Axios

Tesla is hiking lease prices as automakers adjust to the new normal with no federal tax credits to drive sales of electric vehicles.

Why it matters: The $7,500 tax credit was a significant incentive for qualifying buyers, but President Trump and congressional Republicans recently killed it.

Get ready for social media's user experiences and business models to reshape the chatbot-dominated AI world.

The big picture: New moves by OpenAI and Meta could add invasive advertising to AI's already-long list of problems, and the tech's power of persuasion and eagerness to please might supercharge the attention-grabbing capability of our social feeds.

AudioShake has raised $14 million in Series A funding to grow its platform that splits audio into components, CEO Jessica Powell exclusively tells Axios.

Why it matters: The tech has supported major film studios, music labels, sports leagues and other content owners in improving their own audio usage such as through dubbing and remastering.

Welcome to the next — and probably slower — phase of U.S. EV adoption after Tuesday's demise of federal purchase and lease subsidies.

Why it matters: The future of EV sales affects automakers' strategies, battery and mining companies, and planet-warming emissions from transportation.

Peloton is rolling out a slew of new features, including improved fitness equipment, and introducing "AI-powered personal coaching."

Why it matters: Peloton is hoping to recapture the momentum it lost after the pandemic, when investors flocked to stay-at-home stocks.

Supply-chain intelligence is no longer "an economic nice-to-have," according to Carrie Wibben Kaupp, the president of Exiger. Today, it's "a national security imperative."

• "We've done countless projects for the U.S. government on strategic ports, shipping lanes, how the adversary China, primarily, can exploit them and where they have dominance in ways that we don't even appreciate or understand," she told Axios in an interview.

Why she matters: Kaupp's a West Point graduate; a former Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency deputy director; and was the first woman to serve as commander of the guard for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Lockheed Martin secured a third international customer for its TPY-4 radar but has so far declined to name the country.

Why it matters: Word of the arrangement comes amid increased interest in overhead defenses and a spike in NATO airspace incursions.

Aventra exited stealth Wednesday with $3 million in hand and plans to make dumb munitions smarter and longer-reaching. In other words: deadlier.

Why it matters: There's an international competition afoot. Not a day goes by where the military stockpiles, industrial heft and battlefield ingenuity of the U.S., Ukraine, Russia and China aren't compared.

Investors are betting billions of dollars that the world of defense tech is a gold mine, despite the Pentagon's reputation for sluggish purchases and arcane regulations.

Why it matters: That conviction is fostering fresh ideas and market competition, forcing longtime kingpins to adapt.

• Without bullish investors, there'd be no neo-primes. And every time those new players win a big contract, the excitement grows.