AI Industry Development & Policy Dynamics

According to Taipei Times, Leadtek Research, a Taiwanese distributor of graphics cards and AI servers, expects revenue this quarter to remain flat or slightly higher than the previous quarter as AI GPU demand stays strong and supply constraints ease. The company reported net profit of NT$107.79

BlackRock and Google announced on May 18 the formation of a joint venture to create a new U.S.-headquartered company offering cloud computing services for Google Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) in a “compute-as-a-service” model. BlackRock will contribute $5 billion in initial equity capital from the funds it manages, with the first batch of 500 megawatts of computing capacity expected to go live in 2027. Confirmation of the Joint Venture’s Business Structure As confirmed by BlackRock’s official a

According to Bloomberg, Dell added 1,000 customers for its AI Factory server business in the past quarter, bringing the total to 5,000 as it targets large companies running AI on their own infrastructure. The line combines Nvidia chips with software and services, with Eli Lilly, Honeywell, and

According to Bloomberg, Apple will unveil iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 with new AI tools at its WWDC event in June, ahead of a September public release. The updates include a Grammarly-like grammar checker and a Shortcuts upgrade that lets users build automations using natural language. Apple is also

According to Cursor's announcement on May 19, the AI startup unveiled Composer 2.5, describing it as its most powerful model to date. The model is claimed to be 10 times more efficient than comparable models while offering improved capability in handling long-context tasks and following complex

Shanghai Jiliutech Co., Ltd., an AI infrastructure company founded in February 2023 and led by Tsinghua University PhD graduate Hu Xiaohao, formally submitted its Hong Kong Stock Exchange listing application with Guotai Junan International serving as sole sponsor, according to the company's

According to people familiar with the matter, Analog Devices is in advanced talks to acquire AI chip startup Empower Semiconductor for approximately $1.5 billion. The deal, if completed, would expand Analog Devices' position in high-performance computing

According to Beating, OpenClaw released version v2026.5.18 on May 18, bringing real-time voice conversations to Android and full support for GPT-5.1, GPT-5.2, GPT-5.3, and openai-codex models. The Android update enables streaming microphone input with real-time audio playback, tool-result bridging f

Dallas Mavericks owner and software billionaire Mark Cuban proposed on May 18 to impose a federal tax on AI tokens, with a rate of less than 50 cents per million tokens. The tax would apply to providers of commercial AI models; open-source models and local inference are excluded. Cuban estimates initial annual revenue of about $10 billion and said the tax could be used to repay federal debt or address challenges brought by AI. Confirmed Details of Cuban’s Proposal According to the key points Cub

According to CNBC, Meta is laying off approximately 8,000 employees, representing about 10% of its workforce, this week, while also canceling 6,000 open positions. The company stated the cuts are part of efforts to improve operational efficiency and offset costs from investments in other areas. The

On May 18, a nine-member federal jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California unanimously ruled against Elon Musk in his lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman due to the lawsuit being filed after the three-year statute of limitations expired. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers dismissed all of Musk’s claims on the spot. On X, Musk called the ruling a “calendar gimmick,” and his lawyer announced an “appeal.” The legal core of the jury’s ruling: the three-year statute of l

BlackRock and Google announced on May 18 the formation of a joint venture to create a new US-headquartered company providing data center capacity, operations, networking, and Google Cloud tensor processing units (TPUs) on a "compute as a service" basis. According to the partnership agreement, BlackR

According to BlockBeats, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin outlined on May 19 how AI-enhanced formal verification will become the "ultimate form of software development" and a critical defense against advanced AI threats. Vitalik explained that formal verification converts code correctness into ma

Elon Musk's AI startup xAI asked employees in March to share tax returns and supporting documents to train Grok on tax tasks before the April 15 US filing deadline, according to Bloomberg. The company offered participants US$420 and early access to X Money in exchange for their

According to Bloomberg, on May 18, the US and the Philippines are accelerating plans for an AI and supply chain hub at a 4,000-acre site in New Clark City north of Manila. Jacob Helberg, US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, said talks focus on securing long-term protections for

On May 18, Matrix Supermind, an embodied AI robotics company, unveiled its next-generation humanoid robot MATRIX-3 at the 2026 Tech Day (AI DAY) event. CEO Zhang Haixing told澎湃新闻 and other media outlets that embodied AI is transitioning from L1 to L2 level this year, with the company targeting L3-le

According to Calcalist, Israeli AI startup Decart raised $300 million at a $4 billion valuation in a round led by Radical Ventures, with Nvidia and other corporate and venture investors participating. The funding brings Decart's total capital raised to more than $450 million, following a $100 millio

According to reports, Google and Blackstone plan to establish an artificial intelligence cloud computing company on May 19, with Blackstone providing $5 billion in equity capital and becoming the majority shareholder. Google will provide hardware including its TPU custom chips, along with software a

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff announced on the All-In podcast that the company expects to spend nearly $300 million on Anthropic tokens in 2026, with much of that investment directed toward coding and AI software development. According to Benioff, AI coding tools are accelerating engineer

According to Reuters, Meta will lay off 20% of its global workforce and shift 7,000 employees to AI roles on May 20. The company is conducting a major organizational restructuring as part of its strategic pivot toward artificial intelligence