Welcome back to your daily memorandum talking tech, business, AI, markets, and more. 🗞️

In today’s edition, we are tackling the following:

🔬 Xiaomi unveils Xring O3 processor with TSMC set to manufacture it.
🕵️ Alabama opens investigation into OpenAI over Hugging Face hacking incident.
💰 Hugging Face explores a sale that could value it at over $13B.
🚀 Trump bought SpaceX shares two weeks after the company's record IPO.
⚔️ Gang coalition attacks farming community in hills above Haiti's capital.

TECHNOLOGY

• Xiaomi unveils Xring O3 processor with TSMC set to manufacture it (CNA)
  ^{_{More: Economic Times, Reuters, The Standard}}

  • The new in-house chip follows the Xring O1, which the smartphone maker launched a year ago.

  • TSMC will produce the processor using its 3-nanometer technology, two sources told Reuters.

  • One source said it will power an upcoming folding flagship targeting 200k to 300k shipments.

• Alabama opens investigation into OpenAI over Hugging Face hacking incident (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: AOL, Straits Times, TechCrunch}}

  • Attorney General Steve Marshall subpoenaed OpenAI, citing a claimed absence of oversight and safeguards.

  • An unreleased OpenAI cybersecurity model escaped isolation and hacked Hugging Face and three other victims.

  • OpenAI says an external review is underway and findings will be published once complete.

• Instinct's AI assistant wins praise while raising privacy & security concerns (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Yahoo!, Tech Buzz}}

  • The private-access agent connects to email, messaging, calendar, audio, location, and screen data.

  • Testers praise its capabilities while flagging its security model and terms of service.

  • Founded by ex-Sierra researcher Noah Shinn, the San Francisco startup remains in stealth.

BUSINESS

• Hugging Face explores a sale that could value it above $13B (Business Insider)
  ^{_{More: Reuters, TechCrunch, Tech Buzz}}

  • The AI model-sharing platform is working with a bank to evaluate interest from potential bidders.

  • A sale above $13B would nearly triple the $4.5B valuation Hugging Face carried in 2023.

  • Founded in 2016, the startup is backed by Lux Capital, Addition, and Salesforce Ventures.

• Trump bought SpaceX shares two weeks after the company's record IPO (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: TechCrunch, Yahoo!}}

  • The disclosure shows that Trump purchased up to $50k of SpaceX stock on June 23, 2026.

  • Shares closed Monday at the $135 IPO price, likely leaving the stake underwater.

  • The White House says third-party managers manage his portfolio and track indexes such as the Schwab 1000.

• SEC probes Situational Awareness, the AI hedge fund that nearly collapsed (NY Times)
  ^{_{More: Reuters, TechCrunch}}

  • Leopold Aschenbrenner's AI-heavy fund soared before a late-July downturn erased billions in value.

  • The SEC has subpoenaed banks that supervised the fund's trading and channeled funding toward it.

  • Regulators told banks to preserve records, though the fund has not yet faced any accusations of wrongdoing.

MARKETS

WORLD

• Gang coalition attacks farming community in hills above Haiti's capital (AP)
  ^{_{More: Washington Post, ABC}}

  • Armed men raided Kenscoff late Sunday, setting homes on fire and killing multiple residents.

  • Mayor Jean Massillon said access and communication problems make a definitive death toll impossible.

  • Survivors found bodies in the streets Monday, some wrapped in blood-spattered sheets by neighbors.

• South Korea & U.S. pledge close cooperation on North Korean nuclear issue (Bloomberg)
  ^{_{More: Reuters, Business Times}}

  • Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by phone on Monday.

  • Seoul said both sides agreed to maintain close communication to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue.

  • The call follows Trump scaling back joint military exercises and praising nuclear-armed North Korea.

• Israel’s Netanyahu claims Iran attempted to kill one of his sons (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: Al Jazeera, Eastern Herald, France 24}}

  • The Israeli prime minister gave no details on timing, which son, or how close the plot came.

  • He made the claim to Channel 14 while defending security protection ahead of the October 27 election.

  • Tensions have run high since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began in February, killing Khamenei.

FUTURISM

• NVIDIA says Groq racks arrive this year after $20B acquisition (CNBC)
  ^{_{More: AOL, Firstpost}}

  • The Groq 3 LPX chip has entered full production, NVIDIA said, commercializing technology from the deal.

