Sources: Meta is buying Manus for $2B+; Manus was raising at a $2B valuation when Meta approached it; Manus CEO Xiao Hong will report to Meta COO Javier Olivan
The deal for more than $2 billion is one of the first in which a major U.S. tech company has bought a startup with Chinese roots
Meta agrees to acquire Singapore-based startup Manus, which makes an AI agent for SMBs; Manus said earlier in December its annual revenue run rate was $125M+
Meta Platforms Inc. has agreed to buy Manus, a popular Singapore-based artificial intelligence agent with Chinese roots …
Michał Kiciński, co-founder of CD Projekt and DRM-free digital games store GOG, acquires 100% ownership of GOG from CD Projekt and signs a distribution deal
A-GOG. — Michał Kiciński, co-founder of CD Projekt, has acquired 100 percent ownership of GOG, the DRM-free digital games store.
Meta says it will continue to operate and sell the Manus service, and Manus' talent will join Meta to deliver agents across Meta products, including Meta AI
We are excited to announce that Manus is joining Meta to bring a leading agent to billions of people and unlock opportunities for businesses across our products.
China's draft AI rules have measures to protect kids, like time limits and parental consent, ban gambling promotion content, and add suicide chats restrictions
China has proposed strict new rules for artificial intelligence (AI) to provide safeguards for children and prevent chatbots …
UK-based Octopus Energy reaches a deal to sell about $1B of equity in Kraken Technologies, its tech spin-off, at an $8.65B valuation to a syndicate of investors
Investors including D1 Capital Partners, Fidelity and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan to purchase $1bn in equity
Meta just bought into the enterprise market with its Manus deal, which may eventually help it expand into cloud offerings like those of its Big Tech peers
Between Apple and Meta, I think it was a pretty close call in terms of which Big Tech company had the worse 2025 when it came to AI.
Sources: SoftBank has completed its $40B investment in OpenAI
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Sources: China is requiring chipmakers to use at least 50% domestically made equipment for adding new capacity, in a rule that is not publicly documented
China is requiring chipmakers to use at least 50% domestically made equipment for adding new capacity, three people familiar with the matter said …
Meta says Manus, initially based in Beijing and Wuhan, will cut Chinese investor ties after the deal and “will discontinue its services and operations in China”
PALO ALTO, California/HONG KONG — Meta says it will acquire AI startup Manus and that the Singapore-based company …
Samsung, up 125%, and SK Hynix, up 268%, accounted for nearly half of the 76% gain in South Korea's Kospi, the world's best-performing major stock index in 2025
South Korea's stock market renaissance in 2025 was one for the history books. Buoyed by world-beating gains in arms exporters …
Zhipu AI launches a share sale to raise ~$560M in a Hong Kong IPO at a valuation of ~$6.6B, which would make it the first LLM developer listed in Hong Kong
The company, marketed overseas as Z.ai, eyes US$6.6 billion valuation with Hong Kong's first large language model listing
A look at the rift in the Democratic party over AI and data centers, as pro-business Democrats oppose the fiery, anti-AI politics of the progressive wing
www.politico.com/news/magazin... Brendan Nyhan / @brendannyhan : See also: social media. In both cases, lots of people promising quick fixes with no tradeoffs. [embedded post] Max Berger / @maxberge...
Sources: Satya Nadella is focused on the increasing AI competition from Amazon and Google; Microsoft Deputy CTO Dee Templeton says Nadella is in “founder mode”
Software giant faces intense competition from Alphabet, Amazon and start-ups — Satya Nadella has overhauled …
Sources: the US has granted an annual license to Samsung and SK Hynix to ship their chip manufacturing equipment to their facilities in China for 2026
The U.S. government has granted an annual licence to Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) and SK Hynix (000660.KS) to bring in chip manufacturing equipment …
Framework says it is raising DDR5 RAM prices to charge $10 per GB, after a price hike earlier in December due to “substantially higher costs” amid the AI boom
Emma Roth / The Verge :
Driven by the AI boom, chipmakers posted $400B+ in sales in 2025; FactSet projects revenue for Nvidia, Intel, Broadcom, AMD, and Qualcomm to reach $538B in 2026
Wall Street Journal :
Sources, PitchBook data, and news reports: the founders of Perplexity, Figure AI, Safe Superintelligence, Harvey, and others joined the nine-figure club in 2025
Just like past tech booms, the latest frenzy has produced a group of billionaires — at least on paper — from smaller start-ups.
Fast delivery apps like Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy are expanding into India's Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, driven by rising incomes and cheap smartphones and data
Cheap data, new logistics and mobile-first platforms are expanding consumption far beyond India's urban elite.
AI drug discovery startup Insilico rose 45% in its Hong Kong trading debut after raising $293M in an IPO; Insilico reported $85M+ in 2024 revenue
Bloomberg :
How diamonds are being converted to quantum sensors by inserting tiny imperfections, opening up potential uses in medicine, brain-computer interfaces, and more
The Financial Times just released an article, including a mention of QuantumDiamonds! …
How Japan's viral horse racing game Umamusume, developed by Cygames, passed 30M downloads in Asia, spurring anime adaptations, concerts, and new racetrack fans
Katria Alampay / Bloomberg :
Sources: Chinese AI startup MiniMax is seeking to raise $600M+ from its Hong Kong IPO, set for January 2026, and has secured Alibaba and the ADIA as backers
Bloomberg :
Shenzhen-based OneRobotics opened flat in its Hong Kong debut after the Chinese home robotics maker raised $210M by selling 22M+ shares at about $9.50 each
Nikkei Asia :
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