NYT : Deep in China’s Mountains, a Nuclear Revival Takes Shape

Deep in China’s Mountains, a Nuclear Revival Takes Shape
Satellite imagery of secretive nuclear facilities reveals Beijing’s efforts to expand its arsenal, just as the last global guardrails on nuclear weapons vanish.


In the lush, misty valleys of southwest China, satellite imagery reveals the country’s accelerating nuclear buildup, a force designed for a new age of superpower rivalry.

One such valley is known as Zitong, in Sichuan Province, where engineers have been building new bunkers and ramparts. A new complex bristles with pipes, suggesting the facility handles highly hazardous materials.

Another valley is home to a double-fenced facility known as Pingtong, where experts believe China is making plutonium-packed cores of nuclear warheads. The main structure, dominated by a 360-foot-high ventilation stack, has been refurbished in recent years with new vents and heat dispersers. More construction is underway next to it.

Above the Pingtong facility entrance, a hallmark exhortation of China’s leader, Xi Jinping, appears in characters so large they are visible from space: “Stay true to the founding cause and always remember our mission.”


These are among several secretive nuclear-related sites in Sichuan Province that have expanded and undergone upgrades in recent years.

China’s buildup complicates efforts to revive global arms controls after the expiration of the final remaining nuclear arms treaty between the United States and Russia. Washington argues that any successor agreements must also bind China, but Beijing has shown no interest.

“The changes we see on the ground at these sites align with China’s broader goals of becoming a global superpower. Nuclear weapons are an integral part of that,” said Renny Babiarz, a geospatial intelligence expert who has analyzed satellite images and other visual evidence of the sites and shared his findings with The New York Times.

He likened each nuclear location across China to a piece of a mosaic that, seen as a whole, shows a pattern of rapid growth. “There’s been evolution at all of these sites, but broadly speaking, that change accelerated starting from 2019,” he said.


China’s nuclear expansion has been a growing source of tension with the United States. Thomas G. DiNanno, the State Department’s under secretary for arms control and international security, this month publicly accused China of secretly conducting “nuclear explosive tests” in contravention of a global moratorium. Beijing has rejected the claim as untrue, and experts have debated how strong the evidence is for Mr. DiNanno’s assertions.

China had more than 600 nuclear warheads by the end of 2024 and is on a track to have 1,000 by 2030, according to the Pentagon’s latest annual estimate. China’s stockpile is much smaller than the many thousands held by the United States and Russia, but its growth is still troublesome, said Matthew Sharp, a former State Department official who is now a senior fellow at the Center for Nuclear Security Policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“I think without a real dialogue on these topics, which we lack, it’s really hard to say where it’s going, and that, for me, is dangerous,” he said, “because now we’re forced to react and plan around the worst-case interpretation of a concerning trend line.”

The sites in Sichuan were built six decades ago as part of Mao Zedong’s “Third Front,” a project to shield China’s nuclear weapons production labs and plants from strikes by the United States or the Soviet Union.

Tens of thousands of scientists, engineers and workers labored in secret to carve into the mountainous interior what Danny B. Stillman, an American nuclear scientist who visited the area, later called, in a coauthored book, “an inland nuclear empire.”

When China’s tensions with Washington and Moscow subsided in the 1980s, many “Third Front” nuclear facilities closed or shrank, and often their scientists moved to a new weapons lab in the nearby city of Mianyang. Sites like Pingtong and Zitong continued operating, but change in the years that followed was piecemeal, reflecting China’s policy then of keeping a relatively small nuclear arsenal, said Dr. Babiarz.

That era of restraint faded from about seven years ago. China began rapidly building or upgrading many nuclear weapons facilities, and construction at the sites in Sichuan also accelerated, Dr. Babiarz said. The buildup includes a vast laser ignition lab in Mianyang that could be used to study nuclear warheads without detonating actual weapons.

The design of the Pingtong complex suggests that it is being used to make the pits of nuclear warheads — the metal core, usually containing plutonium — according to Dr. Babiarz. He noted that its architecture was similar to that of pit making facilities in other countries, including the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States.

In Zitong, the new bunkers and ramparts are likely being used to test “high explosives,” experts say, referring to the chemical compounds that detonate to create the conditions for a chain reaction in nuclear materials.

“You have a layer of high explosives and the shock wave at the same time implodes into the center. This needs blast tests to perfect them,” said Hui Zhang, a physicist who researches China’s nuclear programs at the Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University, who examined Dr. Babiarz’s findings.

The complex includes an oval area about the size of 10 basketball courts.

The precise objective of these upgrades remains a subject of debate. Dr. Zhang said satellite imagery alone offers limited information. “We don’t know how many warheads have been produced, but we just see the plant expansion,” he said.


Some of the recent changes may simply reflect upgrades for safety, said Dr. Zhang, the author of a new book, The Untold Story of China’s Nuclear Weapon Development and Testing. Chinese nuclear engineers may also need more facilities and test areas at Zitong to modify warhead designs for new weapons, such as submarine-launched missiles, he said.

One major concern for Washington is how this larger, more modern arsenal might change China’s behavior in a crisis, particularly over Taiwan.

China wants to be “in the position where they believe they’re largely immune from nuclear coercion by the United States,” said Michael S. Chase, a former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for China who is now a senior political scientist at RAND. “I think they probably judge that could come into play in a conventional conflict over Taiwan.”

