Singapore AI News & Daily Briefing

Singapore's Digital Development Minister Josephine Teo told an ASEAN summit that the region's AI growth depends on five pillars: infrastructure, workforce skills, broad societal access, governance frameworks, and international cooperation. She highlighted that Southeast Asia's data center capacity will triple by 2030, and cited Singapore's Model AI Governance Framework as an example of principles-based regulation. Teo warned that overly restrictive data policies could slow innovation, urging ASEAN countries to support cross-border data flows through the proposed Digital Economy Framework Agreement.

Applied Materials has expanded its mega manufacturing facility in Singapore, strengthening its semiconductor production capabilities that support chip manufacturing globally. The facility is part of Singapore's push to position itself as a key hub in the AI chip supply chain. Semiconductors are the physical foundation of AI systems — from data centers to consumer devices — and Singapore hosts significant manufacturing operations from multiple major chip industry players.

AI agents need clear ownership before acting across systems. Fragmented data makes agentic AI harder to govern. Enterprises need clearer accountability before allowing AI agents to act across business systems, Matthew Hardman, APAC CTO at Hitachi Vantara, told Tech Wire Asia in a recent interview. “Accountability should not sit with the model alone,” Hardman said. […] The post Why enterprises need clearer accountability for AI agents appeared first on TechWire Asia .

Google DeepMind and partners including Schmidt Sciences and ARIA are offering up to $10 million for researchers studying safety in multi-agent AI systems — scenarios where millions of AI agents built by different companies interact, negotiate, and transact. The funding targets four areas: building test environments to study agent behavior, understanding how unexpected collective behaviors emerge in agent networks, securing the infrastructure behind cross-platform interactions, and developing methods to monitor and stop harmful agent activity at scale.

Microsoft patched a critical vulnerability in its Copilot AI that could have let hackers steal two-factor authentication codes and other sensitive email data. The attack, called 'SearchLeak,' exploited how AI systems struggle to distinguish between user commands and hidden instructions buried in emails or URLs. Anyone using Microsoft 365 Copilot at work could have been affected. Microsoft has fixed it, but the flaw reveals a fundamental weakness in how AI products handle data security.

Google DeepMind has built a security framework called the 'AI Control Roadmap' to keep its AI agents in check. The approach treats AI agents like potential insider threats — similar to how companies manage the risk of a rogue employee. Trusted AI systems constantly monitor agents' actions, stepping in to block anything harmful before damage occurs. DeepMind has already analyzed one million coding agent tasks to test and improve these safeguards. As AI agents are projected to add $2.9 trillion to the US economy alone by 2030, getting this security right matters for everyone who will rely on these systems.

Researchers created a computer chip that uses sound waves to mimic how the human brain processes information, potentially enabling AI that uses far less energy. The acoustic 'synapse' device achieved 96.7% accuracy on pattern recognition tasks while consuming as little as one-tenth the power of current AI hardware. This early-stage research could eventually mean smarter gadgets with longer battery life.

Google has released Gemma 4 12B, a new open AI model that can process images, audio, and text directly without separate encoding components — making it smaller and faster than traditional multimodal models. It runs on regular laptops with just 16GB of RAM, bringing advanced AI capabilities to consumer hardware. The model has already been downloaded 150 million times, and developers use it for everything from wearable robotics to enterprise security tools. It is available for free download via Hugging Face and works with popular developer tools like Ollama and LM Studio.

Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital used OpenAI's o3 model to revisit 376 cases of children with undiagnosed rare genetic diseases — cases that multiple specialists had already reviewed without success. The AI acted as a reasoning layer, connecting patient symptoms, genetic data, and scientific literature to surface candidate diagnoses. After expert review and clinical confirmation, physicians diagnosed 18 additional children — a 4.8% success rate that is meaningful because these cases had evaded diagnosis for years. The AI even identified a possible new explanation for vitiligo that requires further study. Every diagnosis still required human verification; the AI generated leads, not conclusions.

OpenAI has upgraded ChatGPT's health responses, and the results are striking. Over 230 million people weekly already use ChatGPT for health questions. Now GPT-5.5 Instant performs as well as OpenAI's top models on medical evaluations. In testing, physicians rated AI responses higher than doctor-written ones in accuracy, communication, and avoiding mistakes. The AI better recognizes urgent situations, explains uncertainty clearly, and gives people practical next steps. Factuality issues in health responses dropped 71% in two months. The improvements come from input by 260 physicians across 60 countries who reviewed over 700,000 AI responses to refine the model.

The iconic Golden Gate Bridge and the stunning San Francisco skyline as seen from the Marin Headlands during the vibrant spring season. Dan Kurtzman | Moment | Getty Images _A version of this article first appeared in CNBC's Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer._[_Sign up_](https://www.cnbc.com/inside-wealth-newsletter/)_to receive future editions, straight to your inbox._ The blockbuster [SpaceX](https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/SPCX/) IPO and potential upcoming public offerings for OpenAI and Anthropic could create a tax windfall for the state of California. Yet the revenue boost may fall short of previous tech IPOs – at least relative to the firms' valuations – given the specific nature and tax treatment of today's tech compen

As AI becomes part of everyday work, organizations need the ability to manage it with the same rigor they apply to any critical business investment. Companies need a clear view of usage, adoption, and spend so they can scale with confidence and understand where AI is creating value. Today, we’re introducing credit usage analytics and updated spend controls for ChatGPT Enterprise. These capabilities help companies track credit usage, understand adoption patterns, and make more informed decisions about how AI is deployed across their organizations. With clearer visibility and more flexible controls, organizations can proactively manage costs, give teams the access they need, and keep AI investments focused on the work that matters most. ![Image 1: Billing tab and overall plan view in the glo

Singapore wants to become a global hub for AI solutions, not a competitor in building the biggest AI models or data centers. A government committee report outlines plans to establish a National AI Council, create sector-specific AI missions in finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics, and help local companies undergo full AI transformation. The report also emphasizes upskilling workers and ensuring AI benefits are shared across society.

