Waymo's Custom Silicon Cuts Nvidia Out of the Robotaxi Stack — and Meta's $100M+ Microsoft Bill Explains Why
Friday, August 21, 2026 · 32 items · 6 min read · Updated 6:03 PM
By the Numbers
1.8%
core inflation rate
Financial
$3,823.85
zinc benchmark price per metric ton
Critical Minerals
4 years
highest level since June 2022
Critical Minerals
10 years
largest language ranking shift in
AI
$249.99
starting price for 1TB SanDisk expansion card
Tech
5 years
time since Xbox Series X|S launch
Tech
The Day's Thesis
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Signal of the Day: Waymo has built its own proprietary chip for its robotaxi fleet, directly reducing its dependence on Nvidia hardware in a move that advances the running storyline of OEM silicon displacement first flagged with Waymo's $6B custom-chip team acquisition.
The 30-Second Read:
Waymo's in-house robotaxi chip severs another Nvidia revenue line as custom silicon displaces merchant GPU suppliers across autonomous vehicle stacks
Meta is spending hundreds of millions of dollars annually on Microsoft AI services, exposing a dependency that sits awkwardly alongside Meta's own $65B+ capex buildout
Bitcoin surged 22% on the week to ~$77,864, wiping out $3.5B in short positions as Trump-backed CLARITY Act momentum catalyzed the broadest crypto equity rally since March 2024
BHP's copper division posted $18B EBITDA — 54% of total group earnings — as the company launches a pilot to extract copper from legacy mine wastewater in Arizona
Two forces dominated August 21: the accelerating fragmentation of AI hardware demand away from Nvidia's merchant chip model, and a capital markets recalibration spanning crypto, copper, and gold that reflects deepening uncertainty about both monetary policy and physical supply chains. The tensions are distinct but share a common driver — infrastructure scarcity is repricing everything from silicon to cathodes.
AI & Research Frontier
Waymo's proprietary robotaxi chip directly reduces Nvidia's addressable market in autonomous vehicles, extending the OEM silicon displacement trend that began with Waymo's acquisition of a 109-person custom chip team earlier this year.
The chip, designed specifically for Waymo's sensor-fusion and inference workloads, allows the company to optimize power consumption and latency in ways that general-purpose GPUs cannot match at scale. This follows the established playbook of Apple, Google, and Tesla — each of which cut merchant silicon dependency by building domain-specific processors tuned to proprietary software stacks.
Increasingly, AI agents are handling the nitty-gritty admin and due diligence tasks, but agent-powered marketplaces won't replace live human sales reps or engineers anytime soon.
Walmart will soon allow you to pay for your items with Google Pay or Apple Pay. In an announcement on Friday, Walmart says it's going to bring tap-to-pay capabilities to "select" Walmart and Sam's Club locations starting August 24th, before rolling out support to all US stores by the end of 2026 and gas stations by mid-2027.
This launch has been a long time coming, as Walmart was one of the last major retailers not to support Apple Pay or Google Pay. The retail giant even backed the launch of the short-lived CurrentC mobile payment service before rolling out Walmart Pay in 2016, which lets you quickly check out with a QR code at its stores. …
Read the full story at The Verge.
Separately, Meta's multi-hundred-million-dollar annual spend on Microsoft AI services reveals a structural gap: despite Meta's own massive AI infrastructure investment, it is purchasing inference or model-serving capacity from a direct competitor's cloud. The commercial relationship adds a new dimension to the running storyline on AI infrastructure consolidation — hyperscalers are simultaneously rivals and critical vendors to one another.
The US government's reported draft letter demanding that partner nations choose between Washington and Beijing as AI technology sources adds a policy layer: if adopted, it would segment the global AI supply chain along geopolitical lines, with direct consequences for chip export licenses and cloud service agreements in markets from Southeast Asia to the Gulf.
Technology & Infrastructure
Nvidia is backing Cloverleaf, a land-acquisition and data center development company that operates on Nvidia's DSX platform — a direct-to-site infrastructure model that gives Nvidia influence over power and facility selection upstream of GPU procurement.
