🌎 Wreaking Havoc

Meta (basically) bought a nuclear power plant

This will make a great Instagram post. Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, has signed a 20-year deal to purchase nuclear power from Constellation Energy, as it seeks to fuel its AI operations.

Power couple

The deal, which is the first of its kind in the United States, will take effect starting mid-2027. Under the new agreement, Meta will purchase the full power output of Constellation’s Clinton Clean Energy Center in Illinois.

• The facility’s single nuclear reactor produces around 1.1 gigawatts of electricity—enough to power 750,000 homes.

• The deal will also enable the plant to increase its clean energy output by about 30 megawatts.

However, Meta won’t actually use the energy. Instead, Constellation will supply power to the local grid in its name, helping Meta meet its decarbonization goals while its AI guzzles electricity behind the scenes.

The local economy will benefit: The deal is expected to preserve over 1,000 jobs and generate more than $13 million in annual tax revenue.

Going nuclear

The deal follows a growing trend among tech companies, as they increasingly require massive amounts of electricity to power their AI operations and data centers.

Since nuclear power offers clean, consistent energy, Big Tech is making significant investments to secure its future:

• In addition to the recent deal, Meta announced plans to add up to four gigawatts of nuclear generation in the US.

• Microsoft also partnered with Constellation to restart the infamous Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, and announced it was working with a startup to develop an experimental nuclear fission plant by 2028.

• Alphabet—the parent company of Google—is backing next-gen compact modular reactors.

The future of nuclear power looks bright: The clean energy source already accounts for ~20% of electricity generation in the US, and President Trump recently signed four executive orders aimed at quadrupling US nuclear energy capacity by 2050.

Ukraine releases details of “Operation Spiderweb”

The mission occurred as peace talks were scheduled with Russia. Ukraine released new details regarding Sunday’s widespread attack on Russia’s long-range bomber fleet, its most daring and intricate military operation yet in the three-year conflict.

The operation

On June 1, Ukraine executed "Operation Spiderweb," a covert drone assault targeting five Russian airbases. The complex mission took 18 months to plan and involved sneaking 117 remotely operated drones into Russia (see overview).

• Ukraine smuggled the drones across the border using mobile log cabins as cover.

• Once in Russia, pilots launched them almost simultaneously at airfields across several different time zones, with one as far as 3,000 miles from Kyiv.

The attack is the war’s largest drone strike to date. Ukraine claims Sunday’s operation damaged 41 bomber aircraft and permanently destroyed nearly half.

• Independent satellite imagery confirms that at least 12 were destroyed.

• Officials estimate the strike inflicted more than $7 billion in damage on Russia’s air force, one of the war’s most expensive single strikes.

Yesterday, Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) released never-before-seen drone footage showing the operation's execution. Watch the attack here.

Russia vows revenge

In response to the operation, Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated tensions would escalate, telling President Donald Trump on a 75-minute phone call that the nation would “have to respond.”

• Soon after, Russia launched an attack that killed and injured civilians in multiple Ukrainian cities, including Kharkiv and Pryluky.

This has all occurred during ongoing peace talks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that Operation Spiderweb was a response to Russia's refusal to engage in ceasefire discussions, highlighting the complexities of achieving a lasting peace in the region.

Waymo surpassed 10 million driverless rides

I mean, who really wants to make small talk with their Uber driver? Waymo—an autonomous ride-hailing service owned by Google parent Alphabet—has just completed 10 million driverless paid rides, a number that is expected to double by the end of the year.

Robotaxi revolution

In just a few years, Waymo has evolved from a futuristic concept to a major player in transportation, reshaping how people navigate cities. Since launching paid rides in major cities like San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles:

• Waymo's weekly rides increased from 10,000 in August 2023 to 250,000 in early 2025.

• The ride-hailing service went from 1 million paid rides in 2023 to 5 million just a year later.

Now for the bad news: Although the company secured $5.6 billion in funding last year and has grown exponentially, Waymo still hasn’t turned a profit, and faces mounting pressure from Tesla, whose cheaper, camera-driven system could leapfrog Waymo’s sensor-heavy cars.

If you can’t beat ‘em…

While Waymo is gobbling up market share like a toddler with some crayons, Tesla still intends to develop an autonomous robotaxi with its more cost-effective strategy, which could prove to be a threat.

Meanwhile, Uber and Lyft, on the other hand, have decided to scrap competing with Waymo altogether:

• Once planning to develop their own driverless technology, Uber and Lyft scrapped that idea and are now partnering with firms like Waymo to offer driverless services.

• Just weeks into Uber’s partnership with Waymo, 20% of Uber’s rides in Austin, Texas, were in a driverless car, according to YipitData.

It’s a win-win: The partnership enables ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft to enter the robotaxi market, while Waymo gains immediate access to millions of potential customers and scales faster as a result.

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Hackers are stealing Salesforce data from US companies

It probably wouldn’t hurt to thank your IT department today. On Wednesday, Google announced hackers have been stealing Salesforce data from US and European companies for months by imitating IT employees.

How are they doing it?

The group of hackers has been using a scamming technique called voice phishing (see overview) to deceive employees into believing they’re interacting with their IT support team.

Once they’re convinced, it’s pretty easy to steal the data:

• The hackers then trick employees into sharing login credentials or installing a fraudulent, malware-laced version of a Salesforce tool, according to Google.

• Once installed, hackers gain access to sensitive company data and can extend attacks to other cloud services and internal networks.

Google’s Threat Intelligence Group hasn’t exactly specified which companies have been affected. However, it did state that over 20 businesses were hacked and data was stolen from a portion of them.

Who are the hackers? They appear to be part of a group Google calls “the Com,” which shares members with another group named Scattered Spider, the infamous hackers behind last year’s MGM Resorts breach and possibly connected to recent cyber incidents in the UK.

Companies are increasingly hiring ex-employees

Maybe don’t leave the company with an “I quit” text next time. Companies are hiring former employees more often, a practice known as boomerang hiring, according to a new ADP data analysis.

Why bring back ex-employees?

Employers are becoming more picky about who they’re hiring (as those seeking employment are well aware), particularly those in highly skilled industries. Bringing back workers who already know the job can lower onboarding costs, an attractive perk for businesses.

Now, other companies are picking up on the hiring strategy, and it’s becoming a pretty standard tactic:

• The share of new hires who were former employees increased to 35% in March, up from 31% the previous year.

• Tech jobs saw the largest spike in boomerang hiring, with 68% of new hires in March being returning employees, doubling from 34% in 2024.

Bird’s eye view: Although April’s 4.2% unemployment rate suggests a stable job market, longer wait times for offers hint at a cooling trend. Updated hiring data (which comes out today) may clarify whether that slowdown continued into May.

FAST FACTS
Catch up on this week’s weird news

Smokin Seniors: Marijuana use among older Americans jumped 46% between 2021 and 2023, reaching record levels as legalization and social acceptance expand.

Star Slam: A new study suggests that there is only a 50% chance that the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies will collide within the next 10 billion years, revising previous predictions of an inevitable merger.

Scroll Surprise: Using radiocarbon dating and AI models, researchers have found that specific Dead Sea Scrolls date back to 230 and 160 BCE, much older than previously thought.

Steady Savings: Americans contributed an average of 14.3% of their income to 401(k) retirement plans in the first quarter of this year, up from 13.5% in 2020, according to Fidelity Investments.

Small Star: Astronomers have discovered a massive planet orbiting one of the smallest known stars to date, making the scientific community reevaluate how celestial bodies form.