Stripe Buys OpenRouter in $7B Deal Amid Chip Shortage Hits Microsoft
Stripe is reportedly acquiring OpenRouter in a deal valued at over $7 billion. The AI-model routing startup was previously valued at around $1.3 billion after raising funding just months ago. Bloomberg reported the acquisition, citing industry sources.
The exact price of the deal has not been disclosed and may still be subject to change. Microsoft is facing challenges in its AI plans due to a shortage of chips, according to internal documents obtained by The Guardian. Despite having 2.2 million AI chips installed, the company's publicly stated data-center capacity suggests it should have many more.
Microsoft disputes the calculations and attributes the constraint to power and completed data-center space rather than chip supply. CEO Satya Nadella has previously mentioned that the bigger issue is not a lack of chips but rather the completion of data centers. Google is allowing users to remove visible watermarks from AI-generated images, videos, and songs produced with models like Nano Banana and Omni.
The change will be rolled out through Gemini and Google's Flow video editor, with Search support planned in the future. The company has also open-sourced a C2PA validation library called Credentio.