Japan's imperfect, charming robot

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Tech Across the Globe

Meta hiring: The Facebook parent assembled a group of experienced executives, led by former Goldman Sachs and Trump administration official Dina Powell McCormick, to oversee its data center projects.

Meta firing: The Instagram parent is also cutting back on its fruitless virtual reality efforts, with plans to cut 10% of jobs in the loss-making Reality Labs division. In December, executives discussed budget cuts as high as 30% for the metaverse group, which sits inside Reality Labs.

UK probes X: Regulators are investigating Elon Musk’s social network X for potentially violating privacy laws after thousands of sexually suggestive images generated without consent by xAI’s Grok appeared on the platform.

Pricey packaging: SK Hynix plans to spend $12.9 billion building a new advanced chip packaging facility. Construction of the complex in the southern city of Cheongju will begin in April, targeting completion by the end of 2027.

Revalued

Alphabet Inc. broke above a $4 trillion market capitalization on Monday, becoming one of the few companies to ever cross the threshold as investors increasingly see the Google parent as one of the biggest winners of the AI boom. Apple and Google also confirmed a multiyear deal for Gemini to power Siri and other AI for the iPhone maker.

Must Read

Japan’s Sharp has released a $250 meerkat-shaped robot called Poketomo, meaning “a friend in your pocket.” Takashi Mochizuki spent a month with the adorable critter and wrote a review of the technology while also explaining the concept of mofu-mofu in today’s Tech In Depth essay.

Get the Tech In Depth newsletter for analysis and scoops about the business of technology from Bloomberg’s journalists around the world.

This Week in Soundbite

Spotify is trying to make peace in the music and podcasting industry after years of conflict with others, Ashley Carman reports in this week’s Soundbite. The Swedish streaming platform is stepping up its courtship of YouTube creators as it pushes deeper into video, she writes.

Sign up for the Soundbite newsletter to get exclusive reporting on podcasting, the music industry and audio trends from Ashley Carman.

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