Meta has announced a new programme allowing rival classified ad providers to list their adverts on Facebook Marketplace, following a €797 million EU antitrust fine for unfair competition.
The European Commission ruled in November that Meta had given its own service an unfair advantage by tying Marketplace to Facebook and imposing restrictive trading conditions on competitors.
The company has challenged the fine in court but says the new initiative, called the Facebook Marketplace Partner Program, is a response to EU competition concerns.
The programme was tested last month in Germany, France, and the United States in partnership with eBay. Under the scheme, third-party online classified ad services can display their listings on Facebook Marketplace alongside user-generated listings.
Meta maintains that the EU’s decision unfairly targets US companies, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg previously describing EU actions as akin to a “tariff regime.”
The European Commission is now reviewing whether Meta has fully complied with the ruling. If found lacking, the company could face further scrutiny and potential penalties. The move marks a significant shift in how Marketplace operates, potentially reshaping competition in the online classified ads sector.
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Taiwan‘s President Lai Ching-te has pledged to address concerns raised by former US President Donald Trump regarding Taiwan’s semiconductor industry. Speaking after a National Security Council meeting, Lai acknowledged the importance of global semiconductor supply chains and vowed to work with Taiwan’s semiconductor sector to develop strategies to address US concerns. He emphasised the need for democratic nations, including the US, to collaborate on creating a “democratic supply chain” for advanced chips, particularly in the growing AI sector.
Lai also reassured the US of Taiwan’s commitment to contributing to the international economy, noting that Taiwan, home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker, TSMC, plays a vital role in the semiconductor market. TSMC is heavily invested in the US, including a $65 billion investment in new factories in Arizona. Despite these efforts, Taiwan’s defence spending remains a topic of criticism, particularly from Trump, who has repeatedly highlighted Taiwan’s insufficient military expenditure amid increasing threats from China.
In response to US concerns, Lai revealed plans to propose a special budget to raise Taiwan’s defence spending from 2.5% of GDP to 3%. This proposal is currently being debated in parliament, where opposition parties hold a majority. Lai stressed that Taiwan’s determination to defend itself must be clear, as international allies continue to voice concerns over its defence readiness.
Finally, Lai reiterated Taiwan’s key role as a reliable trading partner to the US, especially in high-tech exports such as semiconductors. Taiwan’s trade surplus with the US surged by 83% last year, with exports reaching a record $111.4 billion.
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AI is set to revolutionise wealth management by lowering the barriers to entry for new players, according to a Microsoft executive. Martin Moeller, head of AI for financial services at Microsoft, highlighted that AI’s ability to process vast amounts of data could allow small teams or even individuals to offer services that traditionally required entire teams at banks. This shift is expected to reshape the competitive landscape, much like the internet did decades ago.
AI is already being used in the financial sector, with Swedish payment provider Klarna employing AI from OpenAI to handle tasks previously carried out by 700 employees. UBS, the world’s largest asset manager, also sees significant potential in AI to boost productivity and ease job functions. AI is expected to reduce operational costs for startups and allow banks that have not been involved in wealth management to enter the market with minimal investment.
Customer behaviour is also changing, with younger entrepreneurs increasingly managing their own investments. In response, banks are using AI to enable customers to consolidate financial information independently. While AI currently does not provide specific investment advice, ‘agentic AI’ is expected to be developed in the next two years, which will make independent decisions without human input, further transforming the industry.
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Alibaba has announced a new partnership with Apple to support the development of AI services for iPhones in China, a move that aims to help Apple counter declining smartphone sales in its crucial market. The collaboration is seen as a significant win for Alibaba, which is gaining ground in China’s competitive AI industry, dominated by local players like DeepSeek. This deal comes after months of speculation regarding Apple’s AI strategy in the region, as the tech giant held discussions with other Chinese companies such as Baidu, ByteDance, and Tencent.
While the specifics of the partnership are still unclear, Alibaba’s chairman Tsai noted that Apple chose their AI technology to power its phones in China. The two companies have already submitted necessary regulatory materials to Chinese authorities, as consumer-facing AI products in the country require approval. Alibaba’s stock saw a notable rise following the announcement, reflecting investor optimism about the deal.
The timing of this collaboration is crucial for Apple, which has faced challenges in China, including falling iPhone sales and increased competition from domestic rivals like Huawei. Analysts suggest that Apple’s struggles in the region are partly due to the lack of advanced AI features in its phones, a growing demand in the Chinese market. Apple’s sales in Greater China dropped significantly in late 2024, and the company lost its top position in the market to local players like Vivo and Huawei.
For Alibaba, the partnership underscores its growing strength in AI, with its stock price surging in 2025. The company’s Qwen 2.5 AI model, which surpassed the capabilities of competitors, has become a focal point of its recent success. As Apple seeks to re-establish its presence in China, the effectiveness of this AI collaboration will likely play a critical role in its future in the market.
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The rise of DeepSeek’s AI models is offering Chinese chipmakers like Huawei a better chance to compete in the domestic market against the powerful processors from US companies like Nvidia. For years, Huawei and other Chinese manufacturers have struggled to match Nvidia’s high-end chips, which are essential for training AI models. However, DeepSeek’s focus on ‘inference’ rather than raw processing power has led analysts to believe that it could help close the gap between Chinese-made processors and their US counterparts. Inference refers to the phase where AI models use trained data to make predictions, a process less reliant on heavy computational resources.
