The Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council responded to TSMC's plan to increase its capital investment in its US subsidiary by US$20 billion.
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Former Tether chief investment officer plans to sell part of his 1.26% stake.
According to Odaily Odaily, former Tether Chief Investment Officer Richard Heathcote plans to sell a portion of his Tether stake, currently holding approximately 1.26%. The report states that PJT Partners is handling the secondary equity sale and is currently in talks with potential buyers. (The Block)
Shenzhen releases 15 AI application scenarios in government affairs.
According to Mars Finance, the Shenzhen Municipal Government Service and Data Management Bureau recently released the "List of Artificial Intelligence Application Scenarios in the Government Sector in 2026 (First Batch)". The list includes 15 application scenarios covering five major areas: decision support, government services, office work, urban governance, and public services. This reflects Shenzhen's commitment to building a pioneering city in artificial intelligence, using scenario-based approaches to continuously expand the breadth and depth of the integration of artificial intelligence and government affairs. It is understood that this year's list is planned to be released in three batches. The first batch of the list shows that in the field of decision support, several intelligent tools will effectively improve administrative efficiency and accuracy. The Shenzhen Emergency Management Bureau will build an AI-powered disaster evolution trend simulation system, coupled with a smart experience asset model library and intelligent graphic explanations of the simulation process, to shorten the cycle of situation simulation and decision-making response. The Shenzhen Water Resources Bureau will launch an intelligent system to assist in the review of soil and water conservation plans. The Shenzhen Finance Bureau's budget project filling intelligent assistance system aims to reduce error rates and alleviate the burden on users. The Shenzhen Construction and Public Works Bureau will use AI+RA technology to establish a risk assessment checklist before the renovation or use of existing buildings, achieving proactive risk identification, reduced feasibility study deviations, and accurate investment calculations. (Cailian Press)
Micron accelerates global capacity expansion: $9.3 billion Hiroshima plant in Japan breaks ground, AI memory production capacity sprints towards 2028.
According to BlockBeats, on July 5th, Micron Technology is aggressively expanding its global production capacity to address severe shortages of AI-driven HBM, DRAM, and NAND memory. The company anticipates the supply shortage will continue beyond 2026, with new capacity gradually released from 2027 onwards, representing a massive overall investment. Key aspects include: Significant Investment in the US: * The Manassas, Virginia plant achieved 1α nm process mass production in May 2026. A $2 billion expansion project will quadruple DDR4 wafer supply, primarily supplying the automotive, defense, and industrial sectors, and is supported by chip industry subsidies. * A $50 billion investment in a cutting-edge factory in Boise, Idaho, has broken ground, with the first plant expected to begin production in mid-2027. The company has recently further expanded its US investment to approximately $200 billion (manufacturing + R&D), including the addition of a second fab. * New York State's Clay megafab project, worth hundreds of billions of dollars, continues to advance, planning multiple wafer fabs with a target of mass production around 2030. Simultaneous Expansion in Asia * Hiroshima, Japan, held a groundbreaking ceremony in early July for a 1.5 trillion yen (approximately US$9.3 billion) expansion project, focusing on high-end HBM and other AI chips, with shipments expected around 2028. The Japanese government is providing substantial subsidies. * Singapore: Construction began on a US$24 billion NAND advanced wafer fab in January, with production scheduled for the second half of 2028. * Taiwan: Acquired Powerchip Technology's Tongluo wafer fab for US$1.8 billion, with DRAM production expected to begin in 2027. Micron emphasized that the expansion is primarily to meet long-term demand and localize the supply chain, not to significantly increase consumer-grade supply in the short term. Analysts believe that the overall DRAM/NAND shortage is unlikely to change in the short term, and prices will remain supported. This round of global expansion is expected to significantly increase Micron's capacity and create tens of thousands of jobs. The company aims to produce approximately 40% of its DRAM in the United States by around 2030. Further updates will be provided as AI demand evolves.
