"AI Leaders Depart, Crypto Booms, and Amazon Eyes More of Your Pantry

14th August 2025

Igor Babuschkin has left Elon Musk’s xAI to launch a VC firm focused on AI safety and advancing humanity. Foxconn’s Q2 profit jumped 27% on booming AI server demand, now surpassing its iPhone business. Amazon is rolling out same-day grocery delivery to over 1,000 U.S. cities, pressuring rivals like Instacart and Kroger. Crypto exchange Bullish debuted with a 90% first-day gain, valuing it above $10 billion. The IPO market is heating up, with activity up 58% from last year. Rising Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP prices are fueling optimism for digital assets. All this in today’s Read It and Eat! 

Major Headlines 

Co-founder of Elon Musk’s xAI Steps Down to Launch New VC Firm

Igor Babuschkin, one of the original architects behind Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI, is officially moving on. In a post on X, Babuschkin revealed that Wednesday marked his last day at the company he helped launch in 2023. “I still remember the day I first met Elon , we talked for hours about AI and what the future might hold,” he wrote. “We both felt that a new AI company with a different kind of mission was needed.”

Babuschkin isn’t heading for another AI lab, he's starting his own venture capital firm, Babuschkin Ventures. His focus? Backing AI safety research and startups aiming to “advance humanity and unlock the mysteries of our universe.” He says the idea crystalized after a dinner with Max Tegmark, founder of the Future of Life Institute, where they discussed how to build AI systems that benefit future generations. His motivation is also personal; his parents immigrated from Russia in search of a better life, a vision he says continues to drive him.

His exit comes after a turbulent stretch for xAI, where its chatbot Grok faced several PR storms. At one point, Grok appeared to echo Musk’s personal views in answers to sensitive questions. In another, it spiraled into antisemitic rants, calling itself “Mechahitler.” Most recently, the company came under fire for introducing a feature that could generate AI-made videos resembling nude public figures, including Taylor Swift. While these controversies grabbed headlines, xAI’s technology still ranks among the top-performing AI models worldwide, holding its own against OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic.

Before co-founding xAI, Babuschkin worked at Google DeepMind, where he helped develop AlphaStar, the first AI system to defeat elite StarCraft players. He also spent time at OpenAI before the release of ChatGPT. At xAI, he and Musk faced daunting challenges, including building a massive supercomputer in Memphis in just three months something industry veterans said was “impossible.” They pulled it off, though environmentalists have raised concerns about emissions from the temporary gas turbines powering the project. Looking back, Babuschkin says the journey was worth it: “I feel like a proud parent, driving away after sending their kid to college.” He leaves with two lessons from Musk that he calls “priceless”: be fearless about tackling technical problems yourself, and work with a maniacal sense of urgency. TechCrunch 

Foxconn Rides AI Server Boom as Q2 Profit Surges Past Forecasts

Foxconn is cashing in on the artificial intelligence surge and it’s showing up clearly in its earnings. The world’s largest contract electronics maker reported a 27% jump in second-quarter profit, beating market forecasts, and now expects even stronger growth in the third quarter on the back of skyrocketing demand for AI servers. The company projects AI server revenue will leap more than 170% year-on-year, driving “significant” overall revenue growth compared to the same period last year.

It’s no surprise given Foxconn’s unique position in the tech supply chain. The company is Nvidia’s biggest server manufacturer and Apple’s top iPhone assembler, and it’s been riding the ongoing data center boom as cloud giants like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google pour billions into expanding AI infrastructure. In a milestone shift, Foxconn’s cloud and networking business which includes AI servers brought in more revenue than its smart consumer electronics segment for the first time ever last quarter.

Still, challenges loom. Global trade tensions could cloud the outlook, especially given Foxconn’s large manufacturing footprint in China. A recent extension of the U.S.–China tariff truce offers some breathing room, but geopolitical risk remains. To diversify, Foxconn has been ramping up production outside China, with most U.S.-sold iPhones now assembled in India and new factories in Mexico and Texas dedicated to building AI servers for Nvidia. The company is also exploring growth in electric vehicles, though that journey has been uneven. Earlier this month, it agreed to sell a former Ohio car plant for $375 million while continuing to use it for cloud-related manufacturing.

