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Stephen Van Tran
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The tech industry continues its rapid evolution with unprecedented acquisition offers, groundbreaking hardware announcements, and AI model releases that promise to reshape multiple sectors. Today’s digest covers major developments from Perplexity’s audacious Chrome bid to Apple’s ultra-thin iPhone design and Nvidia’s push into physical AI.

Perplexity Makes Unsolicited $34.5B Offer for Chrome

AI search engine Perplexity has made an unsolicited $34.5B cash offer to acquire Google’s Chrome browser, pledging to keep Chromium open source and invest $3 billion into the project. The bid, which far exceeds Perplexity’s $1.5 billion total funding and $18 billion valuation, comes amid DOJ efforts to force Google to divest Chrome following a monopoly ruling. The offer follows Perplexity’s recent launch of its own browser, Comet, exclusively for Max subscribers at $200 per month.

Apple Unveils iPhone 17 as “Thinnest iPhone Ever”

Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 17 series on September 9, featuring an ultra-thin iPhone Air model at just 5.5mm thickness that could replace the Plus variant. The lineup includes larger displays, improved cameras, and new colors, with predicted pricing starting at $800 for the base model and up to $1,250 for the Pro Max. Other announcements may include Apple Watch Series 11 with blood pressure monitoring and AirPods Pro 3 featuring the new H3 chip.

Nvidia Launches Cosmos AI Models for Robotics

Nvidia has introduced Cosmos Reason, a 7B-parameter vision-language model enabling robots to “reason” with memory and physics understanding for planning and video analytics tasks. The release includes Cosmos Transfer-2 for synthetic data generation, neural reconstruction libraries for 3D simulation, and new robotics infrastructure featuring the RTX Pro Blackwell Server. This marks Nvidia’s strategic push to expand AI GPU applications beyond data centers into physical robotics and automation.

Sam Altman is reportedly co-founding Merge Labs, a brain-computer interface startup valued at approximately $850 million, potentially backed by OpenAI Ventures. The company would compete directly with Elon Musk’s Neuralink, which is currently conducting human trials for brain implants that enable paralyzed patients to control devices. Merge Labs is working with Alex Blania of Tools for Humanity, linking Altman’s vision of “The Merge” with next-generation human-AI integration.

Anthropic Offers Claude to US Government for $1

Anthropic is offering its Claude AI models to all three branches of the U.S. government for $1 per year, expanding on OpenAI’s earlier offer limited to the executive branch. The deal includes Claude for Enterprise and Government with FedRAMP High certification for handling sensitive unclassified data, accessible via AWS, Google Cloud, and Palantir. Anthropic already works with agencies including Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the D.C. Department of Health.

Australian Court Rules Against Apple and Google App Store Practices

The Federal Court of Australia has found Apple and Google engaged in anti-competitive conduct in their app stores, partially siding with Epic Games in its lawsuit. While rejecting claims of “unconscionable conduct,” the ruling could pave the way for Fortnite and the Epic Games Store to return to Australian markets. Both companies defended their practices as secure and user-friendly, though the decision adds to mounting regulatory pressure on app store policies globally.

China Urges Firms to Avoid Nvidia H20 Chips

Chinese authorities are discouraging local companies from using Nvidia’s H20 chips, demanding firms justify orders over domestic alternatives amid concerns about potential hardware security issues. Officials worry the processors could have location-tracking and remote shutdown capabilities, claims that Nvidia has strenuously denied. The push also targets AMD’s MI308 accelerators as part of China’s broader effort to develop homegrown semiconductor capabilities.

Threads Surpasses 400 Million Monthly Active Users

Two years after launch, Meta’s Threads has reached over 400 million monthly active users, adding 50 million in the last quarter alone. Threads is closing the gap with X in daily mobile users, reaching 115.1 million on iOS and Android in June 2025, up 127.8% year-over-year, while X declined to 132 million. Despite mobile growth, X maintains leadership in daily web visits as Threads continues expanding features including DMs and fediverse integration.

Today’s developments underscore the tech industry’s continued consolidation efforts, hardware innovation push, and the expanding role of AI across multiple domains. From audacious acquisition attempts to government AI deployments and social media platform battles, the landscape continues to evolve at breakneck speed.