Yoolim Lee / Bloomberg:
Sources: Samsung enters the final qualification phase to supply its HBM4 chips to Nvidia, and targets mass production in February; Samsung's shares jumped 3.2%  —  Samsung Electronics Co. is getting close to securing certification from Nvidia Corp. for the latest version of its AI memory chip …

Andy Kemp / Gallup:
Gallup: 12% of employed US adults reported using AI daily in their job in Q4 2025, compared to 10% in Q3 and 8% in Q2; 49% say they never use AI in their role  —  The total percentage of employees using AI remains flat, but use varies meaningfully by industry and role type.

Jason Lemkin / SaaStr:
Many AI founders now find it necessary to raise at valuations requiring absolute domination of the field; Brex, once valued at $12B, shows the downsides of this  —  Capital One just announced it's acquiring Brex for $5.15 billion.  An incredible, top .1% “exit” in less than 10 years …

Bethan Staton / Financial Times:
A profile of Mercor, which pays about $2M daily to ~30K experts training AI models at $95/hour on average, with roles like radiologists earning up to $375/hour  —  Tens of thousands of professionals are joining tech start-up Mercor to hone technology in their skills  —  At first Lola thought the job ads were fake.

Tim McLaughlin / Reuters:
Power prices surge in Virginia, home to the world's largest data center hub; record demand is expected during the winter storm, partly due to data center needs  —  Power prices in the largest U.S. grid rose sharply on Sunday as demand in a region with the world's largest concentration …