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By Junko Fujita TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan's Fujikura has become a standout in the red-hot Nikkei share gauge on expectations the century-old wire maker will benefit from increased investment in artificial intelligence data centres that use its optical fibres. The firm got another leg up this week, rising 6% after Sanae Takaichi was elected prime minister following pledges of targeted investment in AI and other key industries. Since the start of 2025, shares in Fujikura are up more than 160%, outpacing the Nikkei's 22% advance to an all-time high. Its market value of about $33 billion now rivals that of better-known Japanese manufacturers such as air-conditioning maker Daikin and construction equipment manufacturer Komatsu. Ups and downs in global equities have been increasingly tied to the fortunes of the so-called "Magnificent Seven" U.S. technology companies at the forefront of AI development, including Nvidia, Amazon, and Microsoft. In Japan, that euphoria has filtered down to major suppliers and investors in the AI sector, such as Advantest, Tokyo Electron and SoftBank Group. Those firms alone account for most of the Nikkei's gain since early September. Fujikura, founded in 1885 during Japan's Meiji Era of modernisation, has been a focus for investors searching through the AI supply chain to find the next batch of winners. "Generative AI is a big theme and key driver for the Japanese market," said Kazuaki Shimada, chief strategist at IwaiCosmo Securities. "Now investors have started looking for new targets that may become the next Fujikura."  Mitsui Kinzoku, which makes materials for data centre servers, is another AI-related high-flyer in the Japanese market, jumping 192% so far in 2025. Another supplier JX Advanced Metals has soared fourfold since its market debut in March. Starting out as a maker of silk and insulated wires, Fujikura went on to produce the world's first optical fibre in 1959. Those fibres are now a key component of AI data centres, with about 75% of the company's output going to overseas customers, such as Google owner Alphabet. A spokesperson said Fujikura had added capacity for fibre production at its existing facility in February, and it announced in August it would spend 45 billion yen ($298.45 million) to add another factory. ($1 = 150.7800 yen) (Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Rocky Swift and Jamie Freed)

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By Junko Fujita TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan's Fujikura has become a standout in the red-hot Nikkei share gauge on expectations the century-old wire maker will benefit from increased investment in artificial intelligence data centres that use its optical fibres. The firm got another leg up this week, rising 6% after Sanae Takaichi was elected prime minister following pledges of targeted investment in AI and other key industries. Since the start of 2025, shares in Fujikura are up more than 160%, outpacing the Nikkei's 22% advance to an all-time high. Its market value of about $33 billion now rivals that of better-known Japanese manufacturers such as air-conditioning maker Daikin and construction equipment manufacturer Komatsu. Ups and downs in global equities have been increasingly tied to the fortunes of the so-called "Magnificent Seven" U.S. technology companies at the forefront of AI development, including Nvidia, Amazon, and Microsoft. In Japan, that euphoria has filtered down to major suppliers and investors in the AI sector, such as Advantest, Tokyo Electron and SoftBank Group. Those firms alone account for most of the Nikkei's gain since early September. Fujikura, founded in 1885 during Japan's Meiji Era of modernisation, has been a focus for investors searching through the AI supply chain to find the next batch of winners. "Generative AI is a big theme and key driver for the Japanese market," said Kazuaki Shimada, chief strategist at IwaiCosmo Securities. "Now investors have started looking for new targets that may become the next Fujikura."  Mitsui Kinzoku, which makes materials for data centre servers, is another AI-related high-flyer in the Japanese market, jumping 192% so far in 2025. Another supplier JX Advanced Metals has soared fourfold since its market debut in March. Starting out as a maker of silk and insulated wires, Fujikura went on to produce the world's first optical fibre in 1959. Those fibres are now a key component of AI data centres, with about 75% of the company's output going to overseas customers, such as Google owner Alphabet. A spokesperson said Fujikura had added capacity for fibre production at its existing facility in February, and it announced in August it would spend 45 billion yen ($298.45 million) to add another factory. ($1 = 150.7800 yen) (Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Rocky Swift and Jamie Freed)

