Pentagon adds Alibaba, Baidu, BYD, and Unitree to its Chinese military companies list
Pentagon adds Alibaba, Baidu, BYD, and Unitree to its Chinese military companies list

The Pentagon has added Alibaba, Baidu, BYD, and robotics company Unitree to a list of entities it says support the Chinese military, the Department of Defense announced on Monday. The updated 1260H list now names 188 companies that the Pentagon identif…

China just approved the world’s first commercial brain implant. The race with Neuralink is no longer theoretical.
China just approved the world’s first commercial brain implant. The race with Neuralink is no longer theoretical.

Controlling a machine with your mind used to be science fiction. Now it is a regulated medical product, at least in China. Earlier this year, China’s National Medical Products Administration approved NEO, a coin-sized brain-computer interface developed…

FCC gives Amazon Leo more time on satellite deployment but strips its spectrum priority
FCC gives Amazon Leo more time on satellite deployment but strips its spectrum priority

The Federal Communications Commission has freed Amazon from a requirement to deploy the first 1,616 satellites in its Amazon Leo broadband constellation by 30 July, issuing a conditional waiver instead of the two-year extension Amazon requested in Janu…

Britain’s Cosine rallies BT, HSBC, and BAE to build a “sovereign” AI model and cut its reliance on US tech
Britain’s Cosine rallies BT, HSBC, and BAE to build a “sovereign” AI model and cut its reliance on US tech

Britain’s banks, telecoms, and weapons-makers have a new shared anxiety: that the AI they increasingly run on is built, owned, and controlled in the United States. A startup barely three years old is betting they will pay to fix it. Cosine, a UK fronti…

A UK startup says it can cut data centre network power by 81% by replacing every electrical switch with light
A UK startup says it can cut data centre network power by 81% by replacing every electrical switch with light

For decades, the networks inside data centres have run on electrical switches. They are power-hungry, generate enormous heat, and are increasingly the bottleneck that limits how fast AI systems can process and exchange data. Oriole Networks, a UK start…

PhysicsX hits $2.4bn valuation as Temasek leads $300m round for the AI startup that cuts simulation times from days to seconds
PhysicsX hits $2.4bn valuation as Temasek leads $300m round for the AI startup that cuts simulation times from days to seconds

London-based PhysicsX has raised $300 million in a Series C round led by Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek, more than doubling its valuation to $2.4 billion, less than a year after its Series B priced the company at just under $1 billion. The r…

UK plans to buy AI chips from British firms to stop them leaving for the US
UK plans to buy AI chips from British firms to stop them leaving for the US

The UK government will offer to buy AI chips directly from British technology companies in a bid to keep them in the country. Technology Secretary Liz Kendall will outline plans for “strategic purchases” of semiconductor equipment from UK-based firms a…

Audi’s 1,001 PS Nuvolari is its fastest car ever, and it’s not electric
Audi’s 1,001 PS Nuvolari is its fastest car ever, and it’s not electric

Audi has revealed the Nuvolari, the fastest and most powerful production vehicle in its history. The hybrid supercar produces 1,001 PS (736 kW) from a 4.0-litre V8 biturbo paired with three axial flux electric motors. Only 499 will be built, starting a…

Swiss startup GR3N raises €15.5M to build the world’s first microwave-powered PET recycling plant
Swiss startup GR3N raises €15.5M to build the world’s first microwave-powered PET recycling plant

Swiss cleantech startup GR3N has raised €15.5 million in a Series B round to build the world’s first commercial-scale microwave-assisted PET recycling plant. The round was led by 360 Capital, with new investor VP Textile also participating. The proceed…

EU trade chief wants a new tool to break Europe’s dependence on Chinese chips and rare earths
EU trade chief wants a new tool to break Europe’s dependence on Chinese chips and rare earths

EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič has called for a new “diversification instrument“ to reduce Europe’s dependence on single suppliers of chips and rare earths. He made the proposal at the European Policy Center’s Brussels Economic Security Forum on …