TechEchelon | Business and Finance

Mach Industries Raises $300 Million Series C at $1.8 Billion Valuation, Nearly Quadrupling Worth in One Year

Mach Industries, a three-year-old defense tech startup, has raised a $300 million Series C at a $1.8 billion valuation — nearly four times its worth from a year ago — as investor appetite for autonomous weapons developers surges.

Alphabet Plans $80 Billion Stock Sale to Fund AI Infrastructure Buildout

Alphabet announced plans to raise $80 billion through stock sales, including a $10 billion investment from Berkshire Hathaway, to expand AI compute infrastructure as demand exceeds the company's available supply.

HPE Surges 30% After Second-Quarter Revenue Jumps 40%, Posting Biggest EPS Beat Since 2018

Hewlett Packard Enterprise shares surged 30% on Monday after the company reported second-quarter revenue of $10.68 billion — up 40% year over year — and posted its biggest earnings-per-share beat since February 2018, fueled by record server demand.

Strategy Sells Bitcoin for First Time Since 2022, Shares Drop More Than 6%

Strategy sold 32 bitcoin for $2.5 million between May 26 and May 31 — only the second bitcoin sale in the company's history — sending shares down more than 6% and bitcoin to its lowest level since April 13.

Wall Street Analysts Raise Price Targets on Datadog, Micron, and Lam Research Amid AI Spending Wave

Top-ranked analysts at Bank of America, UBS, and Mizuho have raised price targets on Datadog, Micron Technology, and Lam Research, citing sustained AI infrastructure demand, long-term supply agreements, and accelerating semiconductor spending.

Snap Alumni Launch Ghost Angels Fund to Back Next Generation of Social Media Startups

Twenty Snap alumni have launched Ghost Angels, a fund targeting pre-seed and seed AI startups in social media and consumer tech, with plans to back at least 20 companies in total.

Trump Signs AI Executive Order Requiring Early Government Access to Frontier Models

President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday asking AI developers to voluntarily provide the federal government with access to frontier models up to 30 days before public release, citing national security and the need to evaluate advanced cyber capabilities.

Trump Taps Housing Regulator Bill Pulte as Acting Director of National Intelligence

President Trump named Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence, replacing Tulsi Gabbard. The appointment drew criticism from Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Democrats, with Thune saying the role requires "professionals."

Commerce Department Moves to Close AI Chip Export Loophole Targeting Chinese-Owned Firms

The Commerce Department issued new guidance on Sunday clarifying that a license is required to sell advanced AI chips to firms with Chinese parent companies, even if those buyers are located outside China or other restricted countries.

Members of Congress Reaffirm Bipartisan Support for Taiwan After Trump Called Arms Sales a "Negotiating Chip"

Members of Congress attending the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore reaffirmed bipartisan support for Taiwan's security after President Trump referred to $14 billion in congressional-approved arms sales as a "negotiating chip" with China.

Indian Court Rules Against Google's Keyword Advertising Practices, Sparking Broader Debate

A Delhi High Court found Google liable for trademark infringement over keyword advertising practices in a ruling involving bathroom fittings brand Hindware, awarding ₹3 million in damages and prompting prominent Indian founders to renew criticism of the search giant's ad platform.

Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks DOJ's $1.8 Billion Anti-Weaponization Fund

A federal judge in Virginia has temporarily blocked the DOJ from creating or disbursing money from its $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund, scheduling a June 12 hearing to decide whether the injunction will hold.

Microsoft Launches Its Own AI Models at Build Conference, Aiming to Reduce Dependence on OpenAI

Microsoft unveiled two proprietary AI models at its Build developer conference — a coding model and a reasoning model — as it moves to reduce its reliance on OpenAI and offer developers lower-cost alternatives on Azure.

AI Boom Leaves Nearly Half of U.S. Unicorn Startups Without Fresh Funding as Valuations Crater

Nearly half of America's 857 unicorn startups have gone three years without fresh funding, PitchBook data shows, as the AI boom redirects capital toward AI-native firms and leaves pre-ChatGPT companies stranded with eroding valuations.

Nvidia's N1X PC Chip Debut Sparks Tech Rally as SoftBank and Wells Fargo Add to AI Momentum

Nvidia's unveiling of the N1X PC processor at Computex, SoftBank's 75 billion-euro France AI commitment, and Wells Fargo's raised Microsoft price target converged on Monday to drive a broad rally in global technology stocks.

KC Green Settles With AI Startup Artisan Over "This Is Fine" Meme Ad Campaign

Cartoonist KC Green, creator of the "This is fine" meme, has settled with AI startup Artisan after the company used a version of his iconic dog-in-flames illustration in transit ads promoting its AI sales assistant Ava.

SoftBank Plans 75 Billion Euros in AI Infrastructure Investment Across France

SoftBank Group plans to invest 45 billion euros over five years on AI data centers in France's Hauts-de-France region, part of a broader 75-billion-euro program representing the Japanese company's largest AI infrastructure commitment in Europe.

GitHub Copilot Switches to Token-Based Billing, Sparking Developer Backlash

Microsoft is moving GitHub Copilot to token-based billing on June 1, replacing its flat subscription rate — a shift that some developers say could multiply their monthly costs by 10 to 60 times.

Microsoft Launches Its Own AI Models at Build Conference, Aiming to Reduce Dependence on OpenAI

Microsoft unveiled two proprietary AI models at its Build developer conference — a coding model and a reasoning model — as it moves to reduce its reliance on OpenAI and offer developers lower-cost alternatives on Azure.

Trump Signs AI Executive Order Requiring Early Government Access to Frontier Models

President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday asking AI developers to voluntarily provide the federal government with access to frontier models up to 30 days before public release, citing national security and the need to evaluate advanced cyber capabilities.

