ACC abandons its battery gigafactory projects in Italy and Germany
Automotive Cells Company has definitively abandoned its gigafactory projects in Termoli (Italy) and Kaiserslautern (Germany), management has confirmed to the unions. Both sites have been shut down since May 2024.
The group, controlled by Stellantis alongside Mercedes-Benz and TotalEnergies, cites the absence of sufficient prospects for volumes of electric vehicles in Europe.
This decision is part of the strategic refocusing of Stellantis, which has revised its electricity objectives downwards and announced more than twenty-two billion euros in exceptional charges, causing a historic fall in its share price. At this stage, only two production blocks remain operational in France. A worrying signal for the European battery industry, which is struggling to achieve large-scale industrial viability.
JD.com launches Joybuy in the UK and takes on Amazon head-on
Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com is preparing to launch Joybuy, a 100% online platform aimed at the British market, with the clear ambition of competing with Amazon. Already with more than 1,000 employees in the United Kingdom, the group has invested massively in logistics and its local presence, including a headquarters in Westminster for thirty-seven million pounds sterling. Behind this offensive, the personal strategy of its founder, Liu Qiangdong, often presented as the “Chinese Bezos”. There remains a major unknown: will Joybuy succeed in establishing itself against a player who already dominates the uses, logistics and loyalty of British consumers?
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4.5 billion euros directed towards French Tech via public purchases
The State announces the allocation of 4.5 billion euros towards French and European solutions as part of its digital purchases. “There is an urgent need to detoxify ourselves from American solutions,” declares David Amiel, Minister Delegate for the Civil Service. It remains for European publishers to meet the deadlines and requirements of the public sector.
Digital purchases: the State strengthens its doctrine, without removing all ambiguities
Unveiled at the end of the week, the draft circular from the Ministry of the Economy and Finance intends to restore order to the State’s digital purchases, with a strict hierarchy of choices (pool, buy, develop) and the explicit integration of sovereignty among the arbitration criteria, with immunity to the CLOUD Act, reversibility and control of critical bricks in mind.
Signed soon by the Prime Minister, the circular is intended to be interministerial and binding, including during contract renewals, under the reinforced supervision of the Interministerial Digital Directorate. However, the text does not create a new legal obligation; hosting on SecNumCloud certified clouds remains governed by the SREN law.
Implicitly, a tension persists, with the State assuming the internal development of certain tools deemed strategic, at the risk of appearing as a competitor to the market that it claims to structure. The doctrine is established, its real application remains to be demonstrated.
Sovereignty of health data: the State notes the exit of Microsoft
The State has launched a call for tenders aimed at hosting the health data of French people on a secure European platform, in order to break with the hosting operated until now by Microsoft. This decision marks a strategic shift after several years of legal and political controversies linked to dependence on American actors and the risks of extraterritoriality of law.
Among the operators already qualified SecNumCloud, and therefore theoretically in a position to take over, are OVHcloud, Cloud Temple and SENS. The latter, supported by Thales, is however based on Google Cloud technology. The final decision, expected in the coming weeks, will make it possible to measure whether this change in doctrine results in a fully autonomous industrial choice or a technological compromise.
TikTok targeted by Brussels for addictive design of its platform
The European Commission considers that TikTok violates the Digital Services Act due to a design deemed addictive, based on infinite scrolling, autoplay and a highly personalized recommendation algorithm. Investigators consider that the platform has neither properly assessed nor sufficiently reduced mental health risks, particularly among minors, and that its screen time management tools remain ineffective.
Brussels could impose structural changes to the service, including mandatory breaks or the gradual deactivation of certain features. If the preliminary findings are confirmed, TikTok would face a decision of non-compliance and a fine of up to 6% of its global turnover.
Erebor Bank obtains its charter: a pro-defense and crypto “SVB” backed by Palmer Luckey
Erebor Bank, a new American bank financed by ANDREESSEN HOROWITZ, FOUNDERS FUND, LUX CAPITAL, 8VC and ELAD GIL, among others, has obtained a national charter (OCC) and plans to open immediately. With $635 million in capital, it targets the segment left orphaned since the fall of Silicon Valley Bank, with an assertive positioning in defense tech and industrial tech.