Singapore AI firm SuperX AI Technology is planning to build a massive 1-gigawatt data center cluster in Kazakhstan—the country's first AI campus. The project will roll out in phases from 2026 to 2029 and includes power infrastructure and server equipment. For context, 1 GW can power roughly 750,000 homes. Kazakhstan is positioning itself as an AI hub, declaring 2026 the 'Year of Artificial Intelligence.'

A global GPU shortage is pushing AI companies and buyers to look at Southeast Asian data centers as an alternative for computing power. A venture capital investor also shares how he built an AI agent for his firm without hiring engineers.

Micron Technology's shares surged 16% after the chipmaker forecast Q4 revenue of around US$50 billion — crushing Wall Street's US$43.2 billion estimate. The US memory chip giant is riding the AI wave as data centres gobble up high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI systems. Micron's CEO says there's "no line of sight" to when supply catches up with demand, meaning memory shortages and high prices will persist through at least 2027. The company works closely with Nvidia, which confirmed it will use Micron's next-gen HBM4 memory in its Vera Rubin platform.

Vietnam's biggest tech firm FPT has deepened its partnership with Microsoft to push AI tools into businesses across Asia. FPT will train 20,000 developers over three years using Microsoft's AI platforms and embed AI agents into company workflows. The deal also includes plans to help Vietnam become an "AI Frontier Government."

Singapore startup H3 Zoom is using AI, drones, and robots to inspect building facades—shrinking what used to take weeks down to just days. The company started after an early pilot with Singapore's JTC showed drones could replace workers hanging from ropes and gondolas. H3 Zoom's AI spots defects like spalling concrete and water seepage, then maps them onto digital floor plans. They've done over 10,000 inspections across 150 clients in seven countries and recently secured a US$388,000 contract with Malaysian property developer S P Setia.

A new nonprofit backed by over $500 million is tackling AI-driven job losses head-on. RAISE US, founded by former US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Indiana's former governor, will run pilot programs in Arkansas, Maryland, Utah, and Connecticut to retrain workers for an AI-changed economy. Big tech names like Amazon, Microsoft, Anthropic, and OpenAI are anchor partners. Experts warn up to 25 million US jobs could vanish in five years.

Agoda, the Singapore-based online travel platform, is rolling out AI features to boost hotel and flight bookings. The AI tools aim to personalize search results and recommendations for users planning trips. As a major Singapore tech company, Agoda's move signals how local firms are betting on AI to stay competitive in the crowded travel booking space.

Chinese AI startup Z.ai has released a new model that nearly matches top U.S. AI systems from Anthropic and OpenAI on public benchmarks. The timing is significant—Z.ai's model dropped just after Anthropic abruptly disabled access to its most advanced models, surprising global users. Z.ai's market value has surged past HK$1 trillion, and the company plans a dual listing in Shanghai while offering its open-source model at roughly one-sixth the cost of closed U.S. frontier models.

A new nonprofit called RAISE US, backed by over $500 million and bipartisan support from former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and former Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, is launching programs in four US states to help American workers adapt to AI-driven job changes. Major companies including Amazon, Microsoft, Anthropic, and OpenAI are partnering with the group. Experts warn that up to 25 million US jobs could be eliminated by AI in the next five years, and current education and labor systems aren't equipped to handle the scale of change.

Software companies like Snowflake, Okta, and ServiceNow saw their stocks surge dramatically in late May after earnings reports showed strong growth driven by agentic AI demand. Snowflake's stock jumped nearly 50% in a single week after reporting 33% revenue growth and signing a massive $6 billion deal with Amazon. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang argues that agentic AI actually helps software companies rather than replacing them, since AI agents need more software tools to operate. GitHub data shows developer activity nearly tripled, suggesting AI is increasing rather than decreasing software work.

June 25 (Reuters) - IBM on Thursday unveiled what it said was the world's first technology capable of producing chips smaller than ‌one nanometer, as tech companies race to build semiconductors that ‌can handle increasingly demanding AI workloads. Shares of the Armonk, New York-based company rose over 6% ​in premarket trading. They have fallen about 11% so far this year. The announcement comes at a time when chipmakers are searching for ways to maintain the decades-long trend of cramming more computing power into smaller spaces, a phenomenon ‌known as Moore's Law. The new ⁠chip technology, which bolsters IBM's position to compete with contract chipmakers TSMC and Intel, has a transistor architecture of ⁠0.7 nanometers, or 7 angstroms. Last week, Intel said the new generation of its 18A man

Apple just raised MacBook prices by up to $300 and iPad prices by up to $200, blaming AI. The company says surging demand for AI applications has created unprecedented costs for memory chips and storage that can no longer be absorbed. Tim Cook had warned earlier that these price increases were "unavoidable" and now they're hitting shelves. Your next laptop purchase will cost significantly more.

