Mistral AI is reportedly in early talks to raise around €3 billion, in a move which could value the French start-up at roughly €20 billion.

Sources told Bloomberg the terms of the proposed raise may still change, and the valuation could also move higher depending on investor demand.

The rumoured round would strengthen Mistral AI’s position as Europe’s main AI challenger by providing the company with more capital as AI players face rising costs for computing power, infrastructure and talent across the globe.

It would also mark a sharp jump from the €11.7 billion valuation Mistral AI secured in September 2025 when Dutch chipmaker ASML became the largest shareholder in the start-up with an 11% stake after leading a €1.7 billion Series C funding round.

The start-up has positioned itself as a sovereign alternative to US and Chinese AI players, targeting European governments and companies with plans to build out cloud computing facilities in France and Sweden.

Mistral AI recently also moved to target industrial customers including Airbus and BMW for services covering engineering and manufacturing.

The French player acquired Austrian start-up Emmi AI last month as part of efforts to expand its services to industrial customers in Europe.

However, the company still trails larger rivals as its models and chatbot have still not matched the adoption of offerings from US players OpenAI and Anthropic, as well as Chinese competitors.

Last month, Anthropic raised $65 billion in a funding round valuing it at $965 billion, eclipsing OpenAI’s $852 billion valuation following its latest funding round in March.

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Mobile World Live brings you our top three picks of the week as Apple reset its AI ambitions at WWDC, OpenAI edged closer to a stock market debut and French operators agreed a €20.4 billion deal to carve-up SFR.

Apple lands Siri AI at WWDC as Cook takes a bow

What happened: During its annual WWDC event, Apple reset its AI strategy, unveiled a revamped AI-powered Siri and spotlighted new child-safety controls as Tim Cook delivered his final keynote as CEO.

Why it matters: Apple SVP of software Craig Federighi said, “truly helpful AI must be centred around you and your needs”, positioning privacy, personal context and deeper app integration as core pillars of the AI-enhanced Siri. The launch gives Apple a chance to overwrite a damaging run of Siri AI delays described internally as “ugly and embarrassing”. Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight, said “Apple had to address its shortcomings in AI, and WWDC provided some answers”, but added the company must deliver “a meaningfully better everyday experience, not just parity with rivals”. He noted many features will already be familiar to Android and third-party AI app users, adding iPhone users are “more likely to upgrade for better battery life, an improved camera or a bigger screen rather than to get AI”. However, challenges have already emerged. The AI-upgraded Siri and Apple Intelligence features have already been delayed indefinitely in the European Union (EU) over competition laws and blocked in China over local AI regulations.

On child safety, Wood called Apple’s push “a welcome and timely move” as concerns about online harm grow among regulators but said “stronger cross-industry safeguards need to be built into operating systems at a deeper platform level”. Cook’s farewell added weight to the event as he declared the iPhone will “continue to be the centre of people’s digital lives”, adding, “the best is still ahead”.

OpenAI lines up stock market debut

What happened: OpenAI confidentially filed paperwork for a US IPO, becoming the latest AI company to move towards a listing as the sector’s biggest players race to raise fresh funds.

Why it matters: The ChatGPT-maker stated it had submitted a draft registration statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), adding, “we expect it to leak so we’re just announcing it”. It did not disclose the size, price or timing of the listing and cautioned a debut may not be imminent “because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company”. OpenAI explained the decision involves “a complicated set of trade-offs”, but the filing gives it “the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best”. Reuters reported the company is targeting a valuation of up to $1 trillion, with a debut possible as early as September. The filing puts OpenAI into a crowded and expensive AI listings race; rival Anthropic confidentially filed for its own US IPO last week, while SpaceX launched a blockbuster listing. Aviva Investors’ head of multi-asset Sunil Krishnan told the BBC all firms all have a “vast need for cash” as “no one wants to be last” in a space where access to capital could prove crucial as companies fund AI chips, infrastructure and model training. Harrison Rolfes, senior research analyst at PitchBook, argued OpenAI’s $1 trillion listing is “a bet on a company that has never been profitable, in a market it is currently losing, with a cost structure it cannot change for at least another year”. He added this is “all while racing a direct competitor through the same SEC process in the same quarter.” Rolfes concluded: “There is no scenario where OpenAI pricing after a profitable Anthropic favours OpenAI.”

Bouygues, Orange, Free agree €20B SFR carve up

What happened: Bouygues Telecom, Free-Iliad Group and Orange signed a memorandum of understanding with Altice France to acquire and carve up SFR in a deal valuing the operator at €20.4 billion, setting the stage for a major reset of France’s telecoms market.

