Published reporting and analysis by Girish Soni. Private account and contact details are never included in this public profile.
John Ternus has taken charge of Apple’s first major product event since succeeding Tim Cook, putting the company’s new CEO in the spotlight as Apple launches its first foldable iPhone and expands its AI strategy.
UK-based CloudNC has raised $20 million to expand adoption of its AI-powered CNC machining software and develop new manufacturing tools. The company plans to launch Quote Agent later this year to automate job quoting and estimating for machine shops.
The UAE is investing $1 billion in a 50-satellite constellation developed by France-based Loft Orbital, bringing AI processing directly into orbit. The project will target real-time applications including wildfire detection, infrastructure monitoring and advanced security surveillance.
The U.S. government has finalized $775 million in CHIPS Act awards for quantum computing and semiconductor manufacturing, taking minority equity stakes in five recipients. GlobalFoundries will receive up to $375 million, while Rigetti, D-Wave, PsiQuantum and Quantinuum will each receive up to $100 million.
JD.com plans to procure 3 million robots, 1 million autonomous vehicles and 100,000 delivery drones over the next five years as it moves toward a largely automated logistics network. The company also plans to build 80 robotics hubs and retrain frontline workers for technical roles.
Researchers at Institute of Science Tokyo have developed a quantum low-density parity-check code that brings key design principles from classical error-correction theory into quantum computing. Their simulated code protects 4,612 logical qubits using 9,216 physical qubits and shows error-correction performance close to a classical theoretical benchmark.
Amazon has raised £4.25 billion, or about $5.76 billion, in its first-ever sterling bond sale as major technology companies seek new sources of funding for the AI infrastructure boom. The four-part deal attracted more than £10.65 billion in final investor demand.
Microsoft has released its largest Patch Tuesday security update on record, addressing 964 customer-relevant vulnerabilities across Windows, Office, Azure, Exchange and other products. The update also fixes two Windows zero-days that attackers were already exploiting to gain SYSTEM-level privileges.
Google will invest at least €13 billion in Finland over the next two years to expand AI and digital infrastructure, including new data centres, clean-energy projects and grid investments. The plan also includes a 22-year agreement with Fortum to secure power from Finland’s Loviisa nuclear plant.
OpenAI is expanding its AI business into chip design, life sciences and financial services as it looks to deliver more specialized systems to enterprise customers. CFO Sarah Friar said OpenAI used its own models to take its Jalapeño AI chip to tape-out in nine months and claimed its lower-cost Luna model can be cheaper than some Chinese open-source alternatives.
CVC Capital Partners has named TPG veteran Todd Sisitsky and its president Peter Rutland as future co-CEOs, with the leadership transition scheduled for the first quarter of 2028. Current CEO Rob Lucas will step down from the role after leading the firm through its 2024 IPO.
SUGAR Cosmetics has raised ₹144.5 crore from existing investor A91 Partners as the beauty brand faces a sharp valuation reset. The latest funding comes after revenue fell 20% and net losses nearly doubled in FY25.
Isar Aerospace has secured a €197.8 million contract from the European Space Agency under the European Launcher Challenge, supporting the development of its launch vehicles and expansion of launch infrastructure. Days later, its Spectrum rocket successfully reached orbit from Norway, completing the programme’s first major milestone.
TDK has launched new 100V X7R multilayer ceramic capacitors with 10μF capacitance in the compact 3225 package. The low-resistance, soft-termination components are designed for 48V power systems in AI servers, humanoid robots, electric vehicles and industrial equipment.
Agility Robotics has disclosed $1.78 million in 2025 sales as it prepares to go public through a proposed merger with Churchill Capital Corp XI. The SEC filing also reveals a $140 million operating loss, more than 65,000 hours of Digit deployments and a pipeline of more than $300 million in multi-year orders for its next-generation humanoid.
Fujitsu has developed a working prototype of a diamond-spin quantum computer using tin-vacancy centers and photonic integrated circuits. The company says the architecture could help build modular quantum systems that scale more efficiently.
AI coding startup Cognition has raised more than $2 billion in a Series E funding round at a $48 billion valuation. The company behind the Devin coding agent has nearly doubled its valuation since May as annualised revenue approaches $900 million.
Security researchers uncovered a cross-account communication channel in ChatGPT that could secretly execute attacker-controlled tasks using a victim’s session. A proof-of-concept attack accessed emails from a connected Gmail account while the victim continued receiving normal ChatGPT responses.
Palantir has selected AI cloud provider Nebius as its preferred sovereign AI infrastructure partner in a new strategic collaboration. The companies will combine Palantir’s AI software with Nebius computing and inference infrastructure, giving eligible customers greater control over their models, data and computing resources.
Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis has stepped away from the lab’s day-to-day CEO role to become its chair and Alphabet’s chief scientist. Koray Kavukcuoglu will take over operational leadership as Google faces growing pressure to accelerate its frontier AI development.
Portuguese digital health company Hope Care has raised €6 million in Series A funding to expand its remote patient monitoring platform across Europe. The company is targeting new deployments in Germany and Romania while scaling existing operations in Portugal, France and Switzerland.
Indian space startup Agnikul Cosmos has opened two new facilities in Chennai to test complete rocket stages under flight-like conditions and manufacture critical components in-house. The infrastructure will support the company’s push toward reusable launch vehicles and its upcoming Mission-02.
