Main Stories
The White House Tollbooth: AI Chips Now Pay to Play in China
What happened: In a wild policy pivot, the U.S. government struck an unusual deal: Nvidia and AMD can sell certain advanced AI chips to China, but only if they remit 15% of that revenue back to the U.S. Treasury. President Trump added to the chaos by hinting he might approve a nerfed version of Nvidia’s next-gen Blackwell GPU for China... and then hinted he might not. Strategic ambiguity is now a feature, not a bug. 🤷♂️
Pay to Export: Tangling corporate revenue directly with national security and creating uncertainty for allies. It gives companies a taxed pathway into the critical Chinese market, but also kicks off a new cycle of Chinese adaptation and U.S. regulatory reaction.
U.S. export policy is no longer a fixed document; it’s a living API—versioned, monetized, and subject to emergency hotfixes. 💻
GitHub's CEO Steps Down as Microsoft Pulls It Deeper Into the AI Core
What happened: GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke is stepping down to launch a new venture. Instead of a direct replacement, Microsoft is absorbing GitHub's leadership into its CoreAI division. The Octocat is being assimilated. 🤖
The Gist: By absorbing GitHub's leadership, Microsoft is betting that a tightly integrated AI developer ecosystem (Azure, VS Code, GitHub) will give it a decisive edge over competitors. This move prioritizes speed and synergy, trading GitHub's independence for accelerated product bundling that will shape the workflows of its 150M+ developers.
From “Octocat with friends” to “Octocat in the CoreAI command center.” Mind the rate limits—and the new roadmaps. 🚀
Intel's Wild Ride: From "You're Fired" to "Amazing Story" in 4 Days
What happened: After facing public pressure from the White House to resign over alleged China ties, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan met with President Trump. The tone flipped 180 degrees, with Trump calling his journey an “amazing story” and signaling a thaw.
The Gist: This sudden reversal provides critical stability for Intel, whose turnaround strategy is deeply dependent on government support like CHIPS Act funding. It's a stark lesson in high-stakes corporate diplomacy and single-tweet governance risk, with the company's future now hinging on whether this handshake translates into concrete policy support.
From “step down” to “step into my office.” A perfect example of volatility hedged by a handshake. 🤝