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By David Jeans NEW YORK (Reuters) -"I'm a warlord now, bitch!" Steven Simoni, wearing a $4,000 Celine track suit unzipped to reveal a bare chest and a silver chain, was holding court at a recent film premiere in the East Village of Manhattan, joking with a reporter about his latest venture. The tech entrepreneur was in town to see "Match in a Haystack," a documentary he funded about a dance troupe that defeats the odds to put on a show in war-torn Ukraine. A little more than a year ago the 39-year-old was a typical Silicon Valley success story having sold a payments company to DoorDash for $125 million in 2022. But now he is the co-founder of a different kind of startup, Allen Control Systems, which makes a product far removed from menu QR-codes: an AI-powered autonomous machine gun called the "Bullfrog" designed to shoot drones out of the sky. "The future is Skynet, basically," Simoni said, referring to the fictional AI system from the "Terminator" films that becomes self-aware and turns on humanity. "I want to supply those products to the government so they can use them." Just a few years ago, the idea that this "Star Wars" nerd and one-time national champion of "A Game of Thrones: The Card Game," would become a brash defense contractor might have seemed absurd. But Simoni is well on his way, with $40 million in funding – most recently raised in a round led by Craft Ventures, the firm cofounded by President Donald Trump's AI czar David Sacks – and prototype contracts with the U.S. Army and Special Operations Forces. Simoni is part of a new generation of entrepreneurs riding Silicon Valley's pivot to military technologies, as wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and surging tensions with China, have underscored the U.S. need to prepare for the future of warfare. Using a playbook championed by Anduril founder Palmer Luckey and Palantir CEO Alex Karp, tech entrepreneurs who once sold consumer apps are now developing drone swarms, spy satellites, autonomous boats, and other lethal technologies while raising hype from venture capitalists and the Pentagon alike.  Simoni, a Navy veteran, said his "warlord" character, inspired by Bradley Cooper's slick arms dealer from the film "War Dogs," is one ironic way he's getting attention for his company.  “I hate war, but war is always going to happen anyway,” he said. “So, it's like, someone's going to make this product at some point.” 'THE GENERALS LOVE ME' During a recent dinner in Washington, D.C., with a Reuters reporter, Simoni received a text from a staffer at Executive Branch, the private club founded by Donald Trump Jr. that charges as much as $500,000 to join. The club is happy hunting grounds for an aspiring defense contractor looking to meet people connected to the Trump administration, and Simoni was hoping to negotiate a cut-price entry.  “I should have spent more time on the Executive Branch,” he said, referring to the Trump administration. “The major thing in defense tech is selling to the White House and Congress. Even before the DoD.” He later opted against joining after learning he wouldn't get a discount. But his hustle continues to generate outsized attention for his company. He's appeared on Fox News as a drone expert, launched a podcast featuring interviews with top military officials, and, most recently, joined venture firm Forum Ventures as a partner to invest in other defense tech companies. Being backed by Sacks' venture firm has also opened doors, including an invite to a recent AI summit co-hosted by Sacks' "All-In" podcast where Trump delivered a speech. He throws late-night parties at the company's Austin penthouse, attended by startups and government officials alike. Earlier this year, he hosted a fundraiser for Republican congressman John Carter attended by Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. On another occasion, he said he went out for karaoke with military officials he declined to name after a conference. “The generals love me,” he said. In June, General James Rainey, the commander at Army Futures, the command responsible for modernizing the Army and acquiring cutting-edge technology, joined Simoni on his weekly podcast "The Drone Ultimatum" to discuss the Pentagon's efforts to work with Silicon Valley. “It's really about getting the fiscal agility to go out to the great U.S. tech companies that exist and start buying stuff and get it in the hands of our war fighters,” Rainey said. In a statement, the U.S. Army said it's "in the process of awarding a contract to Allen Control Systems," before the end of the fiscal year to "evaluate the potential for The Bullfrog to integrate into existing Army platforms." Carter, Rogers and Sacks did not respond to requests for comment. Craft Ventures declined to comment. SHOOTING DRONES Allen Control Systems is trying to solve a persistent battlefield danger that has emerged in Ukraine: shooting small, cheap, unjammable drones from the sky before they can attack. While soldiers currently shoot them with guns, a host of startups have emerged to provide solutions spanning laser beams to microwave blasts. In August, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced he was launching an anti-drone taskforce to address the issue. “There's no doubt that the threats we face today from hostile drones grow by the day," he said.  The company is selling its AI-powered Bullfrog for around $350,000 apiece, making it a potential add-on to autonomous vehicles and unmanned drone boats, or as a stationary sentry to secure perimeters, like the U.S.-Mexico border, or military bases abroad. The contraption, fit for a scene from the Terminator, can swivel 400 degrees in less than a second. One prototype turret undergoing field testing is called Eminem; another is named Bob, after the late television painter Bob Ross. Under the hood, custom circuit boards feature a printed image of Simoni and co-founder Luke Allen. “If Russia or China recovers one of these eventually, they have to see our faces,” Simoni said. “We're laughing at them.” During a demo for the U.S. Army, intelligence community and investors last month at a ranch in Austin, the Bullfrog’s M240 machine gun was mounted on the back of a pickup truck and pelted bullets at drones in the sky. After shooting a burst of about a half dozen rounds, one drone fell from the sky in flames.  Later, the gun jammed, and the drones flew toward the gun before flying away again unscathed.  Simoni shrugged off any concerns, and said the product would be ready for primetime by the end of the year. “It's in its post-adolescent stage,” Simoni said. “Almost an adult.” RACK UP THE HYPE Simoni grew up in a military family in Pennsylvania, and joined the Navy as an engineer in 2008 to work on nuclear reactors. There, he met fellow engineer and future co-founder, Luke Allen. After leaving the military, both men moved to Silicon Valley, and – following multiple failed ventures – started the QR code business Bbot in 2019.  The company initially struggled to sell its first product – a robotic system that delivered drinks to tables in restaurants – but found success after pivoting to software. Soon after, it was acquired by DoorDash, minting the founders a small fortune.  “Putin's second invasion of Ukraine happened within a few days of us selling Bbot,” Allen told Reuters. “So as an engineer, you can basically help the good guys, help the bad guys, or do nothing, which is still a choice.” Allen left DoorDash and, seeing the growing threat of drones in Ukraine, he started to work on the Bullfrog with seed investment from Simoni. After some convincing, Simoni joined as CEO of Allen Control Systems at the start of 2024. “Every company needs a front man," Simoni said. Since then, Simoni has leaned into the Silicon Valley buzz machine. He said Allen sometimes compares him to Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced founder of health startup Theranos w…

