Denise Wee / Bloomberg:
Hong Kong-based WeLab, which operates two digital banks in Hong Kong and Indonesia, raised $220M in equity and debt from HSBC, Prudential Hong Kong, and others  —  Hong Kong-based fintech firm WeLab Ltd. has secured $220 million from investors including HSBC Holdings Plc and Prudential Hong Kong Ltd. in its largest round of funding.

Kyle Baird / The Block:
Blockchain-based lender Figure unveils the On-Chain Public Equity Network to issue, trade, and lend stocks natively on a blockchain, not as tokenized replicas  —  Partner offers  —  Quick Take  — Figure's OPEN platform is designed to handle issuance, settlement, and stock lending onchain …

Financial Times:
Source: Apple's Google Gemini deal will be a cloud contract where Apple pays Google; another source says OpenAI declined to be Apple's custom model provider  —  Multibillion-dollar deal to secure Gemini models reflects cautious approach to infrastructure spending

Adamya Sharma / Android Authority:
OpenAI quietly rolls out ChatGPT Translate, a standalone website that currently supports plain text translations across 50+ languages  —  OpenAI's new standalone translation tool supports over 50 languages and features AI-powered prompt customization.  —  •  —  TL;DR

Reuters:
TSMC reports Q4 net profit up 35% YoY to a record ~$16B, handily beating estimates, as it benefited from surging demand for AI chips  —  TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, posted a 35% jump in fourth-quarter net profit on Thursday, beating market forecasts and hitting a record …