Samsung Bets Big on Trifold Future

Samsung is unveiling its first trifold smartphone at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea later this month, a move aimed at reinforcing its position in the foldable segment.

The device features two hinges, letting it function as a standard smartphone or a larger tablet when fully opened, showcasing innovation in mobile form factors.

The APEC summit offers a global stage, though attendees will likely only see it under glass ahead of a wider commercial launch later this year.

Samsung pioneered foldables in 2019, and competition is heating up with Huawei already offering trifolds and Apple preparing its first folding iPhone. The trifold could reshape how apps and content are consumed across the mobile ecosystem. Foldable tech, bigger screens, new experiences.

Turkey’s 5G Auction Smashes Expectations

Turkey’s 5G spectrum auction has raised nearly $3 billion, surpassing government expectations and setting the stage for nationwide services next April.

Turkcell led spending with over $1.2 billion, followed closely by Turk Telekom and Vodafone, acquiring blocks in both 700MHz and 3.5GHz bands.

Eleven frequency packages totaling 400MHz were sold, including extended rights for existing next-gen bands through 2042.

Analysts say the auction not only accelerates Turkey’s mobile ecosystem and 5G rollout but also signals robust telecom investment in the region, with widespread impact on mobile services, IoT, and enterprise connectivity. A major boost for Turkey’s digital future.

France’s Altice Blocks €17B Telecom Deal

Altice France has rejected a €17 billion takeover bid from a consortium of Bouygues, Iliad, and Orange for its telecom unit SFR, blocking a move that would have broken up the operator and reshaped France’s mobile market.

The offer falls short of Altice owner Patrick Drahi’s €30 billion valuation, and regulators remain cautious about further market consolidation.

The deal would have allocated SFR’s enterprise and consumer assets among the three bidders, with shared infrastructure, raising competition concerns for subscribers.

Shares of Bouygues and Orange jumped on the news, while Altice’s bonds strengthened.

The standoff highlights the tension between debt-laden operators and the need for scale to invest in next-generation mobile networks.

Samsung Powers Vodafone’s Open Network Push

Samsung said it will serve as Vodafone’s primary vendor in Germany under a major five-year open RAN deal, with deployments already live in Hannover and Wismar planned for early 2026.

The South Korean company will roll out thousands of 2G, 4G, and 5G sites across Germany and other European markets, using O-RAN-compliant radios and massive MIMO technology.

Vodafone’s chief network officer Alberto Ripepi described open RAN as a key step in the operator’s network evolution.

The agreement follows rival Ericsson’s claims to remain a major vendor in Germany, Romania, and Egypt, highlighting competition over Vodafone’s European rollout.

Open networks, bigger coverage.

AI Gets Adult Mode

OpenAI plans to allow verified adults to use ChatGPT to generate erotic content, as part of a new “treat adult users like adults” policy.

The update, coming in December, will also let users customize their AI assistant’s personality, from more human-like responses to friend-like behavior. OpenAI will age-gate the feature, though details on verification and safeguards are not yet clear.

For under-18 users, a separate ChatGPT experience blocks graphic and sexual content. CEO Sam Altman said stricter safety controls had previously limited ChatGPT’s usefulness for many adults.

The move follows concerns over AI’s effects on children and regulatory scrutiny from the U.S. FTC. Adult access is expanding cautiously.

ChatGPT 5 Faces Safety Backlash

Meanwhile, new research has found OpenAI’s latest ChatGPT model is giving more harmful answers than its previous version.

The Center for Countering Digital Hate tested 120 prompts about suicide, self-harm, and eating disorders — and found GPT‑5 gave harmful responses 63 times, compared with 52 for GPT‑4o. In one test, GPT‑5 wrote a fictional suicide note that the older model refused to produce.

The group said the findings show AI firms are “trading safety for engagement.” OpenAI has promised stronger guardrails for minors after a U.S. teen’s death was linked to advice from ChatGPT.

UK regulator Ofcom says AI’s rapid evolution may soon require updates to the Online Safety Act.

North America’s Mobile Economy Soars

North America’s mobile economy is on track to top $3.7 trillion by 2030, more than double its current size, according to a new GSMA report.

The sector already contributed $1.6 trillion last year — about five percent of GDP — and supported 2.6 million jobs.

Fueled by 5G, AI, private networks, and IoT, connections are expected to surge, with U.S. 5G Fixed Wireless Access topping 25 million by decade’s end.

Operators plan $348 billion in capital expenditure to build next-generation networks, while innovations in open RAN, AI-driven systems, and satellite connectivity will power growth.

Mobile technologies will increasingly drive productivity across industries, not just consumer markets.

Chipmaker ASML Powers AI Boom

Dutch chip-equipment giant ASML beat expectations with €5.4 billion in new orders last quarter, as the global AI arms race fuels surging demand for advanced semiconductors.

