Meta may monetize AI infrastructure by selling external access to older compute and models, with Deutsche Bank estimating $9-30 billion added revenue by 2027. Apple released iOS 27 beta with Apple Intelligence and new AI development frameworks. GitHub Copilot integrated the open-source model Kimi K2.7 from Moonshot AI, its first open-source model integration. Alibaba Cloud announced its AI-native database service Databridge Agent will begin commercial billing on August 1, 2026. Hanwha Group plans to invest 55 trillion won by 2040 in aerospace and AI. xTool launched O1 UV printer with AI tools.
A CITIC Securities research note indicates that domestic Chinese auto brands are increasingly competing in ultra-high-end and niche premium segments, driven by intense technological competition. Recent weekly sales data show weak domestic demand but robust exports. New vehicle launches are rapidly adopting large-capacity batteries for plug-in hybrid and extended-range models, significantly raising the threshold for all-electric range. The auto sector has corrected since late April, likely pricing in economic pessimism; the report remains bullish on premium and overseas growth for the full year. Meanwhile, robotics and autonomous driving stocks are seen as attractively positioned at bottom valuations, with medium-term industry catalysts expected to materialize.
OpenAI has reportedly cut model inference costs by over 50 percent through system-level optimizations. Anthropic announced it will remove a hidden Claude Code detection mechanism that checked for China timezone and 147 domains, describing it as an experimental anti-abuse measure. Amazon Web Services is launching a new AI division with a $1 billion investment, deploying thousands of engineers to help customers build AI solutions within weeks. Anthropic also made Claude Opus 4.8 and Haiku 4.5 available on Microsoft Azure AI Foundry with prompt caching and extended thinking.
Li Qing Intelligent (厘清智能), a Physical AI startup founded in April 2026 by Tsinghua professor and former Nvidia researcher Li Yiming, has raised hundreds of millions of RMB in a seed round from investors including Shunwei Capital, Sequoia China, Hillhouse Venture Capital, Frees Fund, Star Connect Capital, and industrial backers like Zhiyuan Robot. The company builds a full-stack infrastructure covering self-developed data collection gloves (reducing per-unit cost to RMB level), a differentiable physics engine for Real-to-Sim-to-Real reinforcement learning, and a world model integrated across pre-training and post-training. Its system already achieves fine manipulation skills (cutting, screwing, inserting, stirring) across different grippers and robotic arms, targeting B-end scenarios from manufacturing to retail. The team plans to release a cross-industry world model by end of 2026 and scale deployments by 2028, aiming to deliver a hardware-agnostic, end-to-end solution like an “iOS for physical tasks.” The 50-member team, with an average age of 23, emphasizes full-stack soft/hard integration rather than being a “world model company.”
Xiaomi has reshuffled its China management: Wang Xiaoyan, president of China region, stepped down as GM of Sales Operations Dept 1, replaced by Chen Munan; other changes were made in auto sales, e-commerce, and new retail functions. Panasonic announced plans to invest about ¥500 billion in AI infrastructure over the next two fiscal years, targeting ¥1.4 trillion in related sales, and will expand layoffs to 12,000. Google introduced new AI creation tools, including the Gemini Omni model that supports multimodal inputs and conversational video editing. In corporate news, Chery reported June vehicle sales of 256,612 units (up 9.8% YoY) with EV sales rising 58.7%; financial firms Dongfang Tieta and Jinli Permanent Magnet forecast strong H1 2026 profit growth, with Jinli’s robotics segment revenue surging 90%. Other items include Guangxian Media’s AAA game timeline, MobAI’s angel funding, and a solar reactor breakthrough for plastic-to-fuel conversion.
Anthropic announced on June 29 that Claude models are now generally available on Microsoft Azure AI Foundry. Enterprise users can deploy and call Claude directly within Azure, using their existing identity, billing, and governance systems. The supported models are Claude Opus 4.8 and Claude Haiku 4.5, featuring prompt caching and extended thinking for coding, agentic workflows, and complex reasoning. Users can choose to run inference on Azure or on Anthropic-managed infrastructure. Anthropic and Microsoft plan to gradually align features and model availability across platforms.