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Apple’s M4 MacBook Air in a marketing photograph.

Apple

Apple on Wednesday announced new MacBook Air models that update the company’s bestselling laptop with a faster M4 chip and an upgraded videoconferencing camera.

The computers also got a $100 price cut in the U.S., despite tariffs by President Donald Trump that took effect on Tuesday that experts have said could cause the price of electronics to rise

The 13-inch MacBook Air starts at $999, and the larger, 15-inch model starts at $1,099. Users can pay more for memory and storage upgrades.

Although it has the same design as last year’s MacBook Air, the new computer will also be available in a fresh sky blue color, and it now supports multiple external monitors. The new MacBook Air goes on sale March 12.

The MacBook Air is one of Apple’s most critical products. Mac sales rose 15% in the December quarter to just under $9 billion in sales. The company attributed that increase to higher sales of laptops even though overall Mac sales, which also include desktop models, are still down from the company’s fiscal 2022. That was a period when computer sales were elevated as a result of people needing laptops for work or school during the pandemic.

Apple’s MacBook Air announcement caps off a flurry of new product releases by the company over the past few weeks.

In addition to the new laptops, Apple on Wednesday announced a high-end Mac Studio desktop with a chip that can run advanced AI. The company also upgraded its iPad Air with an M4 chip on Tuesday, and last month, it announced the low-cost iPhone 16e.

The Mac Studio has more processing power and is designed for people who work on computer graphics, audio or video production or artificial intelligence. It’s not cheap — the computer starts at $1,999, and more powerful configurations can cost nearly $9,000.

Apple’s new Mac Studio costs $1999 or more.

Apple

Prices watched closely

The MacBook Air price cut comes as Apple’s U.S. pricing is being closely watched by both Apple customers and investors to see what the iPhone maker does in response to the Trump administration’s tariffs

Apple’s announcement signals that the company isn’t jacking up prices yet. 

The new iPad Airs announced this week didn’t see any price change and still start at $599. However, the iPhone 16e costs $599, and it replaced the older low-cost model from 2022 that started at $429.

Analysts at Bank of America Securities last month forecast that PC makers including Apple would likely try to pass increased costs onto buyers. Rival Acer already announced price increases on laptops last month due to U.S. tariffs.

“Tariffs on imported PCs act like a tax that PC vendors largely pass to end customers,” the BofA analysts wrote.

The majority of Apple’s products are made in China and could be affected by two sets of 10% tariffs Trump placed on Chinese imports. Apple’s operations and third-largest market could be affected by Chinese retaliation.

Apple CEO Tim Cook met with Trump at the White House last month. After the meeting, Trump said that Apple “doesn’t want to be in the tariffs.” Cook told investors in January that Apple is “monitoring the situation.”

Apple has expanded its supply chain in recent years. Some Macs are now assembled in Malaysia or Vietnam, production locations which would avoid Chinese import duties. Apple didn’t say where the new MacBook Airs are assembled.

WATCH: Apple reacts to 20% China tariffs

Apple reacts to 20% China tariffs

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AI voice startup ElevenLabs pushes global expansion as it gears up for an IPO

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AI voice startup ElevenLabs pushes global expansion as it gears up for an IPO

Founded in 2022, ElevenLabs is an AI voice generation startup based in London. It competes with the likes of Speechmatics and Hume AI.

Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

LONDON — ElevenLabs, a London-based startup that specializes in generating synthetic voices through artificial intelligence, has revealed plans to be IPO-ready within five years.

The company told CNBC it is targeting major global expansion as it prepares for an initial public offering.

“We expect to build more hubs in Europe, Asia and South America, and just keep scaling,” Mati Staniszewski, ElevenLabs’ CEO and co-founder, told CNBC in an interview at the firm’s London office.

He identified Paris, Singapore, Brazil and Mexico as potential new locations. London is currently ElevenLabs’ biggest office, followed by New York, Warsaw, San Francisco, Japan, India and Bangalore.

Staniszewski said the eventual aim is to get the company ready for an IPO in the next five years.

“From a commercial standpoint, we would like to be ready for an IPO in that time,” he said. “If the market is right, we would like to create a public company … that’s going to be here for the next generation.”

Undecided on location

Fundraising plans

ElevenLabs was valued at $3.3 billion following a recent $180 million funding round. The company is backed by the likes of Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital and ICONIQ Growth, as well as corporate names like Salesforce and Deutsche Telekom.

Staniszewski said his startup was open to raising more money from VCs, but it would depend on whether it sees a valid business need, like scaling further in other markets. “The way we try to raise is very much like, if there’s a bet we want to take, to accelerate that bet [we will] take the money,” he said.

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U.S. lifts chip software curbs on China amid trade truce, Synopsys says

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U.S. lifts chip software curbs on China amid trade truce, Synopsys says

Synopsys logo is seen displayed on a smartphone with the flag of China in the background.

Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

The U.S. government has rescinded its export restrictions on chip design software to China, U.S.-based Synopsys announced Thursday. 

“Synopsys is working to restore access to the recently restricted products in China,” it said in a statement

The U.S. had reportedly told several chip design software companies, including Synopsys, in May that they were required to obtain licenses before exporting goods, such as software and chemicals for semiconductors, to China. 

The U.S. Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.

The news comes after China signaled last week that they are making progress on a trade truce with the U.S. and confirmed conditional agreements to resume some exchanges of rare earths and advanced technology.

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Datadog stock jumps 10% on tech company’s inclusion in S&P 500 index

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Datadog stock jumps 10% on tech company’s inclusion in S&P 500 index

The Datadog stand is being displayed on day one of the AWS Summit Seoul 2024 at the COEX Convention and Exhibition Center in Seoul, South Korea, on May 16, 2024.

Chris Jung | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Datadog shares were up 10% in extended trading on Wednesday after S&P Global said the monitoring software provider will replace Juniper Networks in the S&P 500 U.S. stock index.

S&P Global is making the change effective before the beginning of trading on July 9, according to a statement.

Computer server maker Hewlett Packard Enterprise, also a constituent of the index, said earlier on Wednesday that it had completed its acquisition of Juniper, which makes data center networking hardware. HPE disclosed in a filing that it paid $13.4 billion to Juniper shareholders.

Over the weekend, the two companies reached a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department, which had sued in opposition to the deal. As part of the settlement, HPE agreed to divest its global Instant On campus and branch business.

While tech already makes up an outsized portion of the S&P 500, the index has has been continuously lifting its exposure as the industry expands into more areas of society.

DoorDash was the latest tech company to join during the last rebalancing in March. Cloud software vendor Workday was added in December, and that was preceded earlier in 2024 with the additions of Palantir, Dell, CrowdStrike, GoDaddy and Super Micro Computer.

Stocks often rally when they’re added to a major index, as fund managers need to rebalance their portfolios to reflect the changes.

New York-based Datadog went public in 2019. The company generated $24.6 million in net income on $761.6 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2025, according to a statement. Competitors include Cisco, which bought Splunk last year, as well as Elastic and cloud infrastructure providers such as Amazon and Microsoft.

Datadog has underperformed the broader tech sector so far this year. The stock was down 5.5% as of Wednesday’s close, while the Nasdaq was up 5.6%. Still, with a market cap of $46.6 billion, Datadog’s valuation is significantly higher than the median for that index.

— CNBC’s Ari Levy contributed to this report.

CNBC: Datadog CEO Olivier Pomel on the cloud computing outlook

Datadog CEO Olivier Pomel on the cloud computing outlook

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