May 16, 2026: Weak End To The Week

Last week, Dow Jones fell 0.2%, S&P 500 was up 0.1%, and Nasdaq composite lost 0.1%, following new all-time highs on both the latter indices Thursday. Cerebras surged 68% in its IPO debut to a US$56 billion valuation. Geothermal pioneer Fervo Energy raised nearly US$2 billion, pushing its valuation past US$10 billion. SpaceX fast-tracked its Nasdaq listing for mid-June. Anthropic lined up a US$30 billion funding round at a US$900 billion valuation. Anduril raised US$5 billion at a US$61 billion valuation. European rival Helsing is targeting a US$18 billion valuation. eBay rejected Ryan Cohen’s US$56 billion buyout offer. Microsoft projected spending over US$100 billion on OpenAI agreements. SoftBank’s Vision Fund saw a US$46 billion yearly gain driven by OpenAI’s success. OpenAI launched a US$10 billion private equity joint venture. Neocloud provider, Nebius, reported a 684% Q1 revenue surge. Cisco shares jumped 18% on robust AI networking orders. Bill Ackman built a US$2 billion Microsoft stake based on latest 13F filings, Google is exploring launching orbital data centers via SpaceX. Anthropic’s Mythos AI showed advanced hacking capabilities in UK security trials. Thrive Capital placed a US$100 million bet on Shopify, whose shares remain down nearly 40% this year. The quantum sector expanded as Photonic closed a $200 million round at a US$2 billion valuation, and Nord Quantique secured unicorn status at US$1.4 billion. UniUni neared a US$1 billion SPAC debut on the TSX, while Prime Minister Carney unveiled a National Electricity Strategy to double grid capacity by 2050. In news pertaining to Sophic clients, Intermap reported Q1 2026 results with over 80% recurring revenue driven by its AI Risk Assistant, reiterating full-year guidance of $30-35 million. Hybrid Power Solutions announced a $1.5 million private placement, and its largest-ever $1.5 million industrial order. Juno Industries’ Chairman and co-founder, Harjit Sajjan was recently on a Betakit podcast to talk about the company’s plans to be an innovation hub for defence: building, partnering, or buying technology based upon government needs.

Thrive Capital invests US$100 million in Shopify (SHOP-NASDAQ, SHOP-TSX) shares.

Joshua Kushner’s investment firm Thrive Capital has bought roughly US$100 million in Shopify shares, Bloomberg reported Thursday, framing the move as a bet on how AI will lead to gains in e-commerce. While Thrive is best known for its startup investments, it has also previously made bets on other publicly traded companies including Figma, Carvana and StubHub. Thrive is also an investor in companies that have partnered with Shopify on AI shopping tools, including Stripe and OpenAI. Shopify has been incorporating more AI into its operations, as well as rolling out more AI tools for merchants and helping brands make sales through AI apps like ChatGPT and Gemini. But those efforts have yet to turn into a meaningful source of revenue—earlier this month, the company projected revenue growth would slow during the current quarter and said that AI costs had offset some efficiency gains in its software business. OpenAI also earlier this year pulled the plug on an in-chat checkout feature it had worked with Shopify to launch. Shopify shares are down nearly 40% so far this year. https://tinyurl.com/2s448rar

Sophic Client Intermap (IMP-TSX, ITMSF-OTC) reports first quarter 2026 results.

Intermap reported its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026. Intermap continued to scale its recurring subscription and data revenue in the first quarter, which represented more than 80% of total revenue. The quarter highlights growing enterprise adoption of Intermap’s proprietary data and AI-enabled as-a-service models, led by its agentic AI Risk Assistant. Adoption of the AI-enabled Risk Assistant continues to grow, supporting underwriting and risk management across global markets. Total revenue for the first quarter was US$1.4 million. The absence of revenue from large government programs reflects the timing of procurement and contracting cycles rather than changes in demand or any procurement decisions. Recurring subscription and data revenue was driven by continued growth in data consumption by insurance and enterprise customers, supported by growing adoption of Intermap’s value-added analytics platforms. The Company’s pipeline of large government opportunities, including Indonesia and U.S. federal opportunities, is expected to convert into revenue as procurement and contracting processes advance. For the first quarter, operating results were affected by the repurchase of dilutive securities, foreign currency and deferred revenue effects. Excluding these items, the Company operated near break-even during the quarter. The Company continued to invest in personnel, infrastructure and deployment readiness in support of its tendering commitments under international programs, including Indonesia’s World Bank funded program. Intermap ended the quarter with cash of approximately US$18.8 million and working capital of approximately US$16.3 million. “In the first quarter, we continued to scale our recurring subscription and data business while advancing our government pipeline,” said Patrick A. Blott, Chairman and CEO. “We continue to maintain readiness for large international deployments, while expanding a funded government pipeline and enterprise adoption of our AI-enabled, data-as-a-service analytics.” On the commercial side, the Company continues to invest in infrastructure, data processing capacity and security enhancements to support scalable delivery and execution of its platform. Intermap remains focused on converting large government opportunities into awarded and recognized revenue, supported by long-term government priorities, including national security and data sovereignty, which underpin sustained demand. 2026 Guidance Reiterated. Intermap reaffirms its previously announced 2026 guidance of US$30-35 million in revenue and a 28% EBITDA margin. While the timing of government awards and revenue recognition can vary, management believes the underlying demand environment remains strong. Growth in recurring insurance analytics revenue, combined with the conversion of government programs, supports the Company’s long-term strategy. https://tinyurl.com/2r6t9z5n

Sophic Client Juno Industries: Harjit Sajjan reports for duty.

A decorated Canadian Armed Forces officer, police officer, elected member of parliament and minister of defence, Harjit Sajjan has spent his career in public service roles where he believed he could make a difference. “I know people with amazing ideas, but they don’t have the right investment to take their idea to the prototype stage. At the prototype stage, they don’t have the ability to take it to the manufacturing stage. So guess what happens? Another company from outside the country comes and snatches ‘em up. Now, Sajjan is reporting for duty once again as a defence-tech entrepreneur with Vancouver-based Juno Industries. Juno, which recently secured $12 million in commitments as part of plans to list publicly on the TSX via reverse takeover, wants to be a defence prime for Canada and Sajjan talks on the podcast about the company’s plans to be a sort of innovation hub for defence: building, partnering, or buying technology based upon government needs. https://tinyurl.com/2s4xxet6

Sophic Client Hybrid Power Solutions (HPSS-CSE, HPSIF-OTC) announces Non-Brokered Private Placement for gross proceeds of up to $1,500,000.