China-affiliated AMC Robotics is investing $3.5 million to build a 6,150-square-metre factory in Bac Ninh province, Vietnam. The facility will manufacture the NovaArm robotic arm for warehouse sorting and automation, with production starting in late 2026. The company also plans to produce its Kyro quadruped robotic dog there. Led by Sean Da, a Chinese national formerly of camera brand YI, the firm calls Vietnam a long-term hub for Southeast Asia operations.

The EU has decided that Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services are so dominant in European cloud computing that they should face strict regulation under the Digital Markets Act. Google Cloud narrowly escaped the same treatment. Brussels says the rules aim to prevent US tech giants from locking customers into their services and to give European cloud providers a fair shot.

Jamie Reed, head of global recruitment firm Reed, is calling on governments to tax companies that use robots and AI systems instead of human workers. He argues the current tax system is unfair, taxing employers who hire young people for minimum wage jobs while AI companies pay little despite consuming huge amounts of energy and replacing workers. Reed says AI is already dramatically changing recruitment, with job applications surging so much that employers now actively look for spelling mistakes to identify genuine human applicants. His proposed 'robot tax' would ensure the tax system generates revenue as automation increases and protects human workers from job displacement.

[Siemens](https://www.siemens.com/) has partnered with German climate technology firm [Ucaneo](https://www.ucaneo.com/) to industrialise electrochemical Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology, with Siemens acting as Ucaneo’s preferred automation and digitalisation partner under the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio. The collaboration aims to create a standardised, globally replicable automation platform that will allow Ucaneo and its licensed operators to deploy DAC facilities at scale. By 2035, Ucaneo targets the annual capture of half a gigaton of CO2 — roughly equivalent to Canada’s total annual emissions. ## Electrochemical process inspired by the human lung Ucaneo’s DAC technology uses an electrochemical process to extract CO2 directly from ambient air, delivering output at over 99.9 percent

IndiaMART, one of India's largest online marketplaces with 90 million monthly visitors and 220,000 sellers, is doubling its AI spending every six months to fight fake listings and improve buyer interactions. The company uses AI to spot fake seller accounts through pattern matching and is rolling out voice-to-text tools to automate buyer request processing. IndiaMART was previously flagged by the U.S. government for counterfeit goods on its platform.

IBM has unveiled technology to make chips smaller than 1 nanometer—packing nearly 100 billion transistors onto a chip the size of a fingernail. The new "nanostack" design stacks transistors vertically in 3D instead of laying them flat, potentially boosting performance by 50% or cutting energy use by 70%. Production could begin within five years, though no manufacturing partner has been announced yet.

Chinese robotics firm AgiBot (Zhiyuan Robotics) has launched a full product lineup including a $27,000 humanoid robot, a robotic dog priced at $5,000, and a dexterous hand for $2,000. The IPO-bound company is tapping into China's dominance in robotics—one in every two robots globally is deployed there—and riding a projected surge in the humanoid robot market from $380 million in 2024 to $41 billion by 2035.

Adobe is buying Topaz Labs, an Emmy-winning AI company known for tools that upscale, sharpen, and enhance images and videos. The deal will bring Topaz's technology into Adobe's Firefly AI studio and Creative Cloud suite, giving creators better quality control. Topaz's AI can run locally on personal devices, which differentiates it from cloud-only alternatives. The acquisition helps Adobe compete with Canva and Picsart in the AI-powered creative tools space.

Palo Alto Networks CEO says we're at a critical turning point where workers must prove they can work with AI or risk falling behind. This reflects a growing trend where companies expect employees to adapt to AI tools or face being replaced. For everyday workers, this is a wake-up call: AI skills are becoming essential for job security across industries.

Silicon Valley has a taste for food-themed codenames. OpenAI just announced its first custom AI chip, developed with Broadcom, is called 'Jalapeño.' Google's AI image generator is named 'Nano Banana Pro,' Meta has used 'Avocado' for its frontier model, and OpenAI previously codenamed its o1 model 'Strawberry'—a nod to the viral challenge of getting AI to count the letters in the word correctly.

Meta has agreed to purchase 1.6 gigawatts of AI computing capacity from data center firm Crusoe, spanning facilities in Texas and Missouri. That's enough power to run roughly 1.3 million homes. The deal is part of Meta's push to expand its AI infrastructure to support its growing lineup of AI features across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Russia is developing AI-powered drones that can identify, select, and strike targets without human input. Ukraine's top drone analyst says the technology for autonomous targeting already exists, and both sides are testing it in combat. This means drones could soon operate independently in war zones, making them harder to stop with traditional electronic warfare. Military experts say this is a major step toward swarm attack capabilities.

AI startup Anthropic is expanding access to its Claude Fable 5 model to enterprise customers and paid subscribers. The company says new safeguards now allow it to safely release the model, which can fall back to a safer sibling model when users ask risky questions about topics like cybersecurity or biology. Claude Fable 5 costs $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens. The move comes as Anthropic has confidentially filed for an IPO.

A New York City council candidate has been charged with forgery for allegedly using AI to create fake endorsements and doctored news articles to boost his campaign. He faces up to two years in prison. This appears to be one of the first criminal cases in the U.S. directly tied to AI-generated political disinformation, with prosecutors citing specific AI prompts he used to swap faces and create fabricated stories.

Chipmaker Qualcomm is acquiring AI infrastructure startup Modular, according to sources familiar with the deal. The move signals Qualcomm's push beyond smartphones into AI computing systems. This follows Qualcomm's recent announcement of data center AI chips to compete with Nvidia. For consumers, more competition in AI chips could eventually mean lower prices for AI-powered devices and services.

