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

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

🏷️ NVIDIA's AI chip sales in China stall as Huawei takes the lead.
🥽 Apple Vision Pro executive is reportedly departing to join OpenAI.
📉 Most of Wall Street rises, but sinking AI stocks drag weekly returns.
🧰 Samsung & SK Hynix to build two new chip fabs in South Korea.
🚀 Iran strikes Bahrain & Kuwait after U.S. attacks, threatens to end talks.

TECHNOLOGY

• NVIDIA's AI chip sales in China stall as Huawei takes lead (AP)
  ^{_{More: Economic Times, ABC}}

  • NVIDIA's sales of advanced AI chips in China have stalled as local rivals like Huawei overtake it.

  • U.S. export controls delayed H200 sales, so Beijing pushed domestically designed chips from Huawei instead.

  • CEO Jensen Huang admitted that NVIDIA lost its edge after once holding about 95% of China's market share.

• Apple Vision Pro executive is reportedly departing to join OpenAI (Engadget)
  ^{_{More: MacRumors, TechCrunch, MSN}}

  • Paul Meade, who led Apple's Vision Products Group since 2024, is reportedly leaving to join OpenAI.

  • He oversaw Apple's AI smart glasses effort and will now work on AI devices at OpenAI.

  • Fletcher Rothkopf takes over as executive changes ripple through Apple ahead of John Ternus becoming CEO.

• Instagram tests new ways for users to customize their algorithm (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: TNW, Digital Trends}}

  • Instagram head Adam Mosseri previewed new ways to access Your Algorithm, the content-tuning feature launched last year.

  • Mosseri wants Your Algorithm to evolve from a setting into something central to the Instagram experience.

  • Tests include pull-down feed menus, swipe-up Reel prompts, and buttons to request more similar Reels.

BUSINESS

• Most of Wall Street rises, but sinking AI stocks drag weekly returns (LA Times)
  ^{_{More: AP, Yahoo!}}

  • Most U.S. stocks rose Friday as oil eased to pre-war levels, but falling AI stocks capped gains.

  • The S&P 500 finished nearly flat, the Dow slipped 0.1%, and the Nasdaq fell 0.2%.

  • Brent crude dropped 3.8% to $72.60, lifting fuel-heavy firms like American Airlines, which climbed 1.7%.

• Millions drop Obamacare coverage as subsidies expire & costs rise (ABC)
  ^{_{More: Boston Globe, TOI, AP}}

  • About 3M fewer people held Affordable Care Act plans in February than a year earlier.

  • Enrollment fell by 13%, from 22.1M in 2025 to 19.2M, a decline HHS linked to fraud crackdowns.

  • Analysts blame the January 1 expiration of subsidies, which sharply raised premiums many could not afford.

• Samsung & SK Hynix to build two new chip fabs in South Korea (Bloomberg)
  ^{_{More: Reuters, Financial Times}}

  • Samsung and SK Hynix will each build two massive new chip fabrication sites in South Korea's southwest.

  • The plants anchor a national chip production ecosystem valued at 800T won, roughly $517.87B.

  • The government unveiled it on Monday as one of three mega-projects meant to spur growth and dominate AI.

MARKETS

WORLD

• Iran strikes Bahrain & Kuwait after U.S. attacks, threatens to end talks (AP)
  ^{_{More: PBS, CNN, CBS}}

  • Iran launched drones and missiles at Bahrain and Kuwait Sunday after fresh U.S. airstrikes hit the country.

  • Tehran threatened a complete halt to negotiations if Washington keeps attacking, escalating the ongoing conflict further.

  • Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi insisted Iran must govern the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global oil route.

• China blacklists more Japanese firms as Takaichi feud deepens (Bloomberg)
  ^{_{More: Japan Times, TOI}}

  • China added 20 Japanese companies and organizations to its export control list, including multiple Mitsubishi defense contractors.

  • The measure bars exports of dual-use items to the entities and Chinese-origin dual-use goods worldwide.

  • Beijing has tightened restrictions since PM Sanae Takaichi suggested that Tokyo could intervene militarily in the Taiwan Strait.

• Asian AI startups release rival models while Anthropic's export ban persists (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: TOI, TNW, Tech Buzz}}

  • China's 360 unveiled Tulongfeng, claiming it rivals Anthropic's Mythos, the cybersecurity model now banned for non-Americans.

  • Tokyo-based Sakana AI launched Fugu, an agent-focused frontier model it says matches Fable 5 and Mythos Preview.

  • Both arrived as the U.S. ban on Anthropic's global Mythos and Fable access entered its second week.

