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Japan Watching for Any Impact on LNG From New Russia Sanctions

Tokyo will closely monitor the rollout of new US sanctions on Moscow for any impact on shipments of liquefied natural gas from Russia’s Far East, a key source of supply for Japan. A week ago, the Biden administration imposed aggressive penalties on Russian energy, including restrictions on vessels that export oil from the Sakhalin-2 project just north […]

Tokyo will closely monitor the rollout of new US sanctions on Moscow for any impact on shipments of liquefied natural gas from Russia’s Far East, a key source of supply for Japan.

A week ago, the Biden administration imposed aggressive penalties on Russian energy, including restrictions on vessels that export oil from the Sakhalin-2 project just north of Japan. If those curbs end up halting crude production from the site, the gas that’s pumped out at the same time may be at risk.

Japan is a big LNG buyer and sourced about 8% of its imports from Sakhalin-2 last year, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.

“We’ll discuss with the relevant stakeholders” to ensure Japan gets the gas it needs, Shinichi Sasayama, the president of major importer Tokyo Gas Co., said Thursday. “It might require more investigation to determine how much impact this will actually have. I wouldn’t say there is no impact whatsoever.”

One of Sakhalin-2’s three production platforms, Lunskaya, pumps both natural gas and gas condensate, a light version of crude oil, and the two fuels are then separated onshore. If curbs on exporting the oil lead to a buildup of crude on site, that may eventually prompt a halt in output, affecting gas in the process.

“If oil and condensate shipments really stopped, then at some point — when the storage facilities were full — gas production would also have to halt as it’s impossible to produce gas without producing condensate,” said Sergey Vakulenko, an oil industry veteran who spent part of his career at Sakhalin-2.

The US sanctions do not extend to the actual oil and gas from the development, just to the tankers needed to export the crude. Oil shipments are unlikely to cease immediately since the restrictions allow for a wind-down period. Ultimately, Lunskaya’s continued operation will depend on Russia’s ability to find other vessels — possibly from its growing shadow fleet — to replace the sanctioned ships.

Complicating any replacement is the fact that the three shuttle tankers used by Sakhalin-2 have specialized bow loading equipment that allows them to take cargoes from the terminal. Such apparatus is not standard on oil tankers.

With daily gas production of a little over 50 million cubic meters, Lunskaya is the main source of supply to Sakhalin-2’s liquefaction plant. It also pumps 50,000 barrels of liquids a day, which equates to about two tanker-loads a month. The two other platforms produce oil and deliver their output separately.

Mitsubishi Corp., a partner in the Sakhalin-2 project, said it’s aware of the new sanctions and is reviewing the details. The company, as well as other part-owner Mitsui & Co., referred all questions regarding output to Sakhalin Energy, the venture’s operator, which didn’t respond to a request for comment.



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Want to transform networking? Empower the missing users

Nokia seems to have the same goal, but it is taking a different route to reach it. Rather than trying to assemble the ingredients of the kind of IoT needed for empowerment, they start with a recipe—the digital twin. Digital twins are computer models of real-world systems, designed to assemble

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Chevron VP Confirms Job Cuts

In a statement sent to Rigzone by the Chevron team, Chevron Corporation Vice Chairman Mark Nelson confirmed that the company expects to cut up to 20 percent of its workforce. “Chevron is taking action to simplify our organizational structure, execute faster and more effectively, and position the company for stronger

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Palo Alto Networks firewall bug being exploited by threat actors: Report

The issue doesn’t affect the company’s Cloud NGFW or Prisma Access software. Greynoise said exploitation began around Tuesday of this week. Assetnote published research about the hole on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks published its advisory the same day. ‘Weird path-processing behavior’ The vulnerability, Assetnote said, is a “weird path-processing behavior”

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Macquarie Strategists See ‘Healthy US Crude Build’ in Next EIA Report

