Business, Financial & Legal

NVIDIA has announced a new multi-year strategic partnership that will see the company invest $2 billion to help develop next-generation advanced optics technologies designed to power future generations of AI.

In a new press release, NVIDIA announced a partnership with Lumentum, a US-based company building a new fabrication plant. The press release states that NVIDIA's investment will include a purchase commitment and future capacity access to advanced laser components, and that its $2 billion investment will support R&D, the capacity access, and general operations. Notably, the agreement is non-exclusive, meaning Lumentum is free to pursue partnerships.

Why make a $4 billion bet? NVIDIA is looking to secure the future technology to power AI factories, and that technology is optics. These systems use light instead of traditional electrical signals to move data between chips, servers, etc., and the technology is extremely promising, as it's already proven to offer higher bandwidth than electrical connections, which are already reaching power and performance ceilings. NVIDIA is looking to integrate this technology into its AI factories, which are increasingly bandwidth-intensive as more powerful GPUs are brought online and more sophisticated AI models are created.

Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery have struck a deal to purchase the company, and its extremely valuable subsidiaries, plus IP, for $31 per share, following Netflix officially walking away from the table.

Warner Bros. Discovery made itself up for grabs last year, and Netflix quickly jumped at the opportunity to obtain many new forms of IP it could use to bolster its media offerings, along with services that it currently doesn't have under its expansive umbrella. Warner Bros. Discovery agreed to be acquired by Netflix for $82.7 billion back in December 2025, but that deal was quickly challenged by Paramount Skydance, which offered $108.4 billion, an offer $25.7 billion larger than Netflix.

Netflix recently stated it will not be matching Paramount Skydance's offer, which included a $7 billion regulatory termination fee if the deal fails when it reaches regulators, and a $2.8 billion breakup fee if Warner Bros. Discovery walked away from the deal with Netflix. Now, Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has said during a conference call on Monday what he intends to do with Warner Bros. Discovery's streaming service HBO once it falls under Paramount Skydance's umbrella, and that will be leaving it as it is.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has teased in a recent X post that Apple has a "big week" starting next week, suggesting a selection of new products will be unveiled.

The post includes the hashtag #AppleLaunch, which confirms that Apple's big week will involve at least one new product launch, and not some kind of partnership or business-related announcement. Albeit, it doesn't entirely rule out those kinds of announcements, as they can still happen at the same time as a product unveiling.

As for what we can expect, early rumors have pointed to an entry-level MacBook, which is slated to use an A18 Pro chip, feature 8GB of memory, 256GB of storage, and have a 12.9-inch display. Cost is currently pegged at approximately $599.

Netflix has announced it won't be beating Paramount's offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, which essentially means Warner Bros. Discovery is free to take Paramount Skydance's offer that was $25.7 billion more than Netflix's.

Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery announced that Netflix was acquiring many big parts of Warner Bros. Discovery, offering the company $82.7 billion back in December, 2025. Only a few weeks after Netflix made its offer public, Paramount Skydance made a competing offer of $108.4 billion, which equates to $25.7 billion more than Netflix's.

Additionally, Paramount Skydance targeted Warner Bros Discovery shareholders, urging them to reject the Netflix deal, and to add even more pressure to the decision, Paramount Skydance sued Warner Bros for allegedly failing to provide Paramount with the reasons why it rejected Paramount's offer. Now, Netflix has said it won't be matching Paramount's offer, nor will it be providing a counteroffer, and Warner Bros. Discovery's board has deemed Paramount's offer as a "Superior Proposal".

TSMC founder Morris Chang is reportedly not in the best health right now, but he still found his way to meet up with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang for dinner at a local Taiwanese restaurant while Jensen was in Taipei.

In a new report from DigiTimes, we're hearing that local media said the TSMC founder attended a restaurant in Taipei just to meet Jensen, and that the Taiwanese media took some photos of the 94-year-old semiconductor "godfather" as it was Chang's first appearance in over 12 months.

The NVIDIA and TSMC bosses have been good friends for a couple of decades now, with Jensen promising Chang that TSMC would be his biggest customer. Jensen and Morris have a relationship that expands outside of semiconductors, as in the past Jensen was actually offered the CEO position at TSMC, but he refused and continued to steer the NVIDIA ship.

Apple has just posted its fiscal Q1 2026 financial results, with a record $143.8 billion in revenue and huge iPhone sales of $85.2 billion, up 23% year-over-year.

In the first fiscal quarter of 2026, Apple scooped up $143.8 billion in revenue, representing a 16% year-over-year increase compared to $97.9 billion in Q1 2026. Out of that $143.8B in revenue, Apple earned $113.7 billion from its product segment, and $30 billion from its services business.

Apple beat analysts' expectations for the quarter, which expected the company to pull $78.3 billion for the quarter versus $85.2 billion, while the company noted it now has an install base of over 2.5 billion devices worldwide.

Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison is patiently waiting for company investors to approve the $108.4 billion all-cash offer to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, following the announcement that Warner Bros. Discovery is being gutted and sold off in portions to Netflix.

Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery announced that Netflix was acquiring many key parts of Warner Bros. Discovery for a healthy $82.7 billion. The announcement was made in December 2025, and only a few weeks later, Paramount Skydance made a competing offer of $108.4 billion.

The difference between the Netflix offer and the Paramount offer is that Netflix wants portions of Warner Bros. Discovery, while Paramount Skydance is willing to take the whole company. Warner Bros. rejected Paramount Skydance's offer, citing concerns with how the company would be able to fund the acquisition.

Samsung and SK Hynix are reportedly cutting NAND production to divert manufacturing capacity to more profitable avenues, such as DRAM.

The emergence of AI and the exponential power of the hardware fuelling demand from companies around the world for more powerful models is straining the global supply of specific components, with DRAM the most notable at the moment.

With a limited number of memory manufacturers and only a limited number of global suppliers, manufacturers are making more money selling HBM and DRAM in large quantities to customers such as NVIDIA and AMD, as these companies can outbid consumer-facing companies like Lenovo and Dell.

The UK and Bank of England are preparing for a potential financial crisis if the US government says we are not alone, and that UFOs, UAPs, USOs, and alien life are disclosed.

Former BoE analyst, Helen McCaw, has previously worked in financial security at the Bank of England, helping develop plans for theoretical economic crises, including the one now that she sees as a possibility in a full UFO and aliens disclosure scenario.

She wrote to Andrew Bailey, who is the Bank of England's governor, urging him to set out contingencies in case the Trump administration and the White House confirms the existence of alien life, reports The Times.

Malwarebytes, a very popular antivirus software company, has informed its users that it discovered a breach when it was performing a dark web check. Malwarebytes linked the breach to an Instagram API exposure that dates back to 2024.

According to reports, the discovery comes amid Instagram users reportedly receiving emails from Instagram requesting a password change. According to Malwarebytes, the leaked information, which includes email addresses, phone numbers, usernames, and more personal information, may result in more serious attacks taking place, such as phishing attempts, account takeovers, and other various scams.

Meta has yet to comment on the recent discovery, which has connected at least 17.5 million Instagram users with leaked information discovered on the dark web. It's currently unclear if the information has been sold to bad actors. In order to be completely safe, it's recommended you change your Instagram password to an encrypted password, and also turn on two-factor authentication if you haven't already.

NVIDIA has picked up Google marketing executive, and 10-year Google veteran Alison Wagonfeld to step into the role of Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).

Wagonfeld will be the first CMO at NVIDIA, and according to reports from Wall Street Journal, which spoke to a person familiar with the situation, Wagonfeld will be reporting directly to company CEO Jensen Huang, and that all members of the marketing and communications team will report to Wagonfeld once she begins her position in February.

The former Google employee announced the move to Team Green in a LinkedIn post, mentioning that she has been part of the Google Cloud project since it was merely a start-up in 2016, and that she has been part of it growing into a $60 billion run-rate business. With the explosion in AI, NVIDIA has positioned itself phenomenally to benefit off the demand for more advanced systems, as NVIDIA makes the most advanced and most efficient hardware to power artificial intelligence.

Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions (DS) division, responsible for the company's semiconductor business, will be paying performance-based bonuses of up to 100% of base salary.

Samsung's semiconductor competitiveness has increased greatly this year, with huge sales in HBM memory and securing important supply contracts with NVIDIA for next-gen HBM4 memory. Samsung recently announced the payment rate for the second half of 2026's "Target Achievement Incentive" (TAI)" was on its internal bulletin board on December 22, reports Korean outlet AJU news.

TAI is one of Samsung Electronics' internal performance-based bonus systems, with each division's performance evaluated once per year -- in the first half, and second half of the year -- and a differential payment of up to 100% monthly base salary is made, with the second-half TAI payment hitting Samsung staffers' accounts on December 24.

Warner Bros Discovery will be informing shareholders to reject the offer made by Paramount Skydance, which is more than the $72 billion deal that Warner Bros struck with Netflix.

Reports indicate that despite Paramount's $108.4 offer, Warner Bros will be telling its shareholders to reject the offer and go with Netflix, as Warner has multiple concerns with Paramount's bid, including how it would be financed, according to a report from the Financial Times.

For those who don't know, Warner Bros Discovery put itself up for sale in October, which garnered many expressions of interest, including a bid from Paramount. However, on December 5, Warner Bros Discovery announced it had agreed to sell its film and streaming businesses to Netflix, which prompted a new offer from Paramount for the whole company and its television networks.

Reddit has announced it will be challenging the Australian government's decision to ban popular social media platforms for under-16s and implement age verification restrictions on platforms.

Reddit has alleged that the ban and the restrictions that follow infringe on the platform's freedom of political discourse. For those who don't know, Australia recently implemented a social media ban for under-16s that requires the top social media apps to block access to their platform for those under that age, including current account holders. The ban went into effect on Wednesday.

