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August 19, 2025, 6:20 PM
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Top News

New York Times:
Sources: Meta considers downsizing its AI division, with some executives expected to leave, and is exploring using third-party models for its AI products  —  Meta is expected to announce a new restructuring of its artificial intelligence division amid internal tensions over the technology, people with knowledge of the plans said.
Riley Griffin / Bloomberg:
Memo: Meta restructures Superintelligence Labs; Alexandr Wang heads TBD Lab, Robert Fergus heads FAIR, Nat Friedman heads products, Aparna Ramani heads Infra  —  Meta Platforms Inc. is splitting its newly formed artificial intelligence group into four distinct teams and reassigning …
Kanishka Singh / Reuters:
US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard says the UK has dropped its mandate requiring Apple to provide a backdoor for accessing users' encrypted data  —  Britain has dropped its demand for the iPhone maker Apple (AAPL.O) to provide a “backdoor” that would have enabled access …
Daniel Kuhn / The Block:
Wyoming launches a stablecoin, FRNT, marking the first time a US state has issued a blockchain-based, fiat-pegged token to be used by retail and enterprises  —  Start trading crypto Get a crypto rewards card 1inch: Swap Sol ↔ EVM  — After years of research, the Wyoming Stable Token Commission …
Prakhar Srivastava / Reuters:
Tether hires Bo Hines, who stepped down as White House Crypto Council Executive Director earlier in August, as an adviser to help it expand in the US  —  Cryptocurrency firm Tether has appointed former White House crypto policy executive Bo Hines as a strategic adviser to help steer its expansion …
Reuters:
Sources: Nvidia is developing a new Blackwell-based AI chip for China, tentatively known as the B30A, that will be more powerful than its H20 model for China  —  Nvidia (NVDA.O) is developing a new AI chip for China based on its latest Blackwell architecture that will be more powerful …
Carl Franzen / VentureBeat:
Alibaba releases Qwen-Image-Edit, the image editing version of Qwen-Image, supporting modifications of Chinese and English text while preserving font and style  —  Adobe Photoshop is among the most recognizable pieces of software ever created, used by more than 90% of the world's creative professionals, according to Photutorial.
Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is making all four iPhone 17 models in India ahead of debut, a first, as it expands to five factories to cut reliance on China for US-bound units  —  Apple Inc. is expanding iPhone production in India at five factories, including a pair of recently opened plants …
Angel Au-Yeung / Wall Street Journal:
Databricks is finalizing a Series K at a $100B valuation, up 61% from its December 2024 round; sources say it is co-led by Thrive and a16z plans to participate  —  The data analytics company, fueled by the AI boom, was valued at $62 billion less than a year ago
Bloomberg:
DeepSeek releases V3.1, adding a longer context window, with few other details; Chinese media blames CEO Liang Wenfeng's perfectionism and bugs for R2's delay  —  DeepSeek announced what appeared to be an update to its older V3 artificial intelligence model on Tuesday, declaring an enhanced version ready for testing.
Krisztian Sandor / CoinDesk:
Bullish says it has received all $1.15B in capital raised from its IPO in stablecoins, including USDC, USDG, and PYUSD, marking a first for US public markets  —  Stablecoins used in the settlement include dollar- and euro-pegged tokens of Circle, Paxos, PayPal, Ripple and Societe Generale, among others.
Financial Times:
Sources: Masayoshi Son met Lip-Bu Tan to discuss SoftBank acquiring Intel's faltering foundry business in the weeks before announcing SoftBank's $2B investment  —  Japanese group's approach comes as US manufacturer struggles to attract customers and compete with rival TSMC
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
SoftBank agrees to invest $2B in Intel, buying ~2% of Intel's outstanding shares for $23 per share, becoming Intel's fifth-biggest shareholder; INTC jumps 5%+

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 6:20 PM ET, August 19, 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

Ben Dummett / Wall Street Journal:
Axel Springer agrees to buy the Telegraph for £575M, ending the proposed acquisition by the DMGT, and plans to “turbocharge” the Telegraph's presence in the US

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: a coalition of states including California, Colorado, and New York prepares to sue on antitrust grounds if the Nexstar-Tegna deal gets FCC approval

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
SEC filing: Byron Allen buys a 10.7% stake in Starz for $25M from investment fund Liberty 77, led by former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin

More News

Earlier Picks

Kate Park / TechCrunch:
NYC-based Eight Sleep, which makes the AI-powered Pod smart mattress cover for measuring sleep, raised $100M from HSG and others, after an $86M Series C in 2021
Kashish Tandon / Reuters:
OpenAI launches ChatGPT Go, a new India-only plan priced at Rs. 399, or ~$4.57, per month, its most affordable yet, to grow users in its second-largest market
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
A US federal appeals court rejects T-Mobile's bid to overturn a $92M fine for illegally selling customer location data without consent, after a 2024 FCC ruling
Jody Godoy / Reuters:
The US FTC sues Key Investment Group, operator of sites like TotalTickets.com, for evading purchasing limits to buy up and resell live event tickets at a markup
Sheryl Estrada / Fortune:
An MIT report finds that 95% of GenAI pilots at companies have little to no financial impact, due to the “learning gap” for both the tools and the companies
Devindra Hardawar / Engadget:
Nvidia plans to roll out RTX 5080-class performance to GeForce Now in September, letting users of its $20-per-month Ultimate tier stream in up to 5K at 120fps
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