In an oil and gas report sent to Rigzone by the Macquarie team late last week, Macquarie strategists outlined that they “anticipate another healthy U.S. crude build” in the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) next weekly petroleum status report. That report is scheduled to be released on February 20 and will include data for the week ending February 14. “Looking ahead to next week’s release, we anticipate another healthy U.S. crude build (+5.4 million barrels), with runs and net imports effectively flat, nominal implied supply bouncing back (+0.3 million barrels per day), and a larger increase in SPR inventory (+1.2 million barrels) on the week,” the Macquarie strategists said in the oil and gas report. “We note potential for volatility in these figures given the incomplete nature of this week’s data. Among products, our preliminary expectations point to builds in gasoline (+1.0 million barrels) and jet (+1.6 million barrels), with distillate stocks lower (-1.9 million barrels),” they added. The Macquarie strategists highlighted in the report that, last week, the EIA “reported builds in commercial crude (+4.1 million barrels) and at Cushing (+0.9 million barrels), with mixed product stats (gasoline -3.0 million barrels, distillate +0.1 million barrels, jet +0.9 million barrels)”. “All told, the release was bullish relative to our expectations, with tighter crude and aggregate product balances than we had anticipated,” they added in the report. “Within the crude balance, runs realized modestly above our expectation this week (+0.2 million barrels per day). Net imports were slightly above our expectation (+0.1 million barrels per day), with nominal implied dom. supply (prod.+adj.+trans.) light of our expectation at 13.6 million barrels per day (we modeled ~14.0 million barrels per day),” they continued. In the report, the Macquarie strategists stated that, “among products, implied demand was slightly below” their expectation last week, “with

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AEP expects electric sales to jump 8.6% annually over 3 years

Dive Brief: American Electric Power expects the weather-normalized retail electric load across its 11-state service area will grow about 8.6% a year, on average, over the next three years, driven by new data centers and industrial facilities, company officials said during a quarterly earnings conference call on Thursday. AEP’s load growth estimate is based on customers making financial commitments to bring online facilities that would use about 20 GW, according to the utility company. That could require $10 billion in spending on transmission, distribution and generation infrastructure that isn’t in AEP’s $54 billion, five-year capital plan, said Bill Fehrman, AEP president and CEO. AEP has started early site permit work to build small modular reactors in Indiana and Virginia and is in talks with potential offtake customers, according to Fehrman. The company is “quite a ways away from having anything firmed up or really any firm structure at this point,” however, he said. Dive Insight: AEP expects its weather-normalized commercial sales, which include data centers, will grow by 23.9% this year and by 19% and 16.1% in the following two years, according to an earnings call presentation. Industrial sales are expected to increase 1.9%, 4% and 7% in the same period, the Columbus, Ohio-based utility company said. Despite scant growth from the residential sector, AEP forecasts its overall weather-normalized retail sales will climb 8.8%, 8.4% and 8.9% from 2025 to 2027. Sales grew 3% last year. AEP’s data center customers haven’t changed their development plans since Chinese startup DeepSeek released two high-performing AI models in January that appear to use significantly less electricity than other options, according to Fehrman. “Really no change in plan for us at all,” Fehrman said. “It’s been full-speed ahead.” AEP is supporting data center development through an agreement to buy up to 1 GW of fuel

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Achieving energy dominance without leaving small customers behind

Ray Gifford is the managing partner and Matt Larson is a partner at the Denver office of Wilkinson Barker Knauer. 2025 begins with two disproportionately sizeable achievements. Kendrick Lamar winning song of the year, record of the year, best rap song, best music video, and best rap performance at the Grammy’s. And Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro driving not only the best “around market” solution of the year, but perhaps the greatest “around market” solution ever. To be clear, this is no slight on Gov. Shapiro and the actions he took in the aftermath of a PJM capacity auction that saw overall prices at $269.92/MW-day, up from $28.92/MW-day (or $14.7 billion in total costs versus $2.2 billion in the prior auction). Given these potentially dramatic impacts on customers, he did what he needed to do, securing price caps among other concessions, for the constituents he serves (and subject to numerous remaining approvals at the PJM and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission levels). But these developments raise a broader question amid the change in administration and embrace of the notion of capturing “energy dominance” in the United States. This is not a simple question of “does PJM work anymore,” although that question is certainly being asked in some circles. It is a question of what energy dominance is. To us, it is continuing to build infrastructure that results in safe, reliable, and increasingly clean energy coming to customers — all while maintaining rate stability for all customers, not just the lucky few. This last part is important. After decades of relatively flat growth, load growth is back, and in a big way. This load growth is not just about electricity sales — it is important to the economic strength of the country as a whole, maintaining an edge in both technology development for

