📈 AI-exposed workers wait a month longer for a job

Plus: Slow chips, Steam runs on AI & the ozone hole++

In the AI Investment Brief today: The funding quality is still a concern even as hyperscalers move into long‑dated, investment‑grade debt.

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Hi,

Here’s the latest roundup of data signals across AI, energy & markets from Exponential View.

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1. Anthropic’s place in the queue. Anthropic paid $3.4 billion to take over a supplier’s two-year-old order for 1.7GW of gas generators – the largest known power-equipment purchase by an AI lab.

2. VC in 2026 is about two giants. Take a16z out, and US fundraising looks much like 2025. Without SpaceX, this year’s exits are close to last year’s.

3. Memory hoarders. Apple’s memory inventory grew 2.5x year on year, helping build protection against memory cost increases.

4. Re-application slowdown. Workers let go of jobs in AI-exposed roles in 2025 took about a month longer than peers in other roles to get a new job.

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Coming up: China’s chip bottleneck, AI & creativity, the ozone hole & paper mills.

📈 Paid members also get access to a library of 500+ charts on AI, energy, economy and innovation.

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