The “Or Eitan” system. Photo: Spokesperson and Public Relations Division of the Ministry of Defense

i24 News – Israel has achieved a major technological breakthrough in defense with the delivery of its first operational high-power laser system, “Or Eitan” (Iron Beam), to the IDF. The handover took place Sunday at Rafael’s facility, with Defense Minister Israel Katz and senior military and industry officials in attendance.

Developed over several years, “Iron Beam” is the first interception laser of its kind in the world to reach operational maturity.

During extensive testing, the system successfully intercepted rockets, mortar shells, and drones under conditions simulating real combat scenarios.

The laser will be integrated into Israel’s multi-layered air defense network, complementing the Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Arrow systems. Operated by the Israeli Air Force, it offers a significant economic advantage: its marginal cost per interception is nearly zero, a major shift in the cost equation for missile defense.

The project was led by the Ministry of Defense’s Directorate of Research and Development in close cooperation with Rafael, Elbit Systems, responsible for the laser source, and other Israeli defense companies. Combining an advanced laser source with a unique electro-optical sight, the system provides maximum accuracy and efficiency at extended ranges.

The system’s name, “Or Eitan,” (Iron Beam) honors Captain Eitan Oster, who fell in battle in southern Lebanon.

Minister Katz described the milestone as a “game changer” that sends a strong message to Israel’s adversaries, from Tehran to Sanaa and Beirut. Rafael hailed the delivery as the beginning of the defensive laser era, placing Israel at the forefront of interception technology worldwide and reinforcing its strategic technological edge for future security challenges.

The signatories’ flags enclosed in the statement in Arabic. Photo: Screenshot via i24.

i24 News – A group of 21 Arab, Islamic and African countries, organizations and entities issued on Saturday a joint statement condemning Israel’s recognition of Somaliland sovereignty.

The statement’s signatories said that they condemn and reject Israel’s recognition of Somaliland “in light of the serious repercussions to peace and security in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea region, and its serious impacts on international peace and security, which also reflects Israel’s clear and complete disregard for international law.”

It was signed by: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Qatar, Jordan, Algeria, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Libya, Palestine, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Comoros, Djibouti, Gambia, Maldives, Nigeria and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The joint statement voiced support “for the sovereignty of Somalia and reject any measures that would undermine its unity, territorial integrity, and sovereignty over all its lands.”

The signatories also “categorically reject linking Israel’s recognition of the territory of the land of Somalia with any plans to displace the Palestinian people outside their land.”

A NVIDIA logo appears in this illustration taken Aug. 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Nvidia has agreed to license chip technology from startup Groq and hire away its CEO, a veteran of Alphabet’s Google, Groq said in a blog post on Wednesday.

The deal follows a familiar pattern in recent years where the world’s biggest technology firms pay large sums in deals with promising startups to take their technology and talent but stop short of formally acquiring the target.

Groq specializes in what is known as inference, where artificial intelligence models that have already been trained respond to requests from users. While Nvidia dominates the market for training AI models, it faces much more competition in inference, where traditional rivals such as Advanced Micro Devices have aimed to challenge it as well as startups such as Groq and Cerebras Systems.

Nvidia has agreed to a “non-exclusive” license to Groq’s technology, Groq said. It said its founder Jonathan Ross, who helped Google start its AI chip program, as well as Groq President Sunny Madra and other members of its engineering team, will join Nvidia.

A person close to Nvidia confirmed the licensing agreement.

Groq did not disclose financial details of the deal. CNBC reported that Nvidia had agreed to acquire Groq for $20 billion in cash, but neither Nvidia nor Groq commented on the report. Groq said in its blog post that it will continue to operate as an independent company with Simon Edwards as CEO and that its cloud business will continue operating.

In similar recent deals, Microsoft’s top AI executive came through a $650 million deal with a startup that was billed as a licensing fee, and Meta spent $15 billion to hire Scale AI’s CEO without acquiring the entire firm. Amazon hired away founders from Adept AI, and Nvidia did a similar deal this year. The deals have faced scrutiny by regulators, though none has yet been unwound.

“Antitrust would seem to be the primary risk here, though structuring the deal as a non-exclusive license may keep the fiction of competition alive (even as Groq’s leadership and, we would presume, technical talent move over to Nvidia),” Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday after Groq’s announcement. And Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s “relationship with the Trump administration appears among the strongest of the key US tech companies.”

Groq more than doubled its valuation to $6.9 billion from $2.8 billion in August last year, following a $750 million funding round in September.

Groq is one of a number of upstarts that do not use external high-bandwidth memory chips, freeing them from the memory crunch affecting the global chip industry. The approach, which uses a form of on-chip memory called SRAM, helps speed up interactions with chatbots and other AI models but also limits the size of the model that can be served.

Groq’s primary rival in the approach is Cerebras Systems, which Reuters this month reported plans to go public as soon as next year. Groq and Cerebras have signed large deals in the Middle East.

Nvidia’s Huang spent much of his biggest keynote speech of 2025 arguing that Nvidia would be able to maintain its lead as AI markets shift from training to inference.