'Japan is back'

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Tech Across the Globe

Legal chips for China: The US government will let Nvidia sell its H200 artificial intelligence chips to China, marking a major win for the company.

Illegal chips for China: On the same day, the US Department of Justice revealed it’s detained two men on allegations they tried to smuggle at least $160 million worth of advanced Nvidia AI chips to China. A third has already pleaded guilty.

Sovereign AI: Qatar is setting up a new company to develop and invest in artificial intelligence, joining larger Gulf nations in focusing resources on the technology.

Revalued

Unconventional AI, a two-month-old startup, raised $475 million in a seed round of funding that valued the company at $4.5 billion. The effort was led by Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Former Databricks executive Naveen Rao is chief executive officer at the startup, which is trying to build a novel, more energy-efficient computer for AI.

Must Read

Japan, a longtime oil trading partner to the Middle East, has in recent weeks ratcheted up its relationship with the region and courted more investments. Mayumi Negishi sees no qualms — where there used to be some misgivings — about accepting Saudi or Qatari investment in the island nation. Read her full account of the situation in today’s Tech In Depth essay.

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