Amazon CEO Andy Jassy thinks companies should invest “aggressively” in AI now to reap the full financial rewards in the future.In his annual letter to Amazon shareholders published Thursday, Jassy said “substantial capital” is required to keep up with the pace of AI innovation and customer demand for AI products. He added that Amazon, too, needs to spend this money now if it hopes to see strong returns on its investment years down the line. Jassy’s comments come after Amazon announced plans during its four ...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang appears to have struck a deal with the Trump administration to avoid export restrictions on the company’s H20 AI chips.The H20, the most advanced Nvidia-produced AI chip that can still be exported from the U.S. to China, was reportedly spared thanks to a promise from Huang to invest in new AI data centers in the U.S. According to NPR, Huang made the proposal during a dinner at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort sometime last week. Nvidia declined to comment.Many in the semiconductor industr ...

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) may have to pay a fine of $1 billion or more to resolve a U.S. export control investigation related to a chip it made that was used in a Huawei AI processor, according to a report by Reuters.TSMC did not provide any further comments as it is now “in [a] quiet period,” a spokesperson for the chipmaker said in an emailed statement to TechCrunch. It’s the latest development in a situation that first came to light in late 2024 involving TSMC, Huawei, and Xiamen ...

Zoox, Amazon’s autonomous vehicle unit, is deploying a small fleet of retrofitted test vehicles on the streets of Los Angeles starting Tuesday – a modest, yet meaningful step as the company inches toward offering public rides in Las Vegas and San Francisco later this year. The data-collection effort marks Zoox’s entrance into its sixth city and lays the groundwork for a future robotaxi service. Unlike rival Waymo, which is already providing paid robotaxi rides in LA, Zoox is still in the early stages. This ...

In Brief Apple is considering importing more iPhones from India to side-step the 54% additional tariffs on goods imported from China that U.S. President Donald Trump announced last week, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous sources. The company sees this as a short-term measure while it seeks to negotiate with the Trump administration to get an exemption from the tariffs, as it doesn’t yet want to revamp its supply chain built around China, the report said. Compared to the new 54% tariffs on ...

IBM is releasing the latest version of its mainframe hardware that includes new updates meant to accelerate AI adoption.The hardware and consulting company on Monday announced IBM z17, the latest version of its mainframe computer hardware. This fully encrypted mainframe is powered by an IBM Telum II processor and is designed for more than 250 AI use cases, the company says, including AI agents and generative AI. Mainframes might seem like old hat, but they’re used by 71% of Fortune 500 companies today, acc ...

Core Points - Microsoft terminated the roles of two software engineers who protested against the company's dealings with the Israeli military during a recent event [1][2] - The protests included vocal interruptions during keynotes and panels, highlighting internal dissent regarding the company's policies [2] Group 1 - Microsoft stated that one of the terminated employees could have raised concerns through proper channels instead of disrupting the event [2] - The protests were led by Ibtihal Aboussad and Vaniya Agrawal, who made public statements during high-profile speeches by Microsoft executives [2] - Aboussad later sent an email claiming the company silenced dissenting voices, linking to a petition from a group opposing Microsoft's work with Israel [2]

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives slashed his price targets for Apple and Tesla over the weekend as President Trump’s tariffs threaten to disrupt both businesses. “The tariff economic Armageddon unleashed by Trump is a complete disaster for Apple given its massive China production exposure,” Ives said in a warning note over the weekend. “In our view, no U.S. tech company is more negatively impacted by these tariffs than Apple with 90% of iPhones produced and assembled in China.” Wedbush cut its price tar ...

The U.K. government has lost its bid to keep secret the details of a surveillance order it brought against Apple, according to a newly released decision by the U.K. surveillance powers’ court.The decision, posted on Monday by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal in London, means that parts of the legal case will be held in public, despite objections from the U.K. government. In its ruling on Monday, the tribunal’s judges said they “do not accept that the revelation of the bare details of the case would be dam ...

Group 1 - IBM announced the acquisition of Hakkoda, a data and AI consultancy, to enhance its consulting capabilities in various industries including financial services, public sector, and healthcare [1][2] - The acquisition aligns with IBM's strategy to increase investments in AI and automation technologies, following previous acquisitions such as DataStax and HashiCorp [2] - In Q4 2024, IBM reported its largest revenue increase in five years, with AI bookings and sales exceeding $5 billion [3] Group 2 - Hakkoda, co-founded in 2021, specializes in helping clients migrate data to the cloud, particularly using the Snowflake data cloud, and has raised $5.6 million in venture capital [4] - Hakkoda's consultants from various regions will integrate into IBM Consulting as part of the acquisition [5] - Hakkoda's mission is to actively shape the transformation in the data consulting industry, aligning well with IBM's innovative heritage and client partnerships [6]