December 15, 2024:No One Went Broke Taking Profits

Markets ended the week mixed. NASDAQ was up 0.3% after hitting a record high Friday morning. Alphabet, and Broadcom rose on news, Tesla hit a record high. Dow Jones fell 1.8%, S&P 500 lost 0.6%. 10-year Treasury yield rose 25 basis points in its biggest weekly gain since October 2023 to 4.4%. ServiceTitan, ended its first day of trading as a public company with a 42% lift in its stock price to US$101, compared with its IPO price of US$71. The holding company of Coincheck debuted on the Nasdaq, making it the first Japanese cryptocurrency exchange to be listed in the US. Databricks nears a record US$9.5 billion VC raise, and is eyeing an extra US$4.5 billion debt deal — a deal that could become one of the largest venture capital funding rounds in history. Shares of Adobe and Oracle fell after their quarterly reports. Google announced new Quantum chip, leading to the stock breaking out. The Company also announced the second generation of its Gemini AI models, and unveiled a new operating system for augmented and virtual reality devices, along with a new headset. Microsoft shareholders rejected a proposal for the tech giant to possibly invest in bitcoin. D-Wave completed a US$175 million stock sale. Ackroo signed a definitive arrangement agreement to be acquired at $0.15/sh, a 25% premium over the last trading day’s closing price. Sophic Client American Aires provides record holiday shopping season sales performance, including 116% YoY order volume growth, 62% Gross Margin. In Q4 through Dec 3rd, the Company produced record order volumes of $6.72 million (+116% y/y). Gross Margin improved to 62% (from 60%). The Company also signed hockey star Max Domi teams as a Brand Partner as part of its expanding partner ecosystem. Sophic Client Plurilock secured a US$1.1 million order from a Fortune 50 U.S. conglomerate. Sophic Client Cybeats won a contract with another top 10 global medical technology provider.

D-Wave completes US$175 million stock sale to fuel quantum computing development.

D-Wave Quantum has raised US$175 million ($246 million) in gross proceeds through a recent stock sale. The Canadian-founded, New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)-listed quantum computing company plans to use this capital to fuel its technical development efforts and business operations. Following this financing, D-Wave expects to close out 2024 with at least US$160 million in cash. D-Wave generated US$1.9 million in revenue and a net loss of US$23 million in Q3. Over the past two years, D-Wave has faced multiple non-compliance warnings for failing to meet the NYSE’s continued listing standard for minimum stock price, as its shares repeatedly fell below US$1 apiece for more than 30 consecutive days. At time of publication, D-Wave’s shares are trading at US$3.91 apiece—down nearly 64 percent since the company went public in mid-2022, but up 320 percent over the past year. https://bit.ly/3ZBfMFf

Ackroo (AKR-TSXV) announces sale to Paystone.

Paystone to acquire Ackroo in an all-cash transaction valued at $21 million. Ackroo Inc., a gift card, loyalty marketing, payments and point-of-sale technology consolidator and services provider, signed a definitive arrangement agreement (the “Arrangement Agreement”), dated December 12th, 2024, with Paystone Inc. (“Paystone”). Pursuant to the Arrangement Agreement, Paystone will acquire (the “Transaction”) all of the issued and outstanding shares of Ackroo (the “Ackroo Shares”) at a price of $0.15 per Ackroo Share, and will assume all assets and liabilities of the Company, including the Company’s existing debt to BDC Capital Inc. (“BDC”). The purchase represents approximately a 25% premium over the last trading day’s closing price and approximately a 36% premium over the 90 days volume weighted average price. https://bit.ly/4gupYq3

Sophic Client American Aires (WIFI-CSE, AAIRF-OTCQB) provides record holiday shopping season sales performance, including 116% YoY order volume growth, 62% Gross Margin.

American Aires Inc., provides an update on the Company’s 2024 holiday shopping season performance. The time period from October 1 through December 3 represented a disproportionate percentage of the Company’s yearly order volumes in 2022 and 2023 (27.5% and 29.9%, respectively). During that same period in 2024, the Company produced record order volumes of $6.72 million, which represents YoY order volume growth of 116%. Gross Margin percentage improved for the period to 62% (up from 60% in 2023) due to measures to reduce overall product costs, and favourable product mix. This period of time comprises 64 shopping days and includes the important Black Friday, Cyber Monday weekend. Management intends for this update to provide investors with the Company’s most timely fundamental metrics. As of December 9, 2024, the Company’s cash balance totaled $2,368,418. Our next significant performance reporting period will be for the full Q4 quarter and our fiscal year ending on December 31, 2024. Management expects to file Q4 results in April 2025. Aires will therefore endeavour to announce interim unaudited Q4 and full year results in as timely a manner as possible to provide investors with the Company’s most up-to-date performance metrics, particularly due to the significance of the annual holiday seasonal sales cycle in Q4. https://t.co/029dkKoxJc

Sophic Client Plurilock (PLUR-TSXV, PLCKF-OTCQB) secures US$1.1 million order from a Fortune 50 U.S. conglomerate.

