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GoPro Says It's Moving Into Data Centers As Part of a $285 Million Merger (engadget.com) 48

Posted by BeauHD from the natural-pivot dept.
GoPro plans to expand into AI infrastructure through a $285 million merger with optical-photonics company Starman Optical, whose transceivers will give the action-camera maker a foothold in the fast-growing data center market. GoPro also plans to push into defense, robotics, aerospace, and government markets while continuing its existing camera business. Engadget reports: Starman's optical transceivers are expected to fall under its umbrella, "extending the Company's reach into the large and rapidly growing market for AI infrastructure in optical transceivers," according to a press release. GoPro is also planning a push into the defense, government, robotics and aerospace sectors, bolstered by the combined company's IP, optics and imaging capabilities.

[...] As Reuters notes, GoPro briefly reached a valuation of $4 billion on its first day as a publicly traded company in 2014. Its stock has struggled in recent years, but the share price received a boost on Monday when it was revealed that YouTuber and filmmaker Markiplier (Mark Fischbach) had become GoPro's largest individual shareholder after acquiring an 8.5 percent stake. The move follows a similar pivot made by the struggling shoe retailer Allbirds in April when it announced a pivot to AI compute infrastructure, sending the stock soaring more than 700%.
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GoPro Says It's Moving Into Data Centers As Part of a $285 Million Merger More

GoPro Says It's Moving Into Data Centers As Part of a $285 Million Merger

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  • IHOP (Score:5, Funny)

    by kyoko21 ( 198413 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2026 @07:16PM (#66318466)

    At this point it won't surprise me if IHOP chooses to go into the data center business.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by EvilSS ( 557649 )
      Nah, it will be GameStop

      • âoeDid you mean Gameslop?â Gemini, probably,

      • Honest, if we have an IHOP/Gamestop restaurant/store combo, I'd visit it occasionally.

        • I made the mistake one time of ordering something from IHOP that wasn't pancakes: a "turkey dinner". Honestly, I'd have gotten a better meal if I'd just gone to Walmart and gotten one of those Hormel shelf stable civilian equivalent of MREs that we stock up on when a hurricane is approaching. Those are at least vaguely reminiscent of food intended for humans.

          I haven't been back since. Mostly because if I do have a craving for pancakes, Cracker Barrel does those better, too. Hell, even McDonald's previou

          • There are lots of businesses that are inexplicably still around.

            Steak n Shake
            Friendlys
            Giordano's
            Hooters
            Many more

            • Steak N Shake is good stuff. The one near me does great business. Haven't seen a Friendly's since I left New York. Don't think I've ever heard of Giordano's.

              The Hooters near me appears to be closed. It isn't boarded up, but there are never any cars there. I go to the Applebee's next door sometimes, and it's dead in there. Managers bussing tables, supply problems, handful of customers... Seems to be spiraling downwards.

          • Most full-service restaurants will have things on the menu which are just there as an option for an audience who doesn't want their core offerings. The Sysco truck makes this very easy- take a recipe (from Sysco) and they will bring the ingredients right to you. I wouldn't expect Joes Crab Shack to have great pasta, some menu items are just minimal effort to satisfy picky eaters in a party of people coming for your specialty options.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by drnb ( 2434720 )
            To be honest, I'm not sure I have ordered anything at IHOP other than pancakes or waffles. Maybe a chicken fried steak once a decade.

            But when in a region offering Cracker Barrel or Waffle House, definitely choosing those two.

    • Re:IHOP (Score:5, Funny)

      by az-saguaro ( 1231754 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2026 @07:52PM (#66318542)

      Would bring a whole new meaning to the concept of "tip your server".

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by kyoko21 ( 198413 )

        I guess at that point the servers are pooling their tips together the same way they do for their memory.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        Would bring a whole new meaning to the concept of "tip your server".

        In the bad old days where servers were basically PCs in tower cases (with some being in nice double-wide cases), this actually happened. It was sitting under the desk of the person who basically was the IT guy in charge (he did stuff requiring high performance computers, so no one was going to question his need for a high performance computer to be a server back in the early days where office networks were starting to become a thing).

        One da

        • Tip your server, just like you tip your cows.

          Exactly what i was envisioning when I posted the original comment.

          And, thanks for the trip down nostalgia lane. I too remember stuff like that back in the early 90's.

