We bring you concise, up-to-the-minute coverage of the founders, funding rounds, and technologies shaping tomorrow. Expect clear explains, deal roundups, and stories that cut through the noise—so you can spot the next big move in tech, fast.
Artificial Intelligence
Not elected, not human—Albania’s AI minister sparks a new governance debate.
Artificial intelligence already supports a wide range of applications, from medical diagnostics and financial systems to logistics, manufacturing, defence and public service delivery. Now, it is starting to move closer to public office.
In January 2025, Albania introduced Diella, an AI-powered virtual assistant developed by the National Agency for Information Society, known as AKSHI, with support from Microsoft. Launched on the e-Albania platform, the government’s digital services portal, Diella helps citizens and businesses access official documents and services through voice assistance. She can also issue electronically stamped documents, which helps speed up administrative processes.
Then, in September 2025, Prime Minister Edi Rama announced that Diella would join his cabinet as the “Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence”. This move drew global attention. It also raised a simple question: what does it actually mean for a government to appoint an AI minister?
The case raises bigger questions for governments everywhere. Can an AI minister make public services faster and cleaner? Or does it create new risks around transparency, accountability and control?
Diella is not a humanoid robot sitting in a cabinet room. On screen, she appears as a digitally rendered woman wearing traditional-style Albanian clothing. Her name means “sun” in Albanian, a deliberate choice for a system meant to bring more light into public administration.
Her face and voice have become part of the controversy. Albanian actor Anila Bisha has said she agreed for her likeness to be used for the e-Albania public services platform, but not for a cabinet-level political role. In 2026, she took legal action to stop the government from using her image and voice for Diella. For now, the government has denied wrongdoing.
Diella began as a digital assistant on e-Albania. In that role, she helps users find services, request documents and navigate government processes online. For citizens, that can make public services feel less confusing. Businesses may also spend less time dealing with paperwork.
Her cabinet role is more political. The government wants Diella to support public procurement, where companies compete for government contracts. This is one of the most important areas of public spending. It is also one of the easiest places for corruption, favouritism and hidden influence to enter. The goal is to use AI to process information, check documents, support tender procedures and make the system more traceable.
That said, the government has emphasized that Diella is not replacing elected officials or civil servants. As per Enio Kaso, director of AI at AKSHI, each stage will be monitored and approved by human experts.
In May 2026, the Albanian government said it had completed the technical groundwork for the AI-powered public procurement system under the Diella project. The planned system would pull data from more than 40 digital public registries, reduce paperwork for businesses and support parts of the tender process. Earlier reports said the government hoped to have the full system ready by the end of 2026.
The government’s case for Diella is built around anti-corruption reform. Rama has said the goal is to “wipe out every potential influence on public biddings” and thus make public tenders “100% free of corruption”. That is a bold promise, especially in a country where procurement scandals have long damaged public confidence and complicated Albania’s path toward European Union membership.
At first glance, the logic is easy to understand. AI does not ask for bribes or favour a cousin—a big problem in the country, according to Rama—a friend or a political ally. It can apply the same rules across a large number of applications. Moreover, it can also leave a digital trail, which should make later review easier.
Some anti-corruption and governance experts see real potential in that approach. Dr. Andi Hoxhaj of King’s College London has said that if used well and programmed properly, AI could help procurement officials spot missing documents, check whether companies meet eligibility requirements and flag unusual patterns in bids. In practice, that could make the process more consistent and make it harder for individual officials to quietly bend rules.
Diella’s appeal is speed and consistency. Her weakness is dependence.
Like any AI system, Diella relies on the quality of the data, rules and models behind her. Erjon Curraj, an expert in digital transformation and cybersecurity, has warned that incomplete, outdated or biased data can lead to flawed results. Poor design could also cause the system to reject a valid supplier, miss signs of collusion or treat similar cases differently for reasons that are hard to explain.
In public procurement, those mistakes can have serious consequences. A wrongly flagged company could lose a major contract, and a corrupt bidder could slip through. Government agencies could hide behind the AI and say the system made the recommendation.
That leads to the biggest question: who is accountable when something goes wrong?
The answer cannot be “the AI” because Diella cannot resign. She cannot face voters. Nor can she be cross-examined in any meaningful human sense. Accountability has to sit with ministers, agencies, auditors and courts.
There is also the issue of transparency. If Diella is helping screen tenders, businesses need to know what criteria are being used. They also need a way to challenge incorrect decisions. Citizens should be told whether the AI is making recommendations or merely organizing information. Independent auditors need access to logs, data sources and decision pathways.
Without those safeguards, AI in government can become a black box. It may look modern from the outside, while making power harder to question.
Diella has also become a political symbol. Supporters see her as proof that a small country can move quickly and experiment with new forms of digital government. Critics see her as a distraction from deeper problems in Albania’s institutions.
Both readings can be true at the same time: Diella may help modernize public services, but she may also be used to project reform while older problems continue in the background.
