Mid-sized and large US enterprises face a widening gap in operational stability, with nine out of 10 organisations failing to detect third-party or supply chain disruptions until operations are actively impacted.

According to research from Economist Enterprise supported by AT&T Business, enterprise resilience strategies fall short where network connections, vendor systems and rapid digital deployments intersect.

The company surveyed 1,020 senior technology and operations executives to evaluate modern operational risks. The research identifies five key areas where resilience strategies are falling short of disruption risks.

The study found resilience priorities do not match disruption realities. Cybersecurity receives the largest share of spending, even though over one-third of the organisations cite third-party and supply chain failures as the primary driver of their most significant disruptions.

It also found trust stands in for verification. Over half of respondents assess the resilience of critical technology suppliers based on market reputation or assurances rather than empirical evidence or rigorous technical testing.

While larger companies have more resources, they also have more ground to cover. Despite having bigger budgets and specialised talent, only 5% of large enterprises avoided a major technology incident over the past year, compared to 27% of mid-market firms, largely due to legacy infrastructure and complex ecosystems.

Survey results indicate that AI adoption is moving faster than resilience preparation. Although relatively few (4%) companies identified AI or automation failures as the cause of their most significant disruption, the research shows organisations further along the AI adoption curve have already experienced at least one AI-related incident last year. Overall, preparedness for AI-related risks remains behind many other resilience capabilities.

It also found highly resilient organisations actively learn from past incidents, maintain clear executive ownership and regularly test recovery plans. While most companies practice cyber response, only 15% rehearse for wider geopolitical or supply chain disruptions.

Key
Zee Hussain, SVP of Global Enterprise Solutions at AT&T Business, emphasised technology resilience has evolved beyond traditional IT management into a core business strategy.

“Organisations that invest in visibility, resilient connectivity, and recovery readiness are better positioned to maintain customer trust, respond to disruption, and adapt to change,” he stated.

The findings are based on an Economist Enterprise survey of executives at mid-sized and large US enterprises across seven sectors, conducted between June and July 2026.

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OpenAI unveiled a specialised financial edition of its enterprise platform to help bank employees develop research, financial models and customised client materials.

ChatGPT for Financial Services runs on the company’s latest and most advanced model, GPT-6 Astra, and integrates direct data feeds from market intelligence providers like PitchBook, Crunchbase, LSEG, and Daloopa.

Development of the tool was guided by pilot partnerships with investment banking powerhouses Morgan Stanley and Evercore.

Nick Turley, OpenAI’s VP of product, told CNBC the company is “teaching ChatGPT to research like an analyst and back up its conclusions like an analyst as well”.

In a blog post yesterday (10 September), OpenAI noted early collaboration focused heavily on solving two major industry friction points: streamlined access to verified market data and automated artifact creation.

By hosting and indexing third-party datasets directly on its own infrastructure, the system enables citations which help bankers trace figures and claims back to their original sources.

The launch comes amid a broader push by OpenAI to broaden enterprise adoption and cement recurring revenues ahead of a widely expected stock market debut.

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OpenAI reportedly pulled the plug on its pilot programme which let US federal agencies use its models for just $1 per year, shifting instead to a usage-based pricing system to offer government workers a 50% discount off standard rates.

Bloomberg reported the shift concludes a deal struck in August 2025 between OpenAI and the US General Services Administration (GSA), under which the agency’s OneGov marketplace let federal entities access ChatGPT Enterprise for a nominal $1 per agency for one year. GSA also issued an Authority to Use for ChatGPT Enterprise as part of the programme.

The offer came shortly after GSA added OpenAI, Anthropic and Google to its list of approved AI vendors for civilian federal agencies, including an additional 60-day period for unlimited use of advanced features.

The news agency noted the arrangement represented the steepest technology discount GSA’s central purchasing arm had negotiated to date, which was scheduled to conclude on 30 September 2026.

The new agreement with the government is set to take effect on 1 October, lasting more than two years, according to Bloomberg.

Uptake
According to GSA figures cited by the news site, 3.5 million federal employees ultimately used ChatGPT under the pilot programme, generating $1.4 billion in claimed cost savings.

When the arrangement was first announced, OpenAI stated over 90,000 users across more than 3,500 US federal, state, and local government agencies sent more than 18 million messages on ChatGPT to support their day-to-day work dating back to 2024.

GSA’s public OneGov listings still show the original $1-per-agency pricing, with an expiration date of 30 September 2026, while OpenAI’s own government page had not been updated to reflect the shift.

The pilot was part of a broader push by GSA under its OneGov strategy to secure discounted access to frontier AI tools for federal agencies.

