SoftBank may participate in OpenAI’s latest funding round

Here is compilation of the five biggest news from the world of technology & AI in last 24 hours.

1)

SoftBank may participate in OpenAI’s latest funding round

According to the news portal The Information, Japanese tech giant SoftBank has agreed to pump $500 Mn in OpenAI’s latest funding round, which would allow the Sam Altman led company to raise nearly $7Bn at a valuation of nearly $150 Bn. The deal would mark SoftBank’s maiden investment in the ChatGPT’s parent company. it would join slew of high-profile investors including Thrive Capital, Tiger Global Management, Coatue Management and Microsoft. There were reports that even Apple was also planning to participate in the round but is believed to have pulled off.

2)

Epic Games sues Google and Samsung for making it tough to install Fortnite

Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, has sued Google and Samsung for maintaining monopoly over app distribution. For all those who are not aware, Epic Games, which runs its own game store called the Epic Games Store, had won the antitrust lawsuit against Google over the same issue. While the latest lawsuit is once again targeting the search giant, it is more specifically aimed toward Samsung. In its lawsuit, Epic Games claims that Samsung’s auto blocker feature is making it tough for users to download the Epic Games Store on the Samsung devices; alleging that it only allows to download apps from Google Play Store and Samsung Galaxy Store and blocks third-party-installations unless users choose to chose the default function.

3)

Mark Zuckerberg joins the highly coveted $200 Bn Club   

According to the latest Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index figures, Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s personal wealth stands at $201 Bn, making him only the fourth person to join the exclusive club. In 2024 Zuckerberg’s wealth increased by whopping $73 Bn, much thanks to the upward surge in the Meta stocks. Meta shares have zoomed by nearly 64% in the current year, reaching a record high of $560 per share. Meta’s three highly popular social media platforms Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp had generated a combined revenue of $134 Bn in 2023. This is good comeback by Zuckerberg, whose personal wealth took a hit after Metaverse failed to live up to the hype.

4)

X’s valuation continues to tank, now valued less than $10 Bn

The well-known asset manager Fidelity, which had invested $19.66 Mn in X (previously known as Twitters) through a blue-chip fund, has cut the valuation of its stake to merely $4.18 Mn. This is a second time in a row that Fidelity has downgraded the valuation of its stake in the microblogging platform. From the context of overall valuation, Fidelity’s lates valuation cut implies that X is now valued at nearly $9.4, which is a far cry from the valuation of $44 Bn it commanded when Elon Musk dramatically took over the company. Since Musk’s takeover, the microblogging company has faced slew of problems. From mass boycott by top advertisers to getting banned in prominent markets.

5)

ByteDance is planning to use Huawei chips in its future AI models

Following the US restriction on export of AI chips to Chinese companies, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance has been compelled to look for homegrown chips to power its future AI models. According to Reuters, ByteDance has tapped into Huawei Technologies to meet its requirement for AI chips. It will reportedly use Huawei’s Ascend 910 B for training its AI large language models. As per sources, TikTok parent company is also planning to award a big chip contract to Huawei.