↗️ Nvidia to invest $2 billion each in Lumentum, Coherent to bolster AI processors

Nvidia will invest $2 billion each in photonic product makers Lumentum and Coherent, as it looks to bolster its data center chips with technology that can better ‌cater to the growing need for faster AI processors. Shares of Lumentum were up 5%, while Coherent rose 9% in early trading after the announcement on Monday.

Nvidia has been seeking out new technology to help boost the speed of its chips, with photonics emerging as a popular choice for many chipmakers looking to cater to higher inference requirements. Monday's tie-ups include multibillion-dollar purchase commitments from Nvidia and future capacity and access ⁠rights to advanced laser and optical networking products from both Lumentum and Coherent.

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🆙 Starlink Mobile teases ‘5G speeds from space with 100x the data density’

Starlink posted on X that it is boasting about an incredible performance update on the way to mobile customers. The next-gen V2 satellites being launched by SpaceX would deliver “100x the data density of the current V1 generation satellites.”

The announcement will affect the Starlink Mobile service, which was previously branded as ‘Direct to Cell’ until recently. This service provides satellite-to-phone communications – data, voice, messaging – across 32 countries spanning 6 continents. When enough V2 satellites get into LEO position, these “cellphone towers in space” are going to boost the service quality significantly.

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🔥 CME says it captures over 75% of the crypto market cap with recent introduction of Cardano, Chainlink and Stellar futures

With the recent introduction of its Cardano, Chainlink, and Stellar token futures, CME Group says it now provides access to over 75% of the crypto market capitalization. The world's largest derivatives marketplace is now looking to expand to round-the-clock cryptocurrency futures and options trading.

Building on the 2025 introduction of Solana (SOL) and XRP futures and options, the launch of Cardano, Chainlink and Stellar futures on February 9 further expands traders’ cryptocurrency choices. Available in large and micro sizes, these contracts are cash-settled against their respective CME CF Reference Rate, catering to both institutional and individual investor requirements. Additionally, they offer high capital efficiency, requiring less upfront capital than an equivalent spot position.

Although the broader market still tracks major cryptocurrencies, the distinct risk-return profiles of these relatively smaller assets provide new opportunities for portfolio diversification. As investors increasingly focus on protocol-specific value, these futures will be essential for price discovery and risk management within a secure, centrally cleared environment.

#Stellar

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⚡️🇺🇳 First Lady Melania Trump addresses U.N. Security Council, championing peace through education

First Lady Melania Trump opened today’s United Nations (U.N.) Security Council meeting. This marked the first time a sitting First Lady presided over the Security Council as its members contemplated technology, education, peace, and security.

Melania Trump stressed the imperative of respecting knowledge to foster durable peace. The American First Lady challenged the U.N. Security Council members to pledge to safeguard learning to build a future generation of leaders who embrace peace through education.

“Enduring peace will be achieved when knowledge and understanding are fully valued within all societies. Now is the time for our generation to elevate our children above ideology through access to wisdom,” - explained Mrs. Trump.

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❗️US State Department urges Americans to immediately leave over a dozen Mideast nations, including Israel

The US Department of State calls on Americans to immediately depart more than a dozen countries in the Middle East, including Israel.

Americans are urged to depart using commercial means from Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen, according to Mora Namdar, the State Department’s assistant secretary for consular affairs.

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💻 US scientists discover new silicon qubit that could power future quantum chips

A research team at the University of California, Santa Barbara in the US have identified a robust new qubit in silicon, dubbed the CN center, which could open the door to scalable silicon-based quantum processors and photonic chips.

Named the CN center, the qubit consists of a carbon-nitrogen defect built directly into silicon. Unlike the T center, this defect does not contain hydrogen and will, therefore, be more robust and easier to realize in actual devices. It represents an important step towards mass-producible, telecom-ready quantum devices that can be made with the same materials and fabrication tools as modern computer chips.

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💸🇪🇸 Amazon to invest additional $21 billion in Spain for data centres and AI

Amazon said it would invest an additional 18 billion euros ($21 billion) in Spain to expand its data centres and boost AI innovation, bringing its total investment in the country to 33.7 billion euros. David Zapolsky, Amazon's chief global affairs and legal officer, said the investment would support up to 30,000 jobs until 2035.

"With this investment, we make Spain the AI epicentre of our operations in Europe," he said.

Last year, Amazon announced that its cloud computing unit AWS would invest 15.7 billion euros in data centres in Spain's northeastern Aragon region, which would support the creation of an estimated average of 17,500 jobs per year at local companies through 2033.

