Crypto
1. India financial watchdog imposes $2.25M penalty on crypto exchange Binance
India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) levied a 188.2 million rupee ($2.25 million) fine on Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, for operating without complying with local anti-money laundering regulations. (Reuters)
IT infrastructure
2. Onsemi to invest up to $2B in Czech semiconductor plant
Onsemi’s new silicon carbide (SiC) facility in the Czech Republic will address rising global demand for advanced power semiconductors, enhancing energy efficiency in electric vehicles, renewables, and AI data centres. (Businesswire)
Tech trends
3. Nvidia eclipses Microsoft as world’s most valuable company
Nvidia’s market value soared to $3.335 trillion, surpassing Apple and Microsoft, driven by demand for its AI processors. Nvidia’s stock surged 3.5% to $135.58, with daily trading averaging $50 billion. (Gadgets360)
4. Qualcomm agrees to pay $75 million to end lawsuit linked to Apple complaints
Qualcomm agreed to pay $75 million to settle a shareholder lawsuit over its aggressive licensing practices. Shareholders claimed Qualcomm misled them and artificially inflated its stock price. Despite winning battles against Apple and regulators, Qualcomm chose settlement to resolve the lingering lawsuit. (The Verge)
AI
5. Dell, Super Micro providing server racks for xAI’s supercomputer
Dell Technologies and Super Micro Computer will provide server racks for Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI’s supercomputer. Dell assembles half, while Super Micro, known for its Nvidia ties, handles the rest. xAI’s Grok chatbot, requiring 100,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs, aims to run on the supercomputer by fall 2025. (Reuters)
6. UK takes top spot in Europe for GenAI startups, Accel says
The UK leads Europe and Israel in generative AI startups, hosting 30% of the 221 analysed by Accel. Despite France’s startups raising $2.29 billion, compared to the UK’s $1.15 billion, Britain’s strong university system and AI investment history bolster its status. (Yahoo!Finance)
7. Global Telco AI Alliance signs JV for multilingual telco LLM
Singtel, Deutsche Telekom, e&, SK Telecom, and Softbank have formed a joint venture to develop a multilingual Large Language Model (LLM) for telcos, announced at TM Forum’s DTW24-Ignite. (Capacity)
8. Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI’s former chief scientist, launches new AI company
Ilya Sutskever, co-founder of OpenAI, has launched Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI) with Daniel Gross and Daniel Levy after leaving OpenAI. SSI focuses solely on building safe superintelligent AI. Unlike OpenAI, SSI is for-profit, with offices in Palo Alto and Tel Aviv, and aims to rapidly advance AI safety and capabilities. (Tech Crunch)
9. Genspark is the latest attempt at an AI-powered search engine
Genspark, a new AI-powered search engine co-founded by Eric Jing and Kay Zhu in 2023, creates custom summaries for queries using specialised AI models and data from OpenAI and Anthropic. (Tech Crunch)
10. Meta AI removes block on election-related queries in India while Google still applying limits
Meta has lifted its restrictions on election-related queries in India following the completion of the country’s elections, allowing users to access information about results, politicians, and officeholders via its Meta AI chatbot. (Tech Crunch)
Products
11. AT&T is raising prices on old ‘unlimited’ plans
AT&T is increasing prices for old “unlimited” data plans starting August, with bills rising by $10-$20 per month, depending on the plan. The hikes come with added benefits like more high-speed data and hotspot data, aimed at retaining customers on grandfathered plans while encouraging potential savings by switching to newer offerings. (The Verge)
12. California’s governor is trying to crack down on smartphones in schools
California Governor Gavin Newsom aims to ban smartphones in schools, emphasising academic focus over screen time. Collaborating with legislators, Newsom intends to pass restrictions by August, aligning California with states already limiting school smartphone use. (The Verge)
13. EU chat control law proposes scanning your messages — even encrypted ones
The European Union edges closer to approving controversial legislation mandating bulk scanning of digital messages, including encrypted content, to combat child sexual abuse material (CSAM). (The Verge)
14. EU electric car sales drop in May as German demand slumps, industry says
In May, new battery-electric car sales in the EU dropped 12%, with Germany seeing a 30% decline due to the end of EV subsidies. Overall EU car sales fell 3%, reflecting a cooling EV market amidst increased competition for affordable models. (Reuters)
IoT
15. NB-IoT and LoRa dominate the LPWAN IoT market
The LPWAN IoT market is dominated by NB-IoT and LoRa, comprising 87% of total connections in 2023, with a projected 86% share by 2030. (IoT News)
