The Mark Cuban Podcast

Episode: The AI Buzz: Apple, Intel, Nvidia Updates

Date: October 4, 2025

Overview

In this episode, Mark Cuban explores the rapidly shifting landscape of AI, hardware, and software, focusing on recent news from Apple’s AI push, Nvidia and Intel’s unprecedented partnership, Google’s AI-infused Chrome, major AI infrastructure moves by OpenAI and Oracle, and other significant developments. The episode is true to Mark Cuban’s trademark style: direct, insightful, and laced with a sense of optimism and urgency for understanding the business stakes behind each headline.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Apple’s Bold Bet on Local AI ([00:20])

• Apple’s Shift: Instead of chasing large cloud models like OpenAI or Google, Apple is focusing on “tiny models that run directly on your iPhone”—all local, private, and free.
  • “I roast Apple for AI all the time, and I think they've turned the tables with iOS 26…There’s genius in all of this: Apple's AI is invisible, private, and free.” [00:22]
• Examples of Local AI in Action:
  • Lookup: Generates word examples and origins on device.
  • Money Coach: Analyzes spending and auto-tags transactions, again local.
  • Day One: Suggests prompts and titles for journaling using embedded AI.
  • SignEasy: Summarizes contracts without internet connectivity.
  • Crouton: Breaks down recipes into simple steps.
• Core Strengths: No subscription fees, better privacy, zero server costs.
• Strategy: Apple aims to make AI “disappear into your phone”—seamless features rather than overt tech.

2. Nvidia’s Power Move: Buying Into Intel ([02:10])

• Nvidia Acquires 4% of Intel: Instantly becomes a top shareholder and forges co-development ties for several generations of data center and PC chips.
  • “Nvidia just pulled off a $5 billion power move…Nvidia and Intel will now co-develop multiple generations of data center and PC chips.” [02:12]
• Strategic Details:
  • Intel to build a new x86 CPU tailored for Nvidia’s AI infrastructure.
  • Co-developed chips will fuse Intel CPUs and Nvidia RTX GPUs, bringing “Nvidia graphics baked straight into future PCs.”
• Market Dynamics: Intel gets a lifeline amidst layoffs and losses; Nvidia cements dominance against AMD.
  • “Nvidia just turned its old rival into its new secret weapon.” [03:10]
• Industry Impact: Reshapes the AI hardware market at every level.

3. Blacksmith: Disrupting DevOps Infrastructure ([04:00])

• Google Ventures' Bet: Google doubles down on Blacksmith, a dev tool startup outpacing AWS and Azure.
  • “Google Ventures just doubled down on a tiny startup that's beating AWS and Azure at their own game.” [04:04]
• How They Win: Run CI/CD pipelines on bare metal, gaming-grade CPUs for twice the speed and 75% less cost.
  • Only one line of code to switch.
  • Revenue leaps from $1M to $3.5M annual recurring in months.
• Customer Base: 700+ companies including Supabase, VEED, Ashby.
• Key Takeaway: Startups like Blacksmith are the “Formula One car” to AWS’s cargo ship for software delivery. Speed is everything.

4. Google Chrome as AI Super Assistant ([06:10])

• Gemini Integration: Chrome now embeds Gemini AI, enabling in-browser summaries, tab comparisons, recipe rewriting, and more.
  • “Google just turned Chrome into an AI super assistant…instead of just Googling, you can ask Chrome to summarize pages, compare tabs, or rewrite a recipe to make it gluten free.” [06:12]
• Future Features: Multi-tab session management, pinpointing parts of YouTube videos, agentic browsing that acts for you—like booking appointments or protecting against AI scams.
  • “They're building an AI copilot for the Internet. And I am very excited about this.” [07:15]
• Implications: Browsers transition from passive tools to proactive, context-aware assistants.

5. The Agents Payment Protocol (AP2) & Evolving E-Commerce ([08:00])

• AI Making Purchases: Google launches AP2 so bots can negotiate and complete purchases—with 60+ banks/merchants (Amex, PayPal, MetaMask) onboard.
  • “That means your AI could shop in dollars or crypto and the receipts will be cryptographically signed.” [08:07]
• Shift in Power: Shopping becomes AI agent vs AI seller, with automated haggling and purchases per set user budgets.
• Battle for Control: Whoever owns the protocol (“the rails of commerce”) controls online purchasing; Google is racing against Stripe, Perplexity, and others.

