NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 21, 2026--
Lightning AI, a cloud platform where developers and companies build and run AI applications, today announced the completion of a merger with Voltage Park, a large-scale GPU infrastructure provider. The two companies, operating under the Lightning AI name, bring together AI software and on-demand GPU compute in a single AI cloud designed for training, deploying, and running AI models and applications.
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Lightning is used by over 400,000 individual developers, startups, and large enterprises to build AI models and applications without stitching together single-purpose tools or dealing with dozens of GPU vendors. Teams use Lightning to access GPUs, train models, deploy them into production, and run AI applications and large-scale inference all in one place.
Traditional clouds like AWS, were designed for building and hosting CPU-based software like websites, and services. Gen AI requires a different set of tools, built specifically for GPU-based workloads such as large-scale inference, multi-node training, and large-scale data preparation. This gap has led to dozens of single-purpose tools, each designed to support only one part of the AI lifecycle, like training or inference. Building production AI across so many fragmented tools creates significant operational and procurement overhead for enterprises.
“Imagine instead of using an iPhone, having to carry a separate calculator, flashlight, radio, and more - that’s where AI tooling is today,” said William Falcon, founder and CEO of Lightning AI.
The merger brings AI software and GPU infrastructure together into a single platform. Lightning users get virtually unlimited GPU burst capacity across a fleet of 35,000+ owned and operated H100, B200, and GB300 GPUs. Voltage Park customers get optional, built-in AI software, including large-scale inference, model serving, team management, and observability, without needing to use or pay for single-purpose tools. “Customers spend hundreds of millions on inference platforms that they now get bundled for free on Lightning AI,” said Saurabh Giri, CPTO of Lightning AI.
Before the merger, teams had to choose between traditional clouds like AWS with clunky AI software and expensive GPUs, single-purpose tools like inference platforms, or neoclouds with cheap GPUs with only basic Kubernetes software. As a result, AI teams paid for and worked across multiple tools, adding unnecessary cost and complexity. With Lightning, teams now get purpose-built AI software with enterprise-grade reliability at neocloud GPU prices. They can train models, run inference, and ship AI applications all in one place, so they can focus on shipping, not GPU shopping.
“Our vision has been to build the cloud for the Gen AI age,” said Falcon. “When I was pretraining world models in 2019 at Facebook’s AI Lab during my PhD, the amount of tooling required, limited access to high-performance infrastructure, and lack of collaboration slowed our research down. From day one, I set out to build a next-generation cloud accessible to everyone, from undergrads to Fortune 100 companies. It’s taken us six years to get here, and this merger is the next big step to making that vision real.”
“The next phase of AI will be won by teams that control the entire stack,” said Timo Mertens, CTO of Cantina Labs. “Model performance, cost efficiency, and iteration speed increasingly depend on tight integration between the platform, deep optimization expertise, and owned compute. What’s compelling about this combination is that it brings those layers together into a single, cohesive system—where software and infrastructure are designed in lockstep. That kind of vertical integration isn’t optional anymore; it’s the path forward for building and operating frontier AI at scale.”
“Frontier labs and the ecosystem more broadly have been waiting for what Lightning AI and Voltage Park are building jointly as one company. Performant verticalized infrastructure is an important unlock for frontier research and engineering at speed.” - Misha Laskin, CEO Reflection AI
“This puts us in a category that didn’t previously exist,” said Saurabh Giri, former CPTO of Voltage Park and now CPTO of Lightning AI. “Most neoclouds sell raw GPU capacity without a deep software stack. Most AI platforms depend on third-party clouds underneath. We’re software-first and infrastructure-native, and designed end-to-end for AI workloads. Our customers will benefit from a unified experience that rivals the hyperscalers in capability while offering better value and operational simplicity for AI workloads.”
“This merger reflects a broader shift in the industry,” said Ozan Kaya, former CEO of Voltage Park, now President of Lightning AI. “The next generation of cloud platforms won’t be built by stitching together single-purpose tools. They’ll be AI-native from day one, just as AWS was foundational for the internet era, we are building ground up for the AI era.”
For existing customers, the merger brings expanded capabilities with no disruption. There are no changes to contracts or deployments. Supporting multiple clouds remains a core part of Lightning’s platform, and customers can continue to use Lightning alongside AWS and other cloud providers. When needed, they can also burst workloads into Lightning’s own GPU infrastructure for additional capacity. Lightning will continue to grow its GPU marketplace through deeper partnerships with major cloud providers and neoclouds.
About Lightning AI
Lightning AI is the company behind PyTorch Lightning, the deep learning framework trusted by more than 5 million developers and enterprises worldwide. Lightning AI provides an end-to-end platform for building, training, and deploying AI systems, combining developer-first software with enterprise-grade infrastructure.
Merging with Voltage Park, a neocloud and AI Factory offering flexible GPU solutions, Lightning AI delivers flexible, cost-efficient access to large-scale compute alongside tools for experimentation, training, and production; enabling teams to move faster from idea to impact with security, observability, and control built in. For more information, visit https://www.lightning.ai and https://www.voltagepark.com/.
