Nvidia is launching a new, lower-memory version of its DGX Spark desktop computer, a small machine meant for running AI models at a desk rather than in a data center. The 64GB version starts at $4,999 and goes on sale October 23 through PC makers including Dell, HP, and Asus. Two of these machines can be linked together to match the memory of the original, more expensive model. This gives developers and small businesses a cheaper way to experiment with AI models at home instead of paying for cloud computing time.
We Energies and Oracle agreed on a deal meant to save the utility's Wisconsin customers about $300 million in fuel costs tied to the Point Beach nuclear plant. The agreement is not yet final, it still needs to go to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission for review in the coming months. Oracle is building a large data center in the state as part of its 'Project Lighthouse' development. If regulators approve it, the deal means Oracle, rather than ordinary ratepayers, absorbs more of the cost increase tied to powering the grid the data center relies on.
Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI models, announced a program called Claude Frontier Academy, backed by a $100 million commitment, aiming to train 10,000 'Frontier Deployed Engineers' by the end of 2027. These are specialists meant to help other companies actually put AI systems to work inside their own operations, not people who build AI models themselves. Anthropic said more than 175,000 people across 46,000 firms have already earned a Claude certification through its existing partner program. If this succeeds, the practical effect for most people is indirect: more trained specialists available to help your employer actually deploy AI tools, rather than leaving that work undone or outsourced to whoever happens to understand the software.
Amazon says it will spend more than $1 billion over the next five years on infrastructure upgrades and community projects in towns where it builds AWS data centres, as local pushback against new data centres grows across the US. The money is meant for things like road and utility upgrades near its sites. It's Amazon's answer to a complaint showing up in more places: that a data centre brings jobs and tax revenue to a local government, but also strains roads, water and the power grid for the people living next to it.