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Nvidia acquires Poolside's Model Factory & Waymo builds its own chip — 2026-08-21 12:00
Top AI news for Aug 21: Nvidia's $6B Poolside deal, Waymo's custom chip, GPT-Image-2 transparent backgrounds, Liquid AI's DSpark, and more.
Nine high-signal stories from the last 24 hours, led by the chip wars — Nvidia buying software while Waymo builds its own silicon.
- Nvidia acquires Poolside's "Model Factory" for $6 billion — The chip giant is buying software that builds AI models and bringing on 109 employees. The Decoder · Aug 21
- Waymo builds its own chip for its robotaxis — The self-driving company cuts its reliance on Nvidia with custom silicon. The Decoder · Aug 21
- OpenAI's GPT-Image-2 gets transparent backgrounds — Images can now be generated with a built-in alpha channel, activated by a single API parameter. The Decoder · Aug 21
- Liquid AI ships LFM2.5-DSpark for up to 3.2x faster inference — Speculative decoding delivers faster output on GPUs and on-device, with day-one llama.cpp and SGLang support. Liquid AI · Aug 20
- Anthropic eases its data retention policy after enterprise pushback — Business customers can now keep their own data going forward. The Decoder · Aug 21
- Meta is now one of Microsoft's biggest AI customers — The social giant spends hundreds of millions on Microsoft's AI services, according to Bloomberg. The Decoder · Aug 21
- Grok keeps sending gibberish responses to users — Grok Lite users reported garbled output as early as Wednesday morning. TechCrunch · Aug 20
- Google Discover is getting an AI chatbot-tuned feed — Users get more control over the feed, tuned toward the AI chatbot experience. The Verge · Aug 20
- AI data startup Micro1 hits $500M gross run rate — Surging demand for AI training data is driving rapid growth for the startup and its rivals. TechCrunch · Aug 21
🧪 Try This Next
- 🔧 Test GPT-Image-2's transparent background feature for product shots and design assets
- 🔧 Check out Liquid AI's LFM2.5-DSpark if you run local models — the speed boost is free
- 📝 Save a note on the chip wars — Nvidia buying software while Waymo builds its own silicon is a trend worth tracking
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