The Cloverleaf investment signals Nvidia's intent to participate in site control as a competitive lever, not merely chip supply. Meanwhile, Vapat's announced 160MW data center project in Valladolid (two buildings, eight IT rooms each) adds to Europe's accelerating capacity pipeline, driven by AI workload demand that is outpacing permitting timelines across the continent.
A Manchester, UK edge data center proposal for AI workloads represents the distributed-compute tier of the same buildout — smaller footprints, lower latency, higher per-rack density requirements.
Andreessen Horowitz faces a DOJ investigation under a 112-year-old antitrust statute over board seats held simultaneously at Databricks and Fivetran, which have become direct competitors. The probe's outcome could constrain the dual-board-seat structures that have been standard practice in venture capital, with potential ripple effects on how late-stage AI companies are governed and advised.
Markets & Capital Flows
Bitcoin's 22% weekly gain to $77,864 — its strongest five-day performance since March 2024 — was mechanically amplified by $3.5B in short liquidations and $517M in single-day spot ETF inflows, with the CLARITY Act's legislative momentum providing the fundamental catalyst.
Crypto-adjacent equities moved in parallel: Strategy (MSTR) gained ~12%, Coinbase (COIN) and Circle (CRCL) each added ~10%. Treasury Secretary Bessent's announcement of doubled long-term bond buyback limits provided a macro tailwind by reducing duration pressure on risk assets.
The US-Canada tariff standoff — with 50% duties threatened — continues to pressure cross-border manufacturing supply chains, with businesses warning of material sales impact if implemented. Hedge fund positioning in energy stocks, driven by Iran war-end signals and AI data center power demand, reflects a market trying to price two orthogonal demand signals simultaneously: geopolitical de-escalation (bearish oil near-term) versus AI load growth (structurally bullish power).
Goldman Sachs raised its gold options-driven upside scenario above its existing $4,900 year-end forecast, citing Western investor re-engagement and persistent central bank buying as mechanical triggers for dealer hedging cascades at key strike levels.
Critical Minerals & Supply Chain
BHP's copper division generated $18B in EBITDA in its latest fiscal year — 54% of the company's $33B total — marking the first time copper has overtaken iron ore as BHP's primary profit driver, a structural shift that now directly funds BHP's pilot with MIT spin-out SiTration to recover copper from legacy mine wastewater in Arizona.
The SiTration process operates below 3–4 kilowatt-hours per kilogram of copper recovered, uses no chemicals, and generates no new waste — positioning it at the low end of the global cost curve if it scales.
The pilot at BHP's Copper Cities facility (which produced ~400,000 tonnes of copper between 1954 and 1975) begins with a one-month continuous extraction trial, followed by a two-month phase targeting up to two tonnes of commercial-grade cathodes. Global copper demand is projected to rise from 34 million tonnes annually to 50 million tonnes by 2050, a 47% increase driven by grid expansion and AI data center buildout.
Galileo Resources and partner Statunga Investments are maintaining their legal position on two small-scale mining licenses in Zambia's Luansobe copper project, with dialogue ongoing — a low-volume but strategically relevant dispute in Africa's copper belt as supply competition intensifies.
