The U.S. government is taking a 10 percent stake in Intel in exchange for $5.7 billion in grants previously awarded, but not yet paid, to Intel under the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act and $3.2 billion awarded to the company as part of the Secure Enclave program. Intel had already received $2.2 billion from those funds, bringing the U.S. investment to $11.1 billion. However, the company’s mounting losses — $2.9 billion in Q2, a 57 percent increase over Q2 2024’s $1.61 billion loss — made it questionable as to whether the company could continue to fulfill terms for the funding without intervention. The Intel agreement marks the largest U.S. government equity deal for an individual tech firm. Continue reading U.S. Is Taking 10 Percent Intel Stake in Equity for Grants Deal

Oracle will supply massive compute power to OpenAI as part of a new contract reported at $30 billion annually focused on accelerating Sam Altman’s ambitions for Stargate, the initiative to build U.S. data centers announced in January by President Trump as a matter of national security. OpenAI committed $500 billion over four years to the project. The Oracle deal involves an estimated 4.5 gigawatts of U.S. data center power consumption, equivalent to the power output of four-and-a-half nuclear reactors operating at full capacity — enough to power approximately 3.3 million U.S. households during that time. Continue reading OpenAI Deal with Oracle to Scale Up U.S. Cloud Infrastructure

TikTok is reporting that TikTok Shop’s U.S. sales have increased 120 percent in 2025 compared to the same period last year. However, this announcement was made as reports surfaced that TikTok owner ByteDance is disappointed that the U.S. performance of TikTok Shop is falling far short of its original tenfold growth goal to $17.5 billion in 2025. The company reportedly moved to “drastically lower that objective” prior to touting its performance this month. Meanwhile, President Trump recently extended the deadline for ByteDance to sell the U.S. operations of TikTok, pushing the cutoff to September 17. Continue reading TikTok Shop’s U.S. Sales Improve but Still Fall Short of Goals

The Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI) is the new name the Trump administration’s Department of Commerce has bestowed on the Biden-era’s AI Safety Institute. The change aims to “ensure Commerce uses its vast scientific and industrial expertise to evaluate and understand the capabilities of these rapidly developing systems and identify vulnerabilities and threats within systems developed in the U.S. and abroad,” the Department announced. As part of the update, CAISI becomes the industry’s primary federal government point of contact for testing and collaborative research related to commercial AI systems. Continue reading Safety Institute Is Now Center for AI Standards and Innovation

Stargate UAE is the first major deal announced by the OpenAI-led Stargate consortium in its march to develop giant data centers for artificial intelligence around the world. The massive Abu Dhabi cluster is expected to go live with 200 megawatts in 2026 then scale up to 1 gigawatt — enough to power a million homes — eventually taking its place as part of a 5GW UAE-U.S. AI technology cluster in the region. Stargate partners G42, Oracle, Nvidia, Cisco and SoftBank are participating in the build-out, which OpenAI explains was “developed in close coordination with the U.S. government.” Continue reading OpenAI-Led Stargate UAE Is Latest in Middle East Tech Push

Semiconductor giant Intel has reached a tentative agreement with Taiwan’s TSMC and some U.S. firms to create a joint venture that would assume operating responsibility for Intel’s chip fabrication plants here. TSMC will reportedly hold a 20 percent stake in the JV, while Intel and the other investors would control the remaining 80 percent. This specific JV is limited to Intel’s foundry unit, which posted a 2024 operating loss of $13.4 billion in 2024 and is not expected to break even until 2027. New Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said at last week’s Intel Vision conference that he will spin off all non-core units. Continue reading TSMC Reportedly Ready for Joint Venture with Intel Foundries

TikTok has rolled out a Security Checkup tool designed to help users secure their accounts. Security settings can now be reviewed and updated from a single screen, similar to security dashboards used by Google and Instagram. A step-by-step guide to the new feature encourages users to make their accounts safer by enabling more security features. The social media platform owned by China-based ByteDance is in the final days of a 75-day extension allowing it to continue U.S. operations after Congress deemed it a national security threat and enacted legislation requiring it to be sold or banned by January 15. Continue reading TikTok Adds Security Checkup to Help Users Secure Accounts

