The Briefing by Martin Peers, Jessica E. Lessin and the team at The Information

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The Briefing

By Martin Peers, Jessica E. Lessin and the team at The Information

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Recent Editions

Art by Mike Sullivan.

The Information Finance

Trump’s Crypto Legacy Is Remaking Traditional Finance

By Yueqi Yang · Jul 8, 2026 9:12am PDT · 2 comments

At a recent crypto VC lunch I attended in New York, everyone was asked to go around the table and answer the same question: Has Donald Trump, the first pro-crypto president, been good or bad for the industry? The responses were divided. Trump ushered in a friendlier regulatory environment. But he has also been one of the bigger personal... At a recent crypto VC lunch I attended in New York, everyone was asked to go around the table and...

Photo by Andrew Sozinov/Shutterstock

China Plans to Let Top AI Firms Buy Limited Amount of Nvidia H200 Chips

By Qianer Liu · Jul 8, 2026 7:54am PDT

China plans to allow some of the country’s biggest AI companies to buy a small number of Nvidia’s H200 chips, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The chip purchase approvals would offset a shortage caused by soaring demand for AI chips. U.S. President Donald Trump gave Nvidia permission in December to ship H200 chips to... China plans to allow some of the country’s biggest AI companies to buy a small number of Nvidia’s...

OpenAI researcher Noam Brown. Art by Clark Miller; YouTube.

OpenAI Researcher Says GPT-5.6 is Better at AI Research Than Most Human Interns

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jul 8, 2026 7:00am PDT

I’m reporting from Seoul, where thousands of AI researchers from around the world have gathered for this year’s International Conference on Machine Learning. One of the most popular spots at the conference is OpenAI’s booth, which has been consistently encircled by a line of young AI PhDs.They’re waiting for the chance to talk to OpenAI... I’m reporting from Seoul, where thousands of AI researchers from around the world have gathered...

Jay Janner/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images.

Tesla’s Robotaxi Push Tests New Blueprint for Scaling Fast

By Grace Kay · Jul 8, 2026 6:00am PDT

Jay Janner/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images.

Tesla’s Robotaxi Push Tests New Blueprint for Scaling Fast

By Grace Kay · Jul 8, 2026 6:00am PDT

Before Tesla launched its Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, last summer, it recruited hundreds of workers to test and monitor the system. When it expanded the service to Miami this past weekend, it relied on fewer drivers, according to three people with knowledge of the program. The Miami launch marked the first time Tesla has debuted the... Before Tesla launched its Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, last summer, it recruited hundreds...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Photo by I-Hwa Cheng/Getty Images.

Nvidia’s New Hedge Against Chip Competitors? Partner with Them

By Phoebe Liu · Jul 7, 2026 5:49pm PDT · 1 comment

Nvidia has a plan to deal with the growing list of AI server chip competitors: partner with them. In the latest example, Nvidia and AI chip startup d-Matrix are combining their respective hardware in a new system to power AI models, the companies told The Information exclusively. Nvidia has a plan to deal with the growing list of AI server chip competitors: partner with them....

Outside Samsung's headquarters in Suwon, South Korea. Getty Images.

Samsung’s Memory-Driven Profit Explosion

By Martin Peers · Jul 7, 2026 5:01pm PDT

Samsung, it seems, deserves a little more respect. The electronics conglomerate may be best known in the U.S. for its TV sets and smartphones, which jostle with the iPhone for attention, but it’s also one of the three biggest makers of memory chips globally (along with Micron Technology and SK Hynix). The explosion of that business, thanks to... Samsung, it seems, deserves a little more respect. The electronics conglomerate may be best known...

The Prolonged Write-Downs in Enterprise Software Startups

The Prolonged Write-Downs in Enterprise Software Startups

By Laura Mandaro · Jul 7, 2026 4:30pm PDT

It’s not easy to run an enterprise software company these days. For the nth example of this, read the latest story by my colleague Laura Bratton, who describes how an Atlanta real estate manager replaced Salesforce software with a custom app developed using Replit and Claude Code—saving $100,000 a year. Yipes. Fears that companies will... It’s not easy to run an enterprise software company these days. For the nth example of this, read...

