The chip smuggling case tore off a control loophole

The co-founder of Supermicro was arrested for smuggling 2.5 billion dollars of English Weeda GPU to China, and on the same day US AI hardware imports recorded a deficit of 1.2 trillion. Both sides of the breakdown were exposed。

One Supermicro Zero was arrested, and 2.5 billion British wida chips went to China

The co-founder of Supermicro, Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw (71 years old), was indicted in the Manhattan Federal Court on Thursday, on charges of transferring approximately $2.5 billion of the British Weida AI server to China through Southeast Asia Shells in 2024-2025. Fortune reported that $500 million in goods had been shipped within three weeks. The methods include falsifying purchase orders, placing “scrambling servers” during compliance checks, which have been transmitted from Taiwan to mainland China. Supermicro stock prices fell by 25 per cent。

On the face of an export control violation, the bottom line is that the AI chip has become more sensitive to strategic goods than missiles, while the biggest loophole is not at the border, within companies. On the same day, Tom's Hardware reported that the United States had more than $450 billion (60 per cent increase over the same year) in the year 2025 in chips and computing hardware imports, with a record trade deficit of $1.2 trillion, doubling the deficit against Taiwan to $147 billion. On the one hand, 2.5 billion was smuggled out, on the other hand, 450 billion came in, and the control system failed in both directions。

(Source: Fortune / CNBC / WSJ / Bloomberg / Tom's Hardware)

2 Iran’s Upgrade: Trump Considers Land Occupation of Khark Island, Saudi Warn 180

According to Axios, four informed sources revealed that the Trump government is considering occupying or blocking the Iranian island of Khark. This island, which is only 15 miles from the Iranian coast, handles 90 per cent of Iran's crude oil exports. Last week, United States forces launched air strikes on dozens of military targets on the island, and 2,500 marines are on their way to the area. Trump has previously said, "We can take the island anytime."。

WSJ cited Saudi Aramco officials on the same day ' s judgement that if the energy shock continued after April, oil prices could have soared to $180 per barrel. In Asia, aviation fuel has reached $200 per barrel, and IEA calls for Asian citizens to work and travel at home. On the other hand, Iran is developing a “censorship system” in the Straits of Hormuz, which, with IRGC approval, allows ships to pass through the “safe corridors” and which remains 97 per cent below normal levels. Earlier, the White House had reported that it was considering untying Iran ' s oil sanctions, turning the evening script over and taking the ground invasion option to the table。

(Source: Axios / WSJ / Al Jazeera / Fortune)

3% OpenAI identified the "automated researcher" as the North Star and bought the infrastructure of Python

According to MIT Technology Review, the leading scientist in OpenAI, Jakub Pachocki, states that the company is concentrating all its research efforts on a goal to build a fully automated system that can independently complete large-scale research projects. The timetable is to launch "AI Research Interns" in September 2026 and a full version of automated researchers in 2028. Sam Altman says "In 2026 AI may have made a small discovery, in 2028 it may have been a big discovery."。

On the same day, OpenAI announced the acquisition of the Python Tool Developer Astral, whose flag uv package manager and Ruff code formatting tools have become Python community templates. The Astral team will be integrated into Codex, which is already living more than 2 million a week. On the surface is a re-direction of research and a purchase, and on the bottom is that the AI competition is entering the regression phase, and the model company is no longer better than someone's model, and begins to let AI do research and development for itself first. In the morning, Cursor's self-study model went beyond Claude, OpenAI's response was not "do a better model," but "let AI do it."。

(Source: MIT Technology Review/Reuters / Bloomberg)

China has approved the first commercial brain interface in the world

According to Wired and Nature, the National Drug Administration of China has authorized the marketing of Neuracle Technology's NEO brain interface equipment for use in paralysing patients caused by spinal cord damage. The equipment is placed in the skull and the brain signal-driven mechanical gloves are read through 8 electrodes. This is the first globally commercially licensed intrusive brain interface product。

Neuralink did not start human trials until 2024, and Musk said that this year will be a "large-scale production" but that regulatory approval has not yet been completed. During the same period, seven Chinese ministries and departments jointly published the BCI Industry Blueprint, with the goal of large-scale clinical work in 2027 and nurturing national champions in 2030. Ali Baba led the campaign to finance StairMed 500 million yuan. On the surface, a medical device is approved, and on the bottom, China has a case of "regulated speed, i.e. competitiveness" – from AI to the brain interface, it is not necessarily the best technology, but rather the best regulation for industrial policy。

(Source: Wired / Nature / Bloomberg)

And it's worth knowing, Zoo

Google released a free AI design tool, Stitch, Figma dropped 12% in two days. Stitch supports natural languages to generate high-level authentication UIs and export HTML/CSS, which Google calls "vibe signature". The short term does not necessarily replace the Figma professional process, but the next generation of designers may cut off the path to Figma, which has dropped by 35 per cent cumulatively this year. (Source: CNBC)

SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic could be the three largest VC-supported IPOs in history. PitchBook estimates that three listings "may have created more value than all VC support IPO combined since 2000". SpaceX is reported to have raised $50 billion for a $1.5 trillion valuation, while VC support for IPO for the whole of 2021 totalled $62.1 billion. (Source: Fortune / PitchBook)

Huang In-hoon proposed to include AI token in the staff remuneration structure. At the GTC conference, Hoang In-hoon stated that, with the re-engineering of AI angent ' s working methods, the enterprise should distribute the reasoned calculation resources to employees as part of their remuneration. The same day, he called on technology leaders not to spread AI fear. (Source: CNBC / Bloomberg)

Morgan Stanley created code MSBT for his bitcoin ETF, seed money of $1 million. The old Wall Street investment bank continued to infiltrate the crypto infrastructure, and MSBT joined BlackRock iShares and Fidelity in the BTC ETF competition. (Source: CoinDesk)

Macquarie economists judge that the next step for the Fed will be higher rather than lower interest rates. The war in Iran pushed inflation up at a benchmark rate of 3.5 to 3.75 per cent, which could not be reversed. The previous market consensus had been to continue to normalize interest rates. (Source: Fortune)

Amazon plans to return to the mobile market. According to Reuters, more than 10 years after Fire Phone failed, Amazon is planning a new smartphone product line. (Source: Reuters)

Tesla started recruiting construction managers for the Terrafab semiconductor factory. Musk's self-building chip program is moving from PPT to recruitment. (Source: Tom's Hardware)