Wall Street Journal: Sources: the EU's executive arm is drafting new legislation aimed at promoting tech sovereignty and openly discussing the security risks posed by US tech — Trump's Greenland threats inject urgency into region's efforts to reduce its reliance on American technology
Wall Street Journal: Sources: the Trump administration dismissed two Commerce Department officials, who focused on Chinese tech threats, raising concerns about a softening stance — Departing staffers worked for a Commerce Department office charged with protecting the U.S. from Chinese technological advances
Wall Street Journal: Intel's stock, riding high for months after the US government took a 10% stake, crashed 17% on Jan. 23, after the company flagged continued operational issues — After months of riding positive vibes, the troubled chip maker reminded investors why it needed a rescue in the first place
Rolfe Winkler / Wall Street Journal: Sources: the US DOJ opened a criminal probe and sent out grand-jury subpoenas in recent weeks over allegations that Deel recruited a spy inside rival Rippling — Subpoenas seek information on allegations that Deel, valued at around $17 billion, recruited a spy inside a rival company
Isabelle Bousquette / Wall Street Journal: How Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google are testing AI models by having them play Pokémon Blue on Twitch to track a model's ability to reason and make decisions — Nintendo's original Pokémon games are becoming a popular and strangely effective way to test and benchmark new artificial-intelligence models.
Aimee Look / Wall Street Journal: Vinted CEO Thomas Plantenga says the Lithuania-based secondhand retailer plans to spend tens of millions of dollars to expand in the US in the coming months — CEO Thomas Plantenga says the startup is pouring tens of millions of dollars into efforts to expand in the U.S. over the next few months
Mauro Orru / Wall Street Journal: At Davos, Jensen Huang says AI is already bringing economic benefits and needs more investment, and an “AI bubble comes about because the investments are large” — Jensen Huang called for higher investments to further spread the technology across developed and emerging economies
Benoît Morenne / Wall Street Journal: Salt Lake City-based Zanskar, which uses AI to find overlooked geothermal fields to boost US electricity supply, raised $115M, taking its total funding to $180M — The startup uses AI to find overlooked geothermal fields and says its discoveries can help sate the U.S.'s thirst for electricity
Jiahui Huang / Wall Street Journal: Sources: Baidu's Ernie Assistant passes 200M MAUs, as competition intensifies among Chinese tech giants in AI; Ernie is linked to apps like JD.com and Meituan — Ernie Assistant is integrated into its flagship Baidu search-engine app and on personal computers
Wall Street Journal: A look at the business and geopolitical considerations behind TSMC's international expansion, as Taiwan commits to spend $250B+ in the US in a trade deal — TSMC has for decades provided a ‘Silicon Shield’ to its namesake island. Now it sees both business and geopolitical reasons for going big in the U.S.
Ben Cohen / Wall Street Journal: A look at the making of The Thinking Game, a documentary about Google DeepMind and its CEO Demis Hassabis, garnering 285M+ views on YouTube since November 2025 — A documentary about Google DeepMind has become wildly popular. Before he turned his attention to AI, the film's director learned everything from the NFL.
Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal: TrendForce: data centers will use 70%+ of the high-end memory chips all manufacturers will produce in 2026, with little new manufacturing capacity until 2027 — AI companies' need for a type of once-affordable microchip threatens to drive up prices of all electronics—and limit data-center ambitions
Wall Street Journal: Sources: Chinese AI companies seek to rent compute in Southeast Asia and the Middle East for Nvidia Rubin access, as Zhipu and Alibaba warn of a widening US gap — Companies in China scrap for access to Nvidia's latest Rubin lineup while better-funded U.S. competitors are first in line
Ryan Dezember / Wall Street Journal: AWS signs a two-year supply deal with Rio Tinto to access its Arizona copper mine, the US' first new source in 10+ years, as AI data centers create huge demand — The copper, which is being produced in Arizona by Rio Tinto with bacteria and acid, will be used for data-center construction
Sara Ashley O'Brien / Wall Street Journal: Self-help gurus like Tony Robbins, Gabby Bernstein, and Matthew Hussey are charging up to $99 per month to access AI chatbots that promise personalized advice — Self-help gurus like Matthew Hussey and Gabby Bernstein have expanded their empires with AI chatbots promising personalized advice
Jiyoung Sohn / Wall Street Journal: In South Korea's competition to develop an indigenous AI model, three of the five finalists used foreign open-source code, which they argue is practical — Korea's efforts show how hard it is to develop homegrown AI models and break a reliance on U.S. or Chinese tech giants
Isabelle Bousquette / Wall Street Journal: Netflix CTO Elizabeth Stone and other execs discuss the challenges Netflix faces in streaming live events, after broadcasting 200+ live events since March 2023 — After some very public glitches, Netflix thinks it has cracked the code on the tech needed to stream live events.
Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal: Sources: OpenAI plans a 60-second Super Bowl ad during NBC's broadcast, the second straight year of doing so; ad buyers say clients pay $8M+ for just 30 seconds — AI companies are engaged in an expensive arms race to attract users and alleviate public anxiety about the technology
Wall Street Journal: PJM, the nonprofit operator for a 13-state power grid across the US, expects 4.8% average annual power growth over the next decade driven by the AI boom — Increasing demand from tech industry threatens to max out generation capacity in 13-state region; rate increases anger consumers
Wall Street Journal: A profile of China's CXMT, whose $4.2B IPO goal would rank among the century's biggest chip debuts, as the memory chip maker faces US and South Korean curbs — As AI demand drives prices up, CXMT overcomes Washington's curbs to vie with Micron and South Korean leaders
Dan Gallagher / Wall Street Journal: Despite projections of memory shortages for PCs and phones, producers like Micron will proceed cautiously in adding new capacity, mindful of past downcycles — Sandisk, Western Digital, Seagate and Micron need to keep undershooting demand — The world needs a lot more memory chips and hard drives.
Vicky Ge Huang / Wall Street Journal: A look at Tether's role in Venezuela's economy, which puts it in a prime position to aid the U.S. as it seeks to find funds allegedly stolen by Maduro's regime — The stablecoin served as a tool to avoid sanctions and a lifeline for everyday citizens — Nicolás Maduro helped make tether the world's dominant stablecoin.
Jennifer Hiller / Wall Street Journal: Meta strikes a 20-year deal to buy 2,600+ MW of nuclear power from Vistra, and announces deals to back new reactor projects from TerraPower and Oklo — Facebook parent will back nuclear projects with Oklo, Bill Gates-backed TerraPower and Vistra — Meta Platforms on Friday unveiled …
Patrick Coffee / Wall Street Journal: Nvidia has hired Google Cloud VP of Marketing Alison Wagonfeld to be Nvidia's first CMO; source: Wagonfeld will report to CEO Jensen Huang — Alison Wagonfeld will report to CEO Jensen Huang as marketing rises in importance at the AI chip maker — Nvidia, the top AI chip maker …
Wall Street Journal: Sources: China is considering how to build fences around its AI know-how amid the AI race and is identifying standout companies to add to an export control list — Beijing worries $2.5 billion acquisition of startup Manus will encourage more entrepreneurs to follow in its footsteps
Wall Street Journal: Big US hospital systems have become a proving ground for AI adoption; a survey finds that 27% of health systems are paying for commercial AI licenses — Healthcare is going all-in on artificial intelligence, from reading patient scans to fighting insurance denials
Jack Pitcher / Wall Street Journal: Memo: JPMorgan's asset management unit cuts ties with proxy advisory firms to use its AI-powered Proxy IQ platform to assist on US votes, an industry first — Bank's asset and wealth-management unit will use in-house, AI-powered platform to cast shareholder votes
Stu Woo / Wall Street Journal: GWI: LinkedIn's 2025 revenue rose to $17B from $7B in 2020 as users doubled to 1.3B; 4.7% of US users checked more than once per day in 2025, from 3.9% in 2020 — Data show people are scrolling longer on the site. Its secret is a founding principle that curbs toxicity. — It isn't just you.
Katherine Blunt / Wall Street Journal: As data center development puts pressure on power grids, US officials propose requiring data centers to power down or switch to a backup as blackout risks rise — Power-grid operators are asking tech companies to supply their own electricity or go dark at times, but many are pushing back
Dominic Chopping / Wall Street Journal: German car parts supplier Bosch plans to invest €2.5B+ in AI by the end of 2027 and unveils AI-based driver-assist systems with features like automatic parking — Last year Bosch said it would seek to harness AI's productivity gains in areas like manufacturing and improving supply-chain efficiency
Wall Street Journal: A profile of Max Tegmark, the physicist pushing to halt AGI development, who was subpoenaed by OpenAI over the Future of Life Institute's past ties to Elon Musk — Max Tegmark wants to halt development of artificial superintelligence—and has Steve Bannon, Meghan Markle and will.i.am as supporters
Jiyoung Sohn / Wall Street Journal: A profile of June Paik, CEO of Seoul-based chip startup FuriosaAI, valued at ~$700M, whose AI chip dubbed “RNGD” is slated to enter mass production this month — June Paik spurned a takeover offer from Meta Platforms last year. Now his South Korean company, FuriosaAI, has an AI chip entering mass production.
Dan Gallagher / Wall Street Journal: The Groq deal shows the challenges Nvidia faces as options to deploy its cash flood narrow; its annual free cash flow has risen from $4.2B in 2020 to $80B+ now — Blowout AI spending fills chip maker's coffers, but Groq deal shows that company needs to think creatively
Becky Peterson / Wall Street Journal: A look at Elon Musk's bet that Tesla's future is in its Optimus humanoid robots, which for now rely on human helpers and still face commercial challenges — The billionaire has bet Tesla's future on humanoids, which for now rely on human helpers — The future of Tesla is an army …
Rolfe Winkler / Wall Street Journal: Comparing ChatGPT's mini-apps with native iOS apps: some like Uber, OpenTable, and TripAdvisor fell short with frequent error messages, but Instacart did well — ChatGPT apps are a key piece of OpenAI's long-shot bid to replace Apple. Many aren't yet useful. — Sam Altman wants OpenAI to have an app store to rival Apple's.