In response to the ban, Reddit has filed a lawsuit in the Australian High Court against the regulator implementing the ban, writing the ban could prevent teenagers from engaging in political discussions years before they become voters, suppressing their freedoms. Reddit added that there is a large amount of content teenagers can view on its platform, and the new restrictions wouldn't have much impact anyway.

Apple is bleeding out some of its highest-level C-suite staffers in something that's being described as a "rebellion" with four key executives announcing they were leaving the iPhone giant in the last 72 hours... but the exodus might not be over yet.

Earlier this week, Apple's AI czar, John Giannandrea, was terminated on Monday and replaced with Amar Subramanya from Microsoft. Just a couple of days later, Apple's UI design boss, Alan Dye, was poached by Meta on Wednesday. Dye had been working on UI design at Apple since 2015, working on iconic designs including the iPhone X, watchOS, and the pill-shaped Dynamic Island on the last few iPhones.

Dye was the lead behind Liquid Glass for iOS 26, and the dedicated interface for the Vision Pro headset that computes spatial interactions. The C-suite exodus for Apple didn't stop, with the company announcing its general counsel, Kat Adams, and its vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives, Lisa Jackson, are leaving the company soon.

Micron has just announced suddenly that it is closing its Crucial consumer SSD and RAM business, as it is pushing all-in for AI, in the middle of the crazy-expensive RAM crisis.

In a press release, the US-based memory company -- only one of three major DRAM manufacturers between Samsung and SK hynix -- has said that it will continue shipments of its Crucial consumer products into the channel until the end of Q2 2026. After that, Micron will work with its partners and customers through the transition, providing continued warranty service and support for Crucial-branded products.

Sumit Sadana, EVP and Chief Business Officer at Micron Technology, said: "The AI-driven growth in the data center has led to a surge in demand for memory and storage. Micron has made the difficult decision to exit the Crucial consumer business in order to improve supply and support for our larger, strategic customers in faster-growing segments".

TSMC accused its former Senior Vice President, and now the Executive Vice President at Intel of stealing trade secrets after they departed from the Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer in October.

TSMC filed a lawsuit in Taiwan's Intellectual Property and Commercial Court against Wei-Jen Lo, a former TSMC employee who worked at the semiconductor manufacturer for 21 years and, before that, at Intel for 18 years. Lo has since returned to Intel, joining the company in October, and now TSMC is accusing its former staffer of leaking trade secrets and confidential information to its direct competitor.

Intel has since responded to the allegations in an emailed statement, writing, "Based on everything we know, we have no reason to believe there is any merit to the allegations involving Mr Lo." Additionally, Intel pointed to its policies and controls it has in place that strictly prohibit the use or transfer of any third-party confidential information or intellectual property, and stated, "We take these commitments seriously."

ASML has just opened up its first training facility on US soil, with the new facility in Phoenix, Arizona, set to train thousands of engineers on how to use their industry-leading EUV machines.

Right now, US semiconductor investments are growing by the week with the likes of TSMC opening up semiconductor facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, as well as Intel and Samsung with their foundry operations on US soil. However, there aren't enough US-based workers in the R&D divisions of these companies to get them trained up on how to use ASML's leading High-NA EUV lithography machines.

In a new report from Reuters, the outlet reports that the Netherlands-based company is opening a technical training center in Arizona, which will be training over 1000 engineers each year, and will become one of the core tenets of the US semiconductor industry.

Intel has secured TSMC's former Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy Development, Wei-Jen Lo, in a shock move in the semiconductor industry, with the latest reports that Intel is now gunning for big US tech companies like NVIDIA, Tesla, Microsoft, and Qualcomm as new advanced packaging customers.

In a fresh report from DigiTimes, we're hearing that Intel will be relying on Wei-Jen Lo who has experience in both Intel and TSMC wafer manufacturing R&D and management, to handle orders from US clients at TSMC's new Arizona semiconductor fab and related advanced packaging work for Intel.

This move is expected to include orders from Microsoft and Tesla in the short term, and then NVIDIA and Qualcomm in the future, ensuring a "smooth transition between the front-end and back-end". Wei-Jen Lo's expertise in managing the wafer fab and equipment supply chain will be used to "rapidly" improve yields and efficiency for Intel Foundry.

NVIDIA has just posted its Q3 FY26 financial results, with the company pulling in a record $57 billion in revenue, and projecting to hit an even bigger $65 billion in Q4 FY2026.

During the earnings call, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said that the company is seeing "record-level" demand for Blackwell AI systems, adding: "Blackwell sales are off the charts, and cloud GPUs are sold out. Compute demand keeps accelerating and compounding across training and inference -- each growing exponentially. We've entered the virtuous cycle of AI. The AI ecosystem is scaling fast -- with more new foundation model makers, more AI startups, across more industries, and in more countries. AI is going everywhere, doing everything, all at once".

One of the big questions that NVIDIA was asked was for its upcoming quarters, and whether the company would meet the $500 billion projection that Jensen said recently at GTC Washington 2025.