The Interconnect: Cross-Sector Causal Chains
→Waymo's deployment of proprietary in-house robotaxi chips (AI sector, confirmed) → removes Nvidia GPU revenue from autonomous vehicle production runs → compresses Nvidia's total addressable market in mobility compute, accelerating pressure on Nvidia's data center segment to absorb growth reported
→BHP copper division's $18B EBITDA and SiTration wastewater-recovery pilot launch (REE/minerals sector, confirmed) → demonstrates commercial-scale low-cost copper recovery from legacy sites in the US Southwest → reduces import dependency risk for domestic AI data center copper wiring and grid interconnect demand projected to grow ~47% by 2050 reported
→US draft mandate requiring partner nations to choose Washington or Beijing AI supply chains (AI/policy, reported) → bifurcates global cloud and chip procurement decisions for governments in Southeast Asia, Middle East, and Africa → creates a two-track export control environment that directly affects Microsoft and Meta's international AI service revenues reported
Watchlist
▸Waymo — first public performance benchmarks for proprietary robotaxi chip vs. prior Nvidia-based stack · Catalyst: Waymo fleet deployment metrics or safety report · When: Q3 2026 operational update
▸Microsoft — disclosure of Meta AI services contract scope and margin contribution · Catalyst: Q1 FY2027 earnings, Azure segment breakdown · When: October 2026 earnings call
▸BHP / SiTration — Phase 1 pilot results from Copper Cities continuous extraction trial · Catalyst: One-month trial completion; Phase 2 cathode production commencement · When: September–October 2026
▸Andreessen Horowitz — DOJ antitrust probe outcome on dual board seats at Databricks and Fivetran · Catalyst: DOJ filing or settlement; potential forced board resignation · When: Ongoing; Senate return September 2026 may accelerate VC governance scrutiny
▸Bitcoin / CLARITY Act — Senate procedural vote on market structure legislation · Catalyst: Congressional return from recess · When: September 2026
▸Goldman Sachs gold forecast — whether Western ETF inflows and central bank buying trigger dealer hedging cascade above $4,900 · Catalyst: Weekly CFTC positioning data; ETF flow reports · When: Rolling; watch through Q4 2026
▸Nvidia / Cloverleaf — site acquisition progress and first data center project announcement on DSX platform · Catalyst: Cloverleaf project filing or groundbreaking · When: Q4 2026
BHP (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BHP) and MIT spin-out SiTration announced the launch of a pilot program in Arizona to extract copper from legacy mining wastewater.
SiTration’s process previously demonstrated the ability to yield London Metal Exchange (LME) Grade A copper in bench-scale testing without using chemicals or generating new waste, operating at an energy consumption below 3 to 4 kilowatt-hours per kilogram.
The initiative, located at BHP’s Copper Cities facility in the Globe-Miami mining district, begins with a one-month trial testing continuous, autonomous copper recovery. A second phase planned for later this year will seek to produce up to two tons of commercial-scale copper cathodes over a two-month period.
The historic Copper Cities mine produced nearly 400,000 tons of copper between 1954 and 1975, with leaching operations continuing until 1982. Today, BHP manages the site under its Legacy Assets portfolio.
“The Copper Cities pilot provides an opportunity to evaluate an innovative approach to recover copper from mining-impacted water while generating valuable technical and operational insights,” Kevin Ramsay, General Manager of Legacy Assets at BHP, said.
Global commodity markets face supply constraints while demand surges for power grid expansion and AI data centers. Industry projections indicate annual global copper demand will rise from 34 million tons currently to 50 million tons by 2050.
“The American Southwest houses legacy mining water containing billions of dollars’ worth of copper,” SiTration CEO and Co-founder Brendan Smith said in a separate press release. “With global copper demand projected to grow by around 70% by 2050 to support the rapid buildout of energy infrastructure and data centers, tapping into these resources is an excellent pathway to bolster domestic supply chains while producing copper at the bottom of the global cost curve.”
For BHP, testing low-cost extraction technologies furthers its internal shift toward copper-driven expansion. In its latest financial results, copper overtook iron ore as the company's primary profit driver for the first time on an annual basis.
Profits from BHP’s copper division surged 48 percent to US$18 billion, accounting for 54 percent of its US$33 billion in total underlying earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortization.
“Copper is the engine that is driving BHP’s growth,” CEO Brandon Craig said during the earnings presentation.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
The US is drafting a letter to partner countries telling them to pick a side in the AI standoff between Washington and Beijing, according to Reuters.
The article US wants to force partner countries to choose between Washington and Beijing in the AI race appeared first on The Decoder.
Andreessen Horowitz has two partners sitting on the boards of companies that now compete with each other: Ben Horowitz at Databricks and Martin Casado at Fivetran. Nothing too scandalous on the surface, except the Department of Justice has reportedly been investigating the arrangement for almost a year, dusting off a 112-year-old antitrust law that’s rarely used against VCs. Board conflicts aren’t exactly new, and these companies weren’t necessarily direct competitors when a16z first invested […]
AI promises a total overhaul of healthcare, but for investors, turning clinical breakthroughs into actual financial returns is a long, capital-intensive game.
