Masa Son Plots $1 Trillion AI Hub in U.S.

Welcome back!

Here’s your must-read news this morning:

• Oil prices drop after Iran ultimatum

• $1 trillion AI hub in U.S.

• TikTok ban deadline extended

I’ve got all the details for you, so let’s dive in.

— Josh

MARKETS

🛢️ Oil Falls as Trump Gives Iran Two Weeks to Negotiate

The Scoop: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday that President Donald Trump will decide within two weeks whether the U.S. will intervene in Israel’s conflict with Iran, a development that sent oil prices lower.

The Details:

• Leavitt said his decision hinges on the “substantial chance of negotiations” with Iran.

• Leavitt underscored Trump’s preference for diplomacy but affirmed his willingness to deploy force if talks fail.

• Leavitt warned that Iran is “weeks away” from nuclear-weapon capability, threatening U.S. and Israeli security.

• Oil markets dropped Friday, with Brent crude sliding 2.4% to $76.96 a barrel and WTI crude for July edging up 1.1% to $75.96, as traders grappled with uncertainty over U.S. involvement.

What’s Next: Analysts caution that U.S. military action could unleash a severe oil price spike, with Citi analysts warning that an escalation could lift Brent oil prices 15-20% to $75-$78 a barrel if 1.1 million bpd of Iranian exports are disrupted.

Markets Roundup

🏦 Economy & Policy

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Japan’s rice prices surged 101.7% year-over-year in May, doubling and posting the steepest rise in over 50 years, while headline inflation eased to 3.5% from 3.6% in April. (CNBC)

• European officials expect a 10% reciprocal tariff rate as the baseline for any U.S.-EU trade deal, five sources close to the talks said. (RTS)

• Canada will adjust steel and aluminum counter-tariffs on July 21 to match U.S. trade progress, while imposing retroactive 100% tariff quotas on non-FTA steel imports. (CTV)

• The EU is “making progress” in intensive trade talks with the U.S. to meet Trump’s July 9 tariff deadline, EU Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said. (BBG)

• Trump denounced Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as one of the "dumbest, most destructive" officials, stating that a 2.5-point interest rate reduction would save billions on the interest payments. (X)

📈 Stock Market

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: X CEO Linda Yaccarino said users will "soon" be able to invest or trade on the platform, which is also exploring the introduction of a credit or debit card. (FT)

• Stock futures slid Friday, with Dow futures dropping 0.1% and S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures each down 0.2%, as investors eyed escalating Iran-Israel tensions and possible U.S. involvement. (CNBC)

• Home Depot has proposed acquiring building-products distributor GMS, driving GMS shares up over 23% in premarket trading. (INV)

🏢 Industry & Deals

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: A $35 million settlement in Trump’s lawsuit against Paramount’s CBS affiliate is on hold as management grapples with fears of legal fallout, sources say. (NYP)

• Apollo Global Management will supply a $6 billion loan to address a funding gap for the U.K.’s Hinkley Point nuclear project. (FT)

• Real estate developers share an insider view on serving billionaires, constructing some of the world’s priciest homes with bespoke designs and exclusive amenities. (WSJ)

• Black Rifle Coffee named Matthew Amigh as its new CFO. (BW)

💵 Energy & Commodities

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Oil prices slipped Friday, with Brent crude dropping 2.4% to $76.96 a barrel, while WTI crude for July, set to expire, climbed 1.1% to $75.96, as markets awaited clarity on U.S. involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict. (INV)

• Shell CEO Wael Sawan said that the company has activated contingency plans to address potential disruptions to energy flows from the Israel-Iran conflict, cautioning that a Strait of Hormuz blockage could significantly jolt oil markets. (EN)

• Facing five-year low wheat prices, U.S. farmers are abandoning harvests, opting to bale wheat for hay, graze livestock, or rely on crop insurance. (BNN)

• Tesla inked a deal to construct its first grid-scale battery storage facility in Shanghai, partnering with China Kangfu International Leasing. (INV)

