Latest AI news: $5B UMC Fab in Singapore, Musk’s $45B Deal, Reliance’s AI Push & more

Top AI news: Asia

• Reliance Explores Hosting OpenAI and Meta Models to Boost India’s AI Ecosystem

• Korean AI Startup WRTN Raises $73.5 million in Series B Funding

• UMC Unveils $5 Billion Semiconductor Fab Expansion in Singapore

• Manus Agent Upgraded with Claude 3.7 for Enhanced AI Capabilities

• After Turbo S, Tencent Launches Hunyuan T1 to Strengthen AI Leadership

• Qualcomm Acquires Generative AI Division of Vietnam’s VinAI to Boost AI Innovation

Top AI news: Global

• OpenAI to Launch Open-Weight AI Model Amid Rising Competition

• Elon Musk’s xAI Acquires Social Media Platform X for $45 Billion

• Apple joins AI Data Center Race with $1 Billion Investment on NVIDIA GB300s

🇮🇳 Reliance Explores Hosting OpenAI and Meta Models to Boost India’s AI Ecosystem

Reliance Industries is reportedly discussing partnerships with OpenAI and Meta to expand AI capabilities in India. The collaboration could see Reliance Jio distributing ChatGPT at reduced prices while hosting OpenAI and Meta models locally at its upcoming 3-gigawatt data center in Jamnagar, Gujarat. This ensures data privacy for Indian users while leveraging Nvidia AI semiconductors for robust infrastructure. The initiative positions Reliance as a key player in India’s rapidly growing AI landscape. This highlights India’s significant contributions to the global AI race, from cutting-edge models to sustainable infrastructure investments.

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💰Korean AI Startup WRTN Raises $73.5 million in Series B Funding

South Korean AI startup WRTN has raised $73.5 million in a Series B funding round, setting a record for non-semiconductor-focused AI platforms in South Korea. Known for its chat-based platform with over 5 million monthly active users, WRTN plans to use the funds to expand its services and strengthen its position in the global AI ecosystem. This milestone demonstrates growing investor interest in innovative AI solutions beyond traditional hardware.

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🏭UMC Unveils $5 Billion Semiconductor Fab Expansion in Singapore

United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) has officially opened a new semiconductor fab facility in Singapore, with production starting in 2026. The $5 billion investment will increase UMC’s capacity to over 1 million wafers annually and create 700 local jobs. Equipped with advanced 22nm and 28nm processes, the facility supports innovations in IoT, AI, automotive, and connectivity. Built with sustainability in mind, it includes solar panels and aligns with UMC’s renewable energy goals for 2050.

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🧠Manus Agent Upgraded with Claude 3.7, mobile app, and subscription plans

Chinese startup Butterfly Effect has upgraded its Manus Agent with Claude 3.7 Sonnet, significantly improving its performance in reasoning and complex tasks. The update includes extended context windows, mobile app support, and premium subscription options. Manus has launched 2 subscription plans starting at $39 per month. They also released their iOS app for end users.

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⚡After Turbo S, Tencent Launches Hunyuan T1 to Strengthen AI Dominance

Following the success of its speed-focused Hunyuan Turbo S, Tencent has launched the Hunyuan T1 model for cost-efficient reasoning and complex tasks. Turbo S excels in real-time applications with sub-second response times, while T1 leverages a hybrid Transformer-Mamba architecture to reduce memory costs and enhance efficiency. Priced at 1 yuan per million input tokens, T1 achieved strong benchmark results (87.2 on MMLU Pro and 78.2 on AIME 2024). Tencent’s dual-model strategy positions it as a leader in both speed and reasoning capabilities.

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🤝Qualcomm Acquires Generative AI Division of Vietnam’s VinAI to Boost AI Innovation

Qualcomm has acquired the generative AI division of VinAI, a Hanoi-based startup backed by VinGroup, for an undisclosed amount. VinAI specializes in AI-powered automotive solutions, including in-cabin monitoring and smart parking systems, as well as generative AI technologies like computer vision and language models. This acquisition strengthens Qualcomm’s R&D capabilities in AI for smartphones, PCs, and vehicles. VinAI’s CEO, Hung Bui, and his team will join Qualcomm to accelerate innovative solutions across industries.

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🤖OpenAI to Launch Open-Weight AI Model Amid Rising Competition

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has announced plans to release a new open-weight AI model with advanced reasoning capabilities. This will be OpenAI’s first open-weight model since GPT-2 in 2019, designed to balance transparency and control. Open-weight models grant access to trained weights for custom applications while imposing licensing restrictions. Facing competition from Google’s Gemma 3 and China’s DeepSeek, OpenAI is hosting global developer events to gather feedback and ensure stability before launch.

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✨Elon Musk’s xAI Acquires Social Media Platform X for $45 Billion

Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI has acquired the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) in a $45 billion deal. The merger aims to integrate xAI’s advanced AI technologies with X’s 650 million-user base, creating a powerful AI-driven social media platform. The acquisition is part of Musk’s broader vision to combine AI capabilities with social media, leveraging data and compute power to innovate user experiences. This move positions the combined entity as a major player in the global AI and social media landscape.

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🍏Apple Joins AI Data Center Race with $1 Billion Investment on NVIDIA GB300s

Apple has announced a $1 billion investment in AI-focused data centers, signaling its entry into the competitive AI infrastructure market. The company plans to leverage Nvidia’s cutting-edge GB300 GPUs to enhance its AI capabilities, particularly for Siri and other machine learning applications. This move comes as Apple faces pressure to catch up with competitors like Google and Microsoft in the AI space. The investment underscores Apple’s commitment to building robust AI infrastructure to support future innovations.

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