Permanent copy of issue 37. Today's issue is always the front page.
OpenAI began rolling GPT-6 Astra to paying ChatGPT users and the API, a model it prices at $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens. Flex agreed to buy EPC Power for $4.4 billion to add 800-volt DC conversion for dense AI racks. AMD showed a Threadripper Halo Station it says can run trillion-parameter models in local memory. Clusters still take the spend.
Date: 2026-09-05
Updated: 2026-09-05 06:20
Status: LIVE
Broadcast
OpenAI began rolling GPT-6 Astra to paying ChatGPT users and through its API. The company says the model is its most capable at computer use, coding, and cybersecurity, and that it meets OpenAI's Critical cyber threshold. Flex said it will acquire EPC Power for $4.4 billion so it can sell 800-volt DC conversion for high-density AI data centers, with a close targeted in the fourth quarter. AMD, at IFA in Berlin, showed a liquid-cooled Threadripper Halo Station with up to four Instinct MI350P accelerators and up to 576GB of HBM3E, a desk machine it says can run models above a trillion parameters.
Watch
Stories
OpenAI began rolling GPT-6 Astra to paying ChatGPT users and the API after a limited launch to selected organizations on Thursday. The company says the model is state of the art at computer use and coding; API list rates are $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens.
A new flagship lives behind a metered API and a paid ChatGPT plan. That is cluster inference, not a desk model.
2026-09-03 / WIRED / chip / central
EPC Power said Flex will acquire it for $4.4 billion, subject to regulatory approvals, with a close expected in the fourth quarter of 2026. The deal adds 800-volt DC conversion, digital rectifiers, and planned solid-state transformers aimed at dense AI racks; Flex plans to house the unit in a Cloud and Power Infrastructure segment it intends to spin off in early 2027.
The constraint on bigger clusters is power delivery inside the hall, not another model card. This spend sits with the rack.
2026-09-04 / PR Newswire / energy / central
AMD at IFA 2026 showed a liquid-cooled Threadripper Halo Station pairing a 96-core Threadripper PRO 9995WX with up to four Instinct MI350P accelerators. The Register reports the box can hold up to 576GB of HBM3E and is due next year; AMD has not published a price, and the paper estimates $100,000 to $150,000.
This is desk silicon: an Instinct box meant to run open weights in the room. It is expensive, late, and still local.
2026-09-04 / The Register / efficiency / local
Axis
local [###################-----------] central
Score: 64
clusters still winning
up 1
OpenAI is rolling GPT-6 Astra to paying users at flagship API rates. Flex is paying $4.4 billion for the power electronics that feed dense racks. AMD showed a desk-side Instinct workstation. The spend still sits in the cluster.
Forces
| Force | Meter | Score | Pull | Note | ||
| CHIP / CAPEX |
|
82 | central | OpenAI is selling GPT-6 Astra through ChatGPT and the API at $10/$50 per million tokens. That is cluster inference at flagship list rates. | ||
| ENERGY |
|
86 | central | Flex agreed to buy EPC Power for $4.4 billion to supply 800-volt DC conversion for dense AI racks, with a close aimed at the fourth quarter. | ||
| EFFICIENCY |
|
43 | local | AMD showed a Threadripper Halo Station at IFA with up to 576GB of HBM3E, a desk machine it says can run trillion-parameter models. It is due next year; AMD has not published a price. |
Line charts (0=local 100=central 2026-08-21 to 2026-09-05)
Market overlay (2026-08-07 to 2026-09-05)
Latest: BTC $79,642 / hashrate ~929.46 EH/s / token markers avg $5.3033/M / axis 64. These lines are different units. We compare timing, not dollars-to-hashrate.
Not shown: GPU cloud $/hour, hub electricity, miner hashprice, or lab cost per token -- none of those are a clean public feed.
Power and list prices
BTC $79,642 / hashrate ~929 EH/s. List-price gap (not a subsidy %): 44.4x list gap (blended) GPT-5.6 Luna -> Claude Fable 5 ($0.45/M to $20.00/M). (mempool.space + Coinbase/CoinGecko)
Marker prices (USD per 1M tokens; verified 2026-08-19; blended = (3*input + 1*output) / 4; -- = open/self-host or no single public list)
| # | Model | Org | CC | Weights | Tier | In | Out | Blend |
| 1 | Claude Sonnet 5 | Anthropic | US | closed undisclosed |
workhorse | $2.00 | $10.00 | $4.00 |
| 2 | GPT-5.5 | OpenAI | US | closed undisclosed |
flagship | $5.00 | $30.00 | $11.25 |
| 3 | DeepSeek V4 Flash | DeepSeek | CN | open ~284B total / ~13B active (MoE) |
commodity | $0.44 | $1.32 | $0.66 |
If useful, support the broadcast.
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