China's Agibot has hit 10,000 robot production in a rapid ramp-up, doubling its output in just three months. The Shanghai-based firm is now the world's largest humanoid robot maker, with nearly 40% global market share in 2025. Chinese firms now dominate the sector, making almost 90% of humanoid robots sold worldwide. Agibot rents robots for about $1,000 a day and has deals with auto parts factories and state-owned China Mobile.

Asia's biggest mobile connectivity event, MWC Shanghai, opened with humanoid robots from HONOR taking center stage alongside AI devices and drone showcases. The GSMA reported that China now accounts for over 40% of global 5G connections. Mobile tech generated $1.5 trillion in economic value for China in 2025 alone.

Lingyi iTech, an Apple components supplier, is raising up to $1.1 billion in a Hong Kong IPO to pivot from smartphone parts into AI hardware. The company is expanding into AI servers, smart glasses, and robotics. It already assembles or supplies humanoid robots through a joint venture with Chinese robot maker AgiBot, having produced 5,000 units by late 2024. Cornerstone investors include GF Fund, Sunny Optical Capital, and Honor. The move reflects a wider shift as Chinese electronics suppliers chase the next growth curve beyond smartphones.

India's central bank (RBI) has drafted rules that would cover AI and machine-learning tools used in credit decisions under existing model regulations. Banks and lenders using AI to assess borrowers would face stricter oversight. It's another sign regulators worldwide are getting serious about governing AI in financial services.

IKEA's head of data and AI explains how the furniture giant rolls out new software: start on the store floor, watch how workers actually do their jobs, then build tools that solve real problems. China moves faster than Europe, so IKEA lets different regions test at their own pace and share lessons. They now use AI coding tools like Copilot, with over half of company code written collaboratively with AI. But there's a warning: if AI handles entry-level tasks, junior developers lose the apprenticeship they need to become senior engineers — a problem already showing up in the job market.

Samsung has maintained its lead in global memory chip sales while SK Hynix dominates the AI-specific chip market. This reflects the ongoing competition between South Korean semiconductor giants as demand for memory and AI processors continues to surge.

Japanese IT services firm NTT Data is partnering with Cursor, an AI-powered code editor, to help businesses adopt AI tools for software development. The collaboration targets enterprise customers looking to integrate AI coding assistants into their workflows, potentially speeding up how companies build and ship software.

More people are feeling anxious about their health after using AI symptom checkers and health search tools. The article explores why AI-driven health searches often leave people more worried rather than reassured — a phenomenon some call 'cyberchondria.' The psychological effect stems from AI presenting worst-case scenarios, lacking context about how rare conditions actually are, and users misinterpreting probability.

Amazon is pouring an additional $13 billion into India by 2030 to expand its AWS data centers in Mumbai and Hyderabad, bringing its total planned India investment to $48 billion. This is part of a massive wave of global tech giants — Microsoft, Google, and others — racing to build AI computing infrastructure in the South Asia market. For everyday users, this could mean faster, cheaper cloud services and more AI-powered apps, while raising questions about whether smaller players can compete.

IBM has unveiled a new chip design that stacks transistors vertically, packing nearly 100 billion transistors onto a chip the size of a fingernail. The nanostack architecture delivers up to 50% more performance and 70% less power consumption than current chips. This breakthrough could keep computing power advancing for another decade by moving beyond the limits of shrinking transistors flat on a chip surface. IBM plans to license this technology to major chip manufacturers like Intel, Samsung, and TSMC, with production possible within five years.

Google has integrated computer control capabilities directly into Gemini 3.5 Flash, allowing the AI model to see screens and operate computers, browsers, and mobile devices autonomously. On benchmark tests measuring computer use, it scores 78.4—on par with GPT-5.5. Developers can tap into this via the Gemini API to build automation tools for tasks like software testing and office work.

US AI company Anthropic is accusing Alibaba of stealing secrets from its Claude AI chatbot. According to Anthropic, Alibaba operators ran nearly 29 million queries through fake accounts to reverse-engineer how Claude works. These "distillation attacks" let companies train competing AI at a fraction of the normal cost. Anthropic wants the US government to impose penalties and strengthen protections against AI intellectual property theft.

Google is losing key AI researchers to competing companies at a concerning rate. While exact numbers are unclear, the pattern suggests the company is struggling to retain talent against rivals offering better pay, resources, or research freedom in the competitive AI field.

Qualcomm, known for smartphone chips, is now entering the data center market with a new processor called the Dragonfly C1000. This marks a major shift as the company tries to compete with established players like Nvidia and AMD in the AI computing space. For everyday users, this could eventually mean more competition in cloud services, potentially affecting pricing for things like streaming and online storage.

Police in Bristol, UK built secret AI systems to predict whether people would commit crimes, become victims of abuse, or miss court dates. Over 300,000 people were scored by these algorithms without their knowledge. A WIRED investigation found that at least two of these prediction models had to be quietly abandoned because officials couldn't trust them anymore. Critics say the systems used poverty-related data as proxies and mostly flagged people already known to authorities.

IBM has developed a new chip architecture that packs nearly 100 billion transistors into a space smaller than 1 nanometer - potentially solving a key bottleneck in AI computing. The tech could help run powerful AI models on smaller, more efficient hardware.

