Previous Tech News &Deals

 Anthropic expanded its Claude Cowork workspace ecosystem with targeted legal tools:

• Legal Plugins: Released 12 practice-area plugins, including tools like "Commercial Counsel" for reviewing vendor agreements and tools for bar exam preparation.
• Third-Party Integrations: Launched more than 20 Model Context Protocol (MCP) connectors linking Claude securely to platforms like Thomson Reuters CoCounsel Legal, DocuSign, Harvey, and Box.
• Task Automation: Enables firms to securely run M&A due diligence, draft employment handbooks, search case law databases, and handle NDA triaging inside Claude.
• Market Impact: The capability of these tools to replace routine billable hours triggered a sharp sell-off in legal tech data and SaaS stocks.

 SpaceX makes deal with ai startup Cursor, includes strategic partnership with acquisition option, either way it is great for Cursor. Spacex pays them $10 billion for the partnership or has to buy them for $60 billion.

Amazon invests $5 billion in Anthropic with possibly another $20 billion in the future. Anthropic will spend $100 billion over 10 years on Amazon Cloud and chips.

Adobe launches ai agents for businesses

Threads social media is adding "live chats" which is similar to broadcast channels on IG and messenger

Anthropic unveils Claude Opus 4.7 which is the second most powerful after Mythos

CoreWeave and BCE partner on data centers in western Canada

Adobe launches Firefly ai assistant to handle multi-step tasks through prompts

Starbucks launches app in ChatGPT to help users customize drinks

casual show company Allbirds sells shoe business to become ai infrastructure company, stock initally surges 600%

Thoma Bravo and Google Cloud scale ai across portfolio of companies

Amazon buys Globalstar for $11.6 billion

 Caterpillar Inc. $CAT has acquired Monarch Tractor, a California-based startup specializing in fully electric, self-driving tractors. Monarch Tractor, often called the "Tesla of agriculture" for its focus on zero-emissions and autonomous farming. 

Tesla wins first European approval for supervised FSD

U.S. government officials meet with top banking and tech executives to discuss Anthropic's super powerful Mythos ai

Google Gemini ai can answer questions with 3D models and simulations

Amazon Prime will add AppleTV later this month as a $9.99 monthly add on expanding their partnership

CoreWeave and META announce massive expansion of their ai infrastructure partnership of $21 billion in new cloud capacity

Amazon announces$25 billion investment in data centers in Mississippi 

BYD partners with KFC in China on charging stations

META launches new ai model called "Muse Spark" it is the inaugural model from Meta’s newly formed Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) 

TikTok China is building a second data center in Finland to cover data of European users under the name Project Clover, which originally was to be in Ireland

Google launches Google Ai Edge Eloquent, an offline ai dictation app on iOS

Anthropic launches "project Glasswing" allowing major tech firms like Microsoft, Google, and Apple to test its restricted, high-capability AI model, Claude Mythos Preview, for defensive cybersecurity purposes

 Fox will integrate Kalshi prediction market data across its news platforms 

Samsung messages ending in July, recommends switch to Google Messages

Roblox Reality is an ambitious new AI-powered platform designed to bring photorealistic, high-fidelity visuals to its multiplayer environments. This technology aims to "democratize" professional-grade game graphics, allowing even small teams to create cinematic-quality experiences without advanced coding or expensive equipment. 

 Key Features of Roblox Reality

• Hybrid Architecture: The system splits responsibilities between the existing Roblox Game Engine, which handles core game logic (physics, collisions, and player positions), and a new Video World Model (dubbed a "Super Upsampler") that generates the photorealistic visual output.
• Real-Time Visual Rendering: Similar in concept to NVIDIA's DLSS 5, the AI overlays realistic textures, shadows, and secondary motion onto raw game geometry in real time.
• Accessibility for Creators: By using cloud-based AI, Roblox intends to lower the technical and financial barriers for creators to build "AAA-style" games. 

 Google announced a new AI-powered feature for Google Photos called "Wardrobe" on April 29, 2026. This feature essentially turns your photo library into a digital closet by automatically identifying and organizing the clothes and accessories you've worn in your past photos. 

