TL;DR

U.S. resumes Nvidia/AMD AI chip exports to China with 15% levy; OpenAI targets $500B valuation; GPT-5 faces mixed reviews.

Highlights

• China’s MIIT summoned Tencent, ByteDance, and Baidu over Nvidia H20 chip purchases, urging a pivot to domestic AI semiconductors amid national security and “backdoor” concerns 18.
• U.S. authorized Nvidia and AMD to resume AI chip exports to China with a 15% revenue levy, reversing April’s ban; the move faces bipartisan criticism and legal scrutiny 78.
• President Trump announced new tariffs on steel and semiconductor imports, with chip duties possibly reaching 300% to promote U.S. manufacturing, raising supply chain concerns 2.
• OpenAI is negotiating a $6B secondary share sale at a $500B valuation, driven by rapid GPT-5 adoption, surging API traffic, and projected $20B annualized revenue 35.
• GPT-5’s launch drew mixed reviews on performance and tone, prompting OpenAI to restore GPT-4o, add new usage modes, and double message limits for paid users 4.
• xAI’s Grok surpassed 50M Android downloads and released a major app update, boosting image generation speed and animation features 1011.
• Apple is developing a tabletop AI robot for 2027; Nvidia ’s market cap reached $4.4T as cloud capex forecasts for 2025/26 were raised, led by hyperscalers 6.
• Meta is reorganizing its AI division again, forming Meta Superintelligence Labs and recruiting from Google , Apple , and OpenAI 6.
• Big Tech “reverse acquihires” are accelerating, draining AI startups of talent and impacting early-stage innovation 9.
• The EU delayed a joint trade statement with the U.S. to defend its digital regulations, highlighting ongoing transatlantic digital policy friction 13.
• Major hedge funds, including Pershing Square, increased stakes in Alphabet and Amazon , reflecting continued investor confidence in AI and cloud leaders 12.

Commentary

Geopolitical tensions continue to shape the AI hardware landscape. U.S. authorities have reversed an earlier ban, allowing Nvidia and AMD to export AI chips to China with a 15% revenue-sharing requirement, even as China’s MIIT pressures domestic tech giants to switch to local semiconductor suppliers over security and surveillance concerns 17. The U.S. is also moving forward with new tariffs on semiconductor imports, potentially up to 300%, to encourage domestic manufacturing 2. These measures heighten uncertainty for AI hardware vendors operating across U.S.-China borders and signal a more fragmented global supply chain.

On the model and application front, OpenAI’s $500B valuation push is underpinned by strong enterprise adoption of GPT-5, but user feedback has been mixed, forcing the company to quickly iterate on product features and restore older models 34. xAI’s Grok is gaining traction with rapid user growth and feature updates, signaling continued competition in consumer generative AI 1011. Apple ’s development of a tabletop AI robot and Meta’s ongoing AI division restructuring—now forming Meta Superintelligence Labs—underscore Big Tech’s focus on both hardware and organizational alignment to secure AI leadership 6.

Talent acquisition remains a key battleground. “Reverse acquihires” by large tech firms are draining startups of engineering talent, potentially reducing the pipeline of independent innovation and complicating the outlook for early-stage investors 9. Meanwhile, the investment climate remains strong for established AI and cloud leaders, as seen in major hedge fund moves into Alphabet and Amazon , and rising cloud capex forecasts 612.

Regulatory and policy friction is also in focus. The EU’s insistence on protecting its digital regulations is delaying trade coordination with the U.S., highlighting persistent divergence on digital policy, privacy, and sovereignty 13. For AI professionals, the week’s developments reinforce the need to monitor regulatory and supply chain shifts, talent flows, and the evolving competitive landscape in both hardware and software.