FUTURISM

• India's payments chief sees AI driving the next phase of payment growth (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: TNW, India Today}}

  • India's UPI now handles over 750M daily transactions, with NPCI aiming to surpass 1B per day.

  • Dilip Asbe, NPCI's MD and CEO, expects AI to drive user growth, fraud prevention, and credit distribution.

  • At Mumbai Tech Week 2026, Asbe said AI could onboard the next 500M users via voice tools.

• A new Hong Kong store runs on one humanoid robot, no humans (Futurism)
  ^{_{More: Times Now}}

  • A 24-hour pop-up store on Hong Kong's Hung Hom waterfront will be run entirely by one humanoid robot.

  • Built by Galbot, the robot 'Xiao Gai' stocks shelves, picks items, and handles customer checkouts itself.

  • Galbot expects a 40% increase in foot traffic and plans to open 100 more capsule stores across 10 cities.

• From concerts to trains, bots are winning the ticket wars everywhere (CNBC)
  ^{_{More: MSN}}

  • Automated bots snap up concert and train tickets in seconds, then resell them at higher prices.

  • Governments have expanded anti-bot efforts, but experts say enforcement alone cannot fix the problem.

  • Limited supply and resale markups remain major barriers, frustrating fans who call the competition unfair.

• Cut through the hype. Roko’s Basilisk distills the day’s AI breakthroughs, market moves, and workable workflows into a five-minute brief*

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CONTENT

• Why AI flipped product development, according to OpenAI's Andrew Ambrosino (Lenny's Podcast)

  • Andrew Ambrosino leads OpenAI's Codex desktop app, now used weekly by nearly all OpenAI employees.

  • He aims to make Codex the best desktop app ever built, drawing on engineering and design experience.

  • The talk covers AI-flipped product development, 'taste' as a key skill, and the collapse of team roles.

• How fomo secured $94M while challenging Robinhood's strategy for modern investing (20VC)

  • fomo raised $94M from top investors, reaching a $550M valuation since launching in 2025.

  • The platform serves 600k users, processed over $4B in trades, with only 17 employees.

  • CEO Paul Erlanger discussed rapid growth, startup strategy, token incentives, and the future of social investing.

• The smart tape replacing F1 wind tunnels at a fraction of the cost (This Week in Startups)

  • F1 teams spend up to a third of their budgets on aerodynamics, often relying on wind tunnels.

  • SKN Systems' Lyall Davenport built sensor tape that sticks to cars, generating 420M data points hourly.

  • It costs roughly 95% less than a full simulator, with plans to expand into drones and defense.

EXTRAS

• Europe's record heat overwhelms Paris mortuaries & leaves families in distress (AP)
  ^{_{More: ABC, Firstpost}}

  • A record-smashing heat wave has filled Paris mortuaries, leaving funeral directors unable to take more bodies.

  • Owner Zouhaeir Hertelli says all 32 cold-room spaces are full as he fields hundreds of calls.

  • As the deadly heat shifted eastward across Europe, France began counting the lives it claimed.

• Amazon's rapid delivery push triggers $15B rout for Eternal & Swiggy (Bloomberg)
  ^{_{More: Economic Times, Yahoo!}}

  • Eternal and Swiggy pioneered India's 10-minute delivery, but Amazon and Flipkart's expansion into rapid commerce threatens them.

  • Eternal has fallen 28% from its October high, while Swiggy plunged roughly 47% from September's peak.

  • The combined $15B selloff hits as Zepto prepares a $1B IPO to fund its expansion.

• Giant pickup trucks are killing pedestrians in incredible numbers (Seattle Times)
  ^{_{More: Futurism, Yahoo!}}

  • A New York Times investigation found pedestrian deaths surged 75% since large vehicles exploded around 2009.

  • Thousands more pedestrians died who likely would have survived had a smaller car struck them.

  • Experts blame bigger blind spots and higher hoods, whose greater mass makes crashes far more lethal.

AND MORE

• The AI boom is colliding with a dangerous new threat: severe weather.

• The fittest founder got cancer, then used AI to fight back.

• Explore all the tools and more here to outperform the competition.*

• Baidu shares jump 7% as chip arm targets $50B Hong Kong IPO.

• Novak Djokovic takes new job as advisor to equity firm General Atlantic.

• Venezuela earthquake death toll climbs to 1,450 as rescue efforts continue.

• Corgi, the Y Combinator-backed insurance startup, denies stealing an open-source product.

• From protein coffee to CBD soda, brands cash in on functional beverages.