 Key Features of "Wardrobe"

• Automatic Cataloging: The AI scans your existing library to create clean, snapshot-like images of individual items—such as tops, bottoms, and jewelry—without requiring manual tagging or uploads.
• Virtual Try-On: You can mix and match these digital items to create new outfits and use a virtual try-on tool that applies the look to a digital avatar of yourself.
• Organization and Discovery: Items are grouped into a new "Wardrobe" page within the Collections tab, allowing you to filter by category and rediscover forgotten pieces in your closet.
• Sharing and Planning: Users can save their favorite combinations to digital moodboards for specific occasions (like work or vacations) and share these outfit ideas directly with friends.

 The feature is scheduled to begin rolling out in summer 2026. 

Broadcom, Google, and Anthropic announced a major expansion of their strategic collaboration to scale AI infrastructure. This agreement centers on providing Anthropic with massive amounts of specialized computing power to develop and deploy future generations of its Claude AI models. 

 The collaboration consists of several interconnected long-term agreements: 

• Massive Compute Capacity: Anthropic will gain access to approximately 3.5 gigawatts (GW) of next-generation AI computing capacity starting in 2027.
• Custom TPU Development: Broadcom entered a long-term agreement with Google to develop and supply future generations of custom Tensor Processing Units (TPUs).
• Networking Infrastructure: Broadcom signed a "Supply Assurance Agreement" to provide networking and other essential components for Google’s next-generation AI racks through 2031.
• U.S.-Based Growth: The majority of this new capacity will be located in the United States, supporting Anthropic’s goal of strengthening American computing infrastructure. 

 OpenAI announced its acquisition of TBPN (Technology Business Programming Network), a popular daily tech talk show 

 TBPN will operate within OpenAI’s Strategy organization. The team will report to Chris Lehane, OpenAI's Chief Global Affairs Officer. 

 Following the acquisition, TBPN will wind down its advertising operations as OpenAI does not intend for the show to be a revenue-generating enterprise. 

 Hosted by former tech founders John Coogan and Jordi Hays, TBPN is a live streaming program that has quickly become a "Silicon Valley obsession". 

 A daily three-hour show airing weekdays at 11:00 a.m. PT (2:00 p.m. ET). 

 Primarily streamed on X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube, the show averages roughly 70,000 viewers per episode. 

Ford unveiled Ford Pro AI, a new embedded assistant for commercial fleets capable of analyzing 1 billion data points daily to optimize fuel consumption and vehicle health. 

 Amazon secured a major deal with Delta Air Lines to provide Wi-Fi on over 500 aircraft via its Project Kuiper satellite network, directly challenging SpaceX’s Starlink. 

 Starlink is currently active on over 2,500 aircraft and has been adopted by major global airline groups. Many of these carriers offer the service for free to loyalty members or all passengers.  

Gap Inc. and Google announced a partnership expansion. Gap became the first major fashion retailer to integrate direct checkout within the Google Gemini app and Google Search's AI Mode.

 Key Aspects of the Partnership: This deal focuses on "agentic commerce," allowing shoppers to go from discovery to purchase without leaving the AI interface: 

• Conversational Checkout: Customers can ask Gemini for outfit ideas and complete the purchase directly in the chat.
• Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP): Gap uses Google's new open standard, UCP, to feed real-time product data, pricing, and inventory directly into Gemini.
• Multi-Brand Integration: The feature applies to all Gap Inc. brands, including Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta.
• AI Sizing Tool: Gap is launching a partnership with Bold Metrics to provide AI-powered fit guidance, helping users find the right size to reduce returns.

Databricks officially entered the cybersecurity market with the launch of Lakewatch, a new AI-powered Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platform. 

 The product is designed as an "agentic SIEM" that leverages generative AI and the company's core Lakehouse architecture to challenge established vendors like Splunk, Microsoft, and Google. 

 To bolster its security expertise, Databricks announced two key acquisitions alongside the Lakewatch launch: 

• SiftD: A startup founded by former Splunk engineers (including the creator of Splunk's Search Processing Language) to enhance large-scale detection engineering.
• Antimatter: A security startup specializing in authentication and authorization for AI agents and securing data in SaaS applications. 

Nvidia has invested $2 billion in Marvell Technology alongside an expanded partnership to integrate Marvell’s custom silicon into Nvidia’s artificial intelligence ecosystem. 

 The deal aims to streamline the development of semi-custom AI infrastructure for data centers and telecommunications networks. 

