Top stories today:

1. Meta acquires Manus in AI push, deal said to be valued at $2B+
2. NVIDIA takes $5B stake in Intel under Sep. agreement
3. Kioxia tops global stocks with 540% YTD surge on AI memory demand
4. Kraken, AI power platform, valued at $8.65B in Octopus spin-out move

0. Calendar

Listen to our AI-generated podcast summarizing today’s newsletter (beware of hallucinations):

1. Meta acquires Manus in AI push, deal said to be valued at $2B+

Manus hit a $125M annual revenue run rate in Dec.:

• Meta reportedly approached Manus during its recent fundraising at a $2B valuation.

• Manus CEO Xiao Hong will report to Meta COO Javier Olivan.

• Meta will continue to operate and sell Manus’ service, the company said in a statement.

• Meta will also integrate Manus agents into its consumer and business products, the company noted.

• Manus will no longer have any Chinese ownership or operations in China after the deal, Meta said.

• Aug.: Benchmark criticized for backing Manus despite its China ties.

• Meta’s Chief AI officer Alexandr Wang welcomed the Manus team.

2. NVIDIA takes $5B stake in Intel under Sep. agreement

NVIDIA shares were slightly changed in pre-market trading on Tue.:

• NVIDIA bought 214.7M+ Intel shares in a private placement at the price set in Sep.

• Sep.: NVIDIA agreed to pay $23.28/Intel share.

• Early Dec.: U.S. antitrust agencies cleared NVIDIA’s Intel investment.

• Intel shares were little changed.

4. Kioxia tops global stocks with 540% YTD surge on AI memory demand