Hybrid Power announced a non-brokered private placement (the “Offering”) of up to 30,000,000 units (the “Units”) at a price of $0.05 per Unit, for gross proceeds of up to $1,500,000. Each Unit will consist of one common share in the capital of the Company (a “Common Share”) and one common share purchase warrant (a “Warrant”). Each Warrant will entitle the holder to acquire one additional Common Share at an exercise price of $0.08 for a period of two years from the closing date of the Offering. The Warrants will be subject to an acceleration clause whereby, if the closing price of the Company’s Common Shares on the Canadian Securities Exchange (“CSE”) exceeds $0.15 for 20 consecutive trading days, the Company may accelerate the expiry date of the Warrants to a date that is not less than 30 days following the date of a news release announcing the acceleration. All securities issued under the Offering will be subject to a statutory hold period of four months and one day from the date of issuance, in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws. The Company may pay finder’s fees to eligible finders in accordance with the policies of the CSE. The Offering is expected to close on or about June 12, 2026, subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including the approval of the CSE. The net proceeds of the Offering will be used for general working capital and corporate purposes. https://tinyurl.com/yhf3p5yd

Sophic Client Hybrid Power Solutions (HPSS-CSE, HPSIF-OTC) secures largest order to date valued at over $1.5 million.

Hybrid Power received a $1.5 million purchase order from its distributor LMDH Equipment Sales (“LMDH”), for the rental supply of Spark Hybrid systems to Location GM. This follow-up order builds on the success of an initial agreement with Location GM, a prominent Quebec-based equipment rental specialist, for the delivery of nine Spark units valued at $521,100. The order consists of 6 x 20kWh Spark Hybrid units and 4 x 30kWh Spark Hybrid units, each paired with a dedicated generator and trailer, for a total value exceeding C$1.5 million. This marks the largest order in the Company’s history and highlights growing demand and strong user economics for its reliable, emission-free power solutions in industrial applications. “Securing this significant rental fleet order is a major milestone for Hybrid,” said Francois Byrne, CEO and Founder of Hybrid Power Solutions. “It demonstrates strong confidence in our Spark Hybrid platform from both our distributor LMDH and the end customers at Location GM. This order is a signal that the market is transitioning to hybrid technology as an industry standard. Rentals offer great exposure to a large variety of high-profile customers.” LMDH Equipment Sales continues to play an important role in expanding access to advanced rental-ready power and fuel solutions across North America. Operating in Canada and the USA, LMDH Equipment Sales specializes in fuel tanks and power equipment for rental fleets, making it a strong channel partner for customers seeking dependable, field-proven equipment solutions. Deliveries of the units are scheduled to commence in June 2026. https://tinyurl.com/4vtx6u6h

Photonic secures US$2 billion valuation after final close of $200-million financing.

Vancouver-based Photonic has completed the final close of its latest funding round, securing another US$70 million ($95 million) that will fuel the development of its quantum computers as the company advances towards commercialization. This brings the total size of this equity financing to more than US$200 million ($275 million). Photonic shared the news, noting that the round gives it a US$2 billion ($2.7 billion) post-money valuation. Photonic previously announced an initial close of $180 million in January. That portion came from a group that included first-time backers Planet First Partners, the Royal Bank of Canada, and Telus, as well as existing investors like the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation and strategic partner Microsoft. New investors—which included the Business Development Bank of Canada’s defence-focused StrongNorth Fund, Export Development Canada, Bell Ventures, Firgun Ventures, and InBC Investment Corp.—participated in this final close, which also saw follow-on support from Mubadala Capital. https://tinyurl.com/8bmktf6b

Quantum startup Nord Quantique secures US$1.4-billion valuation.

Quantum computing startup Nord Quantique has achieved so-called unicorn status, securing a US$1.4-billion ($1.9-billion CAD) valuation. First reported by The Globe and Mail on Thursday, the Sherbrooke, Qué.-based company raised US$30 million earlier this spring from investment giant Fidelity. BetaKit has confirmed the size of the valuation, and the funding, with multiple sources familiar with the company’s operations who spoke on the condition of confidentiality. Nord Quantique, alongside Xanadu and Photonic, have all made it to the second stage of the US Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, a program run by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to achieve a commercial quantum computer by the year 2033. Companies that submit a successful R&D plan will move to the final stage to see if their quantum computers can be constructed; those that are successful could receive up to $316 million USD in funding. The three companies, as well as Montréal’s Anyon, are also participating in Canada’s similar Canadian Quantum Champions Program, which has provided each firm with up to $23 million in funds in its first research phase. https://tinyurl.com/mskey8ct

UniUni to reportedly go public on TSX in US$1 billion SPAC deal.

Richmond, BC-based last-mile delivery company UniUni is reportedly planning to go public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). According to The Globe and Mail, the deal would see UniUni merge with MAK Acquisition, a Toronto Stock Exchange-listed SPAC led by ex-Dye & Durham CEO Matthew Proud, and value the combined entity at more than US$1 billion ($1.4 billion). The deal could be announced publicly within a week. The Globe and Mail reports that alongside this merger, UniUni is also raising US$100 million in a private investment in public equity. MAK already has approximately US$100 million in trust capital, which remains subject to investor redemptions. In going public via SPAC, UniUni is expected to join Toronto-based quantum computing firm Xanadu, which recently completed this path, and Richmond, BC fusion power firm General Fusion, which hopes to follow suit in the coming months. https://tinyurl.com/5xsbpr72

Telecom software startup Gaiia secures US$40 million Series B round.

