Daily Tech & GNSS News Digest - April 9, 2026

The AI infrastructure arms race hit a new gear today as CoreWeave and Meta inked a $21 billion expansion deal while Amazon signaled it may sell its custom AI chips to outside customers — moves that underscore the insatiable demand for compute power reshaping the tech industry. Meanwhile, Starlink’s role in circumventing Iran’s wartime internet blackout drew fresh scrutiny, and in the GNSS world, the FAA released updated guidance on rising jamming and spoofing threats.

Tech News

CoreWeave and Meta Expand AI Cloud Deal to $21 Billion

CoreWeave struck a $21 billion deal to supply AI computing power to Meta through 2032, deepening its partnership with the social media giant just six months after signing an initial $14.2 billion contract. The expanded agreement brings Meta’s total CoreWeave commitments to $35 billion, making Meta one of CoreWeave’s largest customers. The dedicated capacity will be deployed across multiple data centers and will include some of the first deployments of Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin platform.

CoreWeave also announced plans to raise $3 billion in fresh debt to fund the buildout. CRWV shares rose 3.5% on the news, while Meta gained 2.6%. Bloomberg reports the deal reflects Meta’s urgency to secure massive compute capacity as it races to train more powerful AI models — a strategy CEO Mark Zuckerberg has called the company’s “single largest investment priority.”

Amazon Considers Selling AI Chips to Outside Customers

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy revealed that the company is considering selling its custom-designed AI chips directly to third parties, a move that could challenge Nvidia and AMD in the accelerator market. Amazon’s in-house silicon unit — which includes Graviton processors, Trainium AI chips, and Nitro networking cards — has doubled its annualized revenue run rate to over $20 billion.

Jassy noted that the company’s Trainium2 chip is completely sold out, while Trainium3 is “nearly fully subscribed” despite only beginning shipments in early 2026. Analysts estimate that if Amazon operated its chip business as a standalone unit selling to both AWS and external customers, it could reach an annualized revenue potential of up to $50 billion. “There’s so much demand for our chips that it’s quite possible we’ll sell racks of them to third parties in the future,” Jassy said.

Starlink Battles Iran’s Wartime Internet Blackout

Bloomberg detailed how SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service has become a critical lifeline for Iranians trying to circumvent the government’s near-total internet shutdown — the world’s longest nationwide blackout since the Arab Spring. By April 7, access to the global internet in Iran remained at roughly 1% of pre-war levels, with most residents limited to a slow, state-controlled intranet.

Iran has declared Starlink’s infrastructure a “legitimate target” and launched large-scale efforts to jam GPS signals to disrupt satellite connectivity, resulting in an estimated 30% packet loss for Starlink connections and up to 80% in some areas. The regime has also conducted operations to seize satellite dishes. Human rights organizations have described the blackout as an attempt to cover up atrocities, while NPR reports that many Iranians are leaving the country entirely just to regain internet access.

Additional Headlines

Ex-DeepMind Researcher Launches Visual AI Startup: Andrew Dai, who spent 14 years at Google DeepMind, debuted Elorian, a startup focused on multimodal AI models that better understand visual prompts — arguing that current frontier models still have significant limitations in visual reasoning.
Kuka Pivots to US and Asia as Europe Lags on AI: German-Chinese robotics giant Kuka is prioritizing investment in America and Asia, citing European factories’ reluctance to adopt AI and the pull of US tariff-driven reshoring demand — after its China business topped €1 billion in revenue for the first time in 2025.
Nvidia-Backed Firmus Raises $505 Million: Australian data center builder Firmus Technologies secured $505 million led by Coatue Management at a $5.5 billion valuation, with Nvidia participating, to expand AI infrastructure across the Asia-Pacific region.

GNSS News

FAA Updates GNSS Interference Guide Amid Rising Spoofing Threats

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration released Version 1.1 of its GNSS Interference Resource Guide on March 23, just three months after publishing the first edition — reflecting the rapidly evolving threat landscape. The updated guide provides more detailed cockpit cues for recognizing jamming and spoofing interference and highlights how interference can degrade or disable multiple flight deck functions beyond basic navigation.

The revision incorporates feedback from the Performance Based Operations Rulemaking Committee’s GPS/GNSS Disruption Action Team and aligns with parallel European guidance updates. GPS World reports the guide covers jamming and spoofing trends, effects on aircraft systems, recommended pilot procedures, and training guidance — arriving as wartime GNSS interference in the Middle East has shifted from an episodic threat to a persistent feature of conflict zones on multiple continents.

GNSS Ionospheric Sensor Reaches Orbit on NRL Mission

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory successfully launched its GNSS Orbiting Situational Awareness Sensor (GOSAS) on April 7 aboard the Space Test Program’s STPSat-7 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The sensor is designed to characterize the orbital GNSS environment and generate ionospheric space weather products that directly improve GPS accuracy and signal integrity for military and civilian users.

The launch comes as the Space Force prepares for a late-April launch of the final GPS III satellite (SV08) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 — reassigned from United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket due to ongoing vehicle investigations. Meanwhile, the first GPS IIIF satellite delivery has slipped to November 2026 due to manufacturing challenges at Lockheed Martin.

Key Takeaways

AI compute demand is bottomless: Meta’s $35 billion in CoreWeave contracts and Amazon’s sold-out chip inventory show that the AI infrastructure race is accelerating, not plateauing — with next-gen Nvidia Rubin chips already being locked into multi-year deals.
GNSS resilience is now a wartime priority: From Iran’s GPS jamming campaign against Starlink to the FAA’s rapid-fire guide updates, GNSS interference has moved from a theoretical concern to an active operational challenge across multiple domains.
Custom silicon is the new competitive moat: Amazon’s potential entry as an external chip seller could reshape the AI accelerator market, challenging Nvidia’s dominance while validating the strategic bet on in-house chip design.