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Apple to Argue It Faces Competition in Video Game Market In Epic Lawsuit

FILE PHOTO: 3D printed Lady Justice figure is seen in front of displayed Apple and Epic Games logos in this illustration photo taken February 17, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: 3D printed Lady Justice figure is seen in front of displayed Apple and Epic Games logos in this illustration photo taken February 17, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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Apple to Argue It Faces Competition in Video Game Market In Epic Lawsuit

FILE PHOTO: 3D printed Lady Justice figure is seen in front of displayed Apple and Epic Games logos in this illustration photo taken February 17, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: 3D printed Lady Justice figure is seen in front of displayed Apple and Epic Games logos in this illustration photo taken February 17, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Apple Inc said it plans to argue that it faces abundant competition in the market for video game transactions to defend itself against antitrust allegations by “Fortnite” maker Epic Games, the iPhone maker said on Thursday.

Epic sued Apple last year in federal court in California, alleging the 15% to 30% commissions that Apple charges for the use of its in-app payment systems and Apple’s longstanding practice of exercising control over which apps can be installed on its devices amount to anticompetitive behavior. The dispute arose after Epic tried to implement its own in-app payment system in the popular “Fortnite” game and Apple subsequently banned the game from its App Store, Reuters reported.

The case is to be heard in May in Oakland, California, by US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who will have to rule on which notion of a “market” is the correct one for analyzing Apple’s moves for signs of anticompetitive conduct.

Epic has framed its case around the idea that Apple’s iPhones, with an installed base of more than 1 billion users, represent their own distinct market for software developers. Epic has argued that Apple has monopoly power over that market because it decides how users can install software on the devices and says it abuses that power by forcing developers to deliver their software through the App Store, where developers are subject to fees on some transactions.

In a filing that Apple planned to make Thursday, the company rejected that notion and said the proper market to analyze the case is the video game transaction market, which includes platforms such as Nintendo Co Ltd and Microsoft Corp’s Xbox gaming consoles, which also limit the software that can run on their hardware and charge fees to developers.

Apple said it plans to argue that consumers have many choices on how to carry out video game transactions, including purchasing virtual tokens from game developers on other platforms such as Windows PCs and using the tokens on iPhones with no fees to the game developer.

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Technology

Fujitsu and Leading Japanese Robotics Companies to Use Nvidia Technology in 'Physical AI'

From left, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Fujitsu CEO Takahito Tokita, Fanuc CEO Kenji Yamaguchi, Yaskawa CEO Masahiro Ogawa and Kawasaki Heavy CEO Yasuhiko Hashimoto pose for the media at an event to announce a new initiative in Tokyo, Thursday, July 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Yuri Kageyama)
From left, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Fujitsu CEO Takahito Tokita, Fanuc CEO Kenji Yamaguchi, Yaskawa CEO Masahiro Ogawa and Kawasaki Heavy CEO Yasuhiko Hashimoto pose for the media at an event to announce a new initiative in Tokyo, Thursday, July 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Yuri Kageyama)
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Fujitsu and Leading Japanese Robotics Companies to Use Nvidia Technology in 'Physical AI'

From left, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Fujitsu CEO Takahito Tokita, Fanuc CEO Kenji Yamaguchi, Yaskawa CEO Masahiro Ogawa and Kawasaki Heavy CEO Yasuhiko Hashimoto pose for the media at an event to announce a new initiative in Tokyo, Thursday, July 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Yuri Kageyama)
From left, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Fujitsu CEO Takahito Tokita, Fanuc CEO Kenji Yamaguchi, Yaskawa CEO Masahiro Ogawa and Kawasaki Heavy CEO Yasuhiko Hashimoto pose for the media at an event to announce a new initiative in Tokyo, Thursday, July 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Yuri Kageyama)

Japanese communications company Fujitsu is leading a major push in artificial intelligence using Nvidia’s technology, bringing together what it said was the best in Japan’s manufacturing prowess in robotics with AI.

The technology area known as “physical AI” refers to smart, futuristic robots that can think on their own, not just follow programmed directions, to work safely alongside people in factories, homes and hospitals.

The initiative was announced in Tokyo on Thursday by Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Jensen Huang and Fujitsu Chief Executive Takahito Tokita, along with the CEOs of Japan’s top makers of industrial robots, Fanuc Corp., Yaskawa Electric Corp. and Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

The latest announcement comes on top of a deal announced by Nvidia and Fujitsu last year.

The executives expressed hopes that the robots can address the nation’s acute labor shortage.

Japan is among the most rapidly aging societies in the developed world and the smart robots could help take care of the elderly living alone, The Associated Press quoted them as saying.

Huang said physical AI was a good fit for Japan because of the country's reputation for manufacturing quality because robots that move independently could potentially be dangerous.

“Japan’s excellence is a philosophy, a way of life. ‘Made in Japan’ means the highest quality, the highest precision. Japan sets the standard for the state-of-the-art in modern manufacturing,” he said.

Huang listed Japan’s prized concepts in fine manufacturing such as “kaizen,” which means “continuous improvement.”

The companies did not give a specific time frame for the arrival of such robots in daily life. They stressed efforts were underway with what they called the first phase of the collaboration coming later this year.

