The Windfall
For three decades, memory was the worst job in semiconductors — the commodity that craters first in every downturn. On May 27 a handheld console hit $949 "due to rising memory costs" the same day Samsung's chip workers approved an average $340,000 bonus to "share AI profits." The component that was supposed to get cheaper forever just made the people who make it rich.
American Airlines picks SpaceX's Starlink for in-flight Wi-Fi on 500+ planes; SpaceX already has contracts with United Airlines, Southwest, and Alaska Airlines
American Airlines plans to outfit more than 500 of its narrow-body aircraft with Starlink, handing another win to Elon Musk's SpaceX unit …
Micron hit a $1T market value for the first time on Tuesday as its stock closed up 19.29%, after hitting $700B earlier in May, driven by high memory chip demand
Micron topped a $1 trillion market value for the first time on Tuesday as shares popped 19%, driven by insatiable artificial intelligence demand for its memory chips.
Valve raises Steam Deck OLED prices due to “rising memory and storage costs”; the 512GB model is now $789, up from $549, and the 1TB model is $949, up from $649
The 1TB OLED model got a $300 price increase, and now costs $949. … Valve has significantly increased the price …
The UK's GCHQ head says the UK and allies have a “narrowing window” to counter cyber threats from China and Russia, as Russia intensifies “daily” hybrid warfare
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President Trump says it is “critically important” that the CFTC keep exclusive authority to oversee prediction markets, as some states attempt to regulate them
President Trump on Tuesday said it was “critically important” for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) …
A deep dive into how Anthropic's Claude Code and Peter Steinberger's OpenClaw unleashed the AI agent revolution that is rapidly transforming modern computing
The definitive story of how Claude Code and OpenClaw kicked off computing's biggest transformation possibly ever.
Datacurve releases the DeepSWE coding benchmark, a 113-task test across 91 open-source repositories: GPT-5.5 leads at 70%, GPT-5.4 got 56%, and Opus 4.7 got 54%
For months, the leading AI coding benchmarks have told enterprise buyers a comforting but misleading story: the top models are all roughly the same.
Samsung's largest union approves a pay deal that would give chip workers an average bonus of ~$340K, with ~74% of members voting in favor, staving off a strike
Samsung Electronics Co. union members voted in favor of a compensation deal that will hand chip workers an average bonus of about $340,000 …
Dropbox founder Drew Houston is stepping down as CEO after 19 years to become executive chairman, replaced by Ashraf Alkarmi, who is SVP and GM of Dropbox Core
Drew Houston founded Dropbox nearly two decades ago out at age 24, eventually becoming a household name in Silicon Valley …
Snowflake reports Q1 revenue up 33% YoY to $1.39B, vs. $1.32B est., and commits to spending $6B on AWS over five years; SNOW jumps 29%+ after hours
Amazon said Wednesday that its cloud division has landed a $6 billion spending commitment from Snowflake, which includes the use …
Sources: Qualcomm reached a deal with ByteDance to supply millions of ASICs for AI data centers to support AI agents in the Doubao chatbot; QCOM closed up 4.48%
Qualcomm Inc. reached a deal with TikTok owner ByteDance Ltd. to supply chips for artificial intelligence data centers …
YouTube makes its AI content labels more prominent on desktop and mobile, and will apply them automatically if it detects “significant photorealistic AI use”
Is that YouTube video clip you're watching real or was it made with AI? — YouTube wants to make it easier for viewers …
OpenAI hires ServiceNow CMO Colin Fleming as CMO for its business unit, succeeding Kate Rouch, who stepped down in April 2026 “to focus on cancer recovery”
OpenAI has hired ServiceNow chief marketing officer Colin Fleming as CMO for its business unit, a move that signals the AI company …
The EU proposes new satellite access rules to let non-European companies like SpaceX bid for the airwaves, while preserving 33%+ of licenses for local companies
The European Union proposed new rules for satellite access that will allow non-European firms, like Elon Musk's Starlink …
Sources: Taiwan suspects three people smuggled at least one shipment of Nvidia chips to China after exporting them to Japan; Taiwan detained the trio last week
Taiwan prosecutors suspect that three individuals successfully smuggled at least one shipment of Nvidia Corp. AI chips to China …
Starlette, an open-source Python framework underpinning FastAPI, has a vulnerability called BadHost that can allow hackers to bypass authorization
Millions of AI agents and tools around the world have been imperiled by a critical vulnerability that can allow hackers to breach …
Pope Leo XIV presents Magnifica humanitas, his encyclical on AI, calling for AI regulation, protection for children against hypersexualized AI images, and more
Initial benchmarks: Nvidia's Vera Rubin CPU, which features 88 Nvidia-designed Olympus cores, packs a heavy-hitting punch, beating Intel's and AMD's x86_64 CPUs
NVIDIA's Vera data center CPU isn't ramping up until later this year but I recently had the opportunity to try out this new ARM-based CPU designed for agentic AI workloads.
