Nvidia invests $5B in Intel | China drops Google probe during US trade talks' | Taliban bans Afghan fiber internet
Plus, India turns Google’s Nano Banana into viral retro portraits
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The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest focuses on the topics we work on, including cybersecurity, critical technologies, foreign interference & disinformation.
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Nvidia invest $5 billion in Intel, throwing its heft behind the struggling U.S. chipmaker just weeks after the White House engineered an extraordinary deal for the federal government to take a massive stake in the company. Nikkei Asia
China has decided to end an antitrust investigation into the dominance of Google’s Android in the world’s largest smartphone arena, the Financial Times reported, citing people briefed on the move. Bloomberg
The Taliban’s supreme leader has ordered the shutdown of fiber-optic internet across five northern Afghan provinces, a move critics say will deepen the country’s isolation, damage its economy and further curtail women’s access to education. The Record by Recorded Future
Australia
Atlassian makes $1.5bn bet on AI and productivity, snapping up Utah tech firm
The Australian
Jared Lynch
Atlassian has made its biggest acquisition, snapping up Utah-based “developer intelligence” firm DX for $US1bn as it makes a bold bet on turbocharging productivity. The company announced late on Thursday night that the deal will be made in cash and restricted stock.
China
China drops Google probe during US trade talks
Bloomberg
Abhishek Vishnoi
China has decided to end an antitrust investigation into the dominance of Google’s Android in the world’s largest smartphone arena, the Financial Times reported, citing people briefed on the move. The State Administration for Market Regulation is dropping the probe just as Beijing and Washington are engaged in delicate negotiations over trade, the FT reported.
Huawei unveils AI chip roadmap to challenge Nvidia’s lead
Bloomberg
Huawei Technologies Co. unveiled new technology from memory chips to AI accelerators Thursday, outlining publicly for the first time its multiyear plan to challenge Nvidia Corp.’s dominance in a growing market. The highlight of the company’s presentation on Thursday were new SuperPod cluster designs that will allow Huawei to link as many as 15,488 of its Ascend neural processing units for artificial intelligence and operate them as a coherent system, rotating chairman Eric Xu said at the event.
China's Didi to expand food delivery services in Brazil
Nikkei Asia
Hirofumi Yamanaka
Chinese ride-hailing leader Didi Chuxing will double its investment in Brazil and expand services in Latin America as competition intensifies back home. Didi will invest 2 billion reais in the group's Brazilian food delivery operations by June 2026 under the new plans.
Shein opens its supply network to fashion brands to boost growth
Bloomberg
Shein Group Ltd has begun offering other fashion brands access to its apparel manufacturing network in China as a service, people familiar with the matter said, as it seeks new revenue streams amid pressure on its retail business from US tariffs.
China's DeepSeek says its hit AI model cost just $294,000 to train
Reuters
Eduardo Baptista
Chinese AI developer DeepSeek said it spent $294,000 on training its R1 model, much lower than figures reported for U.S. rivals, in a paper that is likely to reignite debate over Beijing's place in the race to develop artificial intelligence. The rare update from the Hangzhou-based company - the first estimate it has released of R1's training costs - appeared in a peer-reviewed article in the academic journal Nature published on Wednesday.
China’s flying car start-ups take their case to the skies
Financial Times
William Langley and Gloria Li
The white egg-shaped drone started with a flutter and then a whirr as it lifted its sole passenger about 20 metres into the air, hovering for about a minute before returning to the ground. The recent demonstration in southern China’s Guangzhou showcased the technology of flying taxi maker EHang, which this year became the world’s first company to receive approval from its national regulator to operate unmanned passenger flights on tourist routes.
USA
Nvidia bets big on Intel with $5bn stake and chip partnership
Nikkei Asia
Nvidia said on Thursday it would invest $5 billion in Intel, throwing its heft behind the struggling U.S. chipmaker just weeks after the White House engineered an extraordinary deal for the federal government to take a massive stake in the company.
Nvidia buys $5B stake in Intel, planning AI chip collaboration TechCrunch
Nvidia to invest $5 billion in Intel, furthering Trump’s turnaround plan The Wall Street Journal
Washington shuns DJI as US ban deadline nears
Nikkei Asia
Pak Yiu
Drone maker DJI's requests to begin a mandated security review from the U.S. government have gone unfulfilled, as the Chinese company tries to avoid an American market ban taking effect in less than 100 days.
