// Today in AI

Today in AI: Chips and Politics

The arms race for custom AI hardware accelerated with two major chip moves, while a costly political proxy war fizzled out. Meanwhile, design tools got a m

LDLatentDaily Desk Jun 24, 2026 2 min read

Today in AI — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels

June 24, 2026

The arms race for custom AI hardware accelerated with two major chip moves, while a costly political proxy war fizzled out. Meanwhile, design tools got a major AI-powered upgrade, and the industry's water consumption came under the microscope.

🚀 OpenAI unveils its first custom AI processor, 'Jalapeño'

OpenAI and Broadcom have revealed Jalapeño, the company's first custom ASIC designed specifically for LLM inference. This is a huge step in OpenAI's vertical integration, aimed at reducing costs, improving performance, and lessening dependence on Nvidia. It signals a new phase of the hardware war where model builders take control of their silicon. (TechCrunch)

💰 Qualcomm acquires chip software startup Modular for $4B

Qualcomm is buying Modular, a buzzy startup building a unified software platform for AI accelerators, in a massive $4 billion deal. This is a strategic power play by Qualcomm to capture the crucial software layer for its own AI chips, making them more attractive and easier to program for developers. (Wired AI)

⚖️ $27M AI proxy political war ends in a draw

The expensive political proxy war between Anthropic and OpenAI, which funneled $27M into a New York congressional primary, ended in a draw last night. The candidate they targeted narrowly lost, showing that even massive AI money can't guarantee a win and highlighting the industry's messy foray into politics. (The Verge)

🚀 Figma's Config unleashes AI for motion graphics and code

Figma's major Config update introduces AI-powered tools for generating motion graphics, shaders, and custom plugins. This pushes the design tool far beyond static UI, enabling designers to create interactive, animated prototypes and code layers directly on a reimagined canvas, blurring the lines between design and development. (The Verge)

💰 Microsoft details its two-decade push to slash AI's water use

Microsoft published a deep-dive on its long-term strategy to cut water intensity in its data centers as AI demand skyrockets. This is a critical, preemptive move to address the massive environmental footprint of AI compute and head off growing community and regulatory concerns about resource consumption. (Microsoft)

💰 Anthropic's 'weirdo' CEO sidelined in White House meetings

Wired reports that Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei, described as a 'weirdo' by one official, has been replaced in high-stakes White House meetings by co-founder Tom Brown. This suggests Anthropic is polishing its Washington presence, swapping out its more eccentric technical founder for a smoother operator as AI policy heats up. (Wired AI)

The takeaway: OpenAI's custom chip reveal marks a pivotal move in the AI stack, as model builders seek to own their hardware destiny and break the Nvidia stranglehold.