Category: Semafor

The UK’s top diplomat on Thursday rejected Iran’s toll plan for the Strait of Hormuz, characterizing the effort as a “hijacking” of the crucial transit route. Iran is reportedly planning to charge firms in cryptocurrency to pass through the strait — $1 per barrel of oil — a move that ...

OpenAI is pausing its UK data center project, citing high energy costs and regulatory conditions. The multibillion-dollar Stargate project is part of the ChatGPT maker’s expanding AI infrastructure buildout, but the pullback marks a blow to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s efforts to make the UK a global AI hub. One ...

China’s microdrama industry is booming thanks to AI. The short-form videos — essentially “soap operas rebuilt for smartphone attention spans” — started taking off in China in recent years, but AI has allowed the industry to launch about 470 new titles daily in January alone, the Hello China Tech newsletter ...

US tech giants are doubling down on massive AI spending despite lingering concerns of a bubble and energy shocks stemming from the Middle East conflict. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy dismissed concerns about the company’s projected $200 billion in capital expenditure this year — mostly on AI buildout — telling investors ...

The Scoop SpaceX’s IPO is primed to be the biggest in history. Its bankers are worried about what comes next. At a $2 trillion valuation, the listing could raise as much as $75 billion for Elon Musk’s rocket company. The problem is what happens months later, when early investors start ...

A 2,000-year-old papyrus fragment revealed previously unknown writing by a pre-Socratic philosopher. Empedocles lived in the fifth century BC, and was repeatedly cited by later thinkers — Aristotle called him the “father of rhetoric.” But his writing only survives in brief quotes or summaries. The 30 verses found in a ...

Oil prices are still hovering just below $100 per barrel as a shaky ceasefire in Iran goes into effect, but there’s a long road ahead even if the war concludes. Some market players are bullish: Israel reopened a major offshore gas facility, an oil executive in Iraq said oil production ...

Meta unveiled the first new AI model designed by a high-profile team of engineers it hired at huge expense in order to catch up with other Silicon Valley giants in the tech race. The firm’s shares rose 7% on the rollout of Muse Spark, though analysts questioned whether the company ...

Investors and economists upped bets that China’s yuan was set to rise, thanks to a short-term boost from the Middle East war and long-term trends driving a growing haven status. Hedge funds have used options to invest in the Chinese currency, Bloomberg reported, driven by a fall in oil prices ...

Panama’s foreign minister asked China to “respect” his country’s sovereignty, accusing Beijing of detaining Panamanian ships in retaliation for legal action against a Hong Kong-listed firm. The countries have been at odds since Panama — under pressure from the Trump administration — canceled CK Hutchison’s contract to operate two ports ...