Meghan Bobrowsky / Wall Street Journal: How Meta's Reels became a hit, with a $50B+ annual run rate; Sensor Tower: users spend 27 minutes/day on Instagram Reels, 21 on YouTube Shorts, and 44 on TikTok — Once a TikTok wannabe, Instagram's video feature is now a hit with users and advertisers. Can it make the leap to television?
Angel Au-Yeung / Wall Street Journal: Startups have started to offer free nicotine pouches as a perk, as some employees claim the products help them focus during the workday, despite health hazards — A nicotine replacement for smokers has started popping up in offices in the tech industry, despite health hazards
Wall Street Journal: Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 28% in 2025, its best percentage performance since 2017, driven by tech, AI, and semiconductor stocks — The city's benchmark Hang Seng Index finished the year up 28% — Hong Kong stocks ended 2025 with a second consecutive annual gain …
Bob Tita / Wall Street Journal: How the AI data center boom boosted Caterpillar's power and energy unit; generator sales are up 28% YoY through Sept. 2025, after growing 22% to $7.8B in 2024 — Sales of generators are powering the manufacturing giant's fastest-growing segment and a race to help data centers skip the grid
Wall Street Journal: OpenAI financial data: its stock-based pay averaged ~$1.5M per employee in 2025, ~7x Google pre-IPO and ~34x the average pay of other pre-IPO peers, per Equilar — The company's stock-based compensation in 2025 reached an average of $1.5 million per employee
Kate Clark / Wall Street Journal: Sources: bids for GroqCloud, Groq's AI inference platform, are expected to exceed $1B after Nvidia's $20B non-exclusive licensing agreement with Groq — The chipmaker's AI-inference agreement with startup Groq indicates growing competition for top talent and technology
Wall Street Journal: How Manus distanced itself from its Chinese roots to court US investors; a source says Meta's $2.5B deal includes a $500M retention pool for Manus' employees — The $2.5 billion deal could herald a new era for China-linked AI companies and U.S. investors — Workers at Butterfly Effect …
Wall Street Journal: Sources: Meta is buying Manus for $2B+, after approaching the startup during a fundraising at a $2B valuation; Manus CEO Xiao Hong will report to Javier Olivan — The deal for more than $2 billion is one of the first in which a major U.S. tech company has bought a startup with Chinese roots
Wall Street Journal: Driven by the AI boom, chipmakers posted $400B+ in sales in 2025; FactSet projects revenue for Nvidia, Intel, Broadcom, AMD, and Qualcomm to reach $538B in 2026 — Nvidia leads the pack, but faces increasing competition and supply-chain challenges — Driven by the explosive growth …
Lydia Wheeler / Wall Street Journal: Sources and a memo: the US DOJ is using a novel reading of a federal anti-fraud law to probe contractors, including Google and Verizon, over their DEI programs — Google and Verizon among those being investigated under novel interpretation of law applying to government contractors
Sean McLain / Wall Street Journal: How executives at humanoid robot startups like Agility Robotics and Weave Robotics are managing safety risks and tempering expectations for the technology — Despite billions in investment, startups say their androids mostly aren't useful for industrial or domestic work yet
Vicky Ge Huang / Wall Street Journal: Bitcoin miners that are retooling data centers for AI have boosted their stocks; the CoinShares Bitcoin Mining ETF is up ~90% YTD even as bitcoin has slumped — The pivot to AI has lifted a bitcoin-mining ETF by around 90% this year, even as bitcoin itself has slumped. — It's harder than ever to mine bitcoin.
Stu Woo / Wall Street Journal: Sources: China's AI regulations, which require chatbots to pass a 2,000-question ideological test, have spawned specialized agencies that help AI companies pass — Beijing is enforcing tough rules to ensure chatbots don't misbehave, while hoping its models stay competitive with the U.S.
Heather Somerville / Wall Street Journal: The US FCC bans imports, marketing, and sales of new foreign-made drones and components, including from China's DJI and Autel, citing national security concerns — American customers hoarding products in anticipation of restrictions against popular Chinese manufacturer DJI and a smaller competitor, Autel Robotics
Sherry Qin / Wall Street Journal: Chinese AI chipmaker Biren Technology plans to raise up to ~$623M in a Hong Kong IPO, pricing shares at ~$2.19 to ~$2.52, and expects trading to start January 2 — The company expects its shares to start trading in Hong Kong on Jan. 2 — Chinese AI chip maker Shanghai Biren Technology seeks …