Québec City-based telecom software startup Gaiia has raised a US$40 million ($54.8 million) Series B round as it hopes to invest an “ungodly” amount in its product, research and development, and 90-person team. Gaiia has raised nearly $90 million from backers including Y Combinator, GTMfund, and Workleap CEO Simon De Baene. The all-equity, all-primary minority investment was led by US private equity firm JMI Equity—which has backed Canadian tech companies such as Clio and PointClickCare—with participation from Montréal’s Inovia Capital. https://tinyurl.com/23yps7af

AI investment firm DevCap closes $5 million as it eyes public listing.

Montréal-based Developer Capital (DevCap) has closed another $5 million to invest in early-stage AI startups in what co-founder and CEO Jordan Steiner referred to as a “seed” round. DevCap operates differently from most venture capital (VC) firms. Born out of Montréal-based full-stack software development consultancy Monadical in 2023, the firm is an evergreen investment corporation with no management fees. CEO Jordan Steiner aims to take DevCap public by 2028. In 2024, DevCap raised $3 million at $0.10 per share. Since then, the firm has backed 10 companies, moving quickly to take advantage of the growing opportunity Steiner and co-founder and CTO Max McCrea saw in AI. https://tinyurl.com/4rnzwvum

Goldman Sachs to acquire Canadian data centre platform QScale.

Goldman Sachs’ alternative investments division is buying Lévis, Que.-based QScale, which develops and operates AI-ready data centres. The American investment bank announced that Infrastructure at Goldman Sachs Alternatives has closed its acquisition of QScale, in partnership with the Canadian firm’s founders and management team. https://tinyurl.com/faj93f2s

Prime Minister Carney announces forthcoming National Electricity Strategy.

The world is changing rapidly. The United States is upending global trade, wars are ongoing in Europe and the Middle East, artificial intelligence is scaling at speed, and climate change is intensifying. In response, Canada’s new government is focused on what we can control: building an affordable, competitive, and sustainable Canadian economy. Central to this mission is supplying and controlling our own energy. Electricity is the clear solution to Canada’s energy security, affordability, and competitiveness. Canada already has an 80% clean grid and some of the lowest electricity costs in the G7. As our economy and our industries become more energy-intensive, electricity demand in Canada is expected to double by 2050. This is an enormous opportunity for Canada to build a sustainable, affordable future. To that end, Canada’s new government is launching a new National Electricity Strategy. This plan will double the capacity of our grid by 2050 and supply clean, reliable, affordable power across the country for decades to come. To develop this strategy, today, we are launching consultations with provinces, territories, Indigenous Peoples, utilities, and unions. Over the next few months, we will work together to identify the actions needed to double our grid most effectively and affordably. This transformation will not only build a more sustainable Canada, but also a more affordable Canada. Canada’s National Electricity Strategy could deliver up to $15 billion in total energy savings by 2050 and lower total energy costs for 7 in 10 Canadian households. Realising these savings will require a willingness to use a wide range of energy – including natural gas. That’s why we intend to adjust clean electricity regulations to provide the flexibility needed to keep energy costs for all Canadian families reliable and affordable, while reducing emissions and building the clean energy system of the future. This strategy will require major investments to generate more clean energy, connect our fragmented electricity grids, train and retain tens of thousands of skilled Canadian workers, and strengthen Canadian manufacturing so more of the technologies powering our grid are made here at home. The strategy will be guided by four pillars: 1. Build the infrastructure needed to double Canada’s electricity generation: This will require generational investments in generation, transmission, distribution, storage, and grid modernisation. These new consultations will explore how to most effectively finance the build-out, to spread the costs over time to match the benefits, keeping energy affordable and our country competitive. 2. Connect Canada’s fragmented grids East-West-North through new and expanded transmission lines: Canada’s electricity system is currently fragmented across provincial and territorial grids, costing us billions of dollars in outages, duplicative infrastructure, and wasted power. These consultations will tackle common barriers to interprovincial interties so we can unite our grids and deliver more reliable, affordable power to all Canadians. 3. Train, attract, and retain the talent needed to build the grid of the future: Doubling the grid will require more than 130,000 high-skilled workers by 2050. Through these consultations, the federal government will work with industry, labour, and training partners to develop solutions to train, attract, and retain the talent needed to build and maintain the grid of the future. B4. Make more of the technologies and components powering our grid here at home: As we build the clean economy of the future, Canada’s new government is ensuring our industries can bridge to seize its opportunities. These consultations will explore how to grow domestic manufacturing capacity so that more of the components powering our grid are made in Canada. https://tinyurl.com/mrp354ve

Cerebras shares jump 68% in IPO debut.

Cerebras Systems shares surged 68% in their first day of trading Thursday, to close at US$311 a share, as investors bet the cash-burning chip designer was primed to benefit from strong demand by OpenAI and other AI developers. The company had priced its initial public offering at US$185 a share Wednesday night, well above its initial expectation of between US$115 and US$125. The IPO price valued Cerebras at US$56 billion taking into account all outstanding options and warrants. Cerebras sold 30 million shares in the offering, up slightly from the 28 million originally planned, and underwriters have an option to buy an additional 4.5 million. Among the big winners from the IPO was venture capital firm Benchmark, which stands to make 12 times on its initial investment. https://tinyurl.com/mux6rchn

Fervo raises nearly US$2 billion in IPO.

Enhanced geothermal energy pioneer Fervo Energy raised nearly US$2 billion in an initial public offering, giving it the financial firepower to grow aggressively and compete with natural gas to power AI data centers. Fervo is a leader in one of the hottest sectors in energy. The company deploys the same fracking techniques used to drill for natural gas but instead injects water and captures underground heat that can be turned into electricity. That produces steady, 24-hour power, with no carbon emissions, giving it an advantage over renewables and natural gas. The company has been urged by clean energy advocates to move faster, but it was held back by financing costs for its capital-heavy business. Some of that pressure was eased in the IPO. The company upped the price target for the offering from a range of US$21 to US$24, to US$27 and the shares jumped to US$36, giving the company a valuation above US$10 billion. In an interview Wednesday, Fervo CFO David Ulrey said the additional capital raised “allows us to go faster.” This past March, the company also refinanced more expensive project debt it had taken on in 2024 to build its first-of-a-kind 500 MW plant in Utah. He said Fervo has lowered its cost of capital from a “high teens, low 20s” percentage with venture backers and lenders to a blended “low teens.” Only 115 megawatts of Fervo’s contracted 658 MW power pipeline is officially attached to an AI hyperscaler, Google, which had been an early backer and structured a novel deal with a Nevada utility that sped the connection of its demonstration plant to the power grid. The funding for the IPO will allow it to build that 115 MW for Google in Nevada, Ulrey said. But Google negotiated the option to order another three gigawatts. https://tinyurl.com/385d77p3

SpaceX Picks Nasdaq for mid-June IPO.