Plurilock Security Inc., received a three-year sales order for a total of US$1.1 million from a leading U.S. Fortune 50 conglomerate (the “Customer”) dated November 27, 2024. The contract was secured through the Company’s subsidiary, Aurora Systems Consulting, with the revenue being recognized according to a schedule over 3 years. The agreement equips the Customer with an IT performance management solution offering centralized visibility into user experience, application, network, infrastructure, and server performance through robust data source tools. In connection with this US$1.1 million sales order, Plurilock anticipates that both the expenses associated with fulfillment of this order and the gross margin will be consistent with the Company’s historic Solutions Division hardware and system sales business as previously reported in the Company’s most recent MD&A. Plurilock expects delivery and fulfillment to begin during Q4 2024. https://t.co/EkQOxMNl7a

Sophic Client Cybeats Technologies Corp. (CYBT-CSE,CYBCF-OTCQB) wins contract with another top 10 global medical technology provider.

Cybeats Technologies Corp., signed a master services agreement (“MSA”) with a Top 10 global medical device manufacturer (“MDM”) for SBOM Studio. This contract marks Cybeats’ fourth client from the global top 10 in the MDM vertical. Although the client wishes to remain anonymous for security reasons, they are a significant player that is among the largest 100 companies in the U.S. by market capitalization. Management believes there is an opportunity to expand this initial contract over time as the product becomes part of their SBOM (Software Bill of Materials) management processes. https://t.co/skLdRidAKd

Sophic Client American Aires (WIFI-CSE, AAIRF-OTCQB) hockey star Max Domi teams up with Aires Tech as the newest #AiresAthletes Ambassador and Brand Partner.

American Aires has advanced its mission to neutralize negative effects of EMF radiation by partnering with Toronto Maple Leafs forward Max Domi. Domi – renowned for his passion and dedication for wellness – will team with the tech pioneer to demonstrate how he uses Aires products to protect against wireless technology radiation and enhance his personal performance and wellness. This partnership builds on Aires’ momentum, deepening the connection between its EMF technology and sports, by aligning its brand with top performers and leagues. https://t.co/P8BgyKUSO3

Sophic Client Plurilock (PLUR-TSXV, PLCKF-OTCQB) launches new cybersecurity podcast: “Code and Country”.

Plurilock Security Inc., a global cybersecurity services and solutions provider, launched its new podcast today, Code and Country. The series examines the intersection of technology, security, and the defense of democratic institutions, featuring insights from top global experts. Subscribe to Code and Country to stay informed about key security conversations shaping the future. https://t.co/yCVKPj4xIm

Flare raises $42.5 million Series B to go global with cyber threat detection tech.

Montréal-based Flare has raised US$30 million ($42.5 million) in Series B financing to scale its cybersecurity threat monitoring software in North American and European markets. The all-primary, all-equity round was led by San Francisco firm Base10 Partners, with Québec-based backing from Fonds de solidarité FTQ and returning investors Inovia Capita and White Star Capital, along with what the company called some “minor” undisclosed investors. Flare generates reports of potential threat activity on the dark web for security teams to monitor. https://tinyurl.com/24xn6877

Spexi raises $16.2 million Series A for blockchain-based drone imagery network.

Vancouver-based Spexi Geospatial has secured a $16.2-million (US$11.5 million) Series A round as it develops new applications for its image-capturing drone pilot network. The all-equity round closed this week and was led by New York City-based return investor Blockchange Ventures, a venture capital firm that focuses on blockchain technologies. Spexi CEO Bill Lakeland told BetaKit in an email statement that other round participants included Moonshots Capital, Protocol Labs, and web3 entrepreneur Tom Trowbridge. The startup previously raised a $7.8 million (US$5.5 million) seed round in 2022, led by Blockchange with participation from Protocol Labs, InDro Robotics, and Dapper Labs.
https://tinyurl.com/3w7mauv5

ServiceTitan enjoys big first day pop.

