Tech Rundown: Microsoft gets hacked

Hello there,

Here’s today's tech rundown — everything you need to know from the world of tech in 3 minutes!

In today’s email:

• Microsoft gets hacked

• OpenAI changes its military policy

• Flexport nabs $260m 

3 Big Stories

Microsoft hacked: Microsoft recently discovered that Nobelium, the Russian hacker group behind the SolarWinds breach, accessed its senior leadership's email accounts. The breach happened late last year when the hackers snuck in through an old test account and managed to view confidential emails. This occurred shortly after the company announced plans to revamp its software security in response to recent Azure attacks (more)

Altman looking to build own chips: OpenAI’s Sam Altman is raising funds for a chip-making venture focused on AI semiconductors. In talks with SoftBank and G42 for potentially $10 billion, the goal is a global fab network, responding to the acute demand for AI accelerators highlighted by the shortage of Nvidia's GPUs (more)

Tech boosts market to new highs: On Friday, fueled by strong tech earnings and an assumed Fed cut, the stock market hit record highs. Tech stocks led the surge, with the S&P 500 climbing 1.2% to a new peak of 4,839. The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.7%, while the Dow Jones also soared, marking significant gains in a tech-driven rally (more)

More Tech News

OpenAI's Military Shift: OpenAI removes "military and warfare" ban from its terms, while also maintaining restrictions against using its tech for weapons development (more)

Figure's BMW Robots: Figure to introduce humanoid robots in BMW's US facilities (more)

Instability Again: Stability AI is under legal pressure again, as another ex-employee sues — this time for $300m (more)

Amazon AI Expands: Amazon's new AI allows product queries and creative interactions in its mobile app (more)​

ASU Adopts ChatGPT: Arizona State University teams up with OpenAI for ChatGPT in education and research (more)

VC Funding

Flexport is a logistic startup that (quite notably) had a rough 2023 after it burned through cash and fired its CEO. Despite these challenges, they just raised $260m from e-commerce giant Shopify (more)

ElevenLabs launched its AI text-to-speech product last year, and is already a unicorn. Raised $80m (more)

TEMO is aiming to build the lightest outboard motor in the world. Raised $6m (more)

DailyPay is an on-demand pay company helping employee’s gain financial control. Raised $175m (more)

INERATEC is building e-fuels to eventually replace fossil fuels for industries like aviation and shipping. Raised $129m (more)

Resalis Therapeutics is a biotech startup aiming to help with obesity. Raised $11m (more)

Exit Events

IPO: Kaspi.kz IPOd on the Nasdaq, raising $1b, but received a lukewarm market response on its debut (more)

Acquired: LiveRamp agreed to buy marketing data startup Habu for $200m, expanding its data integration capabilities (more)

Acquired: Synopsys confirmed its acquisition of engineering simulation software company ANSYS in a mega-deal worth $35b (more)

Bankruptcy: ALI Technologies, known for its Star Wars-inspired hoverbikes, filed for bankruptcy after years of financial struggles (more)

Chart of the Day

Can the tech rebound continue in 2024?

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