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(Reuters) -Anthropic said on Thursday its Claude models would be trained using up to one million of Google's artificial intelligence chips, worth tens of billions of dollars, as it aims to improve its generative AI offerings in a fast-moving landscape. The deal underscores the immense computing demands of AI firms for training, deployment and continuous inference in GenAI. To secure infrastructure swiftly, developers have been rushing into multi-billion-dollar agreements. Alphabet's Google, also a backer of Anthropic, will provide additional cloud computing services to the startup behind the Claude chatbot. For Google, the deal comes as it is expanding external availability of its in-house tensor processing units, or TPUs, which were historically reserved for internal use. It rents the TPUs through Google Cloud. Anthropic said it chose the TPUs due to their price-performance and efficiency and its existing experience in training and serving its models with the processors. Reuters exclusively reported earlier in October that Anthropic is projecting to more than double and potentially nearly triple its annualized revenue run rate next year, fueled by the rapid adoption of its enterprise products. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City and Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar, Anil D'Silva and Alan Barona)

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RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -U.S. data center operator Equinix is expanding its operations in Brazil, which the firm sees as a priority market, its managing director for Latin America Eduardo Zago said on Thursday. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Equinix is one of the companies benefiting from the increased demand for data center infrastructure amid a surge in artificial intelligence usage. Brazil has been seeking to become a sustainable infrastructure hub, given the country's abundant supply of renewable energy. The government has also proposed to exempt data center-related equipment from federal taxes to lure investment. BY THE NUMBERS Equinix has eight data centers in Brazil, with a ninth under construction, Zago said during an event in Rio de Janeiro. All are located across the country's southeastern states of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, he added. Equinix also bought five real estate areas for a potential future expansion in Brazil, according to Zago. However, the firm does not have a plan for them so far, he said, adding that the company will grow depending on demand. KEY QUOTES "Brazil is a priority region for us," Zago said. "It's a market where there is no lack of space nor money," he added, noting the company is in "strong expansion" in the country. CONTEXT In Latin America, Equinix also has data center operations in Mexico, Chile, Peru and Colombia. (Reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gaier in Rio de Janeiro; Writing by Andre Romani; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

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By Renju Jose SYDNEY (Reuters) -A bill to restrict social media for children under 16 will be introduced in the New Zealand parliament, officials said on Thursday, building momentum for parliament's efforts to prevent young people from being harmed while online. The proposed legislation will require social media platforms to conduct an age verification process, similar to Australia's world-first teen social media ban law passed in 2024. A member's bill submitted in May by ruling National Party lawmaker Catherine Wedd to restrict children using social media was selected on Thursday to be introduced in the parliament. The bill has received support from National Party members but its coalition partners have not confirmed whether they will support the bill. Members' bills can be introduced by any lawmaker not in the cabinet and are selected after a ceremonial lottery. It is not immediately clear when the bill will be introduced in the parliament. A New Zealand parliamentary committee has been looking at the impact of social media harm on young people and the roles that government, business, and society should play in addressing those harms. A report is due in early 2026, according to a statement from the committee last week. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has been raising concerns about harms to mental health from the overuse of social media among young teens, including misinformation, bullying and harmful depictions of body image. Civil-liberties organisation PILLAR said the bill would not protect children online, and instead would create serious privacy risks and restrict online freedom for New Zealanders. "Aligning with international efforts may sound responsible, but it is lazy policymaking," PILLAR Executive Director Nathan Seiuli said in a statement. (Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

