Tech

• El Departamento de Defensa de EE. UU. anunció contratos de adquisición de IA con siete empresas: Amazon Web Services, Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, SpaceX y Reflection AI, que recaudó 2.000 millones de dólares en financiación el año pasado. • Los productos de IA se implementarán en los sistemas de Nivel de Impacto 6 y 7 del Departamento de Defensa, capaces de almacenar información clasificada, con acceso proporcionado a través de un portal interno llamado GenAI.mil. • Notablemente, Anthropic fue excluida de los contratos después de que la administración Trump la designara como un riesgo para la cadena de suministro en febrero, aunque se informa que el Pentágono continúa utilizando el modelo Claude Mythos Preview de Anthropic.

• Deep Tech Week destaca a The AI Collective, descrita como la comunidad de IA más grande del mundo, que conecta a más de 100.000 constructores, investigadores y profesionales de IA a través de eventos, foros y networking. • El encuentro reúne a startups, laboratorios corporativos y grupos académicos para mostrar avances en aprendizaje automático fundamental, robótica e IA aplicada, con un enfoque en la interoperabilidad y el despliegue responsable. • La participación de EE. UU. es sólida, con muchos laboratorios de investigación de IA líderes y startups respaldadas por capital de riesgo que aprovechan el evento para anunciar nuevas colaboraciones, lanzamientos de modelos y herramientas de código abierto.

• La startup de paytech transfronteriza Latitude, de relevancia en EE. UU., salió del modo sigilo esta semana con una financiación semilla de 8 millones de dólares liderada por NEA para abordar las transferencias de dinero empresariales lentas y costosas. • El financiamiento respalda la misión de Latitude de agilizar los pagos internacionales, posicionándola como un competidor en el espacio fintech ante la creciente demanda de transferencias B2B eficientes. • El lanzamiento coincide con el auge de las fintech de abril de 2026, lo que destaca la confianza de los inversores en las innovaciones de paytech a pesar de las incertidumbres económicas derivadas de los precios de la energía y la política de la Fed.

El actor y presentador se fracturó la cadera, la pierna derecha, la pelvis y las costillas cuando dio una charla en el festival CogX en el O2 Arena en 2023Stephen Fry ha demandado a dos empresas que organizaron una conferencia tecnológica en la que resultó herido en 2023 tras caerse del escenario, según muestran documentos del tribunal superior. El actor y presentador se rompió la cadera y tuvo múltiples fracturas en su pierna derecha, pelvis y costillas cuando asistió al festival CogX en el O2 Arena, donde ofreció una charla sobre inteligencia artificial el 14 de septiembre de 2023. Continuar leyendo...

• Investigadores del MIT descubrieron que la chaotic laser light puede autoorganizarse en un 'pencil beam' altamente enfocado bajo condiciones precisas, lo que permite una rápida 3D imaging de la blood-brain barrier. • El nuevo método captura imágenes a velocidades 25 veces superiores a las técnicas actuales y rastrea el movimiento de fármacos hacia las células cerebrales en tiempo real. • Este avance podría acelerar los tratamientos para enfermedades neurológicas al permitir una observación de alta precisión de la absorción de proteínas en las células.

• Anthropic announced the acquisition of Coefficient Bio, a U.S.-based AI startup specializing in biological modeling, on April 27, 2026. • The deal aims to integrate Coefficient's protein design AI tools with Anthropic's Claude models for advanced drug discovery applications. • This move positions Anthropic in the competitive AI-biotech space amid rising investments, potentially accelerating personalized medicine breakthroughs.

• The European Union announced new provisional tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle batteries and solar components Monday, citing unfair state subsidies and predatory pricing that undercut European manufacturers. • Beijing warned the tariffs violate World Trade Organization rules and threatened retaliatory measures on European agricultural imports, escalating trade friction between the two economic blocs. • U.S. officials expressed support for the EU's move, viewing it as necessary protection for clean energy industries while signaling potential alignment on China trade policy.

• The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.48% to 16,240.35 on Monday, April 26, driven by weakness in mega-cap technology stocks including Apple (down 1.2%) and Microsoft (down 0.9%), as investors reassess growth expectations ahead of the Federal Reserve's May meeting. • Treasury yields climbed to 4.35% for the 10-year note amid inflation concerns, pressuring valuations of rate-sensitive tech companies and spurring profit-taking after recent market gains. • The decline reflects growing caution among portfolio managers about earnings sustainability in the second quarter, with earnings guidance from major tech firms expected to dominate trading through early May.