>>> Week Papers Summary

FINANCIAL TIMES
-US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's last-minute cancellation of a meeting with European leaders regarding the Ukraine conflict has raised concerns about the United States' diminishing interest in collaborating with Europe to resolve the issue. Scheduled to meet with leaders from Germany, Poland, Finland, and the European Commission in Munich, Rubio was unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts, according to a US official. European officials criticized the cancellation, describing it as “insane” amid the Trump administration's trend of distancing itself from European allies while seeking to guide Ukraine towards an agreement with Russia to end the ongoing war. The absence of US representation rendered the meeting lacking in substance, per another European official. Despite this, Rubio met with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, discussing Ukraine as a primary focus, along with Russia negotiations and ongoing military support for Kiev. Other topics included NATO and Europe's involvement, where Rubio praised Germany's initiatives to reinforce the military alliance. Following Munich, Rubio is set to travel to Budapest for a meeting with Hungary’s leader.
-A widely held perspective suggests that organizations like the UN and its predecessor, the League of Nations, arose from dissatisfaction with the violent outcomes of 19th-century power politics, during which powerful blocs established spheres of influence based on their strategic interests, leading to numerous wars. In recognition of the escalating destructiveness of 20th-century conflicts, the liberal victors of the two world wars advocated for a new vision, establishing permanent global institutions where independent nation-states could convene as sovereign equals under mutually agreed international laws. This shift resulted in the formation of a vast array of intergovernmental agencies and organizations, which numbered over 7,000 by 2018, compared to fewer than 50 in 1908, alongside the rapid growth of multilateral norms, standards, and laws. Following the end of the cold war, the global dominance of this rules-based liberal order was celebrated; however, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago was met with resistance as it was perceived as a regression to imperialism and territorial expansion characteristic of earlier eras.
-Mark Suzman, chief executive of the Gates Foundation, expressed feeling "sullied" by the foundation's ties to Jeffrey Epstein, following concerns about the impact of Epstein's past interactions with the philanthropic organization and its chair, Bill Gates. During a town hall meeting on February 5, Suzman described communications between foundation staff and Epstein regarding a failed fundraising initiative as "deeply unsettling and depressing," emphasizing that such interactions "shouldn’t have happened." He acknowledged that Gates' relationship with Epstein, despite Gates being a primary funder of the foundation and not being accused of sexual abuse, complicates the foundation's mission. Bill Gates has publicly admitted to being "foolish" for engaging with Epstein and expressed regret, although a spokesperson for Gates denied allegations suggesting he sought to conceal a sexually transmitted disease and referred to such claims as "absolutely absurd and completely false." The issue of Epstein has been a recurring topic in discussions at the Gates Foundation, underscoring ongoing concerns about reputational damage.
-Donald Trump expressed that regime change in Iran would be "the best thing that could happen," amid increasing military tensions as he sent a second aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, to the Middle East. During a visit to Fort Bragg, he indicated a pessimistic view on negotiations with Tehran and highlighted the US military's escalating presence in the region. Trump's comments suggested a potential for conflict with Iran, as he downplayed the difficulty of identifying new leadership should the regime be overthrown, stating, "There are people." Earlier in the year, he had also deployed the USS Abraham Lincoln to the Middle East in response to Iran's crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
-US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is under increased pressure due to impending funding lapses for her agency, which oversees Donald Trump’s immigration policies. Congress has not reached a budget agreement for the Department of Homeland Security, risking a shutdown of critical services, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol. In addition to the funding crisis, Noem faces criticism for leadership issues within the agency, which has managed the president’s deportation initiatives amidst a recent surge of ICE agents in Minneapolis that resulted in the deaths of two US citizens. The Wall Street Journal also reported that Noem and her aide Corey Lewandowski are criticized for their self-promotional approach and the agency’s stringent immigration practices.
-The Pentagon has decided to add Alibaba and BYD to its list of companies linked to the Chinese military, coinciding with Donald Trump's upcoming meeting with Xi Jinping in Beijing. The updated "Chinese Military Companies" list was submitted to the Federal Register, but was unexpectedly removed at the Pentagon's request without explanation. A defense official indicated the new list would be published next week. This move follows concerns raised by US intelligence three months ago regarding Alibaba's potential threat to national security. Baidu, the search engine, will also be included on the list, which is mandated by Congress. Although US-China trade tensions have somewhat eased since the last Trump-Xi meeting, including such prominent Chinese firms risks escalating tensions ahead of their April summit. Additionally, reports suggest the Trump administration is preparing a substantial arms sales package for Taiwan, potentially amounting to $20B, following a record $11.1B deal announced in November. Craig Singleton, a US-China relations expert, described the inclusion of these companies as a form of "mutually assured disruption."
-Sports wagers on Kalshi, a prediction market start-up that gained popularity after the 2024 US presidential election, are estimated to generate annualized revenues of approximately $1.3B. This amount represents nearly 25% of DraftKings' total sportsbook revenue and highlights the increasing competition that prediction markets pose to traditional sports betting operators. An FT analysis indicated that Kalshi's trade volume and associated fees surged last autumn coinciding with the start of the American football season, with sports trading revenue now accounting for around 90% of all fees on the platform. These estimates are derived from Kalshi's publicly available fee structures and do not include reduced fees from the market makers program, which remains undisclosed. Additionally, Kalshi's monthly active users have skyrocketed from 600,000 at the start of 2025 to 5.1M as of February 9, per Sensor Tower data.
-Advertising has evolved with the early internet, initially aligning user incentives with service providers but facing criticism for potentially misaligning them. Recently, OpenAI has shifted its stance by testing advertisements on ChatGPT, acknowledging the need for commercial revenue in light of its high valuations. The company aims to generate billions in advertising revenue, with a minimum commitment of $200,000 from advertisers. This move positions OpenAI as a formidable player in the advertising sector, comparable to established platforms like Netflix, which reported $1.5B in ad revenues. The integration of ads into ChatGPT is set to open new marketing opportunities, with Dentsu predicting significant brand discovery through AI-generated summaries. Kate Scott-Dawkins from WPP Media noted a shift in advertising from traditional search engines to AI-assisted platforms, envisioning personalized marketing based on user data in ways not previously possible.
-France's largest companies are projected to endure a €7.5B reduction in profits this year due to the extension of a contentious profit levy, undermining President Emmanuel Macron's pro-business reputation. Recent earnings reports reveal that banks, luxury brands, and industrial firms are particularly affected by this renewed tax, which generated €8B in 2025. Initially intended as a temporary measure, the surcharge has been retained with minor adjustments to secure support from the centre-left socialist party for the recent budget approval. While supporters argue the levy is crucial for improving France's public finances and reducing the deficit to 5% of GDP, affected companies cautioned that it may curtail their investments in the country. For instance, Safran, the aerospace and defense firm, anticipates a tax payment of approximately €470M this year, up from €377M last year, with CEO Olivier Andries emphasizing that the surcharge has negated the competitiveness gains achieved since Macron's tenure began.
-The recent trade deal between the US and Taiwan harmonizes Washington's tariffs on Taiwanese exports with those of other major trading partners, but notably excludes the crucial semiconductor sector. The agreement follows Taiwan's commitment to invest $250B in US chip production in return for tariff exemptions. However, the ambiguity around this investment raises concerns about the future of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the largest chip manufacturer globally. TSMC's stakeholders are assessing how these developments will affect its investment strategies and manufacturing capabilities amidst the complexities of conducting business during Trump's presidency, particularly with major clients like Nvidia and Apple reliant on its chips. An insider noted that further details of the agreement may be withheld until after Trump's meeting with Xi Jinping, aimed at maintaining stable US-China relations. A key plan under consideration involves TSMC offering tariffs-free chip quotas to American clients in exchange for domestic production capacity enhancements.
