Sohee Kim / Bloomberg: A profile of South Korea's Galaxy, which is trying to disrupt K-pop's traditional idol system by blending AI characters and life-size robots, as it plans an IPO — Humanoid robots dressed in black, luxury hip-hop outfits snap into formation, moving in perfect sync to K-pop songs.
Alexandra S. Levine / Bloomberg: TikTok says ad leader Khartoon Weiss is leaving to pursue a new opportunity after nearly six years at the company, the latest high-profile executive to exit — TikTok advertising leader Khartoon Weiss is leaving the short-form video company, joining a wave of American executives stepping down over the past year.
Luz Ding / Bloomberg: Z.ai raises the prices for its most advanced AI model, GLM-5.1, by 8% to 17% compared to GLM-5 Turbo, joining Alibaba and Tencent as agentic AI demand surges — Zhipu raised the cost of access to its most advanced AI model by at least 8%, joining other leading Chinese artificial intelligence players …
Annie Bang / Bloomberg: Silicon Valley investors say annual recurring revenue, a popular metric with AI startups, cannot be trusted because it has no SEC definition and can be massaged — The co-founder of Cluely — an Andreessen Horowitz-backed startup with the motto, “Cheat on everything” …
Mark Bergen / Bloomberg: Google is updating Gemini to add a UI that triggers support hotline referrals and a “help is available” module when chats indicate potential crises like suicide — Alphabet Inc.'s Google plans to introduce new mental health support features for its Gemini chatbot as the company and rivals …
Austin Carr / Bloomberg: MLB rolls out “robot umps”, or an Automated Ball-Strike System, using Sony-made advanced cameras to help officiate games, but it often validates human umpires — The automated ball-strike system has often validated the judgement of the human umpires … Tech Across the Globe
Anthony Halpin / Bloomberg: Russian media says attempts to limit VPN use may have triggered a widespread banking outage, as Moscow intensifies a crackdown on internet use and Telegram — Russia's attempts to restrict the use of virtual private networks amid a clampdown on the Telegram messaging platform triggered …
Bloomberg: Chinese humanoid robot maker UBTech is seeking a chief scientist with an annual pay of as much as ~$18M; China's AI industry has eschewed mega pay packages — Chinese humanoid robot maker UBTech Robotics Corp. is seeking a chief scientist, offering an annual pay of as much as 124 million yuan …
Brody Ford / Bloomberg: Sources: Microsoft's Judson Althoff said Copilot sales hit “some pretty big audacious goals” in Q3; only 3% of customers were paying for Copilot as of January — Microsoft Corp., responding to Wall Street feedback, has pivoted its AI sales strategy to focus on selling Copilot rather …
Takashi Mochizuki / Bloomberg: Microsoft partners with SoftBank and Sakura Internet to build AI data infrastructure in Japan, investing $10B over four years and training 1M AI engineers — Microsoft Corp. unveiled a four-year, $10 billion investment package for Japan, a major pillar of its Asia-wide artificial intelligence push.
Bloomberg: A domestic shortage of electrical equipment such as transformers and switchgear is forcing the US to rely on Chinese imports, delaying data center construction — The struggle to manufacture transformers, switchgear and batteries domestically has forced the US to rely on imports, delaying data center construction.
Saritha Rai / Bloomberg: Sources: Sarvam AI is close to raising $300M-$350M at a ~$1.5B valuation, which could close as soon as next week; Bessemer Venture Partners is expected to lead — India's homegrown artificial intelligence startup, Sarvam AI, is close to raising $300 million to $350 million as it seeks …
Julia Fanzeres / Bloomberg: Challenger: US tech sector job cuts rose to 18,720 in March, up 24% YoY, taking the Q1 total to 52,000+; AI accounted for 25% of layoffs across all industries — Layoff announcements at technology companies continued to mount in March, leading other industries in overall US job-cut plans …
Bloomberg: Sources: Chinese optics company and Nvidia supplier Innolight confidentially filed for a Hong Kong IPO that could raise $3B+; Innolight is listed in Shenzhen — Chinese optics firm Zhongji Innolight Co. has confidentially filed for a Hong Kong listing, according to people familiar with the development …
Luz Ding / Bloomberg: Alibaba releases Qwen3.6-Plus, its third proprietary, closed-source AI model it launched within three days, saying it has “drastically enhanced” agentic coding — Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has released its third proprietary AI model in as many days, reinforcing the company's intent …
Bloomberg: A profile of Microsoft CFO Amy Hood, who paused some data center expansions in 2025, a decision some say led to its current supply crunch and growth bottleneck — After making a controversial call to pause some data center development last year, Amy Hood is navigating one of the toughest jobs in tech.