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By Gianluca Lo Nostro (Reuters) -U.S. startup Spacecoin said on Wednesday it had successfully sent secured information through space in what it said was a first for the industry as the firm tries to show it can offer an alternative to Starlink's satellite internet service. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Spacecoin aims to target customers in places where internet access is unreliable, censored or too expensive, its founder Tae Oh told Reuters. But unlike SpaceX-owned Starlink, where one entity controls the network, Spacecoin plans to build a decentralised system that anyone can join, conducting payments and storing data without the need to go through other service providers. The test was designed to prove that data on a blockchain – the encrypted record behind cryptocurrencies and other digital services – could leave Earth, pass through a satellite in orbit, and return intact, Oh said. Spacecoin's data travelled more than 7,000 km via satellite from Chile to the Azores in the test, conducted with Bulgarian microsatellite maker EnduroSat. KEY QUOTES "Beyond end users, we are also targeting builders – such as developers, telecom companies, NGOs, and infrastructure partners," Oh said in an emailed statement to Reuters. When a transaction is sent on its network, it will be checked against previous records on the blockchain which will automatically reject anything that doesn't match, Oh said. "For people using the internet, this means the information or payments they send through the network can't be faked, changed, or intercepted by bad actors," he said. CONTEXT The satellite internet market is expanding thanks to growing consumer demand for broadband. While U.S. bank J.P. Morgan previously tested blockchain payments between satellites, Spacecoin's is the first transaction to bypass terrestrial internet entirely. But Spacecoin remains a tiny player compared to Starlink's 8,000 satellites. The firm operates one satellite, which was launched in December 2024 on a SpaceX rocket, and plans to send three more by the end of this year. Its nanosatellite travels at Low Earth Orbit (LEO) altitude, up to 2,000 km above Earth. (Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro; Editing by Helen Reid)