Analysis: the share of entry-level tech hiring in India fell from 28% in 2024 to ~15% in 2025 as companies focused on AI, cloud, cybersecurity, and automation
The share of entry-level hiring in the sector has fallen to around 15% in 2025 from 28% in 2024 as companies focus more on AI …
A look at the Pentagon's embrace of autonomous weapons before its fight over Anthropic's two “red lines”, and AI's creeping influence in military operations
The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, an international forum that focuses on lethal autonomous systems …
ElevenLabs launches Music v2, which can switch genres mid-track and handle complex vocal compositions, built on licensed data and cleared for commercial use
Voice AI company ElevenLabs launched a new version of its music-generation model, called Music v2, that can switch genres mid-track.
Xreal launches a new sub-brand, X by Xreal, and $299 a01 display glasses with micro OLED displays, a 50° FOV, and a 62g weight, set for a July release in the US
X by Xreal is arriving in July for $299, and they look to compete with TCL's budget glasses.
Google Fitbit Air review: slim, comfortable, and stylish, robust tracking, seven-day battery life, and cheaper than Whoop, but can only be worn on the wrist
Sources: inference cloud startup Fireworks AI is in talks to raise funding at a $15B valuation, up from $4B after it announced a $250M round in October 2025
Fireworks AI, a startup that helps companies run artificial intelligence models, is in talks to raise a new round of funding …
Document: Samsung plans to invest ~$1.5B to build a semiconductor testing plant focused on legacy chips in Vietnam; the plant is slated to open in November 2027
Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) plans to invest 39 trillion dong ($1.5 billion) in Vietnam to build a semiconductor testing plant …
Nvidia officially retires its legacy GeForce Control Panel app after 20 years, after porting the majority of its important features to the Nvidia app in 2025
Demis Hassabis says he still broadly expects AGI around 2030, though he now sees 2029 as a possibility, and 2026's “agentic era” is a “bit like a practice run”
Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis said at Google's developer conference last week that humanity is standing in the …
Amazon says it invested £15B+ in the UK in 2025, including new sites and expanded studio facilities, keeping it on track to invest £40B over three years by 2027
Amazon (AMZN.O) invested over £15 billion ($20 billion) in Britain in 2025, keeping the e-commerce giant …
Jensen Huang says Nvidia spends $100B-$150B per year on its Taiwan supply chain, up from $10B-$15B in 2022-2023, and will boost its 1,000 staff there to 4,000
TAIPEI — Nvidia is now spending up to $150 billion a year on its supply chain partners in Taiwan and plans to increase its headcount in the …
AI coding startup Cognition AI raised more than $1B at a $26B valuation, and says its revenue run rate has increased to $492M from $37M in May 2025
Cognition AI Inc. has raised more than $1 billion in a new funding round at a $26 billion valuation, the latest sign of strong demand …
How AI is starting to dismantle the hegemony of the Big Four consultancies and other large firms, as AI agents help smaller consultancies handle big workloads
The technology opens the door for smaller, well-funded challengers to take market share from the Big Four and others.
Charter confirms a data breach after ShinyHunters claimed to steal 40M customer records from Charter's Salesforce instance and threatened to leak the data
U.S. telecommunications giant Charter Communications has confirmed it suffered a data breach after the ShinyHunters extortion group threatened …
The Shanghai Stock Exchange says memory maker CXMT cleared a listing review for the exchange's Nasdaq-like STAR Board, in what could be China's top IPO in 2026
The listing could become China's largest IPO this year — China's securities regulator has cleared an approximately $4 billion share offering …
Robinhood launches a feature to let users link AI agents, such as Claude or Cursor, to separate, dedicated investment accounts for trading stocks autonomously
New feature links artificial-intelligence tools to investment and credit-card accounts — AI agents were already dispensing advice …
Milan-based social travel startup WeRoad raised a $58M Series C led by Airbnb, taking its total funding to ~$100M, to expand into the US, starting in Austin
WeRoad, the Milan-based group travel startup, has raised a $58 million Series C round led by Airbnb as it prepares for its first major expansion outside Europe.