Several Chinese AI chipmakers, including Huawei, EnFlame, and Moore Threads, have recently stated that their products will support DeepSeek models, although few details have been disclosed. Industry executives predict that DeepSeek’s open-source nature and its low fees will drive the adoption of AI, helping Chinese companies bypass US export restrictions on advanced chips. In fact, Chinese chips like Huawei’s Ascend 910B have already been recognised as better suited for inference tasks, which require less computational power than training.
Despite these developments, Nvidia still dominates the global AI chip market. Analysts point out that while Chinese chips are cost-effective for inference tasks, Nvidia’s superior chips remain the preferred choice even for inference. Nvidia’s CUDA platform, which provides developers with a robust software environment, remains a key advantage, and Chinese companies like Huawei have struggled to convince developers to abandon CUDA in favour of their platforms, such as Huawei’s Compute Architecture for Neural Networks (CANN). The software performance of Chinese AI chips continues to lag behind, making it challenging for them to directly challenge Nvidia’s dominance.
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Elon Musk has stated he will withdraw his $97.4 billion bid for OpenAI’s non-profit arm if the company halts plans to become a for-profit entity. Musk’s lawyers clarified in a court filing that if OpenAI’s board agrees to maintain the charity’s mission and remove the ‘for sale’ sign from its assets, he will retract his offer. However, if the conversion to a for-profit model continues, Musk’s consortium insists the charity must be compensated by what an independent buyer would pay for its assets.
OpenAI, originally founded by Musk and Sam Altman in 2015 as a non-profit, is in the midst of restructuring. Altman, now CEO, has moved to create a for-profit unit within the organisation to attract investors like Microsoft.
Musk, who left the company over disagreements with Altman, is suing to block this transition. This legal battle intensified this week when Musk’s group made a bid to purchase the non-profit’s assets, which Altman has rejected, stating that the organisation is not for sale.
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Tencent, a leading Chinese tech giant, has won a significant copyright infringement case in a US district court. The ruling resulted in nearly $85 million in compensation after a Taiwan-based TV box firm, Unblock Tech, and its distributors were found guilty of violating copyrights on over 1,500 Tencent shows, including ‘Little Days’ and ‘Three Body Problem’.
The judgement was handed down by the US District Court for the Western District of Texas. Tencent units, including Tencent Penguin Film and Tencent Technology, brought the case against the defendants for copying, distributing, and importing the content without permission.
Neither Tencent nor Unblock Tech provided comments regarding the ruling.
Analyst Vivian Toh highlighted the challenges of addressing cross-border infringement, stating that Tencent’s success underscores its commitment to protecting intellectual property.
The win reflects the broader issue of video content piracy, which remains a persistent problem across global markets.
Tencent has also pursued similar cases in China, targeting TikTok and Douyin-owner ByteDance over unauthorised use of its content. The outcomes of those lawsuits have yet to be publicly disclosed.
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OpenAI has announced plans to simplify its artificial intelligence product line by combining its o-series and GPT-series models into a unified system. CEO Sam Altman revealed the strategy in a post on X, highlighting the need for more accessible AI tools.
The decision marks a shift away from standalone releases, such as the previously unveiled o3 and o3 mini models.
The company aims to launch GPT-5 as a comprehensive AI system that incorporates the features of earlier models, addressing user concerns about complexity. Altman stressed the importance of creating tools that ‘just work’ while providing no exact timeline for the rollout.
OpenAI also plans to release GPT-4.5, codenamed ‘Orion’, as its final non-chain-of-thought model.
The announcement follows increased scrutiny over AI development costs, with competitors like China’s DeepSeek introducing more affordable alternatives. The move aligns with OpenAI’s efforts to remain competitive while addressing usability issues.
By streamlining its offerings, OpenAI hopes to deliver systems capable of handling diverse tasks and leveraging available tools seamlessly. The new roadmap reflects a broader industry trend towards efficiency and user-centric design.
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China’s spending on chipmaking equipment is expected to fall by 6% in 2025, marking its first decline since 2021, according to Canadian research firm TechInsights. The drop follows years of aggressive stockpiling as Chinese firms sought to bypass tightening US export controls. Last year, China accounted for 40% of global semiconductor equipment purchases, but its share is projected to shrink significantly.
Analysts attribute the decline to a combination of overcapacity and the impact of US sanctions, which aim to limit China’s ability to develop advanced chips with potential military applications. Despite these restrictions, companies like SMIC and Huawei have continued to push forward, achieving technological breakthroughs by relying on more expensive and labour-intensive manufacturing processes.
China has made strides in producing mature-node chips and expanding its domestic semiconductor industry, with firms like Naura Technology Group gaining global market share. However, the country remains dependent on foreign suppliers for critical tools such as lithography machines, highlighting ongoing challenges in its push for self-sufficiency.
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Dario Amodei, CEO of AI firm Anthropic, has warned that the race to develop AI is moving faster than efforts to fully understand it. Speaking at an event in Paris, he stressed the need for deeper research into AI models, describing it as a race between expanding capabilities and improving transparency. ‘We can’t slow down development, but our understanding must match our ability to build,’ he said.
Amodei rejected the notion that AI safety measures hinder progress, arguing instead that they help refine and improve models. He pointed to earlier discussions at the UK’s Bletchley Summit, where risk assessment strategies were introduced, and insisted they had not slowed technological growth. ‘Better testing and measurement actually lead to better models,’ he said.
The Anthropic CEO also discussed the evolving AI market, including competition from Chinese firm DeepSeek, whose claims of dramatically lower training costs he dismissed as ‘not based on facts.’ Looking ahead, he hinted at upcoming improvements in AI reasoning, with a focus on creating more seamless transitions between different types of models. He remains optimistic, predicting that AI will drive innovation across industries, from healthcare to finance and energy.
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