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Apple AI executive Ke Yang departs for Meta amid intensifying talent war

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Apple has lost another key artificial intelligence executive to Meta, as competition for top AI talent across Silicon Valley continues to escalate. Ke Yang, who was recently appointed to lead Apple’s new Answers, Knowledge and Information (AKI) division — a team central to the overhaul of Siri and Apple’s web-based AI search project — is reportedly leaving to join Meta Platforms, according to Bloomberg News.

Yang’s departure comes just weeks after her promotion, which positioned her at the forefront of Apple’s push to develop a ChatGPT-like AI-driven search tool. The project was expected to debut in March as part of Apple’s broader effort to integrate generative AI into its ecosystem.

Neither Apple, Meta, nor Yang have commented publicly on the move. Yang joined Apple in 2019, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Meta, led by Mark Zuckerberg, has been aggressively recruiting AI experts from competitors including Apple, Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic, as major tech firms pour billions into advancing generative AI and large language models. Bloomberg previously reported that other Apple executives, including Ruoming Pang and Robby Walker, have also recently left the company amid the growing AI talent war.

The move underscores the fierce competition among tech giants seeking to gain an edge in the race toward AI-powered search and digital assistants — a space increasingly defined by breakthroughs in conversational models and multimodal intelligence.

Investors weigh risks that could derail Wall Street’s AI-driven rally

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Artificial intelligence has fueled a powerful stock market rally since 2022, but investors are increasingly alert to the potential risks that could threaten the “AI trade” underpinning record market highs. Citigroup estimates nearly half of the S&P 500’s $57 trillion market capitalization now has “high” or “medium” exposure to AI, making the technology a defining force on Wall Street.

The S&P 500 is up 13% this year, while the Nasdaq Composite has gained 17%, driven largely by tech and AI-linked companies. Yet analysts warn that the sector’s strength also makes it vulnerable to shocks. Concerns have surfaced before — from China’s launch of the low-cost AI model Deepseek to fears about runaway spending on data centers — though markets have repeatedly rebounded.

“There’s a lot of growth priced in,” said Steve Lowe of Thrivent Financial. “That’s the concern — whether the expectations can really hold up.”

Massive capital spending remains a central focus. Barclays projects that annual AI-related infrastructure investment by major “hyperscalers” — including Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Oracle — will double to $500 billion by 2027. While these companies generate vast cash reserves, analysts caution that overspending could pressure margins or lead to greater leverage.

Others highlight systemic risks from the close financial ties within the AI ecosystem, such as Nvidia’s recent $100 billion commitment to OpenAI. Energy infrastructure is another growing concern, with power supply seen as a potential bottleneck for new data centers.

Some investors remain bullish over the next 12 to 18 months, but warn that any slowdown in AI spending or signs that investments aren’t yielding expected returns could shake market confidence. “If it starts to look like the payoff isn’t coming,” said Patrick Ryan of Madison Investments, “that could be what finally trips the trade.”

Broadcom unveils Thor Ultra networking chip to challenge Nvidia in AI data centers

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Broadcom has launched its new Thor Ultra networking chip, designed to help companies build massive artificial intelligence computing systems by linking together hundreds of thousands of processors — escalating its rivalry with Nvidia in the race to dominate AI infrastructure.

Unveiled on Tuesday, the Thor Ultra chip enables data center operators to connect far more AI processors than before, making it easier to train and deploy large models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The launch follows Broadcom’s announcement on Monday of a major deal to deliver 10 gigawatts of custom chips for OpenAI starting in 2026, further challenging Nvidia’s dominance in AI accelerators and networking technologies.

“The network plays an extremely important role in building these large clusters,” said Ram Velaga, Broadcom’s senior vice president. “So I’m not surprised that anybody in the GPU business wants to participate in networking.”

AI has become a $60 billion to $90 billion market opportunity for Broadcom by 2027, according to CEO Hock Tan, split between networking chips and custom data center processors built for companies such as Google and OpenAI. In 2024, Broadcom reported $12.2 billion in AI revenue, and in September it disclosed a $10 billion unnamed customer for its AI chips.

The Thor Ultra doubles the bandwidth of its predecessor and acts as a vital link between AI systems and the rest of the data center, improving data transfer speeds and scalability. Engineers developed it alongside Broadcom’s Tomahawk networking switches, refining every detail from power consumption to thermal management.

While Broadcom does not sell servers directly, it provides reference designs for partners to build upon. “For every dollar we invest in our silicon, our ecosystem partners invest six to ten times more,” Velaga said, emphasizing the company’s design-first strategy in the AI infrastructure market.