That tension became clearer after the recent procurement investigations involving senior officials since Diella’s appointment. Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku has been accused by prosecutors of alleged misconduct linked to infrastructure tenders, which she denies. Senior figures at AKSHI, the agency behind Diella and e-Albania, have also been placed under house arrest as part of a separate public procurement investigation.
While these developments do not automatically discredit Diella, they may strengthen the argument for better digital oversight. More importantly, they also show that technology cannot carry the whole burden of reform.
If the institutions around an AI system are weak, the AI will not magically make them strong. Unclear procurement rules will still cause problems, and the process will still be compromised when political pressure shapes the data, the model or the final decision.
After all, AI can support integrity; it cannot replace it.
While Diella is already a public symbol of AI in government, her most important procurement role is still taking shape. This makes Albania’s experiment both ambitious and unfinished.
The more realistic model is simple: let AI handle repetitive, data-heavy administrative work. Let humans retain authority where judgment, context and public accountability matter.
That means AI can help draft tender criteria, check documents, summarise bids and flag risks. Human officials should still make final decisions, explain those decisions and take responsibility for them. Meanwhile, independent bodies should be able to audit the process, and businesses should have a clear appeal route when they believe the system has made a mistake.
Diella once said she felt “hurt” while responding in parliament to claims that her role was unconstitutional. While this made for a memorable moment, it is important to remember simulated emotion is not consciousness, speed is not wisdom, and pattern recognition is not moral judgment.
Albania’s AI minister is therefore neither a triumph nor a failure at this stage. She is a live test case. Other governments will be watching closely, especially as public services become more digital and more automated.
The lesson is not that AI should stay out of government, but that AI must enter government carefully. The technology needs clear limits, public oversight and human accountability.
Diella may help Albania build a faster and cleaner procurement system—or she may become a warning about giving too much symbolic power to systems people do not fully understand. The final judgment will not come from the title “AI minister”. It will come from what the system does, who controls it and whether citizens can trust the results.
M&A & IPOs
Why More Growth Companies Are Looking Beyond the Traditional IPO
Enhanced Games reached the public markets in less than six months.
In an era where traditional IPOs can take more than a year to complete, the speed of the company’s merger with A Paradise Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: APAD) stands out, particularly given the significantly tighter regulatory scrutiny surrounding SPAC transactions since 2021.
The transaction highlights why some growth-stage companies are evaluating special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) as a viable alternative to the traditional IPO process.
Led by Dr. Aron D’Souza and backed by investors including Peter Thiel and Christian Angermayer, Enhanced Games announced its Business Combination Agreement with APAD in November 2025. The transaction closed in May 2026, bringing the company to the public markets materially faster than the timeline typically associated with a conventional IPO.
For decades, the traditional IPO has been considered the default route for private companies entering the public markets. But for many high-growth businesses today, the process has become increasingly slow, expensive, and difficult to execute efficiently.
A conventional IPO can take well over a year to prepare, involving extensive audits, regulatory reviews, underwriter coordination, investor roadshows, and careful timing against market conditions. During that period, companies remain exposed to volatility, shifting investor sentiment, and delayed access to capital. According to EY, many companies postponed planned IPOs amid market volatility and uncertainty surrounding U.S. tariff announcements, highlighting how sensitive IPO execution can be to broader market conditions.
For businesses operating in fast-moving industries, timing matters. Delayed access to liquidity can slow expansion, hiring, acquisitions, partnerships, and product development at critical stages of growth.
That is one reason why the merger between Enhanced Games and APAD is notable. The SPAC structure allowed Enhanced Games to negotiate valuation, governance terms, and financing arrangements early in the process, compressing many of the steps normally associated with a conventional IPO into a single transaction.
Enhanced Games operates across sports, media, performance science, and wellness, sectors that require significant upfront investment and rapid execution. Earlier access to public capital provided the company with liquidity, visibility, and strategic flexibility at an important stage of growth.
The public listing also gives the company tradable equity that can potentially support acquisitions, partnerships, athlete compensation structures, sponsorship arrangements, and future fundraising initiatives. These capabilities are particularly relevant in industries evolving as rapidly as sports entertainment, wellness, and human-performance science, where speed itself can become a competitive advantage.
The deal also highlights one of the SPAC market’s core advantages: the ability to combine capital raising and public-market entry within a single process.
Beyond speed, the SPAC structure offered Enhanced Games another major advantage: earlier visibility into valuation.
In a traditional IPO, pricing is largely determined near the end of the process through institutional book-building and investor demand during the roadshow phase. Even late-stage IPO candidates can face valuation cuts, downsized offerings, or postponed listings if market conditions weaken.
Recent IPO markets have repeatedly demonstrated this risk. Instacart went public in 2023 at an approximate US$9.9 billion valuation, which is dramatically below the US$39 billion private valuation it achieved during the 2021 market peak. Similarly, WeWork’s failed IPO attempt became one of the clearest examples of how rapidly investor sentiment can shift during the IPO process.