Alongside the OpenAI deal, GSA struck similar arrangements with Anthropic, offering Claude for Enterprise and Claude for Government at $1 across the executive, legislative and judicial branches, and with Google, offering Gemini for Government at $0.47 per agency.

The news site noted those agreements are also due to expire on 30 September 2026, with no successor terms yet made public for either company

The initial round of dollar-a-year deals was key to the Trump Administration’s America’s AI Action Plan, which aimed to accelerate AI adoption across federal government.

Bloomberg reported the move to usage-based pricing could mean OpenAI is looking to convert pilot-stage government adoption into a more sustainable commercial relationship, as the company works to build out revenue ahead of a planned public listing.

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Ericsson deployed a private 5G network at a US airport to support operations and lay the groundwork for future digital transformation projects.

The launch at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) was carried out in partnership with Insight Enterprises and the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC).

The new network gives the airport its own dedicated wireless infrastructure, separate from public cellular and Wi-Fi. It covers indoor and outdoor areas across MSP’s five-square-mile campus.

The MAC had relied on Wi-Fi for operational technologies including mobile devices, surveillance systems and real-time data applications. But Wi-Fi proved vulnerable to interference from unmanaged devices and airfield obstacles. Equipment also struggled with mobility as it moved between access points.

Rather than expand Wi-Fi or invest in more fibre, the MAC chose Ericsson Private 5G. The goal was broader, more predictable coverage across the site.

The network now supports video systems, common-use ticketing equipment and mobile workforce applications. Airport staff use connected tablets throughout operational areas. The network also delivers secure cellular coverage across runways, taxiways and gate areas.

Eduardo Valencia, CIO for the MAC, said transportation, public safety, maintenance and security all depend on connectivity. He compared the airport to running a city without residents. He said the network provides enterprise-grade connectivity across a challenging airfield environment, where a growing number of systems and mobile assets must stay connected to keep operations safe and efficient.

Insight Enterprises resold and manages the Ericsson Private 5G service while Pierson Wireless led deployment and installation.

Scott Friedlander, SVP at Insight Public Sector, stated deploying private cellular across a large, complex airport required close collaboration between technology providers and stakeholders.

One early use case comes from Axis Communications. Its private cellular-enabled camera system delivers HD video monitoring on airport trams.

The network also supports dozens of connected airport vehicles fitted with Ericsson Cradlepoint routers. These give MSP teams access to operational applications across the airfield, using both private 5G and public cellular networks when needed.

Going forward, the MAC plans to extend connectivity to airlines, concessionaires and other airport partners. It also aims to expand its own use of the network to improve maintenance and operations.

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Analog Devices struck a deal to acquire Alif Semiconductor in an all-cash deal worth $1.4 billion, as the analogue chip maker moves to bolster its edge AI capabilities.

The deal adds Alif’s AI-native microcontrollers and fusion processors, which combine low-power neural processing with connectivity, security and power management on a single chip.

Analog Devices stated the technology would advance “Physical Intelligence”, enabling systems to sense, reason and act locally in real time while meeting demanding power, latency, security and reliability constraints.

It positioned the deal as a response to the expansion of AI capabilities beyond interpreting text and images toward characterising real-world signals including motion, sound, vibration, radio waves and thermodynamics.

By combining its expertise in sensing, signal processing, power and connectivity with Alif’s digital processing platform, customers can build complete system-level solutions rather than sourcing components separately, Analog Devices explained.

CEO Vincent Roche explained AI is moving out of the data centre and into the physical world, where latency, power and trust cannot be compromised and described the deal as central to what he called the next frontier of embodied, deterministic AI.

Analog Devices stated Alif’s silicon is already shipping in production, with design wins across consumer and industrial customers.

The company expects the acquisition to widen its addressable market across industrial, data centre infrastructure, defence, energy, robotics, digital health and wearable applications.

The transaction was approved by both companies’ boards and includes up to $200 million in additional contingent consideration.

It is expected to close before the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.

Analog Devices arranged an all-cash acquisition of Empower Semiconductor for $1.5 billion in May aimed at improving power density for AI compute.

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Apple officially entered the foldable smartphone market with the iPhone Duo, as new CEO John Ternus headlined the company’s signature event for the first time at its Cupertino, California, headquarters.

The iPhone Duo makes its debut seven years after Samsung launched its first foldable smartphone and on the heels of a recent launch by Huawei. Pre-orders for the device begin in October.

After running through the launches of the iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max, Apple Watch Series 12, Apple Watch Ultra 4 and AirPods 5, Ternus saved the foldable for last but drew a quick distinction between the Duo and competing devices.

“Others have created foldables that just feel like two phones awkwardly stuck together,” Ternus (pictured) said during the company’s Surprise and Shine event yesterday (9 September).