 The partnership centers on Nvidia NVLink Fusion™, a rack-scale platform that allows customers to combine Marvell’s specialized chips with Nvidia’s broader infrastructure. 

previously announced:

Nvidia has invested an additional $2B in CoreWeave.  This investment effectively doubles Nvidia's stake in the company to approximately 13%, making Nvidia CoreWeave's second-largest shareholder. 

Nvidia is investing an additional $1 billion in ai startup Poolside as part of a new funding round. Numerius other investors participated in this and previous investing rounds along with Nvidia. 

Nvidia backed Poolside is an ai startup that has partnered with CoreWeave to create Project Horizon. The goal is to build a giant datacenter complex in Texas which will also be able to generate its own power. 

 Sony and TCL have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to form a global joint venture that will handle Sony’s home entertainment business. 

• Ownership Structure: TCL will hold a controlling 51% stake, while Sony retains 49%.
• Brand Identity: Products will continue to use the Sony and Bravia names. Sony will contribute its picture and audio processing technology, while TCL provides manufacturing scale and cost efficiency.
• Timeline: The deal is expected to be finalized by March 31, 2026, with the joint venture beginning operations in April 2027.
• Reason for the Deal: Sony is shifting focus toward its more lucrative gaming, music, and film segments (IP assets) while seeking to make its TV business more competitive through TCL's massive supply chain. 

Databricks announced the acquisition of Quotient ai, an innovator in evaluation and reinforcement learning for AI agents. 

 Databricks purchased this startup to embed continuous evaluation directly into its AI tools. Quotient AI specializes in automated testing and human-in-the-loop feedback, which helps ensure AI agents are reliable and accurate before being deployed into production. 

  Alongside the acquisition, Databricks launched Genie Code, an autonomous AI agent designed for agentic data work. Unlike standard AI assistants that just suggest code, Genie Code can independently build data pipelines, debug failures, and maintain production systems. 

Amazon closed the deal for the New York-based startup Fauna Robotics to integrate its team into its Personal Robotics Group. 

• Flagship Product: Sprout, a 42-inch tall, "approachable" humanoid robot designed for light home chores like fetching items or picking up toys.
• Capabilities: Sprout can walk, dance, interact with people, and form memories over time using NVIDIA’s Jetson Orin platform.

 Amazon has invested in the German robotics startup Neura Robotics. 

 Neura is reportedly raising approximately €1 billion ($1.2 billion). 

previously announced:

Amazon buys Rivr

Amazon acquires autonomous robotics startup Rivr. Amazon had previously invested in Rivr and the company had a $110 million valuation in 2024.

Amazon Big Day

Amazon is investing up to $50 billion to expand its AI and supercomputing infrastructure specifically for U.S. government agencies. 

 Anthropic's latest and most intelligent foundation model, Claude Opus 4.5, is now available in Amazon Bedrock, a fully managed service for AI models. 

 Amazon Leo, the company's low Earth orbit satellite constellation, has debuted its most advanced antenna yet, "Leo Ultra," designed to deliver gigabit-speed internet virtually anywhere on Earth with optional direct AWS cloud connection. 

 Uber Elite is a new, invite-only luxury chauffeur service launched in March 2026, designed to surpass Uber Black as the platform's most premium ride option. It targets corporate executives and high-end travelers with a highly curated, professional experience. 

 Service Availability & Booking

• Current Cities: Initially available in Los Angeles and San Francisco, with a rollout to New York City expected next.
• Access: Currently invite-only, primarily extended to frequent Uber Black and Uber for Business users.

 Vehicle & Chauffeur Standards

• Luxury Fleet: Vehicles are high-end models less than three years old, including the Cadillac Escalade, Lucid Air, and Lincoln Navigator.
• Professional Chauffeurs: All rides are operated by commercially licensed, highly trained professional chauffeurs.
• Capacity: Sedans seat up to 3 passengers, while SUVs accommodate up to 5.

Also announced today:

Uber, Nissan and Wayve will collaborate to develop robotaxis with a pilot program using Nissan Leaf Evs planned for Tokyo later this year.

Google announced a major AI-driven update for Google Maps on March 12, 2026. This is the most significant update in over a decade. The update incorporates Gemini AI to transform the app into a conversational travel assistant and upgrade driving visuals. 

 Key Feature: "Ask Maps" 

Ask Maps is a Gemini-powered conversational interface rolling out today on mobile.  