Anthropic is accusing Alibaba of running what it calls the 'largest known distillation attack' in AI history—using Claude's outputs to train a rival model without permission. This technique lets weaker AI systems mimic stronger ones by learning from their responses. It's a serious IP theft claim that highlights how tech giants are fighting to protect their AI secrets from competitors.

Insurance companies are experimenting with generative AI to model catastrophes like hurricanes and floods using synthetic weather data where history is sparse. The hope is more accurate risk calculations, but researchers warn these AI models can "hallucinate" — generating plausible-but-wrong disaster scenarios that could lead insurers to misprice policies, potentially destabilizing the industry.

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Elon Musk's xAI chatbot Grok is reportedly getting over half its traffic from adult content, according to former employees. While competitors like OpenAI and Google explicitly block such content, xAI appears to be leaning into it as a growth strategy.

Hasbro, owner of Peppa Pig, is asking child actors to sign contracts giving the company rights to use their voices for AI-generated content. Nearly 1,000 entertainment industry professionals have signed an open letter opposing such clauses in children's contracts, calling them 'take it or leave it' ultimatums. The letter argues children cannot give informed consent to having their voices cloned indefinitely, warning it could shape their professional identity before they understand the consequences. Hasbro says it's committed to responsible AI use but won't comment on specific contracts.

Meta workers are raising alarms that the company is pushing AI to handle most content moderation too quickly. By 2025, Meta aims for AI to manage over 90 percent of certain content checks, replacing human reviewers. Staff worry this fast rollout could miss harmful content or make costly mistakes that affect real people.

FIFA's 2026 World Cup is deploying AI like never before. The tournament will capture 150 million data points per match, with sensors in the ball logging 500 movements per second. Teams now use AI for everything from scouting players and crafting tactics to analysing opponent penalties — England now does in five hours what used to take five days. Smaller nations like Curaçao are even using AI to track diaspora players eligible for their squads. FIFA is offering a free AI agent to level the playing field, but experts question whether rich nations with bigger tech budgets will still have the edge.

NVIDIA quietly released Nemotron-TwoTower-30B-A3B-Base-BF16, a hybrid model that blends their standard Nemotron 3 Nano 30B backbone with diffusion-based techniques—an unusual architectural choice that's drawing attention from AI researchers poking around Hugging Face.

Netris, a network automation startup, just landed $15 million from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) to help new AI companies launch data centers faster. Setting up cloud services for AI is complex and slow—often taking months. Netris provides software that automates network configuration and setup, letting these 'neoclouds' serve multiple customers simultaneously. The company is already live at over 35 GPU clusters worldwide (about a million GPUs) including Lightning AI, Foxconn, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Nvidia was so impressed two years ago it recommended Netris to its customers.

The Authors Guild tested five AI text detectors on human-written samples. Two tools — Pangram and Grammarly — correctly flagged every human text as human. But two others, Sidekicker and ZeroGPT, falsely flagged every single human text as AI-generated. The Guild also raises a troubling paradox: professionally written content statistically resembles AI output because language models were trained on exactly that kind of writing. This means as AI-written content proliferates, human writing may start looking suspicious by comparison.

Karl Freund, Contributor Wed, 24 June 2026 at 4:42 pm GMT-7 4 min read [](https://s.yimg.com/lo/mysterio/api/C43B6D37A07ACFB8A8590834CF603B36B7F370AC38EB3F354DE8279463F76FC9/subgraphmysterio/resizefit_w960;quality_80;format_webp/https:%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Fforbes_contributor_845%2Fae66c18647932310aca358932f289002) The Dragonfly has its first test flight at the Qualcomm Investor DayQualcomm At the Qualcomm 2026 Investor Day, the company disclosed it's data cent

A global GPU shortage is pushing AI companies and buyers to look at Southeast Asian data centers as an alternative for computing power. A venture capital investor also shares how he built an AI agent for his firm without hiring engineers.

Micron Technology's shares surged 16% after the chipmaker forecast Q4 revenue of around US$50 billion — crushing Wall Street's US$43.2 billion estimate. The US memory chip giant is riding the AI wave as data centres gobble up high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI systems. Micron's CEO says there's "no line of sight" to when supply catches up with demand, meaning memory shortages and high prices will persist through at least 2027. The company works closely with Nvidia, which confirmed it will use Micron's next-gen HBM4 memory in its Vera Rubin platform.

Chipmaker Qualcomm is acquiring AI infrastructure startup Modular, according to sources familiar with the deal. The move signals Qualcomm's push beyond smartphones into AI computing systems. This follows Qualcomm's recent announcement of data center AI chips to compete with Nvidia. For consumers, more competition in AI chips could eventually mean lower prices for AI-powered devices and services.

Lingyi iTech, an Apple components supplier, is raising up to $1.1 billion in a Hong Kong IPO to pivot from smartphone parts into AI hardware. The company is expanding into AI servers, smart glasses, and robotics. It already assembles or supplies humanoid robots through a joint venture with Chinese robot maker AgiBot, having produced 5,000 units by late 2024. Cornerstone investors include GF Fund, Sunny Optical Capital, and Honor. The move reflects a wider shift as Chinese electronics suppliers chase the next growth curve beyond smartphones.

More people are feeling anxious about their health after using AI symptom checkers and health search tools. The article explores why AI-driven health searches often leave people more worried rather than reassured — a phenomenon some call 'cyberchondria.' The psychological effect stems from AI presenting worst-case scenarios, lacking context about how rare conditions actually are, and users misinterpreting probability.

