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December 18, 2025, 11:35 AM
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Top News

Fanny Potkin / Reuters:
Sources: China built a working prototype of an EUV machine in early 2025 with a team of former ASML engineers who reverse-engineered the company's EUV machines  —  In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent …
Financial Times:
Trump Media agrees to merge with Google-backed fusion energy company TAE in a $6B deal and build the “world's first utility-scale fusion power plant” in 2026  —  Trump Media & Technology Group's shares rise 37% after deal with TAE Technologies  —  The Trump family media group …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Filing: Sony and Tencent reach a “confidential settlement” over Tencent's Light of Motiram, a game that Sony alleged was a “slavish clone” of its Horizon series  —  Sony and Tencent have reached a ‘confidential settlement,’ and Light of Motiram is no longer listed on Steam or the Epic Games Store.
Rebekah Valentine / IGN:
Circana: Xbox Series console sales fell 70% YoY to an all-time low in November, compared to the PS5's 40% YoY drop and Switch 1 and 2's combined 10% YoY fall  —  Down again.  —  This morning, we learned that November was a surprisingly bad month for video game spending across the board.
OpenAI:
OpenAI opens app submissions for review and publication in ChatGPT, where users can discover or search for apps in a new app directory  —  We're opening app submissions for review and publication in ChatGPT, and users can discover apps in the app directory.  —  Earlier this year at DevDay, we introduced apps in ChatGPT.
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple makes iOS changes in Japan to comply with local laws, including alternative app stores and payment options, a new fee structure, and new default controls  —  Apple today introduced several changes to the App Store in Japan to meet the requirements of the Mobile Software Competition Act (MSCA) that goes into effect on December 18.
Tim Sweeney / @timsweeneyepic:
Tim Sweeney says Fortnite will not return to iOS in Japan in 2025, as Apple is “charging a competition-crushing 21% junk fee on third-party in-app payments”
Niko Gallogly / New York Times:
Stockholm-based vibe coding startup Lovable raised $330M led by CapitalG and Menlo Ventures at a $6.6B valuation, up from $1.8B after raising $200M in July  —  The Swedish company is now valued at $6.6 billion, more than triple its $1.8 billion valuation set by investors in July.
The Information:
Sources: OpenAI has held preliminary discussions with investors about raising tens of billions of dollars, and as much as $100B, at a valuation of around $750B  —  OpenAI has held preliminary discussions with some investors about raising new funding at a valuation of around $750 billion …
Axios:
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr tells a Senate committee the FCC “is not an independent agency”; the agency removed “independent agency” from its site as he testified  —  FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in his Wednesday Senate testimony that the agency he governs “is not an independent agency, formally speaking.”
MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC:
Coinbase rolls out stock trading, more advanced trading tools, prediction markets via Kalshi, and other features, amid a push to be a one-stop financial app  —  Coinbase is making its biggest push yet to reposition itself as a mainstream trading and financial platform, moving beyond crypto …
Chainalysis:
North Korean hackers stole a record $2.02B in crypto in 2025, a 51% YoY rise that takes its cumulative stolen total to $6.75B; individual wallet hacks hit 158K  —  TL;DR  — North Korean hackers stole $2.02 billion in cryptocurrency in 2025, a 51% year-over-year increase …
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Luma AI launches Ray3 Modify, which allows users to modify existing footage by providing character reference images; users can also define start and end frames  —  Luma, the a16z-backed AI video and 3D model company, released a new model called Ray3 Modify that allows users to modify existing footage …
Shakeel Hashim / Transformer:
UK AI Security Institute report: AI models are rapidly improving at potentially dangerous biological and chemical tasks, and show fast jumps in self-replication  —  UK AISI's first Frontier AI Trends Report finds that AI models are getting better at self-replication, too
Jody Godoy / Reuters:
Sources: the US FTC is investigating Instacart's AI pricing tool, after a study showed different prices for the same items at the same stores; CART drops 8%+  —  The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is probing Instacart (CART.O), two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters …
Jake Rudnitsky / Bloomberg:
Manus says it crossed $100M ARR eight months after launch and is growing at 20%+ MoM since Manus 1.5's release; its total revenue run rate is now over $125M  —  Singapore-based AI pioneer Manus said its annual run rate for revenue is over $125 million, eight months after it released artificial …
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Meta is testing limiting Facebook professional accounts and Pages to posting just two links per month, unless they subscribe to $14.99+/month Meta Verified  —  In a new experiment, Meta is limiting the number of links users can post on Facebook, unless they have a paid Meta Verified subscription.

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:35 AM ET, December 18, 2025.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

From Mediagazer

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
More than 250 ex-broadcast journalists urge WHCA dinner organizers “to forcefully demonstrate opposition” to Trump's “efforts to trample freedom of the press”

New York Times:
Filing: The Onion proposes a new deal for Infowars, licensing Infowars.com for $81,000 per month for six months initially; the deal requires a judge's approval

Jana Winter / Reuters:
FBI Director Kash Patel sues The Atlantic and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick for defamation, seeking $250M, over an article that claimed he had a drinking problem

More News

Issie Lapowsky / Rest of World:
Sources detail how Tiger Global fueled the COVID-era unicorn bubble that burst ahead of the AI boom; the firm recently shared its $12.7B 2021 fund is now up 16%

Earlier Picks

Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Micron reports Q1 revenue up 57% YoY to $13.64B, above $12.84B est., net income up 180% YoY to $5.24B, and Q2 revenue forecast above est.; MU jumps 5%+
David Ingram / NBC News:
A UK family and a US family sue Meta for the alleged wrongful deaths of their teenage sons, who died by suicide after falling victim to sextortion on Instagram
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Amazon's AGI team lead, Rohit Prasad, is leaving at the end of 2025; AWS SVP Peter DeSantis will lead a group combining AI, silicon, and quantum computing teams
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