SPAC mergers operate differently.
Enhanced Games secured an implied enterprise valuation of approximately US$1.2 billion months before closing the transaction. While the merger still required SEC review and shareholder approval, the company gained significantly greater visibility into deal economics much earlier in the process.
That certainty is particularly valuable for growth companies whose valuations are tied more closely to long-term platform potential than near-term profitability.
Rather than relying entirely on shifting IPO market sentiment, the SPAC structure allowed Enhanced Games to negotiate around its broader growth strategy and future expansion plans from the outset.
The Enhanced Games transaction also reinforces why some growth-stage companies evaluate SPACs as an alternative to the traditional IPO process.
Traditional IPO investors often prefer businesses with long operating histories, stable earnings, and predictable growth profiles. Many expansion-stage companies simply do not fit that model yet, even if their long-term opportunities are substantial.
SPACs offer a different pathway.
Instead of waiting years to achieve the operational maturity typically expected in a conventional IPO, companies can access public-market capital earlier while still in growth mode.
For Enhanced Games, early access to the public markets provides more than capital. Public equity can support acquisitions, partnerships, athlete compensation structures, sponsorship arrangements, and future fundraising efforts. These capabilities are particularly important in sectors evolving as rapidly as sports entertainment, wellness, and human-performance science, where speed itself can become a competitive advantage.
The transaction also highlights how the SPAC market has evolved since the speculative boom of 2020 and 2021.
Today’s de-SPAC environment operates under significantly tighter regulatory scrutiny, including enhanced disclosure requirements, greater SEC oversight, and stricter treatment of projections and liability standards.
The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance noted that redemption rates spiked in 2022, in some cases approaching 100%, contributing to a significant slowdown of the SPAC activity.
In response to rising investor concerns and regulatory pressure, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission adopted enhanced SPAC disclosure and liability rules in 2024 designed to align de-SPAC transactions more closely with traditional IPO standards. Sponsors also faced greater pressure to demonstrate financing certainty, stronger disclosures, and more credible post-merger execution.
Enhanced Games completed its transaction within this more disciplined environment.
Its Form S-4 included audited financial statements, governance disclosures, transaction details, and extensive risk-factor analysis subject to SEC review. The company also supplemented SPAC trust proceeds with a separately arranged US$40 million PIPE financing commitment designed to strengthen liquidity and improve deal certainty.
That structure reflects a more institutional and disciplined SPAC market than the speculative wave seen several years ago.
The Enhanced Games transaction demonstrates that, despite tighter regulation and a far more selective market environment, SPACs can offer certain growth companies a practical alternative to the traditional IPO.
For businesses prioritising speed, capital access, and execution certainty, a well-structured de-SPAC transaction may provide a more efficient route to the public markets, particularly when supported by credible financing, disciplined structuring, and strong investor backing.
Ecosystem Spotlights
An interview with Tengin founder Madhu on turning coconuts into a business built around farmers, villages and communities.
In Southern India, coconuts are part of daily life. They are used in food, rituals, farming and home remedies. For Tengin, a social startup whose name means “coconut” in Kannada—a South Indian language—the crop also offers a way to build a rural business with deeper local impact.
Founded by Madhu Kargunda in 2017, Tengin works with farmers, artisans and women’s collectives in Karnataka to make products from almost every part of the coconut. Its range includes virgin coconut oil, desiccated coconut powder, shell-based handicrafts, candles, home décor items and other coconut-based goods.
The larger idea is simple. Farmers should play a bigger role in the value created from the crops they grow. Tengin is trying to help rural communities move beyond supplying raw produce and take part in processing, branding, packaging and sales.
Madhu grew up in an agricultural family. Over the years, he saw many young people move away from farming to look for stable jobs in cities. To him, the problem was not farming itself. The bigger issue was that farmers often missed out on the value created after crops left the farm.
A coconut might be grown in a village, but much of the income comes later through processing, branding and retail. That gap stayed with him, eventually leading him to leave his eight-year career in IT and return to agriculture full-time.
Started with just making virgin coconut oil, Tengin has grown into a wider coconut products business. The startup is now working with around 15 to 20 farmers and artisan groups across Karnataka. It is also building production capacity for larger retail and B2B partnerships.
Today, Tengin generates annual revenue of roughly ₹50-60 lakh, or around US$52,000 to US$62,000. It has also started testing international demand, including a recent export of around 200 kilograms of desiccated coconut powder to Texas.
As Tengin expanded, the team began looking more closely at parts of the coconut that were usually treated as waste or low-value byproducts, such as coconut shells and coir. At first, Tengin treated them that way too.
“When we started, we used to burn some of the shells”, Madhu said. “Later, we realized it was an economic opportunity”.
That changed the company’s product strategy. Local artisans working with Tengin now are turning coconut shells into bowls, incense holders, candles, coffee mugs, mobile stands and handcrafted décor items.
