ARM to sign $250M chip deal with Malaysia
The SoftBank-backed chipmaker has signed an agreement with the Malaysian government to bolster the country’s chip design ecosystem.
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
The Download: Google DeepMind’s plans for robots, and Eastern Europe’s changing tech sector
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Gemini Robotics uses Google’s top language model to make robots more useful The news: Google DeepMind has released a new model, Gemini Robotics, that combines its best large language model with robotics. Plugging…
TopTechTrends
AI reasoning models can cheat to win chess games
Facing defeat in chess, the latest generation of AI reasoning models sometimes cheat without being instructed to do so. The finding suggests that the next wave of AI models could be more likely to seek out deceptive ways of doing whatever they’ve been asked to do. And worst of all? There’s no simple way to…
Apple is challenging U.K.’s iCloud encryption backdoor order
Apple is challenging a U.K. Government data access order in the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), the Financial Times reports. The order targeted iCloud backups that are protected by end-to-end encryption. Last month, press leaks revealed the existence of the January order asking Apple to build a backdoor in iCloud’s encrypted backups. U.K. officials are exercising […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Darwinbox, the HR upstart from India, raises $140M to take on Deel and Rippling
Darwinbox, an Indian startup building a SaaS platform for hiring, onboarding and employee administration, has raised $140 million to take on the likes of Rippling and Deel as it seeks to expand internationally, especially in the U.S. The funding is being co-led by KKR and Partners Group, and is a mix of primary and secondary […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
From high school science project to $18.3M: AI-accelerated enzymes are coming for fast fashion’s plastic waste
A U.K. startup, originating from founder Jacob Nathan’s high school science project on using enzymes to break down plastic waste, has secured an oversubscribed $18.3 million in Series A funding. Founded in 2019 in London, Epoch Biodesign now a 30+ strong multidisciplinary team of chemists, biologists and software engineers. It will be using the new […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
CoreWeave acquires AI developer platform Weights & Biases
Nvidia-backed data center company CoreWeave has acquired AI developer platform Weights & Biases for an undisclosed sum. According to The Information, CoreWeave spent $1.7 billion on the transaction. Weights & Biases was valued at $1.25 billion in 2023, and it recently filed for an IPO. Lukas Biewald, Chris Van Pelt, and Shawn Lewis founded Weights & Biases […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
CoreWeave partner EcoDataCenter racks up half a billion dollars to build more sustainable buildings for AI
EcoDataCenter, a Swedish company that builds eco-friendly data centers used by major compute providers to handle their AI traffic, has raised nearly half a billion dollars — $478 million (€450 million) to be exact — in anticipation of more demand. The equity funding, which is coming from a group of unnamed institutional investors, will be […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Meta brings its anti-fraud facial recognition test to the UK after getting a thumbs up from regulators
Last October, Meta dipped its toe into the world of facial recognition — an area where it has had a tricky record — with an international test of two new tools: one to stop scams based on likenesses of famous people, and a second facial recognition feature to help people get back into compromised Facebook […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Defense tech startup Epirus raises $250M Series D to counter drone swarms
Defense tech startup Epirus has raised a $250m Series D to expand its counter-drone solutions.
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Quantexa nabs $175M at a $2.6B valuation to double down on data analytics for AI
London startup Quantexa has made its name over the years with an enterprise platform that employs AI and data analytics to fight money laundering and fraud. Today, it is announcing new funding of $175 million to double down on that business while also moving deeper into another hot area: using its technology to help organizations […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.