Week 27, 2025

-

highlights

1
OpenAI denied involvement with Robinhood's "OpenAI token" service in Europe, stating it's not company equity and no partnership exists. Robinhood CEO Tenev defended as "indirect exposure" to private assets.

2
Silicon Valley titans launch "Erebor" bank targeting startups and crypto companies. Seeks national charter, focusing on stablecoin services traditional banks avoid.

3
Circle, Ripple seek OCC bank charters for stablecoin credibility, direct Fed access, and self-custody reserves. GENIUS Act driving compliance.

4
xAI raised $10B through debt-equity mix, including 12.5% collateralized bonds. Burns $1B monthly with $4B remaining. Memphis supercomputer expanding to 1M GPUs despite revenue lagging OpenAI.

5
CoreWeave becomes first to deploy Blackwell Ultra chips, beating Amazon, Google, Microsoft. Stock jumped another 6% after 400% IPO gains.

6
Baidu open-sourced Ernie 4.5 AI model, claiming GPT-4.5 performance at 1% cost. CEO embracing openness after DeepSeek's success.

7
Apple considering external AI for Siri: Claude vs ChatGPT. Unprecedented strategy shift.

8
Microsoft fired 9,000 despite record profits. AI costs driving workforce cuts.

9
Amazon reached 1 million warehouse robots vs 1.2 million human workers. AI-powered automation handles 75% of shipping, reducing hiring needs.

10
Figma targets $1.5B IPO based on strong revenue growth. Faces competition from AI design tools threatening traditional workflows.

more

Perplexity launches $200 Max plan.

Sutskever returns as SSI CEO

Altman slams Meta's talent poaching.

Meta launches superintelligence lab.

NYT probes deleted ChatGPT logs.

Apple unveils interesting coding model.

FaceTime gets nudity detection.

OpenAI signs $30B Oracle cloud deal.

Samsung delays $44B Texas plant.

DeepMind develops robot "inner voice".

X pilots AI fact-checking.

TikTok battles racist AI videos.

Netflix partners with NASA to provide live space broadcasts.

iPhone India production stalled.

iPhone China sale rebound.

Foldable iPad development paused.

Apple reveals Durability lab.

Tesla Q2 vehicle sales drop 13%.

US lifts China chip software restrictions

EU implements AI law as planned.

Bezos sells $1B Amazon stock.

Microsoft exits Pakistan after 25 years.

-

Know anyone who might benefit from this newsletter? Forward this email to them. They can also sign up here.

-