Meta’s AI campus flushed a rare bacterium into Cheyenne’s water. The city hit back
Meta’s AI campus flushed a rare bacterium into Cheyenne’s water. The city hit back

A Meta contractor flushed a rare, potentially deadly bacterium into Cheyenne’s wastewater system. The Wyoming city has now suspended all data centre discharge, a fresh flashpoint in the fight over AI’s thirst for water. Officials in Cheyenne, Wyoming, …

Fi’s new collar taps Starlink’s direct-to-cell to track dogs off the grid
Fi’s new collar taps Starlink’s direct-to-cell to track dogs off the grid

Smart-collar maker Fi is putting Starlink in a dog collar. Its new Fi Ultra taps SpaceX’s direct-to-cell satellites. A bolting dog stays trackable even where phone towers cannot reach. The next device to run on satellites is not a phone. It is a dog co…

France’s ZML wants to break Nvidia lock-in with free cross-chip AI software
France’s ZML wants to break Nvidia lock-in with free cross-chip AI software

A Paris startup wants to loosen Nvidia’s grip on AI, not with a new chip, but with software. ZML has released a free tool that runs open-source models fast across Nvidia, AMD, Google, Apple and Intel silicon alike. Nvidia still rules AI hardware, but i…

Apple starts testing China’s state-backed memory chips, and Washington is watching
Apple starts testing China’s state-backed memory chips, and Washington is watching

Apple has begun testing memory chips from China’s state-backed CXMT for devices sold in China, the Financial Times reports. That puts it behind a supplier Washington has flagged as a security risk. Apple has turned to Chinese memory chips for its own d…

South Korea’s FuriosaAI brings its Nvidia-challenger chips to Europe
South Korea’s FuriosaAI brings its Nvidia-challenger chips to Europe

A Korean chip startup wants to sell Europe a cooler, cheaper alternative to Nvidia. Its first “renegade” accelerators just went live in a Lisbon datacentre. FuriosaAI has switched on its RNGD AI accelerators in Europe. The South Korean startup is insta…

Quaise raises $134M to drill superhot rock with microwaves
Quaise raises $134M to drill superhot rock with microwaves

Geothermal used to mean shallow wells and modest heat. Quaise wants to drill kilometres down and blast the rock with microwaves, and it just raised $134 million to try. Quaise Energy has raised $134 million to drill for superhot rock deep underground, …

Google and RWE back Proxima Fusion in record €411mn round
Google and RWE back Proxima Fusion in record €411mn round

Munich-based Proxima Fusion has raised €411mn ($468mn), the largest private fusion round Europe has ever seen and a rare vote of confidence in a technology that has yet to produce a watt of commercial power. The deal values the stellarator company at €…

Cambridge’s Worldmodeldata raises £7M to turn video games into AI training data
Cambridge’s Worldmodeldata raises £7M to turn video games into AI training data

The last wave of AI learned to describe the world. The next needs to learn how the world pushes back. A Cambridge startup thinks the answer hides inside video games. Worldmodeldata has raised £7m (€8m) to turn gameplay into AI training data, Tech Fundi…

Finland’s CurifyLabs raises $14M to 3D-print personalised medicine in the US
Finland’s CurifyLabs raises $14M to 3D-print personalised medicine in the US

Your prescription, printed to order. A Finnish startup wants to turn the back room of your pharmacy into a tiny, automated drug factory, and it just raised $14m to do it in America. CurifyLabs has closed a $14m (€12m) Series A, the company announced. T…

Japan’s Turing takes AMD money and AMD chips to loosen Nvidia’s grip
Japan’s Turing takes AMD money and AMD chips to loosen Nvidia’s grip

Nvidia powers almost every self-driving car project going. A small Japanese startup is quietly handing some of that work to AMD instead. Turing Inc. has added AMD Ventures to its backers and started running its AI on AMD chips, Bloomberg reported. The …