Ian King / Bloomberg: Intel agrees to pay $14.2B to repurchase Apollo's 49% stake in the Fab 34 joint venture in Leixlip, Ireland, and plans to issue $6.5B in new debt to fund it — Intel Corp., the chipmaker aiming to restore its manufacturing prowess, agreed to pay $14.2 billion to buy back half of a plant …
Bloomberg: Sources: amid the Iran war, Asian bankers say rising power prices and energy security are becoming a bigger consideration in data center financing decisions — The energy shock sparked by the Iran war is increasingly coming up in conversations about data center deals for Asian bankers …
Laura Noonan / Bloomberg: Malta is opposing EU plans to centralize crypto supervision under ESMA, seeing it as a politically motivated assault on its success in attracting crypto firms — Europe's financial supervision battles are usually fought diplomatically. A tersely worded statement here, a veiled signal there.
Faseeh Mangi / Bloomberg: A profile of Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority Chairman Bilal Bin Saqib, who has used crypto diplomacy to help Pakistan win over President Trump — Pakistan's new role as mediator between the US and Iran followed a long courtship of World Liberty Financial, Trump's crypto venture.
Jeanny Yu / Bloomberg: Analysis: 50% of Asia's 10 most volatile stocks are recent AI IPOs, such as Chinese companies Moore Threads and MiniMax, driven by thin institutional ownership — Chinese artificial-intelligence firms have emerged as one of the most volatile pockets of Asia's equity markets …
Bloomberg: TCL agrees to buy a 51% stake in Sony's global home entertainment business for ~$472M, as the Chinese company seeks to expand overseas; Sony retains a 49% stake — TCL Electronics Holdings Ltd. agreed to buy a majority stake in Sony Group Corp.'s global home entertainment business as the Chinese company seeks to expand overseas.
Bloomberg: Sources: Tether cuts two senior precious metals traders who joined from HSBC just months ago in its push to build “the best trading floor for gold in the world” — Tether Holdings SA has cut two senior precious metals traders who had joined from HSBC Holdings Plc just months ago …
Dana Wollman / Bloomberg: Nvidia invests $2B in chipmaker Marvell and says the two companies plan to work on silicon photonics tech, enabling high-speed data transmission; MRVL jumps 9%+ — Nvidia Corp. said it has invested $2 billion in Marvell Technology Inc. and that the two chipmakers plan to collaborate on silicon photonics technology.
Bloomberg: CoreWeave raised an $8.5B loan from banks and investors to expand its cloud computing capacity, in what it says is the largest chip-backed debt deal of its kind — CoreWeave Inc. has raised $8.5 billion from a group of banks and investors to help finance an expansion of its cloud computing capacity …
Dina Bass / Bloomberg: Sarasota-based Tenex, which offers an AI-enabled managed cybersecurity detection and response service, raised $250M led by Crosspoint at a $1B+ valuation — The funding round values the cybersecurity startup at more than $1 billion. — Tenex.ai, an artificial intelligence cybersecurity startup …
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg: Netflix feels comfortable raising prices knowing customers can downgrade to its ad tier; in 2026, Netflix is on track to double 2025's $1.5B+ in ad sales — The most popular Netflix plan will now cost $20 a month — a 150% increase from 2013 — Good afternoon from Los Angeles and happy baseball season to those of you who celebrate.
Bloomberg: Analysis: in 2025, Vietnam surpassed China as the leading supplier of laptops and game consoles to the US for the first time, despite President Trump's tariffs — Standing in front of a tripod streaming live to TikTok, a recruiter announces yet another round of job openings at a factory behind him churning out MacBooks.
Natalie Lung / Bloomberg: OpenAI's ChatGPT app store now has 300+ app integrations six months after its launch, but faces sluggish adoption due to limited functionality for many apps — Six months in, ChatGPT's third-party apps offer limited functionality and have been frustrating for developers.
Aisha S Gani / Bloomberg: London-based money transfer company Wise plans to launch UK bank accounts, joining an increasingly crowded market; Monzo reports 15M personal and business users — Wise Plc is rolling out everyday bank accounts in the UK as it seeks to take up more market share from longtime banks and other fintechs.
Bloomberg: A study finds ~$143M in suspicious profits on Polymarket over two years, using patterns consistent with the use of nonpublic info, as prediction markets boom — Early last Monday, a burst of concentrated trades set off a week in which Wall Street and Washington were abuzz about the possibility …
Bloomberg: A look at Amazon's major push into rural US areas, including building 24-hour delivery distribution centers in recent years, encroaching on Walmart's territory — The turf war between the two retail giants is playing out in towns across the country. — When the blue Amazon box truck rolled …
Kevin Lincoln / Bloomberg: Chess grandmasters find new ways to win by making less optimal moves after AI pushed classical chess toward perfect play, breathing new life into the game — Artificial intelligence drove chess toward perfect play, leading to more draws at top tournaments. Now grandmasters are winning by making less optimal moves.
Christopher Beam / Bloomberg: Prediction market bets decided on linguistic technicalities expose how hard it is to turn language into a binary market, with payouts hinging on a single word — Bets decided on linguistic technicalities are exposing how hard it is to turn language into a binary market with payouts hinging on a single word.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: Sources: Meta plans to debut two Ray-Ban smart glasses models next week intended for prescription wearers, to be sold mainly via prescription eyewear channels — Meta Platforms Inc. plans to debut two new Ray-Ban smart glasses models next week intended for prescription wearers.