This gives Tengin a place in the circular economy, where waste materials are reused instead of thrown away. For Madhu, though, sustainability has to do more than reduce waste. It should also create income in the community.
“We wanted to minimize waste and maximize wealth locally”, he said.
Tengin does not depend only on one central factory. Instead, it works with smaller village-level production groups that connect to a larger business network. This helps farmers stay close to their land while also taking part in processing and manufacturing. It also creates local jobs, which can reduce the pressure to migrate to cities.
Yet, the model is not always easy. In the early days, Tengin had to convince some farmers to move from chemical farming to natural farming. Moreover, the weather has also become harder to predict. Irregular rainfall and changing harvest cycles can affect coconut prices and production consistency.
Still, Madhu sees the village-based model as central to Tengin’s identity. For him, villages are living systems built on shared work, local knowledge and interdependence.
“The definition of a village is inclusiveness”, he said.
That belief also shaped Tengin’s “coco tourism” initiative. Through the program, visitors meet farmers, learn about farming practices and see how coconut products are made.
During one visit by MBA students from Indiana State University, an unexpected spell of rain gave the group a closer look at village life. Farmers gathered and began singing traditional folk songs to express gratitude to nature. For the students, it became a lesson in culture as much as business.
Madhu sees these moments as part of what rural entrepreneurship can protect.
“If villages become empty, we lose language, traditions and local knowledge too”, he said.
Tengin’s model is not difficult to copy on paper. Madhu is open about that.
“Anyone can do it”, he said, “but what matters is how you work with people”.
For him, the harder part is building long-term trust with farming communities. Tengin works through relationships more than rigid contracts. This encourages farmers and local groups to participate in the system in a more collaborative way.
That trust has become one of the startup’s strongest assets. It shapes how Tengin works with producers and how it presents its products to customers.
For Madhu, it is not enough to call a product sustainable. Customers should be able to understand where it came from, who made it and how their purchase supports the people behind it.
That matters even more in a market where terms like “eco-friendly” and “organic” have become buzzwords. Madhu knows that these words can feel empty when brands do not show what they actually mean.
“Anyone can use these words today,” he said. “What matters is whether consumers can actually see what you are doing”.
This is why Tengin focuses on transparency and storytelling. The startup wants customers to see the full journey of each coconut product, from the farm to the finished item. It also wants them to understand whose livelihood is connected to that journey.
Madhu also believes small brands cannot depend on products alone. Products can be copied, but a clear story, a trusted community and a visible impact are harder to replicate.
“Don’t try to sell only the product,” he said. “When you try to sell the product, you are being sold once”.
Each Tengin product includes details about the people behind it and how profits are shared. In that way, the company connects its coconut products to the farmers, artisans and village systems that make them possible.
For Madhu, entrepreneurship starts with the problem. Founders, he believes, should understand the problem deeply before thinking about scale and revenue.
“An entrepreneur is someone trying to solve an existing problem”, he said. “Sometimes it may be a small problem, sometimes a niche one. It could be in technology, energy, farming or any other sector—but first understand what problem you are trying to solve”.
Farming has also taught him patience. He gives the example of coffee.
“When you plant coffee, you know it may take five years before you see results”, he said, “but you still [have to] water it every day”.
He sees entrepreneurship the same way. Building systems, communities and trust takes time. Growth may be slow at first, but daily work matters.
Adaptability is another lesson he returns to often. Farming conditions change constantly, and so do markets. In both cases, people have to keep learning, unlearning and adjusting.
“Entrepreneurship is about constantly learning new things because the world is changing all the time”, he said. “You need to stay relevant, understand what connects with [your customers] and adapt accordingly”.
Looking ahead, Tengin plans to grow its farmer network, strengthen production capacity and expand its export business. Madhu is also looking to collaborate with more platforms, storytellers and communities that can help amplify the voices behind the products.
The startup is also involved in rural community initiatives, including support for government schools and menstrual health awareness programs.
For Madhu, giving back is part of how he defines success. With more resources, he would invest further in farmer education, village-level production systems and community development.
By building a business around coconuts, Tengin is also making a larger case for rural entrepreneurship. Its work shows that a modern consumer brand can grow without losing its connection to the farmers, traditions and village ecosystems that make that growth possible. For Madhu, that is the real measure of progress: creating value that stays rooted in the community.
Operations & Scale
The CE approval opens Europe for Cornerstone Robotics as the company expands its global surgical robotics business
As surgical robotics companies expand beyond domestic markets, regulatory approvals are becoming a critical part of global growth. Companies are no longer competing only on hardware and clinical performance. They are also competing on their ability to enter tightly regulated healthcare systems and build long-term hospital partnerships.
Hong Kong-based Cornerstone Robotics is now moving further into that phase of expansion after its Sentire Endoscopic Surgical System received CE Mark certification under the European Union’s Medical Device Regulation framework.
