Good morning, tech enthusiasts. Meta and the FTC are now facing off in a long-awaited antitrust trial that could force the tech giant to sell Instagram and WhatsApp over what the FTC describes as a case of illegally monopolizing social media.

As Zuckerberg faces Big Tech’s biggest stress test to date, will Meta battle its way out, or will regulators prevail in clamping down on “buy or bury” strategies that wipe out competition?

In today’s tech rundown:

• Meta’s stress test in landmark antitrust trial

• Blue Origin’s all-female mission to space

• ChatGPT hits roughly 1B users: Altman

• Nvidia to invest $500B in U.S. AI infra

• Quick hits on other major news

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

META

⚖️ Meta’s stress test in landmark antitrust trial

Image source: Grok/The Rundown

The Rundown: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stand this week in an antitrust trial that could force the tech giant to sell Instagram and WhatsApp, acquisitions the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says were made to illegally squash competition.

The details:

• The FTC accuses Meta of illegally monopolizing social media through its $1B acquisition of Instagram in 2012 and $19B acquisition of WhatsApp in 2014.

• Internal emails show Zuckerberg called Instagram a "threat" and WhatsApp a "risk," which the FTC cites as evidence of anticompetitive intent.

• The trial began on April 14 and could last 8+ weeks, with 50 witnesses expected, including Sheryl Sandberg and Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom.

• The FTC argues Meta controls 78% of "personal social networking," while Meta counters that it’s only 30% when including YouTube and TikTok.

Why it matters: Zuckerberg testified that the acquisitions benefited users, citing Instagram’s growth from 30M to 2B+ users under Meta. But if the FTC wins, Meta could be forced to divest Instagram and WhatsApp—a move analysts say would not only disrupt Meta’s $1.3T ad ecosystem but impact how Big Tech grows and competes.

BLUE ORIGIN

🚀 Blue Origin’s all-female mission to space

Image source: Blue Origin

The Rundown: Jeff Bezos’ space startup Blue Origin successfully launched an all-female, star-studded crew into space, featuring pop star Katy Perry and journalist Gayle King, a close friend of Oprah Winfrey.

The details:

• The crew also included Jeff Bezos’ fiancée Lauren Sánchez, former NASA scientist Aisha Bowe, activist Amanda Nguyen, and filmmaker Kerianne Flynn.

• The fully autonomous New Shepard rocket ascended 62 miles above Earth, with 3–4 minutes of weightlessness during the 11-minute suborbital journey.

• The capsule landed via parachute in the Texas desert, with the reusable booster touching down nearby.

• Blue Origin has now transported 52 civilians to space, with a heavy focus on high-profile celebrities to bring visibility to its space tourism service.

Why it matters: Alongside Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin aims to “democratize” short trips to suborbital space, giving passengers breathtaking panoramic Earth views with the “largest windows ever flown in space.” Of course, ticket prices aren’t disclosed, but the first Blue Origin seat sold for $28M in 2021.

OPENAI

🔥 ChatGPT hits roughly 1B users: Altman

Image source: Ideogram/The Rundown

The Rundown: At TED 2025, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in an off-the-cuff remark that ChatGPT’s user base is “growing very rapidly,” doubling in just a few weeks to around “10% of the world,” roughly around 800M to 1B users.

The details:

• During the interview, Altman implied ChatGPT reached this massive user count, stating: “Something like 10% of the world uses our systems.”

• At the end of March, OpenAI landed a $300B valuation with a reported 500M weekly users and 30M paid subscribers.

• Last month’s viral Studio Ghibli-style generations triggered a major surge, adding 1M users in one hour at its peak and “melting” OpenAI’s servers.

• ChatGPT has seen a 30% jump in revenue since the end of last year and is projected to hit $5B for the assistant and $12.7B total in 2025.

Why it matters: Altman may have revealed more than intended during his TED appearance, later clarifying that the numbers he shared were “not official.” Still, one thing is clear: ChatGPT is growing at breakneck speed, reportedly outpacing TikTok and Instagram to become the fastest-growing app in history.

NVIDIA

💰 Nvidia to invest $500B in U.S. AI infra

Image source: Nvidia

The Rundown: Tech giant Nvidia announced plans to manufacture up to $500B worth of AI infrastructure in the U.S. over the next four years, marking its first large-scale shift in the domestic production of GPUs and related components.

The details:

• The initiative will cover the mass production of AI chips, supercomputers, and servers with partners like TSMC, Foxconn, and Wistron.

• Nvidia has secured over 1 million square feet of manufacturing space across Arizona and Texas, with Amkor and SPIL handling advanced packaging.

• CEO Jensen Huang said the move will strengthen supply chains, meet surging AI demand, and create "hundreds of thousands" of jobs in America.

• Most importantly, it will help Nvidia avoid potential tariffs on imports from other countries (like a 32% tariff on chips made in Taiwan).

Why it matters: Nvidia’s announcement follows similar onshoring moves by Apple, TSMC, and Microsoft, aimed at reducing dependence on foreign production. It comes in the wake of steep tariffs imposed by President Trump — which the White House called the “Trump effect in action.”

QUICK HITS

📰 Everything else in tech today

Apple took the top spot in global smartphone sales for the first quarter of 2025, capturing 19% of the market, according to Counterpoint Research.

The White House reportedly terminated $5.1B worth of tech services contracts with companies including  Accenture, Booz Allen Hamilton, and Deloitte.

Kodiak Robotics, a California-based autonomous trucking technology company, announced plans to go public through a SPAC merger, valuing it at $2.5B.

The Trump administration granted exclusions from steep tariffs on smartphones, computers, and electronics imported mostly from China, supporting firms like Apple.

Apple reportedly made $22B worth of iPhones in India over the past year, bumping up production by 60%, as it moves its manufacturing away from China.

Xpeng, the Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, is reportedly set to begin using its in-house autonomous driving chip, Turing, this year.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is reportedly dead set on beating Meta in building true AR glasses, with a version that taps into Siri and Visual Intelligence.  

French startup Dark is developing a world-first hybrid engine capable of capturing spy satellites, with plans to deploy a functional version of the interceptor by 2030.

UK startup Marshmallow, which uses data science to build car insurance policies for migrants or disadvantaged consumers, raised $90M at a $2B valuation.

AI dev platform Hugging Face acquired French startup Pollen Robotics, which sells an open-source humanoid at $70K, for an undisclosed sum.

Adobe reportedly invested an undisclosed amount in British AI startup Synthesia, which sells a platform for generating videos with AI clones.

COMMUNITY

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See you soon,

Rowan, Jennifer, and Joey—The Rundown’s editorial team