HubSpot CEO Yamini Rangan. Photo by Chance Yeh/Getty Images

Facing a Revolt, HubSpot Reverses Decision to Use Customer Data For AI Feature

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jul 7, 2026 1:08pm PDT · 1 comment

HubSpot CEO Yamini Rangan. Photo by Chance Yeh/Getty Images

Facing a Revolt, HubSpot Reverses Decision to Use Customer Data For AI Feature

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jul 7, 2026 1:08pm PDT · 1 comment

HubSpot last week triggered a firestorm among customers after announcing a plan to use some of the data they store with HubSpot’s customer relationship management app to power a forthcoming AI-powered feature.While HubSpot reversed course four days later, the episode shows how sensitive customers are to software firms using their data in the AI... HubSpot last week triggered a firestorm among customers after announcing a plan to use some of...

Art by Clark Miller

When Andreessen Horowitz Has a Sticky Situation to Solve, It Calls ‘The Wolf’

By Michael Roddan · Jul 7, 2026 9:00am PDT · 4 comments

Editors’ Note: This article previously appeared with three AI-generated prompts—suggested questions to submit to Deep Research—that did not fairly reflect the content of the article or the substance of The Information’s reporting. One prompt incorrectly implied that Mark Dyne “allegedly orchestrated corporate espionage and evidence... Editors’ Note: This article previously appeared with three AI-generated prompts—suggested...

Three Charts Show How xAI, Meta and Anthropic Are Entering Each Other’s Turf

Three Charts Show How xAI, Meta and Anthropic Are Entering Each Other’s Turf

By Amir Efrati · Jul 7, 2026 8:17am PDT

XAI’s decision to rent out spare server capacity, Meta’s launch of an AI agent for enterprises, and Anthropic’s move to develop AI server chips this year should have come as no surprise to anyone well versed in the history of the tech industry. Over time, big tech firms tend to creep into each other’s territory, seeking more room to grow.And... XAI’s decision to rent out spare server capacity, Meta’s launch of an AI agent for enterprises,...

Zhang Peng, CEO of Knowledge Atlas Technology, better known as Zhipu, during the company's listing ceremony at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in January. Lam Yik/Getty Images.

China’s AI Lab Zhipu Weighs Custom Chip As Demand for its GLM Model Soars

By Qianer Liu and Juro Osawa · Jul 7, 2026 6:00am PDT

Zhipu AI, the Chinese AI lab behind the highly regarded GLM series of open-source AI models, is weighing designing its own AI chip as surging demand and U.S. export controls make computing resources a growing constraint, according to three people with direct knowledge of the plan. The Beijing-based company, one of China’s leading AI labs,... Zhipu AI, the Chinese AI lab behind the highly regarded GLM series of open-source AI models, is...

Asha Sharma, CEO of Xbox. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images.

Microsoft Begins Gaming Retreat

By Martin Peers · Jul 6, 2026 5:00pm PDT

Asha Sharma, CEO of Xbox. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images.

Microsoft Begins Gaming Retreat

By Martin Peers · Jul 6, 2026 5:00pm PDT

We’re guessing the July 4 weekend was not too relaxed for some folks at Microsoft. Today we got news that the company is laying off 4,800 people—around 2% of its total workforce—mostly in sales and at its troubled Xbox business. It's also selling at least four, and probably five, small gaming studios. Asha Sharma, Microsoft’s new gaming... We’re guessing the July 4 weekend was not too relaxed for some folks at Microsoft. Today we got...

Josh Kushner of Thrive Capital. Photo by Getty

SoftBank, Altimeter, D1 to Invest in Thrive Holdings’ $2 Billion Financing

By Julia Hornstein · Jul 6, 2026 1:08pm PDT · 1 comment

Some of the biggest backers of OpenAI and its rivals are pooling their money in an offshoot of Thrive Capital that buys controlling stakes in accounting and other services firms and aims to transform them with AI. Thrive Holdings, a one-year-old holding company started by OpenAI investor Thrive Capital, is raising around $2 billion from... Some of the biggest backers of OpenAI and its rivals are pooling their money in an offshoot of...