He described the Duo as having “a larger display that feels as natural and intuitive as iPad,” and stated it has the “largest display ever on an iPhone, while still fitting easily in your pocket”.

Duo specs
Once opened, the doublewide screen is 50% larger than the size of the iPhone 18 Pro Max and measures 7.6 inches on the diagonal, stated Greg Joswiak, Apple’s SVP for worldwide marketing.

The device pairs a mirror-polished grade 5 titanium chassis with a custom precision hinge engineered from over 100 components to deliver structural stiffness and smooth operation.

Powering the device is the A20 Pro chip built on a 2nm process, coupled with a custom vapor chamber cooling system, 16-core Neural Engine, and a 7-core GPU.

The device runs on iOS 27, which introduces side-by-side Split View multitasking to the iPhone lineup, and features an under-display FaceTime camera on the main panel alongside a side-mounted Touch ID sensor integrated into the power button.

The imaging hardware centres on a 48MP Fusion Main camera capable of 4K120 fps Dolby Vision recording, complemented by a 48MP Fusion Ultra Wide camera with macro support and a Center Stage front sensor.

The dual-battery architecture supports up to 31 hours of continuous video playback on the main screen or up to 44 hours on the cover screen, with support for fast wired charging as well as MagSafe and Qi2 wireless standards.

On the connectivity front, the device is eSIM-only globally, holds an IP67 rating for water and dust resistance, and incorporates Apple’s custom C2 cellular modem system along with the N1 wireless chip. The C2 modem integrates support for US mmWave 5G spectrum alongside Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.

Available in star white and night sky finishes, the iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 for the base 256GB storage tier, with additional options extending to 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB. Pre-orders open on 16 October, with broad retail launch following on 23 October.

Anshu Goel, Lead Analyst, Digital Consumer at GSMA Intelligence, told Mobile World Live the Duo price point is worth watching going forward.

“While the quality and iOS customisation for Duo look good, this price point will limit demand,” he explained. “However, Apple customers are unlikely to go looking elsewhere if considering a foldable purchase.”

iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max
Apple also unveiled the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, both powered by the same A20 Pro chip as the Duo. The pair introduce a redesigned 48MP variable-aperture main camera with physical aperture blades, a first for iPhone, alongside a slimmer Dynamic Island now capable of displaying up to three simultaneous Live Activities. New colour options include Burgundy and Glacier.

Pricing rose $100 over the equivalent iPhone 17 models, with the 18 Pro starting at $1,199 and the Pro Max at $1,299.

Analyst views
Paolo Pescatore, chief analyst at PP Foresight, said Apple has taken its time entering the foldable category and is now seeking to redefine what consumers should expect from a smartphone rather than simply following rivals.

He noted higher pricing across the premium iPhone 18 line-up could also sway some customers toward the foldable, narrowing the perceived jump to a completely new form factor.

“Apple will now flex its considerable marketing muscle to kick-start demand and give the foldable category a major boost,” he said. “I fully expect it to be an instant hit, benefiting the wider market and developer community while putting rivals firmly on notice.”

He added that the increasingly split iPhone launch cycle gives Apple a powerful new revenue engine throughout the year, rather than concentrating attention on a single annual upgrade window, calling it a significant strategic shift and “potentially a gold mine for the business.”

On the leadership transition, Pescatore called the event a hugely important first moment for Ternus and a strong start to a new chapter at Apple.

“His challenge is to build on an enormously successful foundation while bringing fresh energy, ideas and priorities to the business,” he said, adding that the confident tone from the top mattered as an opening statement.

Nabila Popal, senior research director at IDC, said Apple appears to have hit it out of the park with the iPhone Duo.

“While a passport-size form factor is not new, the execution here looks quite good,” she said. “The user experience is intuitive and fluid, with a seamless transition from closed to open. The ease of use, coupled with an elegant design, should make the Duo stand out among the crowd of foldable devices today.”

She added the device could be a blockbuster product for Apple, and a great way for new CEO John Ternus to kick off his tenure.

CCS Insight chief analyst Ben Wood added the iPhone Duo was always going to eclipse Apple’s other announcements at the event, hailing a distinctive new design to the iPhone line-up and marking the company’s entry into the niche foldable category.

He stated while foldable smartphones are not new, Apple has clearly learnt from the evolution of rival devices from Samsung and others, noting the company has a track record of entering categories once they reach a certain level of maturity.

Wood said the Duo has benefited from major advances in flexible display quality and reliability, pointing to its near-creaseless screen, which, like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold8, uses a titanium plate beneath the display.