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(Reuters) -Fermi is set to debut on the Nasdaq on Wednesday after raising $682.5 million in its IPO, a key test of market appetite for a pre-revenue data center real estate investment trust still in the early stage of its journey. While development-stage firms have gone public before, its unusual for a company under a year old with no revenue to pursue an IPO at a $10 billion-plus valuation. "It (Fermi's IPO) speaks to the gold rush happening in AI infrastructure right now. It's a cash geyser," said Matt Kennedy, senior strategist at Renaissance Capital, a provider of IPO-focused research and ETFs. Amarillo, Texas-based Fermi sold 32.5 million shares at $21 each in an upsized IPO, after marketing them between $18 and $22. Founded in January 2025, Fermi secured a $12.5 billion valuation in the IPO, just months after issuing convertible bonds at a valuation of $3 billion. "Demand for AI-driven infrastructure — and Fermi's plan to pair it with its own modern power sources — has investors intrigued," said Troy Hooper, co-head of equity capital markets, Americas, at Mergermarket. "The company's political ties are seen as another tailwind." Co-founded by former Texas Governor and U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Fermi has bold ambitions. The company is aiming to build the world's largest energy and data complex, powered by nuclear, natural gas and solar. BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME Project Matador, Fermi's flagship project, is expected to deliver 1.1 gigawatt of power by 2026 end and up to 11 GW at scale. A gigawatt of power is roughly half the Hoover Dam's full generating capacity, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Last month, Fermi entered a non-binding letter of intent with its first tenant for a 20-year agreement. Still, it does not expect tenant revenue to commence until 2027. "Any investor buying Fermi will need to have a mindset of "if you build it, they will come," Kennedy said. Analysts said execution will be key to sustain market enthusiasm, with investors expected to closely scrutinize signed contracts and progress on its ambitious buildout. A successful listing could pave the way for other long-duration, capital-intensive AI infrastructure bets, according to Hooper. Still, some caution persists. "History offers a cautionary note: many pre-revenue IPOs during the Dot-com era and the recent SPAC boom failed to live up to the hype and ended poorly," Hooper said. (Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

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(Corrects spelling of Bergquist in paragraphs 17-18) By Steve Gorman, Danielle Broadway and Dawn Chmielewski LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -The recent debut of an AI-generated "actress" dubbed Tilly Norwood, and its producer's boasts of interest from studio executives, sparked a backlash on Tuesday from the SAG-AFTRA actors union, condemning the replacement of human performers with "synthetics." The Hollywood buzz around Tilly Norwood, introduced on Saturday at a film industry conference in Zurich, and the union's scathing reaction to it reflected the dread many in the creative community feel about the intersection of artificial intelligence and show business. The official Tilly Norwood launch consisted of a 20-second appearance of the photo-real character – a twenty-something fictional ingénue bearing no particular resemblance to any real celebrity – in a brief video parody about making an AI-generated television show. Dutch actor-producer Eline Van der Velden, whose London-based AI production studio Particle6 created Tilly Norwood, said during her presentation at the Zurich Summit the project was starting to turn heads. After months of facing boardroom skepticism, talent agents were starting to tell her: "'We need to do something with you guys,'" Hollywood trade paper Variety quoted Van der Velden as saying. She said an announcement of a first-of-its-kind talent agency deal was a few months away, Variety reported. Concerns about Hollywood actors and writers being exploited, and even supplanted, by AI-generated scripts and performers was a major issue SAG-AFTRA's most recent round of contract talks with studios and streaming services. Computer-generated imagery is nothing new to the film and television industry, and AI-enhanced software has more recently emerged in various effects such as "de-aging" technology allowing actors to portray younger versions of themselves. The ability to convincingly replicate a feature-length human film performance with AI stand-ins is still seen as far off. 'VERY REAL EMOTIONS' Nevertheless, the prospect of talent agents suddenly showing interest in AI-created figures stirred a swift denunciation from SAG-AFTRA, representing 160,000 actors, announcers, recording artists, stunt performers and other talent. "Creativity is, and should remain, human-centered," the union said in a statement. "The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics." The parody video, which first appeared in July, actually comprises 16 AI-generated characters in all. But Tilly Norwood – a winsome figure with shoulder-length brown hair, brown eyes, a British accent and her own social media profile – was the star. A separate Facebook post attributed to the character exclaims: "I may be AI generated, but I'm feeling very real emotions right now. I am so excited for what's coming next!" SAG-AFTRA officials were not amused. "To be clear, 'Tilly Norwood' is not an actor," the union said in its statement. "It's a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers – without permission or compensation." Van der Velden sought to assuage such concerns in an Instagram message, saying Tilly Norwood "is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work – a piece of art. Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity." Van der Velden was more provocative in an interview in July with the publication Broadcast International, which quoted her as saying: "We want Tilly to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman, that's the aim of what we're doing." Not everyone is convinced Tilly Norwood packs such potential. Yves Bergquist, director of AI in media at the University of Southern California's Entertainment Technology Center, called the hoopla "nonsense." "There is a lot of very understandable nervousness and fear out there about talent being replaced," he said. But judging from his own daily interactions with Hollywood executives, Bergquist said there was zero interest from "serious people" in developing entirely synthetic characters. "Scarlett Johansson has a fan base. Scarlett Johansson is a person," he said. (Reporting and writing by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Danielle Broadway and Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles)

