Mike Wheatley
Latest from Mike Wheatley
Chinese startup Z.ai seeks $560M raise in Hong Kong IPO listing
One of China’s largest large language model developers, Z.ai, today filed plans for an initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It’s scheduled to list its shares on Jan. 8 under the ticker “2513,” and claims that by doing so it will become “the world’s first publicly listed foundation model company.” The company, ...
China targets semiconductor self-sufficiency with ‘50% rule’ imposed on local chipmakers
China’s rapid advances in semiconductor development are being fueled by a previously undocumented rule that requires local chipmakers to use at least 50% domestically made equipment, according to a report today by Reuters. According to three people familiar with the matter, the rule went into effect earlier in the year. It requires chipmakers seeking to ...
SMIC buys out subsidiary for $5.8B as China’s chipmaking progress accelerates
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., operator of China’s largest semiconductor fabrication facility, is going to get even bigger after announcing plans to buy the remaining 49% stake of a smaller foundry it already controls. SMIC said it will acquire the rest of Semiconductor Manufacturing North China Corp. for 40.6 billion yuan ($5.79 billion) to assume full ...
Octopus Energy spins out AI-native utility software subsidiary Kraken
British clean energy giant Octopus Energy Group Ltd. has announced it’s spinning off its most valuable technology asset as a standalone entity. The company said its Kraken Technologies Ltd. subsidiary will become an independent company valued at $8.65 billion after it closed on a $1 billion funding round led by D1 Capital Partners. Octopus is ...
Meta Platforms buys Manus to bolster its agentic AI skillset
Meta Platforms Inc. is pushing into autonomous artificial intelligence agents with the acquisition of Singapore-based Manus, which made headlines when it first emerged earlier this year for its ability to perform tasks using a web browser without human supervision. Manus shot to fame in March, just weeks after China’s DeepSeek Ltd. shocked the world with ...
China outlines rules to regulate human-like AI companion apps
China’s internet regulator issued new draft rules on Saturday that aim to regulate the use of artificial intelligence “companions,” which are defined as systems that interact with humans and display “human-like traits and behavior.” The new rules, called “Interim Measures for the Administration of Anthropomorphic Interactive Services Using Artificial Intelligence,” were issued by the Cyberspace ...
Google planning update that will allow users to change their embarrassing old email addresses
Google LLC is giving Indian users the opportunity to change the @gmail.com address associated with their existing Google accounts in a dramatic shift away from its long-held policy on usernames. For more than 20 years, anyone who has created a Gmail account has been stuck with the username they first chose, meaning that their Google ...
Former IBM CEO and savior Louis Gerstner dies at age 83
Louis Gerstner, the former chief executive officer credited with saving IBM Corp. from bankruptcy, has died aged 83, the company revealed today. Gerstner (pictured) served as chairman and CEO of IBM from 1993 to 2002, taking over during one of the darkest periods in the company’s history, when it was rapidly losing relevance in the face ...
Report: OpenAI explores ways to make money from ChatGPT with conversational ads
Artificial intelligence industry darling OpenAI Group PBC is reportedly mulling the idea of embedding advertisements into ChatGPT’s responses amid pressure from investors to start making money from the chatbot. A report in The Information today suggests that OpenAI is already exploring possible ad formats and partnerships, with one of the favorite ideas being to integrate ...
DP Technology raises $114M to accelerate China’s AI for science industry
Beijing-based startup DP Technology Co. Ltd. today outlined a plan to use its artificial intelligence tools to accelerate scientific research in everything from battery design to drug development after raising 800 million yuan ($114 million) in funding. The Series C round was led by Fortune Venture Capital and the Beijing Jingguorui Equity Investment Fund, and saw ...