What’s New Today: The Union Budget 2026 announces ISM 2.0, boosting local semiconductor design and electronics component manufacturing with Rs. 40,000 crore funding to attract investment and create jobs.
Fast-Track Insights: Oracle plans to raise $45–50 billion this year via equity and debt to expand Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and meet increasing demand from major customers.
Here’s a quick rundown of the biggest tech headlines making waves today. Let’s dive into the day’s top stories, from India’s chip manufacturing push to Oracle’s ambitious cloud growth plan.
The 2026 Union Budget launched India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) 2.0, focusing on domestic design and production of semiconductor machines and materials. It nearly doubled the Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme’s outlay to Rs. 40,000 crore to spur local manufacturing and strengthen global supply chain roles. Increased incentives and tax benefits aim to attract investment, create jobs, and enhance technological self-reliance in India’s semiconductor ecosystem.
Oracle plans to raise between $45 billion and $50 billion in 2026 through a mix of debt and equity to expand its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure capacity and meet contracted demand from major customers. About half the funds will come from equity issuances and the rest from senior unsecured bonds early in the year.
IIT-Bombay graduate and AI researcher Rishabh Agarwal quit his Meta AI Superintelligence Lab position just five months after joining with a reportedly Rs. 8 crore salary offer from the company. Despite the lucrative package, he stepped down to pursue a “different kind of risk,” sharing on X that the decision, though tough, aligned with his professional goals after years in major tech labs.
Moltbook, a Reddit-style social platform where only AI agents can post, comment and vote while humans merely observe, has drawn millions of views and tens of thousands of connected agents since its launch. Built on the OpenClaw framework with autonomous moderation, the experiment raises significant cybersecurity concerns, including vulnerabilities from untrusted inputs, exposed data and risks of malicious manipulation.
Crypto protocol CrossCurve’s cross-chain bridge was exploited when a smart contract vulnerability let attackers spoof messages to bypass validation and unlock around $3 million in tokens across multiple networks. Users were told to pause interactions while the team investigates. CrossCurve offered up to a 10 % bounty for returning the funds within 72 hours and may pursue legal action if they aren’t returned.