Bloomberg: Source: Thrive Holdings has landed $1B in commitments for a new fundraising deal and is considering raising at least another $1B after strong investor interest — Thrive Holdings, an offshoot of Joshua Kushner's venture capital firm Thrive Capital, is in discussions to raise at least $2 billion …
Luz Ding / Bloomberg: Meituan reports Q4 revenue up 4.1% YoY to ~$13.3B and a ~$2.2B adjusted net loss, vs. ~$1.9B est., amid an intense food delivery fight with Alibaba and JD.com — Meituan expects losses per delivery order to start narrowing in the current quarter, as Chinese officials rein in its intense competition …
Bloomberg: Sources: Chinese chipmaker CXMT hit ~$8B in 2025 revenue, up 130% YoY, and projects ~$435M in adjusted net income, excluding one-time items, ahead of an IPO — ChangXin Memory Technologies Inc. more than doubled revenue to $8 billion in 2025, giving the strategically important Chinese chipmaker …
Bloomberg: Sources: AI science startup Periodic Labs, founded by ex-OpenAI VP Liam Fedus and DeepMind's Ekin Cubuk, aims to raise hundreds of millions at a ~$7B valuation — Periodic Labs, an artificial intelligence research startup founded last year by former OpenAI and DeepMind staffers …
Rebecca Torrence / Bloomberg: AI note taking startup Granola raised $125M led by Index Ventures at a $1.5B valuation, and plans Claude integrations and agentic AI features in the next year — Granola Inc., a startup whose artificial intelligence software has been gaining traction as a notetaking tool among Silicon Valley workers …
Rachel Yeo / Bloomberg: Chinese AI company Kuaishou reports Q4 revenue up 12% YoY to ~$5.7B, meeting est., adjusted net income up 16% YoY, and Kling text-to-video revenue of ~$49M — Kuaishou Technology said the rapid scaling up of its generative artificial intelligence tools drove revenue growth.
Ryan Gallagher / Bloomberg: How internet censorship tech maker Sandvine, a vendor to repressive regimes like Egypt, nearly collapsed before US restrictions forced new ownership and a pivot — Sandvine built a business offering network management tools that, in the wrong hands, could be used for censorship, until the US government intervened.
Newley Purnell / Bloomberg: OpenAI hires Kiran Mani, the CEO of Indian streaming platform JioStar, for a newly created role leading its Asia-Pacific operations, reporting to CSO Jason Kwon — OpenAI is tapping Kiran Mani, the chief executive officer of Indian streaming platform JioStar, for a newly created role leading its Asia-Pacific operations.
Bloomberg: EQT and McKinsey study: between 2014 and 2025, European tech companies with a current combined value of ~$1.4T listed abroad or were acquired by foreign buyers — European technology companies with a combined value of €1.2 trillion ($1.4 trillion) have debuted on overseas exchanges …
Caroline Hyde / Bloomberg: Kleiner Perkins raised $3.5B for two new funds, allocating $1B to its 22nd early-stage fund and $2.5B to a growth-stage fund, taking its AUM to $21B+ — Kleiner Perkins, the half-century-old venture capital institution, is raising $3.5 billion to make bets on artificial intelligence startups …
Anthony Halpin / Bloomberg: Russian space startup Bureau 1440 says it launched 16 broadband internet satellites, an early operational step in a low-Earth orbit network set to rival SpaceX — Russia's Bureau 1440 space company launched 16 broadband Internet satellites, marking an early operational step in a low-Earth orbit network …
Bloomberg: Xiaomi reports Q4 revenue up 7.3% YoY to ~$17B, narrowly above est., its slowest growth since 2023, as EV sales failed to make up for slumping smartphone demand — Xiaomi Corp. posted its slowest quarterly growth since 2023, after strong sales of its EVs failed to make up for slumping smartphone demand.
Bloomberg: Filing: SK Hynix plans to spend ~$8B on cutting-edge EUV lithography chipmaking tools from ASML through 2027, as it competes with Samsung to supply DRAM and HBM — SK Hynix Inc. plans to spend 11.9 trillion won ($7.9 billion) on cutting-edge extreme ultraviolet lithography chipmaking tools …
Natalie Lung / Bloomberg: London-based luxury ride-hailing app Wheely launches in NYC, aiming to compete with Uber Elite; Wheely reports ~1,250 corporate accounts and ~100K active riders — Luxury ride-hailing app Wheely is making its debut in the US, presenting competition to Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. …
Bloomberg: Sources: EA is selling a $15B debt package to fund its $55B take-private deal led by Saudi Arabia's PIF, including nearly $700M in projected annual cost savings — For Electronic Arts Inc.'s prospective debt investors, Battlefield 6 and Skate aren't just two of the video-game maker's most popular titles.