At $1,999, Wood said the Duo is Apple’s most expensive iPhone to date and $700 more than the iPhone 18 Pro Max, though less than some had feared, and said he expects strong demand.

However, he cautioned foldables remain a niche product accounting for less than 5% of the overall smartphone market, adding that the Duo’s arrival could still provide a lift to the wider foldable segment.

iOS 27
Wood also pointed to the significance of iOS 27, which brings major performance improvements and the latest version of Apple Intelligence and Siri, saying the update marks a step up from Apple’s earlier AI efforts based on his experience with the beta release.

He noted AI increasingly looks like less of a differentiator on smartphones, adding that Apple’s long-term commitment to privacy is likely to remain its most distinctive position on AI.

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A report by Dell’Oro Group found worldwide data centre IT semiconductor and component revenue for servers and storage systems surged 182% in Q2 2026, driven by rising memory prices and continued AI infrastructure investment.

DRAM and storage drive revenue grew at a triple-digit pace, as average selling prices per bit more than doubled year-over-year while continued AI infrastructure investment fuelled broad-based demand across accelerators and complementary server and storage components.

“Data centre component growth accelerated sharply in the second quarter, driven by higher memory and storage prices and continued growth in server demand,” stated Baron Fung, VP of research at Dell’Oro.

He also said Nvidia’s Blackwell platform and custom accelerators from Google and Amazon continued to gain momentum.

Fung added agentic AI is emerging as a meaningful growth driver for general-purpose servers, broadening component demand beyond accelerated computing hardware.

Going forward, Fung stated Dell’Oro expects component revenue growth to maintain momentum through the remainder of 2026, supported by elevated component prices and strong AI infrastructure investment, though supply constraints could limit hyperscaler capital expenditure plans.

The report found accelerated server deployments drove strong demand for complementary components, including high-bandwidth memory (HBM), CPUs, memory and high-speed back-end network interface cards.

General-purpose server demand remained strong across cloud service providers, supported by continued infrastructure expansion alongside emerging agentic AI workloads.

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Accenture and Google Cloud expanded their long-standing partnership with the launch of a global joint initiative aimed at helping enterprise customers deploy and scale agentic AI tools and platforms.

The two companies formed the Accenture Gemini Enterprise Business Group, a new unit operating within the existing Accenture Google Business Group, designed to help customers deploy Google Cloud’s agentic AI platform.

It will integrate Accenture’s certified Gemini Enterprise talent with dedicated Google Cloud engineering resources to assist clients in moving AI projects from experimental phases into commercial production.

As part of the rollout, the partners plan to establish a 1,000-person workforce of forward deployed engineers (FDEs) to work with clients on-site to plan and build AI applications based on the Gemini Enterprise platform.

The new unit will use Accenture’s existing foundation of nearly 50,000 Google Cloud-skilled personnel to build repeatable industry solutions, speed up time-to-value, and create specialised capability centres for enterprise-wide integration.

The Accenture and Google Cloud initiative targets accelerating enterprise demand for agentic AI architectures, which rely on autonomous digital agents to automate complex, multi-step workflows.

Julie Sweet, chair and CEO of Accenture, stated the business group aims to unite advanced AI capabilities, data assets, and industry expertise to help corporate clients achieve productivity and growth targets faster.

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian noted deploying agentic AI has quickly become a primary priority for enterprise technology buyers aiming for operational transformation.

FDE trend
The move mirrors a growing pattern across the tech landscape as vendors deploy specialised engineering talent directly to client sites. OpenAI recently established a $10 billion joint venture with institutional investors to finance dedicated enterprise deployment teams, while Anthropic investors backed a $1.5 billion standalone venture to build hands-on FDE capabilities for corporate deployments.

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AT&T Business and Amazon Leo reached a deal to bring satellite broadband to enterprise and public sector customers, with the company becoming the first major US operator to employ the low Earth orbit (LEO) network in a bundled set-up including fibre and 5G.

The operator plans to offer the connectivity as a fully managed service on top of its existing terrestrial networks. Customers would get one bill, one point of contact and round-the-clock customer service.

AT&T is to provide the equipment to connect to the satellites.

Shawn Hakl, AT&T Business SVP and head of product, said enterprise and public sector customers need a platform which delivers reliable connectivity across fibre, 5G and satellite in a single managed architecture.

Chris Weber, VP of Amazon Leo Business and Product, said the satellite network adds resilience to the network.

AT&T stated the companies are “moving through a structured, phased deployment designed to ensure business-grade reliability before broad availability”.

It plans to issue pricing and configuration details in the coming months.

The explosion of a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket in May could put the timeline for the launch of the AT&T Business closer to 2027: the rocket company is repairing damage to a launchpad and aims to restore operations by the end of the year.

