Cloud Hosting

Hello, and welcome to Protocol Enterprise! Today: Building Mark Zuckerbergs metaverse will require every chip to be an order of magnitude faster, Intel is in talks to buy Tower Semi, and the latest funding deals in enterprise tech.

Unicorns arent so rare in cybersecurity anymore. Thirty cybersecurity companies achieved valuations of more than $1 billion last year, up from just six in 2020, according to a new report from Momentum Cyber. And investors invested $29.3 billion in venture funding in 2021, up from $12.4 billion the year before.

A disconnect has formed between the way corporate America is talking about the dawning concept of the metaverse and its plausibility based on the nature of the computing power that will be necessary to achieve it. To get there will require immense innovation, similar to the multidecade effort to shrink personal computers to the size of an iPhone. No one knows how or where to start, let alone whether the devices will still be semiconductors.

The metaverse may forever remain science fiction.

The metaverse will likely only become a reality with a generational leap in computing. Yet nobody can describe the system requirements specifically, because it will be a sharp departure from prior shifts in computing.

Quantum computing is probably not the solution but it could be. The tech is largely theoretical today, and decades from practical applications.

Chip manufacturing technology will also need to leap forward. Companies such as TSMC and Intel are already pushing the boundaries of physics with extreme ultraviolet lithography machines to print the most advanced chips.

Max A. Cherney (email | twitter)

Intel is in talks to acquire the Israeli chip manufacturing business Tower Semiconductor for nearly $6 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported late Monday.

If the deal closes, it would boost Intels manufacturing capacity for older, less advanced chips. Intel has historically focused on the most advanced processors, or leading edge chips, and sold off older equipment to other companies. The Journal said the acquisition could be made public as early as this week.

But last year, under newly appointed CEO Pat Gelsinger, Intel said that it was creating a contract manufacturing unit to make chips designed by other companies, such as Qualcomm. Adding Tower Semis group of factories to Intels existing infrastructure would likely expand the companys range of manufacturing offerings to include some of the less advanced chips used in autos, defense, and medical devices.

Dataiku is the only AI platform that connects data and doers, enabling anyone to transform data into real business results from the mundane to the moonshot. Because AI can do so much, but there's no soul in the machine, only in front of it. Without you, it's just data.

Learn more

Branch was valued at $4 billion after raising $300 million for its enterprise marketing tech platform.

Starburst was valued at $3.35 billion after a $250 million funding round for its analytics engine.

Salt Security reached a valuation of $1.4 billion after raising $140 million for its API protection platform.

Xpressbees hit a valuation of $1.2 billion after raising $300 million for its logistics platform.

The World Economic Forum is hosting a Web3 briefing on digital privacy moderated by our very own Kate Kaye. Register and tune in Tuesday at 10 a.m. ET.

Dinobabies at IBM: Documents in an age-discrimination lawsuit show high-level discussions at the company to phase out older employees, according to The New York Times.

Taiwan-based Foxconn has formed a joint venture with Vedanta to make chips in India amid the global shortage, Reuters reported.

Dataiku is the only AI platform that connects data and doers, enabling anyone to transform data into real business results from the mundane to the moonshot. Because AI can do so much, but there's no soul in the machine, only in front of it. Without you, it's just data.

Learn more

Thanks for reading see you tomorrow!

More here:
Mark Zuckerbergs metaverse will require computing tech no one knows how to build - Protocol