Financial Times: Sources: OpenAI is aiming to add a checkout system into ChatGPT, to ensure users complete transactions within the platform, with merchants paying a commission — Artificial intelligence start-up has shown brands a prototype of its new checkout feature — OpenAI plans to take a cut …
Eleanor Olcott / Financial Times: In Beijing, Jensen Huang says Nvidia will “accelerate the recovery” of its China chip sales and he expects its US export licenses “to come through very shortly” — Jensen Huang tells Beijing press conference it takes nine months to restart supply chain
Martha Muir / Financial Times: Google signs two 20-year power purchase agreements worth $3B to access hydroelectric power from Brookfield's renewables arm, delivering up to 670MW of power — Tech groups seeking renewable energy to meet huge demand from artificial intelligence — Google has reached a $3bn deal …
Financial Times: The US Commerce Department opens national security probes into imports of unmanned aircraft systems and polysilicon supply chains, used in chip manufacturing — Investigations could lead to tariffs on unmanned aircraft systems and polysilicon — The US commerce department has launched …
Eleanor Olcott / Financial Times: Alibaba is putting $7B in Taobao promotions as JD.com invests $1.4B to grow food delivery, with both offering discounts to become China's leading “everyday app” — JD.com and Alibaba are luring shoppers with discounts in push to grab market share from rival Meituan
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times: Disney and ITV agree a deal to stream hit shows like The Bear and Love Island on each other's platforms for the first time, starting July 16; both can sell ads — Companies hope content-sharing agreement will help them attract new subscribers in fiercely competitive market
Laura Onita / Financial Times: M&S Chair Archie Norman tells UK parliament that M&S used the FBI and UK agencies to combat the May cyberattack and says M&S believes DragonForce was behind it — Chair Archie Norman tells parliamentarians retailer believes Dragon Force was criminal gang behind attack
Financial Times: Italy arrests Chinese citizen Xu Zewei; a source says Xu is linked to hacking group Hafnium that breached Microsoft in 2021 to steal COVID-19 vaccine secrets — Xu Zewei suspected of links to Beijing-backed group accused by Washington of stealing Covid-19 vaccine secrets
Financial Times: Sources: OpenAI overhauled its security, adding biometric checks in its offices and isolating sensitive info, to protect IP such as model weights from espionage — Artificial intelligence group has added fingerprint scans and hired military experts to protect important data
Kieran Smith / Financial Times: Experts say ransomware group DragonForce, which targeted M&S, Harrods, and the Co-op, started a turf war with rival RansomHub that may bring more company hacks — A clash between rival criminal ransomware groups could result in corporate victims being extorted twice, cyber experts warn
Emma Jacobs / Financial Times: On-the-job learning in fields like law and banking faces a double threat: hybrid work limiting juniors' time with seniors and Gen AI cutting many routine tasks — Employers will have to be more deliberate in the training they offer junior staff — Jamie Dimon is unequivocal about the impact …
Financial Times: Gates Industrial, Generac, and other US industrial firms are seeking to share of the AI boom by increasing efforts to supply specialized data center equipment — Companies are seeking a share of the hundreds of billions of dollars being invested in the fast-growing sector
Financial Times: Sources: Stockholm-based AI-powered app builder Lovable is set to raise $150M+ led by Accel at a ~$1.8B valuation, as VCs rush to back “vibe coding” startups — Two-year-old group nears more than $150mn in new funding as investors swarm around AI coding businesses
George Hammond / Financial Times: VC firms Thrive Capital and General Catalyst deploy private equity's “roll-up” strategy; Khosla Ventures, Bessemer, 8VC, and others are also exploring roll-ups — Thrive Capital's backing of Savvy Wealth is part of growing effort to fund groups that go on to buy similar companies
Financial Times: Sensor Tower: Temu's US MAU fell 51% to 40.2M from March to June, while Shein's dropped 12% to 41.4M, amid the US' China tariffs and “de minimis” closure — Online retailers Temu and Shein have seen their once rapid user growth go into reverse in the US after President Donald …
Song Jung-a / Financial Times: South Korea becomes Asia's best-performing stock market in H1 2025, as shares rise following President Lee Jae-myung's pledge to allow won-based stablecoins — New president's pledge to allow won-based stablecoins has led to huge gains in related shares this month
Financial Times: Nvidia executives, including Jensen Huang, have sold $1B+ worth of company stock in the past 12 months, with $500M+ in share sales occurring in June 2025 alone — Chief executive Jensen Huang leads wave of insider selling as AI demand boosts stock to record high