SpaceX plans to list on the Nasdaq stock exchange as soon as June 12, Reuters reported on Friday. That would represent a slightly accelerated schedule for the space and AI company’s IPO, which had previously been slated for later in June. SpaceX also plans to make its IPO prospectus public as soon as Wednesday, the report said. SpaceX’s choice of Nasdaq is a victory for the stock exchange, which had been competing with the New York Stock Exchange for the listing. The Information has previously reported many details about SpaceX’s financials ahead of the IPO, including a net loss of nearly $5 billion on $18.5 billion in revenue last year, figures that include the SpaceXAI division it absorbed in February. The upcoming public prospectus would likely include new details including updated financials for the beginning of 2026. https://tinyurl.com/n2vc2krb

Anthropic picks Co-Leads for US$900 billion valuation funding round.

Dragoneer, Greenoaks, Sequoia Capital and Altimeter Capital have agreed to co-lead a US$30 billion round of funding into Anthropic at a US$900 billion valuation before the money, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions. The investment nearly triples its last valuation of US$350 billion fetched in a fundraising in early February. Investors have circled Anthropic after its blistering revenue pace made its last valuation look undervalued compared to its main rival OpenAI. Last month Anthropic said its annualized revenue had topped US$30 billion. That meant its last valuation was only 12 times its revenue. The co-leads are each likely to invest US$2 billion or more, reported the Financial Times, which first reported on the funding terms. All four are return investors. OpenAI, Sequoia and Altimeter have also invested in rival OpenAI. https://tinyurl.com/2r29hwzk

Circle raises funding at US$3 billion valuation for Arc Blockchain.

Circle, the stablecoin issuer of USDC, jumped 16% Monday after reporting revenue growth and announcing a fundraising for its planned blockchain. The company said it raised US$222 million for Arc, a stablecoin-focused blockchain, at a US$3 billion valuation from investors including a16z crypto, Apollo Funds, BlackRock, and Intercontinental Exchange by pre-selling the ARC tokens. The blockchain is intended for stablecoin transactions and capital-markets activities. First-quarter revenue jumped 20% from a year ago to US$694 million. Net income fell 15% to US$55 million. Executives of Circle said on Monday’s earnings call that the company supports the proposed crypto market structure bill, the Clarity Act, which bans platforms from paying yield on users’ passive stablecoin holdings. Circle wants to incentivize more transactions using stablecoins, in line with the bill. For users who want to earn yield on passive holdings, Circle offers a different product, a US$3 billion tokenized money market fund called USYC. https://tinyurl.com/msmv2mvx

Anduril raises US$5 billion, as push to modernize the military accelerates.

The financing values Anduril at US$61 billion, double the US$30.5 billion that it was valued at in June in its last funding round. The latest fund-raising was led by the longtime investors Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz amid talk that Anduril could try to go public in the next year. In total, the company has raised US$6.82 billion through eight funding rounds from investors including Founders Fund and Lux Capital. Anduril has established itself as a top player among U.S. defense companies. Founded by the tech entrepreneur Palmer Luckey and others in 2017, the company has developed autonomous submarines and jets, weaponized drones and augmented reality helmets for the military. The firm, based south of Los Angeles, has said it wants to remake American national defense. In a letter on Wednesday, Brian Schimpf, Anduril’s chief executive, said the company had more than doubled its revenue to US$2.2 billion in 2025. The company also opened a US$1 billion factory in Ohio to speed production of its weapons systems. https://tinyurl.com/y3s3tra9

Drone start-up Helsing set for US$18 billion valuation as investors pile into defence.

Helsing, the German defence technology group backed by tech billionaire Daniel Ek, is set to raise new funding at a valuation of about US$18 billion, cementing its status as one of Europe’s most valuable start-ups. The US$1.2 billion fundraising is being led by US firm Dragoneer Investment Group, with existing backer Lightspeed Venture Partners acting as co-lead, according to people familiar with the matter. The plans are at an advanced stage but the timing has not yet been finalised, they added. Helsing’s funding round is the latest indication of investors’ enthusiasm for the defence sector. The valuation marks a substantial increase from less than a year ago, when Helsing raised €600 million in a deal led by Spotify founder Ek’s investment company Prima Materia at a €12 billion ($14 billion) valuation. The money pouring into drone developers has prompted some established defence industry players, such as Rheinmetall chief executive Armin Papperger, to warn of a “bubble” in the sector. But others say that European governments continue to invest too much in “legacy” technology such as conventional tanks and fighter jets, arguing that there should be more investment in unmanned systems and other innovative technologies. The latest Helsing fundraising was oversubscribed multiple times, said the people familiar with the matter, highlighting investor interest in a new generation of defence start-ups focused on integrating AI into weapons systems. Europe boasts several defence tech unicorns — start-ups valued at more than US$1 billion — including drone makers Quantum Systems and Tekever. Helsing’s competitors include US-based Anduril Industries, founded by billionaire war drone maker Palmer Luckey, which has held talks with investors about a new funding round at a valuation of more than US$60 billion. In Europe, it vies with companies such as Quantum Systems and Stark, which is backed by US tech billionaire Peter Thiel. Founded in 2021, Munich-based Helsing originally focused on producing AI software to analyse battlefield data and improve military decision-making. It has expanded into producing its own kamikaze drones — single-use machines designed to fly into a target and blow it up — and autonomous underwater vessels. It has also struck partnership deals with some of Europe’s established defence contractors including Sweden’s Saab. It is also working on an unmanned aircraft designed to fly alongside crewed fighter jets. While Helsing’s new funding round is led by US investment firms, the group remains nearly 80 per cent owned by Europeans, one of the people familiar with the fundraising process said. The group has previously been backed by investors including Accel, Plural, General Catalyst, Greenoaks, Saab, and BDT & MSD Partners. https://tinyurl.com/33nynz45

EBay tells Cohen offer is “neither credible nor attractive”.

