Morning Scan

Capital is moving toward AI and the power to run it, while trade, cyber and basing disputes intensify. The security beat has a rough Wednesday: breaches, escapes and critical patches.

$12B+ — What DeepSeek is reportedly close to raising, with Tencent and CATL as the biggest contributors, ahead of an early-2027 IPO. (Bloomberg)

Connected World

DeepSeek is close to raising $12B+ in a round that could reach ~$14.9B (paywall)

Tencent and CATL are the anchor cheques ahead of an early-2027 IPO for China's AI champion. (Bloomberg)

Google reportedly nears $1bn-plus nuclear power deal with Constellation

Hyperscalers unable to build reactors fast enough are buying existing ones. (The Next Web)

Why we're backing America's existing nuclear plants

Google's account of the Constellation deal, pitched as uprates and restarts that add capacity without waiting on new builds. (The Official Google Blog)

Lucid Motors' EV output falls to lowest level in almost 2 years

Lucid says the slowdown is deliberate, despite weak mass-market demand. (TechCrunch)

Connected World

Accenture contractor removed from FBI after unpatched system led to breach

Thousands of bureau staff had personal data exposed because a patch was skipped. (The Next Web)

South Korea Investigates Possible Use of A.I. in Hackings on Its Banks (paywall)

The president says signs point to AI models in recent attacks on several banks' customer data, a live test of the "AI-enabled attacker" thesis. (NYT)

Security researcher claims they found KVM guest-host escape flaw

A full VM escape in the hypervisor that powers hyperscale clouds is a claim cloud security teams will watch closely. (The Register)

Connected World

JAY-Z's MarcyPen reportedly closes in on LVMH's 50% stake in Rihanna's Fenty Beauty

Jay-Z's investment firm is buying out LVMH's half of Rihanna's beauty company. (Hypebeast)

Aston Martin Delays First EV Launch to 2033

The first electric Aston Martin now arrives in a three-year window starting in 2033. (Hypebeast)

Command-line tool quickly removes Apple Intelligence from macOS 27

One click recovers 12GB, and users are asking for their disk space back. (Ars Technica)