Tuesday’s AI headlines center on capital, kilowatts, and policy reversals: Anthropic is poised to become the world’s most valuable private AI company, a landmark US energy merger is being driven entirely by AI compute demand, and the White House has definitively shelved a landmark AI executive order.
Anthropic Set to Close $30B+ Round at Near-$1 Trillion Valuation
Anthropic is finalizing a funding round expected to exceed $30 billion at a pre-money valuation above $900 billion — a figure that would place it ahead of OpenAI (valued at $852 billion in March) as the world’s most valuable private AI startup. Co-led by Sequoia Capital, Dragoneer, Altimeter, and Greenoaks, with each firm committing roughly $2 billion, the deal is anticipated to close this week. The raise is backed by Anthropic’s explosive revenue trajectory: annualized revenue hit $30 billion by April 2026, up from $9 billion at year-end 2025. Read more at TechCrunch.
Trump Definitively Cancels Landmark AI Executive Order
The White House has officially scrapped plans to sign an executive order that would have required AI companies to give federal agencies up to 90 days of early access to new models before public release. President Trump said he “didn’t like certain aspects” of the order and felt it would “get in the way” of US AI competitiveness against China. Major labs including OpenAI and Anthropic had been in active negotiations with the administration over the voluntary framework. Read more at NBC News.
NextEra to Acquire Dominion Energy in $67B Deal Fueled by AI Power Demand
NextEra Energy announced a $67 billion all-stock acquisition of Dominion Energy — the largest utility merger in US history — with AI data center electricity demand cited as the primary strategic driver. Dominion connects more data centers than any other US utility, and the combined company plans to leverage scale to build generation and transmission capacity for hyperscale AI workloads more cost-effectively. The deal marks a new milestone in how AI infrastructure needs are reshaping traditional industries far beyond tech. View SEC filing.
Meta Restructures Around AI — 8,000 Jobs Cut, 7,000 Reassigned
Meta has begun implementing one of the most significant organizational reshuffles in its history, laying off approximately 8,000 employees while reassigning a further 7,000 to AI-focused teams. The move signals that Meta is placing its full operational weight behind artificial intelligence development, following CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s repeated statements that AI is the company’s singular priority. Meta joins Snap — which recently cut 1,000 roles citing AI efficiency gains — in publicly acknowledging that AI is directly reducing headcount across the tech sector. Read more at LLM Stats.
What to watch: With Anthropic’s round expected to close this week and OpenAI preparing an IPO S-1 filing, the race to define which AI lab sits atop the market — by valuation, revenue, and influence — is entering its most consequential phase yet.