🌕 Crypto

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: DeFi lending surges to a record $55 billion in total value locked, driven by Aave, Maple, and Morpho. (TB)

• Bitcoin transactions drop to an 18-month low, with a 7-day average of 316,000, as interest in Runes and Ordinals protocols fades. (TIA)

• The Trump family reduced its ownership in World Liberty Financial from 60% to approximately 40%, according to a recent legal disclosure update. (FRB)

• Arizona’s Senate revived a bill allowing the State Treasurer to establish a Bitcoin and Digital Assets Reserve Fund to manage seized cryptocurrencies. (CD)

• Circle's stock nears $200 per share, surging over 500% from its $31 IPO price in just two weeks since going public. (BL)
  

TECH

💻 SoftBank’s Son Eyes $1 Trillion AI Hub with TSMC in U.S.

The Scoop: SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son is negotiating with TSMC and the Trump administration to build a $1 trillion AI-centric industrial complex in Arizona, Bloomberg News reported, citing sources familiar with the plans.

The Details:

• Son’s “Project Crystal Land” aims to build a manufacturing hub rivaling China’s Shenzhen, focusing on AI-powered industrial robots to boost U.S. reindustrialization. 

• Discussions with officials, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, have centered on tax incentives, with Son also engaging tech firms like Samsung for potential collaboration.

• Son is leading a $500 billion AI data center project with OpenAI, called Project Stargate, and spearheaded a $40 billion OpenAI funding round.

What’s Next: Son has identified several Vision Fund portfolio companies, including German robotics startup Agile Robots SE, as potential candidates to set up manufacturing facilities at a proposed U.S. site. The viability of the ambitious project hinges on securing backing from the incoming Trump administration and cooperation from state officials.

Tech Roundup

🧠 AI

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Meta attempted to acquire Ilya Sutskever’s $32 billion Safe Superintelligence but is now set to hire its CEO Daniel Gross and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, while taking a stake in their venture fund. (CNBC)

• OpenAI warned that its forthcoming AI models may pose an elevated risk of facilitating biological weapons development, prompting intensified safety testing. (AX)

• Google’s use of its vast YouTube video archive to train AI models, including Gemini and Veo 3, could trigger an intellectual property clash for creators and media firms, experts caution. (CNBC)

• The BBC threatened legal action against Perplexity, alleging the AI startup trained its default AI model by scraping BBC content. (GUA)

• Foxconn and Nvidia are negotiating to integrate humanoid robots at a new Houston factory, set to manufacture Nvidia’s AI servers. (RTS)

• Chinese AI startup MiniMax unveiled Video Agent, an AI-driven tool that creates high-definition videos from basic text prompts. (TIA)

• Sensay, an AI firm, has bought and renamed Cheron Island off the Philippines as Sensay Island, launching the world’s first AI-led government with digital replicas like Marcus Aurelius as Head of State. (TR)

🤖 Hardware & Robotics

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Tesla will launch its robotaxi pilot in Austin this weekend, with approximately 10 geofenced Model Y vehicles, monitored by teleoperators and limited to simpler routes. (TN)

• Elon Musk announces Neuralink's Blindsight brain implant will begin its first human trial within a year, aiming to restore and enhance vision. (BZ)

• H-E-B launches a robot delivery pilot in Austin, partnering with Avride to deliver groceries autonomously in the Mueller neighborhood. (SN)

• Deep Robotics and Kandi Technologies partner to develop and bring AI-powered golf caddy robots to the North American market. (IWT)

• Australian researchers unveiled a brain-inspired robot navigation system that slashes energy use by over 90% compared to traditional methods and recognized locations along a five-mile journey. (TX)

🚀 Defense & Space

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: A Chinese military robotics lab claims to have developed a mosquito-sized microdrone for covert operations, capable of surveillance and operating in swarms. (SCMP)

• European space ventures raised a record €1.5 billion in 2024, a 56% surge from 2023, driven by defense-focused investments, according to a report. (PL)

• Eutelsat, a European satellite operator and rival to SpaceX, saw its shares surge Friday morning after announcing a €1.35 billion ($1.55 billion) capital raise led by the French government. (AWN)

