This picture provided by NASA shows support teams working around a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft shortly after it landed with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov aboard as dolphins swim around in the water off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, on March 18, 2025.
Image: Keegan Barber / NASA / AFP
Google’s bid for Wiz costs nearly 40 percent more at $32 billion
Google has struck a deal to buy Wiz, an Israeli-founded cloud security startup for $32 billion, the internet search giant said in a post on March 18. With this, Google is paying $9 billion more than its original offer from less than a year ago, and there is a breakup fee of $3.2 billion, Reuters reports.
New York-headquartered Wiz delivers an easy-to-use security platform that connects to all major clouds and code environments to help prevent cybersecurity incidents. Once the all-cash deal is done, by next year, Wiz will join Google Cloud.
Wiz, which has about 1,600 employees, was founded in January 2020 by Israeli entrepreneurs Assaf Rappaport, Yinon Costica, Roy Reznik, and Ami Luttwak, The Time of Israel notes. Their previous company Adallom was acquired by Microsoft in 2015.
NASA astronauts ‘Butch and Suni’ finally home after nine-month delay
US astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams are back on Earth after multiple delays, with the mission to bring them back from the International Space Station (ISS) kept them in space for nine months longer than expected.
The pair, now being popularly called ‘Butch and Suni’ in various media reports, waved and smiled as they emerged from the SpaceX Dragon, which splashed down off the coast of Florida on March 18, BBC reports.
What was meant to be an eight-day mission to test Boeing Starliner’s capsule turned into this ordeal of endurance for the two astronauts. With the capsule developing snag, Nasa, the US space agency, decided to keep them on the ISS and return the Starliner to Earth empty. They were brought back in a Space X capsule.
Nvidia launches new AI chips at annual conference GTC
Nvidia unveiled new AI-focussed chips at its GTC conference, including the Blackwell Ultra family, launching later this year, and the Vera Rubin GPU, set for 2026. The company's sales have surged over sixfold since ChatGPT’s release in late 2022, driven by its dominance in AI model training, CNBC notes.
Nvidia’s new chips are critical for cloud giants like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, who rely on its hardware for massive data centre investments. CEO Jensen Huang said demand for AI chips continues to accelerate. Nvidia also revealed AI-powered PCs and networking products while showcasing new software.
It's next chip platform Vera Rubin, named after the late American astronomer, is planned for 2026, followed by one in 2028 named after physicist Richard Feynman.
Apple in talks to add Wipro Enterprises, LMW as suppliers
Apple is in talks to add IT services billionaire Azim Premji’s privately-owned Wipro Enterprises and Coimbatore-based Lakshmi Machine Works (LMW) to a growing list of Indian vendors, Economic Times reports citing sources.
Apple is said to be in advanced talks with Wipro Enterprises and in early discussions with LMW to supply parts and components as the iPhone maker looks to strengthen its ex-China supply chain, according to the report. Wipro Enterprises includes businesses in infrastructure engineering, lighting and consumer care. LMW services verticals include textile machinery, CNC machines, foundry and castings and aerospace components and composites, according to ET.
UIDAI, Sarvam team up to deliver better UX in Aadhaar services
Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has partnered with Sarvam AI, a Bengaluru startup developing generative AI solutions for Indic languages, to enhance user experience in Aadhaar services, the ministry of electronics and IT said in a press release on March 18.
Sarvam will deploy its AI solutions to perform voice-based interactions for resident-centric use cases, according to the press release. This will help get near real-time feedback from Aadhaar number holders for their enrollment and update processes. The partnership will also work on real-time fraud alerts, multilingual AI support and collaborate with a commitment to user-centric innovation.