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DUBAI (Reuters) -Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's cloud business unit has launched its second data centre in Dubai, it said on Tuesday, nine years after its first, as it expands its global cloud computing services to meet growing demand. Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and artificial intelligence division, said in a statement the launch was part of the technology major's pledge to invest 380 billion yuan ($53 billion) over three years. No financial details were disclosed in Tuesday's statement. "The Middle East's advantageous position in fast-tracking AI adoption and its collaborative ecosystem are crucial enablers for private and public sector companies to thrive," said Eric Wan, vice president of Alibaba Cloud International and regional general manager at Alibaba Cloud Intelligence. The United Arab Emirates, among the world's top oil exporters, has been spending billions of dollars on an AI push, and under a deal signed in May, it is building the largest AI campus outside the United States in partnership with technology giants such as Nvidia and OpenAI. The long-coveted agreement was a major win for the Gulf country, which has been trying to balance its relations with its longtime ally, the U.S., and its largest trading partner, China. However, Reuters reported, citing sources, that the deal has not been finalised amid U.S. security concerns around Beijing's access to advanced semiconductors via third parties such as the UAE, where major Chinese companies remain active. Alibaba Cloud said in the statement on Tuesday that it had partnered with several companies from various sectors, including Abu Dhabi-backed digital lender Wio Bank, during tech and AI exhibition GITEX Global in Dubai to take advantage of its local infrastructure capabilities to accelerate AI deployment. (Reporting by Rachna Uppal and Federico Maccioni; Editing by Louise Heavens)

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By Krystal Hu (Reuters) -AI startup Lila Sciences has raised $115 million in an extension funding round from investors including Nvidia's venture arm, lifting its valuation to more than $1.3 billion, the company told Reuters. The latest funding brings Lila's total Series A to $350 million and overall capital raised to $550 million, reflecting strong investor appetite for AI-driven scientific discovery. Founded in 2023, Lila aims to build "scientific superintelligence" by pairing specialized AI models with automated laboratories. New backers join existing investors including Flagship Pioneering, where Lila originated, General Catalyst and a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. Lila said the funds will accelerate development of its "AI Science Factories," facilities equipped with robotic instruments controlled by AI to run experiments continuously. The company recently signed a 235,500-square-foot lease in Cambridge, Massachusetts, one of Greater Boston’s largest lab leases this year. It also plans to open its platform to commercial customers, offering access to its AI models and automated labs via enterprise software. Lila said the platform has drawn interest from firms in energy, semiconductors and drug development, although it did not name specific companies. Unlike many AI labs focused on training large language models on internet data, a resource some experts say is nearly exhausted, Lila's strategy centers on generating proprietary scientific data through novel experiments. The company said future leadership in AI for science will hinge on owning the largest automated lab, not just the biggest data center. The company's goal is to dramatically accelerate the pace of discovery, which co-founder and CEO Geoffrey von Maltzahn described as a way to access future breakthroughs, as AI models can help scientists solve problems much faster. "What's so exciting about Lila is that we're going to use those resources very productively in a way that I feel benefits almost everyone on the planet," said von Maltzahn in an interview. "It will set in motion the scientific method in a new form," he said.  The company claims its platform has already made thousands of discoveries across life sciences, chemistry and materials. "We aren't going to bring molecules into clinical trials ourselves, or scale up new energy breakthroughs," von Maltzahn said. "Those are going to be done by partners of Lila and startups that are on a Lila platform." AI for scientific discoveries has become a focus for venture capital funding, as investors bet on the potential of specialized AI models. Periodic Labs, an AI startup founded by researchers from Google DeepMind and OpenAI, has raised $300 million last month to build an AI scientist.  (Reporting by Krystal Hu in San Francisco, Editing by Louise Heavens)