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🇧🇷 China's Huawei and UK's Aggreko to develop storage system project in Brazil's Amazon

China's Huawei will sell batteries to British business Aggreko for a renewable energy project in Brazil's Amazon region, in what is expected to become the country's largest-ever energy storage system. Huawei's batteries will run alongside solar plants set up in microgrids across Brazil's Amazonas state, in order to diversify Aggreko's power supply in the region away from polluting thermal plants.

"It's an extremely disruptive project, the largest microgrid project currently in the Americas," Barbara Pizzolato, off-grid director at Huawei in Brazil.

Aggreko's project will cost about 850 million reais ($165.55 million) and take up to three years for full implementation, with the first plants coming online between 2027 and 2028. It's expected that the microgrids will supply energy to communities in 24 locations in Amazonas state, including in large cities such as Tefe, home to about 75,000 people.

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🔬 FDA-approved seizure drug may stop Alzheimer’s before it starts

Scientists at Northwestern University report that they have identified the location and timing of toxic protein buildup in Alzheimer’s patients. The team also found that an inexpensive drug already approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can interrupt the process before the damage begins.

Amyloid-beta 42, known as particularly harmful fragment, accumulates inside synaptic vesicles, the small sacs neurons use to release chemical signals and communicate with one another. When the scientists treated animals and human neurons with levetiracetam, a widely prescribed anti-seizure medication, the drug blocked the formation of amyloid-beta 42. By preventing production of the peptide, levetiracetam stopped the chain of events that leads to amyloid plaque buildup.

However, people at high risk for Alzheimer’s might need to begin taking levetiracetam at early stages and this drug is cleared from the body relatively quickly. Now the scientists are now working to develop improved versions that would remain active longer and more precisely target the mechanism that blocks the formation of amyloid plaques.

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↗️ AI coding startup Cursor hits $2 billion annual sales rate

Cursor’s annualized revenue topped $2 billion in February, a figure that underscores the wide popularity of the AI coding assistant. About 60% of the revenue is coming from corporate customers.

At less than 5 years old, Cursor has become one of the fastest-growing startups of all time. Its product is now ingrained in the daily routine of software programmers at businesses ranging from tech companies like OpenAI to consumer brands such as Instacart, Spotify and Uber to organizations not generally associated with software, like AB InBev’s Budweiser beer brand.

Cursor was valued at $29.3 billion in November in a funding round, making it one of the most valuable AI startups in the US. The software has helped introduce a new style of programming known as vibe coding, where developers can create complicated software using relatively simple prompts, letting the AI do most of the work.

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🆕 AI data centers may not need constant peak power, study finds

The trial involving National Grid Plc., Nvidia Corp., Emerald AI and EPRI indicates AI data centers can quickly adjust their consumption when asked. At a London site, operators cut electricity use by roughly a third within about a minute of receiving a signal from the grid, without disrupting workloads. In one live test, an AI facility reduced demand by 10% for 10 hours.

Data centers may not require perfectly steady supply. Instead of acting as rigid, always-on loads, data centers could respond to grid conditions, easing demand during system stress or absorbing surplus renewable power. If operators agree to curb usage at peak times, networks may not have to be built to meet their theoretical maximum demand continuously. 🤔

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🧑‍⚖️ Washington state bill would ban employers from forcibly microchipping workers

The Washington State Legislature website describes House Bill 2303 as a law that prohibits employers from microchipping employees. Introduced earlier in the year by Dem. Reps. Brianna Thomas and Lisa Parshley, HB 2303 explicitly states that businesses “may not request, require, or coerce any employee to have a microchip implanted in the employee for any reason.”

The bill has officially passed through the House and a Senate committee with bipartisan support, and is now on its way to becoming a law. While there aren’t any known instances of the scenario (so far), a pair of lawmakers in Washington state hope to ensure it stays that way. HB 2303 currently states hypothetical corporate violators will receive a minimum fine of $10,000 for the first offense, followed by $20,000 charges for each additional infraction.

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🤖 US scientists build first rewritable DNA hard drive for molecular data storage

Researchers at the University of Missouri in Columbia have created a storage system that enables information written into DNA to be edited, therefore transforming it from a one-time storage medium into a rewritable digital hard drive.