India's central bank (RBI) has drafted rules that would cover AI and machine-learning tools used in credit decisions under existing model regulations. Banks and lenders using AI to assess borrowers would face stricter oversight. It's another sign regulators worldwide are getting serious about governing AI in financial services.

A New York City council candidate has been charged with forgery for allegedly using AI to create fake endorsements and doctored news articles to boost his campaign. He faces up to two years in prison. This appears to be one of the first criminal cases in the U.S. directly tied to AI-generated political disinformation, with prosecutors citing specific AI prompts he used to swap faces and create fabricated stories.

Vietnam's biggest tech firm FPT has deepened its partnership with Microsoft to push AI tools into businesses across Asia. FPT will train 20,000 developers over three years using Microsoft's AI platforms and embed AI agents into company workflows. The deal also includes plans to help Vietnam become an "AI Frontier Government."

Meta has agreed to purchase 1.6 gigawatts of AI computing capacity from data center firm Crusoe, spanning facilities in Texas and Missouri. That's enough power to run roughly 1.3 million homes. The deal is part of Meta's push to expand its AI infrastructure to support its growing lineup of AI features across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

AI startup Anthropic is expanding access to its Claude Fable 5 model to enterprise customers and paid subscribers. The company says new safeguards now allow it to safely release the model, which can fall back to a safer sibling model when users ask risky questions about topics like cybersecurity or biology. Claude Fable 5 costs $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens. The move comes as Anthropic has confidentially filed for an IPO.

Japanese IT services firm NTT Data is partnering with Cursor, an AI-powered code editor, to help businesses adopt AI tools for software development. The collaboration targets enterprise customers looking to integrate AI coding assistants into their workflows, potentially speeding up how companies build and ship software.

Asia's biggest mobile connectivity event, MWC Shanghai, opened with humanoid robots from HONOR taking center stage alongside AI devices and drone showcases. The GSMA reported that China now accounts for over 40% of global 5G connections. Mobile tech generated $1.5 trillion in economic value for China in 2025 alone.

Samsung has maintained its lead in global memory chip sales while SK Hynix dominates the AI-specific chip market. This reflects the ongoing competition between South Korean semiconductor giants as demand for memory and AI processors continues to surge.

IKEA's head of data and AI explains how the furniture giant rolls out new software: start on the store floor, watch how workers actually do their jobs, then build tools that solve real problems. China moves faster than Europe, so IKEA lets different regions test at their own pace and share lessons. They now use AI coding tools like Copilot, with over half of company code written collaboratively with AI. But there's a warning: if AI handles entry-level tasks, junior developers lose the apprenticeship they need to become senior engineers — a problem already showing up in the job market.

Singapore AI firm SuperX AI Technology is planning to build a massive 1-gigawatt data center cluster in Kazakhstan—the country's first AI campus. The project will roll out in phases from 2026 to 2029 and includes power infrastructure and server equipment. For context, 1 GW can power roughly 750,000 homes. Kazakhstan is positioning itself as an AI hub, declaring 2026 the 'Year of Artificial Intelligence.'

Singapore startup H3 Zoom is using AI, drones, and robots to inspect building facades—shrinking what used to take weeks down to just days. The company started after an early pilot with Singapore's JTC showed drones could replace workers hanging from ropes and gondolas. H3 Zoom's AI spots defects like spalling concrete and water seepage, then maps them onto digital floor plans. They've done over 10,000 inspections across 150 clients in seven countries and recently secured a US$388,000 contract with Malaysian property developer S P Setia.

Agoda, the Singapore-based online travel platform, is rolling out AI features to boost hotel and flight bookings. The AI tools aim to personalize search results and recommendations for users planning trips. As a major Singapore tech company, Agoda's move signals how local firms are betting on AI to stay competitive in the crowded travel booking space.

Russia is developing AI-powered drones that can identify, select, and strike targets without human input. Ukraine's top drone analyst says the technology for autonomous targeting already exists, and both sides are testing it in combat. This means drones could soon operate independently in war zones, making them harder to stop with traditional electronic warfare. Military experts say this is a major step toward swarm attack capabilities.

China's Agibot has hit 10,000 robot production in a rapid ramp-up, doubling its output in just three months. The Shanghai-based firm is now the world's largest humanoid robot maker, with nearly 40% global market share in 2025. Chinese firms now dominate the sector, making almost 90% of humanoid robots sold worldwide. Agibot rents robots for about $1,000 a day and has deals with auto parts factories and state-owned China Mobile.

China-affiliated AMC Robotics is investing $3.5 million to build a 6,150-square-metre factory in Bac Ninh province, Vietnam. The facility will manufacture the NovaArm robotic arm for warehouse sorting and automation, with production starting in late 2026. The company also plans to produce its Kyro quadruped robotic dog there. Led by Sean Da, a Chinese national formerly of camera brand YI, the firm calls Vietnam a long-term hub for Southeast Asia operations.

Chinese robotics firm AgiBot (Zhiyuan Robotics) has launched a full product lineup including a $27,000 humanoid robot, a robotic dog priced at $5,000, and a dexterous hand for $2,000. The IPO-bound company is tapping into China's dominance in robotics—one in every two robots globally is deployed there—and riding a projected surge in the humanoid robot market from $380 million in 2024 to $41 billion by 2035.

IndiaMART, one of India's largest online marketplaces with 90 million monthly visitors and 220,000 sellers, is doubling its AI spending every six months to fight fake listings and improve buyer interactions. The company uses AI to spot fake seller accounts through pattern matching and is rolling out voice-to-text tools to automate buyer request processing. IndiaMART was previously flagged by the U.S. government for counterfeit goods on its platform.

