Nvidia is reportedly in advanced negotiations to acquire Israeli AI start-up AI21 Labs, according to a report by Calcalist. The deal could be worth between two and three billion dollars. AI21 was valued at $1.4 billion during its last funding round in 2023, with both Google and Nvidia among its investors.
Similar to its recent Groq deal, Nvidia appears primarily interested in AI21's workforce. The company employs around 200 people, most of whom hold advanced degrees and have rare expertise in AI development. At the reported deal value, Nvidia would be paying roughly $10 to $15 million per employee.
AI21, based in Tel Aviv, was founded in 2017 by Professor Amnon Shashua, Professor Yoav Shoham, and Ori Goshen. The company builds large language models and offers software tools, including an agent builder. Its products target enterprise customers, with estimated annual revenue of around $50 million.
Nvidia's China business is ramping up again.According to Reuters, the chip company is in talks with contract manufacturer TSMC to expand production of its H200 AI chips to meet surging demand from China. Chinese tech companies have ordered more than two million H200 chips for 2026, but Nvidia currently only has 700,000 units available.
Production at TSMC is set to begin in the second quarter of 2026, with Nvidia planning to sell the chips for around $27,000 each. ByteDance alone, TikTok's parent company, plans to spend around 100 billion yuan (about $14 billion) on Nvidia chips in 2026, according to the South China Morning Post.
The Trump administration recently cleared H200 chip exports to China with a 25 percent fee attached. However, China hasn't approved the imports yet. Officials there are still debating whether access to advanced foreign chips might slow down the country's domestic chip industry. One proposal under consideration would require every H200 order to include a certain percentage of chips made in China.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has reportedly entered "founder mode." According to the Financial Times, Nadella has shaken up Microsoft's management to keep pace with Amazon, Google, and startups like Anthropic. "Satya is trying to demonstrate a sense of urgency," one executive said. "The goal is to get out of some of the structures that exist and make the route to him easier."
Nadella has brought in several new executives, including former Meta technology chief Jay Parikh. Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of Google Deepmind, now leads Microsoft's in-house AI development with his own budget and salary structure. The move has created internal friction, but Microsoft is accepting that to stay competitive for AI talent.
Microsoft remains strong overall, especially thanks to its Azure cloud AI services, but faces tough challenges ahead. The company will lose exclusive rights to OpenAI's research and models in the early 2030s, and OpenAI is no longer required to use Microsoft's data centers. Meanwhile, Copilot's 150 million users trail Google's Gemini (650 million) and ChatGPT (800 million). Nadella has reportedly already stepped in to influence development directly.
Elon Musk's xAI keeps growing its data center footprint.According to Musk and The Information, the AI company has snapped up a warehouse in Southaven, Mississippi, where it plans to build a third massive data center. Construction is set to begin in 2026. The new facility sits right next to xAI's existing Colossus 2 data center in Memphis. Musk says the expansion will push xAI's total computing power to nearly two gigawatts.
The new data center's name takes a jab at Microsoft. | Screenshot via X
The new data center goes by "Macrohardrr," a not-so-subtle dig at Microsoft. The name reflects Musk's ambition to build xAI into an AI software company that can go toe-to-toe with Microsoft. Back in early December, Musk teased the move on X, posting "MACROHARDER coming soon" in response to a satellite image showing the word "Macrohard" painted on the roof of Colossus 2.
Meta pays $3 billion for Manus AI after startup cut all Chinese ties to clear regulatory hurdles
Meta is buying AI agent startup Manus AI, a system built on competitor models. The deal shows how far the company has fallen behind on AI agents despite billions in spending. Still, the acquisition could be a smart shortcut.
China's semiconductor independence push is turning US export controls into a domestic boom
China is forcing chipmakers to use at least 50 percent domestic equipment in new factories. The undocumented rule is Beijing’s answer to US export restrictions; and a major step toward breaking the country’s dependence on Western technology.
If you use a chatbot and an Urban browser extension, you might want to rethink that combination. Security researchers at Koi have found that eight browser extensions with more than eight million users combined are secretly harvesting AI conversations and potentially selling them to third parties.
Extension
Chrome
Edge
Urban VPN Proxy
6,000,000
1,323,622
1ClickVPN Proxy
600,000
36,459
Urban Browser Guard
40,000
12,624
Urban Ad Blocker
10,000
6,476
The extensions intercept conversations with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity, DeepSeek, Grok, and Meta AI. Even when the VPN is switched off, data collection continues in the background. Uninstalling the extension is the only way to stop it.
According to Koi, the data collection feature was quietly added in July 2025 through an automatic update. The data goes to Urban VPN's servers, and the privacy policy states that browsing data is shared with affiliate BiScience and that AI prompts are used for marketing analytics.
But the provider tells a different story in the Chrome Web Store, claiming data is not sold to third parties. Adding to the confusion, "Featured" badges from Google and Microsoft give users a false sense of security. Urban Ad Blocker for Edge is the only extension without a Featured badge.
Zara is using artificial intelligence to digitally edit photos of models. The Spanish fashion giant reaches out to models and asks for permission to reuse existing images, reports City AM from London. Using AI, the company then dresses the models in new clothes and places them in different settings, eliminating the need for new photo shoots. Two models told City AM they receive the same payment as they would for an actual shoot. But everyone else who would normally be involved in a photo shoot, from makeup artists to photographers and stylists, likely gets nothing.
Zara says AI will supplement traditional photo shoots, not replace them. The shift comes during a rough patch for the retailer, with UK sales hitting their lowest point in six months this past November. Competitors H&M and Zalando announced similar plans over the summer, creating AI-based "digital twins" of models.
