Xanadu and HyperLight Announce Photonic Chip Breakthrough for Quantum Computing
Xanadu and HyperLight have achieved a significant milestone in the development of thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) photonic chips, which are critical for scaling photonic quantum computers. Through a joint effort, the companies have demonstrated waveguide losses below 2 dB/m, a new industry benchmark for performance. This advancement results in an electro-optic switch loss of approximately 20 milli-decibels (mdB), one of the lowest values ever reported for this type of component. The breakthrough is crucial for building future generations of fault-tolerant, utility-scale photonic quantum computers. This achievement builds on the technology used in Xanadu’s “Aurora,” the world’s first fiber-networked photonic quantum computer.
Sources: Newswire.ca
Generative AI Startup Fireworks AI Eyes $4B Valuation
Fireworks AI, a California-based startup specializing in infrastructure for generative AI, is reportedly in discussions for a new funding round that could value the company at $4 billion. This represents a more than sevenfold increase from its Series B valuation of $552 million less than a year ago, which was led by prominent investors including Sequoia, NVIDIA, and AMD. The rapid growth highlights the intense market demand for efficient and scalable solutions to deploy open-source large language models (LLMs). Fireworks AI provides a platform that helps developers build and scale generative AI applications with high performance.
Sources: Tech Funding News
Seal Security Raises $13M to Automate Open-Source Vulnerability Patching
Seal Security, a cybersecurity startup from Israel, has secured $13 million in a Series A funding round led by Vertex Israel. The company specializes in providing a platform that automatically curates and delivers vulnerability-free open-source components. Seal’s technology generates and applies production-ready patches to fix security flaws in dependencies, operating systems, and container images without requiring developers to perform version upgrades. This “patching-first” approach, which leverages Large Language Models (LLMs), allows organizations to remediate critical vulnerabilities in hours and helps maintain compliance without disrupting developer workflows.
Sources: PR Newswire, SiliconANGLE
Federal Agencies Double Down on AI, GAO Reports
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report indicating a significant increase in the adoption of artificial intelligence by federal agencies. The total number of AI use cases nearly doubled from 571 in 2023 to 1,110 in 2024, with generative AI applications seeing a nine-fold increase from 32 to 282. The report highlights that agencies are exploring generative AI for mission-support tasks like improving communications and for program-specific applications. While acknowledging the potential benefits, the GAO also notes the risks, such as the spread of misinformation, and the challenges agencies face in establishing policies due to the rapid evolution of the technology.
Sources: U.S. GAO
Robo-Taxi Market Projected to Reach $504B by 2034
A new report from Polaris Market Research predicts explosive growth for the global robo-taxi market. The market is anticipated to expand from $1.80 billion in 2024 to $504.13 billion by 2034, reflecting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 75.9%. These driverless vehicles, which use advanced sensors and AI to navigate, are expected to revolutionize urban mobility by reducing traffic congestion and lowering emissions. The report suggests that increasing urbanization and the need for more efficient transportation solutions are key drivers of this growth.
Sources: Robotics & Automation News
ARX Robotics Secures €11M for Autonomous Defense Systems
ARX Robotics, a European provider of autonomous unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), has raised an additional €11 million in a Series A extension. The company, founded by former military personnel, develops robotic systems designed for applications such as surveillance, reconnaissance, and logistics in the defense sector. A key innovation is Mithra OS, a proprietary operating system that can retrofit existing ground vehicles with autonomous capabilities. ARX is also forming strategic partnerships with companies like Daimler and Quantum Systems to create integrated ground and aerial unmanned systems for enhanced battlefield awareness.
Sources: Tech Funding News
Hugging Face Releases Open-Source Humanoid Robots
AI development platform Hugging Face has launched two new open-source humanoid robots, aiming to make robotics research more accessible and affordable. The release includes a full-size model with articulation and a smaller desktop version capable of head movement. By providing open-source hardware and software, Hugging Face hopes to foster a collaborative and experimental approach to robotics development, similar to its impact on the machine learning community. This move marks a significant step for the company as it expands its focus into the physical world of robotics.
Sources: RTInsights
Japan Issues New Guidelines for Google and Apple App Stores
The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) has released new guidelines for major IT companies like Google and Apple ahead of a new law promoting competition in the smartphone app market, which takes full effect in December. The guidelines prohibit these platform holders from using data obtained via their operating systems to gain a competitive advantage in app development. They also mandate that companies must not obstruct the use of third-party payment systems within apps and should allow users to choose from multiple search engines on new devices. The new law also bans the exclusion of third-party app stores from their platforms.
Sources: Nippon.com
Microsoft Teams to Roll Out New Meeting Join Banner
Microsoft Teams is introducing a new feature to streamline the process of joining meetings. A meeting join banner will automatically appear within the Teams application for users who have RSVP’d “Yes” or “Tentative” to a meeting invitation once it goes live. This eliminates the need to navigate to the calendar to find the meeting link. The system will also display a count of active meetings if multiple are happening concurrently, allowing users to select which one to join. The feature is scheduled for general availability from mid-to-late July 2025 and will be enabled by default.
Sources: GPost
Chinese AI Startup Z.ai Releases New Open-Source Model
Chinese AI startup Z.ai, formerly known as Zhipu, has launched a new open-source AI model called GLM-4.5. The release also includes a lightweight version, GLM-4.5-Air, and a free model, GLM-4.5-Flash, which is optimized for coding and reasoning tasks. The company claims its models operate at a lower cost than competitors like DeepSeek. This development underscores the rapid advancements in AI from Chinese technology firms and is likely to intensify competition with major US-based AI labs like OpenAI and Google.
Sources: Dataconomy