Open-ocean data centres?

Open-ocean data centres?

Peter Thiel is leading a $140m investment in Panthalassa, which aims to power floating data centres, the Financial Times reported. The company’s technology will generate electricity from waves to run artificial intelligence (AI) servers housed in submerged, seawater-cooled structures. The funding will support a pilot manufacturing facility ahead of planned commercial deployment next year. “The future demands more compute than we can imagine,” said Thiel. “Extraterrestrial solutions are no longer science fiction. Panthalassa has opened the ocean frontier.”

Is Apple intensifying reshoring efforts?

The iPhone-maker [AAPL] has held early-stage talks with Intel [INTC] about manufacturing processors in the US, according to Bloomberg. Meanwhile, Apple executives recently visited an advanced chip plant that Samsung Electronics [SSNLF] is building in Texas. Any such partnership would represent an attempt to diversify beyond longstanding partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co [TSM]. 

New cloud AI platform just dropped

AI startup Zyphra has launched a cloud platform built on chips from Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] and infrastructure from TensorWave. It runs on AMD’s Instinct MI355X chips and supports open models including DeepSeek, Kimi and GLM, reflecting rising demand for alternatives to dominant AI chip providers, Seeking Alpha noted. The service integrates compute, software and model access to support AI inference, allowing users to deploy models without managing servers.

Tesla: Potential roadblock in EU

CEO Elon Musk has said he is confident Tesla [TSLA] will get EU approval for its Full Self-Driving system. However, regulators across several European countries have raised safety concerns, according to Reuters. Officials have flagged issues including the system’s tendency to speed, its performance in icy conditions and the potential for drivers to bypass safeguards restricting smartphone usage.

Was this merger on your bingo card for 2026?

eBay [EBAY] is reviewing an unsolicited $55.5bn takeover proposal from GameStop [GME], which has built a 5% stake in the firm and offered $125 per share in a cash-and-stock deal. eBay said it is assessing the value and feasibility of the offer, including GameStop’s ability to finance it. GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen said the deal would cut costs and boost earnings; he also said he would head the combined company. 

Palantir reports 85% Q1 revenue spike

Palantir Technologies [PLTR] reported Q1 2026 revenue growth of 85% year-on-year to $1.633bn, with US revenue up 104% and now 79% of total. The company highlighted accelerating enterprise adoption of “operational AI” alongside rapidly falling model costs, with executives noting GPT-4-equivalent performance is now roughly 1,000x cheaper. Palantir also raised full-year 2026 revenue guidance to $7.656bn, its largest increase to date.

The companies enabling robotic intelligence

The robotics industry has reached a critical juncture, shifting focus from mechanical motion to helping machines see, think and learn. In parallel to this, adoption of robotic systems is on the rise as organisations look to increase efficiency and reduce operational costs. CMC Aureon investigates three ‘picks and shovels’ robotics-enablers: Ambarella [AMBA], Ouster [OUST] and Teradyne [TER].