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Stephen Van Tran
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The venture capital and tech world saw major funding rounds and strategic shifts today, with Anthropic securing a massive $13 billion Series F at a $183 billion valuation, while Tesla unveiled its fourth Master Plan centered on artificial intelligence and robotics. Meanwhile, OpenAI made a strategic acquisition and implemented new safety measures following recent controversies.

Anthropic Raises $13B at Record $183B Valuation

Anthropic raised $13 billion in a Series F at a $183 billion valuation, co-led by Iconiq, Fidelity, and Lightspeed. The round included participation from BlackRock, Blackstone, Qatar Investment Authority, Altimeter, Coatue, and Insight Partners. This massive funding round positions Anthropic as one of the most valuable AI companies globally, providing significant resources to compete with OpenAI and Google in the AI race.

Tesla Unveils AI-Focused Master Plan Part 4

Tesla’s Master Plan Part 4 outlines a vision for “sustainable abundance” by integrating artificial intelligence with the physical world. The company’s Optimus humanoid robot is central to the strategy, intended to take over monotonous and dangerous tasks. However, the plan offers few tangible details on production scaling or timeline for the Robotaxi service, leaving investors seeking more concrete implementation roadmaps.

OpenAI Acquires Statsig for $1.1B and Adds Safety Features

OpenAI is acquiring product testing startup Statsig in an all-stock deal valued at $1.1 billion under its $300B valuation. Founder Vijaye Raji becomes CTO of Applications, bringing Statsig’s experimentation platform in-house. Additionally, OpenAI will begin routing sensitive conversations to reasoning models like GPT-5 and introduce parental controls within a month, following tragic cases including a teen suicide.

China Launches State-Backed Brain Chip Initiative

China unveiled a five-year blueprint to build a globally competitive brain-computer interface (BCI) industry, aiming for clinical use by 2027 and domestic champions by 2030. The plan integrates regulation, R&D, and industrial policy from the start, prioritizing implantable chips and real-time neural decoding. With strong state backing, China seeks to leapfrog the US and compete directly with companies like Neuralink.

Google Denies Gmail Security Breach Reports

Google officially debunked inaccurate reports of a major security issue affecting all 2.5 billion Gmail users, stating claims about an emergency warning are entirely false. The erroneous claims appear to be a misinterpretation of an older phishing attack that targeted a Salesforce instance. Google reassured users that its protections continue to block over 99.9% of malware attempts.

Apple Mandates Supplier Automation Investment

Apple is now requiring suppliers to invest their own money into factory automation and robotics, making it a condition for securing future iPhone contracts. This push aims to reduce labor costs, ensure consistent manufacturing quality globally, and help Apple diversify its supply chain away from China. The requirement could potentially open the door to making iPhones in the US.

Federal Court Upholds Google-Apple Search Deal

A federal judge ruled Google can continue paying Apple $20 billion+ annually to remain the default search engine in Safari, rejecting calls to block such deals. Judge Amit Mehta said banning payments would cause “crippling” harm to distribution partners. Mozilla also defended its Google partnership, saying Firefox might not survive without it, though Google must share some search data with rivals.

Today’s developments highlight the massive capital flows into AI infrastructure, with Anthropic’s record raise and OpenAI’s billion-dollar acquisition demonstrating investor confidence despite market volatility. Meanwhile, geopolitical competition intensifies as China accelerates its brain-computer interface program to challenge Western tech dominance.