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Aberdeen’s Amplus Energy Services to buy Petrojarl I FPSO

Aberdeen-based Amplus Energy Services will acquire the Petrojarl I floating production offloading and storage (FPSO) vessel from its current owner, Altera Infrastructure. Built in 1986, the vessel is one of the most widely deployed FPSOs in history. At 215 metres long, the Petrojarl I has an oil production capacity of 30,000 bpd, gas handling of 8-9 million cubic feet, and can store a total 180,000 barrels of oil. Fully classed, the vessel has recently completed a deployment in Brazil, and has previously worked across the UK and Norwegian continental shelves. The acquisition marks Amplus’ initial vessel ownership, positioning the company to expand this strategy and meet growing market demands. With Amplus scheduled to take delivery of the vessel no later than 1 June, the company is working with several potential clients on where the Petrojarl I will go next. Amplus managing director Steve Gardyne said this is a “hugely significant” move for the organisation. “This vessel is unquestionably the most flexible and most deployed FPSO in history – and Amplus now has the opportunity to apply our experience and approach to steward it safely and successfully for years to come. The addition of this vessel strengthens our ability to meet growing market demands and ensure we are well-positioned to address client needs. “Furthermore, this acquisition has the potential to fast-track our journey to becoming a fully operational organisation, complete with our own onshore support and offshore team. It also underscores our commitment to investing in the business and applying our considerable experience and expertise to deliver exceptional value to our clients.” To date, Amplus has focused on delivering field development solutions, vessel design and leasing options over direct ownership. Amplus previously partnered with a Norwegian company to create a new venture aimed at the UK’s nascent carbon capture industry. It

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National Gas appoints Murphy to deliver major St Fergus project

National Gas has appointed engineering and construction company Murphy to deliver a critical infrastructure project at the St Fergus Gas Terminal on the Northeast coast of Scotland. The Medium Combustion Plant Directive (MCPD) Compressor Project will help keep the facility compliant with emissions regulations. Under the multi-million pound contract, Murphy will design, construct and commission three low-emission compressor units. The project includes all associated civil, electrical, control and instrumentation, process, mechanical, and piping work, along with OEM rotating equipment. Murphy will work alongside its engineering partner Worley as part of the project, with completion expected in 2029. Murphy operations director Andy Harding said: “As one of National Gas’s priority investment sites to achieve MCPD emissions targets by 2030, we are proud to lead the delivery of this essential project at St Fergus. “With a proven track record in delivering compressor projects safely and successfully, Murphy, supported by our trusted engineering partner Worley, will provide resource certainty, safety excellence and on-time delivery. Our in-house team will bring unparalleled compressor expertise, enabling us to deliver this critical infrastructure project and meet all stakeholder requirements while maintaining a strong focus on cost efficiency.” The St Fergus Gas Terminal provides access to gas from the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) and Norway, which it feeds into the National Transmission System (NTS). It regularly supplies between 25% and 50% of the country’s natural gas. The main terminal also receives treated gas from three sub-terminals, currently owned by Shell, Ancala and North Sea Midstream Partners (NSMP). Murphy has previously delivered a diverse range of complex engineering and construction projects for National Gas at St Fergus. These include asset health interventions, actuator replacements, aftercooler upgrades and cathodic protection enhancements. National Gas project director Darren Christie said the work will contribute “to our business’s wider 2030 emissions-reduction commitments.” “Our

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Texas GulfLink Oil Export Project Gets Federal Approval