The current landscape presents high-risk, long-horizon moonshots like humanoid surgical robotics and synthetic genomics that stand in stark contrast to immediate, high-margin software plays like clinical trial acceleration and emergency diagnostics.
Here, the Investing News Network analyzes four distinct verticals currently transforming healthcare.
Diagnostic & screening platforms: Unlocking high-margin leverage
Next-generation liquid biopsies and multi-marker bio-AI platforms are unlocking new markets by changing how conditions like cancer and stroke are detected and treated.
Innovation is redefining treatment from late-stage crisis management and toward early-stage non-invasive diagnostic platforms.
Tokyo-based bio-AI company Craif uses urinary microRNA to identify pancreatic cancer at significantly earlier stages than standard blood markers permit. Because traditional blood tests frequently miss early-stage pancreatic cancer, treatment options are often severely restricted by the time a diagnosis occurs.
To scale its technology, Craif recently closed a Series D funding round, raising approximately US$33 million and bringing its total capital raised to roughly US$88 million.
The company is expanding its footprint in the US market through its subsidiary, Craif USA.
In a press release, Craif said it plans to use the proceeds to scale R&D at its newly opened San Diego laboratory, including a prospective clinical study of its urine-based test in pancreatic cancer. Nick Bevins, MD, PhD, a physician and clinical pathology expert who has led the development and execution of clinical development strategies at multiple US life science companies, will lead the initiative as chief medical officer.
AI-powered diagnostic software could also create clinical leverage in acute emergency settings.
A two-year study published in the "American Journal of Neuroradiology" evaluated over 1,500 real-world emergency room stroke alerts to compare two leading platforms, RapidAI and Viz.ai. Both use AI to automatically analyze CT scans and alert medical teams of large vessel occlusion (LVO), a major blood clot blocking a main artery in the brain that can lead to severe strokes. In these cases, rapid diagnosis is critical to preventing permanent brain tissue loss.
RapidAI detected 144 out of 147 confirmed clots for a 98 percent sensitivity rate while correctly clearing 94 percent of normal non-LVO scans. Viz.ai detected 108 out of 147 confirmed clots for a 73.5 percent sensitivity rate while correctly clearing 91 percent of normal non-LVO scans.
“Trust in clinical AI isn’t built by a vendor’s spec sheet. It’s built on rigorous clinical validation and independent, peer-reviewed evidence demonstrating how technology performs in real-world practice,” the RapidAI team said in a press release. “The publication of the DUEL study in AJNR adds another important layer of evidence for hospitals evaluating AI solutions.”
Operational AI & clinical trial acceleration: Immediate high-margin ROI
Current developments highlight how technology is reshaping healthcare economics. A study conducted by the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (CSDD) alongside digital trial platform Medable AI illustrates how operational AI agents offer immediate software economics by solving the high-cost, time-sensitive bottlenecks of drug development.
According to the study, AI clinical monitoring agents slash Phase 3 trial operating costs by US$5.6 million per study while accelerating development timelines by 10 to 18 weeks. For Phase 2 trials, operating expenses drop by an estimated US$4.4 million per study.
For large pharmaceutical sponsors managing multi-indication cancer therapies, the Tufts expected net present value model projects an 82x return on investment in Phase 3 oncology programs, generating cumulative net present value gains of up to US$565 million.
These near-term operational efficiencies in clinical trials run parallel to long-horizon deep-tech developments that aim to redefine the underlying chemistry of drug discovery. Business/academic partnerships like Toronto’s quantum computing firm Xanadu Quantum Technologies' (TSE:XNDU,NASDAQ:XNDU) recent collaboration with the University of Alberta are bridging high-performance algorithms with therapeutic research.
The academic-industry project aims to design next-generation photosensitizers using Xanadu’s quantum computing framework. These light-reactive molecules are used in photodynamic therapy, a non-invasive treatment that selectively destroys tumor cells without traditional side effects.
