CXMT remains on the Pentagon\u2019s list of Chinese military organizations, so don\u2019t expect to find its wares in your goods anytime soon. But the company\u2019s success or failure in the markets\u2014and its arrangement with Apple\u2014should give us another data point into where this global memory shortage is headed next.<\/p>\n
More tech news below. \u2014Andrew Nusca<\/p>\n
Want to send thoughts or suggestions to\u00a0Fortune Tech?\u00a0Drop a line\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Amazon and Microsoft are spending $400 billion on AI\u2014and investors are low on patience Andrej Sokolow\/dpa\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The horse race between Amazon and Microsoft\u2019s cloud computing businesses has gone<\/a> through various phases over its nearly two-decade history, with the current AI boom pushing the rivalry to a new, and perhaps unsustainable, level of intensity.<\/p>\n Each company is set to spend roughly $200 billion this year building out its data centers\u2014an unprecedented level of investment\u2014in a frenzied bid to keep up with demand for AI services and to avoid getting overtaken by other cloud rivals like Google.\u00a0<\/p>\n The cloud titans have also forged partnerships and deals with the big AI model makers, creating a web of shifting alliances that each hopes could reshape the competitive landscape.<\/p>\n This week, investors will get an important update on the state of this epic cloud rivalry when Microsoft reports its quarterly earnings on Wednesday and Amazon follows suit on Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n While Amazon and Microsoft have been locked in the cloud battle for years, the pressure has never been higher and investor patience has never been more unpredictable.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last Thursday, Google parent Alphabet\u2019s stock cratered 7% after the company raised its capital-expenditure projections for the year and reported negative free cash flow in its second quarter.\u00a0<\/p>\n For Amazon and Microsoft, the two cloud computing leaders, getting an edge could hinge on who can convince investors that they can soak up all that investment and spin it into gold faster.\u00a0<\/p>\n Luke Rahbari, CEO of Equity Armor Investments and who holds both stocks across several portfolios, told Fortune that even the act of raising and allocating capital has become a competitive bloodsport.<\/p>\n \u201cWhoever controls the money controls the winners,\u201d said Rahbari. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to soak up as much money as you can so there isn\u2019t as much money available to other players.\u201d \u2014Amanda Gerut<\/p>\n DeepSeek reportedly suspends its second funding round<\/p>\n DeepSeek is turning away potential investors\u2014for now, anyway.<\/p>\n The Chinese AI lab is reportedly putting a planned second funding round on pause after founder Liang Wenfeng spoke about<\/a> the continued lag in Chinese AI efforts relative to the U.S.<\/p>\n Those comments, part of a four-hour conversation with investors, were intended to be private but leaked, reportedly frustrating Wenfeng and leading DeepSeek to inform \u201csome of its would-be backers that they wouldn\u2019t be signing investment agreements in the coming days, as they had expected,\u201d Bloomberg reports<\/a>. Ouch.<\/p>\n (It wasn\u2019t all bad. On mainland China, his comments resonated \u201cdeeply in a culture that traditionally values humility, discipline and long-term ambition over fast commercial cashouts,\u201d the South China Morning Post writes<\/a>.)<\/p>\n This hardly means more funding is off the table. Though DeepSeek raised $7 billion only a month ago, it was aiming this time to raise at least 10 billion yuan\u2014or about $1.5 billion\u2014and increase its valuation from about $50 billion to about $71 billion.<\/p>\n DeepSeek is also plowing toward an IPO, for which it could file as soon as this year.<\/p>\n Like so many of its peers in China and abroad, DeepSeek is moving quickly to boost its computing capacity and build the infrastructure necessary to competitively operate its AI. To do that, it needs one thing more than anything else: money. \u2014AN<\/p>\n Apple\u2019s smart glasses may have hit a privacy hurdle<\/p>\n It has been widely reported that Apple is working on smart glasses to rival Meta\u2019s blockbuster Ray-Bans, Oakleys, etc. But the details, including when they might arrive to market, have been fuzzy.<\/p>\n Until now, that is. Bloomberg reports<\/a> that Apple is planning to reveal its first smart glasses at the next Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2027, ahead of a consumer release by the end of that year.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not when the device was supposed to launch, though. According to the report, Apple had been planning on rolling them out later this year, but engineering delays as well as privacy concerns led the folks in Cupertino to punt.<\/p>\n Putting cameras in eyewear comes with some drawbacks, it turns out. Apple is \u201cdeveloping features and policies\u201d\u2014and, naturally, marketing\u2014to prioritize privacy in the wake of criticism that Meta isn\u2019t doing nearly enough to prevent people from hijacking its pioneering smart glasses for nefarious purposes. (\u201cBan the pervert glasses,\u201d reads many a social media post.)<\/p>\n That\u2019s a problem because Meta has defined, and continues to define, the entire category\u2014making Apple\u2019s entry more fraught than usual.\u00a0<\/p>\n (It\u2019s not alone: The head of Samsung\u2019s XR R&D group, James Choi, reportedly described public perception about smart glasses as a \u201cshared industry problem,\u201d as CNET puts it<\/a>.)\u00a0<\/p>\n How might Apple solve the problem? On-device processing, no facial recognition, no continuously capturing sensors, and stringent protections for any content generated by the rumored device, according to Bloomberg.<\/p>\n But no solution is complete without a whole lot of reassurance that this product doesn\u2019t violate the assertion<\/a> that \u201cApple products, including Apple Intelligence, are designed to protect your privacy, because privacy is a fundamental human right.\u201d In other words: Keep your eyes peeled. \u2014AN<\/p>\n More tech<\/p>\n \u2014There have been 140,000 U.S. tech layoffs<\/a> so far this year, per new analysis.<\/p>\n \u2014People are evading safeguards to convince AI chatbots to teach them how to make biological weapons<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014Verizon will provide \u201cdark fiber\u201d connectivity<\/a> for Google data centers, CEO Dan Schulman says. (Dark fiber = unused cable infrastructure.)<\/p>\n \u2014Samsung and Broadcom do a deal<\/a>. A $200 billion contract to make chips through 2030.<\/p>\n \u2014Yale, Johns Hopkins, and other universities<\/a> are ditching AI detectors over accuracy concerns.<\/p>\n \u2014Progress Software buys Domo’s AI business<\/a> for $400 million. (Domo will change its name and remain publicly traded.)<\/p>\n \u2014China\u2019s IPO-bound Unitree shipped 5,500 humanoid robots last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Amazon](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2265246744.jpg\"\/)
<\/a>Amazon CEO Andy Jassy in New York on February 26, 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n