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Generative AI has been a rare bright spot in a European tech market reeling from declining funding and a pullback in valuations.

Yuichiro Chino | Moment | Getty Images

The European Parliament has approved the bloc’s landmark rules for artificial intelligence, known as the EU AI Act, clearing a key hurdle for the first formal regulation of AI in the West to become law.

The rules are the first comprehensive regulations for AI, which has become a key battleground in the global tech industry, as companies compete for a leading role in developing the technology — particularly generative AI, which can generate new content from user prompts.

What generative AI is capable of, from producing music lyrics to generating code, has wowed academics, businesspeople, and even school students. But it has also led to worries around job displacement, misinformation, and bias.

During a critical Wednesday vote, the Parliament adopted the AI Act with 499 votes in favor, 28 against and 93 abstentions. The regulation is far from becoming law, but it is likely to be one of the first formal rules for the technology globally.

European Parliament members agreed to bring generative AI tools like ChatGPT under greater restrictions. Generative AI developers will be required to submit their systems for review before releasing them commercially.

The Parliament also decided to hold firm with a ban on real-time biometric identification systems, as well as controversial “social scoring” systems.

Human rights campaigners had expressed concern over an attempt by the European People’s Party to water down the ban. Lawmakers nevertheless pressed ahead with it and agreed to prohibit biometric surveillance from all public settings.

The laws have huge implications for developers of generative AI models, such as the Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard.

Jens-Henrick Jepenssen, senior director of public policy at Workday, said that the AI Act aims to “build safeguards on the development and use of these technologies to ensure we have an innovation-friendly environment for these technologies such that society can benefit from them.”

“Those are the right goals in my view,” he told CNBC after the vote.

The next stage is for negotiators at EU institutions, such as the EU executive body and 27 member states.

Earlier in the day, Github CEO Thomas Dohmke called on European regulators to listen to the private sector, as it pushed ahead with rules for AI.

“We encourage the European Union and the US government to move really fast and listen to those that built the technology, not only in the commercial business, but also in universities, in the open-source communities,” Dohmke told CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal.

It comes as countries around the world are looking to bring in rules and standards for AI.

On Monday, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made a bold pitch to make the U.K. the “geographical home” of AI safety regulation. The government is also gearing up to hold a global summit on AI safety later this year.

WATCH: A.I. regulation is almost trying to move in parallel with innovation, Goldman Sachs says

A.I. regulation is almost trying to move in parallel with innovation, Goldman Sachs says

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Super Micro shares fall on planned $2 billion convertible debt offering

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Super Micro shares fall on planned  billion convertible debt offering

The Super Micro Computer headquarters in San Jose, California, on Dec. 3, 2024.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Super Micro Computer shares fell about 6% on Monday after the server maker said it plans to offer $2 billion in convertible notes, maturing in 2030.

A company’s stock often falls on the announcement of a convertible offering because the eventual conversion to equity could dilute existing shareholders’ stakes.

Super Micro, which has seen its business boom due to soaring demand for Nvidia’s artificial intelligence processors, said in a press release that it plans to use the proceeds from the offering for “general corporate purposes, including to fund working capital for growth and business expansion.” It also said it would spend about $200 million to repurchase its stock from the note issuers.

Even after Monday’s slide, Super Micro shares are up close to 40% so far in 2025 as the company remains one of a handful of server makers that can sell systems based around new chips from Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, and Intel soon after they start shipping. The stock has been viewed by Wall Street as an AI pure play that will appreciate with tech megacap companies expected to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on data centers to support AI workloads.

Super Micro also secured a major contract with a data center in Saudi Arabia when President Donald Trump visited the Middle East in May.

Super Micro “has emerged as a market leader in AI-optimized infrastructure,” Raymond James analysts wrote in a report last month, saying that 70% of the company’s revenue was attributable to AI. The analysts recommend buying the stock.

Investors soured on Super Micro in March and April on concerns about tariffs, and in May the company slashed its fiscal 2025 guidance and chose not to reiterate its previous forecast for $40 billion in fiscal 2026 sales, due to tariff and AI chip uncertainty.

