Torq’s $140 million Series D at a $1.2 billion valuation is not just another security funding headline; it is a capital-backed assertion that autonomous, agent-based SOCs are moving from experiment to reference architecture. The round, led by Merlin Ventures with participation from existing institutional investors, is explicitly framed around scaling an “AI SOC Platform” built on advanced hyperautomation, AI-led alert triage, and analyst fatigue reduction to deliver full operational autonomy for enterprises and government agencies [1]. For CIOs and Enterprise Architects, the real signal is strategic: agentic AI is being positioned as the primary control plane for security operations, with humans supervising edge cases rather than orchestrating every step. This introduces a new design tension—how far to push operational autonomy in the SOC stack without eroding governance, assurance, and compliance obligations.