Why it matters: Under terms outlined in April, Bouygues will take 42% of SFR’s assets, Free-Iliad 31% and Orange 27%. SFR’s consumer mobile and fixed broadband operations will be divided between the three operators, while Bouygues will take control of the B2B unit. Completion is targeted for H2 2027, subject to regulatory clearance. Kester Mann, director, consumer and connectivity at CCS Insight, noted the move marks the biggest potential shake-up in French telecoms since Iliad entered the mobile market in 2012, cutting the number of major operators from four to three and reshaping competition. He said the agreement appears “a successful outcome for all parties” as Bouygues, Orange and Iliad all gain “important new assets in their pursuit of greater scale”, while removing a key rival will “reduce the competitive intensity of the market”. However, the biggest challenge will be to regulators show the deal will deliver “positive outcomes to the French market”. He noted that while that would once have been “a herculean task”, recent approvals in the UK and Spain suggest Europe’s stance on consolidation is softening.

The post The Friday File: Apple; OpenAI; SFR appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Mobile World Live brings you our top three picks of the week as Apple reset its AI ambitions at WWDC, OpenAI edged closer to a stock market debut and French operators agreed a €20.4 billion deal to carve-up SFR.

Apple lands Siri AI at WWDC as Cook takes a bow

What happened: During its annual WWDC event, Apple reset its AI strategy, unveiled a revamped AI-powered Siri and spotlighted new child-safety controls as Tim Cook delivered his final keynote as CEO.

Why it matters: Apple SVP of software Craig Federighi said, “truly helpful AI must be centred around you and your needs”, positioning privacy, personal context and deeper app integration as core pillars of the AI-enhanced Siri. The launch gives Apple a chance to overwrite a damaging run of Siri AI delays described internally as “ugly and embarrassing”. Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight, said “Apple had to address its shortcomings in AI, and WWDC provided some answers”, but added the company must deliver “a meaningfully better everyday experience, not just parity with rivals”. He noted many features will already be familiar to Android and third-party AI app users, adding iPhone users are “more likely to upgrade for better battery life, an improved camera or a bigger screen rather than to get AI”. However, challenges have already emerged. The AI-upgraded Siri and Apple Intelligence features have already been delayed indefinitely in the European Union (EU) over competition laws and blocked in China over local AI regulations.

On child safety, Wood called Apple’s push “a welcome and timely move” as concerns about online harm grow among regulators but said “stronger cross-industry safeguards need to be built into operating systems at a deeper platform level”. Cook’s farewell added weight to the event as he declared the iPhone will “continue to be the centre of people’s digital lives”, adding, “the best is still ahead”.

OpenAI lines up stock market debut

What happened: OpenAI confidentially filed paperwork for a US IPO, becoming the latest AI company to move towards a listing as the sector’s biggest players race to raise fresh funds.

Why it matters: The ChatGPT-maker stated it had submitted a draft registration statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), adding, “we expect it to leak so we’re just announcing it”. It did not disclose the size, price or timing of the listing and cautioned a debut may not be imminent “because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company”. OpenAI explained the decision involves “a complicated set of trade-offs”, but the filing gives it “the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best”. Reuters reported the company is targeting a valuation of up to $1 trillion, with a debut possible as early as September. The filing puts OpenAI into a crowded and expensive AI listings race; rival Anthropic confidentially filed for its own US IPO last week, while SpaceX launched a blockbuster listing. Aviva Investors’ head of multi-asset Sunil Krishnan told the BBC all firms all have a “vast need for cash” as “no one wants to be last” in a space where access to capital could prove crucial as companies fund AI chips, infrastructure and model training. Harrison Rolfes, senior research analyst at PitchBook, argued OpenAI’s $1 trillion listing is “a bet on a company that has never been profitable, in a market it is currently losing, with a cost structure it cannot change for at least another year”. He added this is “all while racing a direct competitor through the same SEC process in the same quarter.” Rolfes concluded: “There is no scenario where OpenAI pricing after a profitable Anthropic favours OpenAI.”

Bouygues, Orange, Free agree €20B SFR carve up

What happened: Bouygues Telecom, Free-Iliad Group and Orange signed a memorandum of understanding with Altice France to acquire and carve up SFR in a deal valuing the operator at €20.4 billion, setting the stage for a major reset of France’s telecoms market.

Why it matters: Under terms outlined in April, Bouygues will take 42% of SFR’s assets, Free-Iliad 31% and Orange 27%. SFR’s consumer mobile and fixed broadband operations will be divided between the three operators, while Bouygues will take control of the B2B unit. Completion is targeted for H2 2027, subject to regulatory clearance. Kester Mann, director, consumer and connectivity at CCS Insight, noted the move marks the biggest potential shake-up in French telecoms since Iliad entered the mobile market in 2012, cutting the number of major operators from four to three and reshaping competition. He said the agreement appears “a successful outcome for all parties” as Bouygues, Orange and Iliad all gain “important new assets in their pursuit of greater scale”, while removing a key rival will “reduce the competitive intensity of the market”. However, the biggest challenge will be to regulators show the deal will deliver “positive outcomes to the French market”. He noted that while that would once have been “a herculean task”, recent approvals in the UK and Spain suggest Europe’s stance on consolidation is softening.

The post The Friday File: Apple; OpenAI; SFR appeared first on Mobile World Live.

