What a year. 2025 was the year AI stopped being hype and became the way most of us work. Nvidia became the first company worth $5 trillion. Python finally broke free of the GIL. Windows 10 died. OpenAI prepared for a trillion-dollar IPO. And the race to own developer tools went into overdrive.
This is the year that changed everything. Let’s break it down.
The Big Picture: AI Ate Software Development
If there’s one theme that defined 2025, it’s this: AI became the default.
The numbers tell the story:
- 84% of developers are now using or planning to use AI tools
- 4.3 million AI-related repositories created on GitHub (nearly doubled from 2023)
- 20-50% productivity improvement reported from AI tools
- 1 in 8 workers globally now use AI monthly
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. The Stack Overflow Developer Survey found that 46% of developers don’t trust AI-generated code accuracy. We’re all using AI, but we’re still double-checking its work.
The bigger shift? AI companies started buying developer tools. Cursor acquired Graphite. Anthropic got Bun. The pattern is clear: AI companies don’t just want to make models. They want to own the entire development experience.
The Stories That Defined 2025
Nvidia Became the First $5 Trillion Company
On October 29, Nvidia’s market cap hit $5 trillion. First company in history to reach that number.
Let that sink in. $5 trillion. That’s more than most countries’ entire economies.
Every major AI system runs on Nvidia hardware. Training GPT-5? Nvidia. Running inference at scale? Nvidia. Building robotics? Nvidia. They’re not just winning the AI race - they’re selling the shovels to everyone else.
At GTC 2025, Jensen Huang announced the Blackwell-generation GPUs and the Grace Blackwell Ultra Superchip. They also unveiled Dynamo, an “AI operating system” for running AI factories, and GROOT N1, an open-source humanoid robot foundation model.
The AI hardware monopoly is real, and Nvidia owns it.
OpenAI’s Wild Year
OpenAI had the kind of year that would break most companies. And they’re stronger than ever.
The highlights:
- $6.6 billion funding round closed
- GPT-5 launched, followed by GPT-5.2 Codex
- Sora 2 released - hyper-realistic video generation that sparked deepfake fears
- Canvas launched - a collaborative coding interface that feels like pair programming
- Aardvark announced - an AI security agent that finds and stops threats
- SoftBank invested $22.5 billion in December
- Preparing for a $1 trillion IPO in 2026-2027
The Sora 2 launch got messy. OpenAI’s initial copyright policy allowed using any copyrighted content unless rightsholders opted out. After someone generated a video of AI Sam Altman surrounded by Pokémon saying “I hope Nintendo doesn’t sue us,” they reversed course fast.
Then came the Disney partnership - a three-year licensing deal to integrate Disney characters into Sora. One year exclusive, then Disney can work with others. Disney’s testing the waters, not committing.
OpenAI isn’t just a model company anymore. They’re building an ecosystem.
Python 3.14: The GIL Is Finally Optional
October brought the release that Python developers have been waiting years for: Python 3.14 with optional GIL removal.
What this means:
- Free-threaded mode - actual parallel Python on multi-core processors
- Experimental JIT compiler - significant speed improvements
- Template literals (t-strings) - inspired by f-strings
- Better multi-interpreter support
Early benchmarks show the JIT delivers real speedups. Free-threaded mode is 5-10% slower for single-threaded workloads, but for concurrent code? Worth it.
The GIL (Global Interpreter Lock) has been Python’s biggest performance limitation for decades. Now it’s optional. This is a fundamental shift in what Python can do.
Windows 10 Died - 400 Million PCs Left Behind
On October 14, Microsoft officially ended Windows 10 support. No more security updates. No more bug fixes. No more help.
400 million PCs are still running Windows 10. That’s not a typo.
Many of those machines can’t run Windows 11 - they don’t have TPM 2.0, or their CPUs aren’t supported. Users have three options: buy new hardware, switch to Linux, or pay for Extended Security Updates.
The environmental impact is huge. Those 400 million retired PCs contain billions of dollars worth of gold, silver, and copper. Microsoft is pushing everyone to Windows 11, but forcing hardware upgrades at this scale creates massive e-waste.
