Data Centre Hiring Accelerates Across Europe as AI Build-Outs Expand - News and Statistics - IndexBox

• Brickken CEO Edwin Mata warned that delayed access to leading artificial intelligence tools could push European tech jobs and investments to overseas markets. • Mata stated that access to AI now ranks alongside funding, taxation, and recruitment as a primary factor for founders deciding where to expand their businesses.

• Semiconductor startup Volantis raised $88 million to improve AI chip connectivity using laser communication technology. • The funding round was led by Abstract Ventures and Lachy Groom, a former executive at Stripe.

• European companies are increasingly using their own cash to fund artificial intelligence development as a financing divide grows between them and U.S. firms. • This trend occurs because capital is readily available for physical infrastructure but remains difficult to secure for intangible investments like software and research.

• Federal prosecutors arrested Greg Lui, owner of Earthmade Computer Inc., on Thursday for smuggling restricted computer hardware to China. • Lui allegedly sold more than $300 million in high-end computer servers containing U.S.-made Nvidia chips while falsely claiming they were for customers in Singapore and Malaysia.

• AI startups dominated the largest U.S. funding rounds this week, with most of the top 10 recipients focusing on artificial intelligence. • Instinct, a company creating AI assistants for everyday tasks, secured the largest financing round at $1 billion.

• Wall Street banks are aggressively hiring AI engineers skilled in agent orchestration, which is the ability to coordinate teams of specialized AI agents. • Generative AI managers in finance now earn a median base salary of approximately $190,000 according to data from Draup.

• The Federal Trade Commission launched an industry-wide investigation into AI developers, including OpenAI and Anthropic, to examine consumer risks associated with their technology. • This probe marks the first formal US regulatory action specifically targeting rogue AI agents after several incidents of unexpected autonomous behavior.

• Cyberattackers targeted South Korea's Shinhan Bank Co. in a breach that exposed the personal information of approximately 25,000 people. • Mun Chong-hyun, a director at cybersecurity firm Genians, stated that the attackers likely used advanced artificial intelligence tools originally developed for defensive purposes.

• A October 2026 report on European deeptech highlights a funding gap where discovery is prioritized over the expansion needed for scaling. • The analysis notes that scaling requires larger investment rounds to cover testing, certification, and manufacturing.

• More than four-fifths of security and finance leaders expect their cybersecurity budgets to increase as frontier AI models are rolled out. • PwC’s 2027 Global Digital Trust Insights Survey found that 84% of senior leaders anticipate budget growth, an increase from 78% last year.

• Several major AI developments occurred on October 2, 2026, including safety researchers leaving OpenAI and a federal judge dismissing publisher lawsuits regarding AI Overviews. • Amazon is currently exploring a corporate structure that could shift $8 billion in Nvidia chips.