Google is close to selecting locations for its first physical retail stores in India, marking its first such expansion outside the US. The company views India as a key market and has invested $10 billion in the country. Currently, Google operates only five retail stores, all in the US, selling Pixel phones, watches, and earbuds.
New Delhi and Mumbai are emerging as the most likely choices for the initial stores, with Bengaluru also considered. The planned outlets are expected to be around 15,000 square feet and may take at least six months to open. If successful, Google is likely to expand with more stores across the country.
By launching physical stores, Google aims to adopt a retail strategy similar to Apple’s, which has helped drive massive revenue growth over the past two decades.
Apple opened its first company-run stores in India in 2023 and currently dominates the country’s premium smartphone market. Google, which started manufacturing Pixel phones in India, is looking to strengthen its presence in this segment.
Before opening the stores, Google must navigate regulatory and compliance requirements. The company also faces legal challenges in India, including antitrust cases related to its in-app billing system and smart TV market practices. Despite these hurdles, Google remains committed to executing its retail expansion in India.
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Figure has introduced Helix, a new Vision-Language-Action (VLA) model designed to enhance the capabilities of humanoid robots in complex environments like homes.
The announcement follows the company’s decision to end its collaboration with OpenAI and highlights its growing focus on creating robots that can respond to natural language prompts and adapt to dynamic household settings.
Helix integrates visual data and language commands, enabling robots to understand tasks and execute them in real time. It demonstrates advanced object generalisation, allowing robots to handle thousands of unfamiliar household items simply through verbal instructions.
Designed to control multiple robots simultaneously, Helix can coordinate complex tasks, such as transferring items between robots and organising objects within a home.
While home robotics presents unique challenges due to unpredictable layouts and varying environments, Figure aims to overcome these hurdles through Helix’s adaptive learning capabilities.
By moving away from time-consuming manual programming, the company is working towards making humanoid robots more accessible and practical for domestic use. Although the project remains in its early stages, the Helix model represents a significant step towards bridging the gap between industrial robotics and home applications.
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Australia’s Federal Court has ruled that telecom giant Telstra misled customers about downgrading the upload speed of its broadband plans. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) initiated legal action in December 2022, accusing Telstra of downgrading the upload speeds for nearly 9,000 customers in 2020 without informing them or adjusting charges accordingly.
The ACCC argued that Telstra’s failure to notify customers deprived them of the chance to decide whether the altered service met their needs. The regulator is seeking penalties, compensation for affected customers, and other measures, with a final decision to be made by the court later.
Telstra expressed disappointment in the ruling but acknowledged the court’s decision. A spokesperson said the company would review the judgment before deciding on further steps.
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US energy regulators have ordered the country’s largest grid operator to clarify how it manages co-located data centres, a growing trend allowing facilities to connect directly to power plants.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) directed PJM Interconnection to explain why its current rules are sufficient or propose updates within 30 days.
Tech firms, facing long waits for electricity connections, see co-location as a faster alternative to accessing large amounts of power. However, FERC believes the lack of clear guidelines makes it difficult for companies to navigate the process effectively.
Commissioner David Rosner highlighted the urgency, citing PJM’s forecast of 30 gigawatts of added peak load within five years—equivalent to powering an entire city the size of Philadelphia.
Constellation Energy recently filed a complaint against PJM, arguing that unclear regulations have allowed utilities to block data centre projects at nuclear facilities.
FERC’s intervention aims to ensure fair and transparent policies as electricity demand continues to surge.
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Brazil‘s Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has fined social media platform X, owned by Elon Musk, 8.1 million reais ($1.42 million) for failing to comply with judicial orders. The ruling, made public on Thursday, follows a legal case from 2023 where the court had instructed X to remove a profile spreading misinformation and provide the user’s registration data.
X’s failure to meet these demands resulted in a daily fine of 100,000 reais, and the company’s local legal representative faced potential criminal liability. The court order required the immediate payment of the fine, citing the platform’s noncompliance. X’s legal team in Brazil has not commented on the matter.
In 2024, X faced a month-long suspension in Brazil for not adhering to court orders related to hate speech moderation and for failing to designate a legal representative in the country, as mandated by law.
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STMicroelectronics has announced the launch of a new computer chip aimed at the rapidly expanding AI data centre market. Developed in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), the photonics chip uses light rather than electricity, which helps increase speed and reduce power consumption in AI data centres. These chips are expected to be used in transceivers, which are crucial components in data centre infrastructure.
As top US software companies plan to invest $500 billion into AI infrastructure, there is rising demand for specialised chips, not only for computing but also for memory, power, and communications applications. ST’s new chip targets the communications sector, with a focus on improving the efficiency of transceivers, which are essential in AI data centres. The company also has a collaboration agreement with AWS to deploy this technology in their infrastructure later this year.