Sentinel Midstream has received approval from the Department of Transportation for a project to build a crude oil export facility with loading rates of up to one million barrels a day off the coast of Brazoria County, Texas. The DOT’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) said the approval for Texas GulfLink supports President Donald Trump’s “Unleashing American Energy” Executive Order. “With this approval, we are increasing our energy revenue and unlocking our vast oil resources—not just for domestic security, but to dominate the global market”, Transport Secretary Sean P. Duffy said in an online statement. “This plan opens the floodgates for American oil exports, putting our producers in the driver’s seat and ensuring that the world looks to the United States—not foreign adversaries—for energy supply”, Duffy added. “By expanding production and giving American companies the ability to compete on the world stage, we are advancing American energy security, bringing more money into our country, and driving down costs for consumers. This plan is a declaration that American energy will fuel not just our own economy, but the global market—on our terms”. Dallas, Texas-based Sentinel Midstream said in a statement Monday, “Texas GulfLink will immediately turn its attention to satisfying the license conditions and is eager to work with the U.S. Maritime Administration, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Trump administration, to bring this transformative project to fruition”. The deepwater port terminal will rise about 26.6 nautical miles off Brazoria’s side of the Texan Gulf Coast in a water depth of about 104 feet. The project involves a deepwater port, one fixed offshore platform, about 45 statute miles of pipeline infrastructure and a booster station, according to information on MARAD’s website. The design would allow up to two very large crude carriers (VLCC) to moor at single-point mooring (SPM) buoys and connect with

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Data center spending to top $1 trillion by 2029 as AI transforms infrastructure

His projections account for recent advances in AI and data center efficiency, he says. For example, the open-source AI model from Chinese company DeepSeek seems to have shown that an LLM can produce very high-quality results at a very low cost with some clever architectural changes to how the models work. These improvements are likely to be quickly replicated by other AI companies. “A lot of these companies are trying to push out more efficient models,” says Fung. “There’s a lot of effort to reduce costs and to make it more efficient.” In addition, hyperscalers are designing and building their own chips, optimized for their AI workloads. Just the accelerator market alone is projected to reach $392 billion by 2029, Dell’Oro predicts. By that time, custom accelerators will outpace commercially available accelerators such as GPUs. The deployment of dedicated AI servers also has an impact on networking, power and cooling. As a result, spending on data center physical infrastructure (DCPI) will also increase, though at a more moderate pace, growing by 14% annually to $61 billion in 2029.  “DCPI deployments are a prerequisite to support AI workloads,” says Tam Dell’Oro, founder of Dell’Oro Group, in the report. The research firm raised its outlook in this area due to the fact that actual 2024 results exceeded its expectations, and demand is spreading from tier one to tier two cloud service providers. In addition, governments and tier one telecom operators are getting involved in data center expansion, making it a long-term trend.

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The Future of Property Values and Power in Virginia’s Loudoun County and ‘Data Center Alley’

Loudoun County’s FY 2026 Proposed Budget Is Released This week, Virginia’s Loudoun County released its FY 2026 Proposed Budget. The document notes how data centers are a major driver of revenue growth in Loudoun County, contributing significantly to both personal and real property tax revenues. As noted above, data centers generate almost 50% of Loudoun County property tax revenues. Importantly, Loudoun County has now implemented measures such as a Revenue Stabilization Fund (RSF) to manage the risks associated with this revenue dependency. The FY 2026 budget reflects the strong growth in data center-related revenue, allowing for tax rate reductions while still funding critical services and infrastructure projects. But the county is mindful of the potential volatility in data center revenue and is planning for long-term fiscal sustainability. The FY 2026 Proposed Budget notes how Loudoun County’s revenue from personal property taxes, particularly from data centers, has grown significantly. From FY 2013 to FY 2026, revenue from this source has increased from $60 million to over $800 million. Additionally, the county said its FY 2026 Proposed Budget benefits from $150 million in new revenue from the personal property tax portfolio, with $133 million generated specifically from computer equipment (primarily data centers). The county said data centers have also significantly impacted the real property tax portfolio. In Tax Year (TY) 2025, 73% of the county’s commercial portfolio is composed of data centers. The county said its overall commercial portfolio experienced a 50% increase in value between TY 2024 and TY 2025, largely driven by the appreciation of data center properties. RSF Meets Positive Economic Outlook The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors created the aformentioned Revenue Stabilization Fund (RSF) to manage the risks associated with the county’s reliance on data center-related revenue. The RSF targets 10% of data center-related real and personal property tax

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Deep Diving on DeepSeek: AI Disruption and the Future of Liquid Cooling