Lightning AI and Voltage Park Complete Merger to Create the First Cloud Built for AI
ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) — President Donald Trump has landed in Switzerland following hours of delay after a minor electrical issue aboard Air Force forced a return to Washington to switch aircraft.
Trump on Wednesday is set to address the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alps, where his ambitions to wrest control of Greenland from NATO ally Denmark could tear relations with European allies and overshadow his original plan to use his appearance at the gathering of global elites to address affordability issues back home.
Trump comes to the international forum at Davos on the heels of threatening tariffs on Denmark and seven other allies unless they negotiate a transfer of the semi-autonomous territory — a concession the European leaders indicated they are not willing to make. Trump said the tariffs would start at 10% next month and climb to 25% in June, rates that would be high enough to increase costs and slow growth, potentially hurting Trump’s efforts to tamp down the high cost of living.
The president in a text message that circulated among European officials this week also linked his aggressive stance on Greenland to last year’s decision not to award him the Nobel Peace Prize. In the message, he told Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, that he no longer felt “an obligation to think purely of Peace.”
In the midst of an unusual stretch of testing the United States' relations with longtime allies, it seems uncertain what might transpire during Trump's two days in Switzerland.
On Tuesday, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told a Davos panel he and Trump, a Republican, planned to deliver a stark message: “Globalization has failed the West and the United States of America. It’s a failed policy,” he said.
“This will be an interesting trip,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House on Tuesday evening for his flight to Davos. “I have no idea what’s going to happen, but you are well represented.”
In fact, his trip to Davos got off to a difficult start. There was a small electrical problem on Air Force One, leading the crew to turn around the plane about 30 minutes into the flight out of an abundance of caution. That pushed the president's arrival in Switzerland back hours.
Wall Street wobbled on Tuesday as investors weighed Trump's new tariff threats and escalating tensions with European allies. The S&P 500 fell 2.1%, its biggest drop since October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.8%. The Nasdaq composite slumped 2.4%.
“It’s clear that we are reaching a time of instability, of imbalances, both from the security and defense point of view, and economic point of view,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in his address to the forum. Macron made no direct mention of Trump but urged fellow leaders to reject acceptance of “the law of the strongest.”
Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned that should Trump move forward with the tariffts, the bloc's response “will be unflinching, united and proportional." She pointedly suggested that Trump's new tariff threat could also undercut a U.S.-EU trade framework reached this summer that the Trump administration worked hard to to seal.
“The European Union and the United States have agreed to a trade deal last July,” von der Leyen said in Davos. “And in politics as in business — a deal is a deal. And when friends shake hands, it must mean something.”
Trump, ahead of the address, said he planned on using his Davos appearance to talk about making housing more attainable and other affordability issues that are top priorities for Americans.
But Trump’s Greenland tariff threat could disrupt the U.S. economy if it blows up the trade truce reached last year between the U.S. and the EU, said Scott Lincicome, a tariff critic and vice president on economic issues at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.
“Significantly undermining investors' confidence in the U.S. economy in the longer term would likely increase interest rates and thus make homes less affordable,” Lincicome said.
Trump also on Tuesday warned Europe against retaliatory action for the coming new tariffs.
“Anything they do with us, I’ll just meet it,” Trump said on NewsNation’s “Katie Pavlich Tonight.” “All I have to do is meet it, and it’s going to go ricocheting backward.”
Davos — a forum known for its appeal to the global elite — is an odd backdrop for a speech on affordability. But White House officials have promoted it as a moment for Trump to try to rekindle populist support back in the U.S., where many voters who backed him in 2024 view affordability as a major problem. About six in 10 U.S. adults now say that Trump has hurt the cost of living, according to the latest survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
U.S. home sales are at a 30-year low with rising prices and elevated mortgage rates keeping many prospective buyers out of the market. So far, Trump has announced plans to buy $200 billion in mortgage securities to help lower interest rates on home loans, and has called for a ban on large financial companies buying houses.
The White House has said Trump plans to meet with leaders on the sidelines of the forum, after he gives his keynote address. There are more than 60 other heads of state attending.
On Thursday, Trump plans to have an event to talk about the “Board of Peace,” a new body meant to oversee the end of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, and possibly take on a broader mandate, potentially rivaling the United Nations.
Fewer than 10 leaders have accepted invitations to join the group so far, including a handful of leaders considered to be anti-democratic authoritarians. Several of America’s main European partners have declined or been noncommittal, including Britain, France and Germany.
Trump on Tuesday told reporters that his peace board “might” eventually make the U.N. obsolete but insisted he wants to see the international body stick around.
“I believe you got to let the U.N. continue, because the potential is so great," Trump said.
Weissert and Madhani reported from Washington. Michelle L. Price contributed from Washington.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks at the USA house during the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Mark Rutte, Secretary-General, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), speaks during a panel discussion during the 56th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (Gian Ehrenzeller/Keystone via AP)
Things are unloaded from Air Force One after the plane, carrying President Donald Trump to the World Economic Form in Davos, experienced a minor electrical issue after departure, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, and returned to Joint Base Andrews, Md. Trump will board a second plane to complete the trip. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Donald Trump speaks before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
