UMG announces a partnership with Nvidia "to pioneer responsible AI for music discovery, creation, and engagement", centered on Nvidia's Music Flamingo model (Dan Rys/Billboard)
Marvell says it will acquire networking equipment provider XConn Technologies in a deal worth about $540M; the deal is expected to close in early 2026 (Arsheeya Bajwa/Reuters) https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/marvell-buy-networking-equipment-firm-xconn-540-million-deal-amid-ai-2026-01-06/
Vancouver-based quantum computing startup Photonic raised CA$180M led by Planet First Partners, bringing its total funding to CA$375M (Madison McLauchlan/BetaKit)
Meta unveils teleprompter and EMG handwriting features for Meta Ray-Ban Display and expands Pedestrian Navigation for the glasses to four new US cities (Stevie Bonifield/The Verge)
LMArena, which runs a leaderboard ranking AI models based on their performance, raised $150M at a $1.7B post-money valuation, taking its total funding to $250M+ (The Information) https://www.theinformation.com/articles/ai-evaluation-startup-lmarena-valued-1-7-billion-new-funding-round
Razer plans to invest $600M in AI over "the next couple of years", as the gaming peripherals maker unveils new AI products like headphones with built-in cameras (Dana Wollman/Bloomberg)
Ring revamps its home sensors, including door, window, and break glass sensors built on the Amazon Sidewalk protocol, and expands the protocol internationally (Daniel Cooper/Engadget)
American Airlines partners with AT&T to add free, high-speed satellite-based Wi-Fi across its entire fleet, with a target spring 2026 completion date (Andrew J. Hawkins/The Verge)
Accenture agrees to acquire UK AI startup Faculty, which works with the UK government, for an undisclosed sum; Faculty CEO Marc Warner will become Accenture CTO (Mark Bergen/Bloomberg) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-06/accenture-plans-to-buy-uk-palantir-rival-faculty-in-consultancy-s-ai-push
Meta and Garmin show an early demo of using Meta's wrist-based neural band inside of a car to control an infotainment system, as part of Garmin's Unified Cabin (Karissa Bell/Engadget)