GSMA warned 810 million women in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) still do not use mobile internet, flagging slow progress in closing the digital gender gap.

In its latest Mobile Gender Gap Report 2026, the industry association found that in comparison, 595 million men in the same markets are not connected to mobile internet. Indeed, women in LMICs were 12% less likely than men to use mobile internet, leaving 200 million fewer women online.

Smartphone ownership remains a major barrier, as women in LMICs are 13% less likely than men to own a smartphone, equivalent to around 210 million fewer female owners.

The report found awareness of mobile internet is high and almost equal among men and women, but adoption continues to be held back by handset affordability, literacy and digital skills gaps. Even after women are connected, usage remains restricted due to safety and security concerns, data affordability and poor connectivity.

GSMA explained women are disproportionately affected due to social norms and structural inequalities, including lower education and income.

The report found the divide most acute in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where mobile internet adoption stands at 26% and 25% respectively. The regions together also account for more than two-thirds of the 810 million unconnected women.

Women in rural areas continue to face a sharper divide, with the report stating the gender gap is typically two to three times wider outside urban areas. The disparity is particularly pronounced in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

Looking ahead, the industry association estimated closing the mobile internet adoption gap in LMICs between 2023 and 2030 could add $1.3 trillion to GDP. Meanwhile, narrowing the wider mobile ownership and usage gap could generate $230 billion in additional revenue for the mobile industry.

It called for coordinated action on handset and data affordability, digital skills, safety, services designed for women and wider structural inequalities.

Claire Sibthorpe, head of digital inclusion at GSMA, said “much more is needed to address the persistent and significant gender gaps in mobile internet adoption and use”. She warned AI and other emerging technologies are “creating greater digital divides and inequities”, making digital inclusion increasingly urgent.

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Ericsson unveiled a software subscription designed to bring telco-grade AI models directly into basebands and radios to enable operators to boost 5G performance, automation and energy efficiency without adding new hardware.

According to the vendor, the software uses AI models designed to operate in real time within the RAN, supported by continuous learning and agentic AI capabilities for more advanced network operations. The company stated its telco-grade models are built for ultra-low latency inference, with a focus on reliability across diverse RAN environments.

The service works with Ericsson 5G Advanced across purpose-built and Cloud RAN platforms. Ericsson stated the software uses its silicon in radios and the latest generation of RAN compute to employ “the right AI model in the right part of the radio network”, while its AI capabilities can also be deployed across partner platforms.

The first features are now available, with more to follow later in the year. Initial functions include AI-powered scheduler for link adaptation, beamforming and multi-layer coordination.

Ericsson claimed the technology has been deployed in more than 15 trials worldwide, delivering up to 20% higher downlink throughput and up to 10% better spectral efficiency, alongside support for up to twice as many high-traffic users. It also said AI in RAN could achieve up to 95% coverage prediction accuracy.

Marten Lerner, head of networks strategy and product management at Ericsson, said the company is “redefining what’s possible in mobile networks by bringing powerful AI capabilities to service providers”, adding “we are taking a major step toward AI-native networks”.

Further comments from Ericsson partners SoftBank, Bell, SK Telecom and Rogers focused on the software’s potential benefits around real-time optimisation, network performance, energy savings, automation and support for emerging AI-driven services.

Joe Madden, principal analyst at Mobile Experts, added: “With a software upgrade, operators can squeeze more capacity, better observability, and more accurate location-based services out of the 5G network they bought years ago.”

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Telefonica revealed it reused or recycled more than 4 million devices in 2025, as the operator steps up efforts to hit its zero-waste target by 2030.

The Spanish operator said 95% of its waste was reused or recycled during the year, including 3 million routers and set-top boxes. Devices were collected from customers, operations and offices, with 75% reused and the remaining 25% recycled.

Telefonica also reused more than 780,000 units of network equipment in 2025, adding this enabled it to meet the GSMA-backed industry commitment to reuse and recycle 100% of collected equipment.

In addition, the company claimed progress in mobile devices, collecting nearly 95 tonnes of handsets and reusing more than 357,000 units. It noted this represented 15% of all devices distributed, with all recovered handsets either reused or recycled.

Supplier engagement also forms part of the programme, with the operator working to include circularity in the procurement and equipment design stage through recycling, durability and repairability requirements. Telefonica explained its zero-waste strategy prioritises reuse, with recycling used when equipment cannot be put back into service. This approach helps avoid the manufacture of new equipment and cuts associated resource use and CO2 emissions.

Maya Ormazabal, global director of sustainability at Telefonica, said: “The circular economy is a priority pillar in our sustainability strategy and a key driver for advancing toward a more efficient, innovative, and competitive company.”

She added the approach enables the operator to “contribute to a more responsible use of resources and the reduction of environmental impacts associated with technological activity”, while supporting “more sustainable access to digital capabilities for society”.

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The GSMA and a group of aviation, security and connectivity companies called for industry alignment on drone identification, tracking and connection in a bid to build safer airspaces.