There has been no decision on setting up a joint venture, although that could come later, they said.

Japan has acknowledged it has fallen behind some nations, including China and the US, in AI, and has been eager to play catch-up.

The government of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi recently announced a plan to drum up more than 370 trillion yen ($2.3 trillion) in public and private investment in various technology fields by 2040, including physical AI, semiconductors and data centers.

Silicon Valley-based Nvidia, which offers an open-source technology, has been aggressive in forging various ties in Japan, including with leading banks, automaker Toyota Motor Corp., video game maker Sega and national research institute Riken.

Technology

EU Accepts Action Plan by Elon Musk’s X to Become More Transparent

Teens pose for a photo while holding smartphones in front of the X logo. (Reuters)
Teens pose for a photo while holding smartphones in front of the X logo. (Reuters)
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EU Accepts Action Plan by Elon Musk’s X to Become More Transparent

Teens pose for a photo while holding smartphones in front of the X logo. (Reuters)
Teens pose for a photo while holding smartphones in front of the X logo. (Reuters)

‌The European Union, which fined Elon Musk's social media network X €120 million ($137.2 million) last year, said on Wednesday it had accepted an action plan by X to comply ‌with transparency ‌rules under ‌the ⁠EU's Digital Services Act.

"The ⁠European Commission has accepted X's action plan to comply with transparency obligations and researchers' access to data ⁠under the Digital ‌Services ‌Act," it said in ‌a statement.

"The approved ‌measures represent an important step in enabling researchers, civil society and the public ‌in general to gain more transparency into ⁠X's ⁠systems, in particular to monitor X's systemic risks and to assess the platform's broader impact on its users and European society as a whole," it added.

Technology

China's DeepSeek to Raise Fresh Capital at $74 Billion Valuation Ahead of Onshore IPO

FILE PHOTO: A DeepSeek AI sign is seen at a building where the Chinese start-up's office is located in Beijing, China, February 19, 2025. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A DeepSeek AI sign is seen at a building where the Chinese start-up's office is located in Beijing, China, February 19, 2025. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo
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China's DeepSeek to Raise Fresh Capital at $74 Billion Valuation Ahead of Onshore IPO

FILE PHOTO: A DeepSeek AI sign is seen at a building where the Chinese start-up's office is located in Beijing, China, February 19, 2025. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A DeepSeek AI sign is seen at a building where the Chinese start-up's office is located in Beijing, China, February 19, 2025. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is planning to launch a fresh fundraising round at a valuation of about 500 billion yuan ($74 billion) ahead of a potential mainland initial public offering, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

The plan comes just weeks after the Hangzhou-based company, which drew global attention with its low-cost AI models in 2025, raised about $7.4 billion in June a post-money valuation of about 450 billion yuan, the people said.

The back-to-back fundraising plans underscore strong investor appetite for one of China's most closely watched AI companies, but also point to the rising costs of competing in AI, which requires large amounts of computing power, data-center capacity and engineering talent.

DeepSeek is looking to raise as much as 50 billion yuan in the new funding round, according to a third person briefed on the ⁠matter.

It has also started ⁠early deliberations on a potential IPO on Shanghai's Nasdaq-style STAR Market, the three sources and two other people with knowledge of the plan said.

The company has set an internal target to complete an IPO filing this year, one of them told Reuters.

All the people declined to be identified because the information is not public. The fundraising and IPO plans are at early stages and terms and timetable may change, they said.

DeepSeek did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bloomberg News first reported on Tuesday ⁠that DeepSeek was preparing for a possible IPO filing, while the Financial Times reported that the company was weighing a fresh fundraising round at a valuation of at least 480 billion yuan.

DeepSeek shook global technology markets last year after releasing models that appeared to rival leading US systems at lower training and operating costs.

Soon after its maiden fundraising round in June, DeepSeek said it planned to double staff across departments, including in areas such as data centers and AI agents, systems capable of performing tasks with limited prompting.

Some of those initiatives will require significant capital expenditure. Reuters reported earlier this month that DeepSeek was looking to develop its own AI inference chip and had discreetly increased hiring of chip-design engineers for the project.

DeepSeek had long stood out in China's AI sector for rejecting outside ⁠funding. Founder Liang Wenfeng ⁠had largely bankrolled the company using his quantitative hedge fund High-Flyer before its recent external financing, sources previously told Reuters.

But the cost of staying at the frontier of AI has risen sharply, forcing a change in strategy.

DeepSeek has in the past year faced stiff competition at home from tech giants including ByteDance and Alibaba, as well as well-funded AI startups such as Z.ai, Moonshot, and MiniMax.

In the June funding round, DeepSeek founder Liang personally committed 20 billion yuan, while Tencent Holdings and battery giant CATL chipped in 10 billion yuan and 5 billion yuan respectively to become the largest external shareholders, Reuters reported at the time.

Other investors include China's national AI fund, gaming developer NetEase and e-commerce giant JD.com , as well as investment firms IDG Capital, Loyal Valley Capital, Monolith Management and Shixiang Capital, according to sources and media reports.

The participation of the state-backed AI fund highlighted DeepSeek's strategic importance to Beijing's efforts to build domestic AI champions and reduce reliance on foreign technology.