Michael Pooler / Financial Times: Brazil's supreme court rules that platforms like Facebook and X can be held liable for user posts, requiring them to remove content even without a court order — Ruling risks stoking tensions with US amid accusations of censorship of social media groups — Brazil's supreme court has ruled …
Mark Lane / Financial Times: How AI, AR, and VR tech developed for agriculture, from watering systems to robotic mowers, is trickling down to smaller-scale domestic growers and gardens — From laser scarecrows and solar-powered weeding robots to trees bred to capture more carbon, high-tech horticulture is in full germination
Cristina Criddle / Financial Times: Researchers: “chain of thought” techniques used by Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, and xAI show inconsistencies where chatbot answers contradict the stated reasoning — Anthropic, Google and OpenAI deploy ‘chains of thought’ to better understand the operations of AI systems
Barbara Moens / Financial Times: Sources: Apple is locked in last-minute EU negotiations over App Store changes to avoid fines set for this week, and is expected to offer “steering” concessions — Tech group must make concessions to comply with Digital Markets Act or be hit by escalating levies from Thursday
Financial Times: Tesla's Austin robotaxi service gets a limited launch, with ~10 Model Y vehicles and safety drivers; Elon Musk says initial users will pay “a $4.20 flat fee” — Self-driving technology on which Elon Musk has staked the future of his company debuts in Texas
Financial Times: Sources: Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky could get a multibillion-dollar windfall if he steers the fintech's valuation to ~$150B, under an Elon Musk-style pay package — Nik Storonsky struck deal before SoftBank funding round that awards him more shares if valuation clears set hurdles
Kieran Smith / Financial Times: London-based PhysicsX, which uses AI to design industrial parts such as engine and drone components, raised $135M, a source says at just under a $1B valuation — London-based group raises $135mn amid surge of interest in defence sector — London-based artificial intelligence start …
Maisie Grice / Financial Times: Fidelity: ~50% of UK investors trust social media, finfluencers, and AI tools for financial decisions; only ~33% used a qualified adviser in the past two years — Growing draw of social media influencers and platforms comes at expense of regulated advice — Nearly half of UK investors put …
Philip Stafford / Financial Times: BitcoinTreasuries.net: about 130 publicly-listed companies currently hold a combined ~$87B in bitcoin, about 3.2% of all the bitcoins that will ever exist — Corporate treasuries now hold more than 3% of the world's biggest cryptocurrency, a stash worth $87bn
Financial Times: The BBC threatens Perplexity with legal action for allegedly training its “default AI model” using BBC content; Perplexity calls the BBC's claims “manipulative” — British broadcaster makes first move to clamp down on alleged infringement of copyright by tech groups
William Langley / Financial Times: A look at China's efforts to grow its “low-altitude economy”, or the airspace below 1,000 meters, by leveraging its domination in drone production and drone R&D — Authorities bet ‘low-altitude economy’ will be next driver of growth In a school district in Shenzhen …
Barbara Moens / Financial Times: The European Court of Justice's advocate-general says the EU fining Google €4.12B for using Android to squash rivals should be upheld, a major blow to Google — ECJ adviser supports Brussels regulators' findings over dominance of tech giant's Android mobile operating system
Sylvia Pfeifer / Financial Times: Anduril partners with Germany's Rheinmetall to build variants of Anduril's Barracuda and Fury aerial drones, aiming to enhance sovereign capabilities in Europe — US companies are seeking to use their technological expertise to benefit from rising defence spending in the region
Isabel Berwick / Financial Times: Studies: women are 25% less likely than men to have basic digital skills, are more likely to be in automation-threatened jobs, and use ChatGPT less at work — Curiosity, experimentation and learning are crucial if women are to shape the future of work — The writer is FT Working It editor and author of ‘The Future-Proof Career’
Financial Times: German defense tech startup Helsing raised €600M led by Daniel Ek's Prima Materia, sources say at a ~€12B valuation, bringing its total funding to €1.37B — Defence start-up valued at €12bn to become one of Europe's most valuable tech groups
Carl Benedikt Frey / Financial Times: AI is just another productivity tool and the productivity gains will be limited; for lasting economic expansion, AI must catalyze new industries and initiatives — Economic miracles stem from discovery, not repeating tasks at greater speed — The writer is author of 'How Progress Ends …
Financial Times: Digital asset platform Tron plans to go public via a reverse merger with Nasdaq-listed SRM Entertainment, after the US paused a probe into founder Justin Sun — Deal involving Justin Sun's digital asset venture orchestrated by investment bank linked to Trump's sons