Art by Clark Miller.

Wall Street Takes on Chip Financing

By The Information Staff · Jul 6, 2026 11:36am PDT

The staggering capital requirements of the generative AI boom have forced the industry to devise highly creative methods to finance AI chips. With startups burning billions of dollars and often lacking investment-grade credit, traditional venture capital and direct purchasing are no longer sufficient. Instead, a sprawling ecosystem of Wall... The staggering capital requirements of the generative AI boom have forced the industry to devise...

XPeng's robot Iron. Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty

Carmakers Seek a New Revenue Stream in Hot Technologies

By Steve LeVine · Jul 6, 2026 9:00am PDT

Consumers are putting a strain on automakers almost everywhere by buying fewer new cars, instead fixing up and holding on to the wheels they have or buying used vehicles. Now, to make up for the shortfall in demand, carmakers are falling back on a traditional strength that has turned out to be in rare global supply—the ability to manufacture... Consumers are putting a strain on automakers almost everywhere by buying fewer new cars, instead...

Art by Clark Miller; Adobe Stock.

From Prometheus to Hadrian: Silicon Valley's Push to Reindustrialize America

By Ann Davis Vaughan · Jul 6, 2026 8:00am PDT

Art by Clark Miller; Adobe Stock.

AI Infrastructure

From Prometheus to Hadrian: Silicon Valley's Push to Reindustrialize America

By Ann Davis Vaughan · Jul 6, 2026 8:00am PDT

DETROIT—In mid-June, a few days after the SpaceX initial public offering made him billions, tech investor Antonio Gracias returned to his hometown of Detroit to address a room filled with Rust Belt manufacturers. The proprietors were mostly tech transplants who had come to the Midwest to buy up industrial plants and install AI on the factory... DETROIT—In mid-June, a few days after the SpaceX initial public offering made him billions, tech...

Partner Content

The Next Phase of Enterprise AI Is About Decisions, Not Experiments

By The Information Partnerships · Jul 6, 2026 7:53am PDT

At this year’s Milken Institute Global Conference, the discussions around enterprise AI had shifted. The question among executives was no longer if AI would pay off, but how. Many talked less about proving ROI and more about positioning their companies to capture it. That tension—between AI’s capabilities and organizations’ capacity to keep up—... At this year’s Milken Institute Global Conference, the discussions around enterprise AI had...

Photos courtesy of Pika and Higgsfield.

Pika vs. Higgsfield Feud Over Copying Shows How AI Makes Mimicry Easy

By Rocket Drew · Jul 6, 2026 7:00am PDT

A little-noticed spat between two startups over their highly similar marketing videos is fueling concerns about AI's impact on creativity.Higgsfield AI, the video generation startup, has been getting buzz lately. My colleagues Valida and Julia reported last week that Higgsfield is raising $300 million to $500 million at a $5 billion valuation,... A little-noticed spat between two startups over their highly similar marketing videos is fueling...

Art by Clark Miller

How Small Firms Use Claude to Quit Salesforce

By Laura Bratton · Jul 6, 2026 6:00am PDT · 11 comments

The world’s largest companies may not be hurriedly replacing traditional enterprise applications with vibe coded alternatives, but some smaller firms are. Greenleaf Management, an Atlanta-based real estate property and investment manager with about 55 employees, saved around $100,000 annually by replacing Salesforce’s customer relationship... The world’s largest companies may not be hurriedly replacing traditional enterprise applications...

SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

SK Hynix’s US Listing Will Be a Focal Point This Week

By Martin Peers · Jul 5, 2026 3:00pm PDT

SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

SK Hynix’s US Listing Will Be a Focal Point This Week

By Martin Peers · Jul 5, 2026 3:00pm PDT

Tech IPOs are definitely getting more interesting. On the heels of last week’s debuts by Bending Spoons and Lime, this week we’ve got South Korean memory chip giant SK Hynix, which is expected to list on the Nasdaq on Friday, adding to its existing South Korean stock exchange listing. Hynix will raise money as part of the Nasdaq listing, making... Tech IPOs are definitely getting more interesting. On the heels of last week’s debuts by Bending...