Bezos Eyes Tens of Billions to Remake Manufacturing With AI

Jeff Bezos is back in the corner office - and this time, he wants to buy the factory floor.

Project Prometheus, the AI lab Bezos co-founded with former Google executive Vikram Bajaj, is raising tens of billions of dollars through a new holding company designed to acquire industrial businesses and transform them with artificial intelligence, according to a Financial Times report published Thursday. The venture, already valued at $30 billion after a $6.2 billion raise last year, is now positioning itself as something far more ambitious than another AI startup: a manufacturing transformation vehicle backed by sovereign wealth and Wall Street money.

TL;DR

Bezos' Project Prometheus is raising tens of billions via a new holding company to buy and AI-transform industrial businesses
The venture is already valued at $30 billion after a $6.2 billion round in late 2025
Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon are in early funding talks
Prometheus has recruited 120+ staff from OpenAI, DeepMind, and Meta to build physical AI systems
Targets include jet engine, semiconductor, and automobile manufacturing

The Deal

Prometheus isn't raising another venture round. It is building a separate holding structure - described internally as a "manufacturing transformation vehicle" - designed to acquire companies in sectors its founders believe are about to be disrupted by AI. The targets are specific: complex manufacturing processes behind jet engines, computer chips, and automobiles, where AI could make production faster and less resource-intensive.

The holding company would operate as a distinct entity from the core AI research lab, giving Prometheus the financial architecture to run acquired businesses while applying its technology to their operations. Think Berkshire Hathaway meets DeepMind, but for factory floors.

Automated manufacturing assembly line with robotic machinery in a modern industrial facility The kind of manufacturing floor Prometheus wants to acquire and transform with AI - automated assembly lines where physical AI could optimize production processes end to end.

Funding Talks

Bezos is in early discussions with several of the world's largest capital allocators. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the biggest sovereign wealth funds globally, is among those in talks. Bezos has also been speaking with JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon about an investment that would come through the bank's $10 billion Security and Resiliency Initiative - a fund designed to reinforce American supply chains in critical industries.

The amounts under discussion are not public, but "tens of billions" places this well beyond conventional venture territory. For context, the entire global AI startup funding market saw roughly $195 billion in tracked capital this month alone, as we covered in our analysis of the OECD venture capital data.

Metric	Value
Current Valuation	$30 billion
Initial Raise (2025)	$6.2 billion
New Vehicle Target	Tens of billions
Headcount	120+ employees
Offices	San Francisco, London, Zurich
Target Sectors	Jet engines, semiconductors, autos

Who Benefits

Bezos Returns to the Arena

This is Bezos' first hands-on management role since stepping down as Amazon's chief executive in 2021. He is serving as co-CEO and is reportedly active in day-to-day operations. The move signals that Bezos sees physical AI - systems that understand and optimize real-world manufacturing, not just language - as the next trillion-dollar opportunity.

Prometheus has assembled a daunting research team. Over 120 employees have joined, including researchers poached from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Meta. The lab's first acquisition, agentic AI startup General Agents, closed within days of its founders meeting Bajaj over dinner in November 2025. General Agents had built "Ace," a system capable of autonomously controlling computers and executing complex tasks - technology that Prometheus could adapt for industrial automation.

Board member Robert Nelsen, co-founder of ARCH Venture Partners, brings deep connections in biotech and advanced materials - sectors where physical AI could find early applications.

Sovereign Wealth Gets a Seat

For sovereign wealth funds like ADIA, the pitch is compelling: direct exposure to AI-driven industrial transformation without betting on another chatbot company. JPMorgan's interest via its supply chain project suggests the deal is being framed partly as a national security play - rebuilding American manufacturing capacity with AI rather than cheap labor.

Who Pays

The flip side of Prometheus' thesis is that someone has to sell. If Bezos is buying industrial companies at scale, it means current owners - whether public shareholders, private equity firms, or family-run manufacturers - are being asked to bet that their businesses are worth less without AI than with it.

There is also the question of labor. "Physical AI" applied to manufacturing means automation, and automation at the scale Bezos envisions means fewer factory jobs. The stated goal is to make processes "quicker and less resource-intensive." In corporate-speak, that usually means doing the same work with fewer people.

The Competitive Landscape

Prometheus isn't alone in eyeing industrial AI. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has repeatedly described physical AI and robotics as the next frontier, and Big Tech is already spending $650 billion on AI infrastructure this year. Google's $1 billion acquisition of Form Energy - an iron-air battery company that can deliver 100 hours of continuous power - signals that hyperscalers are solving AI's energy problem with industrial-grade commitments.

But Prometheus' approach is distinct. Rather than building AI tools and selling them to manufacturers, Bezos wants to own the manufacturers outright. It's the difference between selling pickaxes and owning the mine.

Close-up of a circuit board with semiconductor chips and electronic components Semiconductor manufacturing is among Prometheus' stated target sectors - an industry where AI-driven process optimization could shave billions off production costs.

Approach	Example	Strategy
AI Tools for Industry	Nvidia, Siemens, Google	Build AI, sell to manufacturers
AI-Native Manufacturing	Project Prometheus	Buy manufacturers, rebuild with AI
Industrial Automation	Fanuc, ABB, Rockwell	Sell robots and control systems

What Comes Next

The holding company is still in formation, and Prometheus declined to comment on the FT report. But the arc is clear. With $30 billion in existing valuation, a recruitment pipeline pulling from the biggest AI labs in the world, and sovereign wealth on speed dial, Bezos is building the infrastructure for an acquisition spree that could reshape how physical goods are made.

The question isn't whether Bezos can raise the money. He can. The question is whether AI is ready to deliver on its promise in the physical world - where tolerances are measured in microns, failure means recalls, and moving fast and breaking things is not a slogan but a liability.

If Bezos is right, Project Prometheus will look like the smartest bet of the decade; if he's wrong, it'll be the most expensive science experiment since Blue Origin.

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