On GOOGLE MAPS, Lake Ontario now changes name at the border
GOOGLE MAPS now displays “Lake America” to users in the United States, “Lake Ontario” in Canada, and both names elsewhere in the world. GOOGLE says it is following the nomenclature of the US Geographic Names Information System, which was changed following an executive order by Donald Trump amid trade tensions with Ottawa.
OPENAI reaches $1 billion in annualised advertising revenue after 200 days
OPENAI says its advertising business has reached a $1 billion annualised revenue run rate, up from $100 million less than two months after launch. The figure represents a theoretical annual pace rather than revenue already collected over a full twelve-month period. Ads are now available in more than 40 countries and shown to users on the free and Go tiers, which account for the majority of ChatGPT’s one billion weekly users. As it moves towards a potential IPO, OPENAI is adding a fourth revenue engine alongside subscriptions, APIs and enterprise offerings.
CHATGPT enters the EU’s systemic digital services regime
The European Commission has designated CHATGPT as a “Very Large Online Search Engine”, while REDDIT and ROBLOX have been designated “Very Large Online Platforms”, after each surpassed 45 million monthly users in the European Union. The three services have until January 2027 to assess and mitigate systemic risks involving areas including illegal content, minors, fundamental rights, elections and public security.
NEXPERIA: Chinese court freezes up to $300 million in assets
A Chinese court has frozen stakes held by NEXPERIA BV in four local entities, representing assets worth up to $300 million. The decision gives its Chinese parent company WINGTECH new leverage in its attempt to regain control of the Dutch semiconductor manufacturer. The industrial dispute is increasingly shifting into the courts, with each side now seeking to secure assets located within its own jurisdiction.
SHEIN goes public in Hong Kong at a reduced $26 billion valuation
SHEIN raised $1.7 billion in its Hong Kong IPO, giving the company a market capitalisation of $26 billion, almost four times lower than its 2022 private valuation. The discount reflects slowing growth, the impact of tariffs and intensifying competition in ultra-fast fashion. The IPO gives SHEIN access to public markets, but above all marks the end of an era in which investors valued the company at close to $100 billion.
The Mac is emerging as an unexpected piece of AI infrastructure
According to The Information, OPENAI has reportedly purchased tens of thousands of Mac mini and Mac Studio machines for reinforcement-learning workloads, while ANTHROPIC is said to be renting APPLE hardware. Their unified-memory architecture is attracting developers looking to run models locally, to the point that NVIDIA now reportedly considers APPLE its main competitor in this segment.
Infostealers hijack CLAUDE sessions to consume users’ quotas
ANTHROPIC has logged some CLAUDE users out of their accounts after malware stole their session cookies, allowing attackers to access accounts without entering passwords or passing two-factor authentication. The company removed stored payment methods and is refunding charges identified as fraudulent. The incident was not caused by a compromise of CLAUDE itself: victims’ devices had been infected with general-purpose infostealers including Vidar, LummaC2, StealC, RedLine and Atomic Stealer.
INSTAGRAM will reduce the reach of undisclosed AI influencers
INSTAGRAM is replacing its optional “AI creator” label with the more explicit “AI-generated profile” designation for accounts featuring artificial personas. Profiles that fall into this category but fail to identify themselves may be excluded from recommendations to non-followers in Reels and Explore, with an appeals process available in cases of misclassification.
ELEKTA secures €100 million from the EIB for cancer treatment technologies
The European Investment Bank will provide up to €100 million to ELEKTA, covering half of a €200 million R&D programme to be carried out primarily in Sweden and the Netherlands between 2026 and 2029. The Swedish group will invest in radiotherapy, radiosurgery, brachytherapy and software designed to plan and automate cancer treatments.
LUPIN DENTAL raises €15 million to automate the dentist’s hand
Montpellier-based LUPIN DENTAL has closed a €15 million Series A, including €10 million from FYNVEUR, complemented by a loan from BPIFRANCE. Its robotic system turns tooth preparation before the placement of veneers into a digitally planned procedure that is then executed under the dentist’s supervision, with the ambition of encoding the expertise of highly skilled practitioners into software. Already in use in India and certified in the UK, the system is not yet authorised in the European Union or the United States, meaning the funding will support the regulatory push as much as industrialisation and commercial deployment.
