Journals

Michael Acton / Financial Times: Apple’s acquisitions, job postings, and academic papers shed light on the company’s AI plans; PitchBook; Apple has bought 21 AI startups since the start of 2017  —  Acquisitions, job postings and academic papers suggest tech… Read More »Apple’s acquisitions, job postings, and academic papers shed light on the company’s AI plans; PitchBook; Apple has bought 21 AI startups since the start of 2017 (Michael Acton/Financial Times)

Toby Sterling / Reuters: ASML reports Q4 revenue of €6.67B and net profit up 9% YoY to €2B, both above est., orders grew 3x QoQ to €9B+, and expects 2024 net sales to be similar to 2023  —  ASML Holding… Read More »ASML reports Q4 revenue of €6.67B and net profit up 9% YoY to €2B, both above est., orders grew 3x QoQ to €9B+, and expects 2024 net sales to be similar to 2023 (Toby Sterling/Reuters)

Bloomberg: A look at SK Hynix’s NAND flash memory chip plant in Dalian, China, which it bought from Intel for $9B in 2020 but is since in limbo because of US-China rivalry  —  Recent concessions still leave murky future for… Read More »A look at SK Hynix’s NAND flash memory chip plant in Dalian, China, which it bought from Intel for $9B in 2020 but is since in limbo because of US-China rivalry (Bloomberg)

Romain Dillet / TechCrunch: Berlin-based Kittl, which is developing a browser-based graphic design tool, raised a $36M Series B led by IVP, just a year after raising a $11.6M Series A  —  Just a year after raising $11.6 million, Kittl… Read More »Berlin-based Kittl, which is developing a browser-based graphic design tool, raised a $36M Series B led by IVP, just a year after raising a $11.6M Series A (Romain Dillet/TechCrunch)

James Tapper / The Guardian: A filing in a class action suit by 10 US artists against Midjourney and others lists 16,000 artist names whose work Midjourney had allegedly used for training  —  US lawyers approached about class action against… Read More »A filing in a class action suit by 10 US artists against Midjourney and others lists 16,000 artist names whose work Midjourney had allegedly used for training (James Tapper/The Guardian)

Zac Hall / 9to5Mac: A US federal judge denies NSO Group’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit from Apple and orders the Pegasus spyware maker to answer Apple’s complaint by February 14  —  Apple has won an early battle against the… Read More »A US federal judge denies NSO Group’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit from Apple and orders the Pegasus spyware maker to answer Apple’s complaint by February 14 (Zac Hall/9to5Mac)

Ben Jiang / South China Morning Post: Xianyu, Alibaba’s online second-hand goods trading platform that claims to have 500M+ users, is opening its first bricks-and-mortar store in Hangzhou, China  —  – Xianyu Recycle Shop is a consignment store, allowing users… Read More »Xianyu, Alibaba’s online second-hand goods trading platform that claims to have 500M+ users, is opening its first bricks-and-mortar store in Hangzhou, China (Ben Jiang/South China Morning Post)

TechCrunch: Data shows African startups raised between $2.9B and $4.1B total in 2023, down from $4.6B to $6.5B in 2022, with Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa leading  —  There was considerable debt uptake and regional VC diversification  —  After… Read More »Data shows African startups raised between $2.9B and $4.1B total in 2023, down from $4.6B to $6.5B in 2022, with Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa leading (TechCrunch)

Peter Henderson / Reuters: AiDash, which uses AI to search satellite images to spot fire and weather risks on power lines, raised a $50M Series C led by Lightrock  —  A California startup using artificial intelligence (AI) and satellites to… Read More »AiDash, which uses AI to search satellite images to spot fire and weather risks on power lines, raised a $50M Series C led by Lightrock (Peter Henderson/Reuters)

Zhou Xin / South China Morning Post: Sources: Jack Ma and Joe Tsai become Alibaba’s largest shareholders after buying shares worth ~$50M and ~$150M, respectively, in Q4, together eclipsing SoftBank  —  – Ma, who retired as Alibaba’s executive chairman in… Read More »Sources: Jack Ma and Joe Tsai become Alibaba’s largest shareholders after buying shares worth ~$50M and ~$150M, respectively, in Q4, together eclipsing SoftBank (Zhou Xin/South China Morning Post)