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The year of the 'hectocorn': the 100bn tech companies that could float in 2026

The Guardian

OpenAI could be valued at $1tn if it launches an initial public offering, Reuters said. OpenAI could be valued at $1tn if it launches an initial public offering, Reuters said. The year of the'hectocorn': the $100bn tech companies that could float in 2026 Y ou've probably heard of "unicorns" - technology startups valued at more than $1bn - but 2026 is shaping up to be the year of the " hectocorn ", with several US and European companies potentially floating on stock markets at valuations over $100bn (£75bn). OpenAI, Anthropic, SpaceX and Stripe are among the big names said to be considering an initial public offering (IPO) this year. The success of their flotations - whether the shares maintain their value, rise or fall - could shape concerns about the AI race and whether the resulting market mania is a bubble .



The Download: Kenya's Great Carbon Valley, and the AI terms that were everywhere in 2025

MIT Technology Review

The Download: Kenya's Great Carbon Valley, and the AI terms that were everywhere in 2025 Welcome to Kenya's Great Carbon Valley: a bold new gamble to fight climate change In June last year, startup Octavia Carbon began running a high-stakes test in the small town of Gilgil in south-central Kenya. It's harnessing some of the excess energy generated by vast clouds of steam under the Earth's surface to power prototypes of a machine that promises to remove carbon dioxide from the air in a manner that the company says is efficient, affordable, and--crucially--scalable. The company's long-term vision is undoubtedly ambitious--it wants to prove that direct air capture (DAC), as the process is known, can be a powerful tool to help the world keep temperatures from rising to ever more dangerous levels. But DAC is also a controversial technology, unproven at scale and wildly expensive to operate. On top of that, Kenya's Maasai people have plenty of reasons to distrust energy companies. This article is also part of the Big Story series: 's most important, ambitious reporting.



OpenAI, Amazon sign 38bn AI deal

Al Jazeera

OpenAI has signed a new deal valued at $38bn with Amazon that will allow the artificial intelligence giant to run AI workloads across Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud infrastructure. The seven-year deal announced on Monday is the first big AI push for the e-commerce giant after a restructuring last week. Experts say this does not mean that it will allow OpenAI to train its model on websites hosted by AWS - which includes the websites of The New York Times, Reddit and United Airlines. "Running OpenAI training inside AWS doesn't change their ability to scrape content from AWS-hosted websites [which they could already do for anything publicly readable]. This is strictly speaking about the economics of rent vs buy for GPU [graphics processing unit] capacity," Joshua McKenty, CEO of the AI detection company PolyguardAI, told Al Jazeera. The deal is also a major vote of confidence for the e-commerce giant's cloud unit, AWS, which some investors feared had fallen behind rivals Microsoft and Google in the artificial intelligence (AI) race.


US Dept of Energy partners with AMD to build two supercomputers: Report

Al Jazeera

The United States has formed a $1bn partnership with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) to construct two supercomputers that will tackle large scientific problems ranging from nuclear power to cancer treatments to national security. The Reuters news agency first reported the new partnership, citing Energy Secretary Chris Wright and AMD CEO Lisa Su. The machines can accelerate the process of making scientific discoveries in areas the US is focused on. Energy Secretary Wright said the systems would "supercharge" advances in nuclear power and fusion energy, technologies for defence and national security, and the development of drugs. Scientists and companies are trying to replicate fusion, the reaction that fuels the sun, by jamming light atoms in a plasma gas under intense heat and pressure to release massive amounts of energy.


3 new Chinese weapons highlighted at military parade watched by Putin, Kim

FOX News

Fox News senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich reports on China hosting North Korea's Kim Jong Un during a military parade and President Trump warning Vladimir Putin of consequences if he holds no meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. China displayed new weapons Wednesday at a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of World War II's end. Beijing sought to display its growing military power as Chinese President Xi Jinping was accompanied by North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Highlights from China's arms exhibition included submarine drones, hypersonic missiles and laser weapons. Additionally, China showed off its fighter jets and bombers during the 90-minute display.


Meta to stop its AI chatbots from talking to teens about suicide

BBC News

The changes come amid concerns over the potential for AI chatbots to mislead young or vulnerable users. A California couple recently sued ChatGPT-maker OpenAI over the death of their teenage son, alleging its chatbot encouraged him to take his own life. The lawsuit came after the company announced changes to promote healthier ChatGPT use last month. "AI can feel more responsive and personal than prior technologies, especially for vulnerable individuals experiencing mental or emotional distress," the firm said in a blog post. Meanwhile, Reuters reported on Friday Meta's AI tools allowing users to create chatbots had been used by some - including a Meta employee - to produce flirtatious "parody" chatbots of female celebrities.