ICE unit signs new $3m contract for phone-hacking tech
TechCrunch
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcementlaw enforcement arm Homeland Security Investigations has signed a contract worth $3 million with Magnet Forensics, a company that makes a phone-hacking and unlocking device called Graykey.
US government charges British teenager accused of at least 120 ‘Scattered Spider’ hacks
TechCrunch
Zack Whittaker
The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday unsealed federal charges against British teenager Thalha Jubair, who prosecutors accuse of being involved in at least 120 cyberattacks, including the U.S. Courts system, and the extortion of dozens of U.S. companies.
Tim Cook, Sam Altman, and more attend Trump’s UK state banquet
TechCrunch
Dominic-Madori Davis
Top tech names were on the guest list for the banquet thrown for President Trump during his second state visit to the UK on Wednesday. The banquet seating chart included NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang; Apple CEO Tim Cook; venture capitalist and White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks; Alphabet and Google president Ruth Porat; Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella; Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff; and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, according to the New York Times.
US House Oversight Committee summons CEOs of Discord, Twitch, Reddit to testify on online radicalization
TechCrunch
Dominic-Madori Davis
The House Oversight Committee has requested that the CEOs of Discord, Twitch, Reddit, and gaming platform Steam testify on October 8 about their platforms’ alleged involvement in any online “radicalization” and the “incitement to commit politically motivated acts,” according to letters sent from the House committee to the four tech CEOs.
North Asia
Taiwan chipmakers struggle to curtail tech leaks to China
Nikkei Asia
Fumie Yaku and Hideaki Ryugen
Taiwanese chipmakers are increasingly the targets of industrial espionage that sends cutting-edge technology to China, as Beijing looks to rapidly boost mainland companies' capabilities amid U.S. export restrictions.
Apple explores possible test production of foldable iPhones in Taiwan
Nikkei Asia
Lauly and Cheng Ting-Fang
Apple has held talks with suppliers about the possibility of building a test production line for a foldable iPhone in Taiwan, with an eye toward mass producing the device in India for release next year, Nikkei Asia has learned.
South Korea aims to build space station module in 5 years
Nikkei Asia
Kim Jaewon
John Lee asked South Korea to give him 10 days to think it over when he was offered a job at the country's new space agency last year. The government was preparing to launch its own version of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, where he had worked for almost three decades.
Southeast Asia
Vietnam EV startup raises $22m as Hanoi bans gas-powered bikes
Nikkei Asia
Lien Hoang
Vietnamese electric vehicle startup Dat Bike has raised $22 million, as it aims to benefit from a ride-hailing partnership and a municipal crackdown on gas guzzlers. The Southeast Asian country is the world's biggest motorbike market after China and India.
South & Central Asia
India leads the way on Google’s Nano Banana with a local creative twist
TechCrunch
Jagmeet Singh
Google’s Nano Banana image-generation model, officially known as Gemini 2.5 Flash Image, has fueled global momentum for the Gemini app since launching last month. But in India, it has taken on a creative life of its own, with retro portraits and local trends going viral — even as privacy and safety concerns begin to emerge.
Europe
Ex-tech lobbyist named as Ireland’s new Data Protection Commissioner
Irish Times
Peter Flanagan
Former tech industry lobbyist Niamh Sweeney has been named to the Data Protection Commission, the chief regulator for big tech firms in Ireland. Ms Sweeney will take up her role as data protection commissioner on October 13th, the Department of Justice said in a statement. She becomes the third commissioner, joining Des Hogan and Dale Sutherland.
UK
Nvidia to Invest £2 Billion in UK Firms Including Wayve, Revolut
Bloomberg
Olivia Solon
Nvidia Corp. plans to invest £2 billion to support the UK’s artificial intelligence industry in partnership with several venture capital firms. The chipmaker will deploy the new capital to help “empower the UK to compete in the AI market globally” and will work with venture capital firms Accel, Air Street Capital, Balderton Capital, Hoxton Ventures and Phoenix Court, according to an Nvidia statement Thursday.
Octopus Energy to spin off AI arm Kraken to create potential $15 billion software platform
The Wall Street Journal
Yusuf Khan
British renewable-energy startup Octopus Energy is spinning off its artificial intelligence arm, Kraken, in what could create a stand-alone entity worth $15 billion. Kraken has operated in Octopus’s shadow but has helped power its parent to unicorn status as the startup provides renewable energy to British and European consumers. Based on its last funding round in 2024, Octopus was valued at over $9 billion.