This initiative marks Xanadu’s second academic partnership within a single month, following an agreement with the University of Guelph focused on workforce development.
Major pharmaceutical players are taking a distinctly capital-intensive approach to long-term R&D, with Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN), Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) investing in deep-tech computing infrastructures and hybrid physics models to simulate complex biology at scale.
Embodied AI & robotics: The next super-cycle
As artificial intelligence transitions from software interfaces to real-world environments, embodied AI is set to catalyze a major super-cycle in high-barrier healthcare infrastructure.
In July, researchers at the University of California San Diego successfully performed the world’s first live surgeries using teleoperated humanoid robots.
The preclinical trial involved 5-foot-tall humanoids nicknamed “Surgie” or “Sergy” completing laparoscopic gallbladder removals on live nonprimate mammals.
Researchers tested three distinct setups during the trial, which took place at the University of California San Diego's Center for the Future of Surgery, to demonstrate how humanoid robots can fit into different roles inside an operating room.
In one scenario, human surgeons fully teleoperated the robots, which mirrored the surgeons’ precise hand and wrist movements in real-time. In another setup, a single humanoid worked directly alongside a physically present human surgeon, while in a more advanced setup, two humanoids operated side-by-side to complete the entire surgery with no humans standing at the operating table.
This landmark demonstration highlights how embodied AI hardware-software integration will eventually transition from controlled research floors into mainstream clinical infrastructure.
AI-designed phages show real-world viability
The ability to design functional biology on demand reshapes both therapeutic development and global biosecurity discussions.
Moving beyond single-protein prediction models like AlphaFold, researchers at Stanford University and the Arc Institute recently demonstrated that AI can generate complete multi-gene DNA blueprints for entire living organisms. Using a genomic language model named Evo, scientists generated novel functional genomes for bacteriophages, specialized viruses that infect and destroy bacteria.
From these computational designs, 16 synthetic phages proved to be fully viable in laboratory testing, successfully assembling, infecting target E. coli bacteria and replicating.
Several generated phages exhibited biological features unseen in natural evolution, such as incorporating structural machinery from evolutionarily distant organisms or replicating faster than wild variants.
When target bacteria mutated to develop immunity against natural viral attacks, researchers deployed a custom “cocktail” of AI-designed phages that successfully bypassed host defenses and eliminated the resistant strains. This breakthrough points toward programmable biological medicines capable of evolving in real time to defeat antibiotic-resistant infections.
“Evo puts the genomes of whole lifeforms within reach and accelerates the bioengineering design process... Being both multimodal and multiscale, it gives us a unified approach for harnessing the immense complexity of living systems,” said Dr. Brian Hie, assistant professor of chemical engineering at Stanford and the study’s lead researcher.
Moving from digital prediction to generating functional biological entities has amplified debates surrounding dual-use risks, specifically whether generative models could eventually be adapted to design human pathogens or evade existing security protocols.
“The ability to compose viral genomes using generative AI now exists; the governance to safely steer it does not. Although this is promising for life sciences applications, it also raises urgent biosafety and biosecurity questions,” doctors from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security said in a joint statement following the release of the study’s findings. “The question is no longer whether generative viral genome design will exist - it is whether society can build oversight that allows its benefits to unfold while preventing it from enabling serious harm.”
Addressing the delicate balance between open science and biosecurity, study co-author and Stanford bioengineering researcher Samuel King emphasized the intentional boundary lines set during development, deliberately training the model on non-pathogenic architectures.
Takeaway
Ultimately, the maturation of AI in healthcare represents a bifurcation in investment strategy: immediate value can be captured through operational software efficiencies and diagnostic precision, while long-term capital allocation must target the heavy infrastructure of robotics and the foundational shifts in synthetic biology.
As these technologies migrate from the lab to the bedside, the winners will be those who balance rapid clinical adoption with the requisite safety and governance frameworks.
Navigating this landscape requires a disciplined focus on both the measurable ROI of current AI agents and the high-barrier, transformative potential of next-generation physical and genomic systems.