ServiceTitan, which sells software to plumbers, roofers and other tradespeople, ended its first day of trading as a public company with a 42% lift in its stock price to US$101, compared with its IPO price of US$71. The robust opening day reflected both a recent rally in small software firms and an overall bullish stock market lately. The software firm priced its offering on Wednesday night, after raising the pricing range from an initial US$55 a share. The successful IPO followed a rollercoaster ride for ServiceTitan over the past three years. It was one of a crop of firms that raised money at generous valuations during the boomtime 2021 era and then struggled to raise money the following year as venture funding dried up amid rising interest rates. ServiceTitan is using about half the money raised from the offering to pay back costly preferred stock it had issued in 2022. https://tinyurl.com/mr2hwxn7

Japanese crypto exchange Coincheck goes public in U.S.

The holding company of Coincheck debuted on the Nasdaq Global Market on Wednesday, making it the first Japanese cryptocurrency exchange to be listed in the United States. Coincheck Group closed at US$13.35 for a market capitalization of about $1.7 billion. It went public in the U.S. through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company. Coincheck was among Japan’s leading crypto exchanges, with around 2.15 million accounts, as of the end of last month. https://tinyurl.com/ycc4hdek

Databricks nears record US$9.5 billion VC raise, eyes extra US$4.5 billion debt.

Software firm Databricks is nearing a deal that could become one of the largest venture capital funding rounds in history, as investors have shown a strong appetite to own a piece of the fast-growing data analytics firm, three sources said on Friday. The round, almost twice oversubscribed, could top US$9.5 billion when it is finalized next week, exceeding the company’s original goal and higher than what was discussed earlier, the sources told Reuters, cautioning the final number could still go up. The San Francisco-based company, which helps enterprises process and analyze their data, is expected to fetch a valuation of over US$60 billion at a price of US$92.50 per share. That price is considered a bargain in the eyes of some investors, given that the company’s projected revenue for the next fiscal year is US$3.8 billion, said the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss private matters. Thrive Capital and returning investors Andreessen Horowitz, Insight Partners, as well as Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC are expected to lead this mega round, according to one of the sources. In conjunction with the equity raise, the company is also in talks to raise US$4.5 billion in debt financing, including a US$2.5 billion term loan from direct lenders, one of the sources added. Bloomberg first reported on the private debt raise. Databricks, founded in 2013, is a data analytics and artificial-intelligence company. It provides a cloud-based platform to help enterprises build and govern data and AI applications. This high-profile round would mark a jump in valuation for the 11-year-old company that has yet to make a profit. The firm was valued at US$43 billion in September. The move would also be a major win for early employees, as the company plans to dedicate the funding to buy back expiring restricted stock units from early employees and cover the associated tax costs. As part of the deal, the company plans to issue preferred shares to investors participating in the round, the sources said. Databricks has benefited from the AI boom by selling more tools that help clients build and deploy AI applications using the growing volume of data they already store with the company. It competes with Snowflake, which commands a market cap of about US$56 billion with expected revenue of US$3.4 billion in the fiscal year ending in January 2025. The move to raise outsized funding specifically to address the expiring employee options issue, instead of adding to its balance sheet, mirrors a move by payment company Stripe, which raised US$6.5 billion last year at a valuation of US$50 billion. https://tinyurl.com/bzw22nkd

OpenAI data center provider Crusoe raises US$600 million.

Crusoe, which develops data centers for artificial intelligence developers such as OpenAI, raised US$600 million in a deal led by Founders Fund, confirming The Information’s prior reporting about the fund’s involvement. Nvidia, Fidelity, Long Journey Ventures and Valor Equity also participated in the round, which valued the company at US$2.8 billion, the company said on Thursday. Nvidia wasn’t previously an investor, but it has backed other companies developing data centers that also house its AI chips, including CoreWeave. Fidelity also is a new investor and has bought CoreWeave shares. Crusoe develops AI data centers and also rents out Nvidia graphics processing units through a cloud service, which it said was generally available starting today. The company is developing a large data center campus in Abilene, Texas, which The Information has reported will be used by Oracle and OpenAI. In October, Crusoe raised US$3.4 billion in debt to finance that project, which will feature a large cluster of Nvidia’s next flagship chips, Blackwell. https://tinyurl.com/w2s8he3w

After Nvidia’s boom, what’s next for AI-related stocks?

