TotalEnergies forms AI partnership with French startup Mistral

Meta is investing $15 billion for a 49% stake in Scale AI, a key data annotation company essential for training AI systems like ChatGPT. Scale AI's CEO Alexandr Wang will lead Meta's new AI division focused on developing superintelligence. The deal follows a trend of big tech making strategic investments without full acquisitions. This move could potentially limit rivals' access to Scale AI's crucial data labeling services, impacting competitors like OpenAI and Google. Despite employing global contract workers who earn minimal wages, the deal primarily enriches Scale AI's executives. The transaction faces potential regulatory scrutiny due to Meta's influence over a critical AI infrastructure provider.

Meta has finalized an investment in Scale AI, valuing the startup at $29 billion and strengthening their commercial partnership. The deal gives Meta a minority stake in Scale AI and enhances its access to advanced data and AI solutions for developing language models. As part of the agreement, Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang will join Meta's AI leadership team while remaining on Scale's board. Jason Droege has been appointed Interim CEO of Scale AI. This investment reflects growing competition among tech giants to secure AI talent and technology.

Adobe raised annual forecasts due to strong demand for AI tools like Firefly. Q2 revenue reached $5.87 billion, an 11% increase. Digital Media ARR grew by over $700 million. The company now expects fiscal 2025 revenue between $23.50-23.60 billion and adjusted EPS of $18.00-18.20. CEO Narayen credited AI innovation for driving growth across design and marketing industries.

The U.S. government has raised concerns about Huawei's ability to produce advanced AI chips, estimating the company will manufacture fewer than 200,000 units in 2025 despite targeting 700,000. Production faces significant yield challenges (around 30%) due to reliance on less advanced lithography methods. These limitations occur amid U.S. export controls restricting China's access to cutting-edge AI technologies. Despite these obstacles, Huawei's chips are increasingly attractive domestically as alternatives to banned U.S. products like NVIDIA's H100. China is developing creative supply chain solutions, including leveraging South Korean suppliers for high-bandwidth memory, but significant technical and geopolitical challenges remain in the intensifying U.S.-China semiconductor rivalry.