Source: TSMC CEO C.C. Wei told staff that they will see a 30%+ bump in their profit-sharing payouts in 2026 on average, after some staff voiced concerns online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. chief C.C. Wei told staff they'll see more than a 30% bump in their profit-sharing payouts …
Salesforce reports Q1 revenue up 13% YoY to $11.13B, vs. $11.05B est., Agentforce annual recurring revenue up 205% to $1.2B, and forecasts Q2 revenue below est.
Salesforce reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results on Wednesday, but the cloud software vendor issued full-year guidance …
Spotify launches a library of over 650 narrated long-form magazine articles in English for Premium users; free users can buy articles “individually for $1.99”
Source: AI inference provider Baseten is in talks to raise $1B at an $11B post-money valuation, up from $5B after its $300M Series E announced in February 2026
AI startup Baseten has recently been in talks with investors to raise $1 billion at an $11 billion valuation including the money …
Sources: EU leaders are divided on curbing Big Tech as they weigh cloud tender rules and giving EU companies preferential access to mobile satellite spectrum
European leaders are divided on how far to go in curbing Big Tech as they weigh momentous decisions over giving EU firms preferential access …
Temu owner PDD reports Q1 revenue up 11% YoY to ~$15.7B, below ~$16.2B est., net profit down 15% to ~$1.85B, below ~$3.4B est.; PDD closes down 10.38%
The company is rolling out more support initiatives to prevent merchants from defecting to other platforms
Sources: Uber has increased its stake in Delivery Hero to ~37% by acquiring Aspex Management's 14.6% share at a €12B valuation, after a takeover offer last week
Share purchase from Aspex Management steps up US ride-hailing group's pursuit of German food delivery company
Roku launches its first major homescreen overhaul in over a decade, including a large “marquee” ad spot to tout apps or shows, in a bid to drive more engagement
Don't worry, Roku City isn't going anywhere. In fact, it's going interactive. But there will be more personalization, and a more prominent ad unit too.
US cybersecurity company Zscaler reports Q3 revenue up 25% YoY to $850.5M, above $835.4M est., and forecasts Q4 revenue below est.; ZS drops 25%+
Zscaler (ZS.O) forecast fourth-quarter revenue below estimates on Tuesday, signaling intensifying competition in the cybersecurity market …
Sources: SpaceX successfully lobbied the Pentagon to pay more for use of Starlink on LUCAS kamikaze drones amid increasing tensions over Starlink's pricing
Biohub, a Mark Zuckerberg- and Priscilla Chan-funded institute, releases “a world model of protein biology” to researchers for prediction, design, and discovery
Biohub, the Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan-funded institute, on Wednesday released what it says amounts to “a world model of protein biology.”
Sources: ByteDance is discussing up to $70B of 2026 capex as it builds out data centers and other AI infrastructure, underwritten by its ~$50B profit in 2025
ByteDance Ltd., the developer of TikTok and a leading force in artificial intelligence, is planning to sharply increase …
DC-based Airis Labs, which uses AI to convert visual data to law enforcement intelligence, emerges from stealth with a $31M Series B, for $60M in total funding
Airis Labs, an AI video platform for defense, has come out of stealth with a $31 million Series B led by PSG Equity, co-founder and CEO Noam Friedman tells Axios Pro.
HP reports Q2 revenue up 9% YoY to $14.4B, vs. $14B est., Personal Systems revenue up 13% to $10.2B, and forecasts Q3 adjusted EPS above estimates
HP Inc. gave a profit forecast for the current quarter that topped analysts' estimates, signaling that the company is weathering a dramatic increase in memory chip prices.
