Consumer Tech (Sep 21-25): Meta Launches Muse & Smart Glasses, US-China Ensure AI Remains "Under Human Control," & More

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife on a red carpet at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday, kicking off a three-day visit amid tensions over trade, artificial intelligence, and Taiwan.

Chinese President said that the U.S. and China, as leading artificial-intelligence powers, share a responsibility to ensure AI remains “under human control,” as President Donald Trump promoted what he now calls “super intelligence.”

Chinese authorities are reportedly probing the use of hardware from Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) in state-backed data centres.

President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and technology executives are reportedly set to meet Sept. 29 as Washington grapples with how to oversee rapidly advancing artificial intelligence while keeping the U.S. competitive.

Vice President JD Vance expressed his strong views against corporations replacing American workers with foreign labor through the H-1B visa program.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said Thursday that Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT) has patented technology that could let the retailer charge shoppers different prices for the same item based on what else is in their cart.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said artificial intelligence (AI) could begin making battlefield decisions as early as 2027, warning world leaders that increasingly autonomous weapons could outpace efforts to end existing wars.

Software & Semiconductors

• At its Snapdragon Summit, QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) introduced the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and higher-end Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 for premium Android smartphones.
• Alphabet Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) CEO Sundar Pichai announced that Google’s Project Suncatcher will conduct its first-ever test in space, with the company preparing to evaluate the performance of its AI chips, Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), in orbit.
• Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI) said that it has started shipping NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) Vera Rubin NVL72 racks with its Data Center Building Block Solutions and direct liquid cooling technology.
• Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang says the artificial intelligence infrastructure boom will eventually produce more computing capacity than the market needs, but he doesn’t expect that turning point for another two to three years.
• S&P Global sees Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) benefiting from strong hard-disk-drive demand, AI-related storage needs and improving pricing, which it expects to drive rapid revenue, margin and cash-flow growth through fiscal 2028.
• Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW), weighed in on discussions about slowing down AI development, indicating that it is a ploy by firms to gain regulatory "sympathy".
• Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has overtaken Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) to become the world’s seventh-largest public company by market capitalization, as excitement builds around its new AI agent, Muse.
• Meta unveiled a $1,299 VR device, camera-free Ray-Ban smart glasses and new AI agent capabilities at Meta Connect 2026.
• Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg launches personal artificial intelligence agent, Muse and say it will remain free for most users and unveiled a slate of new retail and productivity partnerships at the company’s Connect event.
• Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) announced an expanded agreement with Anthropic worth $11.6 billion in contractual commitments over seven years.
• Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) said Thursday it agreed to acquire King Environmental Services Ltd., expanding its fluid management and testing capabilities across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
• TD SYNNEX Corp (NYSE:SNX) stock fell sharply Thursday even after the company reported fiscal third-quarter 2026 results that beat Wall Street expectations and issued stronger-than-expected guidance.
• Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) will launch an experimental AI satellite as part of Project Suncatcher on Oct. 1, according to a report from the New York Times. Google’s latest artificial intelligence (AI) model, Gemini 4, is approaching its launch.
• QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) announced that it has renewed its global patent license agreement with Apple, effective April 1, 2027. The news comes as Qualcomm expands beyond smartphones into more areas to diversify.
• Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) expanded its Digital Assets Data Nexus platform to help regulated banks integrate digital money with existing payment and banking systems.
• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (NYSE:TSM) is reportedly planning to raise wafer foundry prices by 3% to 6% starting January 2027, with steeper increases for its most advanced manufacturing processes.
• IonQ Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) said it built and tested what it calls the industry’s first end-to-end, real-time quantum error-correction decoder running on a single standard CPU.

Entertainment, Retail & Smartphones

• Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is opening its seller platform to Anthropic‘s Claude, just days after blocking Muse, the shopping agent from Meta, from its retail site.
• Amazon is reportedly reaching out to its former employees, including those who were previously laid off, to fill vacant roles in its cloud-computing and AI sectors.
• BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB) reported fiscal second-quarter 2027 results Thursday, beating Wall Street expectations and raising its full-year outlook as QNX growth accelerated.
• Airbnb, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABNB) CEO Chesky said Wednesday at the Skift Global Forum that he is using AI to understand Airbnb’s operations better and reduce meetings.
• Walt Disney Co.’s (NYSE:DIS) Disney+ and Hulu subscribers in the U.S. face another round of price increases as Disney raises ad-free plans and several bundles and continues to push customers toward multi-service subscriptions.
• Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE:BABA) is expanding its cloud infrastructure across Europe, the Middle East and Asia as it increases investment in artificial intelligence.
• At Alibaba Cloud’s Apsara Conference, the company introduced the Zhenwu V900, which it describes as China’s most powerful AI chip.
• Paramount Skydance Corp.’s (NASDAQ:PSKY) $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) has cleared a major legal hurdle after the company reached a settlement with a coalition of U.S. states and the Writers Guild of America.

Airlines & Spacecrafts

• Elon Musk said SpaceXAI’s Colossus 2 could run more than 1.2 million Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) GB200 and GB300 processors by year-end if its latest expansion schedule holds.
• Elon Musk-led Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) has shared a new teaser for the upcoming Roadster high-performance EV, as well as announced a series of major updates for the Semi truck.
• Space Exploration Technologies has received unique access to U.S. Space Command’s highest-fidelity classified orbital-tracking data under a reported agreement with the Space Force, prompting competitors to question whether the arrangement could give its free Stargaze service an unfair market advantage.
• Space Exploration Technologies will deploy operational Starlink V3 satellites aboard Starship’s first orbital flight, now targeted for Sept. 28.
• Redwire Corp. (NYSE:RDW), Rocket Lab Corp. (NASDAQ:RKLB) and Firefly Aerospace Inc. (NASDAQ:FLY) have won spots on a Space Force contract vehicle worth up to $981 million. The award puts three of the most heavily traded space stocks in line for military test and training work through 2036.

AI, Bitcoin & Finance

• Cipher Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:CIFR) stock gained Friday after the company extended the contracted lease term for its Barber Lake data center in Texas and raised total contracted revenue at the site to more than $9 billion.
• ChatGPT parent OpenAI could preview GPT-6 Cyber within days as the company prepares a new cybersecurity product while facing scrutiny over its increasingly autonomous AI systems, according to a report.
• Japan’s SoftBank Group (OTC:SFTBY) is launching a $11.1 billion sale of dollar- and euro-denominated bonds.
• Elon Musk said artificial intelligence could dominate every field by 2028 at the latest, compressing a 2021 forecast from AI researcher François Chollet that science would become increasingly computational over the following 10 to 20 years.
• Anthropic and medical knowledge platform OpenEvidence announced a collaboration to bring free AI-powered clinical decision support to physicians across nearly 100 low- and middle-income countries.

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