AI-Proof: The Weekly AI Brief
A concise summary of the week’s most important AI developments
Executive Summary
This week marks a significant inflection point in the global AI landscape as massive capital flows, strategic acquisitions, and aggressive chip investments converge to reshape the sector’s competitive dynamics.
From SoftBank’s monumental $22.5 billion investment in OpenAI to ByteDance’s planned $14 billion Nvidia chip spending in 2026, the surge in funding and hardware demand underscores the growing conviction that AI foundational models and inference infrastructure are core strategic assets.
Concurrently, Chinese AI firms are increasingly leveraging Hong Kong capital markets to finance ambitious chip endeavors, while geopolitically sensitive startups like Manus recalibrate their identities to unlock Western investment and in Meta’s case, secure high-profile acquisitions.
The resurgent appetite for AI chip IPOs and the soaring valuations of inference-focused platforms such as GroqCloud illustrate heightened investor focus on next-generation AI processing technologies. Together, these developments paint a vivid picture of a rapidly maturing industry where financial muscle, technological differentiation, and geopolitical savvy determine the winners in the AI arms race.
This Week’s Policy & Regulation Brief
SoftBank Finalises $22.5B Investment in OpenAI, Cementing 11% Stake
SoftBank has completed an additional $22.5 billion investment in OpenAI, reaching up to a $40 billion total commitment. This monumental injection bolsters OpenAI’s financial position, signalling escalating investor confidence and intensifying competition to dominate foundational AI platforms.
ByteDance to Spend $14B on Nvidia AI Chips in 2026, Up 18% from 2025
ByteDance plans a $14 billion Nvidia AI chip purchase next year, a considerable increase from 2025, highlighting escalating AI compute needs to support its large language models and cloud services. This move exemplifies Nvidia’s critical role in global AI infrastructure and the growing compute demands of leading Chinese tech firms.
Chinese AI Firms Lead IPO Surge in Hong Kong, with 25+ Listings in December 2025
December 2025 witnessed a record wave of AI company IPOs in Hong Kong, led by Chinese startups raising significant growth capital. The trend points to a maturing Chinese AI ecosystem strategically leveraging regional capital markets amid escalating global competition.
Baidu’s Kunlunxin AI Chip Unit Confidentially Files for Hong Kong IPO, Valued Near $3B
Baidu’s chip subsidiary Kunlunxin filed for a Hong Kong IPO as part of a spin-off, signalling Beijing’s ambitions to establish domestic AI hardware champions. This IPO could disrupt the regional AI chip landscape and intensify competition against established incumbents.
Meta Acquires Manus for $2.5B, Including $500M Employee Retention Pool, Amid US-China Geopolitical Sensitivities
Meta’s acquisition of Manus illuminates the growing trend of China-affiliated AI firms shedding roots to draw Western investors and mitigate geopolitical risks. The deal highlights the intersection of global capital access, talent retention, and strategic realignments in AI’s geopolitical context.
GroqCloud Valued Above $1B Following Nvidia’s $20B Non-Exclusive Licensing Deal
Bids for GroqCloud’s AI inference platform are expected to pass $1 billion after Nvidia’s landmark $20 billion licensing agreement with Groq. This underscores the critical value of differentiated AI inference technology and the strategic importance of licensing partnerships in the AI hardware ecosystem.
Nokia Reinvents for AI by Expanding Cloud, Data Centers, Optical Networks, and Partnering with Nvidia
Nokia is pivoting from legacy telecommunications towards AI infrastructure by enhancing cloud services, data centres, and optical networking capabilities. Its partnership with Nvidia signals a strategic embrace of AI workloads, positioning Nokia as a vital player in the AI data centre supply chain.
Model & Platform Updates
OpenAI Prepares Audio-First AI for a New Generation of Devices
OpenAI is accelerating work on audio AI, unifying teams to close the gap between voice and text models ahead of launching audio-first devices. New architectures promise faster, more natural and emotive conversations, better interruption handling and real-time interaction—positioning OpenAI for wearables and companion-style hardware in 2026.
Cursor Introduces a Visual Editor That Lets You Edit UI Like a Designer — Without Leaving Your Code
Cursor’s Visual Editor integrates an interactive UI design experience directly inside the code editor. Users can drag, inspect, and adjust UI elements visually, then have Cursor’s AI agents update the underlying code. This bridges design and development workflows and supports natural-language change requests for rapid iteration.
Google DeepMind releases updated multimodal LLM with improved image and text understanding
This update expands multimodal capabilities, enabling more nuanced interpretation and generation of complex combined-image and text inputs, enhancing real-world AI applications.
OpenAI launches GPT‑5.2 model
A new GPT‑5.2 model improves reasoning, coding, and long‑context handling, positioned as OpenAI’s answer to Google’s Gemini 3 and aimed at complex, multi‑step work.
New OpenAI realtime and voice models
New “2025‑12‑15” realtime, TTS and transcription models quietly appeared in the OpenAI API, suggesting cheaper, more capable voice agents built on compact “mini” audio models.
OpenAI ships GPT‑Image‑1.5
OpenAI released GPT‑Image‑1.5, its new flagship image generator integrated directly into ChatGPT and API, framed internally as part of a “code red” push to regain product leadership.
Gemini 3 Flash for cheaper speed
Gemini 3 Flash is Gemini’s latest model with frontier intelligence built for speed that helps everyone learn, build, and plan anything - faster. Gemini 3 Flash targets high‑volume, latency‑sensitive workloads, offering “frontier”‑level intelligence optimised for fast, low‑cost responses in apps and agents.
Quick Hits
Adobe announces AI-powered design assistant integrated into Creative Cloud - Automates layout and asset suggestions to speed up creative workflows.
Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.5 set a new internal bar by outperforming every human engineering candidate in tests, underscoring frontier‑level coding and reasoning for enterprise users.
Apple unveiled UniGen‑1.5, a single model that can understand, generate and edit images, nearing the performance of leading proprietary image systems while unifying tasks.