In a groundbreaking move, Apple secures a $500 million deal with MP Materials, the sole US-based rare earth mining company, to procure rare earth magnets for iPhones and other products, reducing its dependence on China for these critical minerals.
Mistral unveils Voxtral, a groundbreaking open source AI audio model offering affordable speech transcription and understanding capabilities for businesses, available in two variants for production and local deployments.
Google and Microsoft report significant surges in greenhouse gas emissions, with increases of 48% and 29% respectively, driven by the energy-intensive demands of their expanding artificial intelligence operations and data center construction.
Surging energy demands from AI systems are straining power grids and fueling emissions, with data centers already consuming 2-4% of national electricity in major economies and AI potentially driving a 25-fold increase in the global tech sector's energy use by 2040.
AI's surging energy demands strain electricity grids, necessitating increased fossil fuel usage in the near term, but renewables and nuclear power emerge as pivotal solutions beyond 2030 to meet the escalating computational needs while mitigating environmental impacts.
AI startup Thinking Machines Lab, founded by former OpenAI executive Mira Murati, secures $2 billion at $12 billion valuation in funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, aiming to build safer, more reliable AI systems for broader applications than rivals.
Google pours $25 billion into data centers, AI infrastructure, and renewable energy across major U.S. electric grid PJM, spanning 13 states, signing deal for 3,000 megawatts of hydroelectric power from Brookfield Asset Management over next two years.
Nvidia and AMD restart AI chip sales to China as part of the recent US-China trade deal, with Nvidia receiving assurances from the US government and AMD expecting licenses for its chip exports.
Google's AI agents uncover real-world security flaws, thwarting cyber threats and accelerating incident response through new capabilities like Sec-Gemini for Timesketch and FACADE, as Google partners with industry and government for secure AI implementation.
Twelve elite US venture capital firms capture over half of all venture funding in early 2025, with Founders Fund raising a massive $4.6 billion while 44 first-time managers struggle to collectively raise just $1.8 billion amid record 15.3-month fundraising timelines.