Nvidia is preparing to withdraw its plans to acquire U.K. chip designer Arm. Nvidia, the market leader worldwide for AI chips, has faced hurdles trying to gain regulatory approval for the $40B deal. More: - SoftBank agreed to sell Arm to Nvidia in Sept. 2020. At that time, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the merger would "create the world's premier computing company for the age of AI."
- But the deal has since faced scrutiny from regulators, including an FTC lawsuit, amid concerns that it would harm competition.
- While the deal won't likely materialize, demand for Nvidia's AI continues to grow, and the company remains focused on AI and the metaverse, according to Tigress Financial Partners' Ivan Feinseth.
- Last year, Nvidia introduced its data center CPU Grace, an Arm-based processor that delivers higher performance for systems training massive AI models.
BLOOMBERG 
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 Kai-Fu Lee Chinese AI solutions startup Qingdao AInnovation launched its Hong Kong IPO and is expected to see its shares start trading on Thursday. The Softbank-backed company, which specializes in machine learning and computer vision technologies, priced its shares at HK$26.30 ($3.38) each, which is at the lower end of the range. More: - At that price, Qingdao AInnovation is expected to raise at least $151M.
- The funds are expected to go toward R&D, commercialization improvements, strategic investment pursuits, and improvements for its AI platform.
- Its chairman is AI expert, tech investor, and computer scientist Kai-Fu Lee, founder of Sinovation Ventures and co-author of the book "AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future."
- Qingdao AInnovation is among the seven AI startups that Sinovation has backed that have become unicorns. In 2019, Lee predicted it would go public in 2021.
About Qingdao AInnovation: - The company's full-stack AI solutions include computer vision modules that process data and spot defects — for example, in auto and chip manufacturing.
- In 2021, much of its revenue came from clients in manufacturing and financial services.
- Its three AI platforms are the ManuVision Intelligent Machine Vision Platform, the MatrixVision Intelligent Edge Video Platform, and the Orion Distributed Machine Learning Platform.
- Its pre-IPO valuation exceeds $1B.
TECHCRUNCH
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Enterprise AI specialist InstaDeep secured $100M in a funding round that included participation from BioNTech, which partnered with Pfizer on the Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine. More: - The Series B financing was led by Alpha Intelligence Capital and CDIB, with other participants Chimera Abu Dhabi, Deutsche Bahn's DB Digital Ventures, Google, G42, and Synergie.
- InstaDeep, a Tunisian company with its HQ in London, plans to use the proceeds to expand its workforce, develop its computing infrastructure, and build out its U.S. operations.
- The company offers AI/ML to enterprises in electronics manufacturing, logistics, and biotech. For example, its reinforcement learning tech can help design optimization strategies for companies.
- Its AI/ML is focused on solving "real-world challenges." It has published joint research with Google and collaborated with Google's AI research on an early detection system for African locust outbreaks.
BioNTech partnership: - BioNTech, a German biotech company that's also focused on cancer vaccines, has worked with InstaDeep since 2020.
- The two have a multi-year project for a joint AI innovation lab to help create novel immunotherapies.
- More recently, the companies introduced an AI-based "early warning system" to identify potentially dangerous coronavirus variants.
- In testing, the data-driven computational method flagged 12 of the 13 variants that the World Health Organization classified as dangerous.
VENTUREBEAT
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Austin-based AI/ML company SparkCognition is now a unicorn following a $123M Series D funding round. The company is now valued at more than $1.4B. More: - The startup's AI solutions address "core infrastructure challenges" such as cyberattack prevention, asset optimization, and skill gaps augmentation.
- Its ML technology can "predict when a customer's systems might fail or be hacked."
- Clients include Boeing, Aker BP, and Hitachi High-Technologies.
- The fresh funding will go toward R&D, sales and marketing, patent portfolio enhancements, and other initiatives.
- Last year, SparkCognition acquired Ensemble Energy, which will help it develop an AI-based management platform for clean energy solutions.
AITHORITY
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 Investments in AI-based drug development rose 36% in 2021 compared to the year prior, according to Emersion Insights founder and principal analyst Ulrik Kristensen. Total investments in the industry, which involves using AI technology to help develop new pharmaceuticals, now exceed $13B. More: - Last year some saw major funding rounds for AI drug developers.
- These included China-based XtalPi's $400M, Insitro's $400M, Exscientia's $225M+, and Insilico Medicine's $255M round.
- Exscientia also raised $510M in an upsized IPO in October. Drugmaker Sanofi has also expanded its partnership with Exscientia in a deal worth up to $5.2B.
- Kristensen predicts that investors will double down on their current portfolio companies in the industry.
- He expects to see "massive funding rounds" in AI drug discovery over the next year.
THE SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD
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 |  | Beth is an Inside Analyst and a former public policy/investigative reporter. She has covered AI, VR, technology, and e-commerce for Inside. When she's not busy writing, she's hiking in Arizona's desert, playing pickleball, or trying out new Mexican food recipes. |   | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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