Ebay told investor Ryan Cohen his US$56 billion cash and stock bid for the online auction marketplace was “neither credible nor attractive,” delivering an expected rejection. Cohen, the founder of Chew.com who now controls struggling game retail chain GameStop, made the bid early last week. As eBay noted, the cash portion didn’t have definitive financing and the stock portion of the bid rested on GameStop’s unpredictable valuation. In a letter to Cohen, eBay chairman Paul Pressler that eBay’s rejection of the offer also took into account eBay’s standalone prospects and the risks of a combination. https://tinyurl.com/5n7ac7hz

OpenAI launches US$10 billion private-equity joint venture, acquires consultancy.

OpenAI on Monday announced its US$10 billion private-equity joint venture called the OpenAI Deployment Company, which aims to help businesses deploy and integrate AI into their operations. As part of the new company, OpenAI also announced it had bought Tomoro, an AI consulting and engineering firm, whose acquisition would also bring on around 150 forward deployed engineers to the new joint venture. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. The joint venture was done in partnership with 19 investment firms, consultancies and system integrators, including TPG, Advent, Bain Capital and Brookfield, OpenAI said. It is launching with more than US$4 billion in capital raised from those partners, the company said. The plans are part of a broader push by AI companies to increase spending from corporations on AI. Anthropic earlier this month announced it had set up its own joint venture, first reported by The Information, with PE firms including Blackstone, Heller & Friedman and Goldman Sachs. https://tinyurl.com/fywrbj4x

Nvidia CEO’s charitable foundation signs GPU deal with CoreWeave.

The charitable foundation tied to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and his wife, Lori Huang, has agreed to rent Nvidia graphics processing units from CoreWeave, which it plans to donate to artificial intelligence developers, according to Nvidia’s annual report. The Huang Foundation has donated US$108 million in “GPU compute time grants” to date, according to the report, which was made public Tuesday. The foundation is aiming to supply compute resources to “university and other non-profit research institutes to develop open science and AI research.” Nvidia employees will also offer engineering services to recipients of the compute for no charge, the company said. The deal was disclosed in Nvidia’s transactions with related parties. Nvidia is both an investor in CoreWeave and its most important supplier. https://tinyurl.com/5tkz5e39

Alibaba expects US$4.4 billion in annualized AI revenue by year-end.

Alibaba Group CEO Eddie Wu said Wednesday that the company expects its annualized revenue from AI model and application services to surpass 10 billion yuan (UA$1.47 billion) in the current quarter through June, and top 30 billion yuan (US$4.4 billion) by the end of this year. It was the first time Alibaba has disclosed revenue figures for AI-specific services. The Chinese e-commerce and cloud computing giant, which is also one of China’s biggest AI model developers, is ramping up its effort to generate more revenue from AI services. The CEO’s projection includes revenue from the business of providing enterprise customers with cloud-based access to AI models, as well as paid subscriptions for AI applications. In the quarter through March, Alibaba’s revenue from its cloud computing division, the Cloud Intelligence Group, jumped 38% from a year earlier to about US$6 billion, the company said. Alibaba cited the increasing adoption of AI-related products as a factor behind the cloud growth. By contrast, Alibaba’s China e-commerce business, by far the company’s largest source of revenue, grew only 6% in the quarter to US$17.7 billion. Wu said that the business of selling AI models through cloud services is a relatively high-gross-margin business compared to other enterprise services. He also said he expects improvements in Alibaba Cloud’s overall gross margins in the coming quarters thanks to the growth of the AI model business. https://tinyurl.com/ypv3mdtb

Microsoft says it spent more than US$100 billion on OpenAI.

Microsoft estimates it will have spent more than US$100 billion on commercial agreements with OpenAI by the end of its fiscal year in June, executive Michael Wetter testified in court on Wednesday. That number includes the US$13 billion Microsoft invested in OpenAI, as well as the costs of building and running infrastructure—including new data centers—for OpenAI to train and run its models. The new figure, which came up during Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, shows how much Microsoft has committed to its partnership with the AI firm. Microsoft spent more than US$234 billion in total on capital expenditures from 2023 to 2025, and spent US$32 billion on capex in the first quarter of 2026. So far, Microsoft has generated at least $30 billion in revenue from OpenAI’s rentals of servers in those data centers, and from Microsoft products powered by OpenAI models. OpenAI has committed to spending another US$280 billion renting more servers from Microsoft in the coming years. https://tinyurl.com/y8nmw65t

SoftBank posts US$46 billion gain at Vision Fund driven mainly by massive OpenAI bet.

SoftBank booked a yearly gain of US$46 billion at its Vision Fund driven mainly by the huge rise in value of its investment in OpenAI. The Japanese giant has invested more than US$30 billion in OpenAI, with its investment gains in the company totalling US$45 billion in the year ended March. In the three months to the end of March, the Vision Fund saw a gain of around US$20 billion, which was nearly all driven by OpenAI as SoftBank suffered losses on other investments such as Coupang, DiDi Global and Klarna. SoftBank is looking to position itself in the center of the artificial intelligence boom with investments across various AI and chip companies, and Sam Altman’s OpenAI forming the centrepiece. SoftBank has committed to invest more than US$60 billion in OpenAI which would give it around 13% ownership of the company, the company said in February. More than US$30 billion of that as already been invested. https://tinyurl.com/y3ecuupa

Nebius reports 700% increase in Q1 revenue.

AI cloud firm Nebius’ revenues rocketed 684% to US$399 million in the first quarter, the company reported Wednesday morning, reflecting the explosion of demand for AI neoclouds’ computing capacity. But Nebius, like fellow neocloud CoreWeave, is burning cash. Its capital expenditures jumped to US$2.472 billion from US$544 million a year ago, while cash from operations was US$2.258 billion. Nebius has been rapidly expanding its capacity to serve demand from customers that now include Meta Platforms and Microsoft. On Wednesday, Nebius said it was expecting to spend between US$20 billion and US$25 billion on capex this year. Nebius’ backers include Nvidia, which invested US$2 billion in the company in the first quarter. Nebius stock was up 14% in pre-market trading on Wednesday. https://tinyurl.com/2t89682m

Cisco shares jump 18% as cloud providers increase AI product orders.