• Conversational Search: Users can ask complex, natural-language questions like "find a public tennis court with lights for night play" or "find a hair salon good for curly hair".
• Customized Results: The feature pulls data from over 300 million places and contributor reviews to provide tailored recommendations based on past activity and preferences.
• Trip Planning: Full AI-generated trip itineraries can be requested directly within the app.

 Navigation & Driving Upgrades

Google also introduced Immersive Navigation, which is designed to make driving more intuitive through 3D modeling and AI. 

 AMD and Nutanix have announced a major multi-year strategic partnership centered on developing an open AI infrastructure platform for enterprise applications. 

  AMD is investing $150 million in Nutanix common stock at a price of $36.26 per share. AMD will provide up to an additional $100 million to fund joint engineering and marketing initiatives. 

 This agreement deepens a relationship that began in 2018. Prior to this investment, the companies worked together to optimize Nutanix's Acropolis OS and AHV hypervisor for AMD EPYC processors, primarily focusing on power efficiency and high-performance virtualization. 

Quantum computing leader IonQ announced an agreement to acquire SkyWater Technology in a deal valued at approximately $1.8 billion. This move creates a vertically integrated quantum platform by combining IonQ’s computing expertise with SkyWater's U.S.-based semiconductor foundry capabilities. 

Softbank will buy DigitalBridge for $3 billion in cash ($4 billion including debt)  DigitalBridge Group, Inc., a Florida-based alternative asset manager specializing in digital infrastructure. 

 DigitalBridge manages roughly $108 billion in assets, including data centers, cell towers, fiber networks, and edge infrastructure. 

 SoftBank gains exposure to DigitalBridge's diverse holdings, which include major players like Vantage Data Centers, Zayo, Switch, and AtlasEdge. 

previously announced:

Softbank buys ABB robotics unit

Softbank agreed to buy the robotics unit of Swiss engineering firm ABB for $5.4 billion according to Bloomberg reporting. 

Google has announced its fiber internet unit GFiber is combining with Astound Broadband.

also:

Google + Animaj

Google has invested $1 million in Animaj, an ai company creating content for kids on YouTube. The deal also provides Animaj with:

• Early access to Google DeepMind’s most advanced generative AI models.
• Direct collaboration with specialized teams across Google to develop content for global YouTube audiences.

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, announced an agreement to acquire Intersect, a provider of data center and energy infrastructure solutions, for $4.75 billion in cash plus assumed debt. 

 This acquisition is a strategic move to secure the electricity and infrastructure necessary to power AI technologies, helping Google expand capacity and build new power generation alongside increasing data center needs. Alphabet will gain control of several gigawatts of energy and data center projects under development or construction. 

The acquisition aims to bolster IBM's artificial intelligence (AI) and hybrid cloud strategy by integrating Confluent's real-time data streaming platform. 

previously announced:

IBM acquires Txture

the acquisition will help clients migrate and modernize hybrid cloud estates. 

Nvidia is investing $2 billion in Synopsys the chip design software company as part of an expanded multi-year strategic partnership. 

previously:

 Nvidia invest $2B in Xai 

 As part of a larger $20 billion package Nvidia will invest $2 billion using a special purpose vehicle (SPV) that will in turn lease Nvidia hardware. Apollo Global is also part of the overall deal.  

Uber and Zoox are partnering and currently testing the Las Vegas market.

previously announced:

Uber acquires  SpotHero

Uber acquires SpotHero which operates digital parking connecting drivers to 13,000 garages, lots and valets across 400 cities in the U.S. and Canada.

earlier news:

Uber + Baidu

 Uber is expanding its European operations by partnering with Baidu to introduce robotaxis in the United Kingdom, with trials set to begin in London in the first half of 2026.  

Uber + Nvidia

Uber plans to launch 100,000 Nvidia based robotaxis by 2027

.

other Nvidia news:

Nvidia partnered with Eli Lilly to build "the most powerful ai supercomputer" to accelerate drug discovery and development.

Nvidia invest $1 billion in Nokia

META announced it has acquired Moltbook, a social media platform specifically designed for ai agents to interact with one another autonomously.

previously announced:

META buys ai startup Manus

 The deal marks a major step in Meta's shift from chatbots to "acting AI" or autonomous agents. 

 Manus developed a "general-purpose" AI agent capable of executing complex, multi-step tasks end-to-end, such as market research, coding, and travel planning, rather than just generating text. 

