&w=3840&q=100)
CoreWeave commits $6 bn to Pennsylvania data centre amid Trump AI push
Reuters
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India Today
17 minutes ago
- India Today
Germany bets on AI robots, drones, and biotech to lead future wars
Germany is taking a leap toward modernising its defence system by heavily investing in advanced military technologies like artificial intelligence, autonomous robots, and even cyborg cockroaches. This could be a gamechanger amid security threats in Europe after Russia's invasion of has exposed Europe's military weaknesses and reliance on American security. For people like Gundbert Scherf, co-founder of defence tech startup Helsing, the war changed whose Munich-based company creates AI-based military tools and drones, struggled to get investors when he first started. But today, things have flipped. Speaking to Reuters, "Europe this year, for the first time in decades, is spending more on defence technology acquisition than the US." According to news agency Reuters, last month, Helsing's value more than doubled to $12 German government under Chancellor Friedrich Merz is now opening the doors of its military to collaborate directly with start-ups. The goal is to fast-track innovation and reduce dependence on traditional defence giants."We want to help give Europe its spine back," Scherf POWER GERMANY'S HIGH-TECH DEFENCE PUSHGermany is not just big firms like Rheinmetall and Hensoldt but also smaller companies working on futuristic ideas. These include ARX Robotics, which makes autonomous tank-like machines, and Swarm Biotactics, which is building insect-based spy tools."Our bio-robots -- based on living insects -- are equipped with neural stimulation, sensors, and secure communication modules," said Stefan Wilhelm, CEO of Swarm Biotactics. "They can be steered individually or operate autonomously in swarms."The German military's innovation hub is also seeing a sharp rise in interest. "Germany has developed a whole new openness towards the issue of security since the invasion," said Sven Weizenegger, who leads the Cyber Innovation Hub. He added that he now receives 20 to 30 LinkedIn messages a day with defence tech ideas, compared to just a few per week back in transformation isn't just about gadgets. Germany plans to nearly triple its annual defence budget to $175 billion by 2029 and meet NATO's 3.5% GDP defense spending goal. A new draft law will even make it easier for startups to get advance payments and win government Wietfeld, founder of ARX Robotics, described a turning point after meeting Defence Minister Boris Pistorius. "He told me: 'Money is no longer an excuse—it's there now'," Wietfeld AIMS TO LEAD EUROPE'S DEFENSE FUTUREIn fact, Europe's 19 largest defence spenders are set to outspend the US in military procurement this year: $180 billion versus America's $175 billion. Overall US military spending remains higher, but the gap in technology investment is narrowing has recognised that we have to defend our democracies," said Christian Saller, an investor in defence startups like ARX and Quantum capital funding in German defence tech has jumped from $373 million in 2022 to $1 billion in 2024. German companies have received $1.4 billion in the last five years—more than any other country in Europe."The startups just need the brains to do the engineering and prototyping," said Stefan Thumann, CEO of Donaustahl. "And the German Mittelstand will be their muscles."- EndsWith inputs from ReutersMust Watch
Time of India
17 minutes ago
- Time of India
Columbia University to pay $200 mn fine in fight with Trump
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills The prestigious Columbia University said Wednesday it will pay a $200 million fine to the US government after President Donald Trump threatened to pull federal funding over what he said was its unwillingness to protect Jewish a sweeping deal that will restore the New York institution's federal monies, Columbia has pledged to obey rules that bar it from taking race into consideration in admissions or hiring."Columbia University has reached an agreement with the United States government to resolve multiple federal agency investigations into alleged violations of federal anti-discrimination laws," a statement said, adding the $200 million would be paid over three university will also pay $21 million to settle investigations brought by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, it said."Under today's agreement, a vast majority of the federal grants which were terminated or paused in March 2025-will be reinstated and Columbia's access to billions of dollars in current and future grants will be restored," the statement promise of the federal funding spigot reopening offers relief to the university, which was under growing financial pressure, despite a comfortable endowment that offered some agreement undoubtedly represents a victory for Trump, who has repeatedly claimed elite universities brainwash students against his nationalist ideas with left-wing centuries-old Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is also in a fight with the administration over Trump's threats to rip away federal funding, and Wednesday's carefully worded agreement -- in which Columbia admitted no wrongdoing -- could offer a framework for future deals."This agreement marks an important step forward after a period of sustained federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty," Columbia's acting president Claire Shipman said."The settlement was carefully crafted to protect the values that define us and allow our essential research partnership with the federal government to get back on track."Importantly, it safeguards our independence, a critical condition for academic excellence and scholarly exploration, work that is vital to the public interest."The New York Post reported, under the settlement, Columbia will maintain a security force to prevent demonstrations in academic spaces, such as those that rocked the campus last year when pro-Palestinian protestors clashed with law enforcement, occupying university paper said there will also be stricter vetting for non-US students, with information gained during this process to be shared with the government, while disciplinary action taken against students on visas would be reported to found itself at the center of a firestorm last year over claims of anti-Semitism triggered by campus protests against Israel's war in Jewish students claimed they were intimidated and that authorities did not act to protect protests that roiled Columbia and other US schools culminated in members of Trump's Republican party grilling higher education leaders before Congress about anti-Semitism former president Minouche Shafik resigned last August just weeks before the start of the new school year, citing scrutiny she faced over her handling of the demonstrations.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
17 minutes ago
- Business Standard
US State Department approves $322 mn in proposed weapons sales to Ukraine
The State Department said Wednesday that it has approved $322 million in proposed weapons sales to Ukraine to enhance its air defense capabilities and provide armored combat vehicles, coming as the country works to fend off escalating Russian attacks. The potential sales, which the department said were notified to Congress, include $150 million for the supply, maintenance, repair and overhaul of US armored vehicles, and $172 million for surface-to-air missile systems. The approvals come weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed a pause on other weapons shipments to Ukraine to allow the Pentagon to assess its weapons stockpiles, in a move that caught the White House by surprise. President Donald Trump then made an abrupt change in posture, pledging publicly earlier this month to continue to send weapons to Ukraine. We have to, Trump said. They have to be able to defend themselves. They're getting hit very hard now. We're going to send some more weapons defensive weapons primarily. Trump recently endorsed a plan to have European allies buy US military equipment that can then be transferred to Ukraine. It was not immediately clear how the latest proposed sales related to that arrangement. Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the US has provided more than $67 billion in weapons and security assistance to Kyiv. Since Trump came back into office, his administration has gone back and forth about providing more military aid to Ukraine, with political pressure to stop US funding of foreign wars coming from the isolationists inside the Trump administration and on Capitol Hill. Over the course of the war, the US has routinely pressed for allies to provide air defense systems to Ukraine. But many are reluctant to give up the high-tech systems, particularly countries in Eastern Europe that also feel threatened by Russia. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
