TerraFirma, a tech-enabled construction company building semi-autonomous heavy machinery, has raised approximately $115 million, anchored by a $100 million Series A led by Kleiner Perkins. The round drew an unusually deep bench of participants, including Bain Capital Ventures, Glade Brook Capital Partners, Banner VC, Saga Ventures, Trust Ventures, Definition, PEAK6, Magnetar … [Read more...] about TerraFirma Raises $100M Series A to Turn Heavy Construction Equipment Into Robots
PrismML, the Startup That Shrinks AI Models to Run on an iPhone, Is in Talks With Apple
A small Caltech spinout called PrismML has done something that looked implausible a year ago: it compressed a 27-billion-parameter large language model down small enough to run entirely on an iPhone, and Apple is now evaluating the technology. PrismML CEO Babak Hassibi told CNBC that Apple and other companies have been measuring the startup's models for speed, energy … [Read more...] about PrismML, the Startup That Shrinks AI Models to Run on an iPhone, Is in Talks With Apple
OpenAI’s First Device Will Be a Moveable, Screenless AI Companion Speaker
OpenAI's long-anticipated move into hardware is finally taking shape, and it isn't the iPhone rival many expected. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, citing people familiar with the project, OpenAI's first consumer device will be a portable, screen-free smart speaker that the company describes internally as a new kind of home computer for the AI era. The pitch is … [Read more...] about OpenAI’s First Device Will Be a Moveable, Screenless AI Companion Speaker
IBM’s 25% Stock Fall Is Beginning of the End for Old School Software Giant
IBM just had its worst trading day in at least 58 years. Shares closed down more than 25% on July 14, 2026, wiping out over $50 billion in market value in a single session, after CEO Arvind Krishna preannounced second-quarter results that came in well short of Wall Street's expectations. The stock is now down roughly 26% year to date, having entered the week up slightly for the … [Read more...] about IBM’s 25% Stock Fall Is Beginning of the End for Old School Software Giant
Why a Six-Axis Robot Arm Is Staring at a Green-Headed Tanager
An ABB IRB 1100 six-axis arm sits bolted to a demo table, a HikRobot area-scan camera clamped where a gripper would normally go, its ring light glowing pale blue. Behind it, a monitor is filled edge to edge with a green-headed tanager perched on a moss-covered branch — plumage in five distinct greens, a jet-black hood, a beak sharp enough to count pixels on. Next to the arm: a … [Read more...] about Why a Six-Axis Robot Arm Is Staring at a Green-Headed Tanager
Industrial Robotics Meets the AI Boom: What Cobots at Trade Shows Are Really Selling
Walk any major tech expo floor this year and the pattern repeats itself: a crowd gathers not around a laptop demo, but around a robot arm. The scene is familiar — a Yaskawa collaborative robot arm, distinctive in its white-and-blue housing, draws a small crowd of attendees while a company representative fields questions from an interested visitor scrolling through specs on her … [Read more...] about Industrial Robotics Meets the AI Boom: What Cobots at Trade Shows Are Really Selling
Microsoft Trims 5,500 Jobs to Defend a $190 Billion Capital Program
Microsoft will cut fewer than 5,500 jobs next week — under 2.5 percent of a 220,000-person workforce — across sales, consulting, and its Xbox division, with the reductions timed to the close of its fiscal year on June 30. The number is smaller than last year's 15,000-plus across two rounds, and taken alone it says little. Taken in context it says everything: Microsoft is … [Read more...] about Microsoft Trims 5,500 Jobs to Defend a $190 Billion Capital Program
South Korea Commits $590 Billion to Double Its Memory Chip Capacity
South Korea unveiled a 911 trillion won (~$590 billion) semiconductor investment plan on Monday, anchored by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, with the stated aim of doubling the country's DRAM production capacity within five years. The package spans four new memory fabs in the southwest, an advanced packaging cluster in the Chungcheong region, and a materials/parts/equipment … [Read more...] about South Korea Commits $590 Billion to Double Its Memory Chip Capacity
HyperLight Closes $80M to Move TFLN From Lab to Foundry
HyperLight has closed an $80 million Series C led by MediaTek, with participation from UMC Capital, Jabil, Foxconn, EDBI, CDIB-TEN Capital, and the Qatar Investment Authority, alongside existing backers Summit Partners, The Engine, Foothill Ventures, and Xora Innovation. The Cambridge company builds thin-film lithium niobate photonic integrated circuits, and the proceeds are … [Read more...] about HyperLight Closes $80M to Move TFLN From Lab to Foundry
Odyssey Raises $310M to Build World Models on AWS Trainium
Odyssey, the Palo Alto world-model lab founded by self-driving veterans Oliver Cameron and Jeff Hawke, has raised a $310 million Series B at a $1.45 billion valuation. Natural Capital led, with Amazon, AMD Ventures, GV, EQT, and In-Q-Tel joining a cap table that already included Jeff Dean, Elad Gil, Garry Tan, Guillermo Rauch, and Cruise founder Kyle Vogt. The round crowns … [Read more...] about Odyssey Raises $310M to Build World Models on AWS Trainium