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John Riccitiello, CEO of Unity Technologies, speaks during the TechCrunch Disrupt 2018 summit in San Francisco, Sept. 5, 2018.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Unity rose over 15% to $42.38 per share on Tuesday after the gaming tool maker announced a marketplace for artificial intelligence software that positions it as a platform in the hottest part of the technology industry.

Unity’s customers, which use its game engine software to produce games for phones, consoles and virtual reality headsets, will be able to choose from software that can do things such as generate game dialogue or textures and graphics using AI from independent companies such as Inworld AI or Polyhive.

AI companies will be able to distribute their software to game makers and charge for it through Unity’s Asset Store.

The surge in Unity’s price comes as company officials have talked about the potential they see in AI in recent weeks.

“I think AI will change gaming in a couple of pretty profound ways. One of them is it’s going to make making games faster, cheaper and better,” Unity CEO John Riccitiello said in an interview published Monday by the Associated Press. “It’s already happening.”

Separately, the company was also given an overweight rating and a target price of $48 by Wells Fargo analyst Brian Fitzgerald in a note Tuesday.

Fitzgerald and his team said investors may see Unity’s current share price as a buying opportunity, and that the company could expand its business outside of gaming, with “digital twins” and other simulation products for enterprises.

“Though we acknowledge that interactive entertainment industry consolidation may, over the long term, drive the development and use of proprietary game development tools/assets by large studios, we believe in Unity’s strong competitive positioning in the space,” Fitzgerald wrote.

The note also said “metaverse” hype was dying down, creating a buying opportunity.

Before Unity started directing investor attention to AI, it was closely linked to headset efforts, such as Meta‘s, because its software can be used to create virtual reality apps.

Earlier this month, Apple said VR apps made with Unity would be supported on the Vision Pro, its headset expected to release early next year.

Riccitiello doesn’t like the term metaverse, a word Apple never uses. “I always thought the word was loaded and kind of stupid,” he said in the AP interview.

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Chinese tech giant Tencent posts 13% revenue jump as growth at key gaming unit surges

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May 14, 2025

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Chinese tech giant Tencent posts 13% revenue jump as growth at key gaming unit surges

Chinese tech company Tencent is a gaming giant and the parent company of WeChat, the ubiquitous social messaging app in China.

Cheng Xin | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Tencent on Wednesday reported an annual rise in its top and bottom line in the first quarter fuelled by accelerated growth in its key gaming business.

While revenue beat expectations, its net profit fell short.

Here’s how Tencent did in the first quarter of 2025 versus LSEG estimates:

  • Revenue: 180.02 billion Chinese yuan ($25 billion), versus 174.63 billion yuan expected
  • Net profit: 47.8 billion yuan, versus 52.2 billion yuan expected

Revenue rose 13% year-on-year, while net profit was up 14%.

This breaking news story is being updated.

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Sony shares rise about 2% in volatile trading following share buyback announcement

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9 hours ago

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May 14, 2025

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Sony shares rise about 2% in volatile trading following share buyback announcement

A file photo of Hiroki Totoki, Sony Group Corporation executive, delivering a keynote address at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, on January 6, 2025. 

Artur Widak | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Sony Group shares rose about 2% Wednesday in volatile trading after the Japanese conglomerate announced a 250 billion yen ($1.7 billion) share buyback and operating income beat estimates.   

Operating income for the last three months of the financial year came in at 203.6 billion yen, beating mean analyst estimates of 192.2 billion yen, though it was down 11% from the same period last year. 

In the earnings report, the Japanese-based electronics, entertainment and finance company announced a stock buyback of shares worth 250 billion yen. 

Sony also provided details on a partial spinoff of its financial unit. The company plans to distribute slightly more than 80% of the shares of common stock of the spinoff to shareholders of Sony Group through dividends. 

The financial unit will list its financial operation this year and will be classified as a discontinued operation in Sony’s accounting from the current quarter, the company added. 

However, Sony’s outlook for the current financial year ending in March was lackluster.

The company forecasted its operating profit to rise a slight 0.3% to 1.28 trillion yen, after flagging a 100 billion yen hit from U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war.

Yet, Sony clarified that the estimated tariff impact did not reflect the trade deal made between the U.S. and China on May 12 and that the actual impact could vary significantly. 

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Samsung Electronics to acquire heating and cooling solutions provider FläktGroup for 1.5 billion euros

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May 14, 2025

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Samsung Electronics to acquire heating and cooling solutions provider FläktGroup for 1.5 billion euros

A Samsung Group flag flutters in front of the company’s Seocho building in Seoul. 

Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Samsung Electronics on Wednesday announced that it would acquire all shares of German-based FläktGroup, a leading heating and cooling solutions provider, for 1.5 billion euros ($1.68 billion) from European investment firm Triton. 

Samsung said the acquisition would help it expand in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning business as the market experiences rapid growth. 

“Our commitment is to continue investing in and developing the high-growth HVAC business as a key future growth engine,” said TM Roh, Acting Head of the Device eXperience (DX) Division at Samsung Electronics.  

The acquisition of FläktGroup stands to bolster Samsung’s position in the HVAC market against rivals such as LG Electronics. 

FläktGroup supplies heating, HVAC solutions to a wide range of buildings and facilities, notably data centers which require a high degree of stable cooling. Samsung said it anticipates sustained growth in data center demand due to the proliferation of generative AI, robotics, autonomous driving and other technologies.

FläktGroup has more 60 major customers, including leading pharmaceutical companies, biotech and food and beverage firms, and gigafactories, according to Samsung’s statement.

Samsung said in March that its HVAC solutions had achieved double-digit annual revenue growth over the past five years, and that the company aimed to boost revenue by more than 30% in 2025.

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