Amazon Leo is simultaneously pushing into direct-to-device (D2D) connectivity, seeking regulatory approval to deploy up to 5,105 satellites, with deployment scheduled to begin in 2028.

All three major US operators are involved in various D2D moves through deals with Amazon Leo, SpaceX and AST SpaceMobile, along with collaborating to close coverage gaps.

AT&T Business is bidding to differentiate by bundling the connectivity option.

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The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote later this month on two items intended to free up spectrum for next-generation connectivity, according to chair Brendan Carr (pictured).

The first is a satellite spectrum abundance order, which would allow the FCC to unlock more than 1,000 MHz of spectrum across the 12GHz and 42GHz bands. The FCC stated the freed-up airwaves could support a range of connectivity services, including faster satellite broadband.

The second item is a proposal to seek comment on modernising the FCC’s rules governing ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, an unlicensed spectrum category used across IoT, automotive and consumer devices. Carr noted the rules have not been comprehensively updated since their adoption in 2002.

“The FCC’s work to free up more spectrum continues apace this month,” Carr said. “Today, I shared two items with my colleagues that will push more commercial spectrum into the marketplace than ever before. By unlocking these bands, the FCC will give a big boost to American innovation and promote economic growth across a wide range of industries.”

On the satellite order, Carr said the move is designed to ensure consumers continue benefiting from competitive, high-speed internet delivered from next-generation satellite systems.

On the UWB proposal, he said the rule changes would unlock further opportunities for unlicensed devices across a wide swath of spectrum, pointing to UWB’s role in applications from vehicle safety systems to package tracking.

He stated the technology is so deeply embedded in everyday life that most people are unaware of its role, and that the proposal represents the FCC’s first comprehensive modernisation of the rules in over two decades.

Both items are scheduled for a vote at the FCC’s 30 September open meeting. The satellite spectrum move comes as regulators globally weigh how to balance growing demand for satellite broadband capacity, driven by operators including Amazon Leo, SpaceX’s Starlink and others, against existing terrestrial and federal spectrum users. The 12GHz band in particular has been the subject of a long-running dispute between satellite operators and terrestrial 5G proponents over interference risks and competing use cases.

The meeting items build on Carr’s broader push to release more spectrum since taking the chair, which has included restarting the agency’s first spectrum auction in four years. Auction 113, covering AWS-3 licences in the 1695-1710MHz, 1755-1780MHz and 2155-2180MHz bands, forms part of the FCC’s Build America Agenda, targeting 800MHz of new spectrum by 2034.

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Qualcomm struck a deal with Amazon to develop customised silicon for large-scale AI data centre infrastructure, while issuing a warrant to the technology giant to acquire a stake worth up to $4 billion in the chipmaker.

The move marks Qualcomm’s latest strategic expansion into the data centre sector, building on its recent moves to establish an AI-native foundation, acquire AI software specialist Modular, and advance its agentic AI ambitions beyond edge devices.

Under regulatory filings tied to the deal, the agreement is linked to up to $60 billion in potential commercial transactions.

As part of the arrangement, Qualcomm issued Amazon a warrant to acquire up to 25 million shares at $161.26 apiece, representing a potential $4 billion stake which vests across tranches tied to purchase milestones.

The operational partnership centres on creating tailored processors optimised for AI inference workloads across Amazon Web Service (AWS) data centres.

By combining Qualcomm’s experience in power-efficient compute design with AWS’ global cloud footprint, the companies aim to tackle the skyrocketing energy and compute demands driven by generative AI applications.

Alongside customised processing chips, the agreement encompasses high-performance optical connectivity technologies.

Qualcomm plans to supply optical digital signal processor and serialiser/deserialiser products capable of supporting speeds up to 1.6 Tb/s.

The high-bandwidth interconnects are designed to clear data bottlenecks within data centre networks, allowing large clusters of AI chips to communicate with minimal latency.

Both ways
The collaboration works both ways, as Qualcomm also plans to deepen its internal adoption of AWS infrastructure.

The chipmaker will use cloud-based AI tools, including Amazon Bedrock, to run electronic design automation workloads aimed at accelerating its own chip development cycles.

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon highlighted the rapidly accelerating demand for AI requires foundational advances across both processing and network interconnects to maximise operational efficiency.

AWS VP Prasad Kalyanaraman added the co-development effort will deliver more performant and cost-effective infrastructure for cloud customers globally.

The deal marks a significant expansion for Qualcomm, which has spent recent years diversifying its revenue beyond smartphones into personal computers, automotive systems and now cloud-scale hardware.

For AWS, working directly with Qualcomm on specialised silicon offers another avenue to manage the high-power consumption and soaring costs associated with operating global AI services.