In a Joint Requirements Statement developed through the GSMA’s Fusion initiative, contributors including Ericsson, Nokia, Viasat, NextNav and the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre set out the role of mobile networks in supporting drone operations. The organisations urged operators, regulators, aviation stakeholders and governments to integrate telecom capabilities in future drone and airspace policy.

The group stated mobile networks could support drone identity, authentication, geolocation, real-time telemetry assurance, prioritised connectivity and cross-border interoperability. It also pointed to non-terrestrial networks as a key resilience tool for drone operations, especially in areas beyond traditional coverage for remote, maritime, disaster recovery and national security related missions.

Programmable network capabilities and APIs, including GSMA Open Gateway and CAMARA-aligned frameworks, were also tipped as tools to support aviation safety, security and efficiency requirements.

The group emphasised the importance of electronic conspicuity, the identification and visibility of drones and aircraft to airspace users and authorities through real-time data sharing. It highlighted the growing importance of drone tracking as governments and regulators step up the deployment of flights beyond the visual line of sight, drone first responder programmes and autonomous aircraft.

A lack of early coordination could leave the sector with fragmented national approaches before global drone frameworks are established, the group warned.

Barney Stinton, GSMA Fusion market development lead for aviation, said the drone market is “scaling far faster than many of today’s airspace and identification frameworks were originally designed for”, adding the statement is “an important signal from industry that mobile networks have a major role to play in supporting safe, trusted and interoperable drone operations at scale”.

He explained the goal is “not to replace existing aviation systems but to bring together aviation, government and telecom industries early enough to avoid fragmentation”.

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Telecom Italia warned ransomware attacks surged in 2025 as cybercriminals used AI and automation to scale campaigns, cautioning that rapidly evolving technology and geopolitical tensions are reshaping digital risk.

In the second edition of its Cyber Security Report produced alongside Italy-based non-profit Cyber Security Foundation, TIM said ransomware claims topped 7,400 globally in 2025, up 42% compared to 2024.

The report pointed to malware campaigns affecting entities in around 200 countries and a 20% rise in known vulnerabilities. It highlighted zero-day flaws as a growing concern because they can be exploited before vendors issue patches.

The study also flagged: promptware, a form of cyberattack designed to manipulate generative AI (genAI) and LLMs; and quishing, a scam using compromised QR codes, smart devices and satellite network security as emerging risk areas. It argued cyber resilience is now tied to service continuity, industrial competitiveness and overall national security.

In contrast, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) incidents, which are attacks designed to overwhelm websites, apps or networks by flooding them with traffic, fell 36% partly due to preventive measures. Yet, the report warned this decline did not mean the threat was easing. Attacks became more focused, persistent and aimed at strategic targets including governments, telecoms and transport systems, while average exposure times rose 19%.

TIM attributed the ransomware surge to the continued industrialisation of cybercrime, with attackers benefiting from both geopolitical instability and AI-powered automation.

Indeed, the study presented AI as a double-edged sword, noting that while it acts as a “threat multiplier” used to automate malicious code and accelerate fraud, phishing and abuse, it has also strengthened attack prevention, analysis and response capabilities.

Alessandra Michelini, CEO and chairwoman of TIM Group’s cybersecurity arm Telsy, said the threat response cannot be limited to emergency management, calling for active investment in “digital sovereignty, skills development and secure technologies”.

Marco Proietti, founder and president of the Cyber Security Foundation, added cybersecurity must become “a widespread culture”, as “a more digitally aware country is, first and foremost, a safer country”.

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OpenAI confidentially filed paperwork for a US IPO, becoming the latest company to move towards a listing as heavyweights in the AI sector race to raise fresh funds.

The ChatGPT-maker stated it had submitted a draft registration statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), adding, “we expect it to leak so we’re just announcing it”.

The AI player did not disclose the size, price or timing of the listing and cautioned a debut may not be imminent. “We have not decided on timing yet; it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company,” it stated.

OpenAI added the decision involves “a complicated set of trade-offs”, but that the filing gives it “the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best”.

Reuters reported OpenAI is targeting a valuation of up to $1 trillion, with a debut possible as early as September. The value would put it alongside AI rival Anthropic, which confidentially filed for its own US IPO last week. SpaceX. meanwhile, is expected to launch its IPO this week, at a reported $1.75 trillion valuation.

The three firms all have a “vast need for cash”, Aviva Investors’ head of multi-asset Sunil Krishnan told the BBC, adding “no-one wants to be last” in the race to go public. He explained the companies’ hefty investments in AI infrastructure, including chips and training models, come at significant cost.

OpenAI’s filing follows a period of rapid growth. Last week, research company Sensor Tower estimated ChatGPT crossed 1 billion monthly active users on its app, becoming the fastest in history to reach the milestone.

The company’s route to market was also complicated by its nonprofit origins and efforts to restructure. In May, a US jury ruled against Elon Musk in a lawsuit accusing OpenAI of departing from its founding mission, removing a key legal barrier for the ChatGPT-maker ahead of any listing.

