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Microsoft

Today

Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang.

Nvidia unveils faster, more sustainable AI chip

The new chips could let companies develop AI at a lower cost and respond to the soaring electricity needs of data centres.

Yesterday

Silicon Valley for years has pushed tech tools like laptops and learning apps into classrooms.

Tech giants race to embed AI in schools around the globe

Fuelled partly by American tech companies, governments are rushing to deploy generative AI systems and training in schools and universities.

This Month

Paulina Borsook: “We are, alas, living in the tech-driven culture I saw headed our way 30 years ago.”

This writer took aim at Silicon Valley 25 years ago. She was right

Paulina Borsook’s “Cyberselfish”, which offered dire predictions about the tech world’s love for libertarianism, is finding fans a quarter of a century later.

Technology stocks, especially those tied to AI, again dominated the market. But leadership shifted to the shares of companies associated with data — from storage to the building, heating and cooling of data centres.

Wall Street’s biggest winners and losers in 2025

Three of the index’s top 10 performers were data storage companies, which are among the main beneficiaries of the hundreds of billions of dollars in AI spending.

December 2025

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI.

OpenAI offers $828,000 salary to protect humans from rogue AI

The maker of ChatGPT is recruiting for a “head of preparedness” to address the fast-evolving technology’s rising threat.

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US tech and trade groups say the Trump administration may take action over the Albanese government’s proposed News Bargaining Incentive.

Big tech wants Trump to act on ‘irritant’ in US-Australia relationship

Groups representing Google, Meta, Amazon, Apple, Adobe, Microsoft and other US multinationals say the News Bargaining Incentive is a breach of free trade laws.

Former Google vice president Hugh Williams.

The could-have-been billionaire who turned down Google

Australian Hugh Williams ran Google Maps and invented the tech behind “doomscrolling”. His take on the AI future is surprisingly upbeat.

Labor’s new policy is designed to incentivise tech giants to pay news publishers.

Australia’s media industry wants these 5 tech giants to pay up

A group representing three of Australia’s biggest media companies has called for urgent new laws to force global platforms to pay for news.

New Epstein photos have been released.

Bill Gates and Sergey Brin among new Epstein photos

US Democrats published another batch of images showing the late sex offender’s wide network of contacts spanning politics, show business, tech and big business.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher released Labor’s mid-year budget update on Thursday, which was boosted by a $40 billion tax boon from a stronger economy.

Gold and AI boom deliver tax boost to Chalmers’ budget

Higher inflation and a turbocharged rally in gold and AI stocks provided a huge revenue lift, yet the nation remains on track for another decade of deficits.

The Nasdaq 100 fell nearly 2 per cent last week, while the Dow Jones climbed 1 per cent as the shift away from tech gained momentum.

Sell-off in AI stocks erases months of gains for top tech funds

Hyperion, Loftus Peak and Munro Partners are nursing heavy losses following a brutal sell-off that intensified last week.

Satya Nadella

What does a billionaire cricket tragic do in his spare time?

Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, who owns shares in two cricket teams on opposite sides of the planet, designed his own app for sport in his spare time.

Caitlin, Valencia and Dominique are unhappy about the social media ban - it’ll make their lives much more inconvenient.

‘Survivors’, loopholes, pushback: Social media ban’s first day

Australian teenagers awoke to find some (but not all) of their accounts had been deactivated on Wednesday.

Questions remain about where AI is heading, and how it could work best.

Will AI start living up to the hype in 2026?

After all the hype and big spending, there has been a growing sense of unease that some of the promises aren’t being matched by reality.

No one really knows how the AI investment boom will all pay off.

Happy birthday, ChatGPT. Thanks for nothing (yet)

AI has transformed capital markets and the way we think about work, but this is still a tech revolution built on anticipation, rather than reality. And that creates risks.

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Phoebe Gates.

Bill Gates’ daughter lands $45m for star-backed AI firm

Phoebe Gates’ online shopping firm is backed by a constellation of celebrities – but not, she insists, her famous tech entrepreneur father.

The AI bubble comes to Australia: What happens if it pops?

James Thomson and Paul Smith on the multitrillion-dollar AI investment boom, where the opportunities are for Australia and what happens if it goes wrong.

Juno’s co-founder Michelle Gilmore says Chinese AI models are outpacing US rivals for her company’s needs.

OpenAI faces ‘brutal’ challenge as Aussie start-ups pick and choose

There is cutthroat competition for Australian AI customers and some start-ups say OpenAI is starting to lag the likes of Google and Anthropic.

Lockheed Martin’s F-35A Lightning II military jet.

There are still cheap, quality stocks out there. Here’s where to look

There is a once-in-a-generation opportunity in global markets that could deliver strong returns regardless of how AI mania plays out.

November 2025

Google co-founder Sergey Brin with his then wife Nicole Shanahan in 2019.

Sergey Brin gifts $1.7b in Alphabet shares after fortune surges

The world’s fourth-richest person also gave away shares to charities in May. The Google co-founder’s fortune gained $149 billion this year on the AI rally.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/company/microsoft-hqw