Technology

News on tech innovations and their impact on businesses and markets.

Technology
Middle East money circles Anthropic's US$150bn target
Anthropic is set to more than double its valuation to over US$150 billion as discussions with Middle Eastern investors heat up, according to people familiar with the matter. The potential funding round would cement the Claude chatbot maker's position among other AI industry titans as competition intensifies for development resources and market share.AI investment reaches unprecedented levelsOpenAI leads the funding race with a massive $40 billion round that values the ChatGPT maker at $300 billion, while Elon Musk's xAI has raised $10 billion in combined debt and equity, with previous rounds valuing the company at $45 billion. Venture capitalists invested a record $97 billion into U.S. AI startups last year, with almost half of all startup investment flowing to AI companies. MGX, Abu Dhabi's large-scale AI investment fund, represents the primary Middle Eastern interest in Anthropic, having previously acquired almost $500 million in Anthropic shares from the defunct crypto exchange FTX.Revenue still trails valuation surgeAnthropic generated $1 billion in annual revenue in 2024 and projects $2.2 billion for 2025, representing significant growth but still trailing OpenAI's projected performance. OpenAI itself is targeting
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Apple launches iOS 26 public beta with software redesign
Apple has released a public beta version of its mobile operating system iOS 26, previewing a major software redesign that will reach devices later in 2025. iPhone users in countries like the United States and Australia can now download an early preview of the operating system, which will be launched officially in the Northern Hemisphere’s autumn period. It will be Apple’s first release to include its new Liquid Glass software design. “This is our broadest software design update ever,” said Apple’s Human Interface Design vice president Alan Dye last month. “Meticulously crafted by rethinking the fundamental elements that make up our software, the new design features an entirely new material called Liquid Glass.” “The new material, Liquid Glass, is translucent and behaves like glass in the real world. Its colour is informed by surrounding content and intelligently adapts between light and dark environments,” Apple wrote. The Liquid Glass design will also be included in Apple’s iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe, tvOS 26, and watchOS 26 operating systems for tablets, computers, Apple TV, and smart watches. These operating systems were similarly released to the public in beta this week. iOS 26 adds several new artificial intelligen
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SK Hynix smashes Q2 profit as AI memory gold rush grows
SK Hynix has delivered its strongest quarterly performance in company history, posting record revenues of ₩22.23 trillion (US$16.2 billion) and operating profit of ₩9.21 trillion for Q2 2025. The South Korean memory giant's revenue surged 35% year-on-year whilst operating profit rocketed 68%, driven by insatiable demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips essential for artificial intelligence applications. Operating margins reached an impressive 41% - up 8 percentage points from the previous year - as the company capitalised on its dominance in the specialised AI memory market, where it commands roughly 50% global market share.AI infrastructure driving structural shiftThe exceptional results reflect the semiconductor industry's fundamental transformation as artificial intelligence reshapes demand patterns across memory markets. Global HBM demand is projected to expand 70% in 2025, with the market potentially reaching $35 billion as hyperscale cloud providers and AI chip manufacturers scramble to secure supply. SK Hynix's dominance stems from its technology leadership in advanced HBM3E products and early development of next-generation HBM4 chips, which command significant premiums over conventional DRAM. The compan
Technology
Missing AI boom costs Intel dearly as red ink flows
Intel Corp has reported an 81% increase in losses for the second quarter of the 2025 financial year (Q2 FY25) as a restructuring and impairments took their toll. The United States-based semi-conductor manufacturer said the net loss widened to US$2.9 billion (A$4.4 billion) in Q2 from $1.6 billion in the previous corresponding period (pcp). Intel also said it was laying off 15% of its 96,400 employees in a cost-cutting drive by new CEO Lip Bu Tan, who in March took charge of the company, which is best known for its Intel Core series of central processing units used in desktop and laptop computers. Intel said diluted losses per share increased 76% to 67 cents as revenue was flat at $12.9 billion. The loss included $1.9 billion of restructuring charges, $800 million of non-cash impairment and accelerated depreciation charges related to “excess tools with no identified re-use” and $200 million of one-time period costs.Source: IntelIntel said it was forecasting a loss per share of 24 cents and revenue of between $12.6 billion and $13.6 billion in the third quarter. It was also taking action to improve execution and efficiency, aiming for $17 billion (using non-standardised account principles) of operating expenses in 202
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The game-changing AI trends still to come in 2025
Since the launch of OpenAI's ChatGT in 2022, the integration of artificial intelligence into workflows has accelerated faster than anyone had predicted. In just three years, AI has moved from Silicon Valley curiosity to corporate necessity, fundamentally rewiring how businesses operate across every major industry. The proof-of-concept purgatory that characterised the technology's early corporate adoption has turned from advancements in small, yet significant increments - to a full-blown sprint by business to adapt. Here's what we can expect next: Advanced AI reasoning models (OpenAI, Grok and beyond)Revolutionary Impact: The emergence of AI reasoning models like OpenAI's o3 and xAI's Grok 4 represents a qualitative shift in AI capabilities, with o3 achieving 87.5% on the ARC-AGI benchmark and Grok 4 setting new records on multiple benchmarks, including Humanity's Last Exam with a 44.4% score. Business Applications:Software Engineering: o3 achieved 69.1% accuracy on software engineering benchmarks, substantially improving over previous models' 48.9% Financial Analysis: Complex multi-step reasoning for investment strategies and risk assessment Legal Document Analysis: Enhanced contract comparison and legal document proces

Technology
AT&T exceeds expectations in Q2 earnings
Telecom company AT&T has reported better than expected results in its second quarter earnings. The company's earnings were 54 cents on an adjusted basis, compared to 51 cents a year ago and beating analysts' expectations of 53 cents. Its revenue also grew 3.5% year on year to US$30.8 billion, once again beating expectations of US$30.46 billion. AT&T chairman and CEO John Stankey attributes this to a growing network of locations and customers. The company’s mobility service revenue also grew by 3.5% year-on-year to US$16.9 billion. “Customers are increasingly choosing AT&T because we have the best technology and options for wireless and broadband connectivity, backed by the AT&T Guarantee,” he said. “The milestones achieved this quarter – from passing more than 30 million customer locations with fibre and eclipsing 1 million total AT&T Internet Air customers, to our agreement to acquire substantially all of Lumen’s Mass Markets fibre business - strengthen the industry's best and leading connectivity portfolio.” AT&T welcomed 401,000 postpaid wireless phone customers this quarter, which is lower than the 419,000 subscribers it added last year. In the earnings report, the company revealed that it expects to re
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T-Mobile beats Q2 estimates, raises outlook
T-Mobile US climbed in after-hours trade as the wireless carrier delivered stronger-than-expected second-quarter results and raised its full-year outlook for customer growth, buoyed by record postpaid additions. The telecom giant reported adjusted earnings of $2.84 per share on revenue of US$21.13 billion, surpassing market expectations of $2.68 per share and $21.04 billion, respectively. That compares to earnings of $2.49 per share and revenue of $19.77 billion in the same quarter last year. “T-Mobile crushed our own growth records with the best-ever total postpaid and postpaid phone nets in a Q2 in our history,” said CEO Mike Sievert. The company added 1.77 million net postpaid customers in the quarter, well ahead of analysts’ estimates of 1.35 million. Postpaid phone customer additions reached 830,000 - up from 777,000 a year ago and exceeding expectations for 704,500. Postpaid churn, a key telecom metric tracking customer attrition, came in at 0.9%, in line with forecasts. “T-Mobile is now America's Best Network,” Sievert added. “When you combine that with the incredible value that we have always been famous for, it should surprise no one that customers are switching to the Un-carrier at a record pace.
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AI powers Alphabet Q2 earnings as capex hiked
Technology giant Alphabet Inc has announced a 19% increase in net income for the second quarter of the 2025 financial year (Q2 FY25), as artificial intelligence (AI) drove strong growth across the business. The parent company of Google's search engine business said net income was US$28.2 billion (A$42.7 billion) in the quarter ended 30 June 2025 compared with $23.6 billion in the previous corresponding period. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) jumped 22% to $2.31 on revenue which grew 14% to $96.4 billion as Google Search & other, YouTube ads, Google subscriptions, platforms, and devices and Google Cloud delivered double-digit growth. CEO Sundar Pichai said AI was driving strong momentum in every part of the business, with Search delivering double-digit revenue growth and new features like AI Overviews and AI Mode performing well. Source: Alphabet"We had a standout quarter, with robust growth across the company. We are leading at the frontier of AI and shipping at an incredible pace,” he said in a press release. Pichai said Alphabet continued to see a strong performance by YouTube and subscriptions offerings and Cloud had strong growth in revenues, backlog and profitability with its annual revenue run-rate reaching more
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IBM lifts its outlook as AI, margins boost Q2 results
IBM, headquartered in Armonk, New York, reported robust second-quarter results for 2025, underscoring its role as a global leader in software, infrastructure, and consulting services. The company posted $17 billion in revenue, up 8% year-on-year, driven by double-digit growth in software and infrastructure. This was above the consensus estimate of $16.59 billion. Adjusted earnings per share were recorded at $2.80, while analysts had expected $2.65. Gross profit margin rose to 58.8%, while operating margin reached 60.1%, reflecting an improved portfolio mix and productivity. “We once again exceeded expectations for revenue, profit and free cash flow in the quarter. IBM remains highly differentiated in the market because of our deep innovation and domain expertise, both crucial [to] helping clients deploy and scale AI. Our generative AI book of business continues to accelerate and now stands at more than $7.5 billion," said Arvind Krishna, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer. "With our strong first-half performance, we are raising our full-year outlook for free cash flow, which we expect to exceed $13.5 billion.” IBM controls a wide array of enterprise technologies, including hybrid cloud, automation, and