The $20 Reckoning
A week after Claude Cowork launched, SaaS stocks are down 15% in 2026. The market is betting that AI agents will commoditize the software that organizes work itself.
The UK launches a consultation on whether to ban under-16s from using social media, alongside restrictions on addictive app features like infinite scrolling
Move comes as peers prepare to vote on an amendment to a bill that would enact a ban within a year of the bill passing
The NYSE plans to use its tech that matches buyers and sellers, plus blockchain networks, to facilitate the real-time trading of tokenized securities in 2026
The New York Stock Exchange is building a venue using blockchain technology to allow for trading tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds around the clock.
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar says the company's compute grew from 0.2 GW in 2023 to ~1.9 GW in 2025 and its annualized revenue grew from $2B in 2023 to $20B+ in 2025
We launched ChatGPT as a research preview to understand what would happen if we put frontier intelligence directly in people's hands.
Sources: after five Thinking Machines staff left, investors are rattled, potentially impacting fundraising; two researchers quit via Slack during an all-hands
The timing couldn't have been more awkward for Thinking Machines Lab. — On Wednesday, during an all-hands meeting at the AI startup …
OpenAI executive Chris Lehane says the startup is “on track” to unveil its first device in H2 2026; reports suggest it won't have a screen and may be a wearable
OpenAI is “on track” to unveil its first device in the second half of 2026, the company's policy chief, Chris Lehane, said Monday at Axios House Davos.
Sources: Microsoft is preparing to launch a session-based ad-supported Xbox Cloud Gaming tier in 2026; users note Xbox Cloud Gaming now references “ad support”
Users have been noticing that Xbox Cloud Gaming has begun referencing “ad support” while launching games, confirming our earlier report.
Chinese smartphone shipments fell 1.6% YoY in Q4 2025 and 0.6% in 2025 due to weak demand after memory shortages increased prices; iPhone shipments rose 28% YoY
Type: — Insight — Team Counterpoint — Counterpoint research is a young and fast growing research firm covering analysis of the tech industry.
Anthropic's Claude Cowork launch has revived fears about disruption that weighed on SaaS stocks in 2025; Morgan Stanley SaaS index is down 15% so far in 2026
Sources: internal Google data shows Gemini API calls surged from ~35B in March 2025 to ~85B in August 2025; Google says Gemini Enterprise has hit 8M subscribers
Google's improvements to its Gemini AI models are boosting the company's top line. — Over the past year, Google's business selling access …
On Joe Rogan's JRE, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck discuss Hollywood and AI; Damon says Netflix wants movies to restate the plot because viewers are on their phones
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck recently appeared on the “Joe Rogan Experience” to promote their new Netflix film “The Rip,” …
Taiwanese media: Asus Chair Jonney Shih says the company won't release any new smartphones in 2026, which may signal the brand's exit from the Android market
Q&A with Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan on the use of AI in game development, the gaming community's pushback against AI, partnering with Grok, and more
We're back to start the year off with a very special live interview with Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan, which we taped in front of a terrific audience …
Meta's VR layoffs may help the industry long term, as most of the ~1,500 roles worked on first-party content and games that competed with the broader ecosystem
I have an opinion on the Meta layoffs that is contrary with most of the VR industry and much of the media, but strongly held. This is not a disaster. They still employ the largest team working on VR b...
Source: Elon Musk donates $10M to boost pro-Trump Senate candidate Nate Morris, who is seeking to replace Mitch McConnell, in Musk's largest-yet Senate donation
Elon Musk has cut a massive $10 million check to bolster Nate Morris, an outsider, pro-Trump candidate running to succeed retiring …
The UK government will take a £25M stake in Octopus Energy's tech spin-off Kraken, last valued at $8.65B, in an effort to encourage Kraken to list in London
Investment aims to persuade tech business to list in London as it gears up for IPO — The UK government will take a £25mn stake …
Sources: Seoul-based AI chip designer FuriosaAI seeks to raise a $300M-$500M Series D to fund mass production of its 2nd-gen RNGD chip and is eyeing a 2027 IPO
The UK Gambling Commission says Meta is letting illegal gambling sites advertise on Facebook and Instagram, calling its ad library a “window into criminality”
Meta Platforms Inc. is turning a blind eye to illegal gambling sites that advertise on Facebook and Instagram, according to the UK's Gambling Commission.
How a16z found success with 2024's $1.25B AI infrastructure fund, focusing on early funding and the largest investments at ~$60M, as it expands the fund to $3B
A newer fund run by an unconventional team at the venture firm is finding success focusing on infrastructure.
India's largest retailer Reliance Retail says its daily quick commerce orders peaked at 1.6M in Q4 2025; market leader Blinkit averaged 2.4M daily orders in Q3
The IMF says the “surprisingly resilient” global economy is at risk of a sharp AI boom reversal, but “the levels of market frothiness” are below the dotcom bust
Fund's chief economist says there are reasons to be concerned about a potential AI correction
Bitcoin fell 3.6% to under $92K, ether fell 4.9%, and solana fell 8.6%, wiping ~$100B from crypto's total value, after Trump proposed a new 10% European tariff
OpenAI's former Head of Policy Research Miles Brundage announces AVERI, a nonprofit aimed at advocating the idea of external audits for frontier AI models
Former OpenAI policy chief Miles Brundage, who has just founded a new nonprofit institute called AVERI that is advocating …
Q&A with FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam, only the second CEO in the company's history, on humanoid robots, automation, AI, drones, US-China trade tensions, and more
Raj Subramaniam took over three years ago from FedEx's founder, who ran the company for nearly 50 years.
