September 9, 2025 · 24-Hour AI Briefing: Nebius Mega Deal, Baidu’s Wenxin X1.1, Anthropic’s Soaring Valuation, UBTECH’s Humanoid Robot
In the past 24 hours, the AI industry has seen a series of groundbreaking updates—from multi-billion-dollar contracts to major model releases and humanoid robots entering the market. Here are the latest developments and in-depth commentary.
Nebius Signs $17.4 Billion Contract with Microsoft, Stock Surges 44%
Nebius has secured a $17.4 billion deal with Microsoft to supply GPU infrastructure for its New Jersey data center over the next five years. With additional services, the deal could expand to $19.4 billion. Following the announcement, Nebius shares jumped more than 44% in after-hours trading.
Analysis: Spread across five years, the $17.4 billion contract (potentially up to $19.4 billion) translates into $3.5–3.9 billion in annual revenue—a massive boost to Nebius’s financial outlook. With $2.4 billion in cash reserves and minimal debt, the company’s capital structure is healthy, and the influx of revenue will further enhance financial flexibility, supporting capital-intensive expansion plans. Partnering at this scale with Microsoft significantly elevates Nebius’s position and brand power in cloud computing and AI infrastructure. The deal also highlights Nebius’s strong technical edge in high-performance computing. However, should Microsoft alter its strategy in the future, Nebius may face risk exposure.
Baidu Launches Wenxin X1.1 Deep Thinking Model, Fully Open to Enterprises and Developers
Baidu has officially rolled out the Wenxin X1.1 Deep Thinking Model, emphasizing improvements in factual accuracy, instruction following, and agent capabilities. The model is now available on Baidu’s official website and app, and has also been fully integrated into Baidu Cloud’s Qianfan platform for enterprises and developers.
Analysis: The release of Wenxin X1.1 reinforces Baidu’s leadership in China’s AI model race, particularly in Chinese-language deep reasoning and multimodal capabilities—positioning it against rivals like DeepSeek R1 and V3. Its integration across Baidu’s ecosystem (search, maps, etc.) allows businesses and developers to leverage its capabilities without training from scratch, cutting costs and development time. Baidu remains a strong competitor in the domestic AI race, but the real test will lie in adoption and usability for developers and end users.
Anthropic’s Valuation Triples to $183 Billion in Six Months
Anthropic’s valuation has skyrocketed from $61.5 billion to $183 billion within six months. Its deep partnership with Amazon is central to this rise, as Anthropic relies heavily on AWS infrastructure, including Trainium and Inferentia chips, for model training and deployment.
Analysis: Once seen as lagging in AI, Amazon appears to have staged a comeback through Anthropic. The Claude series has become a top rival to OpenAI thanks to its strong performance in coding and logical reasoning. In early 2025, Anthropic raised $3.5 billion at a $61.5 billion valuation, backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Salesforce, and Cisco. The leap to $183 billion likely reflects either a fresh funding round or renewed market confidence in Claude’s commercial potential. Amazon’s $8 billion cumulative investment (including a $4 billion injection in November 2024), alongside Google’s $3+ billion, further strengthens Anthropic’s war chest. Third-party data shows Anthropic’s revenue hit $3 billion by May 2025, making it one of the fastest-growing SaaS firms. AWS, Anthropic’s exclusive cloud partner, stands to gain significantly: projected revenue of $1.28 billion in 2025, $3 billion in 2026, and $5.6 billion in 2027—not only from compute demand but also from distributing Claude models via Amazon Bedrock.
However, Anthropic’s $183 billion valuation far exceeds most SaaS peers, raising concerns of overvaluation. And with fierce competition from ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, Qwen, Perplexity, and others, Anthropic’s long-term pressure remains high. On the consumer side, Claude still trails ChatGPT and Gemini in adoption.
UBTECH Launches Full-Size Research Humanoid Robot at $41,936
UBTECH announced that its full-size research and education humanoid robot, “Tiangong Walker,” is now available on JD.com. Standing 1.72 meters tall, the base version is priced at RMB 299,000 (about $41,936) and supports secondary development. Three versions—basic, mid-tier, and advanced—are offered to meet different research needs.
Analysis: At RMB 299,000 ($41,936), UBTECH’s robot is the first full-size, research-grade humanoid priced below RMB 300,000, breaking barriers in cost and performance. As the “first humanoid robotics stock” in China, UBTECH enjoys a first-mover advantage in the domestic market. Globally, few companies can offer such a cost-effective, high-performance, open-source humanoid robot. Still, competitors like Tesla’s Optimus and Boston Dynamics retain an edge in motion control and commercialization in industrial and household service scenarios.
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