The bank intends to differentiate itself through loans backed by crypto assets or private securities, as well as through the integration of “24/7” services via blockchain rails. Its founder, Palmer Luckey (Oculus, Anduril), highlights an underwriting capacity on specialized assets that traditional banks consider too atypical.
Video games and AI agents: Emmanuel Macron does not rule out bans to protect minors
Emmanuel Macron announced the launch of a two-month expert mission to assess the impact of video games and artificial intelligence agents on the mental health of children and adolescents. The conclusions are expected in May-June.
In the event of a scientific consensus establishing a deleterious effect, the Head of State does not exclude bans or new rules, in particular on conversational AI agents and the mandatory marking of content generated by AI.
AI.com is bidding for a huge price: seventy million dollars for a name in the global AI race
Crypto.com founder Kris Marszalek acquired the domain name AI.com for approximately seventy million dollars, a record amount for a public domain sale.
The transaction was paid entirely in cryptocurrency. Marszalek plans to launch the platform via an ad aired during the Super Bowl, with the ambition of offering a consumer artificial intelligence agent.
OpenAI is developing with G42 a version of ChatGPT aligned with the political and normative framework of the Emirates
OpenAI is working with Emirati technology conglomerate G42 to develop a version of ChatGPT specifically for the UAE.
The model would be configured to integrate the local language, but also to explicitly conform to the political lines of the country and the restrictions governing public expression. The project, still under discussion, would primarily target institutional and governmental uses, illustrating an assumed strategy of political localization of AI models.
Suspicions of Chinese interference: a clandestine Starlink data capture operation dismantled in Gironde
Four people, including two Chinese nationals, were presented to an investigating judge in Paris after four days in police custody in an investigation into technological espionage.
According to the prosecution, their visit to France aimed to capture satellite data from the Starlink network as well as information from entities of vital importance, particularly military ones, in order to transmit it to China.
The investigation, led by the cyber section of the Paris prosecutor’s office and entrusted to the DGSI, began at the end of January after the discovery, in an Airbnb in Gironde, of a device of satellite dishes and computers allowing the illegal interception of satellite feeds.
In the United Kingdom, the ICO opens an investigation into Grok for suspicion of illegal use of personal data
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has opened an investigation into Grok, the AI tool developed by xAI, for suspected illegal use of personal data in the generation of sexual images and videos. The authority is seeking to establish whether content was produced from real images of people without their consent.
The investigation is being carried out in coordination with Ofcom. The incriminated content would have been distributed on the X platform. The British authorities indicate that they are handling the matter urgently.
Search at X in Paris: Elon Musk and Linda Yaccarino summoned by the prosecution
The Paris prosecutor’s office ordered a search of the French offices of X, carried out by the national cyber unit of the gendarmerie, in the presence of Europol. Elon Musk and Linda Yaccarino were summoned on April 20 for free hearings, as de facto and legal managers of the platform at the material time.
The investigation, opened in early 2025 after reports from deputies, was expanded to several alleged offenses, including the possession and distribution of child pornography images, deepfakes of a sexual nature and acts of Holocaust denial.
The Paris prosecutor’s office announced its withdrawal from the X platform, specifying that its communications will continue in particular on Instagram and LinkedIn.
Arthur Mensch (Mistral AI) invests in Biorce, specialist in AI applied to clinical trials
Arthur Mensch, co-founder of Mistral AIis among the individual investors in the Series A round of $52 million raised by the Barcelona start-up Biorcealongside DST Global Partners, Norrsken VC, YZR Capital and Mustard Seed Maze.
Biorce is developing an AI platform dedicated to the design and execution of clinical trials. Its AI-native product, Aika, analyzes a repository of approximately one million trials in order to anticipate risks, reduce errors and limit protocol amendments, while facilitating methodological justification to regulatory authorities.