Taiwan semiconductor firm TSMC, the world’s largest chipmaker, has vowed to add another $100 billion to its existing $65 billion plan to expand its U.S. manufacturing base. The total allocation — $165 billion over the next four years — sees TSMC further building out its advanced semiconductor fabrication complex in Phoenix, Arizona, which has been producing at volume since late 2024. The expansion plays a key role in strengthening the U.S. computer ecosystem by increasing U.S. production of advanced semiconductors, TSMC says, adding that it will “complete the domestic AI supply chain” with advanced packaging investments. Continue reading TSMC Will Boost Its Factory Build-Out in U.S. by $100 Billion

Last week, a federal appeals court upheld a law that would force the sale of popular social platform TikTok in order for it to remain operational in the United States. Beijing-based parent company ByteDance is vowing to fight on with a petition for a hearing by the U.S. Supreme Court. The law, passed in April, invokes existing federal code that prohibits access to sensitive material by adversarial foreign nations of which China (along with Russia, Iran and North Korea) is one. Barring further court action, ByteDance will have to sell TikTok by January 19 or face bans at app stores. Continue reading TikTok Aims to Resist Divestment, Remain Operational in U.S.

The government of Canada has ordered social video app TikTok to shut down its business operations in the country, following a national security review under the Investment Canada Act. and potential risks posed by TikTok and parent ByteDance. “The government is not blocking Canadians’ access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content,” explains François-Philippe Champagne, minister of innovation, science and industry. “The decision to use a social media application or platform is a personal choice.” Canada previously banned the TikTok app from official government devices, while the U.S. passed a law that could also ban the app. Continue reading Canada Orders TikTok to Shut Down Its Business Operations

President Biden issued the first-ever National Security Memorandum on Artificial Intelligence, outlining how the Pentagon, intelligence agencies and various national security groups should use artificial intelligence technology to advance national interests and deter threats, touching on everything from nuclear weapons to the supply chain. “The NSM is designed to galvanize federal government adoption of AI to advance the national security mission, including by ensuring that such adoption reflects democratic values and protects human rights, civil rights, civil liberties and privacy,” the White House announced in a statement. Continue reading The White House Defines Government Objectives Involving AI

The first legally binding international treaty on artificial intelligence was signed last week by the countries that negotiated it, including the United States, United Kingdom and European Union members. The Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence is “aimed at ensuring that the use of AI systems is fully consistent with human rights, democracy and the rule of law.” Drawn up by the Council of Europe (COE), an international human rights organization, the treaty was signed at the COE’s Conference of Ministers of Justice in Lithuania. Other signatories include Israel, Iceland, Norway, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia. Continue reading U.S. and Europe Sign the First Legally Binding Global AI Treaty

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed suit against TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, charging they’ve violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by allowing children to create TikTok accounts without parental consent, and collecting their data. The suit also alleges TikTok retained the personal data of minors who joined prior to COPPA going into effect in 2000, even after parents demanded it be deleted, a right under COPPA. This latest move in the ongoing legal battle with ByteDance follows the Chinese company’s own lawsuit against the U.S. government. Continue reading U.S. Raises Stakes in TikTok Legal Battle, Suing Under COPPA

OpenAI has partnered with the Los Alamos National Laboratory to study the ways artificial intelligence frontier models can assist with scientific research in an active lab environment. Established in 1943, the New Mexico facility is best known as home to the Manhattan Project and the development of the world’s first atomic bomb. It currently focuses on national security challenges under the direction of the Department of Energy. As part of the new partnership, the lab will work with OpenAI to produce what it describes as a first-of-its-kind study on the impact of artificial intelligence and biosecurity. Continue reading OpenAI Teams with Los Alamos for Frontier Model Research

China’s ByteDance has come out swinging in petition for review against the United States government over the law that would force it to sell TikTok by January 19 or see the app banned in U.S. app stores. The petition challenges the constitutionality of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act that President Biden signed into law on April 24, calling it in the brief “a radical departure from this country’s tradition of championing an open Internet, and sets a dangerous precedent allowing the political branches to target a disfavored speech platform.” Oral argument is scheduled for September 14. Continue reading ByteDance Opening Brief Claims U.S. Ban is Unconstitutional