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1.	Broadcom and Apple Extend Tech Collaboration Through 2031 By Martin Peers Source: The Information

Broadcom and Apple agreed to expand their “longstanding technology collaboration through 2031,” Broadcom said in a securities filing, adding that the companies had struck “new multi year” agreements for Broadcom to develop and supply custom chips for Apple to use in various products.

Apple has long relied on Broadcom for technology to link its chips together so they can compute data more effectively. In late 2024, The Information reported that Apple was designing its first AI server chip, working with Broadcom on the networking technology.

Broadcom is a chip design partner for many big tech companies, including Google. Monday’s news sent Broadcom stock up 4% in pre-market trading.

2.	Microsoft to Cut 4,800 Jobs in Sales, Xbox; Sell Several Xbox Game Studios By Aaron Holmes Source: The Information

Microsoft is laying off 4,800 employees, primarily in its Xbox and sales units, chief people officer Amy Coleman said in a memo to staff Monday.

Coleman said that the cuts in sales were due to reorganizations as Microsoft shifts its business to focus more on AI products, including the creation of a new AI consulting unit announced last week, but added that “the roles eliminated today are not being replaced by AI.”

In a separate memo, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said Xbox will cut 1,600 roles immediately and sell at least four of its game studios. Xbox employs roughly 20,000 people, out of around 220,000 total employees at Microsoft.

Sharma told staff the cuts were necessary to make Xbox’s business sustainable, echoing her calls earlier this year for an overhaul of the Microsoft-owned gaming unit following slowing revenue growth and rising costs. “Our business today is not healthy,” Sharma wrote. “We are operating at margins that are 3–10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses.”

Sharma said that two studios Xbox owned, Compulsion and Double Fine, had been bought out by their management and would become independent. That will allow those studios to raise new capital and own the IP they created while they were a part of Xbox, according to someone with direct knowledge of the arrangements. While Xbox sold the studios to management for a nominal price, it also granted the studios enough cash to finish their current projects while raising new capital, this person said.

Two other studios, Ninja Theory and Undead Labs, had entered agreements to be bought by other companies, Sharma said in the memo without clarifying the buyers or price. A fifth studio, Arkane, was beginning legally required talks with regulators in France to explore a similar deal, she added. With the studio departures and other planned job cuts, Xbox expects to cut an additional 1,600 roles throughout the coming year, Sharma said.

Over the past decade, Xbox had acquired many smaller game studios in an effort to own more original games to pad out its Game Pass subscription service. Acquiring those studios raised costs without significantly bolstering sales of Game Pass among PC and mobile gamers, according to the person with direct knowledge of the business.

As the company sells smaller studios, Sharma is now planning to invest more in Xbox’s biggest in-house game properties such as Minecraft, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Halo, where she believes it has more of an edge to compete against rivals like Sony’s PlayStation, The Information previously reported.

3.	Beijing Considers Restricting Overseas Access to Top Chinese AI Models By Juro Osawa Source: Reuters

Chinese officials have held meetings to discuss the idea of restricting overseas access to China’s most advanced AI models, Reuters reported, citing three people familiar with the discussions..

In the meetings, led by China’s Ministry of Commerce, officials discussed putting limits on the most advanced Chinese modes, including both close-source and open-source ones, as well as those yet to be released, according to Reuters. The officials also talked about possible restrictions on who can invest in domestic AI startups, the report said.

The talks in Beijing come amid a growing AI rivalry between the U.S. and China. Last month, the Trump administration announced export controls on Anthropic’s most advanced AI models, Mythos and Fable 5. While the White House has recently lifted the restrictions on Fable 5, Washington continues to view cutting edge AI technology as a national security matter.

4.	SpaceX President Shotwell to Donate SpaceX Stock to Trump Accounts By Grace Kay Source: The Information

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said Monday that she planned to donate a portion of her SpaceX stock to the Trump Accounts program.

Shotwell wrote on X that the donation would be targeted to accounts for children between the ages of 11 and 17 “that live in areas with lower average household incomes with a bit more emphasis for those that live near our central Texas home.”

As of SpaceX’s IPO last month, Shotwell owned about 12.8 million shares of the rocket ship company, according to its securities filings. As a SpaceX employee, Shotwell will be able to start selling a portion of her shares by the fall.

The Trump Accounts program first launched on July 4. The initiative allows investment accounts established for children born between January 2025 and December 2028 to receive a one-time $1,000 contribution from the U.S. government.

Dell founder Michael Dell and hedge fund manager Ray Dalio have also agreed to donate to the program.

5.	Exclusive: Mercor Hit Over $2 Billion in Gross Annualized Revenue By Julia Hornstein Source: The Information

Mercor hit over $2 billion in gross revenue run rate in June, double its pace earlier this year, according to a person with direct knowledge of the company’s financials. The growth comes from increased demand from AI app developers and Fortune 500 customers looking to build their own or fine-tune existing AI models, the person added.

The three-year-old startup pays contractors, often with domain expertise in fields such as physics and finance, on an hourly basis to answer questions and create specialized data used for training AI models.

The company pays out 60% to 70% of its topline revenue to contractors, The Information reported last year, indicating its net revenue falls between about $600 million and $800 million. The company is profitable on a free cash flow basis, according to the person.

One of Mercor’s rivals, Handshake, increased its gross annualized revenue to $1 billion earlier this year, before paying contractors, though more recent revenue figures couldn’t be immediately learned.

Mercor CEO Brendan Foody said in September 2025 that Mercor was “the fastest growing company of all time” after it scaled from a $1 million to a $500 million run rate in 17 months. A month later, Mercor raised $350 million at a $10 billion valuation led by Felicis.