-In Islamabad, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is using social media analysis to identify potential tax evaders, focusing on influencers and celebrities whose extravagant lifestyles contradict their modest tax filings. Led by Rashid Langrial, the FBR's "lifestyle monitoring cell" aims to increase tax revenue by revealing the financial discrepancies of individuals flaunting wealth online. This initiative, inspired by similar programs in Malaysia and South Africa, has already identified cases that could yield Rs2.5B ($9M) in revenue since its inception in September, employing about 30 intelligence officers for the task.
NEW YORK TIMES
-The Department of Homeland Security is intensifying its efforts to track Americans critical of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by issuing subpoenas to tech companies for user data linked to social media accounts. Google, Reddit, Discord, and Meta have received numerous requests for details such as names and contact information of accounts that have criticized ICE or revealed its agents' locations. Some companies have complied with these subpoenas, while others have informed users, allowing a brief window to challenge the requests legally.
-Protesters in Minnesota, particularly in Minneapolis and St. Paul, allege that federal agents targeted them by demonstrating knowledge of their home addresses. In particular, Daniel Woo, a 29-year-old sound designer opposed to the Trump administration's immigration policies, reported an incident where he tracked ICE agents in a vehicle. After confirming the identity of the agents, Woo followed them as they journeyed westward towards his neighborhood in Plymouth, where they ultimately parked in front of his house. He interpreted this act as intimidation, conveying a clear message: "We know where you live."
-On February 13, 2026, a federal judge, Richard G. Stearns, ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, a 19-year-old college freshman who was mistakenly deported to Honduras in November 2025. The judge had previously recommended that a visa be issued to Ms. Lopez, allowing her to continue her studies at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, while her immigration case was processed in court. Ms. Lopez was detained at Boston Logan International Airport on November 20, 2025, as she waited a flight to Houston for Thanksgiving. She was deported to Honduras two days later, despite a court order on November 21 that prohibited her deportation during the pending immigration proceedings.
-A few thousand ElliQs have been distributed to seniors in the US since 2023, marking the beginning of a unique companionship between octogenarians and robots. Developed by Israeli start-up Intuition Robotics, these AI-powered devices aim to alleviate loneliness among older adults, often provided through nonprofits and state health departments. Designed to be a friend and companion, ElliQ is described by its founder as "a robot with soul." An example includes Jan, an 80-year-old with a vast family network across the globe, who finds solace in ElliQ's company, as it engages her with conversation and activities, breaking the solitude she often experiences despite her family's efforts to stay connected.
-Longtime allies of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. health secretary, are initiating a campaign to repeal longstanding laws requiring vaccinations for children against diseases such as measles and polio prior to entering day care or kindergarten. A newly established coalition of vaccine activists aims to challenge these pivotal laws that have long safeguarded public health, although some exemptions exist. Leslie Manookian, a proponent of the Medical Freedom Act in Idaho, emphasized the coalition's intent to "burst the dam open" in states perceived as viable for change. This coalition, named the Medical Freedom Act Coalition, comprises over 15 nonprofit organizations pushing to eliminate what they regard as medical mandates, with a significant focus on vaccinations.
-Jeremy Carl, nominated by President Trump for a senior position at the State Department, faced challenges during his confirmation hearing regarding the concept of white identity, a topic he authored a book on. Despite his nerve-induced rambling about cultural distinctions between white and Black communities, he suggested that the decline of a dominant white culture is undermining the nation. This idea aligns with the New Right ideology, which Mr. Carl strongly supports. However, his clumsy explanation of "white erasure" and past remarks concerning race and Judaism have jeopardized his nomination. Following the hearing, Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee chairman John Curtis, a Republican from Utah, publicly expressed his opposition to Carl, arguing that he is unfit to represent U.S. interests in international discussions due to what Curtis deemed "insensitive remarks" about Jewish individuals.
-A New York City fundraising firm, Dynamic SRG, solicited contributions from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein for the campaigns of prominent Democratic politicians, including Kathy Hochul, Hakeem Jeffries, and Joe Crowley, years after his conviction in Florida. Despite reaching out to Epstein, there is no record of him contributing to these campaigns. Emails reveal that consultants provided Epstein with potential access to exclusive events and organizing roles in exchange for donations.
-Secretary of State Marco Rubio opened the second day of the Munich Security Conference with expectations for a friendly address from European leaders, who had spent the previous day discussing new visions for the trans-Atlantic alliance. This new vision emphasizes a reduced reliance on American defense and commerce while recognizing the shifting values between Europe and the United States. European leaders have previously viewed Rubio as a constructive partner in security discussions, contrasting with Vice President JD Vance's earlier criticisms of European political dynamics, particularly regarding far-right parties. The first day's discussions seemed to preemptively address potential critiques Rubio might present. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz initiated the conference with a call for redefined transatlantic relations, suggesting that the U.S. under Trump's administration has lost its global leadership credibility, asserting that America’s standing has been "challenged, and possibly squandered."
-At a January conference at Tsinghua University, influential executives and founders from China's artificial intelligence sector, including representatives from Tencent, Alibaba, and Zhipu AI, expressed optimism about their industry's future potential. However, they acknowledged a significant challenge: a shortage of superfast semiconductors. Chinese chip manufacturers are expected to produce only a small fraction of the advanced chips created by foreign companies this year. Huawei, a leader in China's chip industry, stated that it would take nearly two more years to develop chips that can match the performance of Nvidia's offerings in Silicon Valley. Xiaomeng Lu from Eurasia Group noted that even prominent players like Huawei face considerable hurdles. Despite these challenges related to production limitations and U.S. policies hampering the import of essential tools, China's AI industry continues to gain momentum.
NY POST
-Newly unsealed records about Jeffrey Epstein disclose that he maintained some of his underage trafficking victims in an apartment building located at 301 E. 66th St., just ten blocks from his Upper East Side townhouse. This 16-story condominium, featuring a 24-hour doorman, served as a logistical hub for his operations. The documents reveal that over a dozen apartments were used for Epstein's guests, including high-profile names such as former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, as well as underage girls trafficked through modeling connections.
Emails highlight disturbing living arrangements for these young girls, with certain apartments noted in Epstein's address book as “Apts. for models.” Accounted experiences from a victim detail the normalcy presented in these environments, with one recalling a small apartment furnished with everyday comforts, which was part of the grooming process that made her feel cared for before she was taken to his townhouse for exploitation. This revelation amplifies the nature of his operations, illustrating how the building functioned as a hidden extension of his notorious activities.
-Bitcoin experienced a significant drop last week, plummeting 16% to $70,008, its worst weekly decline in three years, and is now 45% below its all-time high from last October. Ether also fell 24%, down 59% from its peak. Many investors are increasingly betting against Bitcoin, with fears that falling below the $60,000 mark could trigger further turbulence. Analysts warn that the $60,000 to $74,000 range will be crucial for determining Bitcoin's immediate future, while others, like investor Michael Burry, predict potential for a "death spiral" as additional selling pressure mounts. Overall, the market sentiment remains bearish, with identified structural risks in Bitcoin-backed loans that could exacerbate losses.