Java 25 LTS Shipped
September brought Java 25 LTS - the first long-term support release since Java 21. With 8+ years of guaranteed support, this is a big deal for enterprise Java shops.
Key features:
- Compact Object Headers - better memory usage and cache performance
- Ahead-of-Time Method Profiling - faster startup using data from previous runs
- Scoped Values - new thread-local model for virtual threads
- Module Import Declarations - easier onboarding for beginners
JetBrains had IntelliJ IDEA support ready within a day. The Java ecosystem is healthy and moving fast.
The Acquisition Frenzy
2025 saw some major deals that reshaped the developer tools landscape:
Cursor acquired Graphite (December) - The AI coding editor bought the stacked PR company. AI writes code fast. Graphite reviews code fast. Together, they speed up the entire loop. Reports say Cursor paid significantly more than Graphite’s $290 million valuation.
Coursera and Udemy merged ($2.5 billion) - The two biggest EdTech platforms became one. They’re betting on AI reskilling. Combined revenue: $1.5 billion+.
Nvidia acquired SchedMD - The makers of Slurm, the workload manager that runs most supercomputers. Nvidia wants to own the software that manages their hardware. They promised to keep it open source.
Qualcomm acquired Ventana Micro Systems - RISC-V CPU expertise to complement their Oryon processors.
The pattern is clear: consolidation is accelerating. The winners want to own more of the stack.
Google Launched Antigravity
Google’s answer to the AI coding revolution: Antigravity, an AI-powered IDE that puts AI agents first.
Announced alongside Gemini 3, Antigravity lets developers delegate complex coding tasks to autonomous AI agents. This isn’t just autocomplete. It’s AI that writes features while you describe what you want.
They also released Gemini 3 Flash - fast, cheap, and good enough that JetBrains, Cursor, and Figma all integrated it immediately.
AWS Introduced “Frontier Agents”
AWS announced a new class of AI tools called “frontier agents” - fully autonomous systems that can operate without human input for extended periods.
These aren’t chatbots. They’re agents that handle coding, security analysis, and DevOps processes on their own. AWS is calling this “the biggest change to software development since CI/CD.”
Whether that’s hype or reality, we’ll see in 2026.
The US Launched Genesis Mission
The government called it “the biggest national AI project since the Manhattan Project.”
24 tech companies - including Nvidia, OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google - are building AI supercomputers across Department of Energy national laboratories.
AI infrastructure is now a national priority. The compute wars have gone federal.
Language and Framework Releases
TypeScript 5.9
import deferfor delayed module evaluation- Streamlined
tsc --initconfig - Full Node.js 20 support
- Better editor tooltips
TypeScript growth hit 66% year-over-year with 1 million new contributors. It’s becoming the default for serious JavaScript projects.
.NET 10
Microsoft shipped .NET 10 with performance improvements and better cloud-native support. The .NET ecosystem continues to mature.
Kubernetes 1.34 “Of Wind & Will”
- Dynamic Resource Allocation (DRA) graduated to GA
- Better GPU/accelerator scheduling for AI/ML
- KYAML support - a safer YAML subset
- Faster API server via cache snapshots
React 19
Server Components went stable in production. Adoption is growing as teams figure out the mental model shift.
Security and Outages
The NPM Supply Chain Attack
In September, a sophisticated attack called “Shai-Hulud” compromised 200+ packages, including popular ones like debug and chalk. The attack used:
- Phishing via fake
npmjs.helpdomain - Self-propagating worm code
- Cryptocurrency-theft malware targeting browsers
Multiple security agencies issued advisories. It was a wake-up call about supply chain security.
GitHub’s 8-Hour Outage
On July 28-29, GitHub went down for 8 hours. Git operations, pull requests, CI/CD - everything stopped. Root cause: networking issues that required emergency capacity scaling.
Millions of developers learned how much we depend on one platform.
Privacy Extensions Caught Selling AI Chats
Browser extensions marketed as privacy tools - like Urban VPN - were caught collecting and selling user data. Including AI conversations from 8 million users.
People installed these for privacy and got the opposite. The data included conversations with ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.
The lesson: Audit your browser extensions. If you don’t actively use it, remove it.
