AI Industry Development & Policy Dynamics

According to Bloomberg, on July 15, drone company Brinc announced completion of a $125 million funding round led by existing investor Motorola Solutions, with Index Ventures and Dylan Field participating. The company focuses on deploying AI-powered drone technology for public safety applications, in

According to Foresight News, the NEAR Foundation recently joined the x402 Foundation to handle payments and coordination for AI agents through its infrastructure. The partnership leverages four NEAR technologies: NEAR Intents for universal liquidity and confidential execution, NEAR AI for privacy-p

Boundless, a zero-knowledge startup initially focused on settling zero-knowledge proofs on Bitcoin, is expanding its distributed GPU network to support artificial intelligence inference workloads. CEO Shiv Shankar announced on Tuesday that the company is shifting capacity originally developed for

According to The Block, on July 14, Boundless expanded its approximately 4,000-unit GPU network from providing zero-knowledge proving (ZK proving) for blockchain networks like Ethereum and Base to supporting AI inference workloads. The company has optimized hardware, task scheduling, and routing, an

South Africa's listed property sector is integrating AI into operational workflows after establishing foundational digital technologies across property management, marketing platforms, and data reporting tools. The sector is shifting focus from technology adoption to translating digital capability i

According to ChainCatcher, cloud computing provider Nebius Group announced it has agreed to sell over $1 billion worth of compute capacity to AI model developer Reflection AI. The agreement runs through 2029, with Reflection AI gaining access to NVIDIA GB300 AI chips to support its AI model

According to ChainCatcher, Nous Research, the developer of open-source AI agent Hermes, recently completed a funding round of at least $75 million, bringing the startup's post-money valuation to $1.5 billion. Robot Ventures led the round, with Union Square Ventures and other institutional

According to a Hong Kong Stock Exchange announcement today (July 14), Zhipu (02513.HK) changed its English name from Knowledge Atlas Technology Joint Stock Company Limited to Z.AI Co., Ltd. The company's Chinese name, Beijing Zhipu Huazhang Technology Co., Ltd., remains

According to OpenRouter data, U.S. enterprises' consumption of Chinese AI model tokens has reached nearly half of total AI usage in 2026, though Chinese developers capture less than 10% of revenue. DeepSeek V4 costs $0.09 per million input tokens versus $5 for OpenAI's GPT-4, a 55-fold difference. U

According to iFLYTEK's H1 2026 earnings forecast, the company expects a net loss of RMB 1.8 billion to RMB 2.28 billion, compared to a loss of RMB 2.39 billion in the same period last year. The company's research and development spending exceeded RMB 2.8 billion in the first half, up approximately R

According to Intel, on July 13, the U.S. chipmaker announced a 5 billion euro investment in its production facility near Dublin, Ireland, to expand European manufacturing capacity and respond to growing demand for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing chips. The investment will

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) issued voluntary guidelines on artificial intelligence use for banks and e-wallet operators through Memorandum No. M-2026-031, establishing minimum supervisory expectations for responsible AI deployment. The guidelines address how financial institutions should h

Grok AI has predicted XRP could reach three-digit prices by the end of 2026, nearly a hundredfold increase from its current $1.06 level. XRP previously peaked near $3.65 before correcting sharply amid broader crypto market volatility. The forecast is linked to fundamentals including tokenized

According to Rappler, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) issued voluntary AI guidelines on Tuesday, July 14, setting minimum supervisory expectations for banks, e-wallet operators, and other supervised financial institutions. The memorandum, No. M-2026-031, introduces five governance principles s

According to Financial Times, DeepSeek is considering a new funding round that would value the company at approximately $71 billion, announced on July 14. This comes roughly one month after the AI startup's previous fundraising round.

Kioxia Holdings closed at 69,100 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on July 14, marking a nearly 40% decline from its post-listing peak of 112,700 yen recorded on June 22. The NAND flash memory manufacturer's stock fell as concerns over artificial intelligence overinvestment and production increases

According to Axios, on July 14, Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind, called for the establishment of a U.S.-led global AI regulatory body with authority to review the most advanced AI models worldwide and coordinate industry-wide development slowdowns when risks escalate. The

According to Goldman Sachs equity research, the five major cloud providers—Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Google, and Oracle—are projected to collectively spend $5.8 trillion on artificial intelligence capital

According to BlockBeats, on July 14, investment bank KeyBanc raised price targets for multiple AI chip stocks in a new research report. Arm's price target was significantly increased to $430 from $300; Micron Technology's target rose to $1,750 from $1,600; and Nvidia's target was lifted to $330 from

Demis Hassabis, cofounder of Google DeepMind, recently predicted that artificial general intelligence (AGI) could be realized within years and would have transformative impacts 10 times greater than the Industrial Revolution. Hassabis called for the U.S. to establish a frontier AI standards body