ST is working with a leading provider of optical solutions, although the company’s name has not been disclosed, to integrate the new chip into next-generation transceivers. The market for such devices, valued at $7 billion in 2024, is expected to grow significantly, reaching $24 billion by 2030. ST will begin mass production of these chips at its facility in Crolles, France.
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Apple has unveiled the iPhone 16e, a budget-friendly smartphone priced at $599, aimed at mid-market customers in key regions such as China and India.
The launch marks Apple’s attempt to revitalise declining sales and better compete with Android rivals like Samsung and Huawei, which are also adding artificial intelligence tools to their devices.
Designed as a successor to the SE series, the iPhone 16e incorporates features closer to flagship models, including the A18 chip for AI functions powered by Apple Intelligence.
Though missing a wide-angle lens and a camera control button, the 16e sports a 48-megapixel dual-camera system, a 6.1-inch display, and Apple’s Face ID. It also introduces the C1 chip, the company’s first in-house modem for cellular connectivity.
The iPhone 16e, available only in black and white, costs $200 less than the base iPhone 16. Analysts believe it will appeal to cost-sensitive markets where upfront payments are common. Pre-orders open on February 21 across 59 countries, with shipping set to begin on 28 February.
Apple forecasts stronger sales growth as it integrates AI features into more regions, although adoption has been slow. The 16e may provide a cost-effective entry point for customers seeking Apple’s latest technology without the premium price.
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TikTok is reportedly laying off staff from its trust and safety unit, which is responsible for content moderation, as part of a restructuring effort. The layoffs began on Thursday, affecting teams in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Adam Presser, TikTok’s operations head, sent a memo to staff informing them of the decision, though the company has not yet commented on the move.
The layoffs come at a time when TikTok’s future is uncertain. The app, used by nearly half of all Americans, faced a brief outage last month, followed by a law that came into effect in January, requiring its Chinese owner ByteDance to either sell TikTok or face a national security-related ban. TikTok CEO Shou Chew had previously testified before Congress about the company’s trust and safety measures, pledging to invest more than $2 billion in these efforts.
In line with a shift towards AI-driven content moderation, TikTok had already made significant layoffs in October, including staff in Malaysia. The company currently employs 40,000 trust and safety professionals globally, but the full scope of the recent cuts remains unclear.
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The European Commission has approved a €920 million German state aid package for Infineon to build a new semiconductor manufacturing plant in Dresden. This funding will support the company’s MEGAFAB-DD project, which aims to produce a wide variety of chips. The new facility, expected to reach full capacity by 2031, will play a key role in strengthening Europe’s technological autonomy and security of supply in semiconductor technologies, aligning with the European Chips Act’s goals.
This move is part of a global trend where chipmakers are investing heavily in new plants, taking advantage of subsidies from the US and the EU to maintain the West’s edge in semiconductor technology over China. The European Commission has allocated €15 billion for public and private semiconductor projects by 2030, further reinforcing the region’s commitment to securing its position in the industry.
Infineon’s €3.5 billion investment, the largest in its history, will help address the growing demand for semiconductors used in industrial, automotive, and consumer applications. The company has committed to ensuring the plant benefits the wider EU semiconductor value chain, including research and development for the next generation of chips. The plant will also contribute to crisis preparedness by prioritising orders in case of supply shortages.
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Microsoft has announced a groundbreaking quantum computing chip, Majorana 1, which it claims could make useful quantum computers a reality within years. The company believes this innovation puts it ahead in the race to unlock quantum computing’s vast potential.
Unlike classical computers, quantum systems could perform calculations in fields like medicine and chemistry that would otherwise take millions of years, although they also pose risks to current encryption standards.
The Majorana 1 chip relies on a particle called the Majorana fermion, theorised in the 1930s. Microsoft says its unique design makes the chip less error-prone than its competitors.
Despite having fewer qubits than chips from Google and IBM, the company argues that the lower error rates mean fewer qubits are needed for practical applications.
Microsoft’s development of Majorana 1 combines advanced materials like indium arsenide and aluminium, using a superconducting nanowire to observe and control the Majorana particles.
Fabricated at its labs in Washington and Denmark, the chip was described as a ‘high risk, high reward’ endeavour by Jason Zander, a senior Microsoft executive.
Quantum physicist Philip Kim from Harvard University praised the innovation, calling it an exciting step forward. While scaling up the technology remains a challenge, experts suggest Microsoft’s approach could lead to significant advancements in quantum computing.
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