The stock has recouped some of those losses but is still trading well below its high for the year reached in February.

Super Micro had a tumultuous 2024 largely because of accusations of accounting irregularities, and was forced to refile financials with the SEC in order to avoid delisting from the Nasdaq. Super Micro also named a new auditor, removed its CFO and named additional members to its board of directors.

WATCH: The bull case for Super Micro

Raymond James' Simon Leopold talks the bull case for Super Micro

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Amazon launches second batch of Kuiper internet satellites, taking on Elon Musk’s Starlink

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Amazon launches second batch of Kuiper internet satellites, taking on Elon Musk's Starlink

An Atlas V rocket of United Launch Alliance (ULA) lifts off from Space Launch Complex 41 at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on June 23, 2025.

Gregg Newton | Afp | Getty Images

Amazon‘s second batch of Kuiper internet satellites reached low Earth orbit on Monday, adding to its plans for a massive constellation and ramping up competition with SpaceX’s Starlink.

A United Launch Alliance rocket carrying 27 Kuiper satellites lifted off from a launchpad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 6:54 a.m. ET, according to a livestream.

“We have ignition and lift off of United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper internet constellation, continuing a new chapter in low Earth orbit satellite connectivity,” Ben Chilton, an ordnance engineer at ULA, said on the livestream following the launch.

Monday’s mission was rescheduled twice, owing to inclement weather and a problem with the rocket booster.

Read more CNBC Amazon coverage

Six years ago, Amazon unveiled its plans to build a constellation of internet-beaming satellites in low Earth orbit, called Project Kuiper. The service will compete directly with Elon Musk’s Starlink, which currently dominates the market and has 8,000 satellites in orbit.

Amazon in April successfully sent up 27 Kuiper internet satellites into low Earth orbit, a region of space that’s within 1,200 miles of the Earth’s surface.

The 54 craft currently in orbit are the start of Amazon’s planned constellation of 3,236 satellites. The company has to meet a Federal Communications Commission deadline to launch half of its total constellation, or 1,618 satellites, by July 2026.

The company has booked more than 80 launches with several providers, including rival SpaceX, to deliver Kuiper its satellites into orbit.

WATCH: Amazon Web Services CEO: Lots of opportunity to expand infrastructure globally

AWS CEO: Lots of opportunity to expand infrastructure globally

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Tesla stock pops 10% as Musk touts ‘successful’ robotaxi Austin launch

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Tesla stock pops 10% as Musk touts 'successful' robotaxi Austin launch

A Tesla Inc. robotaxi on Oltorf Street in Austin, Texas, US, on Sunday, June 22, 2025. T

Tim Goessman | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Tesla‘s driverless robotaxi finally hit the road this weekend, sending shares of the electric vehicle maker up 10% on Monday.

The EV giant debuted autonomous rides in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, opening the service to a limited number of riders by invitation only. CEO Elon Musk said in a post on social media platform X that customers were charged a flat fee of $4.20.

“Super congratulations to the @Tesla_AI software & chip design teams on a successful @Robotaxi launch!! Culmination of a decade of hard work. Both the AI chip and software teams were built from scratch within Tesla,” he said in a post.

One tester wrote on X that they did 11 with the service with “zero issues.” Musk reposted numerous firsthand encounters with the services.

Read more CNBC tech news

Musk has long promised a driverless Tesla robotaxi fleet to investors, amping up the pressure to deliver.

The launch puts Tesla head-to-head with Alphabet‘s Waymo, which is already operating a fleet of robotaxis in several cities across the U.S. and reached 10 million trips last month.

Musk told CNBC’s David Faber last month that Tesla aims to have “Hundreds of thousands, if not over a million” self-driving cars in the U.S. by the end of next year. In May, Musk first announced plans to launch the service in Austin, with later debuts set for Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Heading into the launch, Tesla faced pushback from a group of Democratic lawmakers in Texas and public safety activists urged the company to delay the debut.

Tesla’s full-self driving capabilities, which feature a standard FSD or FSD supervised, include automatic steering and parking, but have been linked to accidents and fatalities, according to data tracked by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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