Latest news with #DadoRuvic
The Star
3 hours ago
- Business
- The Star
X hit by complaints to EU over user data and targeted advertising
FILE PHOTO: X logo, EU flag and Judge gavel are seen in this illustration taken, August 6, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Elon Musk's X social media platform has been hit by complaints by nine civil society organisations to EU and French regulators over what they say is its use of users' data for targeted advertising that may breach EU tech rules. The organisations - AI Forensics, the Centre for Democracy and Technology Europe, Entropy, European Digital Rights, Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte e.V. (GFF), Global Witness, Panoptykon Foundation, Stichting Bits of Freedom and VoxPublic said they took their complaint to the European Commission and the French media regulator Arcom on Monday. They urged both regulators to take action under the Digital Services Act (DSA) which prohibits advertising based on sensitive user data such as religion, race and sexuality. X, the Commission and Arcom did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment. "We express our deep concern regarding the use by X of users' sensitive personal data for targeted advertisements," the organisations said in a statement. They said their concerns were triggered after they looked into X's Ad Repository which is a publicly available database set up by companies as part of a DSA requirement. "We found that major brands as well as public and financial institutions engaged in targeted online advertising based on what appear to be special categories of personal data, protected by Article 9 of the GDPR, such as political opinions, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and health conditions," they said. The group called on the regulators to investigate X. GDPR refers to the EU data privacy law. (Reporting by Foo Yun CheeEditing by Alexandra Hudson)
The Star
6 hours ago
- Business
- The Star
Broadcom launches new Tomahawk Ultra networking chip in AI battle against Nvidia
FILE PHOTO: A smartphone with a displayed Broadcom logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Broadcom's chip unit unveiled on Tuesday a new networking processor that aims to speed artificial intelligence data crunching, which requires stringing together hundreds of chips that work together. The new chip is the latest piece of hardware that Broadcom has brought to bear against rival AI giant Nvidia. Broadcom helps Alphabet's Google produce its AI chips, which are perceived by developers and industry experts as one of the few viable alternatives to Nvidia's powerful graphics processors (GPUs). Dubbed the Tomahawk Ultra, Broadcom's chip acts as a traffic controller for data whizzing between dozens or hundreds of chips that sit relatively closely together inside a data center, such as inside a single server rack. The chip aims to compete with Nvidia's NVLink Switch chip which has a similar purpose, but the Tomahawk Ultra can tie together four times the number of chips, Ram Velaga, a Broadcom senior vice president, told Reuters in an interview. And instead of a proprietary protocol to move the data, it uses a boosted-for-speed version of ethernet. Both companies' chips help data center builders and others tie as many chips as possible together within a few feet of each other, a technique the industry calls "scale-up" computing. By ensuring close-by chips can communicate with each other quickly, software developers can summon the computing horsepower necessary for AI. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing will manufacture the Ultra line of processors with its five nano-meter process, Velaga said. The processor is now shipping. It took Broadcom's teams of engineers roughly three years to develop the design, which was originally built for a segment of the market known as high-performance computing. But as generative AI boomed, Broadcom adapted the chip for use by AI companies because it is suited to scaling up. (Reporting by Max A. Cherney in San Francisco; Editing by Leslie Adler)
The Star
15 hours ago
- Business
- The Star
US AI startups see funding surge while more VC funds struggle to raise, data shows
FILE PHOTO: A message reading "AI artificial intelligence", a keyboard, and robot hands are seen in this illustration taken January 27, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo (Reuters) -U.S. startup funding surged 75.6% in the first half of 2025, thanks to the continued AI boom, putting it on track for its second-best year ever, even as venture capital firms struggled to raise money, a report from PitchBook on Tuesday showed. Startup funding in the first six months of 2025 jumped to $162.8 billion, marking the strongest performance since the same period in 2021 — the historic peak for venture capital activity. That previous surge came during the era of the Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP), when central banks slashed rates to stimulate economic activity during the COVID-19 pandemic, sending capital into higher-risk assets including venture capital. This year's boom has been driven largely by major AI investments and bold bets from big tech companies, a wave of activity set off by the debut of ChatGPT in late 2022. In the past three months alone, $69.9 billion was invested in U.S. startups. Standout deals included OpenAI's $40 billion round and Meta's $14.3 billion purchase of a stake in Scale AI. Other AI deals exceeding $1 billion in the second quarter included significant investments in Safe Superintelligence, Thinking Machine Labs, Anduril, and Grammarly. These deals underscore sustained investor conviction in the