Trump Taps Housing Regulator Bill Pulte as Acting Director of National Intelligence

President Trump named Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence, replacing Tulsi Gabbard. The appointment drew criticism from Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Democrats, with Thune saying the role requires "professionals."

Mach Industries Raises $300 Million Series C at $1.8 Billion Valuation, Nearly Quadrupling Worth in One Year

Mach Industries, a three-year-old defense tech startup, has raised a $300 million Series C at a $1.8 billion valuation — nearly four times its worth from a year ago — as investor appetite for autonomous weapons developers surges.

Alphabet Plans $80 Billion Stock Sale to Fund AI Infrastructure Buildout

Alphabet announced plans to raise $80 billion through stock sales, including a $10 billion investment from Berkshire Hathaway, to expand AI compute infrastructure as demand exceeds the company's available supply.

WordPress Malware Campaign Uses Steam Profiles to Conceal Command-and-Control Data

GoDaddy security researchers have found malware on approximately 1,980 WordPress websites as part of a campaign that hides command-and-control data inside Steam Community profile comments using invisible Unicode characters.

Palo Alto GlobalProtect VPN Auth Bypass Flaw Actively Exploited, CISA Orders Federal Agencies to Patch by June 1

Palo Alto Networks has raised the severity of CVE-2026-0257, a GlobalProtect VPN authentication bypass flaw, to High after Rapid7 observed active exploitation across multiple customers dating back to May 17. CISA has ordered federal agencies to apply mitigations by June 1, 2026.

CIFSwitch Linux Flaw Enables Root Access on Major Distributions, PoC Released

A 19-year-old Linux kernel vulnerability called CIFSwitch allows unprivileged local attackers to forge CIFS authentication requests and gain root access, affecting Linux Mint, CentOS Stream 9, Rocky Linux 9, Kali Linux, and other major distributions.

Attackers Abuse ChatGPT Share Links to Serve Fake Outage Pages and Deliver Malware

Researchers at Push Security have uncovered a campaign dubbed "LLMShare" that abuses ChatGPT's content-sharing feature to display fake OpenAI outage pages hosted on chatgpt.com, redirecting users to download malware disguised as a desktop application.

Google Employee Charged with Fraud After $1.2 Million Polymarket Insider Trading Bet

Federal prosecutors charged Google engineer Michele Spagnuolo with money laundering, commodities fraud, and wire fraud, alleging he used internal search trend data to place Polymarket bets that earned him $1.2 million.

GCHQ Director Warns West Has a "Narrowing Window" to Counter Russian and Chinese Cyber Threats

GCHQ Director Anne Keast-Butler will warn Wednesday that the West faces a "narrowing window" to counter escalating cyber and hybrid threats from China and Russia, calling for cybersecurity to become "ten times more urgent."

Business and Finance

Mach Industries Raises $300 Million Series C at $1.8 Billion Valuation, Nearly Quadrupling Worth in One Year

Alphabet Plans $80 Billion Stock Sale to Fund AI Infrastructure Buildout

HPE Surges 30% After Second-Quarter Revenue Jumps 40%, Posting Biggest EPS Beat Since 2018

Strategy Sells Bitcoin for First Time Since 2022, Shares Drop More Than 6%

Wall Street Analysts Raise Price Targets on Datadog, Micron, and Lam Research Amid AI Spending Wave

Snap Alumni Launch Ghost Angels Fund to Back Next Generation of Social Media Startups

Politics

Trump Signs AI Executive Order Requiring Early Government Access to Frontier Models

Trump Taps Housing Regulator Bill Pulte as Acting Director of National Intelligence

Commerce Department Moves to Close AI Chip Export Loophole Targeting Chinese-Owned Firms

Members of Congress Reaffirm Bipartisan Support for Taiwan After Trump Called Arms Sales a "Negotiating Chip"

Indian Court Rules Against Google's Keyword Advertising Practices, Sparking Broader Debate

Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks DOJ's $1.8 Billion Anti-Weaponization Fund

Artificial Intelligence

Microsoft Launches Its Own AI Models at Build Conference, Aiming to Reduce Dependence on OpenAI

AI Boom Leaves Nearly Half of U.S. Unicorn Startups Without Fresh Funding as Valuations Crater

Nvidia's N1X PC Chip Debut Sparks Tech Rally as SoftBank and Wells Fargo Add to AI Momentum

KC Green Settles With AI Startup Artisan Over "This Is Fine" Meme Ad Campaign

SoftBank Plans 75 Billion Euros in AI Infrastructure Investment Across France

GitHub Copilot Switches to Token-Based Billing, Sparking Developer Backlash

Featured

Microsoft Launches Its Own AI Models at Build Conference, Aiming to Reduce Dependence on OpenAI

Trump Signs AI Executive Order Requiring Early Government Access to Frontier Models

Trump Taps Housing Regulator Bill Pulte as Acting Director of National Intelligence

Mach Industries Raises $300 Million Series C at $1.8 Billion Valuation, Nearly Quadrupling Worth in One Year

Alphabet Plans $80 Billion Stock Sale to Fund AI Infrastructure Buildout

Cybersecurity

WordPress Malware Campaign Uses Steam Profiles to Conceal Command-and-Control Data

Palo Alto GlobalProtect VPN Auth Bypass Flaw Actively Exploited, CISA Orders Federal Agencies to Patch by June 1

CIFSwitch Linux Flaw Enables Root Access on Major Distributions, PoC Released

Attackers Abuse ChatGPT Share Links to Serve Fake Outage Pages and Deliver Malware

Google Employee Charged with Fraud After $1.2 Million Polymarket Insider Trading Bet

GCHQ Director Warns West Has a "Narrowing Window" to Counter Russian and Chinese Cyber Threats