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- Google’s $30B cybersecurity bet
Good morning, tech enthusiasts. Google is acquiring cloud security startup Wiz for $32B—its biggest deal in history.
By bringing Wiz into the fold, Google hopes to provide cloud customers with AI-driven cybersecurity solutions to combat critical risks—and better compete with Microsoft and Amazon. Will this bold bet pay off?
In today’s tech rundown:
Google acquiring Wiz for $32B
Apple designing a foldable iPhone
BYD’s super-fast charging system
Alphabet’s Starlink competitor ‘Taara’
Quick hits on other major news
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Image source: Ideogram/The Rundown
The Rundown: Google is acquiring Israeli cybersecurity startup Wiz for $32B in an all-cash transaction—aiming to bolster its cloud division’s cybersecurity products and take a bigger piece of the cloud security market.
The details:
Wiz specializes in AI-powered cloud security solutions that help businesses identify and mitigate critical vulnerabilities across major cloud platforms.
With this deal, Google will help strengthen the security platform offered by Wiz, although the startup will continue to operate independently across all clouds.
This also marks Google’s largest acquisition to date, surpassing its $12.5B, consumer tech-focused purchase of Motorola Mobility in 2011.
However, it has come through on the second attempt; Google’s first bid for Wiz, reportedly at $23B, collapsed last year due to regulatory concerns.
Why it matters: Google’s acquisition of Wiz underscores its urgency to bolster its cloud security footprint amid the AI boom and compete more aggressively with Microsoft and Amazon. However, the deal’s scale and Alphabet’s market dominance are likely to draw regulatory scrutiny in the coming months.
APPLE
Image source: Ideogram/The Rundown
The Rundown: Apple is reportedly prototyping foldable devices, with plans to release its first foldable iPhone and potentially a foldable iPad by 2026 to compete with Samsung, Google, OnePlus, and Huawei.
The details:
The foldable iPhone is expected to feature a "book-style" design with a 7.8-inch internal display and a 5.5-inch external screen.
Apple will likely use materials like titanium and stainless steel for the hinge to address common issues with foldables, such as creasing and fragility.
The device is also rumored to include high-end hardware—such as ProMotion technology—and come at a price tag well above $2,000.
And that’s not all: The company is also said to be working on a larger foldable, potentially an 18.8-inch MacBook-iPad hybrid that could run macOS.
Why it matters: The foldable rumors come as Apple faces lukewarm iPhone sales due to delays in AI-powered Siri. Analysts believe the launch of foldable devices could rejuvenate the company’s market presence as it would refine a design that has already been tried and tested by competitors.
BYD
Image source: Ideogram/The Rundown
The Rundown: Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD unveiled a groundbreaking fast-charging system that it says charges electric vehicles in five minutes—about the same as it takes to fill up a gas tank.
The details:
The new "Super e-Platform" boasts peak charging speeds of 1,000 kilowatts (kW), allowing vehicles to gain 400 km (249 miles) of range in just five minutes.
This charging rate is twice as fast as Tesla's latest Superchargers, addressing one of the biggest barriers to EV adoption — charging time.
The ultra-fast charging tech includes batteries with 10C charging capability, high-power motors, and silicon carbide power chips.
The company’s Han L sedan and Tang L SUV will be the first models to feature this new technology, with sales starting in April 2025.
Why it matters: BYD’s breakthrough matches the convenience of refueling gasoline vehicles and outpaces competitors like Tesla, effectively eliminating range anxiety and enhancing the practicality of EVs for long-distance travel. The company also plans to build 4,000 ultra-fast charging stations across China, just like Tesla’s Superchargers.
TAARA
Image source: Taara/X
The Rundown: Alphabet is spinning off its laser-based internet project, Taara, from its X moonshot incubator — positioning it as a competitor to SpaceX's Starlink by delivering high-speed internet via laser beams instead of satellites.
The details:
Taara uses laser beams to transmit data between fixed points at speeds of up to 20 gigabits per second over distances of 20 kilometers (about 12.5 miles).
The approach aims to provide high-speed internet access to hard-to-reach areas where fiber optic infrastructure is impractical or too expensive to install.
The tech differs from Starlink, which relies on a satellite constellation in low Earth orbit, along with radio frequencies, to connect terminals to satellites.
Taara is now developing a next-gen chip, expected to launch in 2026, with thousands of miniature light emitters to significantly boost bandwidth.
Why it matters: By spinning off from Alphabet, Taara is expected to attract investors to help scale its operations, allowing it to compete with Starlink for internet coverage in rural or remote areas. So far, Taara has provided internet services in more than a dozen countries, including Kenya and India, and has been used at events like Coachella.
QUICK HITS
📰 Everything else in tech today
Waymo received a 30-day permit to begin mapping roadways at San Francisco International Airport, moving toward its goal of offering robotaxis in the Bay Area.
Intel's new CEO Lip-Bu Tan plans to make broad changes to its chip manufacturing methods and AI strategies in a move to revive the struggling tech giant.
Elon Musk’s xAI acquired AI video startup Hotshot to further train their advanced video generation models and integrate them into Grok.
MIT researchers found that climate change will make space junk—mostly old satellites—pile up to interfere with internet services and national defense.
Food e-commerce startup GrubMarket raised $50M in new equity at a $3.5B valuation as part of its goal to build AI to transform the U.S. food supply chain industry.
Amazon Echo users will soon lose the option to process their Alexa voice recordings locally—meaning those recordings will be sent to the company’s cloud.
Dating app Bumble is adding new safety features, including an ID verification tool that lets users submit a government-issued ID to the system to prove their credibility.
More than 400 Hollywood creatives signed an open letter urging the Trump administration to not relax copyright restrictions as requested by OpenAI and Google.
France's leading publishers and writers filed a lawsuit against Meta for allegedly using “copyright-protected content on a massive scale” to train its AI systems.
Klarna, a Swedish fintech company, filed for an IPO in the U.S., aiming to raise at least $1B at a valuation above $15B.
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Rowan, Jennifer, and Joey—The Rundown’s editorial team
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