We know that the data center industry is currently undergoing a period of rapid transformation, driven by the increasing demands of artificial intelligence (AI) workloads and evolving cooling technologies. And it appears that the recent emergence of DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup, alongside supply chain issues for NVIDIA’s next-generation GB200 AI chips, may be prompting data center operators to reconsider their cooling strategies. Angela Taylor, Chief of Staff at LiquidStack, provided insights to Data Center Frontier on these developments, outlining potential shifts in the industry and the future of liquid cooling adoption. DeepSeek’s Market Entry and Supply Chain Disruptions Taylor told DCF, “DeepSeek’s entry into the market, combined with NVIDIA’s GB200 supply chain delays, is giving data center operators a lot to think about.” At issue here is how DeepSeek’s R1 chatbot came out of the box positioned an energy-efficient AI model that reportedly requires significantly less power than many of its competitors. This development raises questions about whether current data center cooling infrastructures are adequate, particularly as AI workloads become more specialized and diverse. At the same time, NVIDIA’s highly anticipated GB200 NVL72 AI servers, designed to handle next-generation AI workloads, are reportedly facing supply chain bottlenecks. Advanced design requirements, particularly for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and power-efficient cooling systems, have delayed shipments, with peak availability now expected between Q2 and Q3 of 2025.  This combination of a new AI player and delayed hardware supply has created uncertainty, compelling data center operators to reconsider their near-term cooling infrastructure investments. A Temporary Slowdown in AI Data Center Retrofits? Taylor also observed, “We may see a short-term slowdown in AI data center retrofits as operators assess whether air cooling can now meet their needs.” The efficiency of DeepSeek’s AI models suggests that some AI workloads may require less power and generate less heat, making air

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Georgia Follows Ohio’s Lead in Moving Energy Costs to Data Centers

The rule also mandates that any new contracts between Georgia Power and large-load customers exceeding 100 MW be submitted to the PSC for review. This provision ensures regulatory oversight and transparency in agreements that could significantly impact the state’s power grid and ratepayers. Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald points out that this is one of a number of actions that the PSC is planning to protect ratepayers, and that the PSC’s 2025 Integrated Resource Plan will further address data center power usage. Keeping Ahead of Anticipated Energy Demand This regulatory change reflects Georgia’s proactive approach to managing the increasing energy demands associated with the state’s growing data center industry, aiming to balance economic development with the interests of all electricity consumers. Georgia Power has been trying very hard to develop generation capacity to meet it’s expected usage pattern, but the demand is increasing at an incredible rate. In their projection for increased energy demand, the 2022 number was 400 MW by 2030. A year later, in their 2023 Integrated Resource Plan, the anticipated increase had grown to 6600 MW by 2030. Georgia Power recently brought online two new nuclear reactors at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, significantly increasing its nuclear generation capacity giving the four unit power generation station a capacity of over 4.5 GW. This development has contributed to a shift in Georgia’s energy mix, with clean energy sources surpassing fossil fuels for the first time. But despite the commitment to nuclear power, the company is also in the process of developing three new power plants at the Yates Steam Generating Plant. According to the AJC newspaper, regulators had approved the construction of fossil fuel power, approving natural gas and oil-fired power plants. Designed as “peaker” plants to come online at times of increased the demand, the power plants will

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Chevron, GE Vernova, Engine No.1 Join Race to Co-Locate Natural Gas Plants for U.S. Data Centers

