It is Tuesday, December 23, 2025, and today’s tech headlines are dominated by a massive Google acquisition, a shift in U.S. chip policy toward China, and significant updates to the Apple ecosystem.
Artificial Intelligence & Big Tech
- Google’s $4.75 Billion Energy Play: Alphabet has announced the acquisition of Intersect, a data center and energy infrastructure developer, for $4.75 billion. This move is aimed at securing the massive power supply needed for Google’s expanding AI operations and competing with OpenAI’s infrastructure investments.
- “Your Year with ChatGPT”: OpenAI has officially launched its version of a year-end review, similar to Spotify Wrapped. The feature summarizes a user’s interactions with ChatGPT over the past year and is currently rolling out in the U.S., UK, Canada, and Australia.
- SoftBank’s OpenAI Investment: SoftBank is reportedly racing to finalize a massive $22.5 billion funding commitment to OpenAI by the end of the year, potentially utilizing public-market holdings and new credit lines to secure the deal.
- Microsoft’s Rust Transition: Microsoft has set an ambitious target to replace its legacy C and C++ codebases with Rust by 2030. The company plans to use AI agents to automate the rewriting of millions of lines of code to eliminate memory-related security vulnerabilities.
Hardware & Gadgets
- iPhone 18 Series Leaks: Supply chain reports indicate that Apple will begin mass production testing for the iPhone 18 Pro in early January 2026. However, rumors suggest a “phased rollout” strategy where the Pro models and a new foldable iPhone launch in late 2026, while the standard iPhone 18 may be delayed until early 2027.
- Apple Interoperability: Early beta tests of iOS 26.3 show that Apple is finally making it easier for third-party accessories (like Galaxy Buds and Galaxy Watches) to pair with iPhones using a pop-up “Proximity Pairing” feature similar to AirPods.
- Snapchat AI Video: Snapchat has released “Animate It,” its first open-prompt AI video generation Lens, allowing users to create short AI-generated clips directly within the app.
Global Policy & Cybersecurity
- Nvidia’s China Policy Shift: In a major policy reversal, the U.S. government has announced it will allow Nvidia to export H200 AI chips to China, provided a 25% “export fee” is paid. This replaces previous bans on high-end hardware with a licensed revenue-sharing model.
- Tencent’s $12B “Japanese Loophole”: Despite U.S. restrictions, Chinese giant Tencent has secured a deal with Japanese firm Datasection to access 15,000 Nvidia Blackwell processors located in data centers in Osaka and Sydney.
- Microsoft 365 OAuth Attacks: Cybersecurity researchers at Proofpoint warned of a sharp rise in “device code phishing” attacks. Hackers are exploiting a legitimate Microsoft OAuth feature to trick enterprise users into approving account access, effectively bypassing multi-factor authentication (MFA).
Science & Innovation
- Superconductivity Breakthrough: Researchers from Tohoku University and Fujitsu announced they used “Causal AI” to discover the specific electron interactions behind a new high-temperature superconducting material. Fujitsu plans to offer a trial of this “Discovery Intelligence” platform to other researchers in March 2026.