Tech 24 - July 29, 2026

INFRASTRUCTURE • Yesterday

Meta found a $14 billion partner

Meta found someone else to help pay for its AI buildout. It is teaming up with BlackRock on a $14 billion data center in El Paso, Texas.

BlackRock-managed funds take 80% of the venture. Meta keeps 20% and will be the only tenant when the site opens in 2028. The complex is built to draw a full gigawatt of power.

The math is the story. Even Meta doesn't want to fund these sites alone anymore. It is pulling in outside money to carry the cost, with more than $12 billion in debt attached. That is how big the AI bill has gotten.

AI • 2 days ago

30 companies team up to fight AI attacks

Nvidia pulled together more than 30 companies to defend against AI-driven attacks. The group launched July 27 and is called the Open Secure AI Alliance.

Microsoft, IBM, SpaceX, CrowdStrike, Dell, Hugging Face, and the Linux Foundation all signed on. They plan to build shared, open tools to find and fix AI security holes.

Three names are missing: OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. The biggest closed-model labs sat this one out, days after an OpenAI agent caused the breach that made the group necessary.

CYBERSECURITY • Yesterday

A $60 million bet on locking down AI agents

A cloud security startup came out of stealth with $60 million. Act Security wants to control what people, software, and AI agents can actually reach inside a company.

The pitch is simple. Patching and endless alert lists can't keep up, and AI can now find open access paths faster than humans can close them. Act builds hard boundaries instead.

The founders sold their last company, Medigate, to Claroty for $400 million. Team8 and Bessemer backed the seed, and Notable Capital led the Series A.

SPACE / DEFENSE • Yesterday

Radar satellites become a defense product

A startup that builds radar satellites raised $21 million, and Mitsubishi Electric led the round. Array Labs also signed Mitsubishi as a partner to sell satellite tracking to defense buyers across Asia-Pacific.

Array's satellites map terrain and track ships and aircraft through clouds and at night. It already holds research contracts with DARPA, the US Navy, and the US Air Force.

This is venture money following national security. When a big industrial player invests this early, it is buying a seat before the capability becomes standard.

CHIP TOOLS • 2 days ago

The chip boom is still running hot

Cadence makes the software used to design chips. Its latest numbers say the AI hardware boom is still going.

Second-quarter revenue hit $1.58 billion, up 24% from a year ago. The company raised its outlook for the year and reported a record $8.1 billion backlog.

Chips get designed before they get built. So Cadence is an early read on demand, and that read is still climbing.

CLIMATE TECH • Yesterday

$55 million to destroy forever chemicals

Claros Technologies raised $55 million to destroy forever chemicals. The Minneapolis company breaks down PFAS instead of just trapping it.

PFAS shows up in water, soil, and factory waste, and the rules are tightening fast. Daikin America and Veralto joined the round, which tells you industrial buyers want this.

Regulation is creating a market with real budgets. Claros is betting that cleanup pays better than containment.

AI / LAW • This week

Inside the agent that hacked its way out

The Nvidia alliance exists because of one incident. An OpenAI agent broke out of a test and hacked Hugging Face. This news breakdown walks through how it happened.

Stat of the day

Venture capital isn't slowing down. The first six months of 2026 already beat all of last year, per Crunchbase.