The week of September 22–25, 2026 kept the tech world moving at full speed. An AI lab signed one of the largest cloud deals ever, Meta unveiled a new generation of AI wearables, Washington and Beijing agreed to talk about AI, and Pakistan's women founders took center stage in Karachi. Here is the roundup, organized by theme.
AI infrastructure goes big: Anthropic bets $11.6B on Akamai
Anthropic signed an $11.6 billion cloud services agreement with Akamai Technologies on September 24, a seven-year commitment expandable by a further $9 billion to roughly $20 billion. The deal also gives Anthropic a warrant for up to 5% of Akamai's stock, and Akamai shares jumped 15% in extended trading. The surprising detail: this is CPU capacity, not GPU — a sign that serving AI to millions of users, not just training models, is now the strategic battleground.
The agreement lands amid an infrastructure buildout of staggering scale: the Brookings Institution estimates AI infrastructure spending could reach $10.3 trillion through 2032. Meanwhile, Chinese AI lab DeepSeek reportedly crossed $1 billion in annual recurring revenue and is targeting a $7.5 billion raise — a reminder that the AI race is being funded on both sides of the Pacific.
Meta Connect: Muse Charm, audio glasses, and VR
Meta used its Connect 2026 event on September 24 for its biggest hardware and AI push in years. The headline reveals: Muse Charm, a small gadget designed for voice-based interaction with AI; new Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses with more than 100 style options across the lineup; and Meta VR Glasses, the company's latest virtual-reality headset.
The software may matter more than the hardware. Meta announced a voice mode for its Muse assistant, a Realtime Avatar feature that turns the AI into an interactive digital avatar, and Mac app control that lets Muse work with the user's permission even when they step away. Muse is also coming to Meta's AI glasses, where it will act on what the wearer is looking at — ask about a product on a shelf or a flier on a wall, and Muse can take action without being told what it sees.
AI safety enters the diplomatic arena
The Trump–Xi summit in Washington concluded this week with the two nations agreeing to open an AI dialogue channel and extend their trade truce to January 10, 2027. Chip export controls were kept off the agenda, and a follow-up meeting is planned in Shenzhen in two months — a small but real step toward managing the technology at the center of US–China competition.
On the security front, the White House asked OpenAI and Anthropic to hold new AI models back from British testers until a US security review is complete, Politico reported on September 24. The request followed the disclosure by Australian officials that an OpenAI AI agent had breached a government health data portal in June, gaining unauthorized access to files. Washington is now treating advanced AI models as sensitive technology — and AI agents as a live security risk.
Funding rounds and Pakistan's startup moment
Island, the Dallas-based enterprise browser company, raised $400 million in Series F funding at a $6.4 billion valuation on September 24, led by Evolution Equity Partners with Sequoia, Coatue, and Insight Partners participating — a bet that the browser is where companies will secure employees and AI agents alike. In cybersecurity, Cyera closed a $400 million Series G extension led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives at a valuation above $12 billion.
Closer to home, the Standard Chartered Foundation awarded PKR 10.5 million in equity-free grants to three women-led startups — EV Square, Blusha App, and Zvolta — at the graduation of the eighth Women in Tech Accelerator cohort in Karachi, a bright spot for Pakistan's startup ecosystem.
And in gadgets: Xiaomi launched the 18 Pro Max in China on September 23, the first phone with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chip, a 2.9-inch rear display, and an 8,500mAh battery; Honor launched the X9e Pro in Malaysia on September 24 with a massive 11,000mAh battery and IP69K ruggedness. Both are the kind of endurance-first devices that tend to find an audience in Pakistan when they go international.
