Week of Apr 13 – Apr 15, 2026partial
Sun 2026-04-13 → Wed 2026-04-15 · 25 stories
AI model & product releases
- Nvidia announces the Ising AI models, which it says are the first open models aimed at quantum computing calibration and error correction Kyt Dotson / SiliconANGLE · 2026-04-14
Revenue & scale milestones
User behavior & adoption
Platform & policy
- Anthropic says its $20M donation to Public First Action is not “to influence federal elections” but is to educate the public on AI policy and promote safe AI Veronica Irwin / Transformer · 2026-04-13
- Filing: Anthropic hired Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm with strong Trump administration ties, days after the DOD designated the startup a supply chain risk Bloomberg · 2026-04-13
- Roblox says developers will need Roblox Plus, a new $4.99-per-month subscription offering benefits like discounts, to publish games for Kids and Select accounts Aisha Malik / TechCrunch · 2026-04-13
- Sources: Anthropic largely left European regulators out of the loop as it limited Mythos' release to select companies and organizations; the UK's AISI tested it Politico · 2026-04-13
- A malicious Ledger Live app clone available via Apple's App Store appears to have drained about $9.5M from over 50 victims between April 7 and April 13 Oliver Knight / CoinDesk · 2026-04-14
Infrastructure & compute
Deals & funding
- OpenAI acquires personal finance startup Hiro Finance for an undisclosed sum; Hiro stops new signups, will shut down on April 20, and delete all data on May 13 Julie Bort / TechCrunch · 2026-04-14
- EV maker Lucid says Uber agreed to buy 35K+ additional Lucid vehicles for its robotaxi fleet and invest $200M more, taking its total Lucid investment to $500M Connor Hart / Wall Street Journal · 2026-04-14
- Amazon agrees to acquire satellite operator Globalstar, set to close in 2027, to expand Leo; Amazon and Apple say Leo will power some iPhone and Watch services About Amazon · 2026-04-14
- Sources: cloud-computing startup Fluidstack is in talks to raise ~$1B at an $18B valuation, up from $7.5B when it raised money earlier in 2026 Bloomberg · 2026-04-14
Regulation & legal
Geopolitics & trade
- Iran's internet blackout enters a record 45th day, per NetBlocks, amid the war; the country's 90M people now rely on the domestic National Information Network Financial Times · 2026-04-14
- Sources: Chinese chipmaker YMTC plans to build two more factories in addition to one that will be completed in 2026, more than doubling its production capacity Reuters · 2026-04-14
Hardware & devices
- Microsoft raises prices of Surface PCs, with Laptop 7 and Pro 11 now starting at $500 more than at their 2024 launch, citing higher memory and component costs Zac Bowden / Windows Central · 2026-04-13
- Samsung quietly increases US prices of the Galaxy S25 Edge, S25 FE, Z Flip 7, Tab S11, Tab S11 Ultra, and more; the 1TB Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra jumps by $280 Adrian Diaconescu / PhoneArena · 2026-04-14
Research & ideas
- Sygaldry, which wants to design AI data center servers that integrate quantum hardware and classical chips, raised a $34M seed and a $105M Series A Allie Garfinkle / Fortune · 2026-04-14
Industry narratives
- Xbox staff memo: Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma says “Game Pass has become too expensive for players” and that Microsoft needs “a better value equation” Tom Warren / The Verge · 2026-04-13
- Voters in Festus, Missouri, last week ousted all four incumbent council members running for reelection, just days after the council approved a $6B data center Jeff Tomich / Politico · 2026-04-13
- Anthropic appoints Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan to its board, its second board addition in recent months as it eyes an IPO and pushes further into healthcare Kate Clark / Wall Street Journal · 2026-04-14
- US affidavit: the man charged with attacking Sam Altman's home had a document that “identified views opposed” to AI and included other AI executives' addresses New York Times · 2026-04-14
Beyond AI
- A profile of Jeffrey Yan and his startup Hyperliquid, a $10B crypto exchange that hasn't taken VC money and generated $900M+ in profit in 2025 with 11 employees Dom Cooke / Colossus · 2026-04-14
- Kraken parent company Payward is raising $200M from Frankfurt stock exchange operator Deutsche Börse for a 1.5% fully diluted stake, valuing Kraken at ~$13.3B Emily Nicolle / Bloomberg · 2026-04-14