    • Re:IHOP (Score:4, Interesting)

      by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2026 @08:27PM (#66318614)
      You saw this crap with crypto too. They trying to trick the stock market into bumping their stock by jumping on buzzwords. It works because automated systems will see this and buy and that will trigger other people to buy and so on so on so forth. It's the kind of thing that a sane country would be regulating and preventing.

    • International House of PetaFLOPS

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tokul ( 682258 )

      Selling shovels during gold rush is good business. Renting them will come at a cost when gold rush is over.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by shanen ( 462549 )

      Very productive opening joke. Thanks.

  • Yep, GoPro is going bye bye (Score:3)

    by ebunga ( 95613 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2026 @07:38PM (#66318518)

    Kind of new it was inevitable, but this sort of pivot never works.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by drnb ( 2434720 )
      They mentioned military, gun cam or hemet cam could work.

    • Re:Yep, GoPro is going bye bye (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ledow ( 319597 ) on Wednesday September 02, 2026 @03:10AM (#66318894) Homepage

      Like an online bookseller turning into a global retail warehouse then renting out their datacenter services, producing talking home assistants, and launching rockets into space?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      It will probably allow company "leadership" to cash out though.

  • When random companies move into the DC business... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Ritz_Just_Ritz ( 883997 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2026 @08:29PM (#66318622)

    The big valuation correction can't be far off. We've seen this movie before.

    • Re:When random companies move into the DC business (Score:4, Insightful)

      by drnb ( 2434720 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2026 @11:41PM (#66318782)
      Are any of the blockchain technology pivot companies now pivoting to data centers?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Junta ( 36770 )

        I feel like I've read a bunch of them had pivoted already. I recall one audio interview that had the guy point blank declare his pivot. They were all people and companies I never had heard of before.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by drnb ( 2434720 )

          I feel like I've read a bunch of them had pivoted already. I recall one audio interview that had the guy point blank declare his pivot. They were all people and companies I never had heard of before.

          Well, the blockchain pivots and the data center pivots both need a building with a lot of electrical power. So if a BC company has one of those it makes some sense, leveraging a tangible asset they already have.

    • It seems like there should be a way to short it, but I can't figure out how.

  • Until the government properly labels the current behavior as copyright infringement, it is only going to get worse before it gets better. While somone can pretend copying things into a computer running AI isn't the real thing, this will spread progressively more and more into personal data.

    The behavior of the AI scrapers reflects the values of the owners. It should surprise noone that AI agents are "accidentally" hacking systems. Mark my words, within the next 5 years you will be able to output photos fr

    • I saw an interesting proposal from a film industry guy today proposing that laws ought be put into place specifically denying copyright protection to AI shit. While currently its not available mostly, there are loopholes that can be exploited to get around that lack of protection.

      Its an "everyone wins" scenario too. AI companies can do their nonsense. Researchers can research. You can even make AI imagery and texts as before. But it forces companies to hire people to actually create IP, so it also protects

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Junta ( 36770 )

        I suppose the question is if AI companies can really 'do their nonsense', as a big chunk of the assumed value is the ability for the AI to displace IP generation.

  • Who benefits from this merger? Will GoPro in 5 years be better company than it is today and deliver better products and better value? If I was a betting man I'd say no.

    At this point stopping mergers is to help the companies themselves. They don't know what's best for them.

  • Remember when Kodak went into cyrpto with their "KodakCoin" in 2018? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by drnb ( 2434720 )

      Remember when Kodak went into cyrpto with their "KodakCoin" in 2018? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

      Pepperidge Farm also remembers the 1975 Kodak Digital Camera. No joke, they were first.

  • They missed a trick (Score:3)

    by Growlley ( 6732614 ) on Wednesday September 02, 2026 @02:49AM (#66318886)
    They should have gone into AI Data Centers!

  • not my data you dont (Score:3)

    by fortunatus ( 445210 ) on Wednesday September 02, 2026 @02:55AM (#66318888)
    when are corporations going to realize that I don't want my data leaving my stuff? i opt NOT to use my security cam "view from your phone", NOT to control my home's AC from an app, I keep my ancient robovacuum running because I opt NOT to provide my wifi to support a newer one that requires it.. now GoPro providing a receiver that loads my video to a server farm? so typical, and NO.
  • when are corporations going to realize that I don't want my data leaving my stuff? i opt NOT to use my security cam "view from your phone", NOT to control my home's AC from an app, I keep my ancient robovacuum running because I opt NOT to provide my wifi internet to support a newer one that requires it.. now GoPro providing a receiver that loads my video to a server farm? so typical, and NO.

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