📰 Meta Confirms Subsea Connectivity Ambitions

Welcome to The Godspeed Weekly.

Today’s publication features Nvidia’s 13F updates, robot makers raising money, Anduril’s strategic partnership, Meta’s subsea connectivity ambitions, EHang’s relative strength and more.

Onward…

Mark Zuckerberg’s internet behemoth confirmed its ambition to complete the world’s longest subsea cable.

Code name - Project Waterworth - intends to connect five continents over 50,000 kilometers to enable digital communication, video experiences, online transactions and more.

The company writes,

Subsea cables projects, such as Project Waterworth, are the backbone of global digital infrastructure, accounting for more than 95% of intercontinental traffic across the world’s oceans to seamlessly enable digital communication, video experiences, online transactions, and more.

Project Waterworth will be a multi-billion dollar, multi-year investment to strengthen the scale and reliability of the world’s digital highways by opening three new oceanic corridors with the abundant, high speed connectivity needed to drive AI innovation around the world.

Read Meta’s full press release here.

The Austin-based humanoid robot manufacturer, Apptronik raised $350M to scale production.

Co-Founder and CEO of Apptronik, Jeff Cardenas commented,

“We’re creating the world’s most advanced and capable humanoid robots, designed to work alongside humans in meaningful and transformative ways…

By uniting cutting-edge AI with hardware engineered for meaningful interaction, we’re shaping a future where robots become true partners in driving progress. It’s inspiring to have investors who believe in this vision and are committed to helping us bring it to life.”

And Unknown Market Wizard, Chris Camillo tweeted,

Catch Cardenas’ CNBC interview here and here’s Tech Crunch with full coverage.

Anduril and Microsoft partnered to advance the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) program for the US Army.

Microsoft shared,

“Through this partnership agreement, and pending Department of Defense approval, Anduril will assume oversight of production, future development of hardware and software, and delivery timelines. This agreement also establishes Microsoft Azure as Anduril’s preferred hyperscale cloud for all workloads related to IVAS and Anduril AI technologies.”

Core Memory founder, Ashlee Vance added much needed color to the news. She writes,

What actually happened here is that Anduril took a $22 billion U.S. Army contract over from Microsoft to help Microsoft save face. It will now be on Anduril to rescue the beleaguered IVAS effort and build a new line of augmented reality headsets – aka futuristic helmets - for the military.

Read Ashlee’s full post here.

Nvidia released its latest 13F Friday disclosing its investment holdings.

The company cut Serve Robotics, Nano-X Imaging, SoundHound AI and trimmed Arm Holdings. The semiconductor giant did purchased shares of China’s WeRide and Nebius Group.

WeRide develops autonomous driving technology. $WRD flew +83.46% on the news.

Nebius Group provides digital infrastructure for AI data centers. $NBIS gained +6.69% Friday.

Here’s the wild weekly chart.

We’ve repeatedly cited China’s relative strength within this next-gen industrial revolution trend. WeRide - mentioned above - is one example, EHang Holdings another…

This week, $EH flew +25.29% and closed at a three and a half year high. The stock is up +61% YTD and rests at its 2021 all-time high AVWAP.

Here’s the weekly chart.

The Oklahoma Department of Aerospace and Aeronautics (ODAA) will contract Vigilant Aerospace to deploy its FlightHorizon system, enabling Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) at the Oklahoma Air & Space Port.

The partnership will support Beyond Visual Line-Of-Sight (BVLOS) testing for next-gen military and commercial drones.

Vigilant Aerospace CEO Kraettli Epperson shared,

“Oklahoma understands the importance of the autonomous aviation industry for the state and our nation and is taking the lead in this growing industry and ecosystem…

Choosing a flexible, scalable solution that can support a wide range of military and commercial drone flights, and investing in the emerging AAM industry, Oklahoma is showing the nation a path forward.”

Here’s Airport Technology with more.

Here are two great podcasts to enjoy with a warm beverage this weekend…

Oculus VR and Anduril Industries founder Palmer Luckey joined Shawn Ryan to review super human soldiers, AI missiles and exoskeletons.

And Nicolas Zart sat down with LEO Flight co-founders Carlos Salaff and Peter Bitar to discuss how LEO’s revolutionary electric-jet propulsion system will redefine urban air mobility.

Tune in below.

The Godspeed Flying Car Composite favored flying cars over the legacy American automakers due to Archer’s outperformance. Here’s the weekly figures… 

And the weekly ratio chart — Flying Cars (ACHR + JOBY) // American Automakers (F + GM).

Avride Launches Sidewalk Delivery Bots In Jersey City

Figure AI Is In Talks To Raise $1.5B, 15x Its Last Valuation

Finger-Waggling Sony CSL Exoskeleton Helps Pianists Play Faster

Robotics Exoskeletons Help Tourists Climb China’s Most Punishing Mountain

SkyDrive’s eVTOL Receives JCAB G-1 Certification

Wingcopter Extends Range of Applications To Long-Range LiDAR Surveying

UrbanV and PAX Aeroportos To Establish Advanced Air Mobility Testbed At Campo de Marte Airport in Brazil

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Godspeed - Rosebee

Disclosure: The author of this newsletter holds positions in ARKX and ACHR/W.