The morning briefing.
While you slept: Apple and Intel partner on US chip manufacturing, Google's Gemini co-lead joins OpenAI, and China's DeepSeek secures massive funding.
US Chip Policy. Apple and Intel are reportedly partnering to manufacture chips for future Apple devices in Intel's American fabrication sites. President Trump confirmed this development, which follows previous rumors and caused Intel's stock to surge 9%. This collaboration highlights a broader push towards domestic chip production and supply chain resilience. The full scope of the agreement, particularly regarding advanced chip capabilities, remains unclear.
AI Agent Development. The AI agent paradigm is evolving, with discussions shifting from prompt engineering to "loop engineering" for designing self-sustaining automated systems. Andrew Ng suggests future companies will be small teams focused on rebuilding data architecture with AI agents. This indicates a move towards more autonomous AI systems and a fundamental change in how enterprises will leverage AI for transformation. Startups like Frontier Health are already raising significant capital for AI agent solutions in specific sectors.
Global AI Investment. Significant capital continues to flow into AI and deep tech startups globally, with China's DeepSeek securing a landmark 50 billion yuan Series A round, valuing it at $59.2 billion. Meanwhile, ByteDance is reportedly exploring tier-two Chinese chipmakers to reduce reliance on Nvidia for AI workloads amidst regulatory hurdles. France is also actively advancing its AI future by bringing new AI factories and national compute capacity online, demonstrating a concerted effort to build robust AI infrastructure.
Regulatory Scrutiny. The federal government's ban on Anthropic's Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models is drawing criticism from employees and experts who deem it an unreasonable act of government overreach. This intervention highlights growing regulatory scrutiny and potential political meddling in the development and deployment of frontier AI models. Separately, Tesco is reportedly dumping thousands of VMware servers, citing "abusive conduct" from Broadcom, underscoring challenges in vendor relationships and market dominance.
Apple and Intel are working together to build chips in America, says President Trump
President Trump confirmed a rumored partnership between Apple and Intel for manufacturing chips for future Apple devices in Intel’s American fabrication sites. The full extent of the agreement, particularly for high-end chips, is not yet clear.
NASA is sending an orbiter to Mars with Eric Schmidt's Relativity Space
NASA has partnered with Eric Schmidt's Relativity Space for a Martian mission scheduled for 2028. This collaboration marks a significant step for the aerospace startup in its efforts to reach Mars.
Former Palantir healthcare head raises £10M for NHS AI agent startup
A London-based startup, Frontier Health, founded by a former Palantir healthcare executive, has secured £9.7 million in funding. The company aims to develop AI agent solutions for NHS hospitals.
As ByteDance spends billions on AI, which Chinese chip start-ups stand to gain?
ByteDance is accelerating its shift towards domestic chips for AI workloads, potentially benefiting smaller Chinese chipmakers. This move aims to reduce reliance on Nvidia amidst ongoing regulatory challenges.
Tesco dumps thousands of servers off VMware, blames 'abusive conduct' from Broadcom
Tesco is reportedly taking legal action against Broadcom and dropping 40,000 VMware licenses due to what it describes as "abusive conduct." This action highlights growing tensions between major enterprises and software vendors.
Google's Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer joins OpenAI after two-year return stint
Noam Shazeer, a co-author of the influential "Attention Is All You Need" paper and former co-lead of Google's Gemini models, has joined OpenAI. This marks another significant talent shift in the competitive AI industry.
DeepSeek’s landmark funding secures Liang Wenfeng’s grip as China’s AI rivalry heats up
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek closed its first external fundraising round, securing approximately 50 billion yuan. This significant investment values the company at around $59.2 billion and is set to reshape China's AI landscape.
Nearly 80% of data center capacity is at elevated risk to climate hazards like flooding and fire
A new study reveals that almost 80% of global data center capacity faces elevated risks from climate hazards such as flooding and fire. This poses significant challenges for infrastructure resilience and business continuity.
HDC 2026: HarmonyOS 7 Developer Beta Launches with 66 Million Terminal Ecosystem
Huawei unveiled HarmonyOS 7 Developer Beta at HDC 2026, featuring deep AI integration at the operating system level. The platform now supports 66 million consumer devices, indicating a rapidly expanding ecosystem.
Andrew Ng: AI Hype Aside, Future Companies Will Be 10-Person Teams Rebuilding Data Architecture with Agents
Andrew Ng discussed at LangChain Interrupt that future enterprise transformation will be driven by small, 10-person engineering teams leveraging AI agents. He emphasized that data architecture will serve as the critical foundation for these advancements.
Midjourney, the AI image generator, is developing a full-body ultrasonic scanner
Midjourney, known for its AI image generation, has announced its first hardware project: a full-body ultrasonic scanner. This marks a diversification into physical products beyond its core software offerings.
Chile turned to China for an undersea cable. The U.S. said no
A proposed undersea cable project connecting Chile to Hong Kong, backed by China, was rejected due to U.S. intervention. This incident highlights Washington's efforts to curb Chinese telecom ambitions globally.
AMD silently removes memory encryption from consumer Ryzen CPUs
AMD has reportedly removed memory encryption from its consumer Ryzen CPUs without public announcement, leaving users potentially unaware of a security feature change. Engineers have remained silent when questioned about this alteration.
Cargofy lands $6M to scale AI workers for logistics
Logistics technology company Cargofy has raised $6 million in primary capital as part of an $11 million Series A funding round. The investment will be used to scale its AI-powered workforce solutions for the logistics sector.