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Verizon and Corning agreed a multi-billion dollar fibre supply deal covering more than 80 million miles of high-density optical fibre and connectivity products, running from 2027 to 2032.

The companies stated the agreement is designed to support surging demand for consumer broadband and converged services, alongside growing infrastructure needs from AI hyperscalers.

Verizon Business CEO Kyle Malady noted securing fibre at this scale allows the operator to build “the network of the future” at an unprecedented level, combining mobile connectivity and broadband into a single, converged architecture.

He said the deployment will also underpin the high-capacity, low-latency backbone required by AI hyperscalers.

The fibre supply is intended to accelerate Verizon’s progress toward a medium-term goal of 40 million to 50 million broadband passings, expanding fibre-to-the-home and business connectivity.

The operator stated the approach means cell towers, enterprise data centres and residential neighbourhoods will connect to the same high-capacity backbone.

Verizon framed the deal as central to its AI Connect strategy, which involves deploying dense fibre cabling across major long-haul corridors to directly connect data centres.

It said the approach positions it as an infrastructure partner for major AI hyperscalers, including Amazon Web Services, while also extending AI-related connectivity benefits to consumers, businesses, schools and communities.

The agreement builds on a three-decade partnership between Verizon and Corning. It is structured to let Corning continue expanding its US manufacturing capacity to supply the physical materials needed for Verizon’s buildout.

Corning Optical Communications SVP and GM Mike O’Day added the expanded partnership will help link AI data centres while also extending high-speed fibre access to homes.

US fibre
Corning also counts AT&T as a customer, having struck a $1 billion, multi-year fibre supply deal with the operator in October 2024 to support AT&T’s Gigapower fibre joint venture and broader broadband expansion plans.

The Corning agreement adds to a series of moves by Verizon to expand its fibre footprint. In July, Bain Capital and Tillman Global Holdings invested $1.5 billion in Eaton Fiber, Verizon’s exclusive wholesale fibre-building partner, to fund an acquisition of Ripple Fiber and accelerate network expansion to more than a million locations outside Verizon’s existing footprint.

Verizon CEO Dan Schulman has described that wholesale partnership model as a capital-efficient way to extend its fibre broadband reach.

Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile US are actively beefing up their fibre holdings through joint ventures, wholesale agreements and outright purchases of fibre-rich companies to support the convergence of mobile and fibre-based broadband services.

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AST SpaceMobile booked a big year-on-year rise in revenue in Q2, driven by gateway deliveries and milestones tied to US government contracts as the direct-to-device (D2D) satellite operator continues to scale ahead of a planned beta service launch later this year.

The company stated it remains on track to meet its full-year 2026 revenue guidance of $150 million to $200 million on the back of additional contract awards from the US government.

Revenue backlog grew to approximately $1.3 billion in aggregate contracts with commercial partners and government.

Chair and CEO Abel Avellan said the company’s technology platform, spectrum strategy and manufacturing capabilities position it to deliver D2D connectivity for commercial and government customers globally, pointing to the growth of its constellation to 13 spacecraft in orbit

On its earnings call, president Scott Wisniewski highlighted growing momentum with US government customers who he said view the company’s technology as unique, strategic, innovative and flexible for communications and non-communications uses.

He said AST SpaceMobile previously flagged a trend of small development contracts evolving into larger awards, eventually maturing into full programmes of record.

“Today, you can see that trend as we are announcing three new contract awards with funded near-term value of over $100 million in total expected during 2026 and 2027.”

Further public details on the awards are expected soon, but Wisniewski described them as capabilities developed in partnership with the US Department of War over several years which employ the company’s technology to address a significant strategic need.

Trends
AST SpaceMobile booked revenue of $31.5 million compared with $1.2 million in Q2 2025.

Net loss attributable to common stockholders grew from $99.4 million to $230.9 million.

Trends in the opening half followed suit, with revenue of $46.3 million compared with $1.9 million, and attributable net loss up from $145.1 million to $421.9 million.

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Nvidia inked strategic partnerships with Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs and KKR to establish AI compute infrastructure financing platforms to mobilise more than $500 billion of third-party capital to build related infrastructure.

The chipmaker stated memorandums of understanding would help create the first compute financing platforms of their kind at global scale, intended to fund frontier AI laboratories, clouds and enterprises.

It noted the platforms are designed to create dedicated pools of capital at significant scale and attractive rates for its customers, positioning Nvidia compute and full-stack AI infrastructure as an investable asset class.

“We are bringing the world’s leading long-term capital providers together to independently underwrite AI infrastructure,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said.

