The Internet · 29 Jun 2026

THE INTERNET | Jun 29, 2026

Highlights

AIBaidu's AI-chip unit Kunlunxin is targeting a $50 billion Hong Kong IPO as Beijing pushes domestic chip self-reliance.

CORPORATE

REGULATORYCNApple: The company is pressing the White House and Commerce Department for approval to buy memory chips from blacklisted Chinese supplier CXMT as it works to rein in soaring costs, the Financial Times reported. The wider memory crunch has pushed the price of 8GB of Micron DRAM from $35 to $300; IDC analyst Nabila Popal said suppliers are "only answering calls of the big players," squeezing Apple and Microsoft while smaller hardware makers such as router startup Mono Technologies face what CNBC called an "existential crisis." [Bloomberg] [CNBC]
AIINOpenAI: The company named Uber's former India and South Asia president Prabhjeet Singh as its managing director for India, its most senior executive in one of its fastest-growing markets; Singh joins in September. [Bloomberg]
Still in play: Apple's memory-linked Mac and iPad price increases continued through the week, and Micron Technology's market value briefly overtook Meta Platforms and, fleetingly, Tesla for the first time on the DRAM surge. [Reuters]

AI

CNBaidu's AI-chip unit Kunlunxin targets a $50 billion Hong Kong IPO. Kunlunxin is planning to list in Hong Kong at a target valuation of $50 billion, The Information reported, with investors asked to buy chips worth three to seven times their planned share subscription. Tencent is already a Kunlunxin customer and ByteDance is weighing its chips; Baidu, which retains a controlling stake, confidentially filed the spin-off listing in January. China's onshore tech IPOs are on track for their strongest year since 2023 as Beijing pushes chip and AI self-reliance amid rivalry with the US. [Reuters]
AI Takeaway: A $50 billion target would price Kunlunxin near Western AI-silicon challengers despite a China-only customer base anchored by Baidu, Tencent and ByteDance, signaling that domestic demand alone can now fund a frontier-scale chip program. The terms requiring investors to buy chips alongside shares also tie listing demand to actual silicon offtake, a structure absent from US AI-chip listings.
HKAI fever drives Hong Kong share sales to a five-year high. IPOs, placements and block trades in Hong Kong raised almost $44 billion in the first half of 2026, a five-year high, as enthusiasm for the artificial-intelligence boom overpowered a sluggish equity market and regulatory headwinds, Bloomberg reported. [Bloomberg]
REGULATORYUSUPDATEUS eases export curbs on Anthropic, restoring Mythos 5 to vetted organizations. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Anthropic in a June 26 letter that no license is required to export its Claude Mythos 5 model to more than 100 US organizations named in an annex, partially reversing a June 12 order that had forced Anthropic to disable both Mythos 5 and the consumer-facing Fable 5. Lutnick determined "appropriate safeguards are in place"; curbs on Fable 5 remain, though officials are close to allowing its restoration within the week, Axios reported. [Reuters] [Wired]
REGULATORYEUAustria lobbies the EU to host Anthropic after US access curbs. Austria is pushing the European Union to weigh the "strategic establishment and participation of Anthropic" within the bloc to counter US moves to block foreigners from using the lab's most advanced AI models, Bloomberg reported. [Bloomberg]

ECOMMERCE

USUPDATEAmazon Prime Day spending tops $26.4 billion as shoppers chase discounts. US online shoppers spent more than $26.4 billion during Amazon's four-day Prime Day event from June 23–26, a 9.3% year-over-year increase, according to Adobe Analytics. Deep discounts drove purchases of higher-priced electronics, toys and appliances, while CFRA Research analyst Arun Sundaram credited an 11.1% rise in average tax refunds to $3,462 as a one-time tailwind that will fade by autumn. [Reuters]

MEDIA

USEllison's $111 billion CNN purchase nears completion, raising newsroom questions. David Ellison, the technology heir who controls Paramount and CBS, is poised to complete a $111 billion purchase of CNN's parent company as soon as next month, placing the cable network and CBS News under one owner, The New York Times reported. Ellison is weighing whether to give Bari Weiss — his pick to run CBS News, who recently fired the leadership of "60 Minutes" — oversight of the larger and more profitable CNN. [The New York Times]

MARKETS

25 Jun 2026 close | Retrieved 25 Jun 22:00 UTC | Yahoo Finance

THE INTERNET | Jun 29, 2026

Highlights

CORPORATE

AI

ECOMMERCE

MEDIA

MARKETS

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