🤖 A New Era for AI hardware

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In preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting, consular sections should not add any additional appointment capacity for student or exchange visas (F, M, and J categories) until further guidance is issued.

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Ruchirr Sharma & Shatakshi Sharmaa  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• 🤖 A New Era for AI hardware

• 📈 NSE’s valuation soars to $58B

• 🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

  • 🔎 Focused on AI

  • 🏦 Third time’s the charm?

• 🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

• 🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

MARKETS

🇮🇳 India

• Indian equities declined. Profit booking and mixed global cues weighed on sentiment, while all major sectors, including Auto, Bank, IT, and FMCG, ended lower. Broader markets outperformed, with midcap and smallcap indices posting modest gains

🌍️ International

• US stocks rallied sharply after President Trump postponed a planned 50% tariff on EU imports, easing trade tensions and boosting investor confidence. Tech stocks leading gains and all sectors closing in the green.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

🤖 A New Era for AI hardware

In a move that signals its deepest push yet into consumer hardware, OpenAI has acquired io, a secretive device startup co-founded by its CEO Sam Altman and iconic Apple designer Jony Ive, in an all-equity deal valuing the company at $6.5 billion.

With this acquisition, Jony Ive — the mind behind the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch — will now lead creative and design efforts at OpenAI through his firm LoveFrom, which will continue to operate independently. OpenAI, meanwhile, gains a 55-person team of engineers, designers, and scientists, many of whom helped shape Apple’s most iconic products.

Altman says the goal is to “create a new generation of AI-powered computers,” hinting at devices that move us beyond screens and keyboards. According to reports, the first of these devices is expected in 2026, and Altman suggests it will be more seamlessly woven into everyday life — a step toward a “Her”-like AI assistant embedded into the world around us.

Why this matters: This isn’t just a hardware play. It’s a strategic reimagination of how AI is experienced.

While current AI tools like ChatGPT are powerful, they live inside traditional form factors: laptops and smartphones. OpenAI seems to believe that for AI to truly transform daily life, it needs a new vessel — something designed from the ground up with intelligence and experience at its core. That’s where Ive comes in.

This acquisition also puts OpenAI in direct competition with Apple — a company that’s lagged in the generative AI race. Apple’s stock dropped 2% after the deal was announced, a sign that markets see this partnership as more than symbolic.

So why would OpenAI do this?

The answer could lie in control. To shape the future of AI, OpenAI can’t just build the brain - it needs the body, too. By owning the hardware layer, OpenAI can ensure that AI is not just an app, but an ambient presence - frictionless, intuitive, maybe even invisible.

It’s a massive gamble, but if Altman and Ive succeed, they won’t just redefine the personal computer. They’ll redefine the personal relationship with intelligence itself.

Read more: Times of India

VALUATION

📈 NSE’s valuation soars to $58B

India’s National Stock Exchange (NSE) - already the world’s largest equity derivatives exchange - is riding a wave of investor optimism ahead of a long-awaited IPO. According to Bloomberg, the exchange’s private market valuation has jumped to $58 billion, up 60% in just eight months, driven by aggressive buying from wealthy investors and institutions eager to secure a stake before it goes public.

Shares have recently changed hands at ₹2,000 apiece (~$23), reflecting demand far outpacing supply. In fact, several intermediaries were forced to refund money to investors when sellers backed out last minute - a telling sign of the scarcity and hype building around NSE’s listing.

The valuation now places NSE ahead of Nasdaq Inc. and within striking distance of Deutsche Börse, which is valued at $62 billion. If listed soon, NSE could become one of the world’s most valuable exchanges — a huge win for India’s financial sector.

But this momentum isn’t just about numbers.

After nearly a decade of delays due to a regulatory probe into unfair access given to high-speed traders, the NSE appears closer than ever to resolving its dispute with India’s securities watchdog. That resolution could finally clear the runway for its IPO — first filed back in 2016.

Meanwhile, the NSE isn’t sitting still. It’s pushing hard to regain lost ground in equity derivatives, where rival BSE has recently gained traction. CEO Ashish Kumar Chauhan told investors that BSE’s momentum has peaked. NSE is now planning tactical changes — such as shifting derivatives expiry days — to claw back market share.

Why this matters

• This valuation jump and looming IPO could fundamentally reshape India’s capital markets. For investors, it offers a rare chance to buy into the infrastructure of the market itself.

• For regulators and institutions, it underscores growing global confidence in India’s financial ecosystem.

• More broadly, it reflects a changing power dynamic: the rise of Indian exchanges as global heavyweights.

Overall: If NSE’s IPO succeeds, it could open the floodgates for more listings of critical financial infrastructure - and mark a symbolic shift from India as a market of opportunity to India as a market of origin.

Read more: Economic Times

GENERAL OVERVIEW

🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

🔎 Focused on AI - TCS has split its AI/Cloud business into two separate units—AI and Cloud—to drive focused growth in each area. The AI unit, led by Siva Ganesan, will integrate AI and data services, while Krishna Mohan will head the Cloud division. The move reflects the company’s strategy to tap into the rapidly growing demand for specialised AI and cloud solutions. TCS is also hiring specialist AI talent and revamping internal training programs. Officials say the reorganisation aims to capture untapped market potential and support exponential growth by treating AI as a core, domain-specific capability within the company.

🏦 Third time’s the charm? - Oyo’s parent company, Oravel Stays Ltd, will meet bankers next week as it prepares for its third IPO attempt, aiming for a $6–7 billion valuation. The company plans to file its draft prospectus by August–September 2025, targeting a listing by March–April 2026. This move comes amid financial pressure, including a $2.2 billion loan repayment by CEO Ritesh Agarwal. Oyo previously withdrew IPO filings in 2021 and 2023. Backed by SoftBank, which holds a 40% stake, Oyo posted a net profit of ₹620 crore in FY25 and recently acquired US motel chain Motel 6 for $525 million.

HEADLINES

🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

What’s happening in India (and around the world 🌍️)

• PepsiCo signs 5-year global sponsorship deal with Formula 1.

• NPR sues Trump over executive order cutting federal funding.

• Asian Athletics: Gulveer wins gold in men's 10,000m; bronze for race walker Sebastian.

• Aditya Birla Fashion stitches a ₹500-crore turnaround plan.

• Does college still have a purpose in the age of ChatGPT?

CULTURE

🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

• IPL 2025: 2/4 playoffs confirmed. Leaderboard here.

• Housefull 5 Trailer: Akshay Kumar, 69 billion pounds and a murder.

• Dacoit first glimpse: Adivi Sesh, Mrunal Thakur's romance to rage.

• Bhool Chuk Maaf review: Rajkummar Rao-Wamiqa Gabbi's film goes round and round in circles.

• US box office: Lilo & Stitch sews up record $182.7M at memorial day box office, Mission: Impossible nabs series-best $79M.

• Demi Lovato marries boyfriend Jordan 'Jutes' Lutes in California.