Other Recent Natural Gas Developments for Data Centers As of February 2025, the data center industry has seen a host of significant developments in natural gas plant technologies and strategic partnerships aimed at meeting the escalating energy demands driven by AI and cloud computing. In addition to the partnership between Chevron, Engine No. 1, and GE Vernova, other consequential initiatives include the following: ExxonMobil’s Entry into the Electricity Market ExxonMobil has announced plans to build natural gas-fired power plants to supply electricity to AI data centers. The company intends to leverage carbon capture and storage technology to minimize emissions, positioning its natural gas solutions as competitive alternatives to nuclear power. This announcement in particular seemed to herald a notable shift in industry as fossil fuel companies venture into the electricity market to meet the rising demand for low-carbon power. Powerconnex Inc.’s Natural Gas Plant in Ohio An Ohio data center in New Albany, developed by Powerconnex Inc., plans to construct a natural gas-fired power plant on-site to meet its electricity needs amidst the AI industry’s increasing energy demands. The New Albany Energy Center is expected to generate up to 120 megawatts (MW) of electricity, with construction beginning in Q4 2025 and operations commencing by Q1 2026. Crusoe and Kalina Distributed Power Partnership in Alberta, Canada AI data center developer Crusoe has entered into a multi-year framework agreement with Kalina Distributed Power to develop multiple co-located AI data centers powered by natural gas power plants in Alberta, Canada. Crusoe will own and operate the data centers, purchasing power from three Kalina-owned 170 MW gas-fired power plants through 15-year Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs). Entergy’s Natural Gas Power Plants for Data Centers Entergy plans to deploy three new natural gas power plants, providing over 2,200 MW of energy over 15 years, pending approval

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Podcast: Phill Lawson-Shanks, Chief Innovation Officer, Aligned Data Centers

In the latest episode of the Data Center Frontier Show podcast, DCF Editor-in-Chief Matt Vincent sits down with Phill Lawson-Shanks, Chief Innovation Officer at Aligned Data Centers, for a wide-ranging discussion that touches on some of the most pressing trends and challenges shaping the future of the data center industry. From the role of nuclear energy and natural gas in addressing the sector’s growing power demands, to the rapid expansion of Aligned’s operations in Latin America (LATAM), in the course of the podcast Lawson-Shanks provides deep insight into where the industry is headed. Scaling Sustainability: Tracking Embodied Carbon and Scope 3 Emissions A key focus of the conversation is sustainability, where Aligned continues to push boundaries in carbon tracking and energy efficiency. Lawson-Shanks highlights the company’s commitment to monitoring embodied carbon—an effort that began four years ago and has since positioned Aligned as an industry leader. “We co-authored and helped found the Climate Accord with iMasons—taking sustainability to a whole new level,” he notes, emphasizing how Aligned is now extending its carbon traceability standards to ODATA’s facilities in LATAM. By implementing lifecycle assessments (LCAs) and tracking Scope 3 emissions, Aligned aims to provide clients with a detailed breakdown of their environmental impact. “The North American market is still behind in lifecycle assessments and environmental product declarations. Where gaps exist, we look for adjacencies and highlight them—helping move the industry forward,” Lawson-Shanks explains. The Nuclear Moment: A Game-Changer for Data Center Power One of the most compelling segments of the discussion revolves around the growing interest in nuclear energy—particularly small modular reactors (SMRs) and microreactors—as a viable long-term power solution for data centers. Lawson-Shanks describes the recent industry buzz surrounding Oklo’s announcement of a 12-gigawatt deployment with Switch as a significant milestone, calling the move “inevitable.” “There are dozens of nuclear

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Microsoft will invest $80B in AI data centers in fiscal 2025

And Microsoft isn’t the only one that is ramping up its investments into AI-enabled data centers. Rival cloud service providers are all investing in either upgrading or opening new data centers to capture a larger chunk of business from developers and users of large language models (LLMs).  In a report published in October 2024, Bloomberg Intelligence estimated that demand for generative AI would push Microsoft, AWS, Google, Oracle, Meta, and Apple would between them devote $200 billion to capex in 2025, up from $110 billion in 2023. Microsoft is one of the biggest spenders, followed closely by Google and AWS, Bloomberg Intelligence said. Its estimate of Microsoft’s capital spending on AI, at $62.4 billion for calendar 2025, is lower than Smith’s claim that the company will invest $80 billion in the fiscal year to June 30, 2025. Both figures, though, are way higher than Microsoft’s 2020 capital expenditure of “just” $17.6 billion. The majority of the increased spending is tied to cloud services and the expansion of AI infrastructure needed to provide compute capacity for OpenAI workloads. Separately, last October Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said his company planned total capex spend of $75 billion in 2024 and even more in 2025, with much of it going to AWS, its cloud computing division.

