• AI cloud startup Volta raised $300M co-led by a16z and Altimeter at a $2.4B valuation and says it landed a $10B contract with an unnamed leading AI developer (Dina Bass/Bloomberg)
• Sources: China's CXMT is set to manufacture small quantities of LPDDR6 smartphone memory by the end of 2026, as it seeks to compete with SK Hynix and Samsung (Bloomberg)
• Sources: the FCC is drafting a restriction on US imports of new models of Chinese data center optical transceivers, set to take effect upon publication in 2026 (Alexandra Alper/Reuters)
• Uber is defending 4,000+ rider sexual-violence lawsuits by aggressively examining plaintiffs' drinking, clothing, and more, after promising to protect survivors (Emily Steel/New York Times)
• In a rare interview, Huawei chip scientist Liao Heng warns Western chip companies will eventually face physical chip limits and talks Huawei's Tau Scaling Law (Bloomberg)
• Sources: the US is focused on promoting US AI models to be more competitive, after officials considered taking a more interventionist approach to open source AI (New York Times)
• Bending Spoons agrees to acquire Airtable in an all-cash deal valuing the US software company at $1.285B, set to close by 2026-end, its first post-IPO deal (Reuters)
• How Wall Street learned to love the blockchain, as US regulators accept tokenized assets and other tech can offer significant advantages in speed and efficiency (Nikou Asgari/Financial Times)
• Spotify reports Q2 revenue up 14% YoY to €4.8B, Premium Subscribers up 9% YoY to 300M, MAUs up 12% YoY to 777M, below 778M guidance, and a €545M net income (Todd Spangler/Variety)
• Source: Apple passed $10B in annual sales in India for the first time in FY 2026, up from $9B in 2024-25 and $6B in 2022-23, as it expands its retail footprint (Sankalp Phartiyal/Bloomberg)
• Sources: Beijing is growing concerned about the cyber capabilities of Mythos and other US-developed frontier AI models and their potential as offensive weapons (Bloomberg)
• Sources and filings: Google assembled a ~$200B financing program for Anthropic, with $150B+ tied to TPUs and involving Broadcom, Blackstone, Apollo, and others (Financial Times)
• A look at Alphabet's moonshot lab X and interviews with its staff, including CEO Astro Teller, on reinventing itself and what its next big thing might be (Harry McCracken/Fast Company)
• Filing: Apple asks a US judge for a preliminary injunction barring two former staff and OpenAI from accessing, acquiring, using, or disclosing confidential info (Reuters)
• OpenAI disputes Apple's account of pre-lawsuit contacts, rejects claims that ex-staff used confidential information, shares iMessages and emails, and more (OpenAI)
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