Whisper it softly, but is some of the investor fervour around Nvidia cooling just a little? The chipmaker has been a phenomenon, riding the surging demand for its artificial intelligence-empowering chips. The stock has jumped 180 per cent this year, fuelling about a fifth of the S&P 500’s gains in the process. But trading volume in Nvidia has slowed in recent months with the average number of shares changing hands down 40 per cent from the first half of the year. And over the past six months, its shares are up just 3 per cent compared with more than 11 per cent for the S&P 500. In the last month, Nvidia shares have actually fallen about 9 per cent. The retreat may simply be year-end profit-taking but it comes as investors consider how the developments in AI will play out in 2025 — probably one of the biggest new year calls they have to make given how important the technology is in driving returns. So far, the companies that have done best in stock market terms are those such as Nvidia, which play a role akin to the sellers of shovels to speculators in a gold rush, facilitating the boom. Investors have also already backed energy utilities, with nuclear providers Vistra and Constellation Energy both in the top 10 S&P 500 performers this year. Infrastructure in an AI sense could also include groups such as cloud providers, data-centre owners and security software companies — a sector with Palantir, the only S&P 500 stock to have gained more than Vistra and Nvidia, and the only one to have quadrupled in value. However, increasingly investors will be looking to pick out which companies actually benefit from the use of AI. David Kostin, Goldman Sachs’ chief US equity strategist, outlined this year what he believes will be four phases of investor focus on AI — Nvidia, then AI infrastructure, AI-enabled revenues and AI productivity gains. Now, he says, we are about to move on to the third phase. “Our thesis is in calendar 2025, we’re going to see a transition from the beneficiaries . . . of the infrastructure spending to the AI spending,” Kostin adds. Potential winners in this phase include software and IT services companies that can generate revenue from their AI-enabled products. Companies highlighted by Kostin’s team recently include Datadog, MongoDB and Snowflake, which help companies manage cloud-based data and infrastructure. Microsoft also made its list. https://archive.ph/Dar02

Omnicom to buy Interpublic for US$12.5 billion in stock.

Omnicom is acquiring Interpublic Group for stock currently valued at around US$12.4 billion, the companies announced today. The deal, the most significant merger in the ad agency sector in more than a decade, suggests the ad industry feels the need for greater scale so it can better compete with big tech giants that dominate the ad industry. Omnicom and IPG are two of the big six ad-holding companies which own the largest pure-play advertising agencies in the world. The companies, which represent clients like Amazon, Johnson & Johnson and Apple, control a significant portion of the more than US$1 trillion that will go toward advertising this year globally, WPP’s GroupM forecast last week. Advertising agencies’ influence has been challenged by the growing power of tech companies. Google and Meta not only command large advertising budgets, but help brands complete tasks that once were considered the remit of agencies, like testing the right creative for a campaign. Generative and predictive artificial intelligence offered by tech firms has accelerated this dynamic. John Wren, Omnicom’s CEO, said in a press release that the combined companies can “harness the significant opportunities created by new technologies.” Omnicom shareholders will own 60.6% of the combined company, while Interpublic shareholders will own 39.4% of the new entity. The companies’ combined 2023 revenues were US$25.6 billion. https://tinyurl.com/2b6b5h9z

Broadcom shares boom on explosive AI chip growth projection.

Broadcom CEO Hock Tan said Thursday the company’s artificial intelligence chip and networking business, which includes designing chips for companies including Google, OpenAI and Apple, could generate tens of billions of dollars in revenue in the fiscal year that ends in November 2027. That means that conservatively, Broadcom leaders believe revenue from that part of its business will rise at least several times from the US$12.2 billion it generated in the fiscal year that ended Nov. 3 of this year. For comparison, Nvidia generated US$80 billion from data center chip sales in the three quarters that ended Oct. 27 this year. Google and other companies that develop their own AI server chips, including Amazon and Microsoft, have placed giant orders for Nvidia’s next-generation Blackwell chips in addition to continuing to invest in developing their own alternatives. Three of Broadcom’s customers plan to launch clusters of more than 1 million chips each by fiscal 2027, Hock said, driving the US$60 billion to US$90 billion in what he called a “serviceable addressable market.” He added that revenue growth from the AI chip business will be lumpy in the coming quarters as Broadcom tries to capture as much of that market as possible. The upbeat projection helped push up shares of the company more than 11% in after hours trading. Before the report, Broadcom shares had risen 66% so far this year, giving the company a market capitalization of US$843 billion. The company said its fiscal year revenue grew 11%, excluding its acquisition of VMWare. The company also said it would increase its quarterly dividend 11% in the first quarter of its fiscal 2025 compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024. https://tinyurl.com/yc6c3fvy

Adobe drops after tepid outlook stokes AI disruption fears.