Meta and Arm Holdings

Meta Platforms is partnering with Arm Holdings to use Arm data centers to power ai recommendations on Facebook and Instagram.

• Health100 Subsidiary: CVS is launching a new health technology unit called Health100 to house this integrated platform.
• Agentic AI Platform: The platform uses "agentic AI" (AI requiring minimal human intervention) to act as an "always-on" personal healthcare partner.
• Universal Integration: It is designed to work for consumers regardless of their specific pharmacy, care provider, or insurance company.
• Omnichannel Experience: Users interact with the platform through a mobile app using voice, visual, and text-based interactions

 Technological Foundation

The platform is built on Google’s advanced technology stack:

• Gemini Models: These models power the multimodal AI capabilities for complex medical interactions.
• BigQuery & Cloud Healthcare API: These are used for real-time data processing and interoperability.
• Data Protection: Patient data is secured via Google Cloud's HIPAA-compliant infrastructure, integrated with CVS's existing security protocols.

 META and AMD announce a multiyear strategic agreement worth up to $100 billion.  Meta will purchase enough processors to drive roughly 6 gigawatts of data center power demand.  AMD issued Meta a performance-based warrant for up to 160 million shares of AMD common stock—approximately 10% of the company—at just $0.01 per share .

This deal is identical to the OpenAi deal announced back in October 2025, where OpenAi also can obtain 10% of AMD.

 Microsoft officially launched the Maia 200, its latest in-house AI chip. Built on TSMC's 3nm process, the chip is designed to power large-scale workloads such as OpenAI's GPT-5.2 and Microsoft 365 Copilot, claiming performance superior to competitors like Amazon's Trainium and Google's TPU. 

 Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca acquired Modella AI, a firm specializing in AI-driven pathology and biomarker discovery. The acquisition aims to integrate foundation models directly into AstraZeneca's oncology research and clinical trials. 

 Beyond the CoreWeave deal, Nvidia released three new open-source AI models as part of its Earth-2 family. These models are designed to provide faster and more cost-effective weather and climate forecasting than traditional simulations. 

launches Claude sonnet 4.6

previously announced:

Anthropic, Chevron choose TX. 

Anthropic to invest $50 billion to build ai data centers starting in Texas and New York. 

Also choosing Texas is Chevron for its first ai data center power project. Chevron will provide natural gas-fired power to a data center in West Texas. This will create a new line of business for the oil giant.

Anthropic + Google Cloud

On October 23, 2025, Anthropic announced a major expansion of its partnership with Google Cloud. As part of the deal, Anthropic will gain access to up to one million of Google's custom-designed Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) to train and serve the next generation of its Claude models. This will add over a gigawatt of compute capacity for Anthropic by 2026. 

 At its re:Invent 2025 event, Amazon Web Services (AWS) introduced its new custom Trainium3 AI chips and made its Trainium3-powered UltraServers generally available. 

 AWS also provided a roadmap for the next chip, Trainium4, which is already in development. The Trainium4 is expected to deliver another major performance increase and, notably, will support Nvidia's NVLink Fusion high-speed interconnect technology, making it easier to integrate with Nvidia-centric AI workflows. 

Amazon is testing a new "ultrafast" delivery program called Amazon Now in select parts of Seattle and Philadelphia.

Disney is investing $1 billion in OpenAi which in turn will license Disney characters for Sora in a 3-year deal that includes Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars brands. 

After months of testing, and people openly noticing, Threads officially launched Ghosts Posts. These are posts that will disappear after 24 hours but will be archived and still available to you as well as any responses you receive so you can still engage.

Palo Alto Networks announces the acquisition of Chronosphere to combine with Cortex AgentiX platform. 

Qualcomm announces the acquisition of Arduino, a popular Italian open-source hardware and software company. 

Monolith ai is a London-based company specializing in applying ai and machine learning to solve complex physics and engineering problems. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

Adobe will acquire Semrush, a leading brand visibility platform. Semrush is a powerful partner for marketers looking to manage brand visibility and audience reach through data-driven GEO and SEO solutions. 

Google announced a significant breakthrough in quantum computing using its Willow chip. The company successfully ran a verifiable algorithm, known as "Quantum Echoes," which is a major step toward practical, real-world applications of quantum technology. 

Cisco has launched a new networking chip designed to connect ai data centers with cloud computer units in competition with Broadcom. It will work in conjunction with new routing device designed to connect data centers located over vast distances. (Reuters)