TechCrunch : Sex toys maker Tenga says hacker stole customer information

Sex toys maker Tenga says hacker stole customer information

Sex toy maker Tenga notified customers of a data breach on Friday, according to an email obtained by TechCrunch.

In the message, the Japanese company said that “an unauthorized party gained access to the professional email account of one of our employees,” which gave the hacker access to the contents of the employee’s inbox. This access potentially allowed the hacker to see and steal customer names, email addresses, and historical email correspondence, “which may include order details or customer service inquiries.”

The hacker also sent spam emails to the hacked employee’s contacts, including customers, according to the email sent to customers.

Tenga did not respond to a request for comment and to provide more information, such as the total number of customers affected. The company says on its website that it has shipped over 162 million products worldwide.

Order details and customer service inquiries are likely to include intimate information that many customers probably wouldn’t want to disclose, given the nature of the products in question.

The company recommended customers change their passwords, even though it did not say that customers’ passwords were compromised, and to be vigilant of suspicious emails, especially coming from a specific employee, who appears to be the one whose account was breached.

Tenga said it took several measures after the breach, including resetting the hacked employee’s credentials and enabling “across our systems,” a basic security feature called multi-factor authentication, which prevents access to accounts with stolen passwords. The company did not respond when it was asked if there was no multi-factor on the email account prior to this breach.

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Tenga was founded in 2005 in Japan, and is headquartered in Tokyo. Tenga sells a variety of sex toys, mostly for men. It’s unclear if the breach affected customers outside of the United States, given that the email came explicitly from Tenga Store USA.

Tenga is the latest in a long list of sex toy makers, such as Lovense last year, and adult websites, such as Pornhub last year and SexPanther in 2020, that have been hacked.

CrunchBase : January Delivers Highest New Unicorn Count In More Than 3 Years

January Delivers Highest New Unicorn Count In More Than 3 Years

A total of 31 companies joined The Crunchbase Unicorn Board in January, the largest count of companies to join in a single month since June 2022. Collectively, those companies added $9.3 billion in funding and $58.5 billion in value to the board.

And underlining the pace at which some startups are now sprinting to billion-dollar-plus valuations, four of the new unicorns are less than a year old.

In exit news, 9-year-old fintech unicorn Brex was acquired by Capital One for $5.2 billion. That’s well below its January 2022 valuation of $12.3 billion but still marks a win for earlier investors seeking liquidity.

Of the 31 companies that joined the board, 23 are U.S.-based and two hail from Canada. Germany, France, Belgium, Israel, Japan and India each added one new unicorn to the board last month.

Among sectors, AI and AI infrastructure contributed the most new unicorns, totaling nine from those two areas. The next-leading sectors, with three new unicorns each, were manufacturing and security propelled by AI. AI was also a major contributor to new unicorns in the semiconductor, defense and autonomous driving sectors.

The largest funding last month for a unicorn company was $20 billion to Elon Musk’s xAI at an estimated value of $230 billion. Within a month of that funding, xAI in early February announced a merger with another Musk-led company, rocketmaker SpaceX.


11 exits
Brex’s acquisition by Capital One was the largest of the four M&A deals for unicorn-valued companies in January.

On the IPO side, seven companies went public, the most high-profile of which were MiniMax and Z.ai, both foundation AI model companies based in China.

AI
  • Humans&, an AI research lab focused on human collaboration, raised a $480 million seed funding led by Georges Harik and SV Angel
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    . The less than 1-year-old Redwood City, California-based company was valued at $4.5 billion.
  • Flapping Airplanes, an AI scientific research lab, raised a $180 million seed round led by Google Ventures, Index Ventures and Sequoia Capital. The less than 1-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.5 billion.
  • AI evaluation platform Arena raised a $150 million Series A led by Felicis Ventures
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    and UC Investments. The less than 1-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.7 billion.
  • Voice AI startup Deepgram raised a $143 million Series C led by France-based AVP. The 10-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.3 billion. As part of its announcement, Deepgram disclosed the acquisition of OfOne, a voice AI startup for restaurants and drive-thru ordering.
  • LiveKit, an infrastructure company for voice AI, raised a $100 million Series C led by Index Ventures. The 5-year-old San Jose, California-based company was valued at $1 billion.
AI infrastructure
  • Upscale AI, an AI networking company, raised a $200 million Series A led by Premji Invest, Tiger Global Management and Xora Innovation. The 1-year-old Santa Clara, California-based company was valued at $1 billion.
  • GPU marketplace PaleBlueDot AI raised a $150 million Series B led by B Capital. The 2-year-old Palo Alto, California-based company was valued at $1 billion.
  • WebAI, for secure AI run locally on devices, raised a Series A extension funding of an undisclosed sum. The 6-year-old Austin-based company was valued at $2.5 billion.
  • Cast AI, which manages a GPU marketplace, raised a Series C led by Pacific Alliance Ventures. The 6-year-old company was founded in Lithuania and is now headquartered in Miami. It was valued at $1 billion.

Manufacturing
  • Hadrian, a builder of factories for defense and the aerospace industry, raised a $131 million private equity funding led by T. Rowe Price. The 5-year-old Hawthorne, California-based company was valued at $1.6 billion.
  • Tulip Interfaces, a developer of no-code applications for manufacturing, raised a $120 million Series D led by Mitsubishi Electric. The 11-year-old Somerville, Massachusetts-based company was valued at $1.3 billion.
  • Montréal-based Vention, a manufacturing automation company utilizing modular robotics, raised a $90 million Series D led by Investissement Quebec. The 9-year-old company was valued at $1.2 billion.
Security
  • Upwind Security, provider of security for cloud services in real time to protect from hackers, raised a $250 million Series B led by Bessemer Venture Partners. The 3-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.5 billion.
  • Tel Aviv-based Torq, an AI security platform that integrates with existing security platforms to provide context on incidents, raised a $140 million Series D led by Merlin Ventures. The 6-year-old company was valued at $1.2 billion.
  • Belgium-based Aikido Security, a developer-oriented security platform, raised a $60 million Series B led by DST Global. The 3-year-old company was valued at $1 billion.
Semiconductor
Cryptocurrency
  • Stablecoin payments platform Rain raised a $250 million Series C led by Iconiq Capital. The 4-year-old New York-based company was valued at $2 billion.
  • Crypto payments network Mesh raised a $75 million Series C led by Dragonfly. The 5-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1 billion.
Healthcare
  • Maternity healthcare provider, Pomelo Care raised a $92 million Series C led by Stripes. The 4-year-old New York-based company with plans to expand healthcare services to women and children was valued at $1.7 billion.
  • Tandem, a co-ordination platform for medications across doctors, pharmacies and patients, raised a Series B led by Accel. The 3-year-old New York-based company was valued at $1 billion.
Defense
  • Paris-based Harmattan AI, an autonomous drone maker, raised a $200 million Series B led by aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation. The 2-year-old company was valued at $1.4 billion.
  • Defense Unicorns, a builder of secure software for the defense industry, raised a $136 million Series B led by Bain Capital Tech Opportunities. The 4-year-old Colorado-based company was valued at $1 billion.
Fintech
  • Tokyo-based brokerage infrastructure provider Alpaca raised a $150 million Series D led by Drive Capital. The 11-year-old company was valued at $1.2 billion.
  • India-based Juspay, a payment infrastructure provider, raised a $50 million Series D led by WestBridge Capital. The 13-year-old company was valued at $1.2 billion.
Fitness
  • Playlist, an owner of physical fitness brands and the parent of ClassPass, raised a $785 million private equity financing led by Affinity Partners. As part of the transaction it announced a merger with Egym. The San Luis Obispo, California-based company was valued at $7.5 billion.
Autonomous Driving
  • Toronto-based Waabi, a self-driving technology company, raised a $750 million Series C led by G2 Venture Partners and Khosla Ventures,valuing it at $3.8 billion. The 5-year-old company announced a partnership with Uber to support robotaxis.
Social media
  • Higgsfield, an AI-powered video generation platform for social media, raised an $80 million Series A extension funding which brings its Series A funding total to $130 million. The 3-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1.3 billion.
Education
  • Online tutoring platform Preply raised a $150 million Series D led by WestCap at a $1.2 billion valuation. The 14-year-old Brookline, Massachusetts-based company was founded by Ukrainians and maintains a team in Ukraine.
Compliance
Energy
  • Span, a developer of a residential energy storage device for electricity and electric vehicles, raised a $163 million funding. The 7-year-old San Francisco-based company was valued at $1 billion.