• The White House stated China steals US AI technology at industrial scale via joint ventures, cyber intrusions, talent poaching, and front companies targeting universities and labs. • Tactics include spear-phishing, zero-day exploits in software pipelines, and supply chain diversion of AI hardware like GPUs, fueling China's surveillance and weapons programs. • Impacts could erode US AI competitive advantage, raise R&D costs for cybersecurity, and devalue intellectual property incentives for American firms.

• TTM Technologies achieved a 214.4% increase in earnings over the past year, substantially exceeding the electronic industry average of 15.7%. • The company's exceptional performance reflects strong execution and market demand within the technology sector. • TTM's growth trajectory positions it among elite performers in the high-growth tech space.

• The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced the launch of the 2026 class of Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF), showcasing its commitment to hiring top technology talent. • The new PIF class will focus on key Administration priority projects, including developing AI-powered tools to accelerate infrastructure permitting processes. • The initiative demonstrates the federal government's strategy to leverage specialized technology expertise for modernizing government operations and infrastructure development.

More than 200,000 have signed petitions urging the government to break contracts, amid concerns about the company’s ‘supervillain’ manifestoOver 200,000 people have called on ministers to break contracts with Palantir in an apparent groundswell of public concern about the US tech company’s role in the NHS, police, military and councils.Two petitions have attracted 229,000 signatures, one calling for the government to end all public contracts with the firm, whose software is used by Donald Trump’s ICE immigration enforcement programme and the Israeli military, and another urging the health secretary, Wes Streeting, to cancel its £330 patient data contract with the NHS. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Internal concerns over allowing US firm linked to ICE and Israeli military to process highly sensitive data The Metropolitan police has held talks with Palantir that could lead to the London force buying the US spy-tech company’s AI technology to automate intelligence analysis for criminal investigations, the Guardian has learned.Palantir, whose software is used by Donald Trump’s ICE immigration enforcement programme and the Israeli military, demonstrated its systems to senior officers in the intelligence division at the UK’s largest police force last month. Intelligence staff have been tasked with finding intelligence systems that AI could automate to increase productivity. Continue reading...

• The FDA granted accelerated approval to a CRISPR-based gene therapy for severe sickle cell disease on April 20, marking the first approved genetic treatment editing patient blood cells to produce functional hemoglobin. • Clinical trials demonstrated 95% of treated patients experienced elimination or near-elimination of vaso-occlusive crises within 12 months, with durable responses observed for over two years post-treatment. • The therapy addresses a disease affecting approximately 100,000 Americans, primarily of African descent, offering potential cure for patients previously reliant on pain management and blood transfusions.

• Georgia Tech softball (28-23, 9-11 ACC) defeated No. 10 Virginia Tech (38-7, 12-5 ACC) 6-2 on Saturday night in Blacksburg, Virginia, marking the program's highest-ranked true road win in history. • The victory was Georgia Tech's first top 10 win and third top 25 victory of the season, demonstrating significant progress for the Yellow Jackets. • The Yellow Jackets remain in Blacksburg to conclude the ACC conference road series against Virginia Tech on April 19.

• Fraud incidents continue climbing at US banks even with substantial spending on advanced detection tools and analytics. • The gap highlights limitations in current tech defenses against evolving fraudster tactics. • This trend matters as it pressures financial institutions to innovate faster, amid rising economic impacts from cyber fraud.

• Oil prices dropped significantly, providing tailwinds for technology companies as lower energy costs reduce operational expenses and improve profit margins across the sector. • Constellation Research founder R 'Ray' Wang discussed the direct relationship between Big Tech performance and oil and gas pricing, highlighting how the energy market collapse supports tech stock rebounds. • The decline in energy costs removes a key headwind for capital-intensive tech operations and data centers, contributing to the broader market rally.

Legally questionable confidentiality clause adopted almost word for word from demands of Microsoft and trade groupsMicrosoft and other US tech companies successfully lobbied the EU to hide the environmental toll of their datacentres, an investigation has found, with demands to block a database of green metrics from public view written almost word for word into EU rules.The secrecy provision, which the European Commission added to its proposal almost verbatim after industry lobbying in 2024, hinders scrutiny of the pollution that individual datacentres emit. It leaves researchers with just national-level summaries of their energy footprints. Continue reading...