Atlantic Council: China-led cross-border digital currency platform mBridge, still a prototype, has processed 4,000+ cross-border transactions totaling $55.5B
Sources: US political appointees at CISA blocked Acting Director Madhu Gottumukkala's attempt to remove the agency's chief information officer, Robert Costello
The personnel spat began late last Thursday afternoon after Costello was given a so-called management-directed reassignment …
Similarweb: Threads had 141.5M DAUs on iOS and Android as of January 7, driven by Instagram promotions, while X had 125M DAUs; X continues to lead on the web
A report from market intelligence firm Similarweb suggests that Meta's Threads is now seeing more daily usage than Elon Musk's X on mobile devices.
CoinGecko: 53%+ of the 20.2M crypto tokens launched since 2021 are now inactive, with 7.7M tokens failing in Q4 2025, after October 10's “liquidation cascade”
Over 13.4 million tokens have been erased between mid-2021 and 2025, according to a new analysis by CoinGecko. — What to know:Forums:SlashdotForums:Slashdot:53% of Crypto Tokens Launched Since 2021 ...
A look at the making of The Thinking Game, a documentary about Google DeepMind and its CEO Demis Hassabis, garnering 285M+ views on YouTube since November 2025
A documentary about Google DeepMind has become wildly popular. Before he turned his attention to AI, the film's director learned everything from the NFL.
Listen Labs, whose AI tools help Microsoft and others run customer research and interviews, raised a $69M Series B led by Ribbit Capital at a $500M+ valuation
Chinese media: phone makers Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, and Transsion trimmed their 2026 shipment targets, with Oppo cutting up to 20%, due to the memory chip shortage
Nvidia Corp. supplier Micron Technology Inc. said an ongoing memory chip shortage has accelerated over the past quarter …
Sources: Sequoia plans a big investment in Anthropic, joining a round led by GIC and Coatue, which are investing $1.5B each, as Anthropic aims to raise $25B+
Silicon Valley investor to write first cheque for AI start-up after recent leadership overhaul
Inside the three-day 2026 National Retail Federation conference in NYC, where agentic AI was everywhere, despite an underlying fear that AI will mess things up
Stores of all kinds are using artificial intelligence to sell everything from luxury handbags to hay for horses.
Q&A with SiFive co-founder Krste Asanović, who was part of the original team that developed RISC-V, on creating a company that builds IP around RISC-V, and more
Update: SiFive just announced today that it has partnered with NVIDIA for NVLink Fusion on RISC-V. It's a big step, and we'll be covering that separately.
Mannheim, Germany-based osapiens, a provider of ESG compliance software, raised a $100M Series C from Decarbonization Partners at a $1.1B valuation
A look at Michael Saylor's Strategy, known for buying bitcoin via creative financing strategies, as its stock trades way below its peak amid the crypto downturn
The AI-fueled memory shortage that is spiking RAM prices is expanding to the broader PC market, driving price hikes for GPUs, high-capacity SSDs, and even HDDs
GPU makers may prioritize more profitable models; large SSDs are harder to find. … Standalone, direct-to-consumer RAM kits …
Similarweb: Claude's web audience more than doubled YoY in December 2025, as many coders spent their holiday breaks on a “Claude bender” testing Claude Opus 4.5
Developers and hobbyists are comparing the viral moment for Anthropic's Claude Code to the launch of generative AI
Shenzhen-based UBTech Robotics signed deals to sell its Walker S2 humanoid robots to Airbus and Texas Instruments, and says it aims to produce 10K units in 2026
UBTech Robotics Corp. shares jumped after the China-based humanoid maker received an order from Airbus SE, bolstering the outlook …
RunPod, an AI app hosting service that launched in 2022 and raised a $20M seed in May 2024, says it has reached a $120M annual revenue run rate
Runpod, an AI app hosting platform that launched four years ago, has hit a $120 million annual revenue run rate, founders Zhen Lu and Pardeep Singh tell TechCrunch.
David Sacks and top MAGA influencers are publicly opposing House Foreign Affairs Chair Brian Mast's proposed AI OVERWATCH Act to regulate AI chip sales to China
Micron signs a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip for $1.8B to expand DRAM memory chip production, expected to close in Q2 2026
Beaconcha.in: a record ~36M ethereum tokens, or 30% of ethereum's total supply, worth ~$119B, are now staked, as institutional investors grow their share
A look at the business and geopolitical reasons behind TSMC's international expansion, as Taiwan commits to spend $250B+ in the US as part of their trade deal
TSMC has for decades provided a ‘Silicon Shield’ to its namesake island. Now it sees both business and geopolitical reasons for going big in the U.S.
The AI boom is driving an unprecedented wave of data center construction, but there aren't enough skilled workers, such as electricians, in the US to keep up
The AI boom is driving an unprecedented wave of data center construction, but there aren't enough skilled tradespeople in the US to keep up.