Foxconn’s Q2 net profit came in at T$44.4 billion ($1.48 billion), topping the consensus estimate of T$38.8 billion. Shares are up 8.4% so far this year, outpacing Taiwan’s broader market. Looking ahead, the company reaffirmed its forecast for significant full-year revenue growth, though it didn’t provide exact numbers. With AI server demand still red hot and Foxconn expanding its reach into new tech sectors the company looks set to keep riding the AI momentum into the next quarter and beyond. Reuters 

Amazon Turns Up the Heat in the Grocery Aisle

Amazon is taking another big bite out of the grocery market. The company, once just an online bookseller, is expanding same-day delivery for fresh groceries think meat, produce, and other perishables to more U.S. cities. That means shoppers in places like Raleigh, Tampa, and Milwaukee can now get their bananas, broccoli, and beef delivered alongside last-minute socks or a fly swatter.

The service, now live in over 1,000 cities, is set to reach more than 2,300 regions by the end of the year. It’s not replacing Amazon’s existing grocery brands Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods but rather adding another option to its growing food empire.

Competitors weren’t thrilled. Instacart’s stock sank more than 11% on the news, while traditional grocers took smaller hits: Kroger slipped about 4%, Walmart dipped nearly 3%, and Ahold Delhaize, parent of Stop & Shop, Food Lion, and Giant, fell about 1%.

The bigger picture: Amazon already holds over 20% of U.S. digital grocery sales, behind Walmart’s 30%+, according to eMarketer. With this latest push, analysts like GlobalData’s Neil Saunders say it’s “almost certain” Amazon will grab a larger slice of the market making it even harder for rivals to hold their ground in the digital grocery aisle. Morning Brew

Bullish Closes First Day at $70 After 90% Surge, Market Cap Tops $10B

Crypto exchange operator Bullish (BLSH) stormed into the public markets this week, ending its first day at $70 a 90% gain from its $37 IPO price valuing the company at over $10 billion. Shares opened at $90 and briefly rocketed to $118, more than tripling the offer price, before cooling off. The volatility prompted multiple trading halts in the stock’s opening minutes.

The $37 pricing was already above Bullish’s expected $32–$33 range and well above its original $28–$31 target, raising $1.1 billion on 30 million shares sold. This marked a successful second try at going public after a 2021 SPAC deal collapsed under regulatory scrutiny. The debut rode the momentum of a busy IPO market, which has already seen 133 offerings over $50 million this year, up 58% from the same period in 2024, according to Renaissance Capital.

Bullish drew heavyweight investor interest ahead of its listing, with BlackRock and Ark Invest signaling plans to purchase up to $200 million in shares. CEO Thomas Farley, formerly president of the NYSE, said the company is “uniquely positioned” as the digital assets industry enters “its next leg of growth,” pointing to its focus on compliant, institutional-grade infrastructure. The Bullish Exchange processed an average of $2.6 billion in daily trading volume in Q1.

The debut also comes amid a broader crypto rally, with Bitcoin up more than 30% year-to-date, Ethereum up 40%, and XRP up over 57%. Alongside high-profile IPOs like Figma, Circle, and CoreWeave, Bullish’s strong showing suggests that 2025’s IPO market is running hotter than many on Wall Street had expected. CNBC 

Minor Headlines 

• Google to Invest $9B in Expanding AI and Cloud Infrastructure in Oklahoma. Reuters 

• Court Rejects Musk’s Request to Dismiss OpenAI Harassment Case. Reuters 

• Nvidia Partner Hon Hai Projects AI Server Sales to More Than Double. Yahoo.Finance 

• Trump Warns Putin Following Pre-Summit Talks With European Leaders. Bloomberg 

• Tesla Sales Surge in Norway Despite Political Controversy Around Musk. Bloomberg 

• DeepSeek Delays AI Model Launch Due to Huawei Chip Supply Issues. Financial Times

• Consumer Prices Climb 2.7% in July, Falling Short of Forecasts as Tariff Concerns Loom. CNBC 

• Bitcoin and Ethereum Hits All-Time High as Bullish Momentum Builds on ‘Fundamental Shifts’. TechCrunch 

• Trump Tells Goldman CEO David Solomon to “Stick to DJing”. CNBC