Nearly 30 million UK consumers who purchased an Apple or Samsung smartphone between 2015 and 2024 could be due a share of a £480 million payout if a consumer group's case against chip giant Qualcomm is successful.

• The consumer campaign group Which? is taking Qualcomm to the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London, accusing the company of anti-competitive practices that led to inflated smartphone prices.
• The trial, beginning Monday, will last five weeks and focus on whether Qualcomm abused a dominant market position.
• If Which? wins, affected customers could receive approximately £17 per handset, though the distribution stage could take years.

ASML executive Frank Heemskerk praised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's business-friendly approach, stating it's easier to meet with senior officials in the White House than EU commissioners. This comes as India aggressively pushes its semiconductor industry.

• ASML praised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's accessible and business-friendly engagement style after a two-hour meeting with CEO Christophe Fouquet.
• Heemskerk highlighted the difficulty in accessing EU leadership compared to other capitals, noting it's "easier to get a meeting in the White House with a senior official than to get a meeting with a commissioner."
• India launched the India Semiconductor Mission in 2021 with a ₹76,000 crore outlay; a "Made in India" chip is expected by year-end.

China is rapidly challenging Nvidia's dominance in AI chips, with major tech firms and government backing pushing for self-reliance and advanced domestic chip production.

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang warned that China is "nanoseconds behind" the US in chip development.
• DeepSeek's 2024 launch of an AI model rivaling OpenAI's ChatGPT "stunned the tech world" by its low training cost and fewer high-end chip requirements.
• Alibaba's new chip reportedly matches Nvidia's H20s in performance while using less energy, and Huawei unveiled its "most powerful chips ever" with a three-year plan to challenge Nvidia.
• Chinese companies like MetaX and Cambricon Technologies are securing major contracts and seeing significant investment, with Tencent also committing to domestic chips.
• While experts highlight a shrinking gap, China still lags in complex analytics and highly developed supply chains, but is projected to achieve independence from US chips in about five years.