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Xiaomi recruits DeepSeek wunderkind Luo Fuli to turbocharge MiMo

Naushad K. Cherrayil
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Xiaomi recruits DeepSeek wunderkind Luo Fuli to turbocharge MiMo
  • Luo, known domestically as an “AI prodigy,” rose to prominence after prolific research contributions and roles at Alibaba and High-Flyer Quant/DeepSeek before helping build DeepSeek-V2.

Luo Fuli, a prominent developer behind DeepSeek’s frontier AI models, said she has joined Xiaomi to work on artificial general intelligence, confirming months of speculation in a WeChat post.

“Intelligence will ultimately step beyond language into the physical world. I’m at Xiaomi MiMo… striving toward the AGI we envision,” she wrote, signaling a push to embed advanced AI across Xiaomi’s devices and vehicles.

Luo’s move follows reports that Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun personally courted her with a multimillion-dollar package, as the company looks to elevate its MiMo large language model and compete with leading Chinese and global AI systems.

Luo’s track record at DeepSeek—where models matched or beat top systems at lower cost—positions Xiaomi to accelerate on-device intelligence for phones and its expanding EV platform. Local industry coverage highlights that Luo’s appointment aligns with Xiaomi’s strategy to advance MiMo and AGI-oriented research in-house.

Xiaomi claims its MiMo-7B has outperformed larger peers on selected benchmarks, a sign the company aims to optimise smaller, efficient models for real-world applications.

Luo, known domestically as an “AI prodigy,” rose to prominence after prolific research contributions and roles at Alibaba and High-Flyer Quant/DeepSeek before helping build DeepSeek-V2, experience that could help Xiaomi close the gap with rivals in both cloud and edge AI deployment.

Anthropic to invest $50b in US data centres with Fluidstack

Ana Mary Joseph
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Anthropic to invest $50b in US data centres with Fluidstack
  • Expected to create roughly 800 permanent jobs and 2,400 construction jobs as facilities come online through 2026.

Anthropic said it will invest $50 billion to build custom data centres in the United States in partnership with infrastructure provider Fluidstack, starting with sites in Texas and New York and additional locations to follow.

The buildout, designed around the company’s Claude AI models, is expected to create roughly 800 permanent jobs and 2,400 construction jobs as facilities come online through 2026.

The spending plan adds to a surge of AI infrastructure investment across US. tech, with Anthropic citing alignment with the federal AI policy push to bolster domestic capacity. The Google- and Amazon-backed startup was valued at about $183 billion in early September, underscoring investor confidence as enterprises accelerate AI adoption; the company says it now serves more than 300,000 enterprise customers.

Record capex investments

Anthropic’s facilities will be custom-built to support training and inference at scale for its Claude family, reflecting industry momentum to secure compute capacity amid tight supply of advanced chips and power.

The Texas and New York projects mark the first phase of a broader US expansion in data centre infrastructure, developed jointly with Fluidstack to optimise performance and efficiency for frontier models 125.

The company framed the outlay as a long-term commitment to US-based AI leadership and domestic technology infrastructure, with initial sites slated to begin coming online in 2026. The initiative follows a year of record AI-related capex announcements across Big Tech and hyperscalers as demand for model training and enterprise AI workloads surges.

IBM unveils experimental ‘Loon’ quantum computing chip

Ana Mary Joseph
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IBM unveils experimental ‘Loon’ quantum computing chip
  • The approach reduces the burden on purely quantum error-correction codes but requires more complex chip designs, with qubits supplemented by additional quantum interconnects.
  • IBM believes Nighthawk chip could outperform classical computers on select tasks by the end of next year.
  • To accelerate validation, IBM is collaborating with startups and academic researchers to openly share code and benchmarks.

IBM announced “Loon,” an experimental quantum computing chip that the company says marks a key step toward building useful, error-managed quantum computers before the end of the decade.

Quantum computers promise to tackle problems that would take classical systems thousands of years to solve, but fragile quantum states make today’s machines highly error-prone.

Tech giants including Alphabet’s Google and Amazon are racing alongside IBM to tame those errors and demonstrate quantum advantage in real-world tasks.

IBM has been pursuing a hybrid error-correction strategy it proposed in 2021, adapting algorithms originally designed to improve cellular signals and running them across both quantum processors and classical chips.

The approach reduces the burden on purely quantum error-correction codes but requires more complex chip designs, with qubits supplemented by additional quantum interconnects.

