The day in tech.

The European Union is preparing to designate ChatGPT and Roblox as very large online platforms under the Digital Services Act. The label triggers the highest level of EU regulatory scrutiny for platforms with at least 45 million monthly users in the bloc.

Groundcover Inc., a cloud monitoring startup, raised $100 million in Series C funding led by One Peak. The round included Morgan Stanley, Zeev Ventures, Angular Ventures, Heavybit, and Jibe, and values the company at $500 million.

SpaceX secured a $1.6 billion U.S. Space Force order for 18 Falcon 9 launches to carry Pentagon satellites through 2027. Rivals United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin face ongoing technical challenges with their rockets.

Google launched Ask Google Pay, an opt-in conversational AI powered by Gemini, in India. The feature analyzes spending patterns, offers savings tips, and explains financial concepts in 10 Indian languages via text or voice. It uses transaction history and CIBIL data but keeps financial data within Google Pay.

Microsoft's Azure cloud business surpassed $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time in its recently-ended fiscal year. Cloud growth in the fiscal fourth quarter increased 43% year-over-year, contributing to overall quarterly revenue of $90 billion.

Nvidia launched the Open Secure AI Alliance with Microsoft, IBM, and others to develop open-source AI security tools after OpenAI's Hugging Face breach. The alliance excludes OpenAI and Anthropic. An open-weight model, GLM 5.2, helped contain the intrusion.

Binance.US CEO Steve Gregory said at the Rare Evo blockchain conference that the exchange will apply for a Designated Contract Market license with the CFTC in August to offer prediction markets, potentially competing with Kalshi and Polymarket.

OpenAI Group PBC launched ChatGPT for Academic Researchers, providing 100,000 scientists free access to advanced ChatGPT features. The program is part of a $250 million OpenAI initiative supporting scientific projects, which also includes other programs.

Samsung's mobile division posted its first-ever operating loss in Q2 2026, contributing to an 800 billion won ($544 million) loss in the DX division. Rising memory chip prices increased manufacturing costs, overwhelming solid Galaxy S26 and A series sales.

Meta lost $4.6 billion in Reality Labs this quarter, with total operating losses reaching $80 billion since 2020. CEO Mark Zuckerberg predicts billions will have personal AI agents within five years, as over 1 million businesses already use Meta's business agents on WhatsApp and Messenger.