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The UK government gave technology companies three months to switch on device-level tools blocking children from taking, sending or viewing nude images, warning action will be taken if they fail to do so.

The UK Home Office said companies including Apple and Google must implement built-in protections across smartphones and tablets used by children in a move it claimed would make Britain “the first country in the world where it is impossible for children to take, share or view naked pictures on their devices”

If tech companies do not act within the deadline, the government plans to enforce legislation mandating the activation of the technology. Proposed penalties could include fines, with criminal liability for tech bosses under consideration “as a last resort”.

On privacy, the government framed the proposal as on-device blocking, stating there would be “no data collection, no monitoring and no reporting”. Users over the age of 18 would still be able to access adult content by providing proof of age.

The initiative aims to stop predators from exploiting underage victims through their devices and limiting children’s access to pornography. The Home Office noted 91% of online child sexual abuse reports recorded in 2024 contained self-generated content, adding children as young as five were being groomed or coerced into creating explicit images.

Speaking at London Tech Week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer (pictured) said the industry must address the issue as a matter of urgency. “If we are serious about unlocking the opportunities that tech can bring, then we must also be serious about preventing our children from those who look to abuse it – the online predators,” he explained, arguing technology should “adapt to the needs of society, not the other way round”.

Starmer warned if technology players “choose not, then we will act and we will change the law”.

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AMD unveiled plans to invest up to £2 billion over five years to accelerate AI innovation and research across the UK, using the opening of London Tech Week to spotlight a push on sovereign infrastructure and research partnerships.

The US-based chip company said the commitment aims to support advanced computing, scientific research and workforce development, while expanding access to the infrastructure needed for AI-led discovery and public sector innovation.

AMD CEO Lisa Su said the UK has “the talent, research excellence and ambition to help lead the next era of AI,” adding the company would work with government, academia and industry to expand access to compute infrastructure needed to “advance sovereign AI, accelerate discovery and drive long-term economic growth”.

As part of the plan, AMD announced a slew of AI-focused partnerships. The company teamed with Imperial College London to advance computational science and research spanning areas including healthcare innovation, climate modelling and AI optimisation.

AMD and Dell Technologies will also work with the University of Cambridge on national AI infrastructure projects, including the Zenith AI supercomputer and Sunrise fusion AI system to support AI-driven scientific work across areas including healthcare research, materials science and fusion research.

In addition, the chipmaker will work with photonic networking company Oriole Networks on the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) Scaling Inference Lab, a national testbed for AI hardware focused on targeting infrastructure bottlenecks.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves called AMD’s investment “a major vote of confidence in Britain’s place as a global AI superpower”, while technology secretary Liz Kendall added it reflected “the strength of Britain’s talent, research and ambition in AI”.

London Tech Week starts today (8 June) and runs until 12 June, bringing together technology companies, investors and policymakers to discuss digital innovation across the UK.

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Analysts tipped Apple to use its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), set to take place on Monday (8 June), to reset its AI strategy and unveil a major Siri overhaul as CEO Tim Cook prepares to hand over the reins.

Ahead of the event, Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight, described WWDC as “a pivotal moment for Apple Intelligence”, adding its voice assistant Siri had been “a thorn in Apple’s side for several years”, making its reboot central to Apple’s attempt to reset its AI narrative.

According to Bloomberg, Apple is expected to unveil a revamped AI-powered Siri designed to act as conversational companion with screen awareness, richer app control, the ability to tackle multiple commands in one prompt and a dedicated Siri app.

Wood expects Apple to frame the overhaul around “a slew of agentic AI capabilities”, while avoiding any overt positioning of Siri as being powered by Google’s Gemini technology.

Apple has indeed lagged rivals including Google and Samsung in bringing AI features to smartphones and other devices. Its push has been hampered by challenges building in-house AI capabilities, prompting the company to lean on partnerships with players including Google and OpenAI.

Paolo Pescatore, chief analyst at research house PP Foresight, said the iPhone-maker does not need to win the AI race through “noise, novelty or endless model comparisons”, but by making AI “useful, trusted, private and deeply embedded” across its devices.

Bloomberg reported Apple is also expected to unveil iOS 27 alongside updates for iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS and visionOS. Unlike last year’s focus on Liquid Glass design, the next software cycle is expected to focus on reliability, battery life, performance and deeper integration of Apple Intelligence features.

Symbolic
Notably, the event also marks Tim Cook’s final WWDC as Apple CEO before his planned transition to executive chairman on 1 September, when SVP of hardware engineering John Ternus will take the helm.

Pescatore explained the upcoming WWDC “carries far more significance than a normal developer conference”, describing it as “as much a symbolic handover moment as a software showcase”.

In his view, Cook’s legacy has been built on “scale, discipline, services, privacy, Apple Silicon and deep ecosystem integration”, but argued the key question is how Apple uses that foundation in the AI era.

He argued the tech giant will need to reassure developers, investors and customers the transition is “about continuity, not disruption”, while showing its blend of hardware, silicon, software and services can deliver “a more intelligent, more personal ecosystem”.