  • NVIDIA acquired Groq's assets for $20B in December, its largest acquisition to date.

  • Low-latency inference is central to making AI agents respond quickly enough to feel usable.

• Unitree's post-listing slump fuels bubble fears in China's robotics sector (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: AOL, Straits Times, Yahoo!}}

  • Shares have fallen 45% since their debut, after jumping more than fivefold at their Shanghai listing.

  • Valuation swung from a $66B peak to roughly $36B, prompting questions about enthusiasm for AI and robotics.

  • Analysts say China's listing mechanism distorts prices, raising concerns for other tech firms planning IPOs.

• General Intuition nears funding at $6B valuation as robotics push accelerates (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Yahoo!, Techmeme}}

  • Valor Equity Partners, Point72 Ventures, and Seven Seven Six are backing the pre-money round.

  • The raise follows a $320M round at a $2.3B valuation just weeks earlier.

  • CEO Pim de Witte spun the startup out of the gameplay platform Medal last October.

• Hunting for AI roles eats hours across careers pages, internal referrals, group chats, and a dozen overlapping boards*

  • The Athyna AI Job Board watches for you and matches openings to your profile in the background.

  • When a role hits a 75% matching index or higher, we notify you with details and a direct apply link.

CONTENT

• Sequoia's Julien Bek on lessons from Valentine, Leone & Lin (20VC)

  • The Sequoia partner has backed Rillet, Tacto, and Auctor since joining from Accel.

  • He discusses the firm's $2.5B bet on Anthropic and how it won Citadel Securities.

  • Bek explains why he refuses to compromise on ownership and how he spotted a fraudulent founder.

• Poppi founder Allison Ellsworth on building & selling a $2B brand (My First Million)

  • Ellsworth walks through the Shark Tank pitch and the $70M the company poured into branding.

  • She breaks down Super Bowl ad economics, brand positioning, and hiring Gen Z talent.

  • The conversation covers the Pepsi sale, post-exit depression, and adjusting to sudden wealth.

• Oxford neurologist Masud Husain on motivation, apathy & cognitive decline (Andrew Huberman)

  • Husain explains how dopamine and brain circuits weigh effort against reward when setting goals.

  • He shares practical tools to reduce distractions and make it easier to start pursuing goals.

  • The discussion covers dementia, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and factors that protect cognitive resilience with age.

EXTRAS

• Zillow & Redfin settle FTC antitrust case over rental listings deal (The Verge)
  ^{_{More: CBS, Reuters, AP}}

  • The FTC and five states challenged a 2025 deal placing Zillow's rental listings on Redfin's sites.

  • Regulators said Zillow paid Redfin $100M to stay out of rental advertising for years.

  • The settlement forces Redfin back into rental ads and lifts limits on competing independently.

• Amazon raises hardware prices by up to 60%, citing memory shortage (Engadget)
  ^{_{More: CNET, Tech Times}}

  • Fire TVs, Echos, Kindles, and Eeros all saw sharp overnight increases across Amazon's lineup.

  • The Echo Dot jumped from $49.99 to $79.99, a 60% rise tracked by CamelCamelCamel.

  • Amazon blames rising memory and storage costs driven by the AI-fueled global shortage.

• Oura reportedly targets September IPO at a valuation above $16B (Bloomberg)
  ^{_{More: Techmeme, TechCrunch}}

  • Smart ring maker Oura may raise up to $3B next month, Bloomberg reports.

  • A $16B valuation would far exceed the $10.9B mark set last September.

  • Rival Whoop hit $10B in March after expanding into hormone tracking and blood panels.

AND MORE

• Big Food pushed back as India sought warning labels on snacks & soda.

• Bitcoin surges past $80k as the crypto rally gathers pace.

• Roko’s Basilisk skips the buzzwords and cuts straight to what moves markets, products, and careers.*

• Xpeng shares sink as weak delivery forecast overshadows $6.3B robot valuation.

• New Zealand's main opposition party backs social media ban for under-16s.

• U.S. startup Berry Street merges with India's Healthify amid GLP-1 boom.

• China develops a missile capable of striking aircraft thousands of miles away.