DNA storage converts the bits into sequences of letters, including A, C, G, and T, the four nucleotide bases that form the genetic code. Until now, DNA storage has been permanent - the information could not be edited or reused, which limited it mainly to long-term archiving. To address the limitation, the team developed a method that allows DNA-stored data to be erased and overwritten repeatedly. This is crucial for storage systems meant for everyday use.

DNA can act like a modern hard drive, and keep its exceptional storage density and long lifespan. Also it stores information in three dimensions rather than on flat chips offering added protection against hackers. The long-term goal is to miniaturize the platform to a compact, USB-sized format.

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💻 Apple launches new MacBooks with M5 chips, bigger base storage

Apple on Tuesday unveiled updated MacBook Air ‌and MacBook Pro models, featuring its latest M5-series chips and bigger base storage. The update includes a new MacBook Air powered by Apple's latest M5 chip and higher-end MacBook Pro models equipped with the new M5 Pro and M5 Max processors, ⁠which the company says deliver significant gains in performance and on-device AI capabilities.

The 13-inch MacBook Air starts at $1,099 and now comes with 512 gigabytes of storage as standard, double the base storage of the previous generation. The 14-inch MacBook Pro models powered by the M5 Pro chip start at $2,199 and now come with 1 terabyte of storage as standard, up from 512GB in many earlier base configurations.

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⚡️🇺🇸U.S. President Trump criticizes Banks for undermining 'Genius Act'

U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed strong disapproval of banks, accusing them of threatening and undermining the 'Genius Act.' Trump emphasized that such actions are unacceptable and pose a significant challenge to the implementation of the act.

The 'Genius Act' is the first piece of crypto legislation passed in the U.S. to give a roadmap for stablecoin issuers. Also Trump emphasized the importance of safeguarding the crypto industry for the benefit of Americans. He highlighted the need to protect this emerging sector from potential undermining by financial institutions.

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🤝 Keysight, Qualcomm partner on RF digital twins for 5G, 6G networks

Keysight Technologies Inc. and Qualcomm Technologies Inc. announced a collaboration to develop high-precision radio frequency digital twins for massive multiple-input multiple-output development in 5G-Advanced and emerging 6G networks, according to a press release statement.

The companies will demonstrate the technology at Mobile World Congress 2026 at Keysight’s booth in Hall 5. The demonstration will show a photorealistic RF digital twin of Qualcomm Technologies’ massive MIMO prototype network on its San Diego campus, created using Keysight’s Channel Studio RaySim and Qualcomm Technologies’ massive MIMO algorithms.

Realistic RF digital twins are essential for developing and validating advanced beamforming and AI-based optimization techniques. The collaboration aims to help chipset, device and network equipment manufacturers predict and optimize massive MIMO performance prior to deployment.

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🆕 Diagnostics startup Droplet Biosciences partners with Nvidia to speed cancer testing

Diagnostics firm Droplet Biosciences said that it is collaborating with Nvidia to use the chipmaker's AI infrastructure to speed up post-surgery ‌cancer test results. The company has been using Nvidia Parabricks, a GPU-accelerated software suite, to speed up genomic data analysis for DNA sequencing.

Droplet said its method can detect residual disease in 24 hours by analyzing lymphatic fluid collected post surgery, compared to the four to six weeks it typically takes for tumor ⁠remnants to appear in blood-based tests.

"By leveraging NVIDIA Parabricks' acceleration, we've been able to compress some of our most computationally intensive steps from more than a day down to just a few hours," said Droplet's chief scientific officer, Wendy Winckler in a statement.

Faster turnaround allows patients to get the results while still in the hospital, while avoiding extra visits or long waits for traditional blood tests.

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⚡️US and Ecuadorian forces have launched joint operations to combat drug trafficking

Southern Command, which encompasses 31 countries through South and Central America and the Caribbean, said in a statement on X that the “decisive action” was aimed at combating illicit drug trafficking. The Ecuador defense ministry said details of the offensive operations were classified.

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🇨🇦🇮🇳 Canada, India strike $1.9 billion uranium supply agreement as they firm ties

Canada and India struck a new energy partnership, including a deal worth 2.6 billion Canadian dollars (US$1.91 billion), for Canadian firm Cameco to supply uranium to India for nuclear energy from 2027 to 2035.

A new Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the two countries will be concluded this year, which aims to double two-way trade to C$70 billion by 2030. There are other agreements signed with India were to boost cooperation on critical minerals and technology. 🤝

"Canada and India have immense strengths and growing ambitions in the technology sector, particularly in AI, quantum, and aerospace," - the statement said.

#BRICS

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