Quantum advantage

Jay Gambetta, director of IBM Research and an IBM Fellow, said access to the Albany NanoTech Complex in New York—equipped with tools on par with leading-edge semiconductor fabs—was critical to integrating the new quantum connections into Loon’s architecture.

The company did not disclose when external users will be able to test Loon, which remains in early stages. The company also unveiled “Nighthawk,” a separate chip slated to be available by year-end. IBM believes Nighthawk could outperform classical computers on select tasks by the end of next year.

To accelerate validation, IBM is collaborating with startups and academic researchers to openly share code and benchmarks.

“We’re confident there’ll be many examples of quantum advantage,” Gambetta said. “But let’s take it out of headlines and papers and actually make a community where you submit your code, and the community tests things, and they select out which ones are the right ones.”

Strong demand for premium smartphones drives India’s third-quarter shipments

Mohammed Fahad
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Strong demand for premium smartphones drives India’s third-quarter shipments
  • IDC forecasts a YoY decline in Q4 2025 shipments and expects overall 2025 annual shipments to fall below 150 million units, signaling a likely market contraction despite sustained interest in high-end devices.

India’s smartphone market soared to a five-year high in the third quarter of 2025 (3Q25), with shipments rising 4.3 per cent year-over-year (YoY) to 48 million units, according to the latest IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

The robust performance was fueled by a surge in demand for premium smartphones and successful new product launches, though the overall market remains pressured by declining demand in mass-market tiers and rising average selling prices (ASPs).

Key drivers

  • Premium momentum: Buoyant sales of premium and super-premium smartphones propelled overall growth. Attractive pricing, aggressive discounts, flexible payment plans, and enticing trade-in offers during the festive period played a crucial role in stimulating demand, especially for flagship Apple and Samsung models.
  • Apple’s record quarter: Apple achieved its highest-ever shipments in India, crossing 5 million units and capturing fourth place in the market for the first time. The iPhone 16 dominated as the most-shipped device, making up 5 per cent of total market shipments. The launch of iPhone 17 series and iPhone Air saw record-breaking debut demand, with these new models accounting for 16 per cent of Apple’s Q3 shipments—the strongest iPhone launch quarter since 2021.
  • Offline channel growth: Shipments via offline channels jumped 21.8 per cent YoY, expanding share to 56.4 per cent as brands emphasised retail promotions and trade partner incentives. Meanwhile, online sales declined 12 per cent YoY as the deepest discounts focused on higher-end models.

Segment-wise performance

  • Entry-level (sub $100): Grew 35.3 per cent YoY to 16 per cent share. Xiaomi, realme, and vivo led, together accounting for over half of shipments.
  • Mass-budget ($100–$200): Fell 8.8 per cent YoY; share declined from 45 per cent to 40 per cent. OPPO A5 and vivo T4X were top sellers.
  • Entry-premium ($200–$400): Down 4.9 per cent YoY; segment dropped to 26 per cent share. Motorola’s Edge 60 Fusion was the leading model.
  • Mid-premium ($400–$600): Rose 10.7 per cent YoY; now 4 per cent of the market, led by Samsung (notably the Galaxy S24).
  • Premium ($600–$800): Jumped 43.3 per cent YoY to a 6 per cent share. iPhone 16/15/17 made up over 70 per cent of shipments.
  • Super-premium ($800+): Soared 52.9 per cent YoY to 8 per cent share. Apple regained leadership (66 per cent share), followed by Samsung (31 per cent). Flagships including iPhone 16 Pro, Galaxy S24 Ultra, and Galaxy Z Fold7 drove demand.

Brand & channel trends

  • vivo: Maintained market leadership for the seventh consecutive quarter due to a broad portfolio and balanced retail strategy.
  • OPPO: Climbed to second place, overtaking Samsung through aggressive retail and trade promotions.
  • Motorola: Recorded the fastest YoY shipment growth (52.4 per cent) among top brands.
  • Qualcomm-based devices: Rose 17.9 per cent YoY, gaining a 29.2 per cent share, while MediaTek’s share slid to 46 per cent after a 9.7 per cent decline in shipments.
  • Offline momentum: Was bolstered by festive offers, high trade margins, and price adjustments. Online sales softened due to a focus on premium promotions, which hurt entry-level Android sales.