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LONDON (Reuters) -Any stablecoin that becomes widely used as a means of payment in Britain needs to be regulated like money in a standard bank, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said on Wednesday, meaning it would need depositor protections and access to BoE reserve facilities. The comments made in an article in the Financial Times newspaper represent a slight shift in tone by Bailey, a long-standing sceptic of cryptocurrencies. He said it would be "wrong to be against stablecoins as a matter of principle", but he also said their main current use as a way to enter and exit cryptocurrency trades did not amount to a standard money-like means of payment. Bailey confirmed the BoE would publish a consultation paper on stablecoins in the coming months. "In doing so, we will set out that widely used UK stablecoins should have access to accounts at the BoE in order to reinforce their status as money," he said. He also raised the possibility of "banks and stablecoins coexisting and non-banks carrying out more of the credit provision role", but said that such a shift would need careful consideration. Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to keep a constant value. They are often backed by traditional assets such as the U.S. dollar or government debt. They have surged  in popularity and their demand is expected to increase further after the U.S. passed its GENIUS Act in July that sets federal rules for stablecoins. In an interview with The Times newspaper, also in July, Bailey said the technology risked pulling money out of the banking system and undermining credit creation. Crypto industry figures have expressed concern about the BoE's caution and say issues include caps on stablecoin holdings the BoE has proposed, the share of backing assets eligible to earn interest, and the criteria the BoE will use to determine which stablecoins fall under its remit. In Wednesday's article, Bailey said stablecoins should be risk-free with backing assets, protected by insurance and resolution schemes, and readily exchangeable for cash without relying on crypto-currency exchanges. (Reporting by David Milliken and Phoebe Seers; Editing by Kate Holton, Tommy Reggiori Wilkes and Barbara Lewis)

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LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's government has issued a new order to Apple to create a "back door" into its cloud storage service, this time targeting only British users' data, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. In August, Britain dropped a mandate for the iPhone maker to provide a "back door" that would have enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American as well as British citizens, according to U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. U.S. lawmakers had raised concerns that the mandate could allow encrypted user data to be exploited by cybercriminals and authoritarian governments. Apple, which has said it would never build a "back door" into its encrypted services or devices, appealed against the earlier order at the UK's Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), the IPT confirmed in April. A British government spokesperson said: "We do not comment on operational matters, including for example confirming or denying the existence of any such notices. "We will always take all actions necessary at the domestic level to keep UK citizens safe." Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru and Paul Sandle and Sarah Young in LondonEditing by Tomasz Janowski and Sarah Young)

