MAM
Nissan gets Candid Marketing as brand activation agency
MUMBAI: Candid Marketing has been roped in as the strategic brand activation agency for Nissan Motors for the India market.
The account will be headed by Candid Marketing VP Devika Sharma from the Mumbai office.
Says Devika Sharma, “Globally Nissan is one of the largest carmakers, with exposure to both developed and developing markets. I am confident that we will be able to deliver clutter breaking solutions for Nissan in India.”
Adds Nissan VP operations, Hover Automotive strategic partner for sales, marketing & aftersales Abhijit Pandit, “We are continuing our endeavour to bring state of the art automobiles from Nissan‘s global portfolio to India. The Nissan 370Z is arguably the world‘s best selling sports car to date and future models that are planned will further this promise of offering the best to India‘s discerning car buyers.”
MAM
Three senior OpenAI infrastructure executives join Meta
Key members of Stargate project move to rival amid aggressive AI spending race.
MUMBAI: Three key architects of OpenAI’s ambitious data centre plans have switched sides and joined Meta Platforms, according to people familiar with the matter. Peter Hoeschele, who played a central role in OpenAI’s high-profile Stargate initiative, is among the new hires. He is joined by Shamez Hemani, who focused on computing strategy and business development, and Anuj Saharan, another leader in the computing organisation. The Information first reported their departure from OpenAI on Thursday.
The moves come as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to spend aggressively on AI infrastructure. The company is projecting capital expenditure of up to $135 billion this year alone, with hundreds of billions more expected before the end of the decade to support its Meta Superintelligence Labs and new models such as Muse Spark.
OpenAI, which is pushing ahead with massive data centre expansion, had described its early lead in securing computing power as a competitive advantage. Stargate, originally announced last year as a $500 billion venture involving OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank, has since become an umbrella term for the company’s broader data centre ambitions. However, the project has seen recent adjustments, including a pause on its UK plans and the decision not to expand the Abilene, Texas site.
A spokesperson for Meta declined to comment, while Hoeschele, Hemani, and Saharan also declined to comment. OpenAI said it was grateful for the contributions of the three employees and remains focused on hiring talent for its infrastructure plans. The company recently brought in former Intel executive Sachin Katti to lead its industrial compute efforts.
In the high-stakes race to build the future of artificial intelligence, talent is proving to be as valuable as computing power itself. Meta’s latest hires suggest the competition for top infrastructure minds is intensifying, even as OpenAI continues to scale its own ambitious projects. The move highlights how quickly the AI talent war is heating up across Silicon Valley.