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(Reuters) -Internet services company VeriSign reported an over 7% rise in third-quarter revenue on Thursday, driven by steady demand for domain registrations as businesses build their online presence.    Businesses are increasingly looking to boost their online presence with easy-to-remember domain names, as users turn to the internet as their first point of contact for their services, benefiting domain registry service providers such as VeriSign. VeriSign acts as the authoritative registry — meaning it is the sole registry — for .com and .net domains, and operates two of the 13 global internet root servers.  The company reported revenue of $419.1 million for the third quarter, ended September 30, a 7.3% increase from the $390.6 million reported in the same period last year. Reston, Virginia-based VeriSign posted a net profit of $213 million, or $2.27 per share, for the quarter, up from $201 million, or $2.07 per share, reported a year ago. VeriSign processed 10.6 million new domain name registrations for .com and .net in the quarter, compared to 9.3 million in the previous year.     (Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Alan Barona)

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(Reuters) -Internet services company VeriSign reported an over 7% rise in third-quarter revenue on Thursday, driven by steady demand for domain registrations as businesses build their online presence.    Businesses are increasingly looking to boost their online presence with easy-to-remember domain names, as users turn to the internet as their first point of contact for their services, benefiting domain registry service providers such as VeriSign. VeriSign acts as the authoritative registry — meaning it is the sole registry — for .com and .net domains, and operates two of the 13 global internet root servers.  The company reported revenue of $419.1 million for the third quarter, ended September 30, a 7.3% increase from the $390.6 million reported in the same period last year. Reston, Virginia-based VeriSign posted a net profit of $213 million, or $2.27 per share, for the quarter, up from $201 million, or $2.07 per share, reported a year ago. VeriSign processed 10.6 million new domain name registrations for .com and .net in the quarter, compared to 9.3 million in the previous year.     (Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Alan Barona)

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(Reuters) -Digital Realty Trust raised its annual forecasts for core funds from operations and revenue on Thursday, as it expects an increase in demand for data center services due to the boom in artificial intelligence. Digital Realty has been benefiting from a surge in demand as more enterprises upgrade and outsource their IT infrastructure, further boosted by advancements in AI technology. Large-scale cloud service providers called hyperscalers are racing to build AI infrastructure, with Amazon, Meta, Alphabet and Microsoft projected to spend over $360 billion in 2025, according to company filings. Most of the investment is expected to go toward powering data centers. The growing demand for data centers is expected to accelerate Digital Realty's leasing activity, thereby aiding revenue growth. Digital Realty leases out managed data centers to clients in sectors that range from cloud and information technology to social networking, communications and manufacturing. The company earlier in October announced a strategic collaboration with Dell Technologies and DXC to bring AI directly to customers' data through a combination of validated use cases and expert-led implementation and end-to-end management. Austin, Texas-based Digital Realty now expects annual core FFO to be in the range of $7.32 to $7.38 per share, compared with its prior outlook of between $7.15 to $7.25. The real estate investment trust now expects revenue between $6.03 billion and $6.08 billion for the year, compared with its prior forecast of between $5.93 billion and $6.03 billion. For the third quarter ended September 30, Digital Realty posted revenue of $1.58 billion, above estimates of $1.53 billion. Core FFO came in at $1.89 per share in the quarter, compared with $1.67 last year. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Shreya Biswas and Maju Samuel)

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By Stephen Nellis SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Apple has started shipping artificial intelligence servers built in a factory in Houston, it said on Thursday, part of the company's plans to invest $600 billion in the U.S. in the next few years. The servers contain special chips that help Apple deliver AI features with the same privacy measures on its iPhones and Mac computers. U.S. President Donald Trump has pressed Apple to make iPhones in the United States, but Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that assembly is likely to remain overseas for the time being while Apple sources more of the key chips and components for the phone from the U.S. Servers from the factory will be installed in Apple's data centers throughout the U.S., Apple said on Thursday. "Our teams have done an incredible job accelerating work to get the new Houston factory up and running ahead of schedule and we plan to continue expanding the facility to increase production next year," Apple Chief Operating Officer Sabih Khan said in a statement. (Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Richard Chang)

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