“These financing platforms will help customers access scarce compute at scale and build the DSX AI factories that will power every industry and country”.

Nvidia described its compute as an investable asset offering the lowest token cost, highest revenue and longest life, alongside a rich ecosystem of buyers.

The arrangement builds on Nvidia’s broader push to raise capital for it and its customers to continue producing the chips, power systems and data centres underpinning the AI boom.

Nvidia GPUs underpin most leading US AI models available today and it supplies relevant chips, infrastructure, and software to a wide range of partners.

Money matters
It faced scrutiny in recent months over circular financing arrangements in which the company provides backing to help AI partners raise debt, in turn boosting Nvidia’s own revenue.

Bringing outside private capital providers onboard may help address some of the criticism since it spreads the financing load beyond Nvidia itself.

In recent years, private capital groups including Apollo and Blackstone have structured AI deals to help companies including Anthropic finance heavy spending on chips and data centres.

Financial Times reported Morgan Stanley predicts large cloud computing players would spend $3.5 trillion on AI infrastructure over the next two years.

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Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg (pictured) argued open, decentralised access to super-intelligence is essential for ensuring global economic prosperity and personal safety.

In a lengthy blog, the executive rejected doom-centric narratives surrounding advanced AI technologies.

Rather than centralising powerful models within a select group of corporations or government institutions, Zuckerberg advocated for a balance-of-power approach, which puts personal superintelligence directly into the hands of individuals.

On the same day the post was published, Meta Superintelligence Labs released the open weights for Muse Glimmer, a 30-billion-parameter dense multimodal model under an Apache 2.0 license on Hugging Face.

The model is distilled from Muse Spark 1.2 and engineered to run locally on a single consumer GPU or Mac to execute agentic workflows such as autonomous coding and file management without cloud dependency.

Meta also plans to publish open weights for its Muse Spark 1.2 model in the coming weeks, reversing a brief closed-weight stance, while teasing a next generation frontier model known internally as Watermelon.

The release and blog came amid heightened scrutiny over closed-source AI labs following recent incidents where models from OpenAI and Anthropic broke containment during evaluation testing.

Zuckerberg positioned open-source distribution as a key countermeasure to security risks. He stated broad developer access allows system defences to be patched faster than in centralised environments.

He also defended AI distillation practices by claiming learning from observed model outputs is essential for keeping US open-source technology competitive against foreign rivals like DeepSeek.

Central to Meta’s broader strategy is the deployment of personal AI agents designed to assist users across daily tasks, business operations and learning.

To support this vision Meta unveiled a $1 billion community fund for US cities hosting its data centres to address local power, water and infrastructure needs, while committing to train skilled trade workers through its Community Compact and America’s Workforce Academy initiatives.

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Intel proposed a massive $15 billion underwritten public offering of common stock to bolster its balance sheet and aggressively fund its expansion in the high-stakes AI and semiconductor markets.

Financial underwriters include J.P. Morgan Securities, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup Global Markets. Intel stated the companies would have the option for 30-days to purchase up to an additional $2.3 billion in shares, a strategy to secure long-term competitiveness.

“Progress in emerging areas including physical AI, purpose-built silicon, advanced packaging and external wafers represent significant growth opportunities for Intel,” the company stated.

The additional capital targets soaring global demand for technology, as customer investments in AI compute power and physical iterations continue to grow rapidly.

Intel stated net proceeds would cover “general corporate purposes” including working capital and capital expenditures. The company expects the offering to help preserve its investment-grade credit rating during heavy infrastructure investment.

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Anthropic formed a strategic partnership with Macquarie Asset Management and Singaporean wealth fund GIC to build data centres which the AI company would lease under long-term arrangements.

The Theseus Infrastructure platform is to be a vehicle to develop AI computing sites with an initial focus on the US.

Macquarie Asset Management and GIC pledged to fund the bulk of the equity for each project, while Anthropic committed to covering any consumer electricity price hikes stemming from the facilities.

The asset management company stated sites would require a major investment and highlighted anticipated boosts for employment covering building and operation.

GIC is a repeat Anthropic investor.

It jointly led a $30 billion funding round in February and backed a $1.5 billion enterprise services venture Anthropic launched in May.

In 2025, Anthropic stated it would spend $50 billion on custom data centres across several US locations, including the states of Texas and New York.

The company is also preparing for a public listing.

Bloomberg reported Anthropic has made relatively few high-profile data centre partnerships compared with rival OpenAI, which launched its Stargate infrastructure joint venture in 2025.

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OpenAI temporarily paused certain internal activities surrounding its upcoming model after the system demonstrated unprecedented cybersecurity and agentic coding capabilities.