Samsung Electronics and ASML are expanding their long-running partnership to develop next-generation semiconductor manufacturing technology, including larger 12-inch photomasks for High-NA EUV systems. The move is aimed at enabling more efficient production of increasingly large and complex AI and data-centre chips.
XPeng has commissioned a dedicated production line for its IRON humanoid robot in Guangzhou, moving the project from prototype development into production-line manufacturing. The company plans to begin mass production by the end of 2026, with commercial deliveries expected in 2027.
Kairos Power has completed the first phase of testing on a non-nuclear mockup of its planned Hermes 2 reactor cavity in Tennessee. The work is testing modular radiation shielding and remote maintenance systems before the company moves further into reactor construction.
French AI company Mistral has raised €3 billion in a Series D round at a post-money valuation of more than €21 billion, or about $24 billion. The funding will support frontier AI research, computing infrastructure and the company’s international expansion.
More than 220 million passenger and crew records were exposed through a Vietnam-linked Advance Passenger Information System database. The data included passport numbers, dates of birth and detailed flight information covering travel records from 2017 to 2026.
Malaysia’s fast-growing data centre industry is putting additional pressure on the country’s electricity system as higher temperatures increase cooling requirements. Data centres accounted for a record 9.3% of overall power consumption in the second week of August, prompting plans for more gas-fired generation.
OpenAI has launched GPT-6 Astra, its latest flagship AI model, with stronger capabilities in computer use, coding, research and complex multi-step tasks. The model is also the company’s first to reach its “Critical” threshold for cybersecurity capabilities, prompting additional safeguards around deployment.
Voice AI startup Navana.ai has raised ₹40 crore in a Series A round led by Ronnie Screwvala. The Bengaluru-based company will use the funding to expand its enterprise deployments, develop Indian-language speech models and strengthen its AI contact centre products.
ISRO has rejected concerns that India’s push to expand private participation will weaken or privatise the space agency. The clarification follows unease among employees over plans to shift more manufacturing and operational work to private companies.
UK compound semiconductor specialist IQE has returned to profit in the first half of 2026 as demand for components used in AI infrastructure and data centres accelerated. Revenue jumped 43% year on year to £64.6 million.
NEURA Robotics has partnered with Italian embedded-computing company SECO to design and manufacture compute modules for its cognitive robots, including the 4NE1 humanoid. The collaboration is aimed at scaling Physical AI hardware through a European supply chain.
Two 2026 research advances are expanding what acoustic tractor beams can do. One uses sound waves to remotely control the stiffness of a metamaterial, while another levitates and moves objects in midair from nearly 40 cm away.
Molten Ventures has secured €203 million in the first close of its new Growth Fund, with backing from the British Business Bank. The fund will provide Series B and later-stage capital to high-growth technology companies across the UK and Europe.
N-able has released an emergency hotfix for CVE-2026-86218, a critical vulnerability in its N-central remote monitoring platform that can enable remote code execution without authentication. The company has urged on-premises customers to install the update immediately.
Argentina’s Patagonia is attracting growing interest from technology and energy companies looking to build large data centers. The region offers abundant land, cool temperatures, renewable energy and access to Vaca Muerta’s natural gas resources.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has warned that artificial intelligence could become a threat to humanity and called for stronger global safeguards as AI systems grow more capable.
The ninth Bengaluru Space Expo has opened with more than 250 exhibitors from 20 countries, putting India’s growing private space industry in focus. Major Indian companies are showcasing launch vehicles, satellites, Earth observation, propulsion and other space technologies.
Milan-based AI startup Cato has raised €6 million in a seed round led by Keen Venture Partners. The company will use the funding to expand its AI platform for finding, analysing and preparing bids for public tenders.
Chinese semiconductor equipment maker AMEC has unveiled six new chipmaking machines spanning etching, deposition and silicon-carbide production. The expansion is aimed at broadening its technology portfolio as China pushes for greater domestic semiconductor equipment supply.
Zeroth has launched Bridge, an AI-native humanoid robot designed for physical AI development, alongside OpenBridge, an open-source ecosystem that allows developers to build, test and share robotic skills.
Researchers from UNIST and the University of Cambridge have developed a photo-rechargeable lithium battery that can reach 70% charge in 10 minutes under standard sunlight and also operate under indoor lighting.
Indian space-tech startup Pixxel has raised $100 million in a Series C round co-led by Temasek and Seraphim. The funding will help the company expand its satellite capabilities, Earth intelligence software and sovereign space systems.
A newly discovered StyleSmuggler zero-day is being actively exploited against Magento and Adobe Commerce stores, giving attackers unauthenticated remote code execution while an official Adobe fix is still pending.
Thailand has paused 166 data centre projects, including 49 already under construction, as the government moves to introduce nationwide rules covering power, water, safety, locations and environmental impact.
China’s homegrown AI chipmakers are gaining ground against Nvidia as Enflame prepares to raise $908 million in a heavily oversubscribed Shanghai IPO, adding momentum to Beijing’s push for greater semiconductor self-reliance.
Bengaluru-based sales intelligence startup Overlayy has been acquired by San Francisco-based Monaco, bringing its AI expertise and team into the revenue platform’s push to replace fragmented sales software.
NASA has funded an early-stage spacecraft concept that could map minerals on the Moon, asteroids and Martian moons during high-speed flybys without landing on their surfaces.
TSMC is building nearly 20 semiconductor fabs worldwide as AI demand accelerates, but equipment shortages and limited construction capacity are making it harder to expand production fast enough.