CEO Christophe Fouquet said sales next year should match or exceed 2025 levels, driven by orders from major chipmakers like TSMC and Samsung.

ASML’s machines are the only ones that can produce the world’s most sophisticated chips — vital for AI servers, smartphones, and connected devices.

China accounted for 42% of third-quarter sales despite tighter export curbs, highlighting ASML’s geopolitical tightrope.

The company still targets up to €60 billion in revenue by 2030. Chips power AI — and AI powers demand.

TSMC Revenue Forecast Jumps

TSMC raised its 2025 revenue forecast to the mid-30% range, signaling strong confidence in AI-driven demand across the mobile and datacenter ecosystem.

The company posted a 39% jump in Q3 profit, fueled by orders for iPhone chips and AI accelerators like Nvidia’s.

It’s investing at least $40 billion this year in capacity upgrades and a $165 billion expansion in the U.S., Europe, and Japan, reinforcing its central role in powering next-generation mobile services, 5G devices, and AI-enabled apps.

Margins remain high, and strong orders for Apple and Nvidia components suggest the mobile-technology ecosystem will continue to benefit from the global AI investment surge.

OpenAI-Broadcom Chip Deal

OpenAI will join forces with chipmaker Broadcom in a multibillion-dollar deal to develop and deploy ten gigawatts of custom artificial intelligence chips over the next four years.

The companies say OpenAI will design its own graphics processors, integrating lessons from its AI models directly into the hardware. Broadcom will roll out the chips next year, alongside new server racks and networking equipment built for AI, Bloomberg reports.

The partnership adds to OpenAI’s existing computing capacity, already totaling 26 gigawatts from previous deals with Broadcom, Nvidia, and AMD—enough to power New York City twice over.

OpenAI plans even bigger expansions, aiming for 250 gigawatts by 2033, a project that could cost over ten trillion dollars, according to Bloomberg.

Oracle Doubles Down on AI, Defends Data Center Expansion

Oracle’s co-CEOs, Clay Magouyrk and Mike Sicilia, are defending the company’s massive data-center expansion, insisting it will power a profitable AI ecosystem for businesses — the Wall Street Journal reported citing the two executives.

Investors have worried margins are thin and debt is rising, especially given Oracle’s $300 billion deal with OpenAI.

The plan: bundle AI infrastructure with enterprise software, enabling companies to run both AI training and inference at scale.

Analysts say this could make Oracle the go-to cloud vendor for corporate clients, while early adopters like SoundHound are already handling billions of AI queries on the platform.

Oracle sold $18 billion in bonds to fund the build-out, betting revenue from multiple large deals will offset costs. The gamble could reshape enterprise AI adoption.

Investors Pour $160B into AI—Bubble or Boom

Investors are rushing into artificial intelligence, but the Financial Times warns it might be a bubble.

Venture capitalists have poured more than 160 billion dollars into AI start-ups this year, pushing valuations of firms like OpenAI and Anthropic toward nearly one trillion dollars.

The frenzy is driven by hopes that AI will unlock multitrillion-dollar markets, even though most companies are still operating at a loss. A Bank of America survey shows that over half of fund managers believe AI stocks are in a bubble, while experts from the Bank of England caution that investor excitement could trigger a market correction.

Industry leaders are divided. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos says the hype fuels both good and bad investments, while OpenAI’s Sam Altman warns some investors could lose massive sums, even as others profit. Economists note the boom isn’t debt-fueled, so a correction would mostly affect shareholders.

The Financial Times suggests only a handful of AI companies may ultimately survive — and the rush of money and hype could be creating a bubble in the sector.

Nexperia Seizure Shows Europe’s Tech Gap

Europe needs a stronger chip strategy, the Dutch government’s seizure of Nexperia shows — according to the Financial Times.

The newspaper’s editorial board argues that allowing Chinese control of strategic semiconductor capacity was a costly misstep, exposing the continent’s dependence on foreign supply for critical technologies powering everything from cars to mobile devices.

While Nexperia makes basic chips, its know-how is vital, and the move reflects growing geopolitical pressures from the U.S. and China. Europe is still far from its 20% global market share goal in semiconductors, and safeguarding production, intellectual property, and tech ecosystems is now urgent.

Cyber Threats Spike in the UK

The UK is facing a surge in cyberattacks, with the National Cyber Security Center reporting 429 incidents in the year to August, nearly half classified as nationally significant, and 18 rated highly significant—a 50% increase from last year, according to NCSC chief Richard Horne.

High-profile targets included Jaguar Land Rover, Marks and Spencer, and airline IT systems, highlighting risks to both critical infrastructure and the business mobile ecosystem.

The government intervened with a £1.5 billion emergency loan for Jaguar Land Rover.

MI5 also warns of strategic cyber interference from China, Russia, and Iran, putting UK networks and mobile communications at heightened risk.