The approval allows the company to commercialize the system across European markets for minimally invasive procedures in general surgery, gynecology, thoracic surgery and urology. For surgical robotics companies, regulatory approvals often represent more than product validation. They also determine market access, hospital adoption opportunities and long-term commercial scale.
Cornerstone Robotics has already been building clinical operations in the UK ahead of the approval. Since 2025, the company has worked with Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust on clinical investigations involving the Sentire Surgical System. According to the company, the system has been used across procedures involving urology, gynecology and gastrointestinal surgery. The company says the clinical investigation helped generate real-world data to support physician training, research and future adoption efforts.
Alongside the regulatory approval, Cornerstone Robotics is also expanding its local operations in Europe. The company established a UK subsidiary in 2025 and has been developing training, clinical support and after-sales service capabilities for hospitals using the system.
That operational buildout reflects a larger challenge inside surgical robotics. Hospitals adopting robotic systems often require ongoing clinical training, technical support and workflow integration alongside the hardware itself.
Cornerstone Robotics says its strategy centers around vertically integrated development across engineering, software, imaging and robotics systems. The company argues that this structure gives it greater control over product development, supply chain management and long-term operational stability.
Professor Samuel Au, Founder and CEO of Cornerstone Robotics, said: "Receiving CE Certification marks a major milestone in Cornerstone Robotics' evolution from a technology innovator to a global clinical solutions provider. From our first clinical investigation in Portsmouth, UK, to achieving European regulatory approval, each step of the journey reflects our commitment to proprietary innovation, product excellence, and clinical value. Looking ahead, we will continue expanding into key global markets and partnering with leading medical institutions to bring high-quality surgical robotic solutions to more physicians and patients worldwide."
The CE approval also comes several months after the company completed an oversubscribed financing round of approximately US$200 million in November 2025.
The funding and regulatory expansion together signal how surgical robotics companies are increasingly entering a more commercially focused stage of growth. Beyond research and development, companies are now investing more heavily in regulatory approvals, hospital partnerships, physician training and international operational infrastructure as competition expands across global healthcare markets.
Operations & Scale
The US$50.8 million deal strengthens TECO’s push into modular infrastructure and faster data center deployment across Southeast Asia.
TECO Electric & Machinery is expanding further into Southeast Asia’s AI data center infrastructure market through a new acquisition in Malaysia.
The Taiwan-based company has signed an agreement to acquire approximately 78 percent of Malaysian engineering firm Dynaciate Engineering in a deal valued at around MYR 200 million (US$50.8 million). According to TECO, the acquisition is aimed at strengthening its modular data center manufacturing capabilities and supporting its expansion across Southeast Asia’s data center infrastructure sector.
Under the agreement, Dynaciate will become TECO’s global manufacturing hub for modular data center and power equipment products. The company will also serve as an engineering hub supporting TECO’s regional expansion efforts, particularly in AI data center infrastructure projects.
TECO Chairman Morris Li said the integration between both companies has improved execution efficiency and increased the company’s in-house modular prefabrication capabilities. According to the company, the collaboration has reduced data center delivery timelines to as little as six months.
Dynaciate is headquartered in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Its facilities span approximately 36,000 square meters and include eight production buildings focused on stainless steel and carbon steel fabrication. The company said the site is also eligible for export tax incentives that support future global supply chain deployment.
According to TECO, Dynaciate has experience in engineering, steel fabrication and large-scale industrial projects for multinational corporations. The company added that Dynaciate has expanded into the data center engineering market since 2025 through projects involving international cloud service provider clients.
TECO estimates that after the acquisition, around 65 percent of future data center-related revenue will come from modular data centers and prefabricated products, while the remaining 35 percent will come from AI data center engineering projects. The company also forecasts that data center-related revenue within its Power & Energy Business Group will rise from below 10 percent to 30 percent this year.
Dynaciate CEO Ng Kim Thiea said the company is entering a new phase of growth through the partnership with TECO. He added that Dynaciate has extensive experience supporting engineering and industrial projects across the region.
The acquisition marks a further expansion of TECO’s presence in the AI data center infrastructure sector as companies continue increasing investments in modular infrastructure and regional engineering capacity.
Artificial Intelligence
AI growth is increasingly becoming a manufacturing, packaging and deployment challenge — not just a computing one.
As AI companies continue scaling larger models and data centers, the pressure is no longer falling only on chip design. Manufacturing capacity, advanced packaging and infrastructure deployment are becoming equally important parts of the AI race. AMD’s latest investment announcement reflects how quickly that shift is accelerating.
The US chipmaker announced plans to invest more than US$10 billion across Taiwan’s semiconductor and manufacturing ecosystem to support next-generation AI infrastructure. The investment focuses on expanding partnerships and increasing advanced packaging capacity needed for future AI systems.
The announcement highlights a growing reality across the AI industry. Building powerful AI chips is no longer enough on its own. Companies now also need the manufacturing networks, packaging technologies and supply chain coordination required to deploy AI infrastructure at global scale.
