Techmeme
December 17, 2025, 9:35 AM

Top News

The Information:
Sources: Amazon is in talks to invest $10B+ in OpenAI at a $500B+ valuation, with OpenAI using AWS Trainium; Microsoft keeps the rights to sell OpenAI's models  —  Amazon is in talks to invest $10 billion or more in OpenAI, according to three people familiar with the discussions.
Wall Street Journal:
WBD recommends shareholders reject Paramount's unsolicited $108.4B cash bid, calling the offer “illusory” and saying it believes Netflix's proposal is superior  —  Warner raised concerns about the credibility of Paramount's ‘illusory’ offer and its backing from the Ellison family
Rachel Metz / Bloomberg:
OpenAI updates ChatGPT Images to generate images up to 4x faster and edit uploads more precisely, and adds a new section in ChatGPT's app and website for images  —  OpenAI is rolling out an update to ChatGPT that's intended to generate images better and faster, the latest move …
Dia Rekhi / The Economic Times:
Sources: Apple is in preliminary talks with India's CG Semi, which offers chip assembly and testing services, to assemble and package chips for the iPhone  —  Exploratory conversations have taken place between Murugappa Group-owned CG Semi, which is building an outsourced semiconductor assembly and test …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Waymo is in discussions to raise more than $15B led by Alphabet at a valuation near $100B, and has achieved an annual revenue run rate above $350M  —  Waymo, Alphabet Inc.'s autonomous driving unit, is in discussions to raise more than $15 billion at a valuation near $100 billion …
Bloomberg:
Chinese AI chipmaker MetaX's shares jumped as much as 755% in its Shanghai debut after a heavily oversubscribed $585.8M IPO, pushing its market cap past $42B  —  MetaX Integrated Circuits Shanghai Co. soared in its first day of trading on Wednesday, the latest outsized debut by a Chinese chipmaker …
Akash Sriram / Reuters:
Hut 8 partners with Fluidstack to build an AI data center in Louisiana for Anthropic, backed by a 15-year, $7B lease, starting with 245MW of computing capacity  —  Hut 8 (HUT.O) has signed a deal valued at about $7 billion to lease a data center in Louisiana, it said on Wednesday …
Reuters:
Crypto exchange HashKey closed flat in its Hong Kong debut, after rising as much as 6.6% before falling 8.4% intraday, amid a weakness in digital assets  —  Cryptocurrency exchange HashKey Holdings Ltd (3887.HK) made a flat debut in Hong Kong on Wednesday amid recent weakness in digital assets …
New York Times:
The US threatens economic penalties against European companies like Spotify if the EU does not roll back regulations and lawsuits targeting US tech giants  —  U.S. officials excoriated the European Union for discriminating against American technology companies and threatened …
Robert Hart / The Verge:
Google launches CC, an experimental AI assistant that delivers a personalized daily “Your Day Ahead” briefing email based on users' emails and calendar  —  Google's new AI agent delivers a morning briefing personalized using your emails and calendar. … Google wants you to start your day with AI.
Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Sources: Disney has been hesitant to license its IP to Roblox because it doesn't consider it a safe platform, bucking the trend followed by Netflix and others  —  Here's a stat that might shock anyone who isn't the parent of a Gen Alpha kid: As of October 2025, online gaming platform Roblox boasted …
More: Dexerto and Glossy
Vismaya V / Decrypt:
Bhutan unveils a pledge of up to 10,000 bitcoin to develop Gelephu Mindfulness City; Arkham says Bhutan holds 5,984 bitcoin, ranking 7th among sovereign holders  —  The 10,000 BTC will generate yields for GMC's growth while being held long-term, with Bhutan ruling out selling the reserves.
Bloomberg:
Sources: Binance has been exploring ways to reboot its Binance.US affiliate, including a recapitalization to cut CZ's stake, which is a hurdle to expansion  —  Changpeng Zhao has unfinished business.  —  The billionaire co-founder of Binance has stepped back into the spotlight …
Jill R Shah / Financial Times:
Dune and Keyrock: bets placed on prediction markets rose from <$100M per month in early 2024 to $13B per month in November, as Polymarket and Kalshi compete  —  Value of bets soars from $100mn to $13bn a month  —  Prediction markets have ballooned 130 times in size over the past two years …
Lora Kolodny / CNBC:
California's DMV says a California administrative law judge recently ruled that Tesla engaged in deceptive marketing around its Autopilot and FSD systems  —  A California administrative law judge recently ruled recently that Tesla's marketing around its “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving” …

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The Information:
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