Cisco Systems reported revenue grew 12% to US$15.8 billion in its April quarter compared to last year—up 2% from last quarter—and forecast 14% growth for its current quarter. On an earnings call, Cisco executives said the acceleration stems from major cloud providers ordering more networking switches and custom chips to meet increasing demand for AI services from their customers. The networking giant also raised its full-year projection to around 11% growth, from the 8% it issued a few months ago, and revealed plans to cut around 4,000 jobs, or less than 5% of its workforce. Shares of Cisco rose around 18% after its earnings report. Investors believe Cisco is well-positioned as more companies build AI applications and agents, and its shares were up around 34% before its earnings and 65% over the past 12 months. Cisco said it expects US$9 billion in AI product orders from major cloud providers in its next fiscal year, up from US$5 billion this year. But the AI boom has contributed to a memory hardware shortage, which Cisco is addressing by designing its wireless routers and other products to consume less memory. https://tinyurl.com/443xunpv

Qualcomm drops 11% as chip stocks pull back from record AI-driven rally.

Chip stocks dropped on Tuesday, pulling back from a massive rally that broadened the artificial intelligence trade beyond Nvidia and propelled the sector to new highs. Qualcomm plummeted more than 11% and headed for its worst session since 2020. Intel dropped 7%, while Skyworks Solutions declined more than 5% and Marvell Technology lost about 4%. The iShares Semiconductor ETF tracking the sector sank 3%. Tuesday’s declines followed a hotter-than-expected reading of a key consumer inflation measure as the war in Iran lifts oil prices, sending investors into risk-off mode. The recent rally has broadened the AI trade beyond chipmaking stalwart Nvidia, which, for years, nearly single-handedly lifted stocks to fresh highs. Skyrocketing demand for central processing units, and their graphics processing unit counterparts that underpin large language models, has boosted chip stocks to records. Investors are betting that the transition from AI training to agents will boost demand for other AI components. That includes memory chip makers, which are hiking prices amid an ongoing supply shortage. Micron Technology dropped about 4%, while Sandisk tumbled 6%. Sandisk shares have climbed more than sixfold since the start of the year. https://tinyurl.com/445uk6m4

Ackman’s Pershing Square builds US$2 billion Microsoft stake.

Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square has built a US$2 billion stake in Microsoft, the hedge fund disclosed Friday. Ackman said in a post on X that the company’s nearly 15% share slide so far this year has been driven by investors who “underestimate the resilience” of its Office 365 software and growth of its newer Copilot AI software. Ackman added that his closed-end investment fund Pershing Square USA also recently made Microsoft a “core position.” Microsoft stock rose nearly 3% Friday. Ackman’s bet on Microsoft comes as other investors have been spooked by the specter of AI software from firms like Anthropic and OpenAI eventually replacing Microsoft’s core software business, leading some other large hedge funds to dump their stock in the company in recent months. Microsoft also signed a renegotiated deal with OpenAI last month that ended its exclusive rights to resell OpenAI’s technology but pulled forward some of the revenue OpenAI was set to share with Microsoft. Ackman said he views the restructured deal “not as a concession but as part of a deliberate pivot toward a more open, multi-model architecture.” https://tinyurl.com/3ys52zbe

Trump traded millions in tech stocks in Q1.

President Trump traded millions of dollars worth of technology stocks since the start of 2026, new disclosures released on Thursday show. In a report filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, Trump revealed that he bought and sold shares of companies including Nvidia, Palantir and Oracle. The disclosures came amid the Trump administration’s trip to China, where tech CEOs including Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Apple’s Tim Cook accompanied the president. The disclosures show that Trump made more than a dozen purchases and sales of Nvidia shares from January through March. That included a purchase listed between $500,001 and $1,000,000 in early January, a week before the administration approved sales of Nvidia artificial intelligence chips to China. Trump traded dozens of other tech companies, including Meta, Alphabet, Apple, Tesla, Uber and Amazon, as well as shares of the crypto companies Coinbase and MARA Holdings. A spokesperson for the Trump Organization said Trump’s investments were handled “by third-party financial institutions with sole and exclusive authority over all investment decisions” and that neither the president nor his family “plays any role in selecting, directing, or approving specific investments.” https://tinyurl.com/mu58paaz

Google weighs using SpaceX to launch orbital data centers.

Google is considering using SpaceX or another rocket launch to launch its experimental orbital data centers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. Google was an early SpaceX investor and owned 6.1% of the company at the end of 2025, regulatory filings show. Google aims to launch two prototype satellites this year through a moonshot research project called Project Suncatcher. Using SpaceX for the launches would be logical because the Elon Musk-led company launches satellites much more frequently than other rocket companies. SpaceX often sends satellites into orbit on behalf of companies like Amazon and ViaSat. Google is also in talks with other launch companies besides SpaceX, according to the report. Data centers in orbit have become a hot topic in the past year. Musk has claimed that offering compute from orbit will be cheaper than doing so from Earth within the next few years. Starcloud, a two-year-old space data center startup, is in talks to raise money at a US$2.2 billion valuation. https://tinyurl.com/533rue9v

Google says hackers used AI to find critical security flaw.

Google recently observed hackers using AI models to find a previously undiscovered security flaw, the company said on Monday. The hacker planned to use the flaw for a “mass exploitation event,” but Google security researchers believe they successfully warded off the attack after noticing the hackers’ activity, the company said. The incident is one of the first confirmed cases of the type of potential cyberattack that AI labs like Anthropic and OpenAI have been warning against in recent months. Both of those labs have declined to release the latest versions of their models widely because the AI is so good at quickly finding undiscovered vulnerabilities in popular software. Instead, Anthropic and OpenAI have said they’re only sharing the models with a small number of companies and government agencies to give them time to find the flaws and patch them on their own. Meanwhile, security experts have warned that even older versions of AI models are still concerningly good at finding and exploiting vulnerabilities. Google did not offer details on the hackers it observed finding the vulnerabilities, nor did it say which potential victims they were targeting or which AI models were used. But the company said it believes its own Gemini AI model was not used in the potential attack, and noted that it has separately observed hackers linked to China and North Korea using AI models to find security flaws. Anthropic similarly disclosed last year that it cut off suspected Chinese hackers after noticing them trying to use its models for cyberattacks. https://tinyurl.com/59xwjm27

Latest version of Anthropic’s Mythos AI is even better at hacking, UK researchers say.

Anthropic’s latest version of its Mythos AI showed “notable capability jumps” at finding and exploiting undiscovered software vulnerabilities compared to an earlier version of the model, researchers at the U.K.’s AI Security Institute said Wednesday. Anthropic has not released Mythos widely because of fears that it could be used for cyberattacks. Instead, the AI firm shared it with a select group of companies and some government agencies, which are testing the model’s capabilities and using it to find and patch vulnerabilities in their own software. OpenAI has similarly shared its latest cybersecurity-focused model, GPT-5.5-cyber, with a handful of companies for testing rather than releasing it widely. Shares of major security firms such as Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike have risen 20% this year, in part on the belief that AI model cyber capabilities will prompt businesses to seek more help defending their systems from new attacks. AISI researchers previously tested an older version of Mythos, but said the newer Mythos model—which Anthropic announced publicly on April 7—conducted cyberattacks that the earlier version couldn’t do. Both the new version of Mythos and GPT-5.5-cyber completed complex cyberattacks that would have constituted a “full network takeover” on a potential hacking target, AISI said, while the older version of Mythos had only achieved a less severe type of attack labeled “advanced persistence.” However, Mythos was also able to complete the two most difficult hacking tests that AISI put to the models, while GPT-5.5-cyber could only complete one of them. The group said it was developing new, more difficult hacking tests to evaluate the capabilities of future models. https://tinyurl.com/5n7ndpz5

Google to hire hundreds of engineers to help customers adopt its AI.

Google plans to hire hundreds of engineers to help customers start using its business-focused AI products, according to a person familiar with the situation. Google’s new “forward deployed engineers” will form a new team within Google Cloud, the unit’s chief, Thomas Kurian, said on LinkedIn on Tuesday, without disclosing the size of the effort. Matt Renner, Google Cloud’s chief revenue officer, said in a separate post that the move would help Google “show up for our customers with more technical resources (vs just an ocean of salespeople).” The announcement is one of several in the industry in recent weeks as tech companies are deploying armies of humans—often described as “forward deployed engineers”—and partnerships with consulting companies to get customers using AI-driven technology intended to automate work. On Monday, OpenAI launched the “OpenAI Deployment Company” in partnership with consulting and investment firms. Last week, Anthropic announced the creation of a joint venture with private equity firms to sell its AI to the PE firms’ customers. Google is also in talks with Blackstone, KKR and EQT to get their portfolio companies access to Google’s AI models. Last month, it announced a deal with Vista Equity Partners and a US$750 million fund for consulting firms to speed up their customers’ AI adoption. The dueling announcements are signs of the intensity of the race to win customers from competing AI labs. They also suggest that despite the skyrocketing enterprise revenue numbers for some frontier AI labs, particularly Anthropic, companies are still finding it difficult to implement AI, as Google Cloud customers said at the company’s conference last month. “The demand from customers and partners for Google enterprise AI products and Google engineers to help them embrace agent development is growing very rapidly,” Kurian wrote on LinkedIn. https://tinyurl.com/jnwpsse9

Apple is working to incorporate AI agents on the App Store, per report.

The report says that Apple might announce its new updates regarding AI agents on the App Store at WWDC next month. However, it’s possible that the company isn’t yet ready for that unveiling. Apple CEO Tim Cook recently acknowledged the rise of AI agents when addressing Mac supply shortages during the last quarterly earnings. Many users are turning to the Mac mini and Mac Studio, Apple’s supply-constrained desktops, to help run AI agents. Understandably, Apple doesn’t want its lucrative App Store business upended by the new agent trend. But this isn’t just about protecting a revenue stream. If Apple can find a way to better support agents while providing key privacy and security guarantees through the App Store, that’s a win for users too. https://tinyurl.com/3968d6ad

SAP deepens ties with Anthropic, unveils AI product bundle.

SAP has been slower than some of its software rivals in embracing AI agents, but the German software giant’s executives spent the first day of its annual customer conference trying to change that perception. One of SAP’s biggest moves is a new agreement with Anthropic that will make it easier for SAP customers to build agents using the startup’s Claude models through a deeper integration between their respective products. Until now, SAP customers have had to build their own software to connect Claude to SAP applications and to Joule, the company’s AI assistant. The Anthropic agreement comes after SAP, in a policy document published in late April, suggested it would ban customers from using external agents, and tools like OpenClaw, to access data they store in SAP apps without the company’s official endorsement. Another part of SAP’s strategy for agents is to bundle together several existing products, which customers use for building applications, managing data, and connecting agents with data that helps them understand the context of the situations in which they operate—like which customer placed an order and which shipments went through a specific warehouse. The bundle appears to be a recommendation and not a requirement, as an SAP spokesperson said customers can choose which products they want and don’t have to buy all of them. https://tinyurl.com/2p7c7nu3

Figure’s humanoid robots organize room, hang clothes, and make bed without humans.

US robotics firm Figure has showcased its humanoid robots performing household tasks in a coordinated bedroom-cleaning demonstration. In a newly released video, two robots enter a minimalist room and begin organizing items, including hanging up a coat, closing a laptop, and placing headphones away. The humanoids then work together to make a bed, coordinating their movements with head nods as they lift and smooth the comforter. The robots complete the task in under two minutes, highlighting advances in humanoid collaboration, object handling, and domestic automation. Last month, Figure claimed to increase Figure 03 humanoid production from one robot daily to one hourly within four months at the new BotQ production facility in California. The demonstration focused on real-time coordination between two humanoids operating without a shared planner, central controller, or direct communication. Instead, each robot relied solely on its onboard cameras and learned policy to interpret the environment and infer the other robot’s intentions through movement. According to Figure, every action dynamically altered the scene, forcing both robots to continuously adapt their decisions while working toward a shared objective. https://tinyurl.com/yc4wyr3f

Netflix’s ad ambitions just keep growing.