AMD’s investments center heavily around advanced chip packaging, an area becoming increasingly critical as AI systems demand higher performance and greater power efficiency. Traditional chip architectures are struggling to keep pace with the size and complexity of modern AI workloads. Advanced packaging helps connect processors, memory and computing systems more efficiently while managing power and cooling limitations inside large-scale AI environments.
The company said it is working with Taiwan-based partners including ASE, SPIL and PTI to develop next-generation packaging technologies for its upcoming 6th Gen AMD EPYC processors, codenamed “Venice.” AMD also said it had qualified what it described as the industry’s first 2.5D panel-based EFB interconnect technology alongside PTI.
At the center of the broader strategy is AMD Helios, the company’s rack-scale AI infrastructure platform scheduled for deployment beginning in the second half of 2026. The platform combines AMD Instinct MI450X GPUs, 6th Gen EPYC CPUs, networking systems and AMD’s ROCm software stack into integrated AI infrastructure systems designed for hyperscale deployment.
Rather than selling individual processors alone, companies are increasingly building complete AI infrastructure platforms that combine hardware, software, cooling systems and power management into unified deployments. That transition is reshaping how AI infrastructure is designed, manufactured and delivered.
Taiwan is also becoming more deeply embedded in that process. AMD’s investment spans not only semiconductor packaging companies but also manufacturing and system integration partners including Sanmina, Wiwynn, Wistron and Inventec. The partnerships reflect Taiwan’s growing role as one of the operational centers of the global AI infrastructure economy.
Dr. Lisa Su, Chair and CEO of AMD, said: “As AI adoption accelerates, our global customers are rapidly scaling AI infrastructure to meet growing compute demand. By combining AMD leadership in high-performance computing with the Taiwan ecosystem and our strategic global partners, we are enabling integrated, rack-scale AI infrastructure that helps customers accelerate deployment of next-generation AI systems”.
Power efficiency is becoming another major challenge shaping AI infrastructure decisions. As AI workloads consume more electricity and generate more heat, infrastructure providers are increasingly being forced to rethink cooling systems, interconnect technologies and deployment economics.
AMD’s announcement signals how the AI competition is evolving beyond model development and raw computing power. The next stage may depend just as heavily on who can manufacture, package and deploy AI infrastructure fast enough to support global demand.
Scaling & Growth
As industrial drone adoption grows, startups are finding bigger opportunities in infrastructure, inspections and field operations.
As drone adoption grows across industrial sectors, more startups are moving beyond hardware sales and into service-based business models. Instead of simply selling drones, companies are increasingly trying to build recurring revenue through inspection, mapping and infrastructure-monitoring services. That shift is shaping ZenaTech’s latest expansion strategy.
ZenaTech is a Vancouver-based startup that develops AI drone and Drone as a Service (DaaS) technologies. The company has signed an offer to acquire an Alberta-based land surveying and geomatics business operating across Western Canada. If completed, the deal would mark ZenaTech’s first land surveying acquisition in Canada and its first major push into the oil and gas sector.
The move gives the startup something more valuable than just another acquisition target. It provides direct access to an industry where drones are already becoming part of everyday operations.
The Alberta surveying company works with oil and gas producers across Alberta, Eastern British Columbia and Saskatchewan. Its services include land surveying, geomatics, mapping and environmental support for infrastructure and energy development projects.
According to ZenaTech, drones are already used in roughly 80 percent of the target company’s existing projects. That matters because it reduces the operational gap between traditional surveying work and AI-powered automation.
Rather than introducing drones into a completely manual workflow, ZenaTech is entering a business where drone-based data collection is already established. The startup says it plans to build on that foundation by integrating more AI-powered capabilities across surveying, mapping, inspections and infrastructure monitoring.
Shaun Passley, Ph.D., CEO of ZenaTech, said: "This proposed acquisition represents an important strategic expansion of our Drone as a Service business into Canada’s oil and gas sector, one of the most significant energy markets in North America. This company brings an established commercial customer base, strong regional expertise, and extensive experience supporting surveying and geomatics projects including for some large producers. We believe there is a significant opportunity to further enhance these services through AI-powered drone technology for surveying, mapping, inspections, and infrastructure monitoring applications, enabling us to establish a core expertise that we can bring to this fast-growing global industry."
The timing is also significant. ZenaTech pointed to estimates showing the global oil and gas drone inspection services market is currently valued at around US$ 2.3 billion and projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of roughly 28.5 percent.
Much of that growth is being driven by energy companies looking for faster ways to inspect infrastructure, monitor remote sites and reduce manual field operations.
ZenaTech’s broader strategy centers around building a global DaaS network through acquisitions. Instead of creating local operations from scratch, the startup is acquiring existing service businesses with established customers and then layering drone automation and AI systems into those operations.
The company says its DaaS platform offers businesses and government clients subscription-based or on-demand drone services across areas such as inspections, surveying, maintenance, inventory management and precision agriculture.
