Daily Tech & GNSS News Digest - February 19, 2026

The AI infrastructure buildout is reshaping both energy grids and global investment priorities as tech giants race to secure compute capacity, while Google’s Sundar Pichai calls for equitable AI access at India’s AI Impact Summit.

Tech News

Pichai Warns Against “AI Divide” at India Summit, Announces $15 Billion Investment

Google CEO Sundar Pichai took center stage at India’s AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, warning that the world must prevent the digital divide from becoming an “AI divide.” Speaking to world leaders, Pichai announced a $15 billion infrastructure offensive in India over five years, establishing a “full-stack” AI hub in Visakhapatnam featuring gigawatt-scale compute capacity.

“We cannot allow the digital divide to become an AI divide,” Pichai stated, emphasizing investments in compute infrastructure and connectivity. The initiative includes four new subsea fiber optic cables between the U.S. and India as part of the America-India Connect Initiative. Alphabet revealed it will spend between $175 billion and $185 billion in capex in 2026, potentially doubling its 2025 spending of $91.4 billion.

Silicon Valley Building “Shadow Power Grid” for Data Centers

Tech companies are constructing an off-grid power infrastructure across the U.S. that could fundamentally reshape energy consumption, according to a Washington Post investigation. The GW Ranch project in West Texas will consume more electricity than all of Chicago—without connecting to the existing power grid.

Instead of waiting for utilities, data center developers are building their own natural gas and solar plants on-site. Projects already approved by state regulators could collectively power New York City several times over. A handful of states have passed laws loosening rules around who can build power plants, sparking alarm from residents as gas plants capable of fueling major cities sprout in unexpected locations. PJM Interconnection, serving over 65 million people across 13 states, projects it will be six gigawatts short of reliability requirements by 2027.

Netflix-WBD Merger Heads to March 20 Vote Amid Paramount Counterbid

Warner Bros. Discovery has set a March 20 shareholder vote on Netflix’s $82.7 billion acquisition offer while simultaneously reopening talks with Paramount Skydance under a seven-day waiver. The deal, announced in December 2025, would see Netflix acquire Warner Bros. studios, HBO Max, and HBO for $27.75 per share.

The situation intensified as Paramount launched a hostile tender offer of $30 per share—a $108.4 billion total valuation. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos addressed lawmakers at a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on antitrust concerns, while the February 23 deadline looms for Paramount-Skydance’s “best and final” offer. Inside WBD, employee sentiment is reportedly shifting in favor of the Netflix deal over Paramount’s takeover.

Meta-Nvidia Announce Multi-Billion Dollar AI Infrastructure Partnership

Meta and Nvidia revealed a multiyear, multigenerational strategic partnership on February 17, with Meta deploying millions of Nvidia’s Blackwell and Rubin GPUs across hyperscale data centers. The arrangement marks the first large-scale Nvidia Grace-only CPU deployment and includes Nvidia’s Spectrum-X Ethernet switches integrated into Meta’s infrastructure.

“We’re excited to expand our partnership with NVIDIA to build leading-edge clusters to deliver personal superintelligence to everyone in the world,” said Mark Zuckerberg. Analyst Ben Bajarin estimates the deal is “certainly in the tens of billions of dollars.” Meta previously announced plans to spend up to $135 billion on AI in 2026.

Additional Headlines

EU Finds TikTok in Breach of Digital Services Act: The European Commission issued preliminary findings that TikTok’s “addictive design”—including infinite scroll, autoplay, and personalized recommendations—violates DSA rules, potentially facing fines of 6% of ByteDance’s global revenue.
YouTube Recovers from Major Outage: YouTube resolved a global outage affecting 350,000 users after a recommendations system issue prevented videos from appearing on the homepage, app, and YouTube TV for nearly two hours.
Macron Calls Social Media Free Speech Defense “Pure Bullshit”: French President Emmanuel Macron delivered a blunt assessment of social media platforms’ free speech justifications at a gathering in New Delhi.

GNSS News

Topcon and Fixposition Partner on Visual-Aided Positioning

Topcon Positioning Systems and Fixposition announced a collaboration agreement at Geo Week 2026 in Denver to develop integrated positioning solutions for GNSS-challenged environments. The partnership addresses growing customer demand for reliable positioning in dense urban areas and indoor-outdoor transitions.

“Customers are increasingly working in environments where satellite connection can be challenging, such as dense urban environments, and need consistent, reliable positioning to maintain productivity,” said Ron Oberlander, head of the Topcon Geomatics Platform. Fixposition specializes in Visual RTK technology that augments satellite positioning with visual-aided solutions, enabling continued operation even inside structures.

Topcon also unveiled the CR-S1, a new handheld scanning system combining LiDAR, panoramic cameras, visual SLAM cameras, and a GNSS antenna. The device connects to Topcon’s Topnet Live RTK corrections service for enhanced positioning accuracy.

Hexagon NovAtel Updates OEM7 Firmware for Challenging Environments

Hexagon’s NovAtel division released new firmware for its OEM7 family of GNSS receivers, introducing advanced tracking capabilities designed to improve performance under foliage and in mixed urban scenarios. The update focuses on positioning reliability and accuracy in obstructed environments where traditional GNSS signals face interference.

Key Takeaways

AI Infrastructure Demands Are Reshaping Energy: From shadow power grids in the U.S. to $15 billion investments in India, tech giants are fundamentally transforming global energy and compute infrastructure to meet AI demands.
Streaming Consolidation Reaches Critical Phase: The Netflix-WBD merger faces a shareholder vote and competing bids, potentially reshaping entertainment industry structure for the decade ahead.
GNSS Industry Focuses on Urban Resilience: Partnerships like Topcon-Fixposition and firmware updates from NovAtel reflect growing demand for positioning solutions that work in GNSS-denied or degraded environments.