It's a wrap: News this week (Jan 3 -- 9)

There have been multiple developments this week on the tech front. From Articul8’s funding to KLA opens new innovation hub, here is a list of the most important updates for a quick catch-up:

Intel spin-off Articul8 bags Birla funding

Enterprise GenAI startup Articul8 AI Inc. has raised the first tranche of a $70 million Series B funding round, with  Aditya Birla Ventures joining as a key investor—signalling growing Indian interest in global, enterprise-focused AI platforms.

The Santa Clara-based company, which spun out of Intel Corp. in 2024, is now valued at over $500 million. Other participants in the round include Adara Ventures and NXC Corporation. Articul8 said it expects to complete a final, strategic closing in the first quarter of 2026, citing strong investor demand.

KLA opens R&D and Innovation Hub in Chennai

Semiconductor process control and process-enabling technology provider KLA Corporation has opened an R&D and Innovation Hub in Chennai. Built with an investment of ₹300 crore, this new 311,000-square-foot facility has been designed to accommodate up to 1,300 employees.

The innovation hub is expected to expand  the company’s regional AI and software development capabilities and drive collaboration across R&D, engineering and product support functions. Since establishing operations in India in 2004, KLA has evolved the regional presence into an AI and engineering center-of-excellence. The new facility represents a significant scale-up of operations, designed to meet growing global customer demand and support India’s emerging semiconductor industry, the company said in a statement. 

Uttar Pradesh Govt clears Rules-2025 for GCC Policy implementation

The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday approved Rules 2025 for the effective implementation of the Uttar Pradesh Global Capability Centres (GCC) Policy-2024.
With the implementation of these rules, the state is expected to gain new momentum in global investment, high-end services, and large-scale employment generation.

Under this approval, Invest UP has been designated as the nodal agency. Invest UP is the official Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency (IPFA)  for UP to attract, facilitate, and support both domestic and foreign investments into the state.

Industrial Development Minister Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi, while informing about the cabinet decision, said that the GCC Policy is highly beneficial for the state and that the SOP has now been brought in to ensure its effective implementation. Investment under GCCs in the state is continuously increasing, and in the current financial year, 21 companies have already started investing under this framework, he claimed.

Infosys partners with AWS, Cognition

IT services firm Infosys has partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to accelerate enterprise adoption of generative AI. This partnership will combine Infosys’ suite of AI solutions and services called Topaz with AWS’s generative AI-powered assistant – Amazon Q Developer to enhance Infosys’ internal operations and drive innovation for customers across sectors such as manufacturing, telecom, financial services, and consumer goods.

Through its collaboration with AWS, Infosys integrates advanced AI capabilities to streamline complex tasks, accelerate project timelines, and enhance employee experiences while driving productivity. 

Additionally, Infosys this week, also announced partnership with AI coding firm and maker of Devin – Cognition. The collaboration will deploy Devin across Infosys’ internal engineering ecosystem and client engagements worldwide.

Combining the modular architecture of Infosys Topaz Fabric with Cognition’s agentic and autonomous engineering capabilities, the collaboration aims to help enterprises achieve accelerated time-to-market, enhanced developer productivity, and reduced modernisation timelines.