The ChatGPT maker disclosed preliminary evaluations showed the Astra model is significantly adept at cyber tasks, leading company officials to admit they cannot rule out it becoming a critical security threat threshold.

Under OpenAI’s internal Preparedness Framework, a critical threshold is defined by a model’s ability to autonomously discover and execute zero-day exploits across hardened real-world systems without human intervention, or independently carry out complex attack strategies.

While evaluations remain ongoing alongside third-party experts, the initial findings prompted immediate containment protocols.

OpenAI is moving Astra into isolated testing environments equipped with sandboxed execution, restricted tool and network access, enhanced model weight encryption and full chain-of-thought monitoring.

It stated it paused related activities which do not currently meet the safety controls.

OpenAI’s move follows a recent series of incidents where autonomous AI agents breached security boundaries during testing.

Within the past month, OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta Platforms have all publicly acknowledged inadvertent system intrusions during evaluation phases.

OpenAI plans to partner with government agencies and AI safety institutes to evaluate Astra’s defensive and attacking potential before considering public release.

It emphasised its goal is to equip cyber defence players with high-capability models to patch vulnerabilities before malicious actors can exploit them.

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Intel appointed Marvell executive Dean Jarnac (pictured) as EVP and chief sales officer as the chipmaker seeks to bolster customer engagement and maintain momentum from recent high-profile foundry wins.

The incoming executive will lead Intel’s global sales organisation across its client, data centre, AI, networking and ASIC portfolios.

Jarnac brings over three decades of semiconductor industry experience. In addition to Marvell, he previously held senior leadership roles at Broadcom and AMD.

He will assume the role in September and report directly to CEO Lip-Bu Tan. Jarnac will take over from Greg Ernst, who is departing Intel after 27 years with the company.

Announcing the appointment, Tan highlighted customer focus and operational execution are central to Intel’s growth strategy. He cited Jarnac’s track record of building high-performance sales teams as critical to deepening client partnerships.

The change follows significant progress in Intel’s foundry turnaround strategy. Earlier this year, Google placed an order with Intel to manufacture more than 3 million custom tensor processing units (TPUs) in 2028.

In April, Intel revealed a plan to join Elon Musk’s Terafab AI chip project to build processors for the billionaire’s orbital data centres and humanoid robots.

Apple and Intel reportedly reached a preliminary agreement in May for the latter to manufacture some of the chips for iPhones, iPads and other devices.

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MobileX and Boost Mobile founder Peter Adderton (pictured) rebuffed the reported view of T-Mobile US CEO Srini Gopalan that Starlink poses little threat to mobile operators.

Financial Times (FT) reported Gopalan is struggling to see what consumer problem satellite services solve by entering the mobile market.

“You’ve got to ask the question of ‘What is the gap in the market that they’re looking to serve?'” he reportedly said, adding a broader network is “clearly not” what would draw customers to a new mobile service.

In a post on LinkedIn, Adderton said Gopalan’s position misses the point entirely.

“I always find it funny when wireless executives ask, ‘Why would a customer switch? It’s clearly not because they have a broader cellular network,'” he said. “That’s exactly the point.”

He argued Starlink is not trying to out-build T-Mobile’s network, but to offer something terrestrial operators cannot easily replicate: a single service combining terrestrial and satellite connectivity, spanning cities, rural areas, highways, mountains and water, with plans to eventually extend worldwide.

Adderton drew a comparison to Uber, arguing consumers did not choose the service because it built better roads, but because it created a better experience on infrastructure which already existed.

He explained the mistake operators make is assuming customers are shopping for another mobile network, when they may instead be shopping for connectivity which “just works”.

Adderton also took aim at the broader response from operator executives to Starlink’s mobile ambitions, suggesting a coordinated messaging effort.

“Seems every MNO CEO in the JV got the same script and, credit where credit’s due, they’re sticking to it beautifully,” he wrote on X. “Their PR teams must be very proud. Not a rogue talking point in sight.”

Plans
Gopalan’s reported comments were made before Elon Musk confirmed SpaceX plans to build a US mobile service.

On SpaceX’s Q2 earnings call, Musk said Starlink’s terrestrial mobile network would likely offer better connectivity and higher bandwidth than what is currently available from mobile operators.

SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said she expects to draw a significant number of customers from AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, with Starlink Mobile satellites launching in 2027 and services due to commence by the year-end.

Gopalan told FT satellite technology would remain “complementary” to existing networks rather than a replacement.

T-Mobile is one of several operators which holds satellite access deals with SpaceX to supplement rural coverage.

FT reported Gopalan also addressed T-Mobile’s growth strategy, stating it aims to more than double its broadband customer base to 20 million within four years and grow its rural market share beyond its current 24%.

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