AI sector, which accounted for 64.1% of the total deal value and 35.6% of the deal count in the first half of the year. "I think it's downstream of the fact that OpenAI and Anthropic continue to grow at unbelievable rates," said Davis Treybig, partner at VC firm Innovation Endeavors. "If there's even a chance you could see that sort of progress in other domains, whether it's robotics, protein folding models, world models or video models, then there's a lot of people who are going to want to invest a lot of money." HARDER FOR VC FUNDS In contrast, U.S. venture capital fundraising continued to face headwinds, with just $26.6 billion raised across 238 funds in the first half of the year. This subdued environment represents a 33.7% year-over-year decline in capital raised, extending the downward trend from 2024. It is also taking fund managers longer to close new vehicles, with the median time stretching to 15.3 months by the second quarter of 2025 - the longest in over a decade, data shows. The disconnection from the startup market reflects concerns from limited partners on the asset class due to recent underperformance and liquidity constraints. A rebound in exit activity, including IPOs and M&A, has brought a sense of optimism for the remainder of the year. Exit activity in the second quarter was up 40% from last year, as a loosening antitrust environment and a thawing IPO market boost confidence. Sectors aligned with President Donald Trump's priorities such as AI, national security, defense technology, fintech and crypto dominated IPO interest in the second quarter, the report noted. "The good news is we're starting to see the tide turn," said Lucas Swisher, co-head of growth investing at tech investment firm Coatue. "IPOs like Coatue portfolio companies Hinge Health and Coreweave have been well received by the market, and there are a dozen companies filed now." (Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru and Krystal Hu in New York; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
The Star
16 hours ago
- Business
- The Star
SpaceX expected to launch Starlink services in Vietnam from fourth quarter
SpaceX logo is seen in this illustration taken, March 10, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration HANOI (Reuters) -SpaceX is expected to launch Starlink satellite internet services in Vietnam from the fourth quarter of this year, state media cited a government official as saying on Tuesday. "The Ministry of Science and Technology aims to license the pilot services using low-orbit satellites immediately after the investor completes investment procedures and establishes a legal entity in Vietnam, with the goal of deploying the services in the fourth quarter of 2025," deputy minister Pham Duc Long said, according to the Tuoi Tre newspaper. SpaceX is currently working with the Ministry of Finance to complete the procedures required to set up a wholly-owned unit in Vietnam, the report said. Two sources told Reuters in April that SpaceX was readying a ground station in the Southeast Asian country for Starlink satellites and planned many more. Vietnam's government said in March it would allow SpaceX to launch its services in the country on a trial basis, with no foreign ownership limit. It said the trial period would last until the end of 2030. (Reporting by Khanh Vu; Editing by David Stanway)
The Star
20 hours ago
- Business
- The Star
Cognition AI to buy Windsurf, doubling down on AI-driven coding
FILE PHOTO: Figurines with computers and smartphones are seen in front of the words "Artificial Intelligence AI" in this illustration taken, February 19, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo (Reuters) -Artificial intelligence startup Cognition AI on Monday agreed to acquire Windsurf, an integrated development environment platform, strengthening its position in the rapidly evolving enterprise software market. The deal follows Google's $2.4 billion deal with Windsurf last week aimed at acquiring top talent and securing licensing rights to its technology. The deal with Google marks a win for Windsurf's backers, who have raised $243 million from investors including Kleiner Perkins, Greenoaks, and General Catalyst, and was last valued at $1.25 billion one year ago, according to PitchBook. The move reflects a broader trend among technology giants such as Alphabet and Meta, which are making bold, high-value acquisitions and offering lucrative compensation packages to secure leading industry talent amid intensifying competition in the AI sector. The deal with Cognition covers Windsurf's intellectual property, product line, brand, and business operations, as well as its highly regarded engineering, product, and go-to-market teams. While the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, Windsurf brings with it $82 million in annual recurring revenue and a customer base of more than 350 enterprises. "Among all the teams in the AI space, Cognition was literally the one we have respected the most, and they are a perfect fit to bring Windsurf to the next phase," Jeff Wang, Windsurf's interim chief executive officer, said in an email to employees. In the immediate term, Windsurf will continue to operate independently, with Cognition pledging significant investment to integrate Windsurf's technology and unique assets into its own product suite, including its flagship autonomous agent, Devin. Earlier, Windsurf had been engaged in months-long discussions with OpenAI regarding a potential acquisition that could have valued the company at $3 billion, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters in June. (Reporting by Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)
