Can Apple, seen as lacking heft in the AI race, and Microsoft, which is also being told it no longer has the weight it once did as its partnership with OpenAI changes, turn the mood around? June looks set to be a meaningful time to gauge that.

Ahead of Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) running June 8 to 12 (local time), interest in Apple’s AI strategy is rising again.

At this year’s WWDC, Apple plans to place weight on a message about its on-device AI competitiveness, drawing on its experience developing its own chips for the iPhone, Apple Watch and Mac computers over the past 15 years.

• Can it really become an alternative to cloud AI? Apple’s on-device AI power goes on trial

Microsoft’s moves are also in focus as its relationship with OpenAI is not what it used to be. Microsoft is using OpenAI and Anthropic AI models while increasingly accelerating development of its own AI models. It is expected to unveil a large number of in-house AI models at its annual Build conference in San Francisco from June 2 to 3 (local time). There are also reports that Microsoft is developing a super app to integrate its multiple Copilot AI tools into one. Other reports say Microsoft will launch an "Ask Copilot" feature this summer to replace the Windows 11 taskbar search box with a Copilot chat environment. Microsoft is also said to plan to unveil software that helps users easily carry out tasks locally on Windows PCs using AI agents.

• Microsoft’s in-house AI model strategy gains traction across coding, reasoning and images, competing on cost-effectiveness • Microsoft developing integrated Copilot super app, aiming for release this summer • Microsoft to unveil "Ask Copilot" this summer, to be used instead of Windows 11 taskbar search box • Windows PC ecosystem based on Nvidia integrated chips gains attention, targeting Intel and AMD

As AI agents, which consume relatively more computing power than AI chatbots, spread, more companies are saying AI costs more than expected. Microsoft cancelled most Claude Code licences, citing cost issues and other reasons, and Uber’s chief operating officer said AI costs are "increasingly difficult to justify." An AI consultant also said one client spent $500 million in a month because it did not set usage limits on employees’ Claude licences.

• Backlash from token-maxing: debate grows over corporate AI investment as spending without results • AI token costs surge, and whether they will fall soon is "well" • Microsoft cancels most Claude Code licences, switching to GitHub Copilot CLI • Uber exhausts AI budget in 4 months: "Hard to prove results"

Many are also closely monitoring usage or switching to lower-priced models due to concerns over surging AI costs, it said.

• "More companies are looking for cheaper AI due to cost burdens"

It also summarised moves by companies at home and abroad around AI.

OpenAI held its first corporate leadership event in South Korea, the "Exec Summit", and discussed enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) adoption plans with about 130 business and technology executives from major South Korean companies.

• OpenAI holds first corporate executive summit in South Korea, moves to expand enterprise push

Anthropic raised $65 billion in a Series H round. The investment lifted Anthropic’s valuation to $965 billion. Anthropic appointed Ki-young Choi (최기영) as its head in South Korea ahead of the opening of its Seoul office. Anthropic’s senior executives plan to visit Seoul within weeks to formally establish the office and meet major clients.

• Anthropic raises $65 billion, pre-IPO valuation nears $1 trillion • Anthropic appoints Ki-young Choi as South Korea head, targeting market with tailored strategy

Amazon is selling its AI shopping technology to other retailers. CNBC reported on the 27th (local time) that Amazon decided to offer the retail industry a package of the technical structure used for "Alexa for Shopping", starter code and operational experience.

• AI shopping like AWS: Amazon to sell "Alexa for Shopping" technology externally

Meta created a dedicated organisation called Enterprise Solutions to dispatch engineers and product managers directly to corporate clients. It is the same approach as the "forward deployed engineer" (FDE) model recently adopted by Google, OpenAI, Anthropic and Nvidia.

• Meta-style FDE strategy gains attention as it creates Enterprise Solutions unit targeting corporate clients

China AI model developer DeepSeek is said to be forming a team to develop an agent coding tool called "Code Harness" that competes directly with Anthropic’s Claude Code and OpenAI’s Codex.

• DeepSeek forms team to develop "Code Harness", challenging Claude Code and Codex

Global AI data cloud company Snowflake will acquire Natoma, an enterprise platform company for the Model Context Protocol (MCP) for AI agents.

• Snowflake to acquire enterprise MCP company Natoma, supporting secure connections for AI agents

AI coding startup Cognition secured more than $1 billion in funding after being valued at $25 billion pre-investment. Its valuation rose sharply in 8 months from a post-investment valuation of $10.2 billion at the time of a $400 million funding round in September last year. South Korean AI company Motif Technologies raised 24 billion won in a Series B round to strengthen its AI deep tech capabilities. Jung-hwan Lim (임정환), chief executive of Motif Technologies, said, "We will further strengthen market competitiveness by pushing ahead without disruption as planned with various businesses, including projects currently underway, development of corporate AX solutions, and advancement of next-generation AI infrastructure and services."

• AI coding startup Cognition raises $1 billion at $25 billion valuation, with ARR nearing $500 million • Motif Technologies raises 24 billion won in Series B funding, boosting proprietary AI development

South Korean BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) company UBASE Group will acquire speech recognition AI startup ReturnZero. UBASE’s strategy is to speed up its shift to an AI agent-centred business model by internalising voice AI technology through the acquisition. Data company HectoData upgraded its "AI sample code" service, focusing on improving convenience for API integration. NC AI signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with Posco DX to jointly develop robot foundation models (RFM) and cooperate on technology.

• UBASE to acquire voice AI startup ReturnZero, to launch "complete" customer-service AI agent in July • HectoData updates "AI sample code" service, adding 6 programming languages • NC AI and Posco DX to jointly develop robot foundation models