Start Campus is planning an €8.5 billion ($9.35 billion) investment to establish a data center hub in Sines, Portugal, with the goal of positioning the country as a key player in AI and cloud services by 2030, according to reports.

In sports, Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou criticized the VAR system after a questionable decision in a match against Chelsea, advocating for AI-assisted officiating instead.

AI startup SandboxAQ has raised $150 million in funding from Nvidia and Google, bringing its Series E total to $450 million and giving the company a valuation of $5.75 billion. The firm specializes in quantum computing for drug discovery and financial modeling, as reported by various sources. Additionally, MLCommons has introduced new benchmarks for measuring the speed of AI applications, providing standardized metrics for performance evaluation, according to relevant news outlets.

In legal news, a jury trial involving Elon Musk and OpenAI is scheduled for Spring 2026, focusing on Musk's allegations that OpenAI has deviated from its original nonprofit mission, which the company disputes. This event coincides with concerns raised by pro-Palestinian protesters regarding Microsoft's AI deployment in military contexts.

On the financial front, the Nasdaq index is nearing a bear market following a substantial drop linked to rising U.S.-China tech tariffs, which has raised alarms about the growth prospects of major technology firms.

Meta Platforms is committing nearly $1 billion to a new data center in Wisconsin to bolster its AI infrastructure and is preparing to launch its latest large language model, Llama 4, by April 2025, featuring innovations aimed at enhancing reasoning and interaction capabilities.

Microsoft marked its 50th anniversary with advancements to its AI assistant, Copilot, making it more proactive and personalized, thereby reinforcing its standing in the competitive AI landscape.

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