Palo Alto Networks CEO says we're at a critical turning point where workers must prove they can work with AI or risk falling behind. This reflects a growing trend where companies expect employees to adapt to AI tools or face being replaced. For everyday workers, this is a wake-up call: AI skills are becoming essential for job security across industries.

Silicon Valley has a taste for food-themed codenames. OpenAI just announced its first custom AI chip, developed with Broadcom, is called 'Jalapeño.' Google's AI image generator is named 'Nano Banana Pro,' Meta has used 'Avocado' for its frontier model, and OpenAI previously codenamed its o1 model 'Strawberry'—a nod to the viral challenge of getting AI to count the letters in the word correctly.

Singapore wants to become a global hub for AI solutions, not a competitor in building the biggest AI models or data centers. A government committee report outlines plans to establish a National AI Council, create sector-specific AI missions in finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics, and help local companies undergo full AI transformation. The report also emphasizes upskilling workers and ensuring AI benefits are shared across society.

Chinese AI startup Z.ai has released a new model that nearly matches top U.S. AI systems from Anthropic and OpenAI on public benchmarks. The timing is significant—Z.ai's model dropped just after Anthropic abruptly disabled access to its most advanced models, surprising global users. Z.ai's market value has surged past HK$1 trillion, and the company plans a dual listing in Shanghai while offering its open-source model at roughly one-sixth the cost of closed U.S. frontier models.

A new nonprofit backed by over $500 million is tackling AI-driven job losses head-on. RAISE US, founded by former US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Indiana's former governor, will run pilot programs in Arkansas, Maryland, Utah, and Connecticut to retrain workers for an AI-changed economy. Big tech names like Amazon, Microsoft, Anthropic, and OpenAI are anchor partners. Experts warn up to 25 million US jobs could vanish in five years.

A new nonprofit called RAISE US, backed by over $500 million and bipartisan support from former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and former Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, is launching programs in four US states to help American workers adapt to AI-driven job changes. Major companies including Amazon, Microsoft, Anthropic, and OpenAI are partnering with the group. Experts warn that up to 25 million US jobs could be eliminated by AI in the next five years, and current education and labor systems aren't equipped to handle the scale of change.

June 25 (Reuters) - IBM on Thursday unveiled what it said was the world's first technology capable of producing chips smaller than ‌one nanometer, as tech companies race to build semiconductors that ‌can handle increasingly demanding AI workloads. Shares of the Armonk, New York-based company rose over 6% ​in premarket trading. They have fallen about 11% so far this year. The announcement comes at a time when chipmakers are searching for ways to maintain the decades-long trend of cramming more computing power into smaller spaces, a phenomenon ‌known as Moore's Law. The new ⁠chip technology, which bolsters IBM's position to compete with contract chipmakers TSMC and Intel, has a transistor architecture of ⁠0.7 nanometers, or 7 angstroms. Last week, Intel said the new generation of its 18A man

[Siemens](https://www.siemens.com/) has partnered with German climate technology firm [Ucaneo](https://www.ucaneo.com/) to industrialise electrochemical Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology, with Siemens acting as Ucaneo’s preferred automation and digitalisation partner under the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio. The collaboration aims to create a standardised, globally replicable automation platform that will allow Ucaneo and its licensed operators to deploy DAC facilities at scale. By 2035, Ucaneo targets the annual capture of half a gigaton of CO2 — roughly equivalent to Canada’s total annual emissions. ## Electrochemical process inspired by the human lung Ucaneo’s DAC technology uses an electrochemical process to extract CO2 directly from ambient air, delivering output at over 99.9 percent

IBM has unveiled technology to make chips smaller than 1 nanometer—packing nearly 100 billion transistors onto a chip the size of a fingernail. The new "nanostack" design stacks transistors vertically in 3D instead of laying them flat, potentially boosting performance by 50% or cutting energy use by 70%. Production could begin within five years, though no manufacturing partner has been announced yet.

Jamie Reed, head of global recruitment firm Reed, is calling on governments to tax companies that use robots and AI systems instead of human workers. He argues the current tax system is unfair, taxing employers who hire young people for minimum wage jobs while AI companies pay little despite consuming huge amounts of energy and replacing workers. Reed says AI is already dramatically changing recruitment, with job applications surging so much that employers now actively look for spelling mistakes to identify genuine human applicants. His proposed 'robot tax' would ensure the tax system generates revenue as automation increases and protects human workers from job displacement.

Amazon is pouring an additional $13 billion into India by 2030 to expand its AWS data centers in Mumbai and Hyderabad, bringing its total planned India investment to $48 billion. This is part of a massive wave of global tech giants — Microsoft, Google, and others — racing to build AI computing infrastructure in the South Asia market. For everyday users, this could mean faster, cheaper cloud services and more AI-powered apps, while raising questions about whether smaller players can compete.

Software companies like Snowflake, Okta, and ServiceNow saw their stocks surge dramatically in late May after earnings reports showed strong growth driven by agentic AI demand. Snowflake's stock jumped nearly 50% in a single week after reporting 33% revenue growth and signing a massive $6 billion deal with Amazon. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang argues that agentic AI actually helps software companies rather than replacing them, since AI agents need more software tools to operate. GitHub data shows developer activity nearly tripled, suggesting AI is increasing rather than decreasing software work.