Shares of Adobe Inc. fell after the firm gave a disappointing annual sales outlook, underscoring anxieties that the creative software company may lose business to emerging artificial intelligence-based startups. Adobe, known for its software for creative professionals, has been adding generative AI features to its applications, such as embedding its proprietary model, Firefly, into products like Photoshop. The company unveiled an AI tool to create videos during its annual user conference in October, which has been integrated into editing app Premiere and is slowly rolling out to the wider public. The shares fell as much as 12% to US$482.20 after markets opened in New York on Thursday, their worst intraday loss in nine months. The stock has dropped more than 18% this year, lagging behind software peers and industry benchmarks. Investors have voiced recurring anxieties that AI-based creative tools from firms like OpenAI or Runway AI could take market share from Adobe. https://archive.ph/Y1sBs

Oracle shares slump despite new Meta AI contract.

Enterprise software giant Oracle increased revenue 9% in the December quarter, the high end of the guidance executives had outlined on its previous-quarter earnings call. Revenue from Oracle’s cloud computing unit, which includes the service that helps customers train and run AI models, rose 24% to US$5.9 billion. Still, shares in Oracle dropped 7%. During the December quarter, remaining performance obligations, a metric that represents revenue that has been contracted but not yet recognized, grew by 50% to US$97 billion, a slowdown from the 53% growth rate it posted in the previous quarter. Catz told investors on the company’s earnings call on Monday afternoon that a newly-announced deal the company signed with Meta Platforms that will involve the social media company using Oracle’s cloud unit to develop artificial intelligence agents was not represented in this quarter’s RPO, adding that she expects the company’s RPO balance to “climb again” in the upcoming fiscal quarter. https://tinyurl.com/4v3ubwvd

Stitch Fix shares surge after online styling site boosts outlook.

Stitch Fix shares surged more than 47% on Wednesday, after the online styling service reported net revenue for the quarter ended in November of US$318.8 million, a 12.6% drop from the year ago period but a smaller decline than the company had projected. The company’s revenue has been shrinking since mid-2022, and in response, Stitch Fix has been cutting costs to try to turn profitable. The company also boosted its revenue outlook for its current fiscal year, which began in August, to between US$1.14 billion and US$1.18 billion, a decrease between 12% and 15% from the prior year. Stitch Fix had previously projected that revenue would decline between 13% and 17% in the current fiscal year. Stitch Fix’s number of active clients continued to decrease, but the company has boosted its average revenue per customer and its gross margins by improving its inventory planning and adding a wider variety of styles. CEO Matt Baer told analysts on Tuesday that Stitch Fix planned to return to revenue growth by the end of fiscal 2026. https://tinyurl.com/3jv4z3fp

Riot Platforms stock jumps 10% after activist firm Starboard takes a stake in the bitcoin miner.

Riot Platforms stock jumped on Thursday on news that Starboard Value, the activist investor that took a stake in Pfizer earlier this year, has amassed a significant position in the bitcoin miner. Riot shares rallied almost 11% to trade around US$13.02 each as of 11:43 a.m. ET. The move represents a big single-day gain for the company, which has seen its stock slump this year, even as bitcoin has rallied over 130% to record highs. Even with Thursday’s gain, Riot shares are down 16% year-to-date. The Wall Street Journal reported that Starboard is in discussions with Riot’s management and is proposing big changes for the company, including turning some of its bitcoin-mining facilities into data centers for companies with big need for data centers, such as those developing artificial intelligence technologies. The Journal added that the activist investor would push Riot toward a similar path taken by mining firm Core Scientific, which has been supplying the infrastructure resources for CoreWeave, an AI startup backed by Nvidia. Shares of Core Scientific have soared almost 370% this year. With their sophisticated and powerful tools aimed at solving the complex computational problems required to mine bitcoin, crypto mining companies are well-placed to pivot to AI https://tinyurl.com/2xa7att9

Google’s biggest bet is AI for search, investment chief says.