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By Heekyong Yang and Hyunjoo Jin SEOUL (Reuters) -Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have signed letters of intent to supply memory chips for OpenAI's data centers, as South Korean chipmakers join forces with the ChatGPT maker to meet rising demand from its Stargate project.  OpenAI will also work with the two South Korean firms on building two data centers, a Korean-style Stargate, leveraging Seoul's ambition to become an AI hub in Asia and the country's large number of paying ChatGPT subscribers – second only to that of the United States. The announcements were made on Wednesday after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman met South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and the chairmen of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix at the presidential office in central Seoul. U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled the $500 billion Stargate project in January, charging OpenAI and partners including SoftBank and Oracle with ensuring the U.S. remains a leader in artificial intelligence.  Expanding chip availability was one of the key ideas of the project, and Nvidia said last week it would invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI and supply it with data center chips. PLAN TO BUILD TWO DATA CENTERS IN SOUTH KOREA South Korea's top presidential adviser, Kim Yong-beom, said OpenAI was seeking to order 900,000 semiconductor wafers in 2029, and planned to set up joint ventures with Samsung and SK Hynix to build two data centers in South Korea with an initial capacity of 20 megawatts.  The adviser said South Korea was open to participating in financing for the Stargate project if needed.  “The significant part of the Stargate project would be impossible without memory chips from the two companies,” Kim told a press briefing. The president's office said the partnership would give South Korean chipmakers an early foothold in the world's largest AI infrastructure project, providing a growth opportunity for the domestic chip industry.   "We're very excited to get to build Stargate Korea and data centers with our wonderful partners to support the sovereign AI needs of Korea," Altman said in a meeting with President Lee. "Korea has an industrial base like nowhere else in the world that is critical for the development of AI. And so to get to work with such wonderful partners, Samsung and Hynix in many, many ways, but really starting with memory and the needs for that to serve the whole world's demand for AI," Altman added. The presidential office said Google has been in talks with two to three South Korean companies on AI partnership, while SK Group in June announced a 7 trillion won investment, including $4 billion from Amazon Web Services, Amazon's cloud service provider, to build a data centre in South Korea. Samsung and SK Hynix together hold about 70% of the global Dynamic Random Access Memory chip market and nearly 80% of the HBM market.  HBM – a type of DRAM standard first produced in 2013 – involves stacking chips vertically to save space and reduce power consumption, helping to process the large volumes of data generated by complex AI applications. Analysts estimated that 900,000 wafers of advanced DRAM chips would be worth more than 100 trillion won ($70 billion) though the figure could vary with memory market cycles. OpenAI this year set up its first office in Seoul as South Korean demand for its ChatGPT service surged. Despite widespread expectations that AI will fundamentally change the world, investors have voiced substantial concern about a potential bubble from building too quickly. The Stargate project has been delayed by longer-than-expected negotiations with other parties and decisions over sites, SoftBank's CFO said in August. Alongside the chip supply agreements, Samsung Electronics' affiliate Samsung SDS signed a partnership with OpenAI to develop, build and operate AI data centers under the Stargate project, while also expanding enterprise AI services.  Shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries and construction unit Samsung C&T will jointly work with OpenAI to develop floating offshore data centers to cut cooling costs and carbon emissions. ($1 = 1,404.7600 won) (Reporting by Heekyong Yang and Hyunjoo Jin. Editing by Mark Potter, Jan Harvey and Hugh Lawson)

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LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's government has issued a new order to Apple to create a "back door" into its cloud storage service, this time targeting only British users' data, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. In August, Britain dropped a mandate for the iPhone maker to provide a "back door" that would have enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American as well as British citizens, according to U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. U.S. lawmakers had raised concerns that the mandate could allow encrypted user data to be exploited by cybercriminals and authoritarian governments. Apple, which has said it would never build a "back door" into its encrypted services or devices, appealed against the earlier order at the UK's Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), the IPT confirmed in April. The British government and Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru and Paul Sandle in LondonEditing by Tomasz Janowski and Sarah Young)

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By Harshita Mary Varghese (Reuters) -T-Mobile said on Wednesday its satellite-to-cell network now supports widely used apps, including WhatsApp, Google Maps and X, broadening the service that offers connectivity to mobile dead zones and remote regions. This marks a pivotal step for the service, which commercially launched in July with access limited to SMS texting, MMS, picture messaging and short audio clips for areas beyond the reach of traditional cell signal. T-Satellite, powered by more than 650 Starlink direct-to-cell satellites, is also available for about a dozen apps such as Pixel Weather, Apple Music, Samsung Find, AccuWeather and AllTrails. "Part of what we've done here is worked with Apple and Google to create frameworks for SAT mode (satellite connectivity feature) so that any app can actually adopt the mode and get access to the data channel while connected to the satellite," Jeff Giard, vice president, strategic partnerships and product innovation, told Reuters. For T-Satellite customers, the phone automatically switches to the satellite network the moment a terrestrial signal drops. When customers launch a satellite-ready app, it will provide critical services rather than full data-heavy experiences. The network is included at no extra charge with T-Mobile's new "Experience Beyond" plan. For others, including AT&T and Verizon customers, the service can be added for $10 a month. Giard said the framework for the App Store and the Play Store now enable apps to adopt SAT mode through an application programming interface, and T-Mobile is working to encourage more app developers to activate it. "I think people are excited about the fact that the phone in their pocket can actually connect to outer space and that they get basically a satellite phone without having to buy extra equipment," Giard said. (Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)

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(Reuters) -Britain's government has issued a new order to Apple to create a backdoor into its cloud storage service, this time targeting only British users' data, despite U.S. claims that Britain had abandoned all attempts to break the tech giant's encryption, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. (Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in BengaluruEditing by Tomasz Janowski)

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