Financial Times: Sources: China delays approval of Synopsys' Ansys deal as the US moved in late May to ban chip design software sales by US firms, including Synopsys, to China — Beijing's antitrust regulator postpones sign-off on Synopsys and Ansys deal — A $35bn US semiconductor industry merger …
Financial Times: Visa: stablecoin transaction volumes hit $752B in May, up from $409B in May 2024, and wallets that regularly send and receive payments hit a record 46M average — Usage of the digital assets is growing rapidly, but concerns remain about supervision and their impact on other parts of the financial system
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times: How ad agency WPP is embracing AI tools, despite the threat to its creative business; its stock is down 50% in seven years and its AI platform has 50K+ users — Chief executive Mark Read pushed to adopt artificial intelligence but is set to exit with the share price languishing
Financial Times: The UK plans to launch an autonomous taxi trial in London in spring 2026, a year earlier than planned; Uber and Wayve will partner to operate the service — Britain tries to catch up in the race to adopt autonomous vehicles — The UK plans to bring a small number of driverless taxis …
Laura Onita / Financial Times: UK retailer M&S begins accepting online orders again, seven weeks after disclosing a sustained cyberattack that cost it up to £300M in this financial year — Retailer says it will take ‘weeks’ to restore some online services as fashion ranges return
Tim Bradshaw / Financial Times: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang warns the UK lacks the digital infrastructure needed to capitalize on AI despite “incredible” research talent, as PM Starmer pledges £1B — Jensen Huang seeks ‘sovereign’ artificial intelligence deals that diversify US chip giant's business away from Big Tech groups
Oliver Barnes / Financial Times: Maryland-based quantum computing company IonQ agrees to acquire Oxford Ionics, which spun out of Oxford University, for $1.07B in stock, set to close in 2025 — Acquisition of Oxford Ionics for $1.1bn shows advances in processing are kick-starting dealmaking
Emma Jacobs / Financial Times: An interview with Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn on criticism after Duolingo went “AI-first”, personalized interactions with personality-based chatbots, and more — Luis von Ahn says criticism over strategy change shows ‘anxiety’ about technology replacing jobs
Financial Times: Sources: Mistral AI has closed or is closing a handful of commercial contracts, each worth $100M+ over three to five years, as it expands its own infrastructure — Start-up has embarked on expansion of its own infrastructure and secured significant contracts
Aanu Adeoye / Financial Times: A profile of Nigerian fintech PalmPay, which raised $140M+ from Transsion and other Chinese firms, says it has 35M+ registered users, and aims to be “super app” — Chinese-backed payment app has focused on customers excluded by traditional banks, growing to 35mn users
David Keohane / Financial Times: Nintendo launches the Switch 2 globally, with midnight store openings and long queues; analysts expect it to sell 15M to 20M units, in line with its FY guidance — Mario fans queue at midnight store openings after games company apologises for failing to meet pre-order demand
Financial Times: Sources: Xiaomi is among the Chinese companies most affected by new US chip design tool export rules, including its new 3nm mobile chip made by TSMC in Taiwan — Companies may struggle to manufacture silicon in Taiwan with export controls preventing updates to design tools
Melissa Heikkilä / Financial Times: A UK government trial with 20K+ civil servants using Microsoft's Copilot AI for three months found a 26 minute average daily time saving, or two weeks per year — Staff used Microsoft's Copilot to help draft documents and summarise meetings — Simply sign up to the Artificial intelligence myFT Digest …
Barbara Moens / Financial Times: The EU Commission fines European takeaway groups Delivery Hero and Glovo €329M for taking part in an “online food delivery cartel”, ending its July 2024 probe — European Commission says European food delivery groups shared trade secrets — Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT …
Matthew Garrahan / Financial Times: An interview with Jony Ive and Laurene Powell Jobs on tech's next chapter, meeting in 1997, Steve Jobs, Apple, Powell Jobs backing LoveFrom in 2019, and more — After Apple, the Silicon Valley visionaries are looking to artificial intelligence to shape the future again
Christopher Grimes / Financial Times: Art house streaming service and distributor Mubi raised $100M led by Sequoia at a $1B valuation; Mubi has about 20M registered users worldwide — Capital infusion led by Silicon Valley firm comes after box office success of ‘The Substance’ — Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.