Don’t forget to follow us @INN_Lifescience for real-time news updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
AI-enabled identity theft is getting too sophisticated to have predictable tells anymore, so experts recommend answering with a seemingly old-fashioned approach.
Following several apparent video leaks of Grand Theft Auto VI, Take-Two Interactive has subpoenaed Microsoft and Discord over content that "infringes copyrights" held for the game, Kotaku reports. In the subpoenas, filed on Thursday, Take-Two says copyrighted material includes "audiovisual content, artwork, images, dialogue, or other creative elements" and it is looking to identify "alleged infringers at issue." The subpoenas give Microsoft and Discord until September 4th to produce the requested information.
The leaked clips have been watermarked by a person or group going by "CyberLeek," and they have shown what appears to be GTA VI prot …
Read the full story at The Verge.
Get the latest insights on Bitcoin, Ether and altcoins, along with a round-up of key cryptocurrency market news.
Here's a quick recap of the crypto landscape for Friday (August 21) as of 10:00 a.m. UTC.
Bitcoin price update
Bitcoin price chart
Ether and altcoin price update
Today's crypto news to know
Bitcoin price update
Bitcoin (BTC) was priced at US$77,864.10, up by 8.3 percent over the past 24 hours.
Bitcoin price chart
Ether and altcoin price update
Ethereum (ETH) was priced at US$2,402.78, trading 5.1 percent higher over the last 24 hours.
XRP (XRP) was priced at US$1.42, trading 19.6 percent higher over the past 24 hours.
Solana (SOL) was trading at US$91.64, trading 5 percent higher over the past 24 hours.
Today's crypto news to know
Bitcoin surges 22 percent as Trump administration pushes CLARITY Act
Bitcoin surged 22 percent this week to reach US$77,692, recording its best five-day performance since March 2024.
The rally gained momentum after President Donald Trump met with crypto executives at the White House and urged Congress to pass the CLARITY Act.
Broader digital asset markets broke out of a months-long slump as Ethereum climbed above US$2,200 and XRP jumped 25 percent. Macroeconomic policy changes added fuel to the surge when Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced plans to double long-term bond buyback limits.
Meanwhile, spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded US$517 million in single-day net inflows during the market recovery. A massive short squeeze accelerated the price movement, wiping out over US$3.5 billion in total market liquidations.
Bitcoin outperformed major altcoins like Solana throughout the breakout while reclaiming key technical levels past US$75,000.
Crypto-related equities joined the surge, pushing Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) up nearly 12 percent while Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN), Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL), and BitMine Immersion Technologies (NYSEAMERICAN:BMNR) each gained roughly 10 percent.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong backs CLARITY Act to boost consumer protections
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong publicly endorsed the bipartisan CLARITY Act during a CBS News interview, arguing the legislation will protect consumers and prevent another FTX-style collapse.
"The current status quo today is that there isn't much clarity about what the rules are," Armstrong argued, which left ordinary Americans vulnerable to harm.
The bill establishes joint regulatory oversight between the SEC and CFTC while granting law enforcement stronger tools to combat illicit activity.
President Donald Trump pushed for the legislation following a White House meeting with industry executives, stating, "It's a very, very powerful, structured legislation which will keep us ahead of China, keep us ahead of everyone else."
The White House meeting coincided with regulators granting preliminary bank charter approval to World Liberty Trust Company, a firm affiliated with President Trump's family. Armstrong defended the bill against conflict-of-interest allegations by pointing to embedded ethics provisions targeting executive branch officials.
The Senate plans to hold a procedural vote on the market structure bill when lawmakers return in September.
CME, Kalshi executives clash at CFTC Roundtable
A CFTC roundtable on prediction markets turned hostile when CME Group Chairman Terry Duffy and Kalshi co-founder Luana Lopes Lara traded sharp insults over market integrity.
Duffy voiced deep concern over contract manipulation, asserting, "We're not a bunch of carnival barkers at a circus." He mocked Kalshi's consumer offerings, citing their event contracts on the Nathan's hot dog eating contest as lacking economic significance.