Similarly, Wood warned any missteps in Apple’s hotly anticipated agentic and on-device AI strategy “could have significant implications”.

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Verizon CEO Dan Schulman (pictured) doubled down on messaging around the widespread impact of AI on the workforce, tipping the technology to replace “a large percentage” of work handled by customer service representatives.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Schulman said AI would cause “disruption in certain job functions” but pointed to customer care as an area where the technology could be applied quickly and effectively.

In his view, the technology could be used to handle simple customer queries, including recovering a lost password or checking a billing amount. For more complex requests, Schulman said human employees and AI agents would work together.

Schulman also cited AI’s role in network security, telling Bloomberg Verizon does “a lot for the critical infrastructure of the US” and that AI tools would help the company “protect it”.

The chief highlighted Verizon’s efforts to deploy AI as part of a wider push to improve customer experience and sharpen the company’s performance. He added the operator would not raise prices without delivering value to customers, stating: “Anybody can compete on price… It’s about competing on other parts of the value proposition, where you can actually differentiate yourself.”

Verizon introduced promotions and service guarantees last year to combat customer fatigue and better compete with rivals including AT&T and T-Mobile US.

Big, bureaucratic company
In April, Schulman urged fellow leaders to be open with employees about the impact AI would have on workforces, telling the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) the technology will reshape the company and that “being realistic, telling the truth, as best you can, is essential”. Last year, the operator scrapped more than 13,000 jobs, subsequently setting aside $20 million to help reskill employees for the AI era.

According to Schulman around 7,000 employees have already applied for the trainings, which include teaching staff effective prompt writing and AI agent creation. He added he is “spending a lot of time down in DC” speaking with government officials about responsible AI use.

Beyond technology, the CEO also suggested internal culture remains part of the challenge. “Verizon is a big, bureaucratic company,” he said. “It loves its processes. It loves to show its work. But I’m about outcome and how fast can we move the company forward.”

He explained it had taken time to steer Verizon towards a more innovative approach, adding he wants the company to be less risk averse in order to better serve customers.

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Mobile World Live brings you our top three picks of the week as Anthropic widened access to its Claude Mythos model despite security concerns, the European Commission (EC) unveiled a fresh digital sovereignty push and the FCC commenced its first spectrum auction in four years.

Anthropic expands Mythos access to 150 new companies

What happened: Anthropic expanded access to its controversial Claude Mythos AI model under the Project Glasswing to 150 additional companies in sectors including power, healthcare and communications, after initially restricting it to a group of private technology players.

Why it matters: Anthropic said the latest cohort brings in sectors underrepresented in the first wave. In commentary to security publication CSO Online, experts noted the expansion could add to security concerns around the model. Carmi Levy, an independent technology analyst, questioned what Glasswing will be able to accomplish by adding 150 more participants, noting the initial point was to allow the AI player to work closely with a small, fully vetted group of vendors to develop stronger defences against cybersecurity risks. “Expanding access into the hundreds may very well bring in more minds to build better defensive measures, but it simultaneously introduces significant concerns around potential leaks.”

Research director for AI security at IDC, Grace Trinidad, added that Anthropic’s announcement pointed out that each of the 150 new participants “will need to meet our security requirements before they gain access”, which also did not build confidence. “Nobody knows what those security requirements are.”

Earlier this week, Anthropic also confidentially filed IPO paperwork with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), ahead of rival OpenAI’s rumoured float.

EU targets AI, chips in fresh sovereignty drive

What happened: The EC unveiled a fresh digital sovereignty package targeting semiconductors, AI, cloud, open source and energy infrastructure in a bid to accelerate Europe’s push for digital sovereignty.

Why it matters: The package includes a proposed a revamped Chips Act 2.0 and a Cloud and AI Development Act to streamline data centre deployment and introduced measures to expand open source use, support startups and digitalise the energy system. EC president Ursula von der Leyen said Europe “cannot afford to depend on others for the technologies that keep our hospitals running, our energy grids stable and our services secure”.

Jennifer Okafor, a UN and Global Health strategist and AI and data analyst, said the policies represent “a comprehensive approach to balancing growth, stability, and long-term resilience across the EU”. However, president of German digital industry group Bitkom Ralf Wintergerst told Reuters it is “crucial that these efforts do not stop at mere announcements”, while Keegan McBride, director of science and technology at non-profit think tank Tony Blair Institute argued Europe “can’t regulate its way to competitiveness, it must build”. He added, “there’s still much more to do ​if Europe wants to close the gap with the US and China”.

FCC kicks off first spectrum auction in 4 years

What happened: The FCC opened Auction 113, its first spectrum auction in four years, covering spectrum in the 1695MHz to 1710MHz, 1755MHz to 1780MHz and 2155MHz to 2180MHz bands.

Why it matters: AT&T, T-Mobile US, Verizon and potentially SpaceX are among likely bidders. The licences cover territory home to more than 100 million people across 48 states and two US territories. FCC chair Brendan Carr declared: “Finally! The FCC is back in the game,” adding spectrum auctions are “the lifeblood of licensed wireless service”. Carr argued “more spectrum means more building, lower prices and stronger competition”.

