This Week In Startups is made possible by: DigitalOcean https://do.co/twist [https://do.co/twist] Every.io https://every.io [https://every.io] PayPal https://paypal.launch.co [https://paypal.launch.co] Today's show: *Nvidia agreed to buy Hugging Face for $12.9 billion, just days after quietly licensing Poolside's coding model for $6 billion+. On TWiST, Jason lays out why this is actually the biggest AI story of the year. Nvidia plans to offer enterprises unmetered, unlimited on-prem compute, pulling them away from reliance on Anthropic and OpenAI's frontier models and products. PLUS we're chatting with Halter founder & CEO Craig Piggott about how his company helps farmers optimize their land use via solar-powered AI-driven cattle collars. AND Hop Aero CEO and co-founder Matija Milenovic shows us Rook, his autonomous hypersonic cargo rocket that can launch from a shipping container and deliver cargo up to 450 miles away in about 15 minutes. Finally, Jason and Lon explain why you never post Slop on the timeline. Guests: Craig Piggott on X: https://x.com/craig_piggott [https://x.com/craig_piggott] Halter: https://www.halterhq.com/ [https://www.halterhq.com/] Matija Milenovic on X: https://x.com/mat_milenovic [https://x.com/mat_milenovic] Hop Aero: https://hopaero.com/ [https://hopaero.com/] Relevant Links: OpenAI Open Letter: https://openai.com/collective-cyberdefense/ [https://openai.com/collective-cyberdefense/] OpenAI Hugging Face report: https://openai.com/index/hugging-face-incident-and-the-road-ahead/ [https://openai.com/index/hugging-face-incident-and-the-road-ahead/] OpenAI Jalapeño report: https://openai.com/index/jalapeno-first-results/ [https://openai.com/index/jalapeno-first-results/] Dario Amodei-Gavin Baker tweet thread: https://x.com/DarioAmodei/status/2088758816376807762 [https://x.com/DarioAmodei/status/2088758816376807762] TechCrunch: Nvidia-Hugging Face deal: https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/26/nvidia-closes-in-on-hugging-face-acquisition/ [https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/26/nvidia-closes-in-on-hugging-face-acquisition/] TechCrunch coverage of Halter: https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/04/unpacking-peter-thiels-big-bet-on-solar-powered-cow-collars/ [https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/04/unpacking-peter-thiels-big-bet-on-solar-powered-cow-collars/] Dealroom: Sir Peter Back on Rocket Lab: https://app.dealroom.co/news/note/sir-peter-beck-on-rocket-lab-s-no-money-so-we-have-to-think-playbook-from-a-60k-new-zealand-start-up-to-an-end-to-end-space-company [https://app.dealroom.co/news/note/sir-peter-beck-on-rocket-lab-s-no-money-so-we-have-to-think-playbook-from-a-60k-new-zealand-start-up-to-an-end-to-end-space-company] WSJ: Druckenmiller op-ed: "Let the Bond Market Speak": https://www.wsj.com/opinion/let-the-bond-market-speak-81529d74 [https://www.wsj.com/opinion/let-the-bond-market-speak-81529d74] NOTUS: Druckenmiller's WSJ op-ed was written with AI: https://www.notus.org/media/stanley-druckenmillers-wsj-op-ed-bessent-ai [https://www.notus.org/media/stanley-druckenmillers-wsj-op-ed-bessent-ai] WaPo: Wall Street Journal defends Druckenmiller op-ed: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/08/25/wall-street-journal-says-ai-generated-op-ed-didnt-breach-its-standards/ [https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/08/25/wall-street-journal-says-ai-generated-op-ed-didnt-breach-its-standards/] Photon Matrix Laser Mosquito Killer: https://photonmatrixlab.com/ [https://photonmatrixlab.com/] "The Wizard of the Kremlin" trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7ctYp3zQVA [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7ctYp3zQVA] "King & Conqueror" trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anS9xQEPTsU [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anS9xQEPTsU] "Lanterns" trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UIBOsuUwc4 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UIBOsuUwc4] "Rebel Ridge" trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF3gZicntIw [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF3gZicntIw] Alpaka Bravo Sling Max 2 bag: https://alpakagear.com/products/bravo-sling-max-v2 [https://alpakagear.com/products/bravo-sling-max-v2] No Agenda podcast: https://www.noagendashow.net/ [https://www.noagendashow.net/] THR: John C. Dvorak obit: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/john-dvorak-dead-tech-journalist-no-agenda-inside-track-1236657317/ [https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/john-dvorak-dead-tech-journalist-no-agenda-inside-track-1236657317/] Timestamps: 0:00 The 100+ company open letter on cyberdefense 9:48 DigitalOcean - Want to see what building on a true AI-native platform looks like? Head to https://do.co/twist to start building on DigitalOcean's AI-Native Cloud today — and cut your AI workload costs by up to 50%. 16:46 Why some models are "unsafe at any latency" 19:44 Craig Piggott of Halter joins the show 21:03 Every.io - For all of your incorporation, banking, payroll, benefits, accounting, taxes or other back-office administration needs, visit https://every.io 26:09 How do you add cows to Starlink? 31:26 PayPal - Pay zero processing fees on your first $100K in eligible PayPal payment volume. Learn more at https://paypal.launch.co 47:52 Founder-led hyper-local sales motion 53:15 Remember John C. Dvorak 58:27 Matija Milenovic of Hop Aero joins 59:53 Sending out autonomous swarms in the Indo-Pacific 1:11:26 Nvidia's mega-Hugging Face deal 1:16:32 Nvidia's "unmetered" play against Anthropic and OpenAI 1:29:47 How letting AI write for you is like lip syncing 1:33:44 Laser-guided mosquito defense system 1:36:32 Lon's streaming picks Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com [https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com] Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com [https://www.twist500.com] Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp [https://rb.gy/v19fcp] Follow Lon: X: https://x.com/lons [https://x.com/lons] Follow Jason: X: https://twitter.com/Jason [https://twitter.com/Jason] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis] Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/ [https://partners.launch.co/] Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, [https://youtu.be/pvJa2pzuXWQ] Eoghan McCabe [https://youtu.be/9dHN4YFkgv4], Steve Huffman [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reddit-ceo-steve-huffman-on-mod-revolt-building-a/id315114957?i=1000617333424], Brian Chesky [https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/airbnb-ceo-brian-chesky-on-early-rejection-customer/id315114957?i=1000611761112], Bob Moesta, [https://youtu.be/y2UMzSqX94Q] Aaron Levie [https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/box-ceo-aaron-levie-breaks-down-box-ai-and-generative/id315114957?i=1000612384545], Sophia Amoruso [https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/sophia-amoruso-on-branding-raising-a-fund-portfolio/id315114957?i=1000601352978], Reid Hoffman [https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/reid-hoffman-on-ais-crescendo-moment-regulation-and/id315114957?i=1000612548498], Frank Slootman [https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/snowflake-ceo-frank-slootman-on-moving-the-needle-win/id315114957?i=1000602560622], Billy McFarland [https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/billy-mcfarland-on-fyre-fest-fraud-failure-hacking/id315114957?i=1000610922577] Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis [https://substack.com/@calacanis] Follow TWiST: Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups [https://twitter.com/TWiStartups] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin [https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups [https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups] TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups [https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups] Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com [https://twistartups.substack.com]