4. 📸 1 for the road: White House Christmas decor   This year's Christmas decorations in the East Room. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images The White House is decked out in holiday decor, Axios' Paige Hopkins writes. ❤️ This year's theme, "Home is Where the Heart Is," is a bit pared down — especially without the East Wing to decorate. 🎄There are still intricate details throughout, including "Be Best" ornaments and a Lego portrait of Trump. A Lego portrait of President Trump in the Green Room. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images See more photos.     A MESSAGE FROM AMAZON Amazon boosts American communities and small businesses     Amazon has invested more than $1.5 trillion into infrastructure and compensation for employees since 2010. The impact: Amazon is investing in communities across America, helping employees and whole communities thrive. Learn more about Amazon's economic impact in your community.   📬 Thanks for reading! Please invite your friends to join PM. Are you a fan of this email format? Your essential communications — to staff, clients and other stakeholders — can have the same style. Axios HQ, a powerful platform, will help you do it.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Advertise with us. Axios, PO Box 101060, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. 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