WHAT’S INSIDE

👇️ Todays’ Feature: China’s AI Action Plan + Developments

• Tech News: Federal meeting, US EU Trade Deal, DOGE v Regulation, Aeroflot

• Company Watch: Nemo, Ramp, Tesla x Samsung, Google, Huawei, Windtree

• Buzzy Tools: Latest Buzzy tech, AI and financial tools

• Deep Tech: The latest in deep tech, biotech, futurism and more

• Space Tech: Latest news in the space race and aerospace tech

• Crypto: Blockchain and crypto policy and startups or protocols to watch

TECH IN THE NEWS

Markets on Edge — This will be a critical week for U.S. markets as the August 1 tariff deadline and Federal Reserve meeting loom. Major tech earnings from Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon could heighten volatility as the S&P 500 hits record highs.

Trade War Averted — The US and EU reached a framework agreement imposing a 15% tariff on most EU goods — half the threatened rate — preventing a larger trade conflict between allies that represent nearly 1/3 of global trade.

China Chip Sales — Twenty national security experts urge the Trump admin to halt Nvidia's H20 AI chip sales to China, citing risks to U.S. export controls and potential enhancement of China's military tech capabilities.

AI Slashes Red Tape — DOGE deploys an AI tool by DOGE to review 200,000 federal regulations, targeting a 50% reduction by President Trump's first anniversary back in office. No formal plan is approved yet.

Cybersecurity Under Siege — New York's cyber chief Colin Ahern criticizes Trump's cuts to cybersecurity budgets, risking national security, pushes for federal funding and new legislation and a New York City office.

Aeroflot's Cyber Turbulence — Pro-Ukrainian hackers disrupted Aeroflot, causing over 50 flight cancellations. The attack, part of a year-long operation, led to threats to release sensitive data, alarming the Kremlin.

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Collaboration as a Competitive Edge

By Vivien Wang for The Tech Buzz

China’s AI Action Plan to Rival the West

Following last week’s news of President Trump’s new AI action plan for the US, China has emerged with its own roadmap for AI development. This plan was announced at the eighth annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) held in Shanghai. Attended by over 800 companies, WAIC highlighted both up-and-comers as well as Chinese tech powerhouses, with Huawei announcing a new AI chip and compute system and Alibaba unveiling its latest model and AI glasses, set to rival Meta’s. 

While the US’s AI strategy is heavily individualistic and focused on fortifying itself, China is adopting a more collaborative approach. Amidst remarkable recent developments from its AI leaders and the promise of new global partnerships, Chinese AI could be on its way to rival its US counterparts, despite ongoing skepticism. 

A Collaborative Vision

China’s new action plan for AI highlights multilateral development, global governance, free exchange of talent, and international open-source platforms – all anchored by a central, overarching goal: international collaboration. In his opening speech at WAIC on Saturday, Chinese Premier Li Qiang revealed that the Chinese government has proposed the establishment of a global AI cooperation organization.

He also emphasized the country’s willingness to assist other nations with their own AI development, particularly those in the Global South, a term referring to less-developed economies outside of US and European orbits. China’s emphasis on these countries is not new – it has long been investing in and trading with them, and Premier Li has expressed hope that these deepening relationships will reshape the world order. It’s no surprise that China’s AI action plan reflects these sentiments. 

China’s AI Developments, Past and Present

While few can deny China’s superpower status and its increasing ability to rival the US in many key tech areas, when it comes to AI, many experts are confident that the US is superior. There is certainly no shortage of governmental efforts to ensure this opinion stays popular… and true. Since 2022, the US has been trying its best to restrict China’s access to US semiconductors. In fact, yesterday, twenty top national security experts urged the Trump administration to halt Nvidia's H20 AI chip sales to China, citing risks to U.S. export controls and potential enhancement of China's military tech capabilities. These export crackdowns have already squeezed China’s access to the world’s best chips, and Chinese developers are forced to find workarounds. Reports show that AI chip black market activity is rampant within China, with roughly $1B worth of Nvidia AI chips being smuggled into the nation in the three months after Trump re-tightened chip export controls in early 2025. 

China’s domestic AI chip ecosystem, which is centered around Huawei, still lags behind Western leader Nvidia in capacity and efficiency. China has been unable to manufacture chips on the required level, leading major Chinese AI companies like Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance to rely on Western technology. The US estimates Huawei can manufacture no more than 200K of its advanced Ascend AI chips this year, compared to the over 1M China-specific Nvidia H20 chips available in late 2024. China’s software ecosystem has also proven to be inferior to Western software. Huawei’s CANN framework, 12 years junior to Nvidia’s CUDA, has been described by developers as bug-prone, poorly documented, and unstable. 

However, this isn’t to say that China hasn’t been making major strides in AI, particularly regarding hardware. At WAIC this past weekend, Huawei unveiled the CloudMatrix 384, a supernode meant to allow high aggregate bandwidth and low latency, which is crucial for next generation large model training. The CloudMatrix 384 boasts nearly twice the throughput of Nvidia’s flagship GB200 NVL72, more than three times the memory capacity, and double the memory bandwidth. While it might be less efficient in terms of power profile, China’s lower electricity prices offset this disadvantage. The closing gap between China’s and the US’s leaders is further emphasized by Huawei’s upcoming Ascend 910D, which is slated for sampling by mid-to-late 2025 and designed as a direct replacement for Nvidia’s H20. 