• Portal Space Systems plans to open a second factory near its Bothell, Washington base to boost production of its advanced Supernova spacecraft, with test flights slated for 2026. (VS)

• Landspace, a Chinese launch startup, completed a critical static fire test on Friday, marking a key step toward an orbital launch with its Zhuque-3 rocket. (SN)

💰 Venture Capital & Deals

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Chinese robotics company Unitree secured a $2 billion valuation in a Series C funding round led by Tencent and Alibaba. (TIA)

• Commure secures $200 million from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund to scale its AI-driven healthcare platform. (BS)

• Pelico, a startup providing AI-driven supply chain management tools for manufacturers, secured $40 million in a Series B funding round led by General Catalyst. (TFN)

• Visby Medical, an Israeli-founded diagnostics firm, raised about $55 million, with the potential to reach $65 million, in a funding round led by Catalio Capital Management. (CAL)

• Actio Biosciences secured $66 million in a Series B round led by Regeneron Ventures to develop oral therapies for rare diseases like KCNT1-related epilepsy. (TPL)

• Grifin, a Tampa-based fintech startup focused on automating investing, secured $11 million in a Series A funding round led by Nava Ventures. (TBI)

🔒 Cybersecurity

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: One of the largest data breaches in history exposed 16 billion login credentials from Apple, Facebook, Google, GitHub, Telegram, and government services. (CN)

• Since the Ukraine war began, Chinese government-linked groups have repeatedly targeted Russian companies and agencies with cyberattacks, likely seeking military secrets. (NYT)

FREEDOM

📱 Trump Extends TikTok Ban Deadline for Third Time

The Scoop: President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday extending TikTok’s U.S. operational deadline by 90 days, averting a potential ban and marking the third reprieve since January.

The Details:

• Trump announced the extension on Truth Social, which pushes TikTok’s deadline to September 17 amid ongoing national security concerns over its Chinese parent, ByteDance.

• The move follows two prior extensions, despite a 2024 law allowing only one, as the administration pursues a deal to transfer TikTok to U.S. ownership, with talks stalling after new tariffs on Chinese goods.

• White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News the administration aims to keep TikTok’s 170 million U.S. users and 7.5 million businesses active while ensuring data security.

• TikTok welcomed the decision, with a spokesperson praising Trump’s leadership and noting continued collaboration with Vice President JD Vance’s office to resolve the impasse. 

What’s Next: Oracle has emerged as the potential frontrunner to acquire TikTok’s U.S. operations due to its robust cloud infrastructure and prior involvement in talks to host TikTok’s data. However, analysts warn that China’s regulatory obstacles and heightened U.S.-China tensions could complicate or delay a deal, leaving TikTok’s future uncertain as the new deadline approaches.

Freedom Roundup

🏛️ Economic & Education Policy

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Cash-strapped California, Illinois, and Minnesota are slashing Medicaid for illegal immigrants, backtracking on Democrat plans to expand taxpayer-funded healthcare. (WSJ)

• The Justice Department will sue Kentucky over a policy granting in-state tuition rates at public universities to illegal immigrants residing in the state. (FOX)

💻 Business & Tech Policy

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Elon Musk's $33 billion xAI acquisition of X faces heightened European Union scrutiny, as regulators weigh potential fines under the Digital Services Act. (BBG)

• The Senate's version of Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill" introduces a tax break for charitable contributions, allowing non-itemizing filers to deduct up to $1,000 for individuals and $2,000 for joint filers. (CNBC)

💬 Free Speech & Woke Overreach

• ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Telegram founder Pavel Durov won court approval in France to travel to Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, for up to 14 days, where the messaging app is headquartered. (CT)

• In Plano, Illinois, city officials canceled the annual Juneteenth celebration, citing lack of local business sponsors. (WSJ)

• Prominent Democrats, including Bill Clinton, withdrew as keynote speakers from the National Diversity Conference after a report exposed the organizer’s alleged embezzlement of millions from a diversity nonprofit. (DW)

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