Challenges and outlook

The surge in the premium and super-premium segments pushed ASPs to a record $294 in Q3 2025—up 13.7 per cent YoY. However, this shift, along with inventory build-up and ongoing pressure on the mass market, creates uncertainty for the coming quarters. Brands are contending with rising component costs (especially for memory) and currency volatility, leading many to implement post-Diwali price hikes.

Looking ahead, IDC forecasts a YoY decline in Q4 2025 shipments and expects overall 2025 annual shipments to fall below 150 million units, signaling a likely market contraction despite sustained interest in high-end devices.

“Aggressive festive promotions and flexible financing options drove strong shipment volumes in Q3 2025. However, consumer demand remained concentrated in the premium segment, leaving the mass market under pressure and resulting in a significant inventory build-up heading into Q4 2025,” said Upasana Joshi, Senior Research Manager, Devices Research, IDC Asia Pacific.

Chinese hackers intensify cyber threats on Australia: Spy chief

Mohammed Fahad
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Chinese hackers intensify cyber threats on Australia: Spy chief
  • Successful attacks could cripple essential services —including banking, transportation, water supply, and power.

Australia’s top intelligence official has sounded a stark warning about the intensifying cyber threat posed by hackers linked to the Chinese government and military, revealing recent probes into the nation’s telecommunications network and critical infrastructure that could threaten the economy with sabotage.

Mike Burgess, Director-General of Security at the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), told business leaders in Melbourne that espionage—including cyber intrusions—cost Australia an estimated A$12.5 billion ($8.1 billion) last year. This figure includes the loss of A\2 billion in trade secrets and intellectual property.

Burgess pinpointed the activities of Chinese hacking groups “Salt Typhoon” and “Volt Typhoon,” identifying them as part of sophisticated operations directed by Chinese government intelligence and military agencies.

He noted that Salt Typhoon has targeted both US and Australian telecommunications systems as part of its broader espionage campaign. Meanwhile, Volt Typhoon is believed to seek disruptive capabilities, having compromised US critical infrastructure as a prelude to potential sabotage.

Concrete risks for Australia

“We have seen Chinese hackers probing our critical infrastructure as well,” Burgess cautioned, warning that successful cyberattacks could cripple essential services across the community—including banking, transportation, water supply, and power.

“These are not hypotheticals—foreign governments have elite teams investigating these possibilities right now,” he said, raising concerns about future scenarios such as economically motivated industrial sabotage or efforts to cause social panic during Australia’s elections.

China’s embassy in Australia has not publicly responded to the latest allegations and routinely denies involvement in hacking activities. Burgess also disclosed that Chinese officials have repeatedly lodged complaints with the Australian government and private sector following his public remarks about cyber risks from China—a campaign he said would not deter him from exposing security threats.

Google to invest €5.5b in German data centre expansion

Ana Mary Joseph
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Google to invest €5.5b in German data centre expansion
  • Germany seeks to attract tech investments to boost its economy and modernise the country.

Alphabet’s Google announced a major €5.5 billion ($6.41 billion) investment in Germany over the next several years to significantly expand its data centre infrastructure, the company and German government officials revealed.

Expansion details

  • The investment, scheduled for the 2026–2029 period, includes a newly constructed data center in Dietzenbach near Frankfurt and an expansion of Google’s existing facility in Hanau, both in the central state of Hesse.
  • Marianne Janik, Google Cloud’s Vice President for Northern Europe, said the plan will directly employ 100 people at each site, while Google’s German head, Philipp Justus, estimated the projects would secure up to 9,000 indirect jobs through economic spillover effects.
  • “The economic multiplier effect of this investment will be considerable,” Justus emphasized.

Strategic significance

Germany, recently challenged by high costs and bureaucratic hurdles, has been stepping up efforts to attract tech investments to boost its economy. Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil described Google’s move as a “truly important signal for Germany as a business location,” adding, “Our clear goal is to modernise our country and advance its economy.”

Klingbeil also referenced the recent $1.2 billion AI partnership between Deutsche Telekom and Nvidia, which underscores the rapid acceleration of digital infrastructure development in Germany.

Unlike some other large-scale tech investments, Klingbeil confirmed that Google will not be drawing on state subsidies for this project. However, he highlighted the German government’s creation of a large off-budget infrastructure fund now available to support modernisation initiatives, which is already drawing strong investor interest.

Germany’s central location, strong industrial base, and robust demand for cloud and AI services make it a strategic site for infrastructure expansion. Google’s announcement follows a series of major investments by global technology companies in Europe, reflecting growing competition to build out the backbone for next-generation digital services and AI applications.

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