AI and Tech News, 21 Oct 2026: Anthropic S-1, SpaceX, Braze

Here are the thirty-one biggest technology and AI stories of the day, from Anthropic's draft IPO filing and SpaceX's AI-driven quarter to Spotify's new paid podcast memberships.

1. Anthropic's Draft S-1 Shows $16.3B in First-Half Revenue, the WSJ Reports

The leaked filing reportedly shows an $80.7B net loss for the first half of 2026, mostly from non-cash accounting charges, with two customers making up about a fifth of sales.

2. SpaceX Revenue Rises 161% to About $14.6B as Its AI Unit Passes Starlink

The AI business brought in $7.56B in the third quarter, ahead of Starlink's $5.25B in connectivity revenue, and SpaceX posted its first operating profit as a public company.

3. Tesla and SpaceX Boards Form Special Committees to Review a Possible Merger

Musk said the committees of independent directors were set up at shareholders' request, have not agreed on any terms and may not reach a deal.

4. Salesforce Agrees to Buy Braze for About $5.66B in Cash

Salesforce will pay $47.50 per share, a 58% premium according to Axios, and plans to fold the customer engagement platform into its Marketing Cloud.

5. ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent Order Over $35B of Nvidia RTX PRO 5500 Cards, Reuters Reports

Sources say the three firms ordered more than 3 million of the export-compliant cards, though Nvidia has warned it may fill only a small share of Chinese orders.

6. Netflix Revenue Grows 12% to About $12.9B, but It Cuts Its 2026 Ad Forecast

Netflix now expects $2.7B in advertising revenue this year, down from $3B, and its shares fell after hours on the softer outlook.

7. Super Micro Raises Its Quarterly Revenue Estimate to $18.5B to $19.5B

The preliminary figure for the September quarter is well above its earlier $14.5B to $15.5B guidance, which the server maker credits mainly to demand for AI platforms.

8. A Power Failure in Google Cloud's London Region Disrupts Revolut and UK Banks

Google said one London zone lost power and backup generators failed to start, causing a multi-hour outage for banks, couriers and other services before most workloads recovered.

9. OpenAI Acquires Drug Development Startup Orchestra Bio

Orchestra's team and agent platform for coordinating drug programs will join Rosalind, OpenAI's life sciences suite; financial terms were not disclosed.

10. Google Open-Sources TorchTPU, a Native PyTorch Backend for Its TPUs

Released under the Apache 2.0 licence at PyTorch Conference, TorchTPU lets PyTorch developers run models on Google's chips with fewer code changes, challenging Nvidia's hold on AI developers.

11. DeepSeek Open-Sources DeepInfer, the Inference Engine Behind Its Services

The framework currently supports DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash and runs on Nvidia Blackwell GPUs and Huawei Ascend 950 chips, though some internal components remain closed.

12. Meta's Policy Chief Joel Kaplan Will Leave the Company in 2027

Kaplan, Meta's top Washington adviser for more than 15 years, will stay through the midterms, with Dina Powell McCormick and C.J. Mahoney taking over his duties.

13. Court Records Show TikTok Staff Warned Executives About Child Exploitation on Live, NPR Reports

Depositions reviewed by NPR say employees repeatedly raised alarms that went unaddressed; TikTok says the documents were cherry-picked and the claims have not been tested at trial.

14. UK Regulator Proposes Opening iPhone Contactless Payments to Rival Wallets

The CMA wants Apple to give rivals NFC access at fees substantially lower than today's, with a consultation running to November 17; Apple says the plan weakens privacy and security.

15. Qualcomm Plans Global Performance-Based Layoffs Starting in November

An internal memo from CEO Cristiano Amon, seen by Reuters, says cuts will follow annual reviews, though the company has not said how many jobs are affected.

16. Amazon Plans to Hire More Than 300,000 US Holiday Workers, Up 20%

It is the company's largest holiday hiring target, up from 250,000 in each of the past three years, as most other retailers pull back on seasonal hiring.

17. Amazon Plans to Invest More Than €16B in Germany in 2027

The package includes €4.8B to expand the AWS Frankfurt region, plus spending on AI data centers, Amazon Leo satellite internet and logistics.

18. Apple Commits Up to $100M to US Titanium Supplier Perryman for iPhone Duo

The three-year deal supports titanium made in Pennsylvania, and Apple says US suppliers now make nearly 100 components for the iPhone Duo and iPhone 18 Pro.

19. PHP Warns of Two Critical Remote Code Execution Flaws With Emergency Patches Due

The PHP team rated both flaws 9.2 and urged admins to prepare to update, while researchers at watchTowr say they have seen no exploitation in the wild.

20. Gemini's Personal Intelligence Rolls Out on Android Auto

The opt-in feature lets Gemini use Gmail, Calendar, Photos and Maps to answer drivers' questions, with cars that have Google built in getting it in the coming months.

21. Google Launches Gemini for Government Services in Preview

The agent platform for federal, state and local agencies handles tasks such as FOIA redactions and regulation reviews, with HHS and the State of Missouri among early users.

22. Claude Designs 17 Protein Binders Against Scorpion Toxins in a 64-Hour Run

Anthropic says Claude produced over 300,000 designs and 17 of 211 lab-tested ones bound their targets, though none have been tested as a treatment yet.

23. Otter.ai Raises $320M in Non-Dilutive Growth Funding From General Catalyst

The money comes from General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund, which earns returns from revenue rather than equity, and will fund enterprise and international expansion of the meeting tool.

24. Bob McGrew's Arda Raises a $160M Series A at a $1.5B Valuation

Led by Altimeter, Accel and Khosla Ventures, the round takes total funding for the former OpenAI research chief's AI manufacturing startup to $232M, with Anduril as its first customer.

25. ASI Raises $325M at a $3B Valuation for AI Transport Systems

Spark Capital led the round for the Boston company, also known as Air Space Intelligence, which won an $875M FAA contract in June.

26. Eka Robotics Raises $150M at a $1.45B Valuation for Force-Sensing Robot Hands

The startup, co-founded by MIT professor Pulkit Agrawal, is building a physical AI model that combines vision and touch to help robots handle objects.

27. Reliable Robotics Lands $115M, Lifting Its Valuation Above $1B

The Series D extension, about $90M in equity plus $25M in debt, will fund more aircraft and its push to certify autonomous flight with the FAA.

28. Daytona Raises $60M at a $1B Valuation for Its Cloud for AI Agents

FirstMark led the Series B, taking total funding to about $91M for the company, which gives AI agents their own computers to run code.

29. Hertz's Oro Mobility Raises $80M to Manage Uber's Planned Robotaxi Fleet

Steve Cohen's family office led the investment, Hertz keeps majority ownership, and Oro will manage Uber's Lucid robotaxis starting in San Francisco.

30. Legendary Makes a Takeover Offer for Lionsgate Studios, Bloomberg Reports

Lionsgate shares rose about 14% on the report, which gave no deal terms, and both companies declined to comment.

31. Spotify Launches Paid Podcast Memberships in 34 Markets

Creators can offer perks such as bonus episodes, fewer ads and early access, and they keep 90% of membership revenue.