Alphabet, the Google parent that has pioneered self-driving cars and quantum computing, is making its biggest bet much closer to home: online search. Applying artificial intelligence to the search business that made Google a household name remains the largest gambit for the company, Ruth Porat, Alphabet’s president and chief investment officer, said at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York on Tuesday. “We’re meeting people where they want to be next,” said Porat, in an interview with Reuters Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni. Alphabet, which makes much of its over US$300 billion in annual revenue from search-related advertising, has injected AI-generated overviews to queries with no obvious answer, in one example of its efforts. The move followed competition from ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and has required Google to navigate tricky terrain, in which AI sometimes makes up information in what are called “hallucinations.” Search will keep evolving, said Porat, who previously was Google and Alphabet’s longest-serving chief financial officer. Google Cloud is another key investment, she said. She cited its pioneering of “AlphaFold,” an AI system that predicts the folds of proteins that the company is applying toward drug discovery through its Isomorphic Labs division. She said AI can secure eyesight for people at risk of losing it and free up medical professionals from their screens so they can focus on care. “It can restore humanity into the doctor-patient relationship,” she said, citing her own doctor’s hopes. Asked if the cost of Alphabet’s investments in AI would follow sky-high industry trends, Porat said the technology represented a “generational opportunity.” The company is on track to spend US$50 billion on chips, data centers and other capital expenses in 2024, it has told analysts. But Alphabet would ground its bets in results. “We need to generate a return,” she said. https://tinyurl.com/4pavnwxe

Amazon is officially in the online car sales business.

Amazon expanded Tuesday into online car sales with the launch of Amazon Autos, an e-commerce business that lets customers find, order, and buy new cars, trucks, and SUVs from dealerships. Amazon is kicking off the new endeavor with Hyundai in 48 U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. The launch comes a little more than a year since the e-commerce giant announced plans to start selling vehicles on its website in the second half of 2024. Amazon said it will add more cities and additional auto manufacturers in 2025. Amazon Autos will function, in many ways, like the rest of the broader Amazon e-commerce ecosystem. Shoppers will be able to search for available vehicles from participating dealers by model, trim, color, and features. Notably, customers will also be able to secure financing and e-sign paperwork via the Amazon Autos site. Once the payment is finalized, customers can schedule when to pick up their vehicle from that dealership. When vehicles go on sale at Amazon, the local dealer (for now just Hyundai dealers) will be the seller of record. Amazon Autos will even handle trade ins. The online car sales market is crowded. However, most of companies in this business — a list that includes AutoTrader, Carvana, and Carmax — sell used vehicles. Customers browsing Amazon Autos will only be able to buy new cars. The company said it plans to add leasing and expanded financing options next year. Amazon has the reach that automakers like Hyundai may find appealing. Consumers may also be won over by Amazon Autos’ promise to provide transparent pricing from local dealers, eliminating the need for negotiation. In other words, no haggling. The price customers see at check-out is the price they pay, inclusive of all taxes and fees, Amazon said. https://tinyurl.com/29cf583t

Google announces new Quantum chip.

Google on Monday unveiled a new quantum computing chip that it says can overcome a common challenge hindering the technology. Google said a recent breakthrough, which it published in the journal Nature, involved making quantum bits, or qubits, less prone to errors. When more of them are added to a computing system, the performance of the system doesn’t worsen, the company said. Google said it performed a study that showed that its processor, Willow, could produce “below threshold” quantum calculations, meaning its accuracy increased as the system scaled. Today, all computation—for storing photos, steaming or even processing artificial models—is based on small pieces of data known as bits, which can be expressed in ones or zeros. Many companies, including IBM, Microsoft and Amazon, are trying to build a more powerful computing system based on qubits. The problem is that unlike bits, qubits are unstable and hard to control. https://tinyurl.com/39ax7n8x

Google announces second generation of Gemini AI models.

Google announced the second generation of its Gemini conversational AI on Wednesday, making a new, experimental version of Flash, its smaller and cheaper AI, available to developers. A generally available version of the model, which will be able to process and output text, images and audio, will come in January, the company said. Google also announced updates to Project Astra, its AI assistant for phones. The updates allow the assistant to understand multiple languages and access Google Search and Maps when responding to user questions. The company separately announced Project Mariner, a computer-using agent that can take actions on users’ browsers, and an AI coding assistant called Jules. The Information first reported in October on Google’s computer-using agent and the company’s plan to announce the agent and Gemini 2.0 in December. The company additionally announced “Deep Research,” an AI assistant available through Gemini Advanced that can conduct deeper research for users by browsing the web and compiling relevant information and links in a Google Doc. Google also said that its sixth generation AI chip, which was first announced in May, would now be generally available. https://tinyurl.com/2p9r3nyd

Grok chatbot available to all X users.

Elon Musk’s micro-blogging site X will allow all of its users to use Grok, the AI chatbot developed by Musk’s xAI. Free users now get 10 questions every 2 hours, but users can pay for a Premium subscription for more questions. With the change, xAI follows rival AI companies OpenAI and Anthropic, which offer limited features to free users. Free users have access to xAI’s latest model Grok-2, which drew attention when it was released in August because it generates images that would be too inappropriate for other chatbots. Users can also activate “fun mode,” which causes the chatbot to produce humorous answers. Last month, X began offering a free version of Grok in some locations, including New Zealand, TechCrunch reported. https://tinyurl.com/4smf96mn

Apple launches its ChatGPT integration with Siri.