Ministry of Transport: Deepen the implementation of the "Artificial Intelligence + Transportation" action plan
According to Mars Finance, Liu Wei, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Minister of Transport, chaired a ministerial meeting. The meeting emphasized the need to earnestly implement the spirit of the State Council's executive meeting, deeply implement the "Artificial Intelligence + Transportation" action plan, accelerate the improvement of the development and governance system for "Artificial Intelligence + Transportation," and firmly safeguard the bottom line of artificial intelligence safety. It also stressed the importance of effectively implementing all transportation-related tasks outlined in the "15th Five-Year Plan for Carbon Peak Achievement" and the "15th Five-Year Plan for National Health." (Cailian Press)
OUSD claims that over 140 companies participated, but several South Korean companies, including Samsung Electronics, stated that they had not formally negotiated with the issuer.
BlockBeats reported on July 3 that Open Standard, a global stablecoin consortium, recently announced the launch of its USD stablecoin, OpenUSD (OUSD), with over 140 global financial and payment companies, including Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, Samsung Electronics, and Dunamu, participating. The token is planned for launch within the year. However, several South Korean companies stated that they have not had formal negotiations with the OUSD issuer. A Samsung Electronics representative stated, "There have been no formal negotiations, and we don't know what role we will play in the consortium." Shinhan Financial Group, Dunamu, and K Bank also stated that Open Standard inquired about their interest in participating, and the companies only responded that they could conduct a simple evaluation, but their names were subsequently added to the consortium's member list. One company representative stated that they only learned of their company's inclusion in the OUSD consortium through the news, and "they only gave a perfunctory reply to Open Standard's inquiry about their participation, saying they would consider it if things went smoothly," adding that they were confused about being included on the member list. OUSD adopts an open infrastructure model, aiming to be jointly operated by companies that actually provide payment, remittance, and settlement services. According to the introduction, participating companies can mint 1 OUSD after depositing $1 into the Open Standard reserve account; after returning 1 OUSD, they can redeem $1 from the reserve account. OUSD alliance participants can mint and redeem OUSD without fees or restrictions, and the plan is to distribute the proceeds from reserve utilization to network participants after deducting a small management fee. (ChosunBiz)
South Korea plans to invest 5 trillion won in excess tax revenue from semiconductors to develop "sovereign AI" and purchase 10,000 GPUs to support a single team.
According to Beating's monitoring, the Korea Economic Daily revealed that South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT is in discussions with the Presidential Office and the Ministry of Finance, planning to utilize approximately 5 trillion won in excess tax revenue from the semiconductor industry to purchase about 10,000 of NVIDIA's most advanced Vera Rubin superchip GPU modules this year. This investment will be used to support elite teams developing world-class "sovereign AI" models. This decision stems directly from the sense of crisis caused by US export controls on cutting-edge AI models—Anthropic's Fable 5 and OpenAI's GPT-5.6 have been restricted from external access, forcing South Korean companies to urgently modify systems built on these models. The concept of "national strategic assetization" of AI models has thus become a reality. Currently, although four teams in South Korea—LG AI Research Institute, SK Telecom, Upstage, and Motif Technologies—are advancing independent basic model projects, each team only receives support from 700 to 800 GPUs. This dispersed investment makes it difficult to compete with globally leading models that utilize tens of thousands of GPUs. The government has therefore decided to shift to a "selection and concentration" strategy, allocating 10,000 GPUs to the best teams at once, and plans to include special funds in the supplementary budget for attracting top overseas AI talent. South Korean President Lee Jae-myung publicly stated last month that the GPU procurement pace was too slow and demanded that related funds be ensured when compiling the supplementary budget. The current global competitive window is extremely short, with companies like Anthropic and OpenAI iterating new models weekly. France, with its single-focus strategy, has surpassed Meta to become the seventh largest AI provider globally, thanks to Mistral AI. If South Korea cannot catch up in the short term, it risks becoming an "AI vassal state." The South Korean semiconductor academic community has given this positive feedback, believing that investing the funds gained from hardware prosperity into building software competitiveness is essentially an investment in the country's future. --------------------------------- Click the original link below to join the Beating · Lark AI news channel for 24/7 monitoring of global AI hotspots and news.