Author: Jaxon Bennett

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Linda Yaccarino is stepping down as chief executive of X two years into a role where she attempted to claw back advertising dollars while dealing with the mercurial behaviour of the platform’s owner Elon Musk.In a post on X announcing her decision, Yaccarino said she had “decided to step down” but was grateful to the billionaire entrepreneur, citing “the opportunity of a lifetime to carry out the extraordinary mission of this company”.“Now, the best is yet to come as X enters a…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Nvidia plans to launch a new artificial intelligence chip designed specifically for China as soon as September, with chief executive Jensen Huang planning a visit to reassert the company’s commitment to the country.The chip is a version of Nvidia’s existing Blackwell RTX Pro 6000 processor modified to meet US President Donald Trump’s tightened export control rules, according to people with knowledge of the plans. The product would be stripped of the most advanced technologies, such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and NVLink, which…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Nvidia has become the first company to hit a $4tn market capitalisation, on the back of a rapid rebound for Wall Street technology stocks in recent months.Shares in the Silicon Valley-based maker of artificial intelligence chips rose as much as 2.8 per cent on Wednesday to $164.36. The group had already surpassed Apple’s $3.92tn record from last December.Nvidia stock has risen by more than 40 per cent since early May, when US President Donald Trump first signalled a thaw in his trade…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Apple is in talks to acquire the US rights to screen Formula 1 as the tech giant chases the success of its hit movie based on the race car series and delves further into showing live sport.The iPhone maker is challenging Disney’s ESPN — Formula 1’s current American broadcaster — when the broadcast contract becomes available next year, according to two people familiar with the discussions.The interest comes as F1 starring Brad Pitt becomes the company’s first big box office success since…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Artificial intelligence myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot repeatedly praised Adolf Hitler and shared antisemitic rhetoric on Tuesday, the day before his xAI company plans to release its latest model.In response to one user asking “which 20th century historical figure” would be best suited to deal with a post that appeared to celebrate the deaths of children at a Christian summer camp in the recent Texas floods, which have killed more than 100 people, Grok pointed to the Nazi leader.“To deal with such vile anti-white…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Apple has promoted Sabih Khan to chief operating officer, putting him in charge of the company’s supply chain when the tech giant and its peers are navigating Donald Trump’s trade war.Khan, who joined Apple in 1995, will take over at the end of the month from his current boss Jeff Williams, who led the development of the iWatch, as part of what the company described as a “long-planned succession.”Williams, a 27-year veteran of the company, took over leadership of Apple’s vast supply…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Elon Musk’s SpaceX is preparing to sell about $1bn of its shares in a deal that would value the rocket and satellite group at $400bn, according to people familiar with the matter.The sale of employee shares, known as a tender offer, would mark another large jump in SpaceX’s valuation. It was valued at $210bn in the middle of last year, but its valuation soared to $350bn in December when it carried out its most recent tender offer.The transaction reinforces SpaceX’s position as…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Holding a virtual monopoly in a product on which the artificial intelligence boom relies should be a golden ticket. For chipmaker Nvidia, it has been. But ASML, which makes extraordinarily complex machines that etch silicon and is no less integral to the rise of AI, has found that ruling the roost can still be an up-and-down affair.The €270bn Dutch manufacturer, which reports its earnings next week, is a sine qua non of technology; chips powering AI and even fridges are invariably etched…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Samsung Electronics delivered an earnings shock on Tuesday, projecting a 56 per cent drop in second-quarter operating profit, as US restrictions on China and its struggle to supply key customer Nvidia with advanced memory products weighed on its performance.The company, one of the world’s largest makers of memory chips, estimated its operating profit for April to June at Won4.6tn ($3.3bn), its weakest in six quarters and the fourth consecutive quarterly decline. It was significantly lower than the Won6.3tn profit forecast by LSEG…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Violent encounters between police and US residents claim about 2,000 lives a year. Axon Enterprise claims it has a way to reduce the frequency of such tragedies: by selling “neuromuscular incapacitation” devices to law enforcement. Readers might know these by their brand name: tasers. Thanks to their growing use, Axon has become one of the better performing stocks on the US market.Shares in the Arizona-based group are up more than sevenfold since the start of 2020, vastly outpacing companies such as Meta Platforms…