Apple released updates for its iPhone, iPad and Mac software on Wednesday that include a long-awaited ChatGPT integration with Siri. The ChatGPT integration triggers when users ask Siri complicated questions. When Siri is asked a question that Apple’s software identities as better suited for ChatGPT, it asks the user permission to access the OpenAI service. Apple says that it has built in privacy protections into the feature, and that OpenAI won’t store requests. The integration uses OpenAI’s GPT-4o model. Apple users don’t need an OpenAI account to make use of the ChatGPT integration, but users can pay for upgraded versions of ChatGPT through Apple. Users can also access ChatGPT through some text menus. The iOS 18.2 release is a critical milestone for Apple, which is relying on Apple Intelligence to lead the iPhone 16 lineup’s marketing campaign. Apple Intelligence is the company’s suite of artificial intelligence features. Apple first announced the ChatGPT integration back in June. Apple released the first part of Apple Intelligence in October. Those features included writing tools that can proofread or rewrite text, a new design for Siri that makes the whole phone screen glow and notification summaries. https://tinyurl.com/yc28stvn

GM stops development of Cruise robotaxis.

General Motors said it would halt development of Cruise robotaxis amid increased competition and following some well-publicized missteps. GM said it would merge the Cruise technical team into a broader corporate effort to advance autonomous and assisted driving. The company said it would build on Super Cruise, its driver-assistance feature now on 20 models. GM said it would no longer pursue robotaxis “given the considerable time and resources that would be needed to scale the business, along with an increasingly competitive robotaxi market.” Alphabet’s Waymo is expanding into more cities and Tesla has said it plans to start a robotaxi business in 2026, among other competitors. GM suspended the robotaxi service nationwide last year after California revoked its license to carry passengers and charge fares. The moves followed an incident in which one of its cars dragged and injured a pedestrian in San Francisco. https://tinyurl.com/3afvhj53

Google announces Android XR operating system, headset with Samsung.

Google has unveiled a new operating system for augmented and virtual reality devices, along with a new headset it has developed with Samsung, as it accelerates its efforts to get into the AR and VR market. Google’s strategy with XR, as the collective technologies are known, is to focus on creating a software platform that powers such devices, while leaving it to partner companies to build the hardware components. Google hopes Android XR will give it an edge against rival Meta Platforms, which has also developed an XR operating system. Both companies want to create the dominant “open” system for XR, which would sit alongside Apple’s closed system—a dynamic similar to smartphones. The companies have also both been searching for partners to adopt their systems. In late 2023, Google pitched Meta on using Android XR, but Meta executives rebuffed the proposal. The first device to use Android XR will be the Samsung headset, which is slated for release next year. https://tinyurl.com/4a76ywuj

YouTube TV hikes prices by US$10 per month.

YouTube TV is hiking its prices up by US$10 per month, demonstrating that even for customers of newer, streaming-based cable TV-like services, paying for cable remains an expensive option. YouTube said the price of the base plan for YouTube TV will go up to US$82.99 per month, effective immediately for new subscribers (with the changes going into effect for most existing subscribers next month). It attributed the price increase to “the rising cost of content.” Like traditional cable TV services from Comcast and Charter, YouTube TV pays owners of TV channels a fee to carry their channels—those costs continue to go up, which are then passed onto customers. The current price hike comes after YouTube TV’s cost went from US$64.99 to US$72.99 in March 2023. Six years ago, YouTube TV cost $35 per month, though it had fewer channels back then. https://tinyurl.com/2s483bty

China probes Nvidia for potential anti-monopoly violations.

Chinese regulators said on Monday that it had opened an investigation into Nvidia for potential violations of anti-monopoly laws concerning an acquisition completed more than four years ago. The State Administration for Market Regulation, which oversees antitrust and other issues, alleged that Nvidia had breached the conditions laid out for acquiring Mellanox Technologies, without elaborating. The U.S. chip designer bought Mellanox, an Israeli company that develops computer networking technology, for US$7 billion in April 2020. Mellanox’s technology has been crucial for helping Nvidia build big clusters of graphic processing units, which has become one of the ways that Nvidia can maintain its lead in the AI chip sector. The deal was approved by Chinese antitrust authorities in 2020 on a series of conditions, including not bundling any Mellanox equipment when selling Nvidia GPUs in China, not discriminating against Chinese customers, and ensuring both companies’ products interoperable with third-party products. Nvidia didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The company has been prohibited from selling most of its cutting-edge GPUs to China due to U.S. export restrictions. https://tinyurl.com/ur3ek5jw

TikTok launches E-Commerce in Spain, Ireland.