CrunchBase : The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Anthropic Leads In A Big Week

The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Anthropic Leads In A Big Week For Giant Rounds

This week featured a lot of funding deals with a lot of zeroes on the end. Generative AI powerhouse Anthropic, of course, boasted the most zeroes with its $30 billion Series G, the second-largest venture funding round of all time. Other big fundraisers included robotics startup Apptronik, fusion innovator Inertia Enterprises, and space tech unicorn Axiom Space.

1. Anthropic, $30B, Generative AI: Anthropic raised $30 billion in a massive Series G funding round that values the San Francisco-based generative AI company at $380 billion post-money. The financing marks the largest venture funding deal of 2026 so far and the second-largest of all time, per Crunchbase data. GIC and Coatue led the raise, which was also “co-led” by D.E. Shaw & Co. Ventures, Dragoneer Investment Group, Founders Fund, Iconiq Capital and MGX, according to the company.

2. Apptronik, $520M, humanoid robots: AI-powered robotics company Apptronik added $520 million in new financing in an extension of its $415 million Series A raise in February 2025, The investment brings the total round to over $935 million for the Austin-based company.

3. Inertia Enterprises, $450M, fusion energy: Livermore, California-based fusion power startup Inertia Enterprises announced that it secured $450 million in Series A funding. Bessemer Venture Partners led the round for the 2-year-old company, joined by Google Ventures, Threshold and other backers.

4. Axiom Space, $350M, space tech: Axiom Space, a startup that is building a successor to the International Space Station and developing spacesuits for a moon mission, closed on $350 million in new financing. Type One Ventures and Qatar Investment Authority led the round for the Houston-based company.

5. Runway, $315M, AI: Runway, an AI research and technology startup, picked up $315 million in a Series E round. General Atlantic led the financing, which set a $5.3 billion valuation for the New York-based company, up from $3.3 billion last April.

6. Talkiatry, $210M, mental health: Talkiatry, a provider of in-network psychiatry services to health systems and employers, picked up $210 million in Series D funding, led by Perceptive Advisors. The round brings total funding to date for the New York-based company to more than $400 million.

7. Solace Health, $130M, healthcare: Redwood City, California-based Solace Health, a digital platform that connects patients with expert healthcare advocates, raised $130 million in Series C funding. IVP led the financing, which set a valuation of over $1 billion for the 4-year-old company.

8. Garner Health, $118M, healthcare: Garner Health, a digital platform that helps patients find healthcare providers, raised $118 million in Series D financing. Kleiner Perkins led the round for the New York-based company.

9. (tied) Simile, $100M, AI simulation: Palo Alto, California-based Simile, a startup focused on applying AI to create simulated environments and simulation tools with AI agents, raised $100 million in Series A funding led by Index Ventures.

9. (tied) Loyal, $100M, dog longevity: Loyal, a startup focused on drugs to extend healthy lifespans in senior dogs, raised $100 million in Series C funding that it says will provide the capital required to move from late-stage development to market readiness. Venture fund Age1 led the financing for the 7-year-old, San Francisco-based company.

WSJ : Rubio Seeks to Reassure European Allies in Munich Speech

Rubio Seeks to Reassure European Allies in Munich Speech
Secretary of state addresses tensions over tariffs and Ukraine at annual trans-Atlantic gathering

  • Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended President Trump’s approach to Europe as “tough love” at the Munich Security Conference.
  • Rubio called the current global order a “foolish idea” and sought to reshape it, while skipping a high-level meeting on Ukraine support.
  • Some European officials said Rubio’s speech didn't allay all their concerns about the alliance.

MUNICH—Secretary of State Marco Rubio made an unapologetic defense for American might and pursuit of national interests Saturday while seeking to recast President Trump’s sharp disputes with Europe as a form of tough love with the U.S.’s closest allies.

In a speech at the Munich Security Conference, an annual trans-Atlantic gathering, Rubio said that the current global order, with its free-trade regimes and minimization of national identities, was a “foolish idea” that the U.S. and its allies must work to reshape.

“We want allies who can defend themselves so that no adversary will ever be tempted to test our collective strength,” Rubio said. “We do not want allies to rationalize the broken status quo rather than reckon with what is necessary to fix it. For we in America have no interest in being polite and orderly caretakers of the West’s managed decline.”

Rubio sought to address Trump’s approach to U.S. allies that has fueled mounting anxiety in Europe over trans-Atlantic ties, including tariffs and his overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin in his bid to end the war in Ukraine.

“This is why we Americans may sometimes come off as a little direct and urgent in our counsel,” Rubio said. “This is why President Trump demands seriousness and reciprocity from our friends here in Europe. The reason why, my friends, is because we care deeply.”

Rubio made no mention of Greenland after Trump’s repeated efforts to annex the Arctic island from close ally Denmark triggered a diplomatic crisis between the U.S. and Europe.

Rubio, the highest-ranking U.S. official at the conference, touched upon similar conservative themes Vice President JD Vance discussed in his address to the conference last year, including deriding mass migration as a threat to Western civilization. But he couched those remarks within a broader message: The U.S. would always remain Europe’s ally.

“Our destiny will always be intertwined with yours,” he said to applause from an audience of global national security elites. “We know that the fate of Europe will never be irrelevant to our own.”

Rubio’s remarks received a standing ovation from the audience of European dignitaries. Wolfgang Ischinger, a former senior German diplomat, immediately told Rubio on stage, “Mr. Secretary, I am not sure you heard the sigh of relief through this hall when we heard what I would interpret as a message of reassurance and partnership.”

Yet, several senior European officials said the speech didn’t allay all their concerns about the alliance, which has been deeply shaken by Trump’s efforts to acquire Greenland and the prospect of the U.S. brokering a peace deal in Ukraine that could favor Russia.

