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(Reuters) – Thinking Machines Lab, an AI startup founded by former OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, has tapped about 30 leading researchers and engineers from competitors such as OpenAI, Meta and Mistral, it said in a blog post on Tuesday. The team — roughly two-thirds of which comprises former OpenAI employees — includes Barret Zoph, a prominent researcher who left the ChatGPT maker on the same day as Murati in late September. Zoph will … Read more…

(Reuters) – BlackRock has temporarily paused meetings with some portfolio companies while studying the impact of new reporting rules from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to people familiar with the matter. The top U.S. asset manager is among those affected by a recent SEC interpretation requiring fund firms to file more extensive ownership disclosures when they pressure asset managers over certain environmental, social or governance (ESG) matters. News of BlackRock’s action was first … Read more…

By Nora Eckert DETROIT (Reuters) – About half the middle managers at Ford Motor will not get stock bonuses this year in what is seen internally as CEO Jim Farley’s latest attempt to cut the automaker’s bloated costs, according to six people familiar with the matter. The stock awards are usually paid in March, but senior managers have been told to select which half of their middle management staff will receive them, four of the sources … Read more…

BEIJING (Reuters) – President Xi Jinping held a rare meeting on Monday with some of the biggest names in China’s technology sector, such as Alibaba founder Jack Ma, urging them to “show their talent” and be confident in the power of China’s model and market. The tightly choreographed pro-business rally, a turnaround in Beijing’s approach to its tech giants from a regulatory clampdown four years ago, reflected policymakers’ concern about a slowdown in growth and … Read more…

WARSAW (Reuters) -Microsoft plans to invest an additional 700 million dollars in Poland to improve Polish cybersecurity in cooperation with the country’s armed forces, the company’s president said on Monday without elaborating. In a joint press conference with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Microsoft President Smith said the investment would be for a second phase of the already completed $1 billion Polish data centre project announced in 2020. The data centre was opened in 2023, … Read more…

By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Nokia is set to secure unconditional EU antitrust clearance for its $2.3 billion acquisition of U.S. optical semiconductors and networking equipment maker Infinera, people with direct knowledge of the matter said on Friday. Nokia announced the deal in June last year, a move that would make it the second largest vendor in the optical networking market with a 20% share, behind Huawei, which is benefiting from the minimal … Read more…

(Reuters) -Dell Technologies is nearing a deal worth more than $5 billion to provide Elon Musk’s xAI with servers optimized for artificial intelligence work, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. Shares of the company gained 4% after the report, which said Dell would sell servers containing Nvidia’s GB200 semiconductors to the AI startup for delivery this year. Details are still being discussed and may change, the report added. The AI … Read more…