TikTok’s e-commerce platform, TikTok Shop, became available in Spain and Ireland as the video app tries to expand its business in Europe. The move in Europe comes at a time when TikTok is facing a crisis in the U.S. Last week, a court ruling upheld a U.S. law that will force a ban of the app on Jan. 19 if it doesn’t sever ties with its Chinese parent company ByteDance. TikTok this week asked for a temporary injunction to suspend the January ban as it appeals the case to the Supreme Court. Given the growing possibility that TikTok will be forced to shut down in the U.S., other regions such as Europe could become more important for TikTok. While TikTok Shop has been available in the U.K. for a few years, the app’s plans to expand the e-commerce business into other European markets have faced delays. Other than Spain and Ireland, TikTok Shop has also been looking into Germany, France and Italy as it plots further expansion in the continent, according to employees. https://tinyurl.com/zc7ycswj

Microsoft shareholders reject a proposal for the tech giant to possibly invest in bitcoin.

A bid for Microsoft to consider investing in bitcoin was struck down by investors during Tuesday’s annual shareholder meeting. Microsoft shareholders voted against a ballot proposal that was submitted by the National Center for Public Policy Research. The think tank called for the tech company to evaluate the benefits of adding bitcoin to its corporate balance sheet, arguing that the token is an “excellent” inflation hedge. https://tinyurl.com/3axrnkau

Circle, Binance enter partnership to push for USDC adoption.

Stablecoin issuer Circle and crypto exchange Binance announced a partnership on Wednesday to expand adoption of Circle’s USDC stablecoin, by making it more “extensively available” across Binance’s trading products and other services. The announcement is notable given the previously frosty relationship between the two firms. In 2022, Binance decided to automatically convert users’ USDC on its platform into Binance’s BUSD stablecoins, hurting Circle’s market share. But in 2023, New York regulators ordered a winddown of Binance’s BUSD. The new partnership could help Circle catch up with Tether, which is the world’s biggest stablecoin and commonly used on Binance. Binance will also hold Circle’s USDC, which is backed by cash and government debt and designed to maintain a peg to the U.S. dollar, for its own corporate treasury. Circle declined to disclose terms of the partnership with Binance, including whether there’s a revenue-sharing agreement. Circle currently shares a portion of the interest income generated by stablecoin reserve assets with Coinbase, its main distribution partner. https://tinyurl.com/56suwuyj

Walmart’s fintech races to US$2.5 billion value in Omen for banks.

Walmart Inc. is pouring more firepower into its fledgling financial venture, scoring a US$2.5 billion valuation for the startup and signaling its ambition to wade deeper into financial services. The world’s largest retailer is leading a funding round of more than US$300 million alongside investment firm Ribbit Capital, according to people with knowledge of the matter. That marks a fresh valuation for the firm called One, majority-owned by the retail giant, which has been offering products targeting Walmart’s legions of customers and employees to gain a bigger foothold in financial services. https://bit.ly/41xhw57

Micron gets US$6.2 billion chips award to spur plant construction.

The Biden administration has reached a final agreement to give Micron Corp. nearly US$6.2 billion in subsidies from a program designed to boost American semiconductor manufacturing, allowing funds to start flowing to factories in Idaho and New York. The award from the 2022 Chips and Science Act announced Tuesday by the Commerce Department roughly matches a preliminary deal announced in April, and follows months of due diligence and additional talks. Signing a contract protects that money from changes that could come under President-elect Donald Trump, lending confidence to company executives about the US expansion and helping President Joe Biden’s team forge its industrial policy legacy. In addition to Micron, the Commerce Department has cemented deals with Intel Corp., Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., and GlobalFoundries Inc., together representing more than half of direct funding from the Chips Act. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has said she wants to lock “almost all” of the money down before leaving office in January. Micron is the sole American maker of so-called high bandwidth memory chips, which handle data storage and are essential to the artificial intelligence boom. The company’s US expansion includes one new factory in its home state of Idaho and at least two plants at a greenfield site in New York, which together comprise a roughly US$75 billion investment through the end of the decade, Micron has told government officials. The chipmaker has publicly committed to US$50 billion in capital expenditures in that time frame. https://archive.ph/DZ89W