Silicon Valley, the epicentre of innovation, is now a bitter battleground of rising tensions and fierce rivalries among its tech leaders. Recent clashes between tech giants like Microsoft and Salesforce, Apple and Meta, as well as emerging startups like xAI and OpenAI, show a growing trend of hostility that could impact the industry in the long run.
The spite is clearly visible in the sharp critiques these tech bosses have been directing at their competitors.
In a recent podcast with Joe Rogan, Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg took a swipe at Apple, saying that the Cupertino giant hasn’t invented anything great in a while. “Steve Jobs invented the iPhone, and now they’re just sitting on it 20 years later. So, how are they making more money as a company? They do it by squeezing people,” he said.
The decline in iPhone sales has provided fresh fodder for Zuckerberg. He argues that Apple compensates for this slump by imposing hefty fees—often referred to as the “Apple tax”—on app developers. This practice, he believes, stifles innovation and limits opportunities for smaller companies trying to compete in the app market.
Agentic Wars
Meanwhile, the chiefs of Microsoft and Salesforce have been exchanging verbal volleys over agentic AI. Both companies compete for dominance in the field of autonomous AI agents, which are capable of performing tasks without human intervention.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, in a recent podcast, slammed Microsoft Copilot. “This Copilot thing has been a huge disaster for them from a branding and validation standpoint. Customers don’t look at them and don’t take them seriously in AI,” Benioff said.
He was responding to Microsoft chief Satya Nadella, who also, in a podcast, indirectly took a dig at Salesforce by saying that traditional SaaS companies will collapse in the AI agent era. “I think the notion that business applications exist—that’s probably where they’ll all collapse in the agent era. Because if you think about it, they are essentially CRUD databases with a bunch of business logic,” he said.
The ‘Snowbricks’ Saga
In the data warehousing domain, Databricks and Snowflake have emerged as arch-rivals. The former recently raised $10 billion in one of its largest funding rounds ever. The leading data and AI company is expected to go public this year, a move that may create unease for the AI cloud data company Snowflake.
Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi, however, believes the company is far ahead of Snowflake and refuses to acknowledge it as a competitor. “We had a program called Snow Melt to go after Snowflake, but that’s behind us now,” he said in a recent interview.
Another time, Ghodsi admitted that Snowflake no longer kept him up at night. “There was a time they would, but not anymore.”
When it comes to numbers, Databricks expects to surpass a $3 billion annual revenue run rate by the end of its fourth quarter, which ends on January 31, 2025. The company reported over 60% revenue growth in the third quarter of 2024. Snowflake, on the other hand, expects a product revenue of $3.43 billion in 2025.
“I have no idea why he is so obsessed with Snowflake because I am not obsessed with Databricks,” Michael Scarpelli, CFO at Snowflake, said in an old interview about Ghodsi.
Musk and Sam’s Bromance
Tensions also escalated significantly between tech bros Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, and Elon Musk, the CEO of xAI, culminating in a series of public disputes and legal confrontations. Altman has openly criticised Musk, labelling him a “bully” in a recent interview.
He also expressed frustration over Musk’s behaviour, noting that the latter often engaged in public quarrels with other prominent figures in the tech industry, including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.
Altman believes that Musk’s issues with OpenAI stem from a desire for control over the organisation. He said, “Everything we’re doing, I believe Elon would be happy about if he were in control of OpenAI.”
Attacking right-back, Musk criticised OpenAI’s transition from a non-profit to a for-profit model. “OpenAI was funded as an open-source non-profit but has become a closed-source, profit-maximising entity,” he wrote on X.
New Step Brothers in Town
Surprisingly, Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who have been engaged in fierce competition in the space sector through their companies SpaceX and Blue Origin, recently exchanged friendly messages on X, suggesting a potential thaw in their relationship.
Bezos celebrated the successful orbit of his New Glenn rocket on its maiden flight. Although the mission was largely successful, the booster intended for recovery was lost during re-entry.
“Congratulations on reaching orbit on the first attempt! Jeff Bezos,” Musk posted. He further lightened the mood by sharing GIFs from the movie Step Brothers, humorously suggesting that they might have just become “best friends.”
On the same day, Musk’s SpaceX attempted to launch its Starship rocket, which unfortunately exploded shortly after takeoff. However, the Super Heavy booster successfully returned to Earth, a feat that drew praise from Bezos. “Kudos to you and the whole SpaceX team on the flawless booster catch! Very impressive,” Bezos said.
The escalating rivalries in Silicon Valley prove that the race for innovation often comes at the cost of collaboration and unity. However, there is still room for love.