The larger opportunity for startups in this space may not be drone manufacturing alone. Increasingly, the focus is shifting toward startups that can build scalable drone service networks and integrate them into industries that already rely on large-scale field operations. Oil and gas appear to be one of the next major targets for that expansion.
Artificial Intelligence
Huawei is betting that the future of AI infrastructure will depend as much on energy systems as on computing power
As AI companies build larger models and deploy more AI agents, the industry is running into a new constraint: electricity. The challenge is no longer just about computing power. It is increasingly about how to supply, manage and sustain the energy needed to run AI infrastructure at scale.
That was the central argument behind Huawei’s latest AI data center strategy unveiled at its Global AIDC Industry Summit in Dongguan.
The company introduced what it calls a grid-interactive AIDC strategy, focused on redesigning AI data centers around power supply, cooling systems and energy management. AIDC refers to AI data centers built specifically for large-scale AI computing workloads.
The announcement reflects a broader shift happening across the industry. As AI systems grow larger, data centers are consuming more electricity and generating more heat than traditional computing infrastructure was designed to handle. Companies are now being forced to rethink not just chips and servers, but the physical systems supporting them.
Huawei argues that future AI infrastructure will need closer coordination between computing systems and energy grids. The company says traditional data center designs are struggling to keep up with fluctuating AI workloads, rising power density and the growing use of renewable energy sources.
Hou Jinlong, Director of the Board of Huawei and President of Huawei Digital Power, said: "The booming AI industry, widely adopted large models, and numerous AI agents are creating huge energy demands, set to boost the global AIDC capacity. Electricity is essential for computing; energy is the foundation for AI long-term development. Computing and electricity will deeply synergize and empower each other, progressively building an integrated framework that brings together new power systems and AI infrastructure."
A large part of Huawei’s strategy focuses on power architecture. AI workloads can create sudden spikes in electricity demand, especially in high-density computing environments. To manage that, Huawei says it plans to develop new power systems that combine grid-friendly UPS infrastructure with energy storage technologies.
Cooling is becoming another major pressure point. AI servers generate significantly more heat than traditional enterprise systems and Huawei says liquid cooling is now becoming essential for large-scale AI deployments. The company introduced a liquid cooling system designed to improve long-term thermal management inside high-density AI environments.
Huawei is also pushing modular construction methods to reduce deployment times for AI data centers. Instead of building infrastructure entirely onsite, parts of the system can be prefabricated and tested in factories before installation.
Bob He, Vice President of Huawei Digital Power, said: "The global AI industry is booming, and the token demand surges. As such, the AIDC industry is entering the Token era."
As part of that shift, Huawei introduced a proposed measurement system called the TokEnergy Index. The company says the metric is designed to measure the relationship between energy consumption and AI computing output, rather than relying only on traditional data center efficiency metrics such as PUE.
The broader message behind the strategy is that AI infrastructure is becoming an energy engineering problem as much as a computing problem. As global demand for AI continues to rise, companies across the sector are beginning to realise that the future of AI may depend not only on better models, but also on whether power grids and data centers can keep up with them.
Artificial Intelligence
WIRobotics is betting that years of real-world movement data could shape the next generation of humanoid robots
Investor interest in humanoid robotics is continuing to grow as startups race to build systems capable of working alongside humans in real-world environments. That momentum was reflected after WIRobotics announced a KRW 95 billion (USD 68 million) Series B funding round to accelerate development of its humanoid robotics platform, ALLEX.
The Seoul-based startup said the funding comes roughly two years after its KRW 13 billion Series A round in 2024. JB Investment led the financing alongside investors including InterVest, Hana Ventures, Smilegate Investment, SBVA, NH Investment & Securities, Company K Partners, GU Investment and FuturePlay.
WIRobotics has spent the past several years building wearable robotics systems designed to assist human movement. The startup is now using that foundation to expand deeper into humanoid robotics and Physical AI, a category focused on AI systems that can interact with the physical world through movement, perception and manipulation.
Its humanoid platform, ALLEX, is being developed to support human-level object manipulation and interaction capabilities. The startup was recently selected for NVIDIA’s Physical AI Fellowship, a global robotics and AI development initiative aimed at supporting next-generation robotics research.
Rather than building humanoid systems entirely from scratch, WIRobotics is drawing on movement data collected through its wearable walking-assist robot, WIM. Over the past three years, the startup says it has built large real-world datasets around gait patterns, mobility and human movement control.
That wearable robotics business has also started showing commercial traction. WIM has sold more than 3,000 cumulative units and expanded into overseas markets including Europe, China, Türkiye and Japan. Revenue grew from KRW 560 million in 2023 to KRW 1.3 billion in 2024, then to KRW 2.79 billion in 2025. According to the startup, first-quarter 2026 revenue has already surpassed its full-year 2024 total.
The startup believes that real-world movement data collected through wearable robotics could become a competitive advantage as humanoid systems move closer to commercial deployment. WIRobotics is also expanding its global footprint alongside its robotics development efforts. The startup said it is establishing a North American entity in California while growing partnerships with overseas distributors and healthcare networks.
