The US Federal Trade Commission is moving ahead with a sprawling antitrust probe of Microsoft that was opened in the waning days of the Biden Administration, signaling that Donald Trump’s new FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson will prioritize scrutiny of tech giants. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Chinese startup Manus claims to have vaulted ahead of leading artificial intelligence developers in the US. It launched a preview version of what it called a general AI agent that it claims performs better on some fronts than OpenAI’s Deep Research. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Philippine authorities have uncovered a network of hundreds of alleged Chinese spies, a senior official said, a much more extensive operation than previously disclosed that adds to tensions between the countries. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

US prosecutors charged ten Chinese citizens and two government agents for computer hacks that targeted dissidents, religious groups, news outlets and American government agencies. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Microsoft says Chinese hacking group Silk Typhoon is targeting remote management tools and cloud applications to spy on companies and organizations in the US and abroad. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

China banned the import of Illumina gene-sequencing machines as part of a wave of retaliatory measures against fresh US tariffs on all Chinese goods, deepening the US company’s woes in one of its key markets. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Singapore is investigating whether Dell and Super Micro servers shipped to Malaysia housed Nvidia chips barred from China, outlining a case that’s highlighted the role of middlemen in funneling high-end semiconductors. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Chinese startup Zhipu raised more than $140 million in a financing round led by local government-backed firms, underscoring the growing interest in domestic AI following DeepSeek’s ascent. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Apple has signed an agreement with Indonesia to invest in the country, paving the way for sales of the iPhone 16 to resume in Southeast Asia’s largest nation. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Donald Trump’s administration is sketching out tougher versions of US semiconductor curbs and pressing allies to raise restrictions on China’s chip industry, an early indication the new US president plans to expand efforts to limit Beijing’s technological prowess. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is seeking to deploy Starlink satellite internet terminals to help accelerate an upgrade of the networks that support the US Federal Aviation Administration’s national airspace system, according to people familiar with the matter. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Microsoft has begun canceling leases for a substantial amount of datacenter capacity in the US, a move that may reflect concerns about whether it’s building more AI computing than it will need over the long term, TD Cowen said in a report. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Chinese scientists have discovered a new bat-borne coronavirus, HKU5-CoV-2, which can enter human cells using the same receptor as Covid-19. The virus has not yet infected humans, but lab experiments suggest it may be capable of cross-species transmission. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Russia state-aligned hackers have compromised accounts on the Signal messaging service by exploiting the app’s device-linking feature, according to Google’s Threat Intelligence Group. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Alibaba has pledged to invest more than $53 billion on AI infrastructure such as data centers over the next three years, a major commitment that underscores the e-commerce pioneer’s ambitions of becoming a leader in artificial intelligence. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Three Chinese warships have been spotted in international waters off the coast of Sydney, in a rare show of military might that will likely test diplomatic ties between Canberra and Beijing. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Resonac is studying deal structures for a possible acquisition of government-owned chip linchpin JSR, a key step in the chemicals maker’s ambition to corner the Japanese AI semiconductor materials market. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Mira Murati, the former chief technology officer at OpenAI, has joined forces with several executives who worked at the ChatGPT maker to launch Thinking Machines Lab, a new artificial intelligence startup. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

How Temu's Online Dollar Store Became a Trade War Target www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

Why China Investors Finally Believe Xi’s Tech Crackdown Is Over www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Chinese President Xi Jinping presided over a meeting with Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma and other prominent entrepreneurs, signaling Beijing’s support for the private sector after years of turmoil. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Apple and Google are restoring TikTok to their app stores following assurances from the Trump administration that a ban wouldn’t immediately be enforced. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The price of peace in Europe: political will and $3 trillion www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Donald Trump signed an executive order rolling back enforcement of a law banning US companies from bribing foreign officials. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been used to impose steep fines on companies including Glencore and Goldman Sachs. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Chinese startups and tech titans vying to become the next AI champion:

Chinese hackers gained access to US infrastructure including a water utility in Hawaii, a port in Houston and an oil-and-gas facility. Officials believe the intrusions could be aimed at impeding Washington's ability to respond to an invasion of Taiwan.

China plans to tighten export restrictions on certain technology used to make battery components and the processing of two crucial metals. Beijing controls nearly 85% of global battery cell production capacity. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...