Rubio at the conference skipped a high-level meeting with European allies over future support for the war in Ukraine but held separate meetings on Ukraine with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and other senior European officials, including a brief meeting with the prime ministers of Denmark and Greenland. Rubio is also slated to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday.

Trump is steadily continuing his efforts to end the war in Ukraine, Rubio said. The president boasted before entering office that he could solve the war on “day one.” “We don’t know if the Russians are serious about ending the war, they say they are,” Rubio said. “But we’re going to continue to test it.”

“I don’t think anybody in this room would be against a negotiated settlement to this war, so long as the conditions are just and sustainable, and that’s what we aim to achieve,” Rubio added.

Rubio’s remarks provided a contrast to Vance’s keynote address last year that roiled relations between the Trump administration and Europe. The vice president accused European governments of suppressing free speech and the will of voters on migration before meeting with the leader of Germany’s far-right party, Alternative for Germany.

That speech confirmed what many European officials then feared: the U.S. under Trump would be a different kind of ally, one that would reduce its military presence on the continent, impose new tariffs and force Ukraine to make an unsavory peace deal with Russia. Trump’s quest to own Greenland—seizing it from longtime ally Denmark—reaffirmed concerns the U.S. was willing to risk severing trans-Atlantic ties, as did Washington’s insistence that its priority would be the Western Hemisphere.

But Rubio framed those pursuits as signs of a stronger U.S. acting in its own interests, not a heralding of “the end of the trans-Atlantic era.”

“Let it be known and clear to all that this is neither our goal nor our wish, because for us Americans, our home may be in the Western Hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe,” Rubio said.

WSJ : How Ozempic Brought a Napster Moment to Big Pharma

How Ozempic Brought a Napster Moment to Big Pharma
The free-for-all-era of weight-loss copycats is ending, but will likely morph into something else

Napster forever changed the music industry even though its business model was ultimately deemed illegal. Could a similar change be sweeping through America’s drug market?

The Trump administration this month took a hard-line stance against telehealth company Hims & Hers Health HIMS 3.16%increase; green up pointing triangle, with its health agency referring the telehealth firm to the Justice Department for potential federal violations. The rampant compounding of GLP-1 drugs—where pharmacies essentially sell knockoffs of the same active ingredients—isn’t going away quickly, but doing it on a massive scale now feels far more precarious. Novo Nordisk is suing Hims & Hers, alleging violations of the patents covering Ozempic and Wegovy.

Wall Street is taking notice: Hims & Hers shares have fallen nearly 30% since the Trump administration’s move. The bigger question now is how the market will evolve and what ripple effects this shift will have beyond GLP-1s.

The music industry offers a useful parallel. For decades, record labels reigned despite the occasional bootleg tape. Then Napster arrived with online file sharing. Suddenly, it felt as though all the world’s music was permanently free to anyone with an internet connection.

That model didn’t last. Lawsuits eventually drove Napster into bankruptcy, and the era of totally free music came to an end. But the genie was out of the bottle. Once consumers experienced instant, frictionless access to music, there was no going back. The result was a new generation of applications—first iTunes, then Spotify—where the content was paid for but the convenience remained.


Pharma now faces a similar transformation. An aggressive FDA crackdown may finally rein in mass GLP-1 compounding, but history suggests this is only a bridge to a different kind of disruption.

Drug companies sell most of their medicines through a web of middlemen—wholesalers, pharmacy-benefit managers, and insurers—that use inflated list prices and rebate schemes. The system is so opaque that even employers and the government struggle to see how prices are actually set. Over time, these middlemen have built vertically integrated structures designed to extract value from America’s uniquely convoluted drug-distribution model.

That system is being challenged, and the direct-to-consumer model for weight-loss drugs offers a glimpse of what could come next. GLP-1s are a special case: Patients are willing to pay cash and bypass insurance altogether. But the broader movement toward price transparency and patient empowerment is accelerating in different corners of healthcare. Examples include Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs, which offers drug prices at a transparent low price, and Thatch, which helps employees navigate insurance to choose better plans. Together, these sort of startups shift power back to consumers.

The Hims & Hers strategy of undercutting patented drugs arguably went too far and always seemed like a mirage, as far as strategy goes. Mass compounding was allowed only because of a drug shortage that was bound to be resolved—as it was last year. “We’re told this isn’t really mass compounding,” says Mike Doustdar, chief executive of Novo Nordisk, in an interview this past week. “I say: You have a Super Bowl ad; this is crazy. At some point, they have to ask themselves: Do they want to be Napster or Spotify?”

Ro, a competitor to Hims, points to a different path. Rather than leaning on legally murky, high-margin compounded drugs, Ro acts as a telehealth gateway for branded medications. Ro also sold compounded GLP-1s during the shortages, but both Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk now sell their drugs on the platform. As CEO Zach Reitano explains: “Too many problems in our healthcare system exist because the patient does not control the flow of money at the point of purchase,” he says. “When they do, the system rewires itself.”

For now, much of this change is still confined to GLP-1s, not the drugs most people buy with insurance. Even TrumpRx, an online drug portal launched just as regulators were cracking down on Hims & Hers, offers only a narrow set of medications at prices few people can realistically pay in cash. The bulk of the system still flows through large drug distributors and dominant pharmacy-benefit managers.

But that system is under pressure. Just this month, two major policy changes, long in the making, happened rather quietly: The Federal Trade Commission attempted to dismantle key pillars of the PBM rebate model in a recent settlement with Cigna’s Express Scripts, while Congress enacted legislation, as part of the recent government funding bill, that should reduce the relationship between drug prices and what PBMs earn. PBMs have long feared these moves and have thus been changing the way patients pay for drugs. The FTC settlement even forces Express Scripts to give members access to TrumpRx pricing.