• The S&P 500 fell 1.8% Thursday, driven by disappointing earnings from major technology companies that missed analyst expectations on revenue growth and profitability. • Mega-cap tech stocks including those from leading AI companies dropped 2.3% collectively, erasing early-week gains as forward guidance pointed to slowing demand for enterprise AI solutions. • The sell-off extended to semiconductor and cloud infrastructure stocks, with the Nasdaq Composite declining 2.1%, signaling growing investor concerns about the sustainability of recent valuations.

• JPMorgan Chase announced Thursday the acquisition of a fintech startup specializing in regional bank digitalization for $5.2 billion in cash, marking one of 2026's largest financial services M&A deals. • The acquisition will expand JPMorgan's capabilities in serving mid-sized regional banks, addressing a strategic gap as community lenders face increased competition from digital-native competitors. • JPMorgan executives stated the deal is expected to generate $200 million in annual cost synergies by 2028 and will close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approval.

• Anthropic launched Project Glasswing, collaborating with Apple, Google, and Microsoft to deploy Claude Mythos Preview in identifying and patching critical software vulnerabilities preemptively. • The initiative unites rivals to leverage AI against cyber threats targeting US software infrastructure. • By fixing flaws before exploitation, the project aims to bolster national cybersecurity amid escalating AI-driven attacks.

• Anthropic announced Project Glasswing, a cybersecurity initiative bringing together AWS, Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, CrowdStrike, Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Palo Alto Networks to identify and fix software vulnerabilities using its Claude Mythos Preview model. • The Claude Mythos Preview model achieves 93.9% accuracy on SWE-bench Verified, significantly outperforming Opus 4.6's 80.8%, and demonstrated the ability to find thousands of hidden bugs in critical systems. • Anthropic is committing up to $100 million in usage credits for Project Glasswing, plus $4 million in direct donations to open-source security organizations to strengthen cybersecurity infrastructure.

• The EU imposed sanctions on three Chinese technology firms and one individual on April 6, accusing them of conducting sophisticated espionage operations targeting European telecommunications infrastructure and government networks. • The targeted companies are suspected of exploiting vulnerabilities in 5G networks; the EU cited evidence of stolen intellectual property and unauthorized access to classified communications. • EU officials stated the move signals zero tolerance for state-sponsored cyber operations; Chinese officials denied accusations and called the sanctions "groundless and provocative."

• AI's growing appetite for compute power is forecasted to hit $100 billion, creating new industrial layers like AI factories and energy-to-intelligence conversion. • This shift is rewriting rules for tech supply chains, with Nvidia at the forefront of the transformation. • The development signals a pivotal moment for US AI infrastructure investment and energy demands.

• Cathie Wood's Ark Innovation ETF bought $6.9 million worth of a surging tech stock amid ongoing market volatility. • As of April 2, 2026, ARKK was down 12% year-to-date compared to the S&P 500's 3.8% decline, with a five-year annualized return of -10.6% versus S&P's 12%. • Wood anticipates a 'great acceleration' in global growth driven by innovation, positioning the purchase as a bet on tech recovery.

• US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on April 4, 2026, announcing plans for bilateral talks on trade imbalances and semiconductor export restrictions amid rising tensions. • The agreement includes a framework for reducing tariffs on $50 billion in goods and joint cybersecurity standards, with Sullivan stating, 'This is a step toward stabilizing our economic relationship without compromising security.' • The deal matters as it averts potential escalation in US-China tech rivalry, potentially boosting global markets and easing supply chain disruptions affecting US consumers.

• Anthropic acquired Coefficient Bio, a startup founded eight months ago with fewer than 10 employees, for roughly $400 million in shares, despite it having no product or revenue. • The platform uses AI for pharmaceutical tasks like drug research planning and identifying new drug opportunities, positioning Anthropic's models for scientific discovery in life sciences. • This bet signals a strategic push into AI-driven biotech, potentially accelerating drug development amid growing competition in applied AI verticals.

• US tech companies cut 52,000 jobs in just three months of 2026, driven by rising AI investments. • Layoffs stem from restructuring for AI priorities, though economic factors also contribute beyond automation. • The trend highlights tensions between AI-driven efficiency gains and workforce displacement in Silicon Valley.