The Dutch government blocks the acquisition of authentication IT supplier Solvinity by US-based Kyndryl, citing “a possible risk to the public interest”
Sources: Germany and Spain are leading opposition to the EU's plan to ban Chinese suppliers like Huawei from telecom networks as part of new cybersecurity rules
Germany and Spain are leading opposition to European Commission plans to ban Chinese technology suppliers from telecom networks …
Amazon MGM Studios announces the GenAI Creators' Fund, greenlights three AI animated series for Prime Video, and launches an AI production platform with AWS
Amazon MGM Studios is touting the power of AI to help create “cinematic” entertainment in a big new initiative …
Meta rolls out Plus plans for Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp globally, will test $7.99/mo. and $19.99/mo. Meta AI plans, a $49.99/mo. creator plan, and more
Meta is doubling down on its subscription offerings. On Wednesday, the social networking giant announced it's now rolling …
Polymarket is making it harder to use VPNs to access its service, blocking some IPs and suspicious accounts, and is asking some customers to identify themselves
In Russia, making bets on Polymarket isn't permitted by the popular online prediction market's rules.
OpenAI Foundation says it is committing an initial $250M for grants, partnerships, and direct work aimed at helping workers and economies navigate AI disruption
The non-profit that controls OpenAI will commit an initial $250 million for grants, partnerships and direct work aimed …
NYC-based Pace, whose AI agents automate back-office operations for insurance companies, raised a $46M series B led by Thrive and Sequoia at a $375M valuation
The startup says its AI agents can handle the dull work insurers have long shipped to offshore operators.
London-based Perceptic, which says its end-to-end AI platform for drug development is being used by top pharmaceuticals, raised a $12M seed led by Accel
US law enforcement documents: the DHS, FBI, and other agencies introduce a novel domestic threat category termed “anti-tech violent extremism” amid the AI boom
Amazon says it is making the “architecture, starter code, and learnings” from Alexa for Shopping available to third-party retailers, starting with Kate Spade
Amazon has been using homegrown artificial intelligence technology to help users compare products and buy or reorder items on their behalf.
China executes a man called Xu Yao for killing Yoozoo Games founder Lin Qi in 2020; Lin reportedly sidelined Xu, who helped land the 3 Body Problem Netflix deal
Q&A with Sundar Pichai about reshaping the information ecosystem with Search changes, putting AI agents in everything, when AI will replace him as CEO, and more
Opendoor co-Founder Eric Wu's NavigateAI, which is building an expert AI coach for construction workers, raised a $25M seed led by Elad Gil at a $225M valuation
After pioneering automated home buying, the serial real estate tech entrepreneur is shifting focus from buying physical assets to empowering the workers who build them.
Spain says it is blocking Polymarket and Kalshi as a precautionary measure while it probes possible gambling law violations over the next three to four months
OpenRouter raised $113M led by CapitalG, a source says at a $1.3B valuation, and now processes 25T tokens across 400+ models weekly, up from 5T six months ago
Sources: software-specialist PE firm Hg agrees to acquire Rightsline, whose software helps Disney, the BBC, WBD, and others manage IP licensing, for $500M
Acquisition of rights and royalties management company for $500mn comes after plunge in software stocks.
Sources and docs detail how China is modernizing its decade-old domestic surveillance network by investing in new generations of AI-enabled cameras and software
Local police forces are modernising the country's ageing infrastructure with more powerful tracking systems
Sources: Bond Capital is leading a new investment into AI startup Suno, which would value it at ~$5B, up from $2.45B last fall; Suno is expected to raise $250M+
Bond Capital is leading a new investment for AI music startup Suno, which would be valued at around $5 billion, Axios Pro has learned.
Tensormesh, whose inference platform uses KV caching to reduce costs, raised a $20M seed extension, bringing its total funding to $24.5M
Inference optimization startup Tensormesh raised a $20 million seed extension, co-founder and CEO Junchen Jiang tells Axios Pro.
Q&A with Claude Code creator and head Boris Cherny on how the title “software engineer” could disappear, why AI may create more jobs than it destroys, and more
Anthropic's Boris Cherny tells me major job loss due to automation really is coming — but job creation is, too.
OpenAI announces partnerships to combat election misinformation, offering cybersecurity products to state officials and backing legislation to curb deepfakes
OpenAI is announcing new partnerships to combat misinformation, offering its cybersecurity products to state officials …
Trajectory, founded by ex-DeepMind, Apple, OpenAI and Meta researchers to build continual learning models, raised a $15M seed at a $115M post-money valuation
Trajectory is betting the rapid iteration cycle that supercharged vibe-coding can help all kinds of companies build AI products that learn continuously.
SK Hynix tops $1T in market value after jumping 9% on Wednesday, becoming the third Asian company to hit the milestone; shares are up 1,000%+ in the past year
SK Hynix Inc. joined Micron Technology Inc. in surpassing the $1 trillion market capitalization milestone …