6. OpenAI’s Massive Oracle Deal: The Energy Bottleneck ([10:00])

• Deal Overview: OpenAI and Oracle ink a $300B, 5-year contract for 4.5 gigawatts of compute.
  • “Oracle, the so-called legacy dinosaur, just secured the biggest AI infrastructure contract literally ever.” [10:07]
• Why It Matters: Compute demand outpaces energy supply—current AI growth may hit an “energy wall.”
  • “Can even $300B buy enough power to keep OpenAI's growth alive? Or does AI crash headfirst into an energy wall?” [11:15]
• OpenAI’s Approach: Stays “asset-light,” lets Oracle build and manage physical resources.

7. Google Sued Over AI Training and Content Summaries ([12:10])

• Penske Media Lawsuit: Rolling Stone, Billboard publisher sues Google for using journalism to power AI Overviews, reducing clicks and revenue.
  • “The real battle isn't over clicks. It's over whether journalism fuels AI, or…gets completely erased by it.” [12:44]
• Issue: Google is accused of rigging rules to pressure publishers—either provide content for summaries or lose search visibility.

8. Nvidia Banned from China; Huawei’s AI Surge ([14:00])

• China’s Move: Nvidia hardware (even China-dedicated models) is banned.
  • “Huawei's chip may not be as powerful as Nvidia's, but clustering thousands together could give China the compute power it needs...” [14:29]
• Huawei’s Play: Super Pod Interconnect links 15,000 GPUs; aims to fill the Nvidia void as China’s AI chip champion.

9. Code Rabbit: AI Babysitting the Bots ([15:30])

• Startup Spotlight: Code Rabbit raises $60M at $550M valuation.
  • “Developers everywhere are basically using these AI coding assistants...But a lot of it is buggy, messy, and sometimes unusable.” [15:36]
• Functionality: Flags bugs, slashes human code review headcount by half.
• Metrics: $15M annual recurring revenue, 8,000 business users, 20% monthly growth.
• Investor Significance: Nvidia’s VC arm leads the round. AI code reviewed by AI—a new workflow layer.

10. The Enterprise AI Avatar Race ([17:00])

• DID Acquires SimpleShow: Expands from tech to major SaaS video platforms with 1,500+ enterprise clients.
  • “DID wants to make avatars interactive...pushing pause on a training video to ask the AI instructor a question…” [17:36]
• Competitive Field: Google, McKinsey, Synthesia also building advanced avatar platforms. Will they replace human presenters or be a corporate trend?

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [00:22] “There's genius in all of this, and that's that Apple's AI is invisible, private, and free.”
• [02:12] “Nvidia just pulled off a $5 billion power move and they bought their biggest rival or huge stake in it—four percent of Intel.”
• [03:10] “Nvidia just turned its old rival into its new secret weapon.”
• [04:04] “Google Ventures just doubled down on a tiny startup that's beating AWS and Azure at their own game.”
• [06:12] “Google just turned Chrome into an AI super assistant.”
• [08:07] “That means that your AI could shop in dollars or crypto and the receipts will be cryptographically signed.”
• [10:07] “Oracle, the so-called legacy dinosaur, just secured the biggest AI infrastructure contract literally ever.”
• [11:15] “Can even $300 billion buy enough power to keep OpenAI's growth alive? Or does AI crash headfirst into an energy wall?”
• [12:44] “The real battle isn't over clicks. It's over whether journalism fuels AI or…gets completely erased by it.”
• [14:29] “Huawei's chip may not be as powerful as Nvidia's, but clustering thousands together could give China the compute power it needs...”

Conclusion

This episode of The Mark Cuban Podcast captures a pivotal moment in AI and hardware history, showing titanic shifts in how AI is integrated into consumer tech, the scramble for chipmaking dominance, the economics of compute and energy, and the evolving battle between publishers and platforms. Mark Cuban’s take is clear: speed, stealth, and strategic partnerships are redrawing every line of competition in tech. For listeners wanting to understand what’s next in AI and business, this episode is essential.