Technology News
Latest technology news and updates
Total: 2661
China’s Big Tech Turns Spring Festival Red Envelopes into an AI Battleground
Tencent’s recent 1 billion yuan Spring Festival giveaway has escalated a familiar marketing ritual into a proxy arena for China’s AI race. Big tech firms are shifting from model-centric competition to full-stack battles that combine massive capital expenditure, distributional advantage and ecosystem playbooks, with 2026 poised as a potential inflection point for AI monetisation.
Memory Makers Ride an AI-Fuelled Supercycle as Prices Soar — and Few Can Stop It
A surge in demand for AI‑related storage is driving rapid price rises across DRAM and NAND, with suppliers shifting to flexible, quarterly pricing and prioritising high‑margin AI products. Limited capacity growth — because investment is being spent on process upgrades rather than volume expansion — means the shortage looks structural and could persist through 2026–27, benefiting memory vendors but squeezing OEMs and raising the cost of scaling AI services.
Tencent's Sogou Keyboard Goes All‑In on AI, Adding Multi‑Language Real‑Time Translation
Tencent has launched Sogou Input Method 20.0, upgrading voice, typing and translation with model‑level AI and adding a 'HunYuan champion' translation model that supports over 30 languages. The change deepens Tencent's control over a key user interface and raises questions about data use, privacy and the company’s competitive posture in the AI arms race.
EU Designates WhatsApp a ‘Very Large’ Platform, Pushing Meta into Stricter Digital Regulation
The European Commission has designated WhatsApp as a ‘very large online platform’ under the Digital Services Act after its Channels feature surpassed the 45 million‑user threshold in the EU. The move compels Meta to implement systemic‑risk assessments, stronger transparency and content‑mitigation measures within four months or face significant fines.
Microsoft’s Maia 200 Raises the Stakes in the Cloud AI Chip War
Microsoft has started deploying its Maia 200 AI accelerator built on TSMC 3nm, claiming substantial performance and cost advantages versus Amazon’s Trainium and Google’s TPU. The chip — designed to run large models efficiently at low power — is part of Microsoft’s strategy to secure more predictable, cheaper AI compute for Azure and to lessen reliance on Nvidia. An SDK preview is available to developers, while broader cloud rental availability is promised for the future.
China’s Lanqi Says It Has Built a PCIe 6.0 / CXL 3.0 Active Electrical Cable — A Step Toward Domestic High‑Speed Interconnects
Lanqi Technology says it has developed and system‑validated an active electrical cable compatible with PCIe 6.x and CXL 3.x, claiming a domestic first. The development addresses the signal‑conditioning challenges of next‑generation high‑speed links and signals growing Chinese capability in end‑to‑end datacentre interconnects, though production readiness and ecosystem interoperability remain open questions.
TikTok’s US Data‑Security Unit Blames Data‑Center Power Cut for Widespread System Glitches
TikTok’s US data‑security joint venture reported system failures after a power outage at a US data‑center partner site, restoring network connectivity but warning of lingering errors such as slow loads and incorrect engagement counts. The incident highlights operational vulnerabilities in data‑localization plans and shows how physical infrastructure dependencies—electricity and third‑party hosting—can undermine assurances about control and resilience.
Microsoft Unveils Maia 200 AI Chip to Wean Azure Off Nvidia
Microsoft has deployed Maia 200, its second‑generation AI chip built by TSMC, to some data centres and released developer control software, positioning the company to reduce dependence on Nvidia. Wider availability to Azure customers remains unspecified, but the move intensifies a trend of cloud providers building custom accelerators to control costs, supply risk and performance.
Microsoft Unveils Maia 200 — A 3nm AI Inference Chip Aimed at Denting NVIDIA’s Dominance
Microsoft has launched Maia 200, a TSMC 3nm AI inference chip the company says outperforms Amazon’s Trainium v3 and Google’s TPU v7 on low-precision workloads while improving inference cost-efficiency by about 30% versus its current fleet. The release underscores hyperscalers’ push into custom silicon to reduce reliance on Nvidia GPUs, but success will depend on software tooling, ecosystem adoption and independent benchmarking.
Space Solar Remains a Lab Project, Not a Grid Solution—Laplace Says Technology Still in Exploration
Laplace cautions that space‑based solar power is still a technical research endeavour, not a commercial reality. Significant engineering, economic and governance hurdles must be overcome before orbital solar can rival terrestrial renewables.
AI’s Hunger for Memory Could Keep Global Chip Shortages Dragging On Until 2027
Synopsys CEO Sassine Ghazi warns that the current memory-chip shortage, driven by heavy demand from AI data centres, is likely to last through 2026 and potentially into 2027. Concentrated production, long lead times for new fabs and booming demand for HBM mean elevated prices and allocation pressures may persist, benefiting memory suppliers but squeezing device makers and other industries.
EU Opens Formal Probe into X’s ‘Grok’ Chatbot, Raising Stakes for AI Oversight
The European Commission has opened a formal DSA investigation into Grok, the AI chatbot on Elon Musk’s X, to evaluate systemic risks such as misinformation and user harm. The probe reflects the EU’s strengthened regulatory posture toward platform governance and AI oversight, and could lead to fines, operational constraints or mandated safety measures.