Everyday low prices (on the cloud)

Hey y’all, it’s Austin Carr in Boston. Walmart has its own cloud. But first…Today’s must-reads:• Bitcoin miners in Texas brace for an energy [Bloomberg]( Hey y’all, it’s Austin Carr in Boston. Walmart has its own cloud. But first… Today’s must-reads: • Bitcoin miners in Texas [brace for an energy shortage]( • BNPL provider Klarna saw its [valuation slashed]( by $39 billion • Sequoia Capital is [feeling the pain]( of holding public stocks Walcloud Walmart Inc. is no longer dependent on the cloud, at least not entirely. Rather than only renting computing power and storage from the likes of Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Microsoft Corp., the retailer said it spent the last couple of years [investing in a massive network]( of 10,000 “edge nodes,” basically in-house devices and servers that can handle processing locally. This may sound like a throwback to the old days of mainframes and on-site data centers, before that sort of infrastructure [started getting centralized in the mid-2000s](. But this [so-called hybrid approach]( is part of Walmart’s aim to reduce its reliance on outside cloud providers and prove there’s an alternative model to Amazon Web Services, which just happens to be owned by Walmart’s chief retail competitor. It wasn’t that long ago that cloud services were heralded for their potential cost savings, but [as big bills keep piling up](, some high-spending customers are hunting for alternatives. As the Wall Street Journal reported, Walmart’s new, multi-cloud structure enables it to “switch seamlessly” between Google’s and Microsoft’s web-based services and its proprietary servers. Walmart said the system has saved as much as 18% annually on overall cloud expenditures and mitigates the potential for outages. Seemingly every cloud player is [chasing the hybrid model](, seeing it as a lucrative way to sell more of their subscription services as well as what’s called “on-premise” infrastructure. That’s especially appealing to companies wanting to keep at least [some of their data and applications at their own facilities](, rather than in the hands of cloud giants, which [are at times their competitors](—one reason why Walmart has avoided using AWS and [has suggested its vendors do the same](. The hybrid trend has sparked an arms race over which tech companies can deliver the strongest “edge” machines at the farthest reaches of the world. Last month, Amazon.com Inc. touted how it had sent [one of its Snowcone edge devices]( to space. “There is no more harsh, remote or rugged environment or unforgiving, quite frankly, than the space environment,” said Clint Crosier, AWS’s director of aerospace and satellite solutions. Walmart, by contrast, is betting that it can build and maintain its own server network, instead of merely depending on third parties. Some observers have noted that this [could prove to be a risky bet](, requiring expensive upkeep with a fraction of the engineering resources that big tech has. It also seems likely the system will be so customized for Walmart’s needs that it would be difficult to repurpose and market it for external consumption, akin to what Amazon did with AWS. All that’s to say, don’t expect to see a Walmart Web Services anytime soon. A Walmart spokesperson said the company does not disclose a breakdown of its cloud costs, making it hard even to assess whether other companies could afford to bring a similar server farm online. “Building and managing a hybrid cloud, especially with a lot of edge nodes, is not easy,” the spokesperson said. “This modern cloud platform is something we have chosen to invest in because our scale, our strong in-house tech capabilities and the benefits to our omnichannel business justify the complexity of the effort.” No word yet on when Walmart’s edge devices, which now dot its retail stores and distribution hubs, are going to space. —[Austin Carr](mailto:acarr54@bloomberg.net) The big story Twitter’s stock tumbled as Elon Musk [tries to back out of a deal]( to acquire the social media company. Twitter is now [gearing up]( for a legal fight in Delaware. ([Why Delaware](, you ask?) What else you need to know Liquidators can’t find the founders of the bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital. [Their whereabouts are unknown](. Financial analysts are anticipating a tumultuous quarterly earnings season, with much riding on [disclosures from tech companies](. Russia is looking to punish expats who criticize the war on [their social media pages](. Follow Us More from Bloomberg Dig gadgets or video games? [Sign up for Power On]( to get Apple scoops, consumer tech news and more in your inbox on Sundays. [Sign up for Game On]( to go deep inside the video game business, delivered on Fridays. Why not try both? Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights.​​​​​​​ You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Fully Charged newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. 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