- India Reaches Orbit — Privately: Hyderabad's Skyroot launched Vikram-1, becoming the first Indian private company to put a rocket into orbit — a landmark for the country's space sector.
- Apple Retakes the Crown: Apple climbed back above Nvidia to become the world's most valuable company, pushing toward roughly $5 trillion as investors weigh the AI-spending payoff.
- TSMC Booms: The world's biggest chipmaker posted ~77% profit growth on AI demand and pledged another $100 billion for its Arizona fabs.
- MakeMyTrip Comes Home: The travel giant filed confidentially for a $1 billion-plus India IPO, adding a home listing after ~15 years on the Nasdaq.
International Tech News
1. Apple retakes the "world's most valuable company" title from Nvidia
Apple climbed back above Nvidia to become the most valuable company on the planet, pushing toward a roughly $5 trillion market cap. The move came as investors began questioning how quickly the enormous spending on AI data centers will actually pay off, rotating back toward Apple's steadier grip on consumer hardware and services. The two giants have been swapping the No. 1 spot almost daily — a live scoreboard for the market's biggest debate.
2. Google delays its flagship Gemini 3.5 Pro model
Google pushed back the release of Gemini 3.5 Pro by several months after internal testing showed it falling short on coding and complex reasoning tasks. Alphabet shares slipped about 4% on the news. In a race where every major lab ships on a tight cadence, a multi-month slip hands rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic valuable breathing room at the frontier.
3. TSMC profit jumps ~77%, pledges another $100 billion for Arizona
The world's biggest chipmaker, TSMC, reported second-quarter profit up roughly 77% on relentless AI-chip demand, and said it will invest an additional $100 billion to expand manufacturing in Arizona. TSMC builds the chips that power Nvidia, Apple and nearly every AI system, so its numbers are the clearest read on whether the AI boom is real demand or hype — and right now, demand is winning.
4. Netflix beats on earnings but stock slides on a soft outlook
Netflix posted a slight Q2 beat, but shares fell after hours as a weaker Q3 revenue outlook spooked investors. The company also said it is scaling back the detailed viewership reports it had been publishing. As the streaming bellwether, a cautious forecast raises fresh questions about how much room is left for subscriber and pricing growth.
5. Nvidia resumes advanced AI-chip shipments to China
US officials confirmed the first Nvidia H200 AI GPU shipments to China are underway, following a thaw in export policy. Analysts estimate the restart could recover many billions in revenue, though local rivals like Huawei gained ground during Nvidia's absence. Reopening the massive Chinese AI market is a big revenue swing — and a fresh flashpoint in US–China tech tension.
6. Moonshot AI ships open-weight Kimi K3, tops coding benchmarks
Beijing-based Moonshot AI released Kimi K3, an open-weight model that ranked first on key coding benchmarks — underlining how fast Chinese open models are closing in on Western frontier labs. Free, open, top-ranked models change the economics of AI and pile pressure on closed labs that charge for access.
7. Meta poaches an AWS exec to run its AI data-center buildout
Meta hired Dave Brown from Amazon Web Services to oversee its AI data-center expansion, as the company guides toward a staggering $125–145 billion in capital spending. The AI arms race is now an infrastructure arms race, and the winners are the ones who can build and power data centers fastest.
8. Fireworks AI raises $1.5 billion at a $17.5 billion valuation
AI inference-infrastructure startup Fireworks AI raised a $1.5 billion round at a $17.5 billion valuation, aimed at the fast-growing cost of running AI models in production at scale. Training grabs the headlines, but "inference" — actually serving models to millions of users — is where the recurring bills pile up, and it is now a huge market of its own.
India Tech News
1. Skyroot launches Vikram-1 — India's first private orbital rocket
Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace successfully launched Vikram-1, becoming the first Indian private company to reach orbit — a landmark for the country's fast-growing private space sector, years after its 2022 suborbital debut. Getting to orbit is the genuinely hard part, and pulling it off privately puts India on a very short list of nations with commercial launch capability.
2. MakeMyTrip files confidentially for a $1 billion-plus India IPO
Travel-tech giant MakeMyTrip filed a confidential DRHP for an India listing worth over $1 billion, moving to add a home-market listing after roughly 15 years trading on the Nasdaq. A marquee Indian tech name coming home signals deepening confidence in India's public markets and could set the tone for a busy IPO season.
3. Wipro posts flat Q1 FY27 profit as revenue rises ~10.6%
Wipro reported Q1 FY27 net profit of about Rs 3,352 crore — nearly flat year-on-year — even as revenue rose around 10.6%, slightly missing Street estimates, while the board cleared an interim dividend. It is another sign that big Indian IT is still fighting soft global tech spending and pricing pressure amid the industry's shift to AI-led delivery.
4. Turtlemint turns profitable; revenue up 57% to Rs 1,098 crore
Insurance-tech platform Turtlemint swung to profit and grew FY26 revenue 57% to Rs 1,098 crore, a strong signal in a sector that has long chased scale over margins. Profitable growth from a new-age startup is exactly what investors want to see ahead of a possible wave of listings.
5. Neo Group raises Rs 350 crore led by Peak XV
Wealth-and-asset-management firm Neo Group raised Rs 350 crore in a round led by Peak XV Partners, fueling its push in India's booming wealth-management space. Rising incomes and the financialization of savings are turning wealth-tech into one of India's hottest fintech niches.
6. New-age tech stocks: Fino Payments Bank surges 29%, Go Digit leads losers
It was a mixed week for India's listed new-age tech companies, with Fino Payments Bank rallying about 29% while Go Digit led the weekly decliners. The wide swings show investors are still figuring out how to value India's freshly public tech and fintech names quarter by quarter.
7. Snapdeal faces a Supreme Court notice over prescription-drug sales
The Supreme Court sought Snapdeal's response in a case over the online sale of prescription drugs, keeping regulatory scrutiny of e-commerce marketplaces firmly in the spotlight. How courts treat marketplace liability will shape the rules for every platform selling regulated goods in India.
8. Zepto faces fresh questions on profitability ahead of an IPO
Quick-commerce player Zepto addressed concerns over its unit economics, but the debate over whether 10-minute delivery can be sustainably profitable rolls on as the company eyes a public listing. Quick commerce is one of India's most-watched consumer stories, and its path to profit will decide how investors value the entire category.
9. Flipkart sharpens its seller playbook as troubles mount at Ola Electric
Flipkart is reworking how it onboards and supports marketplace sellers to defend its lead against a resurgent Amazon and Reliance, even as EV maker Ola Electric wrestles with fresh operational and regulatory troubles. Together they capture the two moods of Indian consumer tech right now — incumbents doubling down, and once-hot names under pressure.
10. Indian startups raise about $281 million over the week
Indian startups collectively raised roughly $281 million during the week, with early-stage deals and names like Emergent and Neo Group among the notable rounds. It keeps up steady momentum in a year that has already crossed $7.4 billion in H1 funding, showing a healthy pipeline beyond the headline megadeals.
Funding & Ecosystem Round-up
- Fireworks AI raised $1.5B at a $17.5B valuation to scale AI inference infrastructure.
- Neo Group raised Rs 350 Cr led by Peak XV Partners, while Turtlemint turned profitable with FY26 revenue up 57% to Rs 1,098 Cr.
- MakeMyTrip filed confidentially for a $1B+ India IPO, and Indian startups raised about $281M across the week.
- India's space sector hit a milestone as Skyroot reached orbit with Vikram-1 — its first private orbital launch.
Discussion