tech giants

Amazon has blocked Meta's Muse AI agent from making purchases on its platform, according to a report by Mashable. The move prevents Meta's automated shopping assistant from completing transactions on Amazon. It highlights growing tension between major tech companies over access to e-commerce platforms as AI agents increasingly attempt to act on users' behalf in online shopping.

The Center for Data Innovation argues that Europe should strengthen its commitment to open-source artificial intelligence, positioning open models as a strategic advantage for the continent's tech sector. The think tank's stance feeds an ongoing debate in Europe over how to compete with US and Chinese AI giants while shaping regulation that supports rather than stifles home-grown innovation.

Tencent has arranged to lease around 100,000 chips from Oracle to boost its artificial intelligence capabilities, according to a Financial Times report carried by Reuters. The deal would give the Chinese tech giant access to computing power outside China's borders, highlighting how its biggest firms are working around Washington's export restrictions on advanced AI hardware to stay competitive in the AI race.

A new roundup names five major technology companies that failed to keep up in the mobile phone market, despite once dominating consumer tech. The piece revisits how these firms missed the smartphone shift that rivals like Apple and Samsung capitalised on. No specific companies are detailed in the available information.

Google has rolled out Gemini 4 Argon, which the company describes as its most advanced AI model to date. The release adds to the intensifying competition among major tech firms racing to ship ever more capable artificial intelligence systems. Details beyond Google's characterization of the model as its top-tier offering were not immediately available, and reaction from users and industry watchers is still forming.

The New York Times is asking whether there is a way out of the escalating artificial intelligence arms race, as companies and governments pour resources into ever more powerful systems. The debate centres on whether competition among tech giants and states can be slowed, regulated, or redirected before the risks outpace the safeguards.

President Trump and leading technology companies have reached a voluntary agreement on artificial intelligence safety. The accord commits participating firms to safety measures without binding regulation, but the specific commitments, the companies involved, and how compliance will be monitored have not been detailed in the available reporting.

Tencent has agreed to lease 100,000 AI chips from Oracle in a deal worth $7 billion over five years. The arrangement gives the Chinese tech giant access to large-scale computing power through Oracle's infrastructure, reflecting surging demand for AI capacity as companies worldwide race to secure chips amid export controls and supply constraints.

Huawei and Alibaba announced progress on their artificial intelligence hardware and software, highlighting new AI chips, large computing clusters, and AI models. The announcements underline China's push to build domestic AI capabilities amid US export restrictions on advanced semiconductors, positioning the two tech giants as leading domestic alternatives in the AI infrastructure race.

Tencent has leased roughly 100,000 chips from Oracle in a deal worth about $7 billion, the Financial Times reports. The arrangement would give the Chinese tech giant access to large-scale computing capacity through Oracle's data centres, apparently as a workaround to US restrictions on exporting advanced chips directly to China. The story is drawing attention given the sensitivity of US-China semiconductor controls.

Tencent is reportedly turning to Oracle to access AI chips from abroad, as US export restrictions limit the Chinese tech giant's ability to buy Nvidia processors directly. The move suggests Chinese companies are finding workarounds through cloud providers to secure the computing power needed for AI development, underscoring the growing tensions around semiconductor supply chains.

A top analyst says two semiconductor companies could become the next tech giants to reach a $2 trillion market value, a milestone currently held by only a handful of US technology firms. The comments come as chipmakers ride heavy investor demand tied to artificial intelligence, prompting debate over which companies can sustain their growth and justify trillion-dollar-scale valuations.

An expert argues that AI safeguards and regulations effectively build a protective moat around large US AI companies while holding back open-source models from advancing. The claim suggests compliance costs and restrictions favor established firms with resources, disadvantaging smaller developers and the open-source community. The comment adds to ongoing debate over whether AI regulation protects the public or entrenches incumbent tech giants.

Investors are weighing Broadcom against Qualcomm as the stronger technology stock pick heading into 2026. Yahoo Finance published a comparison of the two semiconductor giants, examining their growth prospects, valuations and exposure to artificial intelligence and wireless markets. With chip stocks central to tech portfolios, debate is running over which company offers the better long-term return.

A Wall Street Journal exclusive reports that major technology companies are facing questions over undisclosed deals involving AI data centers. The report suggests arrangements that were not publicly disclosed are now drawing scrutiny. Details of which companies are involved and the nature of the agreements remain limited to what the headline discloses.

Japanese game studio Grasshopper Manufacture, known for No More Heroes, has announced it is parting ways with parent company NetEase and returning to independent status. The studio said it continues to cherish the relationship the two companies built during their time together. The move ends a partnership that began when the Chinese tech giant acquired the developer, and fans are watching closely to see what projects the studio pursues on its own.

German media are asking whether the country's young startups could become its next big tech champions. The discussion highlights emerging companies and the question of whether Germany can produce globally competitive technology firms, a long-standing concern given the country's strong industrial base but relatively few new tech giants compared with the United States or China.

Following its stock market debut, SpaceX briefly rose above both Amazon and Microsoft in market capitalization, an extraordinary milestone for a company that began as a private rocket maker. Analysts and investors are now debating whether the company can sustain a valuation at that level, weighing its launch business, Starlink growth and broader space ambitions against concerns the early trading surge may not last.

Record spending on artificial intelligence is changing how investors pick stocks, pushing them toward 'cash cow' and 'quality' companies that can fund the AI buildout and benefit from it. CNBC reports that money managers are rethinking traditional strategies as capital expenditure by tech giants reaches unprecedented levels, shifting attention to firms with strong balance sheets and reliable cash generation.

Privacy advocates are arguing that technology should be built around people rather than controlled by a handful of billionaire-owned corporations. The argument, gaining traction in online tech circles, holds that it is possible to create human-centric, empowering platforms owned by users themselves, and that anything less is a substandard approach to digital rights.

China is reportedly considering allowing Alibaba and ByteDance to purchase Nvidia's new RTX PRO 5500 chips, despite ongoing restrictions on advanced AI technology between the US and China. The move would mark a rare opening for Chinese tech giants to access Nvidia hardware amid tight export controls. Observers are watching whether this signals a shift in how both governments handle AI chip trade.

Former Stripe employees are seeding a growing wave of startups across the financial technology field, prompting commentary that the digital payments processor has become a founders' factory. Observers note the company's alumni network is shaping the next generation of payments ventures, much as early employees of other tech giants went on to build influential companies of their own.

A French government minister has suggested that fines imposed on American technology companies could be used as a source of funding for European Union spending, describing the penalties as a kind of piggy bank for Brussels. The remarks highlight growing friction between the EU and US tech giants over regulation, taxation and who benefits from multi-billion-euro penalties.