The Council of Tech Advisors Convenes; Arm Debut In-House Chip; Bitcoin’s Worst Days Are Behind It; and BigTech’s Big Tobacco Moment
- Dipo Owolabi
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Power is shifting in Washington, Silicon Valley, and the markets all at once. Trump has stacked his new science-and-technology council with Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, and Jensen Huang to weigh in on AI policy and emerging tech, while Arm has crossed a 35-year Rubicon by launching its first in-house chip with Meta as its debut customer. At the same time, Bitcoin is hovering near $71,000 as Bernstein says the token “looks bottomed,” and a Los Angeles jury has found Meta and YouTube negligent in a landmark social-media addiction case. Big tech, big bets, and the courts finally asking what the feed has done to users. All this and more in today’s Read It And Eat! |
Markets Around The World
Markets as of 25th March 2026. Cells in RED mean that the value is down, cells in Green mean the value is up.
MAJOR HEADLINES
Trump Taps Heavy Hitters Like Jensen, Mark & Larry For Council of Advisors Panel
President Trump has named some of the biggest names in tech Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Oracle Executive Chairman Larry Ellison, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to a revamped President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). The council is designed to advise the White House on AI policy and other emerging-technology issues, with the reported aim of supporting innovation, national security, education, and workforce development. The panel will be co-chaired by David Sacks and Michael Kratsios, and the initial group is set at 13 members, with the possibility of expanding to 24.
The lineup matters because it puts some of the most influential people in AI and digital infrastructure directly inside the policy conversation. Zuckerberg leads the world’s largest social platform company, Ellison is one of the most powerful voices in enterprise software and cloud infrastructure, and Huang sits at the center of the AI chip boom through Nvidia. Reuters noted that the council is being asked to weigh in on AI and other issues, signaling that Trump’s team wants direct industry input as it tries to shape U.S. policy around innovation and competitiveness.
The broader takeaway is that Washington is leaning harder than ever on the private sector to help define the AI era. That can speed up policy coordination, but it also raises obvious questions about influence, regulation, and who gets to shape the rules of the game. If the same executives building the systems are also helping write the policy, the line between regulator and regulated gets thinner fast and that is exactly why the council is drawing so much attention. Wall Street Journal
Arm Releases Its First In-House Chip, With Meta as the Debut Customer
Arm has taken a major strategic turn by unveiling its first in-house AI chip, the AGI CPU, ending more than 35 years of sticking almost entirely to licensing its chip designs rather than making silicon itself. Reuters said the new chip is aimed at data-center workloads, especially the kind of AI compute needed for systems that act on behalf of users rather than merely answering chatbot prompts. The company says the chip will add billions of dollars in revenue and represent a significant shift in Arm’s business model.
The customer list makes the move even more interesting. Meta is the first official customer, and Reuters-linked reporting says there are additional committed customers as well, including names such as OpenAI, Cloudflare, and others depending on the report. That matters because Arm is no longer just the architecture behind other people’s chips it is beginning to move closer to the actual hardware market itself, which puts it in more direct competition with companies that have long used Arm’s designs to power their own systems.
The upside is obvious: Arm is trying to capture more value from the AI data-center buildout instead of just collecting royalties on the side. The risk is just as obvious: by building chips itself, Arm is stepping into a more crowded, more capital-intensive arena where execution matters much more. For investors, the message is clear Arm wants a bigger slice of the AI spending wave, but in doing so it is also changing the very identity of the company. CNBC
Bitcoin is trying to stabilise after a steep pullback, hovering around $71,000 as Bernstein analysts argued that the token may finally have reached a floor. Yahoo Finance reported that Bernstein’s Gautam Chhugani wrote that “Bitcoin looks bottomed,” while the firm kept its ambitious $150,000 price target for the end of 2026. The move matters because it comes after bitcoin fell sharply from its highs, shaking confidence across the crypto complex.
The setup is important because bitcoin has been behaving less like a pure speculative toy and more like a macro asset that traders now watch alongside gold and equities. Yahoo Finance noted that the token has outperformed both gold and stocks during the Middle East conflict, even while sitting well below prior highs. That makes the “bottomed” call less about a single day’s price action and more about a view that the worst of the forced selling and panic may be behind it.
Still, the market remains fragile. A bottom call from a major research firm can help sentiment, but it does not erase the reality that bitcoin is still highly sensitive to liquidity, leverage, and risk appetite. If the token does hold near current levels, the story becomes one of resilience; if it fails again, Bernstein’s call will read less like conviction and more like early optimism in a volatile market. Yahoo Finance |
Meta and YouTube Found Negligent in Landmark Social Media Addiction Lawsuit
A Los Angeles jury has found Meta and YouTube negligent in a landmark social media addiction lawsuit, marking one of the most important legal setbacks yet for Big Tech’s platform design playbook. According to Reuters and AP, the jury found that the companies’ products contributed to the plaintiff’s harm and awarded a combined $6 million in damages, with Meta responsible for 70% and YouTube for 30%. This was the first of a set of bellwether trials in broader litigation involving teens and children harmed by social platforms.
The case centered on allegations that the platforms used addictive design features including autoplay, infinite scroll, and engagement-driven feeds to keep young users hooked while failing to warn them about the risks. The plaintiff testified that she became deeply attached to the platforms as a child, and the jury concluded that the companies knew enough about the risks to be liable. The ruling is especially significant because it focuses on product design rather than speech content, which is where tech companies usually find stronger legal protection.
The broader takeaway is that the legal floodgates may be opening. Reuters said the verdict could influence thousands of similar claims, while AP noted that this case is likely to become a reference point for future litigation against social-media platforms. Meta and YouTube plan to appeal, but the message from the jury is unmistakable: the court is increasingly willing to treat addictive platform design as a liability, not just a business model. Yahoo Finance
Minor Headlines
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Honda and Sony scrap luxury EVs in latest electric rollback Financial Times
BlackRock CEO Fink warns of 'global recession' if oil goes to $150 Yahoo Finance
Revolut to base 40% of its global workforce in India by 2026 Yahoo Finance
Super Micro sued by shareholders over China-related criminal case against co-founder, others Yahoo Finance
US Postal Service to Hike Prices as War Drives Up Fuel Costs Yahoo Finance
JetBlue Shares Jump After Report Airline Is Exploring Sale Bloomberg
England set to charge foreign tourists for entry to leading museums Financial Times
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