Nvidia tops Apple, Elon Musk's SpaceX lifts off, Big AI in the hot seat

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Image for article titled Nvidia tops Apple, Elon Musk's SpaceX lifts off, and Big AI in the hot seat: Tech news roundup — Graphic: Images: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP, Ann Wang, Smith Collection/Gado, Apu Gomes

The tech world was full of drama this week. SpaceX’s Starship launched (and landed) successfully for the first time. Nvidia overtook Apple as the world’s second-most valuable company behind Microsoft — just before Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference next week, where it’s set to finally unveil long-awaited AI features for its products. Still, short sellers are betting that Nvidia’s stock price will fall back to earth. And Apple, in some ways, can count itself lucky for being late on AI, because that helped it avoid a new antitrust investigation from the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission.

Here’s more on Apple, Nvidia, Big AI’s new antitrust probe, and other tech news.

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Mark Zuckerberg’s security costs Meta $10 million. Here’s what Big Tech spends protecting CEOs

jensen huang, left, sundar pichai, center, and mark zuckerberg, right all laughing while speaking together — Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the U.S. Senate bipartisan Artificial Intelligence Insight Forum at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on September 13, 2023.

It’s no surprise some of the world’s top tech executives earn millions in compensation each year — but it’s not all cash and stock rewards.

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Nvidia and AMD announced new next-generation AI chips

Jensen Huang wearing a black leather jacket, talking and holding a motherboard — Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang presents the Nvidia Blackwell platform ahead of COMPUTEX in Taipei, Taiwan on June 2, 2024.

Nvidia unveiled its highly-anticipated artificial intelligence chip platform, Blackwell, in March, and already has its successors lined up.

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Amazon is expanding its pharmacy footprint

Amazon’s pharmacy business may be coming into its own as it expands its physical presence and eyes increased revenue from the new class of weight loss drugs.

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Elon Musk told Nvidia to send AI chips for Tesla to his other companies instead

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is also the owner of X, formerly Twitter, and founder of xAI.

For years, Tesla has invested heavily in artificial intelligence and devoted massive resources toward advancing driver assistance technology, humanoid robots, and data centers. But Elon Musk appears to be prioritizing his own private AI ventures over Tesla, according to a new report from CNBC.

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Apple is partnering with OpenAI to bake ChatGPT into iPhones, report says

iPhone15 sign in the back of an Apple Store can be seen behind a crowd of people entering the store's glass front — Apple Store on March 25, 2024 in Berlin, Germany.

Apple is going all-in on its artificial intelligence ambitions — and it’s apparently turning to the company that kicked off the generative-AI hype for help.

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Google and Microsoft are laying off hundreds from their Cloud units as the tech giants go all in on AI

Microsoft and Google are slashing jobs from their otherwise very successful Cloud divisions as the companies shift gears to focus on AI.

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Google’s second massive leak in a week shows it collected sensitive data from users

What do the voices of 1,000 children and secret Nintendo company announcements have in common? They were inadvertently collected by Google, along with tons of other sensitive users’ information between 2013 and 2018.

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Amazon’s self-driving car startup is moving into 2 new cities as regulators probe incidents

Zoox plans to start testing its autonomous vehicles in Austin, Texas, where rivals currently operate.

Amazon-owned Zoox, a self-driving vehicle startup, is preparing to test its cars on the streets of two new cities, marking its third expansion this year.

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Google’s privacy chief is leaving. He won’t be replaced

Google has laid off around 1,500 so far in 2024.

Google leaders overseeing privacy and competition are departing this year as the technology giant restructures its teams.

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Google taps Eli Lilly finance chief as its new CFO

After almost a year of searching, Google parent Alphabet has finally found a replacement for its chief financial officer position.

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A Palestinian former Meta engineer is suing the company for discrimination

A new lawsuit from a Palestinian-American former Meta engineer alleges that the company discriminated against and wrongfully terminated him, Reuters reports.

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Elon Musk’s SpaceX just launched the world’s most powerful rocket into space

The fourth time’s the charm, at least for SpaceX. Elon Musk’s aerospace company on Thursday morning sent its Starship spacecraft, a fully reusable megarocket designed to travel to the Moon and Mars, into orbit.

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Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is next week. Here’s what to expect

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks before the start of the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference at its headquarters on June 05, 2023 in Cupertino, California.

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, which begins next week, will allow the public to listen in as Tim Cook presents Apple’s latest and greatest product updates in his charming southern drawl.

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Big AI is finally on the antitrust hot seat. Here’s what that means

Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington.

Tech giants have been on an artificial intelligence spending spree, doling out billions of dollars to invest in, poach from, and gobble up smaller companies developing the world’s AI technology.

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Apple’s slow AI strategy just helped it avoid a major antitrust probe

Apple CEO Tim Cook delivers remarks during an Apple special event on September 12, 2023.

Apple’s relatively weak position in the AI space just became one of its strengths.

Nvidia tops Apple, Elon Musk's SpaceX lifts off, and Big AI in the hot seat: Tech news roundup

Plus, Apple is expected to announce a range of AI updates at its Worldwide Developers Conference