Sam Altman and Alex Karp distance themselves from Wall Street, the historic rival of Elon Musk. While much of the tech sector enjoyed a break, Nvidia and SoftBank took advantage of the quieter period of the year to make high-impact strategic moves. SoftBank announced the acquisition of DigitalBridge, a digital infrastructure investment firm, for about $4 billion (approximately €3.4 billion). This deal reinforces SoftBank's commitment to controlling the physical infrastructure that supports the rise of artificial intelligence, such as data centers and fiber optic networks. The transaction, pending regulatory approval, is part of SoftBank's portfolio restructuring, which recently sold shares of Nvidia to free up capital and increase its investment in AI and robotics. Meanwhile, Nvidia surprised by announcing on Christmas Eve a non-exclusive licensing agreement with Groq, a startup specializing in custom microchips for AI inference. Although it is not formally an acquisition, Groq's founder and CEO, Jonathan Ross, along with his engineering team, will join Nvidia, while Groq will continue to operate independently under its CFO, Simon Edwards. This type of agreement, where talent and key technology are acquired without buying the entire company, has become a trend in 2025, allowing large tech companies to bypass regulatory hurdles and access cutting-edge innovation. The year has been marked by complex and hard-to-classify operations, beyond simple purchases or funding rounds. An example is the agreement between Disney and OpenAI: the entertainment company will invest €850 million in OpenAI and become the first major content partner of Sora, the startup's video generator. This alliance will allow users to create and remix content with Disney characters, integrating AI into the fan experience. Another relevant case is Windsurf, a programming assistant startup. After failing to sell to OpenAI, Google intervened with a deal of over €2 billion to hire the CEO and the main team, as well as license the intellectual property. The rest of the employees were integrated into Cognition, another AI startup, highlighting the shift in the social contract of startups: talent is valued more than total acquisition. In the governmental sphere, the Trump Administration surprised by acquiring a 9.9% stake in Intel for €7.6 billion, seeking to strengthen U.S. capabilities in advanced chip manufacturing and reduce dependence on foreign suppliers. This direct investment marks a shift in U.S. industrial policy, with possible similar agreements on the horizon. Meta also made headlines with one of the largest deals of the year by acquiring 49% of Scale AI for €12.2 billion, bringing its founder Alexandr Wang on board as head of AI. His mission will be to attract elite talent and turn Meta's computing power into a long-term competitive advantage. Google, for its part, completed the purchase of Wiz, a cloud security startup, in the largest acquisition in its history. The deal, which passed antitrust scrutiny, demonstrates the willingness of the U.S. administration to allow large tech mergers. Finally, the Stargate project, driven by Trump alongside OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank, plans to invest €425 billion in a national network of data centers by 2029. Facilities have already been opened in Texas, with progress in other states, as Sam Altman estimates that the project's success will require one-fifth of the country's skilled workforce. These operations reflect a new era in the tech industry, where access to talent, infrastructure, and strategic alliances is redefining power, distancing industry leaders from the traditional dictates of Wall Street. (Source: businessinsider.es)