Its humanoid ambitions are moving into a more operational phase as well. Beginning later this year, WIRobotics plans to supply a research-focused version of its Mobile ALLEX platform to global research institutions and international partners for testing and collaborative development. The startup is also in discussions with a global automotive manufacturer around manufacturing-focused platform validation projects.
Yeonbaek Lee said: "This investment represents global recognition that the real-world movement data and control technologies accumulated through wearable robotics can evolve into next-generation humanoid robotics. We aim to accelerate the arrival of humanoid robots capable of interacting naturally with people".
Yongjae Kim added: "All investors from our previous Series A round participated again in this Series B financing, demonstrating strong confidence in WIRobotics' technological capabilities and growth potential amid intensifying global humanoid competition. Our mission is to realize humanoids capable of fundamentally human-like interaction and force control, driving a paradigm shift in high-performance manipulation technologies".
As competition intensifies across humanoid robotics, startups are increasingly trying to differentiate themselves through real-world deployment data rather than simulation alone. WIRobotics is positioning its wearable robotics business as the foundation for that transition, betting that years of human movement data could help shape the next generation of humanoid systems.
Hong Kong
METiS TechBio’s blockbuster IPO signals rising investor interest in AI startups focused on how drugs are delivered inside the body
Investors are beginning to place bigger bets on AI startups focused on drug delivery infrastructure rather than drug discovery alone. That shift was on display this week after METiS TechBio, a Hong Kong tech-bio startup focused on AI-powered drug delivery systems, debuted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The listing made METiS TechBio the world’s first publicly traded AI-powered drug delivery startup and the first AI-powered large-molecule biopharmaceutical startup listed in Hong Kong. The startup raised more than HKD 2.1 billion through its IPO, making it the largest healthcare listing in Hong Kong so far in 2026.
Investor demand was unusually strong. The Hong Kong public offering was oversubscribed by more than 6,900 times while the international tranche recorded 82 times oversubscription. More than 280 institutional investors participated in the international placing.
The strong demand reflects a wider shift in AI biotech. Over the past few years, much of the sector’s attention has focused on using AI to discover new drugs or molecules. METiS is taking a different approach. The startup focuses on how medicines are delivered inside the body after they are developed.
That challenge is becoming harder to ignore in biotech. Designing a therapy is only one part of the process. Delivering it precisely to specific organs, tissues or cells remains a major hurdle, especially for newer therapies involving RNA, proteins and large-molecule drugs.
METiS is trying to solve that problem through its proprietary NanoForge platform. The system uses AI to design and test nanodelivery systems that help medicines reach targeted areas inside the body more efficiently. The platform combines AI models, simulation systems and high-throughput screening tools to speed up formulation development and improve delivery precision.
The startup says it has already achieved targeted delivery across eight organs and tissue systems including the liver, lungs, heart, muscles and central nervous system.
One of its lead programs, MTS-004, became China’s first AI-enabled formulation drug to complete a Phase III clinical trial. The drug is being developed for pseudobulbar affect, a neurological condition that affects emotional expression. According to the startup, AI tools helped reduce preclinical formulation development time from up to two years to less than three months.
Investor interest in the IPO also came from some of the world’s largest asset managers and healthcare funds. BlackRock led the cornerstone investments with a USD 50 million subscription. Other participating investors included UBS Asset Management Singapore, Mirae Asset, ORIX Corporation, Deerfield, RTW, Hillhouse Capital and IDG Capital.
METiS is also building what it describes as a “platform collaboration + product partnership” business model. The startup currently works with more than 30 pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners globally, including large pharmaceutical companies and medical research institutions.
The company reported RMB 105 million in revenue in 2025, largely tied to upfront payments connected to its MTS-004 partnership agreements. It also said some platform collaboration contracts could reach milestone values of up to USD 109 million.
Chris Lai said: "The future of biomedicine will no longer be simply about 'taking medicine when one falls ill.' METiS TechBio's ambition is to harness AI to build nano-rockets that can navigate with precision through the inner space of the human body's 30 trillion cells, write the code of nucleic acids and proteins into cells, and reprogram diseased and aging cells into healthy cells. This was our founding aspiration, and it is the mission to which we will dedicate our lives. The IPO marks a new starting point for us to accelerate forward, and we will strive to live up to the support and trust we have received from all sectors."
The IPO also highlights how Hong Kong is increasingly positioning itself as a hub for next-generation biotech and AI healthcare startups. While investor excitement around AI drug discovery has cooled in parts of the market, startups focused on delivery systems and biotech infrastructure are beginning to attract stronger institutional backing.
For METiS, the challenge now will be turning that investor confidence into commercially viable therapies and long-term partnerships. But the listing suggests that AI-driven drug delivery is starting to emerge as a category investors are willing to treat as core biotech infrastructure rather than a niche research experiment.