Major Cloudflare Outages
Cloudflare had multiple incidents throughout 2025. When Cloudflare goes down, a significant chunk of the internet goes with it. We’re all learning how centralized our infrastructure really is.
Let’s Encrypt Shortens Certificate Lifetimes
Let’s Encrypt announced certificates are going from 90 days to 45 days by 2028.
- May 2026: 45-day certs available for early adopters
- February 2027: Default drops to 64 days
- February 2028: Default drops to 45 days
If your automation can’t handle frequent renewals, fix it now.
AI Tools Everywhere
GitHub Copilot Got Better
- Multiple models now available (GPT-4, Claude Haiku 4.5)
- Auto model selection in Copilot Chat
- Agent workflows with better context
- AGENTS.md support for team best practices
Vercel AI SDK 6
- Marketplace agents and services
- TypeScript workflow support
- Automated code review agent
- Python SDK for FastAPI and Flask
Adobe + Google Integration
Google’s AI models are now in Photoshop and Premiere. Enterprise customers can train models on their brand data for consistent output.
Big Tech Moves
Amazon Cut 30,000 Jobs
Amazon cut up to 30,000 corporate positions - nearly 10% of corporate workforce. At the same time, they invested $10 billion in a new North Carolina AI campus.
The message: leaner teams, more automation, bigger AI bets.
Meta’s Demo Disasters
At Meta Connect 2025, live demos failed spectacularly. The Ray-Ban Meta Live AI demo triggered every pair of glasses in the building - a self-inflicted DDoS. Mark Zuckerberg couldn’t answer WhatsApp video calls four times in a row due to a race condition bug.
Live demos are hard. Even for Meta.
TikTok’s US Future
TikTok finalized a deal with Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX for a US-based joint venture. Majority-American board. Oracle oversight for US user data. But who controls the algorithm? Still unclear.
Anthropic Went Global
Anthropic opened a Seoul office, signaling serious expansion into Asia. Claude Haiku 4.5 launched across GitHub Copilot. They’re not just building models - they’re building a global AI company.
The Numbers That Defined 2025
- $5 trillion - Nvidia’s market cap (first company ever)
- $22.5 billion - SoftBank’s investment in OpenAI
- $6.6 billion - OpenAI’s funding round
- $2.5 billion - Coursera + Udemy merger
- $1 trillion - OpenAI’s target IPO valuation
- 400 million - PCs losing Windows 10 support
- 4.3 million - AI repositories on GitHub
- 1 million - New TypeScript contributors (66% YoY)
- 850,000 - New Python contributors (48% YoY)
- 30,000 - Amazon corporate jobs cut
- 84% - Developers using or planning to use AI tools
- 46% - Developers who don’t trust AI accuracy
- 8 hours - GitHub’s longest outage
- 45 days - New Let’s Encrypt certificate lifetime (by 2028)
What 2025 Taught Us
AI became infrastructure. Not a feature. Not a tool. Infrastructure. Like electricity or the internet.
Developer tools are the new battleground. Cursor, Anthropic, OpenAI - they all want to own how you write code. Not just assist. Own.
Trust is still an issue. Half of developers don’t trust AI output. We use it anyway and verify manually. That’s the uncomfortable reality.
Consolidation accelerated. Coursera + Udemy. Cursor + Graphite. Nvidia + SchedMD. The winners are getting bigger.
Security is everyone’s problem. Supply chain attacks, privacy extension betrayals, major breaches. If you’re not thinking about security, you’re the target.
The platform risk is real. When GitHub goes down, development stops. When Cloudflare goes down, websites disappear. We’ve built a lot on very few foundations.
Looking Ahead to 2026
OpenAI’s trillion-dollar IPO will likely dominate headlines. More AI companies will acquire developer tools. Quantum computing will start appearing in real projects, not just experiments. And the question “should AI write this code?” will shift to “how do I review the code AI wrote?”
The pace isn’t slowing down. If anything, 2025 was the year we got used to moving fast. 2026 will be faster.
That’s 2025. A year where AI became normal, valuations went stratospheric, and the way we build software changed forever. Thanks for reading Dev Weekly this year. Here’s to 2026.
Happy New Year.
