Masayoshi Son is pushing SoftBank to lock in the remaining $22.5 billion for OpenAI by year-end, reportedly using asset disposals and borrowing. The group has sold its $5.8 billion Nvidia stake, pared $4.8 billion in T-Mobile US, and expanded Arm-backed margin loans to lift unused capacity to $11.5 billion.

Caterpillar Inc. fell 4.7% on Wednesday, its sharpest one‑day decline since April, and was down about 9.6% by Thursday after five sessions, pulling back from a record high near $627.50. Analysts said skepticism about AI‑driven trades is weighing on AI‑linked names, while Caterpillar points to a November Vertiv partnership focused on on‑site power and cooling for data centers.

Jim Cramer said OpenAI should raise at least $200B, citing a $300B obligation to Oracle, to shore up the data center trade. He warned the sector could slump without swift funding and floated a $1T valuation. U.S. stocks rose on December 19, with AI-linked names such as Oracle and Nvidia gaining.

Moore Threads unveiled new AI hardware in Beijing, with CEO Zhang Jianzhong introducing the Huagang architecture and Huashan chips aimed at reducing reliance on Nvidia. Zhang said Huagang raises computing density by 50% and improves energy efficiency ten times, and the company expects mass production in 2026 alongside updates to its MUSA platform and server lines.

Nanto city in Toyama prefecture plans to develop Japan's third and largest data center hub with 3.1 gigawatts of power capacity, forming a new complex comparable in scale to OpenAI's Stargate project. The first phase is set to support about 400 megawatts, with the full site expected to be operational by the end of 2028, as Japan's data center market is projected to nearly double to over $32 billion by that year.

On December 19, 2025, the Trump administration began reviewing license applications to ship Nvidia’s H200 AI chips to China under a 25% fee. According to Reuters, the Commerce Department sought input from State, Energy and Defense, which have 30 days to assess. Trump also signed NDAA provisions expanding authority to restrict U.S. investment in Chinese firms working on AI, quantum and semiconductors.

On 19 December 2025, Fetch.ai outlined a new payment system scheduled for rollout in 2026 that will allow autonomous AI agents to complete purchases and deposits for users. The functionality, hosted on the ASI:ONE platform, connects to Visa infrastructure and uses single‑use credentials to authorize card payments and on-chain transactions in USDC or FET. The design includes identity controls so agents act on behalf of identifiable users, aiming to remove constant human approval from routine commerce while addressing security and regulatory concerns.

The Walt Disney Company agreed to invest $1 billion in OpenAI and signed a three-year licensing arrangement that makes it Sora's first major content partner. The deal enables AI‑generated short videos and images featuring more than 200 characters from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars, while Disney adopts OpenAI's APIs and rolls out ChatGPT for internal use.