And, when it comes to AI models, China is right up there with the US. Forget Deepseek, Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba just introduced its latest advanced reasoning model. Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 outperforms OpenAI and Google in math and coding benchmarks. The model is available under the Apache 2.0 open-source license for enterprises to download and modify. Additionally, Alibaba launched the Quark AI-powered glasses, expected to be released later this year.

Challenging Existing Mindsets

China’s collaborative stance in its action plan challenges the dominant narrative of the West – one that frames AI as the next space race or arms race. This is further exemplified by its launch of a yuan-pegged stablecoin, targeting cross-border payments for countries involved in the Belt and Road initiative. The theme of collaboration extends to China’s efforts to stabilize trade relations with the US. From July 27th to the 30th, Vice Premier He Lifeng will be in Sweden for economic and trade talks with U.S. officials, focusing on mutual respect and cooperation. Keeping in mind the looming August 12th deadline for reaching a trade deal between the US and China, this meeting is the next pivotal step in international trade conflicts, and could have an impact on China's AI development. 

As has been a constant, especially in the past few years, many observers and Western media outlets are generally distrustful and wary of China. Some frame US dominance as an inevitability, trying to exaggerate China’s lag for political or morale reasons. Others view China’s investment in smaller nations as a means to establish further control in these areas. However, challenging these sentiments may reveal that this isn’t some ulterior ploy, but merely a tried-and-true method of nurturing innovation. Collaboration and cooperation have worked beautifully for China in the past, allowing it to catapult itself to the trade superpower it is today.

Based on this, it’s unsurprising that China intends to utilize the same win-win strategy for AI. As has been the case with its’ global trade, industrialization and public transport-based Belt and Road initiatives, partnership could be the secret to China’s success at becoming the major AI superpower, radically reshaping the global tech landscape in the process.

COMPANIES TO WATCH

[OpenDeal] Nemo Industries — Daniel Liss's steelmaking startup modernizing pig iron production with AI and lower emissions via natural gas, seeking $100M funding for plant construction based on US steel supply chain insights.

[OpenDeal] Ramp — The Corporate card/expense management startup in talks for $350M at $21B valuation, processes billions for 40,000+ businesses and expanding into financial operations tools in US market.

Tesla & Samsung — Tesla secured a $16.5B chip supply deal with Samsung for AI6 self-driving technology, with Samsung's Texas factory boosting its US contract business.

Google Opal — Google launched Opal, a 'vibe-coding' app creating mini web apps via text prompts, converting spoken ideas to visual workflows and advancing the no-code movement for wider accessibility.

Nemo Industries — Daniel Liss's steelmaking startup modernizing pig iron production with AI and lower emissions via natural gas, seeking $100M funding for plant construction based on US steel supply chain insights.

Huawei — Unveiled new AI computing system rivaling Nvidia's leading product, showcasing China's significant advancements in AI technology compared to the US.

Windtree Therapeutics — US biotech firm allocated up to $700M for BNB purchases after token hit $808, using $520M equity line, with monthly shares up 160% despite 5% daily dip.

SignalPulse — Read the Top signals, Startups + Deals From Last Week

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BUZZY TOOLS

Buzzy Tech Tools To Watch & Use

Google Opal — A new app enables 'vibe-coding' to create mini web apps via text.

Alibaba — Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 model tops in math, coding.

Microsoft — Copilot Mode in Edge browser — AI assistance for tasks, & research.

AgenticSeek — Local, voice, privacy-centric AI agents for web, coding + tasks.

BUZZY TECH

The Latest Deep Technology & Trends To Watch

Neuralink — Paralyzed user writes digitally via thought-control implant after 20 yrs

Light-Sensitive Cancery — Infrared light targets melanoma, breast cancer.

ASI-ARCH — AI system develops new model architectures without human input.

AI-Sphere — AI boosts resolution expands footage for immersive Wizard of Oz.

AI Music Design — Hallwood record deal w/ Imoliver to pioneer AI music creation.

CRYPTO WATCH

Crypto Market Resilience — Bitcoin stabilizes at $118,380 after a $9B whale sell-off, while Ethereum rallies above $3,900. The crypto market nears a $4T cap, with Mike Novogratz predicting ETH may outperform BTC amid rising ETF inflows.

Yuan Stablecoin— China pivots towards yuan-pegged stablecoins to bolster its global currency influence. Collaborations with blockchain startups and fintech companies aim to facilitate cross-border payments, especially in Belt & Road nations.

GENIUS Outcome — The new stablecoins act’s Permitted Payment Stablecoin Issuer (PPSI) has had a surprising result of unlocking a parallel financial system for fintechs, with a simpler federal licensing structure than FBO accounts and MTLs.

PayPal's Crypto Expansion — PayPal now allows U.S. merchants to accept over 100 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, with a 0.99% promotional fee for the first year converting from PayPal's stablecoin to USD.

Windtree Therapeutics — The Biotech firm has allocated up to $700M for BNB purchases, following the token's surge to an all-time high of nearly $808. It plans to raise $520M through an equity line of credit and a stock purchase agreement.

SPACE_RACE

3I/ATLAS — Largest interstellar object at 7 miles; debated as alien craft or comet

Exoplanet — New habitable exoplanet found; 5 planets may support liquid water

Blue Origin — to Launch Scout Space’s AI Owl Sensor on Blue Ring spacecraft in 26

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