Apple just raised MacBook prices by up to $300 and iPad prices by up to $200, blaming AI. The company says surging demand for AI applications has created unprecedented costs for memory chips and storage that can no longer be absorbed. Tim Cook had warned earlier that these price increases were "unavoidable" and now they're hitting shelves. Your next laptop purchase will cost significantly more.

The EU has decided that Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services are so dominant in European cloud computing that they should face strict regulation under the Digital Markets Act. Google Cloud narrowly escaped the same treatment. Brussels says the rules aim to prevent US tech giants from locking customers into their services and to give European cloud providers a fair shot.

Adobe is buying Topaz Labs, an Emmy-winning AI company known for tools that upscale, sharpen, and enhance images and videos. The deal will bring Topaz's technology into Adobe's Firefly AI studio and Creative Cloud suite, giving creators better quality control. Topaz's AI can run locally on personal devices, which differentiates it from cloud-only alternatives. The acquisition helps Adobe compete with Canva and Picsart in the AI-powered creative tools space.

Qualcomm, known for smartphone chips, is making a $15 billion bet on the AI data center market. The company unveiled Dragonfly, a new platform targeting the 'inference' problem—running AI tasks, which now requires 50-100x more computing than simple prompts. Qualcomm's edge: a new memory architecture that stacks processing directly above memory, delivering 8x more AI work per watt compared to traditional GPU setups. Microsoft and Meta have already committed to using Qualcomm's technology.

Big tech companies are changing how they do business thanks to AI agents—software programs that work autonomously. Traditionally, software firms sold products while services companies helped businesses use them. But AI agents blur that line because they constantly evolve with a company's needs, requiring tight integration between technology and ongoing services. Businesses are shifting from buying 'software' to buying 'outcomes,' with pricing tied to results rather than seat licenses. This could reshape how tech gets sold and deployed for years.

AI companies are discovering that smaller, specialized language models often outperform massive frontier AI systems on specific tasks while costing up to 89 times less. New benchmarks show task-specific models can be faster, cheaper, and more accurate than general-purpose giants like GPT-4 and Claude for repetitive, high-volume work. This challenges the industry assumption that bigger AI is always better.

Microsoft's Xbox is raising console prices by $100-$150 starting August 1, marking the second price hike in under a year. The culprit? AI data centers are consuming so much memory and storage that component prices have more than doubled, squeezing console makers who typically sell hardware below cost. Gamers will now pay up to $799 for the top Xbox Series X model—60% more than its 2020 launch price—with another price doubling expected by fall 2027.

Productivity software company Notion is shutting down its email app on September 22 and pivoting fully to AI agents. The company says over half of Notion Mail users were already letting AI handle their inbox without even opening it themselves. This marks a significant shift as consumer apps abandon traditional interfaces in favor of AI doing the work.

Trump administration asks OpenAI to stagger release of new model, The Information reports. A 1x1 image, likely be a tacker probe

Update on Meet Digit, Agility Robotics' humanoid robot that's a ROI 'from day one'. Coverage via Yahoo Singapore Tech.

Pope Leo XIV doubled down on his anti-AI stance, declaring that artificial intelligence cannot be considered 'morally neutral.' In a series of tweets, the Pope argued that AI systems embody 'choices and priorities' through their design and data, and that ethical responsibility must sit with developers at every stage—not just with users. His May letter 'Magnifica Humanitas' called for worker protections, child safety from AI-generated content, and government regulation of tech companies. The Vatican has also formed a commission to study AI challenges.

San Francisco startup Patronus AI raised $50 million in Series B funding to build simulated 'digital worlds' that test AI agents before they're deployed. Think of it like flight simulators for AI — the company creates fake versions of websites and internal systems so AI can practice handling complex, real-world tasks without risking actual consequences. The funding values the company at a significant sum, with customers including major AI labs.

DuckDuckGo's AI search feature is repeating complete fabrications created by internet users on Reddit's r/poisonai community. The subreddit's 45,000 members intentionally plant absurd misinformation—like claiming Trump died of rabies and Vance was bitten by a raccoon—then watch as AI chatbots swallow the lies and present them as facts. The fake news gets laundered through sketchy websites that look like real local news outlets. DuckDuckGo hasn't commented. This is a real-world test of AI's vulnerability to manipulation, and it shows how easily AI search tools can be turned into misinformation machines.

Amazon just secured a massive $17.5 billion loan to fund its AI and cloud infrastructure expansion, with plans to increase capital spending by over 50% to around $200 billion this year. The money goes primarily toward AWS data centers and AI capabilities. For everyday users, this means more cloud-powered apps and services, potentially more reliable web infrastructure, and competitive pressure that could eventually lower cloud computing costs.

JP Morgan has halted access to Anthropic's Claude AI for its Hong Kong staff due to compliance and regulatory concerns around the technology. The move reflects growing caution among major banks about employee use of generative AI tools. Meanwhile, companies across Asia are increasingly pivoting toward cheaper AI alternatives as the costs of running large language models mount. This trend is pushing firms to adopt smaller, more cost-efficient AI models that can handle specific tasks at a fraction of the price.

China is using a technique called "distillation" to essentially copy America's most advanced AI models by querying them millions of times and using the answers to train cheaper imitations. Anthropic accuses Alibaba's Qwen AI lab of running 25,000 fake accounts to harvest 28.8 million interactions with its Claude models. The U.S. government is now treating frontier AI models as national security assets and debating whether to sanction companies that engage in this practice.