The day in tech.

German drone startup Quantum Systems raised $1.2 billion in a Series D round, reaching an approximate post-money valuation of $8 billion. Co-led by Blackstone and Airbus with participation from Noteus, Advent, Bond, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Balderton, HV Capital, and Elephant Lake Ventures, the funding expands manufacturing capacity for unmanned aerial systems deployed globally including Ukraine.

Starting January 2028, all new PlayStation titles will launch exclusively as digital downloads or codes. Sony cites an 80% shift to digital sales by fiscal year 2025 and faster internet speeds driving this change. Existing disc libraries remain unaffected while retailers sell only redemption keys.

Nvidia introduced a new optional financing vehicle allowing partners to trade tokens today in exchange for future cloud revenue cuts. This business model lets the company earn twice on silicon: once from hardware sales and again as an ongoing percentage of generated earnings. The approach aims to open compute access to startups unable to finance infrastructure themselves while Nvidia retains roughly 75 percent gross margins.

Meta Platforms Inc. is developing a new cloud infrastructure business that will allow developers and companies to rent access to its artificial intelligence computing power and models. This strategy aims to monetize spare capacity from the company's heavy investment in data centers, potentially competing with Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, CoreWeave, Nebius Group, and Anthropic.

Sam Altman proposes a public wealth-sharing arrangement where the government holds a minority stake in OpenAI and other major firms. This strategy aims to share AI economic upside with Americans while easing political pressure from the Trump administration regarding model oversight, national security concerns, and release restrictions.

The Court of Justice of the European Union dismissed Google's final appeal against a €4.1 billion antitrust fine, ending an eight-year legal fight. The penalty, originally €4.34 billion in 2018, was reduced by a lower court in 2022. The court ruled Google abused Android's dominance to promote its search and browser apps.

Henrico County manager John Vithoulkas ordered public sector employees to reduce electricity use after state-wide price hikes linked to 400-plus Virginia data centers. Schools must turn off lights and computers daily while closing blinds to lower air conditioning needs as the grid faces heavy demand from artificial intelligence infrastructure projects.

Microsoft established the Microsoft Frontier Company to accelerate customer AI adoption using six thousand engineers. The new unit deploys technical staff directly into client operations for building and running systems at scale. This firm receives two point five billion dollars in funding.

Palmer Luckey's Erebor Bank is in talks to raise money at an valuation of at least 8 billion dollars. This figure represents a significant increase from the previous assessment recorded as 4.35 billion dollars during 2025. The bank reported that its deposits grew substantially, rising from 1.1 billion dollars observed in March up to 4.05 billion dollars currently.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman proposes a US-led international forum to establish shared safety standards and provide impartial analysis of capabilities. He suggests giving the Trump administration a 5% stake in OpenAI, valued at $852 billion after March funding. The plan requires similar wealth-sharing agreements from competitors like Anthropic, Meta, and Google while distributing AI benefits globally.