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AI data centers are running into a shortage of electricians just as Microsoft goes shopping for CO₂ in India and startups feed bugs to fix the copper shortage. Tech giants are lining up $100B-plus IPOs, OpenAI is backing brain-computer interfaces, and Wikipedia is opening the gates to train ever-hungrier models. But beneath the hype, the real bottlenecks are physical: labor, materials, energy, and land.
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Six bullets of updates
🏗️ The race to build AI data centers hits a wall as the US faces a shortage of skilled trades, with demand for data center electricians up 35%.
🧬 OpenAI joins a $250M seed round for Merge Labs’ brain interface, boosting its valuation to $850M.
🚀 Tech giants plan blockbuster IPOs that could inject over $100B in value into a sluggish Wall Street market.
🚗 FSD shifts to subscription-only, ending the $12k one-time buy-in—reshaping Tesla’s legal and pay landscape.
🚀 EtherealX ramps engine tests and eyes 2027 launches with a 150-acre rocket campus in India after a 5.5x valuation jump.
📚 Wikimedia Foundation lets AI partners tap into billions of Wikipedia entries to boost their models’ knowledge base.
🩺 87% of companies track employee wellness data as AI layoffs raise concerns about a dystopian future of work.
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Feeding bugs to fix the copper shortage
Photo by Michael Schiffer on Unsplash
Transition Metal Solutions is trying to help mines get more copper out of rock they already dig up. They do this by feeding the naturally occurring microbes used in mining a special nutrient mix, so the microbes work harder.
In lab tests, this helped recover about 90% of the copper, compared to around 60% today. At real mine sites, the company expects a smaller but still useful gain—about 20–30% more copper. A pilot project and outside testing are coming next.
The startup raised $6 million to scale this up. If it works, miners can get more copper without opening new mines or building new smelters. That means lower costs, faster production, and fewer emissions—at a time when EVs, power grids, and data centers are driving up demand.
Bottom line: more copper from the same mine, less digging, less pollution.
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Why ChatBots (Accidentally) Became Therapists
🧩 Chatbots Cure Depression, but there’s a catch. AI is proving shockingly effective at treating anxiety and depression. Real studies show measurable results. But there’s a darker side; privacy breaches, dependency, and the risk of replacing real connection with code. This episode breaks down what AI therapy gets right, what it dangerously gets wrong, and why millions are doing it anyway.
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Equipment policies break when you hire globally
Deel’s latest policy template on IT Equipment Policies can help HR teams stay organized when handling requests across time zones (and even languages). This free template gives you:
Clear provisioning rules across all countries
Security protocols that prevent compliance gaps
Return processes that actually work remotely
This free equipment provisioning policy will enable you to adjust to any state or country you hire from instead of producing a new policy every time. That means less complexity and more time for greater priorities.
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🌍 WEF survey of 1,300 leaders: geoeconomic confrontation now No. 1 short-term risk, overtaking climate.
⏱️ When done right, fundraising rewrites your narrative—$1M in 6 weeks by pressure-testing model and story —fast.
🏛️ Chasing policy headlines blurs your vision— treat regulation as a known constraint and assign one compliance lead.
Investor Data Room Checklist
An investor data room is a storage space, digital or physical, where companies store information relevant to due diligence. We've compiled a FREE Template/Checklist of all the items your data room should include and resources and tools for obtaining them.
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Microsoft goes shopping for CO₂ in India
Photo by Marek Piwnicki on Unsplash
Carbon removal is getting a farm-to-server upgrade. Microsoft has agreed to buy more than 100,000 tons of CO₂ removal credits from India-based startup Varaha over the next three years.
Why it matters: Large buyers are expanding beyond North America and Europe, locking in supply in Asia as AI-driven energy demand accelerates and measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) standards get stricter. Expect more deals that turn agricultural waste into carbon removal—along with tougher scrutiny on verification and higher pricing for delivery risk.
What it means: India gains a new way to monetize crop residues and rural networks. Climate startups secure bankable, long-term offtake agreements. Hyperscalers like Microsoft get more flexibility in their carbon strategies—though these volumes are still small compared to their overall emissions.