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By Max A. Cherney SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -U.S. Republican Senator Tom Cotton has asked the Commerce Department to investigate Singapore-based Megaspeed for allegedly diverting Nvidia chips used for artificial intelligence, according to a letter seen by Reuters on Monday. The letter cites an October report in The New York Times that detailed the alleged diversion of Nvidia chips by Megaspeed, a cloud computing company. According to the report, Megaspeed funneled Nvidia chips to Malaysia and Indonesia that appeared to serve customers in China remotely. Megaspeed did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Singapore Police Force on Tuesday said that "investigations are ongoing into Megaspeed for suspected breaches of our domestic laws." In July, Reuters reported that demand for repairs of banned Nvidia products boomed, which was also cited by Cotton in his letter. In 2024, Reuters reported that China had obtained high-end Nvidia AI chips in spite of a ban. "As the Trump administration recently indicated, export controls are an important tool as he navigates America through perilous times against an increasingly aggressive and emboldened adversary," Cotton wrote. "The pervasiveness of chip smuggling undermines the president and allows U.S. adversaries access to advanced technology where the U.S. maintains significant leverage." Cotton said he would continue to work with U.S. President Donald Trump to curb illegal diversions of U.S. chips. His letter was addressed to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Cotton previously introduced legislation that would require location verification of chips after they are sold. Last week, Trump unveiled levies of 100% on China's U.S.-bound exports and new export controls on "any and all critical software" by November 1. On Sunday, China said the latest tariffs were hypocritical.     (Reporting by Max A. Cherney in San Francisco; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus.)

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By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) -Following the largest crypto liquidation in history last Friday, options market investors are bracing for more volatility and further declines in bitcoin and ether, aggressively positioning in trades that offer protection against another potential freefall. Market participants said the crypto sector on Friday saw more than $19 billion in liquidations across leveraged positions as panic selling and low liquidity triggered sharp swings. The plunge came after U.S. President Donald Trump announced late on Friday a 100% tariff on Chinese imports and threatened export controls on critical software.  Crypto analysts said this was the largest wipeout in a 24-hour period in the market's history, nine times larger than the February 2025 crash and 19 times bigger than the March 2020 meltdown and the FTX collapse in November 2022. Bitcoin fell as low as $104,782.88 during the October 10-11 period, down more than 14% from its high of $122,574.46 on Friday. It was last up 0.6% at $115,718.13. The world's largest cryptocurrency hit a record high above $126,000 on October 6. Ether, the second biggest digital currency, dropped 12.2% to a low of $3,436.29 on Friday. It last changed hands at $4,254, up 2.4% on the day.  Altcoins took an even bigger hit as HYPE (-54%), DOGE (-62%), and AVAX (-70%) all experienced steep drawdowns before recovering to post more modest losses. Trump over the weekend softened his rhetoric on China, however, noting that "it will all be fine" and the U.S. did not want to "hurt" China. That helped the crypto recovery. China on Sunday blamed the U.S. for the escalation, but did not roll out further countermeasures. "Last Friday, you saw volatility just jump across the board, not only for short-dated, but also for long-dated maturities. The sentiment around short-dated volatility is that more people are worried about downward turns," said Sean Dawson, head of research at Derive.xyz in Canberra. Data from Derive.xyz, a crypto options trading platform, showed heavy "put" buying from traders in bitcoin and ether, which suggested hedging against potential downside risks. In bitcoin, there were hefty purchases of puts conferring the right to sell bitcoin at strike prices of $115,000 and $95,000 for the October 31 expiry, according to Dawson. There was also a sharp reversal from call buying to call selling at the $125,000 strike for the October 17 expiry, suggesting a bearish short-term view.  Calls in the options market reflect expectations that the price will increase. For ether, Nick Forster, Derive.xyz co-founder, said traders focused on the $4,000 strike for the October 31 expiry and $3,600 strike for the October 17 expiry. He also noted substantial buying of $2,600 puts for the December 26 expiry. Those strikes, he said, are indicative of growing bearish sentiment through year-end. Despite the meltdown, Willy Woo, a leading onchain crypto analyst with more than a million followers on X, noted that bitcoin investor flows have been holding up well and may be the reason it fared better than expected against a sharp decline in stocks. In contrast, Woo said he saw a large drop in ether flows while Solana continued a decline. He believes that capital in altcoins is likely rotating into bitcoin rather than leaving the system. Altcoins, also known as alternative coins, refer to cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin, which are often treated as high-risk, high-reward investments. Some altcoins deliver massive returns, but many fail or lose liquidity. Bitcoin, on the other hand, is widely viewed as a "blue-chip" crypto asset, widely-held by institutions. "The good news is that this (crash) has cleaned out the excessive leverage and reset the risk in the market, for now," said Nic Puckrin, crypto analyst and co-founder of The Coin Bureau.  "However, bitcoin now faces another uphill battle to break past key resistance levels that will allow it to reach a meaningful new all-time high this year." ​ (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Additional reportinng by Michelle Price; Editing by Alden Bentley)

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