US tech giants have cut 128,000 jobs in the first half of 2026, with nearly half tied to AI restructuring, but experts are warning companies like Microsoft, Oracle, and Meta that replacing workers with AI carries serious risks, as firms like Ford are already rehiring laid-off engineers after discovering AI …
Walden Robotics, a humanoid robot startup spun out of a Toyota research lab, bursts onto the scene with a $1.1 billion valuation after raising $300 million in seed funding, already deploying robots on real factory floors as the humanoid robotics market races toward a projected $5 trillion by 2050.
AI chip startup SambaNova surges to an $11 billion valuation after raising $1 billion led by General Atlantic, with JPMorgan Chase deploying its systems and a U.S. IPO targeted for 2027 as it challenges Nvidia's dominance in the AI chip market.
Mistral AI expands into robotics with Robostral Navigate, a new model that lets robots navigate complex environments using only a single camera and language prompts, requiring no specialized hardware and trained entirely in simulation.
DeepSeek is racing to develop its own AI chips after spending a year recruiting engineers and meeting with hardware partners, aiming to break free from dependence on both Nvidia and Huawei as Chinese and American AI giants alike pursue custom silicon for greater control over their technology.
European AI startup UMA unveils a humanoid robot powered by Real-Time Learning architecture that watches and learns from human demonstrations, positioning Europe as a serious contender in the global robotics race against the US and China.
Samsung Electronics posts a jaw-dropping 19-fold surge in quarterly operating profit to $58 billion, yet shares plunge over 10% and trigger a market circuit-breaker in Seoul as sky-high investor expectations, fueled by a 150% stock rally tied to AI chip demand, go unmet.
Nvidia's next-gen Kyber NVL144 rack system is delayed to 2028 due to manufacturing failures with a critical circuit board, leaving the AI chip giant without a large-scale solution for its Rubin Ultra chips and handing rivals AMD and Google a rare opening to challenge its dominance.
Anthropic is in talks with Samsung to develop a custom AI chip, joining a growing industry push to reduce reliance on Nvidia as rival OpenAI also unveils its own custom processor built with Broadcom.
Ford rehires 350 veteran engineers after AI systems fail to meet vehicle manufacturing quality standards, with the company's VP admitting they 'mistakenly' believed AI alone could deliver high-quality results — a cautionary tale backed by new PwC and Gartner data showing companies that use AI to augment workers consistently outperform …