Amazon beats Musk in Australia broadband battle
Australia’s state-owned broadband network NBN Co has chosen Amazon’s untested Project Kuiper over Elon Musk’s established Starlink service to connect 300,000 remote homes and businesses who can’t access its terrestrial network.
NBN’s chief development officer Gavin Williams acknowledged the risk, saying “It is true that Amazon Kuiper has not launched services yet in Australia or globally, but they are reportedly pumping in about $15 billion into that program.”
The deal, with undisclosed financial terms, will see low-Earth orbit satellites replace two government-owned satellites due for decommissioning in 2032.
Project Kuiper will ultimately deploy over 3,200 satellites when the service launches from mid-2026, connecting through optical inter-satellite links and ground-based infrastructure.
Industry analyst Paul Budde suggested sovereignty concerns influenced the choice, noting potential risks from “total dependence on Starlink would not be seen as a favorable situation” given geopolitical uncertainties.
Musk’s brain chip venture launches first European clinical study
Elon Musk’s Neuralink will launch its first clinical study in Great Britain, partnering with University College London Hospitals and Newcastle Hospitals to test brain chips on paralyzed patients.
The study targets patients with spinal cord injuries and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a type of nervous system disease. The chip implant will enable these patients to control digital and physical tools through thought alone.
The expansion comes after Neuralink raised $650 million last month, bringing total funding to approximately $1.3 billion with a $9 billion valuation. Five patients currently use the device in ongoing US trials after FDA approval in 2024.
Neuralink began human trials following resolution of safety concerns that initially led regulators to reject its 2022 application. The company’s brain-computer interface technology represents a significant advancement in neurological rehabilitation.
Founded in 2016, Neuralink has positioned itself at the forefront of brain-computer interface development, attracting substantial investor interest as the technology moves from experimental to clinical applications.
Stargate Norway becomes OpenAI giant’s first European compute hub
OpenAI will launch its first European Stargate data centre in Norway, near Narvik, next year through a $1 billion partnership with developer Nscale Global Holdings and investment group Aker ASA.
Stargate Norway represents OpenAI’s second international project after announcing Stargate UAE, positioning the company for global infrastructure expansion. The “gigafactory” will run entirely on renewable hydropower, initially consuming 20 megawatts with plans to scale to 230 MW and eventually reaching 520 MW total capacity.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said “Infrastructure like this is really important and unlocks a ton of potential for developers, researchers, scientists, and startups all across Norway and Europe.”
Nscale and Aker will each hold 50% stakes in the joint venture, with OpenAI as the facility’s anchor customer. The center will utilize 100,000 Nvidia’s advanced GB300 Superchip processors connected via NVLink network technology.
Nscale CEO Josh Payne emphasized that “sovereign, scalable, and sustainable infrastructure is now essential to remain competitive” as European AI demand accelerates.
Microsoft hits $4 trillion valuation on AI cloud growth
Microsoft shares surged more than 5% in after-hours trading following better-than-expected quarterly results, pushing the company’s market capitalization above $4 trillion for the first time.
The milestone makes Microsoft only the second company to reach this valuation, joining chipmaker Nvidia who hit $4 trillion for the first time earlier this month.
The software giant reported 18% revenue growth, its fastest expansion in over three years, driven by Azure cloud services. Microsoft disclosed Azure and other cloud services exceeded $75 billion in fiscal 2025, up 34% from the prior year, the first time it revealed Azure revenue in dollar terms.
Apple sits third at $3.2 trillion, with shares down 17% this year as investors worry the iPhone maker lags in AI development. Nvidia remains 2025’s top megacap performer, up 33%, as its GPUs power large language models from Microsoft, OpenAI, Google and Meta.
SEC creates AI task force while embracing crypto trading
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has announced formation of an artificial intelligence task force while simultaneously outlining comprehensive plans to accommodate cryptocurrency markets, signaling heightened regulatory focus on both sectors.
The AI task force will examine disclosure requirements, market manipulation risks, and investor protection issues as AI technologies reshape financial services. The SEC said the task force will “enhance innovation and efficiency.”
Separately, SEC chair Paul Atkins announced “Project Crypto,” directing staff to craft guidelines determining when tokens qualify as securities and develop frameworks for tokenized securities trading.
“This represents more than a regulatory shift — it is a generational opportunity,” Atkins said in Washington remarks. The initiative follows Trump’s cryptocurrency working group recommendations encouraging regulators to “immediately enable the trading of digital assets at the federal level.”
The agenda reverses Biden-era policies that saw SEC lawsuits against Coinbase, Binance and dozens of firms. Trump’s administration has since dropped those cases, fulfilling campaign promises to be a “crypto president” after courting industry support during election season.