Lara challenged the legacy exchange chief directly, asking whether CME had ever experienced market manipulation issues throughout its operating history. Duffy defended his exchange by boasting about the size of his regulatory department compared to Kalshi's entire workforce.
DraftKings CEO Jason Robins eventually intervened, asking attendees to refrain from attacking rival business models.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Technology for real-time news updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Gold prices could surge past Goldman Sachs's $4 900 year-end forecast, as surging demand for bullish gold options may amplify further gains, the bank said in a note on Friday. The bank said a further pickup in Western investor demand, combined with continued strong central bank buying, could push bullion toward key option strike levels, where dealer hedging may mechanically accelerate price moves.
Waymo built its own chip for its robotaxis, cutting its reliance on Nvidia.
The article Waymo builds its own chip for its robotaxis, cutting its reliance on Nvidia appeared first on The Decoder.
London-listed Galileo Resources and its joint venture (JV) partner Statunga Investments continue to maintain their legal position regarding the ownership of the small-scale mining licences numbers 34543/HQ/SML and 34545/HQ/SML, which together form the Luansobe copper project, and continue to pursue the matter through all possible legal avenues. Galileo’s 75% interest in Luansobe is held through a JV agreement with Statunga, dated December 30, 2021.
Meta has become one of Microsoft's biggest AI customers, according to Bloomberg.
The article Meta spends hundreds of millions on Microsoft's AI services appeared first on The Decoder.
Minerals Council South Africa has responded exceedingly positively to the launch by President Cyril Ramaphosa of the third phase of South Africa’s Government-Business Partnership for Growth and Jobs, which marks the next chapter of a joint effort between government and business to accelerate inclusive economic growth, unlock investment, strengthen confidence and create jobs. The goal is to lift South Africa’s economic growth to 3% by 2030 and create one-million jobs. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)
Anthropic is allowing enterprise customers to retain their own data rather than storing it on Anthropic servers, reversing a controversial policy after customer pressure. This change addresses enterprise concerns about data privacy and control, which is critical for adoption among large organizations processing sensitive information.
Rocket Lab has declined to enter the orbital data center market, though SpaceX's compute ambitions in orbit may create launch opportunities for smaller providers. This indicates segmentation in the emerging space-based compute sector, with launch providers positioning differently relative to compute infrastructure.
Japan's headline inflation reached its highest level of the year, driven by energy price increases, while core inflation held steady at 1.8%. Rising energy costs signal inflationary pressure in a major industrial economy, affecting technology and manufacturing supply chains dependent on Japanese inputs.
Zinc prices on the London Metal Exchange hit $3,823.85 per metric ton, the highest level in over four years, driven by supply concerns and Chinese demand accumulation. Elevated zinc prices affect manufacturers of alloys, galvanized steel, and electronics, which are inputs for semiconductor equipment and renewable energy infrastructure.
TypeScript became the most-used programming language on GitHub in August 2025, marking the largest shift in language rankings in a decade, coinciding with peak adoption of AI coding agents. This shift demonstrates how AI development tools reshape programming language preferences and may influence long-term software architecture decisions across industries.
SanDisk's Optimus GX C50 expansion cards for Xbox Series X|S are now available on Amazon starting at $249.99 for 1TB, providing the first major alternative to Seagate and Western Digital five years after console launch. This entry by a third-party manufacturer increases competition in proprietary console storage, potentially lowering prices and improving consumer choice.
Taiwan's projected 11% GDP growth is unsustainable due to risks including capex slowdown, macroeconomic downturns, and concentration in semiconductors, according to economists. Taiwan's semiconductor dominance means its growth volatility directly affects global chip supply, technology capex cycles, and equipment demand from companies like TSMC and Samsung.
Goliath Resources' drill hole GD-26-436 at the Surebet discovery in British Columbia's Golden Triangle intersected gold-equivalent grades of 19.51 g/t over 8.32 meters, with the zone remaining open for expansion. High-grade gold discoveries near surface indicate exploration success that could support future production and meet growing gold demand from electronics and renewable energy applications.
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