Proceeds from the auction will fund the FCC’s “rip and replace” programme targeting Huawei and ZTE equipment in US networks. Indeed, the auction also bolsters the regulator’s broader Build America Agenda, which targets 800MHz of spectrum by 2034.

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Orange Business secured a deal to supply French public hospital group GHT Rouen Coeur de Seine with a generative AI (genAI) platform, equipping 15,000 health professionals across its network with secure sovereign AI tools.

The French operator’s enterprise unit will deploy Live Intelligence, its enterprise genAI platform, across the hospital group to provide a controlled alternative to unverified public AI tools. It stated the long-term partnership spans infrastructure, strategy and operational support.

Rouen University Hospital, the group’s support entity, selected the platform to govern AI usage and ensure secure deployment across its workforce. Orange Business said the platform intends to support and upskill staff across clinical, administrative and technical roles, creating a common framework for genAI training and responsible use.

The platform is hosted in France and can be connected to the hospital group’s information systems, with early use cases already in play. Research teams at Rouen University Hospital are using genAI to speed up grant applications, cutting the process timeframe from three weeks to two days. The operator added sourcing requests involving specifications and evaluation criteria could be reduced from two weeks to one day.

As part of the deal, the partners also plan to develop a long-term innovation programme with other university hospitals to build AI use cases relevant to the wider healthcare sector.

Claire Scotton, VP of healthcare and life sciences at Orange Business, said some hospital staff feel they have become “‘data managers’ as much as healthcare professionals”, adding the platform aims to help them “reclaim time to focus on what truly matters: patient care, meaningful work, and collaboration”.

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Orange deepened its push into the travel eSIM market through a global distribution deal with online travel agency Trip.com, offering mobile connectivity at the point of travel booking as demand for roaming services grows.

Orange Travel, an Orange Group subsidiary, stated the partnership will enable Trip.com users to buy Orange Travel eSIM packages directly on the agency platform, allowing customers to arrange connectivity before departure, pay in local currency and activate the eSIM upon arrival.

Trip.com customers will be able to buy packages covering France, Italy, Spain, the UK and Switzerland, with the partners aiming to target key European tourist markets. The pair noted the region accounts for more than 50 per cent of global tourist arrivals, led by France and Spain.

The packages on offer include calls, texts and data across 20GB, 50GB and 100GB options, with validity periods of ranging from a week to 30 days. Prices start at €8.99.

Orange Travel highlighted its eSIM services are supported by the Orange Group’s network reach, including connectivity in more than 200 destinations and 700 roaming agreements worldwide.

Orange Travel CEO Frederic Blehaut said the agreement demonstrates its “commitment to accelerating our growth in Asia and internationally through strategic partnerships”, adding the subsidiary offers “European eSIMs with a recognised quality of service backed by the Orange Group’s know-how”.

Chase Liu, general manager of international attractions and tours business at Trip.com Group, added: “With tailor-made offers and packages easily accessible on our platform, our customers can enjoy enhanced connectivity and greater convenience when they travel in this region.”

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Tech giants and nations stepped up measures to protect young users online as Poland moved to ban mobile phones in primary schools and Meta Platforms separately beefed up teen content controls globally.

Poland’s proposed ban, due to take effect on 1 September 2026, will apply to children aged 7 to 15 on school premises, including during breaks. According to Reuters, the proposed bill will also give schools a legal basis to create storage deposits for handsets.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the restriction aims to give parents and teachers more control over pupils’ device use. “We propose a ban on cell phone use in primary schools during lessons and breaks,” he said, adding, “this is not a perfect solution, we have no illusions about that, but we must address this serious problem, which is addiction to phones and the internet”.

Another bill proposed by Poland’s minister for digital affairs also imposes new obligations on pornography websites to restrict access by children.

Poland’s proposals come as social media platforms face mounting scrutiny over child safety across the globe.

Meta moves
Earlier today (2 June), Meta announced it is expanding its 13+ content settings for teen accounts on Instagram, Facebook and Messenger globally. The controls were initially launched in select countries in October last year and are designed to filter out content deemed inappropriate for underage users as the default for teenagers’ accounts.

A more restrictive “limited content” setting will also be made available on Facebook and Messenger later this year. In addition, Meta’s Instagram platform is also testing a feature to prevent teenage users from repeatedly seeing certain types of content to promote a more balanced social media feed.

In December, Australia became the world’s first country to ban social media for under-16s, while countries including the UK, Denmark, Greece, France, Malaysia, Norway and Spain are all weighing or advancing restrictions.

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SK Telecom (SKT) partnered up with Nvidia to use the chip company’s digital twin technology for semiconductor manufacturing environments operated by SK Hynix, pushing industrial AI deployments to achieve more automated factory operations.

