Technology

Meta has launched paid subscription plans for Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, priced between $2.99 and $3.99 per month, alongside AI-focused Meta One tiers at up to $19.99 per month.

A hidden system app called Smart Feed on Motorola phones was intercepting Amazon app taps and routing them through affiliate links via a service called Device Native Ads, potentially earning revenue on user purchases without consent.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced plans to spend $191 billion annually in Taiwan, calling it the epicentre of the AI revolution. The commitment locks in Nvidia's dependence on Taiwanese chip and hardware suppliers and raises the strategic cost of any disruption to the island's manufacturing base.

India's third semiconductor plant is set to begin production in July, with a fourth facility expected by November-December, Union Minister Rajiv Vaishnaw said. The milestone moves India closer to domestic chip self-sufficiency and reduces dependence on imports from Taiwan and China.

SoftBank and Nvidia are in talks to manufacture AI servers inside Japan, aiming to build local AI compute capacity. A confirmed deal would position SoftBank as a domestic AI infrastructure provider and reduce Japan's reliance on imported hardware.

Anthropic is weighing a new fundraising round that could value the AI startup at close to $1 trillion, per the Financial Times. If completed, it would make Anthropic the highest-valued AI startup in the world, well above OpenAI's $300 billion valuation set in early 2025.

Nvidia will invest up to $2.1 billion in data center company IREN as part of an AI infrastructure deal. The investment ties Nvidia directly to a committed operator of AI compute facilities, securing future hardware demand while boosting IREN's expansion capital.

Apple and Intel have reached a preliminary chip-making deal, the Wall Street Journal reports, with Intel set to manufacture chips for Apple. The agreement would boost Intel's struggling foundry business and reduce Apple's heavy reliance on TSMC for its most critical processors.

OpenAI's former chief technology officer testified in a legal proceeding that CEO Sam Altman sowed chaos and distrust among the company's top executives. The public testimony adds to existing governance concerns about OpenAI at a time when the company is raising capital and expanding commercially.

Skyroot Aerospace has raised $60 million co-led by Sherpalo Ventures and GIC, reaching a $1.1 billion valuation to become India's first spacetech unicorn. The Hyderabad-based startup will use the funds to launch Vikram-1, India's first private orbital rocket designed to deploy small satellites.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has tied the company's planned layoffs to its rising capital expenditure on AI infrastructure, and declined to rule out further job cuts. The open-ended signal suggests Meta views workforce size as an ongoing variable as it redirects resources toward compute and data centers.

The EU's new age-verification app, launched as a privacy-safe tool for online child protection, can be bypassed in under two minutes by editing local device files. Security consultant Paul Moore showed the PIN system is not bound to identity data, exposing users and platforms that rely on it for compliance.

A Mayo Clinic AI model detected early signs of pancreatic cancer on imaging scans up to two years before patients received a formal diagnosis. Because pancreatic cancer is rarely caught early, a reliable pre-diagnostic screening tool could significantly improve survival rates for one of the deadliest common cancers.

Anthropic launched Claude Design, an AI tool that generates website mockups, prototypes, slide decks, and one-pagers from a single text prompt. The outputs are editable within the tool itself, reducing the need to switch to separate design apps.

Intel shares surged 25% while Meta announced a 10% workforce cut and Microsoft offered employee buyouts, all on the same day. The moves reflect big tech's push to control costs and redirect spending toward AI as the post-pandemic hiring boom unwinds.

The Pentagon has cleared OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, xAI, and startup Reflection to provide AI tools for classified use, while dropping Anthropic over a supply-chain risk designation.

Anthropic is asking investors to submit allocations within 48 hours for a funding round that could close within two weeks at a valuation above $900 billion. The deal would make Anthropic one of the most valuable private companies globally. No final size or valuation has been officially confirmed yet.

OpenAI announced a multi-year strategic partnership with Amazon and AWS on Monday, bringing its latest AI models to AWS customers. The deal follows OpenAI and Microsoft revising their arrangement to a non-exclusive structure, freeing OpenAI to work with other cloud providers.

Apple is expected to post roughly 20% iPhone revenue growth in its latest earnings report. The results land as CEO Tim Cook has announced he is leaving, making leadership transition a key backdrop. Strong iPhone numbers could steady investor confidence during the changeover.

Anthropic is considering a new funding round that would value the Claude AI maker at over $900 billion, Bloomberg News reported. If completed at that figure, it would mark one of the highest private company valuations on record. No terms or lead investors have been confirmed yet.