SoftBank is converting a Sharp LCD factory into a battery plant for AI data centres. The data centres cannot wait five years.
SoftBank is converting a Sharp LCD factory into a battery plant for AI data centres. The data centres cannot wait five years.

Summary: SoftBank Corp. plans to convert part of the former Sharp LCD factory in Sakai, Osaka into one of Japan’s largest battery production lines for AI data centres, with production expected within five years (~2031). The move completes a vertical in…

Meta is cutting 8,000 jobs to pay for AI. It is also asking the survivors to train their replacements.
Meta is cutting 8,000 jobs to pay for AI. It is also asking the survivors to train their replacements.

Summary: Meta is cutting approximately 8,000 employees (10% of its workforce) beginning 20 May, cancelling 6,000 open roles, and planning additional cuts for H2 2026. The layoffs, announced via an internal memo from HR head Janelle Gale, are structural…

White House accuses China of industrial-scale AI model distillation, commits to intelligence sharing with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google
White House accuses China of industrial-scale AI model distillation, commits to intelligence sharing with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google

Summary: The White House OSTP released a policy memo accusing China of “industrial-scale” distillation of US AI models, committing to share intelligence with US AI companies and explore accountability measures. OpenAI accused DeepSeek of distilling its…

SpaceX’s IPO filing says its orbital data centres may never work. Three months ago, Musk called them a no-brainer.
SpaceX’s IPO filing says its orbital data centres may never work. Three months ago, Musk called them a no-brainer.

Summary: SpaceX’s confidential S-1 pre-IPO filing warns that its orbital AI data centre plans “involve significant technical complexity and unproven technologies, and may not achieve commercial viability,” contradicting Elon Musk’s January claim at Dav…

Pichai opens Cloud Next 2026 with $240B backlog, 750M Gemini users, and a plan to turn Search into an agent manager
Pichai opens Cloud Next 2026 with $240B backlog, 750M Gemini users, and a plan to turn Search into an agent manager

Summary: Sundar Pichai opened Cloud Next 2026 with Google Cloud at $70 billion in annual revenue, 48% growth, a $240 billion backlog that doubled in a year, and $175-185 billion in planned capital expenditure. The Gemini app has 750 million monthly use…

OpenAI’s ChatGPT ads just went cost-per-click, and the AI advertising war has its battle lines
OpenAI’s ChatGPT ads just went cost-per-click, and the AI advertising war has its battle lines

Summary: OpenAI has shifted ChatGPT’s advertising from CPM to cost-per-click pricing, with bids between $3 and $5, after the $60 CPM it charged at launch in February eroded to as low as $25 within ten weeks. The move puts OpenAI in direct competition w…

Apple is betting John Ternus will bring back Jobs-era decisiveness at the worst possible time to be behind on AI
Apple is betting John Ternus will bring back Jobs-era decisiveness at the worst possible time to be behind on AI

Summary: Bloomberg frames Apple’s CEO transition as a bet on “Jobs-era decisiveness,” with John Ternus expected to centralise decision-making and move faster on AI, where Apple’s models trail year-old competitors and the Siri overhaul has been delayed …

Meta has hired five founding members of Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab in a systematic talent raid
Meta has hired five founding members of Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab in a systematic talent raid

In summary: Meta has hired five founding members of Thinking Machines Lab, the AI startup built by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, after she rejected a reported $1 billion acquisition offer. The most expensive individual hire, co-founder Andrew Tulloch,…

John Ternus built Apple’s hardware for 24 years and now he has to figure out AI
John Ternus built Apple’s hardware for 24 years and now he has to figure out AI

Summary: John Ternus, Apple’s incoming CEO effective 1 September, is a 50-year-old mechanical engineer who reversed a period of declining product quality, personally lobbied for the creation of iPadOS, oversaw the Apple Silicon transition, and now cont…

Tim Cook is stepping down as Apple CEO after nearly 15 years, with hardware chief John Ternus taking over
Tim Cook is stepping down as Apple CEO after nearly 15 years, with hardware chief John Ternus taking over

Summary: Tim Cook is stepping down as Apple CEO on 1 September after nearly 15 years, during which Apple’s market capitalisation grew from $348 billion to roughly $4 trillion and annual revenue quadrupled to $416 billion. John Ternus, the 50-year-old S…