AI News

Alibaba's semiconductor subsidiary T-Head plans to IPO in Hong Kong in 2027, aiming to raise at least US$2–3 billion (about HK$15.6–23.4 billion). Founded in 2018, T-Head's products include XuanTie processors, Yitian server chips and Hanguang AI chips. Alibaba CEO Wu Yongming says it has been successfully commercialized, with chip shipments exceeding 470,000 units and annualized revenue over 10 billion yuan. Alibaba has no official comment.

TSMC reported October 2026 consolidated revenue of about NT$586.89 billion, up 14.7% month-on-month and 59.7% year-on-year; cumulative revenue for January-October reached about NT$4.4856 trillion, up 43.3% year-on-year.

California voters rejected Proposition 40, which would have imposed a one-time 5% tax on individuals with net worth above $1 billion as of January 2026, to fund health care, education, and food assistance. The opposition campaign, led by tech billionaires, spent nearly $425 million, with Google co-founder Sergey Brin personally donating at least $132 million.

Securities filings distributed by Anthropic to banks revealed its plan to issue approximately 867 million Class A shares at $70 to $80 per share, potentially raising up to $69.3 billion. The company later sent an email stating the pricing information was inaccurate, withdrew the filing, and announced it would be updated, declining further comment. The original filing also showed that Google, NVIDIA, AMD, Broadcom, Micron, Microsoft, and TSMC would participate in a $26 billion private placement…

OpenAI has implemented an internal "control room" system at its research facilities, designed to halt risky AI agent tasks within 35 seconds of a stop command. The system uses unique task IDs to manage training, evaluation, and data processing, verifying task authorization before the inference engine processes requests. All frontier reinforcement learning tasks will also feature independent model monitors to assess behavior and alert teams to potential issues.

UK cross-party MPs and peers propose requiring tech firms to preinstall software on all phones and tablets sold in the UK that automatically blurs child sexual abuse images and videos, including AI-generated content, blocking live streaming; older devices would get mandatory updates. Conservative peer John Nash and Labour former child protection minister Jess Phillips lead it. The government has pledged legislation requiring Apple and Google to block children from taking/sharing nude photos.

Huawei claims its entire Qingyun HM650 series of desktops uses domestically sourced components, featuring the HarmonyOS operating system, CXMT memory, and the Kirin X90 chip. However, reports also note that the chip manufacturing still relies on foreign technology and that HarmonyOS cannot natively run Windows .exe files.

In the first three quarters of 2026, China exported 3.887 million new energy passenger vehicles, a year-on-year surge of 138.8%. During the same period, domestic retail sales reached 7.758 million units, a 12.8% decline. In September alone, new energy passenger vehicle retail sales dropped 16.7% year-on-year, while fuel vehicle sales fell by 43%.

Apple has added a "Buy More Usage" option to Logic Pro, priced at a one-time $49.99, making it the first app to charge for additional Apple Intelligence usage. This usage pack allows continued access to AI features that rely on cloud models like OpenAI or Gemini and have usage limits. It is exclusive to the purchasing account, with unused credits rolling over monthly and expiring after 12 months. The feature is expected to expand to apps like Pixelmator Pro and Final Cut Pro this month.

In an interview with Ross Douthat, Trump said he would issue "a lot" of pardons before leaving office, suggesting anyone within a thousand miles of the Oval Office could be spared. He stated he has no intention of pardoning himself but believes possessing that power is "not unreasonable." Regarding those involved in the Capitol riot, he claimed they were treated unfairly and said he might have to pardon the interviewer.

Meta launched Muse Ember, a lightweight AI model for complex reasoning and agent tasks, featuring a 1-million-token context window and multimodal processing. It can call tools, execute cross-app workflows, and auto-fix code. Meta claims its performance matches Claude Haiku 5.5 at one-third the cost and surpasses GPT-6 Luna in multiple tests. It is now available via the Meta Model API, with input/output pricing at $0.10 and $0.50 per million tokens, respectively.

Anthropic has released Claude Fable 5.2 and Mythos 5.2, enhancing their coding, reasoning, and vision capabilities. Both models share a common underlying architecture: Fable is available to all users, while Mythos requires application through a cybersecurity or life sciences verification program. Output speeds are approximately 30% faster than version 5.1, with prices reduced to $8 per million input tokens and $40 per million output tokens. A 2.5x acceleration mode is also available.