Global Scans · GAFA et al · Weekly Summary

• [New] Amazon Prime Air plans to launch drone delivery services in select U.S. cities by 2026, aiming to enhance last-mile logistics. 6wresearch
• [New] Facebook plans to spend $10 billion in 2026 on Facebook Reality Labs, its metaverse division tasked with creating AR and VR hardware, software, and content. VirtualSpeech
• [New] Google AI for Sustainability includes a set of applied AI projects that directly cut emissions. AIMultiple
• [New] In Google Cloud, vulnerability scanning is commonly performed through Security Command Center, Web Security Scanner, container scanning, and related cloud security services. Maze
• [New] In Amazon Web Services, vulnerability scanning commonly focuses on EC2 instances, container images, Lambda functions, and network exposure. Maze
• [New] Whether Apple receives US government approval to use CXMT products and whether Chinese regulators approve its dedicated AI model will provide a practical test of whether companies can maintain commercial flexibility across two regulatory systems. Small Island Research Notes
• [New] The Duane Arnold plant in Iowa will start back up in 2029, nine years after its closure, to help power data centers for Google. Los Angeles Times
• [New] Amazon has acquired a massive off-grid power plant being built in Texas for one of its data centers that could be one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the US. Wired
• [New] Google and Apple take different technical approaches to secure age verification in their mobile operating systems, which could make different systems less compatible over time. Live Science
• [New] Chinese tech giant Tencent has turned its back on instant profits, betting that a new business unit that creates its own AI and embeds that in its products will pay off to a greater extent than cashing in on demand for computing resources. theregister
• [New] Digital wallets - like Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal - are projected to be used by more than 5.3 billion people by 2026. UMass Amherst
• [New] Recent quantum computing advances from Google, Cloudflare, and Microsoft have pushed some large technology vendors to set their own migration deadlines to 2029. Forrester
• [New] Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and Google now plan to spend $725 billion on capital expenditures in 2026. Last Week in ConTech
• [New] Apple is widely expected to enter the foldable category, while Chinese OEMs have already pushed hard on thinner hardware, larger batteries and aggressive pricing. Laptop Outlet
• Fastest Growing Segment: AI ASICs are the fastest-growing component type, with Omdia forecasting AI ASIC revenue to reach US$ 84.5 billion by 2030 as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft scale proprietary silicon deployments across hyperscale data centers. Persistence Market Research
• Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Meta are expected to spend more than $700bn on AI infrastructure in 2026, while Britain is competing to attract new data centers and computing capacity. City AM
• Google is investing tens of billions and backstopping Anthropic's direct data-center leases (~ > 1 GW across 12+ preliminary US sites, mostly AFTER 2027 capacity). NextBigFuture.com
• Intel has secured an order for 3 million tensor processing units from Google through 2028. Bittime
• Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon will report earnings over the next two weeks as investors look for evidence that years of record spending on AI are beginning to generate stronger revenue growth. City AM
• Google Cloud holds the strongest AI model story through Gemini and Vertex AI, but the weakest position on disclosed local investment, an open question heading into 2027. Tech Insider
• More than 200 economists and AI researchers - including 16 Nobel laureates and senior figures from Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic - have issued a coordinated statement urging governments and institutions to act immediately on the economic disruption that artificial intelligence is expected to cause. Renascence
• Google has announced it will replenish more water than it consumes by 2030 and invest $500 million globally in water reuse and watershed restoration. Water Industry Hub

Last updated: 23 August 2026