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John Deere unveils more autonomous farm machines to address skill labor shortage

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Self-driving tractors might be the path to self-driving cars. John Deere has revealed a new line of autonomous machines and tech across agriculture, construction and commercial landscaping. The Moline, Illinois-based John Deere has been in business for 187 years, yet it’s been a regular as a non-tech company showing off technology at the big tech trade show in Las Vegas and is back at CES 2025 with more autonomous tractors and other vehicles. This is not something we usually cover, but John Deere has a lot of data that is interesting in the big picture of tech. The message from the company is that there aren’t enough skilled farm laborers to do the work that its customers need. It’s been a challenge for most of the last two decades, said Jahmy Hindman, CTO at John Deere, in a briefing. Much of the tech will come this fall and after that. He noted that the average farmer in the U.S. is over 58 and works 12 to 18 hours a day to grow food for us. And he said the American Farm Bureau Federation estimates there are roughly 2.4 million farm jobs that need to be filled annually; and the agricultural work force continues to shrink. (This is my hint to the anti-immigration crowd). John Deere’s autonomous 9RX Tractor. Farmers can oversee it using an app. While each of these industries experiences their own set of challenges, a commonality across all is skilled labor availability. In construction, about 80% percent of contractors struggle to find skilled labor. And in commercial landscaping, 86% of landscaping business owners can’t find labor to fill open positions, he said. “They have to figure out how to do

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2025 playbook for enterprise AI success, from agents to evals

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More 2025 is poised to be a pivotal year for enterprise AI. The past year has seen rapid innovation, and this year will see the same. This has made it more critical than ever to revisit your AI strategy to stay competitive and create value for your customers. From scaling AI agents to optimizing costs, here are the five critical areas enterprises should prioritize for their AI strategy this year. 1. Agents: the next generation of automation AI agents are no longer theoretical. In 2025, they’re indispensable tools for enterprises looking to streamline operations and enhance customer interactions. Unlike traditional software, agents powered by large language models (LLMs) can make nuanced decisions, navigate complex multi-step tasks, and integrate seamlessly with tools and APIs. At the start of 2024, agents were not ready for prime time, making frustrating mistakes like hallucinating URLs. They started getting better as frontier large language models themselves improved. “Let me put it this way,” said Sam Witteveen, cofounder of Red Dragon, a company that develops agents for companies, and that recently reviewed the 48 agents it built last year. “Interestingly, the ones that we built at the start of the year, a lot of those worked way better at the end of the year just because the models got better.” Witteveen shared this in the video podcast we filmed to discuss these five big trends in detail. Models are getting better and hallucinating less, and they’re also being trained to do agentic tasks. Another feature that the model providers are researching is a way to use the LLM as a judge, and as models get cheaper (something we’ll cover below), companies can use three or more models to

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OpenAI’s red teaming innovations define new essentials for security leaders in the AI era

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More OpenAI has taken a more aggressive approach to red teaming than its AI competitors, demonstrating its security teams’ advanced capabilities in two areas: multi-step reinforcement and external red teaming. OpenAI recently released two papers that set a new competitive standard for improving the quality, reliability and safety of AI models in these two techniques and more. The first paper, “OpenAI’s Approach to External Red Teaming for AI Models and Systems,” reports that specialized teams outside the company have proven effective in uncovering vulnerabilities that might otherwise have made it into a released model because in-house testing techniques may have missed them. In the second paper, “Diverse and Effective Red Teaming with Auto-Generated Rewards and Multi-Step Reinforcement Learning,” OpenAI introduces an automated framework that relies on iterative reinforcement learning to generate a broad spectrum of novel, wide-ranging attacks. Going all-in on red teaming pays practical, competitive dividends It’s encouraging to see competitive intensity in red teaming growing among AI companies. When Anthropic released its AI red team guidelines in June of last year, it joined AI providers including Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, and even the U.S.’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which all had released red teaming frameworks. Investing heavily in red teaming yields tangible benefits for security leaders in any organization. OpenAI’s paper on external red teaming provides a detailed analysis of how the company strives to create specialized external teams that include cybersecurity and subject matter experts. The goal is to see if knowledgeable external teams can defeat models’ security perimeters and find gaps in their security, biases and controls that prompt-based testing couldn’t find. What makes OpenAI’s recent papers noteworthy is how well they define using human-in-the-middle

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