The operator said it used Nvidia “Omniverse libraries” to adapt digital twins for complex, large-scale manufacturing environments, following a proof-of-concept completed last year at a SK Hynix semiconductor manufacturing site. It plans to commercialise the technology in stages as SK Hynix works to establish autonomous fab operations by 2030.

Using Nvidia’s Agent Toolkit, SKT developed Agentic Digital Twin Modelling technology to automate data processing, including site equipment and spatial structures, for use in digital twin systems. It also integrated Nvidia Omniverse libraries to make large 3D factory scenes load faster, run more smoothly and use GPU and memory resources more efficiently.

The set up aims to improve data conversion, scene optimisation and performance tasks required to build and run digital twins at scale.

SKT explained digital twins act as working replicas of real factories and equipment. In semiconductor plants, they can be used to test changes to processes or equipment layouts in advance, helping reduce costly trial and error in highly complex production sites.

Mike Geyer, head of industrial digital twins at Nvidia, said semiconductor fabs are “among the most challenging manufacturing environments”, citing “massive amounts of 3D data, complex equipment structures, and the need for high-level optimisation”.

Cho Ik-hwan, head of physical AI at SKT, added the collaboration demonstrates manufacturing digital twins can move “beyond simple 3D visualisation” into systems capable of “understanding and optimising large-scale 3D manufacturing data”.

SKT added the move bolsters its plans to expand its enterprise and public sector business with AI offerings spanning infrastructure, models and services.

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SoftBank Group overtook Toyota Motor as Japan’s most valuable company, as AI gains propelled the technology group ahead of the country’s largest automaker.

SoftBank shares rose 14% in Tokyo trading on Monday, taking its market value above JPY48 trillion ($306 billion), past Toyota’s nearly JPY46 trillion.

Bloomberg noted the shift marks the first time in more than two decades SoftBank moved ahead of Toyota on market value including treasury shares. According to the publication, SoftBank last briefly held the position during Japan’s internet bubble in 2000.

The move caps a sharp run for SoftBank, with its shares up more than 90% this year. Toyota has moved the other way, falling more than 10% as automakers face rising fuel costs and the expensive shift to electric vehicles and software-led platforms.

Meanwhile, SoftBank’s gains have been buoyed by ambitious bets on OpenAI; the company has committed close to $65 billion to OpenAI to date, giving it a projected stake of about 13% by October.

Earlier this year, OpenAI and SoftBank also jointly invested $1 billion in US digital infrastructure company SB Energy, which will build and operate a 1.2GW data centre for OpenAI in Texas. The trio are working to develop a new model for data centre builds, tied to the broader $500 billion US-led Stargate initiative focussed on AI and energy infrastructure.

SoftBank also announced an investment of up to €75 billion in AI data centre infrastructure in France earlier today (1 June), adding it will work with SB Energy and other strategic partners to deliver the projects.

Kazuhiro Sasaki, head of research at Phillip Securities Japan, told Bloomberg: “This epoch-making event symbolises the AI boom.”

Meanwhile, Tomo Kinoshita, global market strategist at Invesco Asset Management Japan, told the publication SoftBank had “concentrated its management resources on AI-related businesses” and “successfully ridden the broader global tech rally”.

For Toyota, higher oil prices linked to conflict in the Middle East also added to pressure on global auto demand, he noted.

“Over the longer term, AI-related companies are likely to command higher valuations,” Kinoshita added.

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Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon used his keynote at the annual Computex event in Taiwan to stake the company’s claim in the next phase of AI, arguing the technology will reshape demand for compute across devices, networks and data centres.

Amon described 2026 as the “year of the agent”, stating AI is moving from prompt-based interactions to autonomous systems capable of planning, reasoning and acting across smartphones, PCs, cars, robots and industrial equipment.

“Agents are not coming in the future. They’re already here,” he said, adding the shift is “changing a lot of the compute” and could generate “a lot of demand for new classes of devices and computing”, creating “one of the largest” upgrade cycles the industry has seen.

Amon said the smartphone will no longer sit alone at the nexus of the digital ecosystem. “Agents become the centre of your digital experience,” he stated, adding devices will increasingly become “endpoints for agents”.

Compute continuum
To this end, the executive laid out Qualcomm’s ambition to support the AI infrastructure transition. Amon pointed to the need for CPUs, GPUs, NPUs and connectivity designed to support AI workloads both on devices and in the cloud, stating the company can help scale AI compute from “sub-2 milliwatts” in devices such as earbuds to kilowatt-level systems in data centres.

He also stressed the engineering challenge around battery life and latency, noting devices must be able to support complex planning, reasoning and coordination. “I cannot emphasise enough the importance of power,” he said.

In addition, Amon framed 6G as a key part of the future AI architecture, noting it is the first wireless generation designed as an AI-native network connecting distributed, hybrid intelligence across devices and data centres.

During the event, the chief also unveiled Dragonfly, Qualcomm’s new data centre brand aimed at inference workloads. He said Qualcomm is already working with hyperscalers and global partners on deployments, adding the fresh brand will allow its portfolio to span “every single tier of the compute continuum”.

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