Deliveroo CEO Will Shu to step down after DoorDash takeover
Reuters
British food delivery firm Deliveroo said on Thursday founder and CEO Will Shu will step down once its takeover by U.S. rival DoorDash takes effect. U.S. meal delivery firm DoorDash in May agreed to buy Deliveroo in a deal valuing the British rival at about 2.9 billion pounds, banking on their combined reach and local expertise to take on competition.
Two teenage suspected Scattered Spider members charged in UK over TfL hack
The Record by Recorded Future
Alexander Martin
Two suspected members of the Scattered Spider cybercrime collective have been arrested and charged in the United Kingdom following an investigation into the hack of Transport for London last year. The National Crime Agency announced on Thursday that Thalha Jubair, 19, from East London, and Owen Flowers, 18, from Walsall, had been arrested at their homes at lunchtime on Tuesday.
Middle East
Taliban bans fiber-optic internet in several Afghan provinces to curb ‘immorality’
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
The Taliban’s supreme leader has ordered the shutdown of fiber-optic internet across five northern Afghan provinces, a move critics say will deepen the country’s isolation, damage its economy and further curtail women’s access to education.
Big Tech
Meta announces first Ray-Ban smart glasses with in-built augmented reality display
The Guardian
Samuel Gibbs
Meta has announced three new pairs of AI smart glasses, including the first Ray-Bans with a built-in screen for augmented reality. The Meta Ray-Ban Display will be the first smart glasses with a heads-up display from a mainstream brand since the ill-fated Google Glass. They use a classic Wayfarer-like styling to avoid looking too obviously like wearable technology, while still having a camera, speakers and microphone.
Meta unveils AI-powered smart glasses with display and neural wristband at Connect event Associated Press
Meta launches $799 glasses with screen and AI integration Bloomberg
Artificial Intelligence
OpenAI fixes zero-click ShadowLeak vulnerability affecting ChatGPT Deep Research agent
The Record by Recorded Future
Jonathan Greig
OpenAI fixed a vulnerability that could have allowed attackers to steal sensitive information through ChatGPT’s Deep Research agent. Deep Research, a tool unveiled by OpenAI in February, enables users to ask ChatGPT to browse the internet — or your personal email inbox — and generate a detailed report on its findings. The tool can be integrated with applications like Gmail and GitHub, allowing people to do deep dives into their own personal documents.
Google will use hashes to find and remove nonconsensual intimate imagery from Search
The Verge
On Wednesday, Google announced a partnership with StopNCII.org to combat the spread of non-consensual intimate imagery, the company announced Thursday. Over the next few months, Google will start using StopNCII’s hashes to proactively identify nonconsensual images in search results and remove them. Hashes are algorithmically-generated unique identifiers that allow services to identify and block imagery flagged as abuse without sharing or storing the actual source.
Google injects Gemini into Chrome as AI browsers go mainstream
WIRED
Reece Rogers
Google is adding multiple new AI features to Chrome, the most popular browser in the world. The most visible change is a new button in Chrome that launches the Gemini chatbot, but there are also new tools for searching, researching, and answering questions with AI. Google has additional cursor-controlling “agentic” tools in the pipeline for Chrome as well.
How AI startups are fueling Google’s booming cloud business
TechCrunch
Maxwell Zeff
Google Cloud announced Thursday it has added fast-rising AI coding startups Lovable and Windsurf to its roster of customers. Both companies have chosen Google Cloud as their primary cloud computing provider, the latest sign of Google’s rising prominence against larger rivals AWS and Microsoft Azure.
OpenAI fixes zero-click ShadowLeak vulnerability affecting ChatGPT Deep Research agent
The Record by Recorded Future
Jonathan Greig
OpenAI fixed a vulnerability that could have allowed attackers to steal sensitive information through ChatGPT’s Deep Research agent. Deep Research, a tool unveiled by OpenAI in February, enables users to ask ChatGPT to browse the internet — or your personal email inbox — and generate a detailed report on its findings. The tool can be integrated with applications like Gmail and GitHub, allowing people to do deep dives into their own personal documents.
Events & Podcasts
The Sydney Dialogue 2025
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute is pleased to announce the Sydney Dialogue, the world’s premier policy summit for critical, emerging and cyber technologies, will return on 4-5 December. Now in its fourth year, the dialogue attracts the world’s top thinkers, innovators and policymakers, and focusses on the most pressing issues at the intersection of technology and security. TSD has become the place where new partnerships are built among governments, industry and civil society, and where existing partnerships are deepened.
The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest is brought to you by the Cyber, Technology & Security Programs team at ASPI and supported by partners.
