Techmeme
April 1, 2025, 12:20 PM

Top News

CNBC:
OpenAI closes a $40B round, the most raised by a private tech company, at a $300B post-money valuation; SoftBank led with $30B; source: ~$18B is for Stargate  —  OpenAI on Monday announced it had closed what amounts to the largest private tech funding round on record.
Shirin Ghaffary / Bloomberg:
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
OpenAI's new GPT-4o-powered image generator is now available to all users; Sam Altman last week mentioned a limit of three images per day for free-tier users  —  OpenAI's new image generator, powered by its GPT-4o model, is now available to all users, CEO Sam Altman said in a post on X …
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: in recent weeks, Meta executives including Mark Zuckerberg have pressed US trade officials to oppose an impending EU fine and cease-and-desist order  —  Facebook owner presses trade officials to push back against European law that could undermine its ad business
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Google rolls out a new Gmail encryption model for enterprises in beta that doesn't require senders or recipients to use custom software or exchange certificates  —  The beta feature for enterprise accounts allows Gmail users to simply toggle encryption for external emails.
Sean Endicott / Windows Central:
Microsoft expands Copilot+ PC features exclusive to Snapdragon, like Live Captions, Cocreator, Restyle Image, and Image Creator, to PCs with AMD or Intel chips  —  Staggered feature releases make me ask “what even is a Copilot+ PC?”  —  Microsoft has a big update for Copilot+ PCs powered by Intel or AMD processors.
Ian King / Bloomberg:
Intel Vision conference: CEO Lip-Bu Tan says that Intel plans to spin off non-core assets, create new products including custom chips, hire engineers, and more  —  Intel Corp. Chief Executive Officer Lip-Bu Tan said the chipmaker will spin off assets that aren't central to its mission …
Bloomberg:
Kendra Barnett / Adweek:
Google is bringing its immersive Rewarded Video ads to Roblox, letting users watch ads in exchange for in-game benefits like virtual currency or power-ups  —  Advertisers can buy Rewarded Video ads on Roblox via Google Ad Manager, the company announced Tuesday
New York Times:
Xiaomi says it is cooperating with a Chinese police probe into a fatal crash by a car using its autonomous features; its stock is down 10%+ over the past week  —  A popular electric vehicle made by the Chinese consumer electronics giant Xiaomi crashed into a concrete guardrail while deploying its autonomous driving feature.
Megan Specia / New York Times:
Some UK parents created Smartphone Free Childhood, a charity with a pact signed by 124K+, after the UK government watered down a bill banning phones in schools  —  In Britain, amid growing evidence of harm to young people from extreme content online, a “Smartphone Free Childhood” campaign is going viral.

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Yogita Khatri / The Block:

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Juli Clover / MacRumors: