Google Cloud has launched its Security Operations platform in Taiwan, offering AI-powered autonomous security defense while allowing Taiwanese organizations to keep sensitive data locally. The expansion includes sovereign AI capabilities that enable enterprises to access advanced Gemini models within private data centers.
South Korea launched a 1 trillion won AI infrastructure fund for data centers and energy through Korea Post Corporation and Korea Development Bank, while Kookmin University established an innovation alliance with AI and software companies. The developments come amid growing student adoption of AI technology despite mixed public sentiment.
China's exports rose 23.9% year-on-year to $397.85 billion in July 2026, while imports climbed 27.5%, reflecting robust growth in technology and AI-related shipments despite geopolitical headwinds. The strong performance exceeded market estimates, though the trade surplus narrowed.
OpenAI has asked a federal judge to dismiss Apple's lawsuit alleging that the AI company and two former Apple employees stole trade secrets to expand into consumer hardware. OpenAI released text messages and emails claiming to expose factual errors in Apple's case and arguing it is building something 'entirely new.'
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has restarted its second funding round targeting 50 billion yuan ($8 billion) at a pre-money valuation of 500 billion yuan ($74 billion), while simultaneously announcing significant price hikes for its services amid surging global demand.
Alphabet announced a significant restructuring of its AI leadership, with Demis Hassabis stepping down as Google DeepMind CEO to become chief scientist and chairman, while longtime chief scientist Jeff Dean is leaving after 27 years to found a new AI startup. The shake-up sent Alphabet shares down more than 5%.
Google announced major AI leadership changes with chief scientist Jeff Dean leaving after 27 years and Demis Hassabis stepping down as DeepMind CEO to become Alphabet's chief scientist. Multiple senior AI researchers are also departing to launch their own startup.
Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.) posted record consolidated revenue exceeding NT$900 billion ($29.3 billion) in July 2026, marking a 54% year-over-year increase attributed to surging demand for artificial intelligence products.
Multiple research teams have published work on integrating large language models with medical knowledge graphs to improve clinical reasoning and bridge the gap between preclinical research and patient care. The developments include frameworks for constructing temporally evolving medical knowledge graphs and surveys examining LLM capabilities for medical reasoning.
Researchers have developed a novel artificial intelligence model that analyzes data from routine polysomnography sleep studies to identify patients' long-term health risks, including cognitive decline. The study was published in Nature Communications.
China's state broadcaster aired footage of the People's Liberation Army Air Force's intelligent strike-planning system, which uses artificial intelligence to coordinate simultaneous strikes by more than 100 tactical units with split-second precision after passing final live-fire tests.
Multiple research teams have developed machine learning and AI-powered tools to improve liver cancer outcomes, including a Singapore team's post-surgery recurrence predictor and Johns Hopkins researchers' AI blood test for early detection.
Surging demand for AI infrastructure is causing a severe shortage of memory chips and passive components, dubbed 'RAMaggedon,' with Samsung predicting supply constraints through 2028. The crunch is raising prices for laptops, smartphones, and potentially automobiles, while delaying product launches like Apple's MacBook Air M5.
UK job postings fell approximately 10% in the first half of 2026 compared to January 2025, with graduate positions at their lowest since 2020, while demand for AI skills hit record highs, creating a two-track labor market favoring experienced workers with artificial intelligence expertise, according to recruitment platform Indeed.
Multiple breakthrough technologies for Alzheimer's detection are emerging, including a blood test that delivers results in 18 minutes, AI analysis of brain scans requiring minimal computing power, and machine learning that identifies dementia risk through sleep EEG patterns years before symptoms appear.
South Korea plans to inject 20 trillion won ($13.9 billion) into its sovereign wealth fund for strategic investments in AI, data centers and infrastructure, marking the first time the fund's mandate will include domestic assets following a technology stock rout.
Amazon reported $200.6 billion in Q2 revenue with AWS growing 37%, its fastest pace since 2021, but free cash flow turned negative for the first time since 2023 due to massive capital expenditures on AI data centers.
Global semiconductor revenue is projected to increase 94.1% in 2026 driven by AI demand, with memory growth accelerating and supply constraints in HBM, advanced packaging, and leading-edge manufacturing expected to persist through 2027.
The European Union has issued a tender to establish up to seven AI Gigafactories across Europe, aiming to enhance the continent's computing infrastructure and technological sovereignty with more than €30 billion in projected investment.
Meta Platforms Inc. has revealed it has committed almost $700 billion in future spending through long- and short-term agreements for artificial intelligence data centers, cloud computing, and related infrastructure.
Beijing-based AI startup Moonshot AI has secured $3.5 billion in funding at a $35 billion valuation, far exceeding its initial $1-2 billion target. The round follows the company's release of its K3 model, which approached the performance of frontier models from OpenAI and Anthropic.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) inscribed the Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites in China as a World Heritage Site during the 48th session of the World Heritage Committee in Busan, South Korea on July 25, 2026. Tencent announced digital initiatives using AI and gaming technology to help preserve and promote the ancient porcelain tradition.
NAVER, NVIDIA, and Brookfield have proposed expanding the NVIDIA DSX AI factory deployment at GAK Sejong from 55 megawatts to 200 megawatts by 2028. NVIDIA plans to invest $1 billion, Brookfield has entered into a nonbinding term sheet to fund up to $9 billion, and NAVER will fund the remaining amounts required for the project.
In July 2026, Nvidia and Amkor Technology signed a $1.5 billion multi-year deal to expand advanced chip packaging and testing capacity in the United States, supporting next-generation AI infrastructure. Amkor shares rose approximately 17% in after-hours trading on the news.
Anthropic announced an update to Claude's voice mode that adds support for the more capable Opus and Sonnet models alongside Haiku. The update also allows users to switch models mid-conversation and use connected apps and multiple languages.
Spire Global has partnered with SATE on STRAIDE, an 18-month research and development program funded through Italian Space Agency and UK Space Agency subscriptions to the European Space Agency, with programmatic support from ESA. The partners aim to develop and validate an AI system for satellite health monitoring, anomaly diagnosis and predictive failure analysis that could support more autonomous constellation operations.
Reddit has discussed shutting off Google's access to its content for AI training as its $60 million annual deal nears expiration. The company's stock fell 9% on the news amid concerns about declining referral traffic from Google.
South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix raised $26.5 billion in the largest-ever U.S. listing by a foreign company, with its American depositary receipts opening at $170 per share on Friday, up 14% from the $149 offering price, driven by surging demand for AI memory chips.
Meta Platforms plans to start manufacturing its own artificial intelligence chip from September as part of a strategy to boost overall computing power to 14 gigawatts next year, according to an internal memo reviewed by Reuters.
South Korea unveiled a massive industrial strategy with over $576 billion in investments from Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to build semiconductor manufacturing hubs and AI data centers, aimed at cementing the country's global leadership in chips and artificial intelligence.
SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son announced plans to remain CEO for another decade or more, abandoning his retirement plan and setting a bold $6.189 trillion net asset value target built on AI promises.
Austria's current chancellor called for Europe to engage in dialogue with Putin, while former chancellor Sebastian Kurz's AI and cyberdefense company Dream raised $260 million in a funding round that valued the firm at $3 billion.
Noam Shazeer, a vice president of engineering at Google and co-lead of its Gemini AI models, announced he is leaving to join OpenAI. Shazeer previously spent 20 years at Google before co-founding Character.AI in 2021, which Google acquired in 2024 for $2.7 billion.
DeepSeek has completed its first-ever external funding round, raising over 50 billion yuan ($7.4 billion) at a valuation exceeding $50 billion, using an unusual deal structure designed to preserve founder control. The funding marks a significant milestone in China's AI ambitions and positions DeepSeek as China's most valuable AI startup.
Stablecoin issuer Tether Holdings led a $1.4 billion Series C funding round for German startup Neura Robotics, which develops AI-powered humanoid robots. The round also included participation from Qualcomm, Nvidia, and Amazon, marking one of the largest investments in physical AI and humanoid robotics to date.
AI company Anthropic has secured $65 billion in Series H funding led by Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, Greenoaks, and Sequoia Capital, valuing the company at $965 billion post-money. The funding comes as enterprises increasingly deploy Claude AI in their operations.
China has begun limiting international travel for top artificial intelligence talent working at private companies including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and DeepSeek, marking an escalation in Beijing's efforts to protect strategic technology and compete with the US in AI development.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos told CNBC that concerns about an artificial intelligence bubble are unfounded, arguing that the substantial investments being made in AI will ultimately advance the technology regardless of short-term market dynamics.
Anthropic has agreed to terms on a $30 billion fundraise that would value the Claude AI developer at $900 billion pre-money, according to Financial Times reporting. The round could close soon and involves OpenAI-linked investors.
Google disclosed that criminal groups and state-linked actors are using commercial AI models to refine and scale up cyberattacks, with evidence showing hackers used AI to build zero-day exploits before Google disrupted the operation.
A large-scale security assessment scanning 1 million exposed AI services has uncovered significant security risks, revealing that the rapid adoption of AI technology is outpacing security practices and creating new cyber vulnerabilities across the industry.
Alphabet's cloud division reported blowout growth results, resetting investor expectations across major tech companies regarding returns on AI infrastructure investments, which are projected to reach $700-725 billion in 2026.
A study published in Science found that a large language model from OpenAI can outperform physicians in case-based diagnostic and clinical reasoning evaluations, marking a significant milestone in medical AI capabilities.
Researchers published in Science results showing an OpenAI artificial intelligence model outperformed physicians on diagnostic and clinical reasoning tasks, including real emergency department data, in one of the largest AI-physician comparison studies to date.
Google signed a new contract allowing the Pentagon broader access to its AI models after Anthropic declined to permit Department of Defense use for domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons, despite protests from over 600 Google employees.
Google has signed a classified agreement with the US Department of Defense permitting the Pentagon to use its AI models for any lawful government purpose, according to The Information. The deal was reported less than a day after over 600 Google employees demanded the company block Pentagon access to AI for classified military applications.
Former Google DeepMind researcher David Silver raised a record $1.1 billion seed funding for Ineffable Intelligence, a British AI lab founded months ago focused on building AI that learns without human data. The company is valued at $5.1 billion.
Anthropic has reportedly flipped from money-loser to revenue powerhouse with annualized revenue now exceeding $30 billion, possibly surpassing OpenAI. Investors are discussing valuations ranging from $380 billion to as high as $1 trillion.
Sam Altman's World project launched major upgrades to its World ID system, including integration with Zoom's deepfake protection feature and full U.S. rollout on Tinder, expanding beyond crypto-native use cases.
China's National Security Commission, led by President Xi Jinping, branded Meta's $2 billion acquisition of AI startup Manus as 'conspiratorial' and has barred the company's founders from leaving China, marking a significant escalation in US-China tech tensions.
University of Pennsylvania researchers used AI to analyze over 400,000 Reddit posts to identify patient-reported symptoms associated with semaglutide and tirzepatide that may not be captured in clinical trials.
Northwestern Medicine study found AI models from Meta, Google, and DeepMind generate more complete summaries of complex cancer pathology reports than physicians, potentially improving clinical communication and patient understanding.
Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly has agreed to a global licensing and research collaboration with AI drug developer Insilico Medicine, providing $115 million upfront with potential total value reaching $2.75 billion. The deal expands an existing partnership focused on using artificial intelligence for drug discovery.
Researchers have developed artificial intelligence tools to support clinical decision-making in hematologic malignancies, including HemaGuide from German Cancer Research Center for treatment recommendations and AI applications in palliative oncology for symptom management and prognostication.