For the second year in a row, Netflix’s ad-supported tier more than doubled its monthly viewerbase. During its 2026 upfront presentation, Netflix revealed that its US$8.99-per-month plan reaches more than 250 million people around the globe, a significant leap from 94 million users reported last year. The streaming service reported earning US$1.5 billion from ads in 2025, and now it’s finding more areas to stick them across its service. Starting next year, Netflix will start showing ads in the vertical video feed it just launched on its mobile app, and in the lineup of podcasts it began adding to the platform late last year. Netflix first rolled out its ad-supported Basic tier in 2022, and since then, it has not only grown in memberships but also in price. The streaming service has included the Basic plan in its recent hikes, making it cost US$2 more than its US$6.99 launch price. Netflix is expanding its ad-supported tier to 15 new countries as well, including Austria, Belgium, Colombia, Denmark, Indonesia, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and Thailand. The service is also testing a new personalization tool that adjusts the ads its subscribers see “based on their viewing behaviors.” https://tinyurl.com/54zp5r9z

U.S. clears Nvidia H200 chip sales to 10 Chinese firms.

The U.S. Commerce Department has cleared Nvidia’s sales of its H200 chips to around 10 Chinese companies including Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance and JD.com, as Washington eases its restrictions on AI chip exports to China, Reuters reported. Washington also approved H200 sales to some Chinese distributors of Nvidia chips, such as Lenovo and Foxconn, according to the report. With the Commerce Department’s clearance, the Chinese companies can purchase the H200 chips either directly from Nvidia or through distributors. Each approved customer can purchase up to 75,000 chips, according to Reuters. But despite the easing U.S. restrictions, Nvidia hasn’t yet made a single delivery of the H200 chips to those Chinese firms, Reuters said. That’s because Beijing has put its own restrictions on Chinese companies’ purchases of H200 chips, as The Information previously reported. This week, President Donald Trump is visiting China for a high-stakes two-way diplomatic summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is part of the U.S. delegation visiting China with President Trump. Huang has been trying to find ways to sell Nvidia’s chips in China despite U.S. export restrictions. https://tinyurl.com/yc5pujsf

Treasury Secretary Bessent: U.S. and China will discuss “AI guardrails”.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with CNBC that the U.S. and China will discuss “AI guardrails” during President Donald Trump’s state visit to China this week. “We are gonna set up a protocol in terms of how do we go forward with best practices for AI to make sure non-state actors don’t get a hold of these models,” Bessent told CNBC Thursday in Beijing on the sidelines of President Trump’s high-stakes summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Bessent also said that the U.S. can talk to China about AI because the U.S. is the “undisputed leader” in the world in AI. “The Chinese are substantially behind us, but they have a very advanced AI industry here, so the two AI superpowers are gonna start talking.” It is of the utmost importance that the U.S. maintain our lead in AI. The reason we are able to have wholesome discussions with the Chinese on AI is because we are in the lead. I do not think we would be having the same discussions if they were this far ahead of us,” Bessent said. The AI competition between the U.S. and China has intensified in the past few years, as Chinese companies have stepped up their efforts to catch up with American leaders like OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. Washington has tried to curb China’s AI advancements through multiple measures including export controls on advanced AI chips and restrictions on U.S. investments in China’s AI sector. https://tinyurl.com/tax2nt9s

Anthropic calls for tighter U.S. chip restrictions on China.

Anthropic published a new paper on Friday that calls for the U.S. to make sure China’s access to advanced chips is restricted, in the same week when President Donald Trump is in Beijing on a high-stakes state visit to China. In the paper, entitled “2028: Two Scenarios for Global AI Leadership,” Anthropic said if the U.S. loosens its restrictions on China’s access to compute, China could become more competitive in AI development, resulting in a “destabilizing neck-and-neck race” two years from now. “AI labs in China have world-class talent. It is compute constraints that limit their ability to keep up,” the U.S. company said. Anthropic has been increasingly vocal about its view that China’s advancements in AI pose a threat to the U.S. and its allies. However, on social media sites such as X, some users criticized Anthropic’s new paper, saying that the company is using nationalism to its advantage in its attempt to fend off challenges from competitive Chinese open-source AI models. The paper comes as Chinese open-source AI developers, such as DeepSeek, have recently rolled out new models that offer more affordable alternatives to Anthropic’s proprietary models. In the global AI race, it is “essential that the US and its allies stay ahead of authoritarian governments like the Chinese Communist Party,” Anthropic said in the paper. The prospect of the Chinese Communist Party leading in AI is “among the greatest threats to a successful transition,” it said. In February, Anthropic accused multiple Chinese companies of using Claude to train their models, a technique known in the industry as “distillation.” DeepSeek, Moonshot AI and MiniMax had been carrying out “industrial-scale campaigns,” setting up fraudulent accounts to “illicitly extract Claude’s capabilities to improve their own models,” Anthropic said. The three Chinese companies didn’t respond to these allegations. https://tinyurl.com/4jza63ew

Google adds Klarna, Affirm as AI shopping payment options.

Google will start offering buy now, pay later services Affirm and Klarna for AI-powered shopping transactions in its Gemini app and its AI search mode, the rival fintechs announced on Tuesday. The launch is an expansion of both firms’ existing relationships with Google—Affirm has already incorporated its pay-over-time options into Google Pay and in its Chrome browser, and Klarna’s installment payments are integrated with Google Pay as well. When shoppers are making a purchase from Gemini or Google search results, Affirm and Klarna will now appear as payment options. Google had announced checkouts in the Gemini app and AI Mode in January, and has been slowly rolling out with a handful of retailers since. In addition to the Google launch, Affirm also announced a proposed addition to the Universal Commerce Protocol, a set of rules developed by Google, Shopify and others aimed at standardizing purchases made through AI shopping apps and agents. The addition creates a way that buy now, pay later providers can easily integrate to show up in AI shopping tools. https://tinyurl.com/24abvas7