Much more disruption is yet to come to healthcare, both from governments and businesses. As Reitano puts it, GLP-1s reveal what happens when the patient is also the customer.

Imagine if the rest of healthcare had to operate under the same rules.

FT : Amazon’s Andy Jassy bets on $200bn AI spending drive to revive AWS

Amazon’s Andy Jassy bets on $200bn AI spending drive to revive AWS
Shake-up follows fears tech giant missed early AI boom as Microsoft and Google challenge cloud business

Amazon is embarking on the largest capital spending programme in its history, seeking to regain momentum against AI rivals by expanding data centres, developing chips and building models.

The group is undergoing a strategic shake-up amid fears its cloud arm, AWS, is losing ground to competitors in securing corporate AI contracts, according to more than a dozen current and former senior employees.

Chief executive Andy Jassy last week announced Amazon’s capital expenditure would rise to $200bn this year, exceeding that of Google and Microsoft, with the outlay focused on computing infrastructure.

In December, he consolidated the group’s chip, model and advanced research teams under a single leadership structure, a move intended to align its AI plans. The Amazon chief has also cut costs, including jobs — eliminating some 30,000 of about 350,000 corporate roles.

“We have deep experience understanding demand signals in the AWS business and then turning that capacity into a strong return on invested capital,” Jassy said earlier this month. “We’re confident this will be the case here as well.”

AWS employees said the company’s moves also reflected internal concern that it had failed fully to capitalise on its lead in cloud computing, in particular by being slower than rivals to secure major contracts with AI providers after OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022.

“We were just not fully prepared for how fast things would unfold,” said one former senior AWS employee.

AWS remains the world’s largest cloud provider, generating nearly $130bn in sales last year and more than 60 per cent of Amazon’s overall profits. But analysts forecast that demand for AI-powered cloud services will lead Microsoft’s cloud business to overtake AWS over the next three years.

Amazon said other providers did not report “true cloud figures” and that this prevented an accurate comparison between different cloud businesses.



Roughly three-quarters of Amazon’s planned $200bn capital expenditure is allocated to AWS, according to public filings. Microsoft, Google and Oracle are on course to collectively spend nearly $400bn this year.

Jassy last week said Amazon was planning to add a meaningful amount of data centre capacity this year. In 2025, it added nearly 4 gigawatts of capacity — equivalent to the annual energy consumption of more than 3.2mn US homes. The group plans to double capacity by 2027.

Investors are uneasy about the scale of Amazon’s bet. Shares are down more than 20 per cent from their November peak amid concerns about how quickly the spending will translate into returns.

Employees said Amazon was under pressure to secure more deals with leading AI groups, among the main drivers of new cloud business. It has invested $8bn in Anthropic and is building vast data centres for the group. But its initial equity investment came after Google backed the start-up.

Meanwhile, as one of OpenAI’s earliest investors, Microsoft secured exclusive cloud computing contracts with the ChatGPT maker.

Only after Microsoft allowed OpenAI to undergo a corporate restructure did Amazon sign a $38bn cloud computing deal with the start-up last year. That agreement is dwarfed by OpenAI’s $250bn contract with Microsoft and its $300bn worth of deals with Oracle.


Amazon on Friday said: “It’s not accurate to infer that AWS was unable to secure major compute deals or was at a disadvantage when it comes to capacity planning. AWS continues to earn most of the big enterprise and government transitions to cloud.”

It has touted the uptake of the group’s Graviton and Trainium chips, used for conventional cloud computing and AI training respectively. Sales of these chips are on course to generate more than $10bn in combined annual revenue.

Amazon debuted its latest generation of Trainium chips in December, promising a significant increase in performance. It is holding talks to join OpenAI’s latest multibillion-dollar funding round in a move partly designed to ensure the ChatGPT maker adopts its semiconductors, said people familiar with the matter.

The chips should also help Amazon reduce its reliance on Nvidia’s products, helping to expand AWS’s profit margins from renting out data-centre capacity to corporate customers.

However, Google has attracted interest in its “tensor processing unit” (TPUs), using its custom chips to advance its Gemini AI models. The search giant sold Anthropic 1mn TPUs in a deal worth tens of billions of dollars.

Ben Bajarin of tech consultancy Creative Strategies questioned whether leading AI start-ups would adopt Amazon’s chips for their core products even if they proved cheaper to run than Nvidia.

“Amazon talks specifically about price performance but the problem is that some users need outright performance,” he said.

Amazon is also spending to advance its own “Nova” AI models, marketing them as a low-cost alternative to rival models.

Nova underperforms the most advanced models made by OpenAI, Google, Meta and Anthropic, according to independent benchmarks. Executives have been irked by some AWS employees describing Nova as “Amazon Basics”, a term used for the group’s generic household products, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Staff said the company was pushing its own AI tools such as developer platform Kiro, while setting a target for 80 per cent of developers to use AI for coding tasks at least once a week. But several company engineers said they preferred using Anthropic’s Claude over Nova for coding work, with one AWS engineer saying: “I didn’t even know we had a model.”

Amazon said its Nova models were used by “tens of thousands of AWS customers” and performed comparably to some leading models. It noted AI labs such as Anthropic were also deploying a significant number of its Trainium chips.

Jassy last year said: “We’re going to keep pushing to operate like the world’s largest start-up — customer-obsessed, inventive, fast-moving, lean, scrappy, and full of missionaries trying to build something better for customers.”

The pressure to regain ground in the AI race is weighing on employees. Some said they feared Amazon could slip closer to “day two” — a term used by founder Jeff Bezos in 2018 to describe a business in “stasis”, followed by an “excruciating, painful decline”.

“The culture has shifted, but so has the world around us,” said one senior AWS engineer of the company’s strategic pivot. “We’re going to have to prove our worth.”