Who’s really winning the AI race?

Who’s really winning the AI race?

Beijing is weighing tightened export controls on artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors, the Financial Times reported Tuesday. China’s Ministry of Commerce has spoken to domestic AI giants including Alibaba [BABA] and ByteDance to limit the transfer of model-training data overseas. It has also moved to restrict the export of China-designed semiconductors and prevent the acquisition of strategic technology firms by foreign companies. Last week, Chinese AI lab Moonshot’s open-weight model Kimi K3 outpaced Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.8 in most benchmarks, pointing to a narrowing performance gap between China and the West.

Samsung’s robotics push

The South Korean tech giant [SSNLF] has set up a robotics division headed by ex-Hyundai robotics strategy leader Lee Dongkun. Targeting the sector as a growth engine after key advances in physical AI, Samsung plans to establish robotics research hubs in the US, China and Japan. Back in January, the firm said it aims to achieve “tangible” advancements in humanoid robotics by the end of 2026. 

Oracle’s troubles continue

Larry Ellison’s cloud computing firm [ORCL] – increasingly a bellwether for AI spending risk – faces another roadblock to its AI infrastructure buildout after a decision by Wisconsin’s power regulator could see Oracle face $7bn in collateral requirements for its planned 1GW project in the state. Meanwhile, the company’s credit risk hit an 18-year high on Monday as the Kimi K3 release sparked wider debate about the sustainability of massive AI-related spending by US firms. 

Three chip equipment stocks benefiting from AI’s memory boom

It has been a brutal past few weeks for semiconductor and memory stocks, which have been falling amid concerns about lofty AI valuations and whether the market has got ahead of itself. Despite the AI trade being under pressure, its investment cycle is not over. Aureon takes a look at three chip equipment specialists that are key beneficiaries of the memory boom: Aehr Test Systems [AEHR], Cohu [COHU] and Onto Innovation [ONTO].

Paramount hits pause

In bad news for a different Ellison, on Monday a federal judge ordered a halt on Paramount Skydance’s [PSKY] $110bn acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery [WBD]. The ruling comes after a group of 12 states asserted that CEO David Ellison’s deal potentially violates antitrust laws. Any significant delay could cost Paramount big – for each day the merger is postponed past 30 September the media company is liable to pay Warner Bros approximately $7m.  

Google’s “frozen” chips

Alphabet’s [GOOGL] shares rose nearly 4% on Monday after it revealed it was working on a new semiconductor to optimise its Gemini AI models. Known as Frozen v2 – as the computational logic of Gemini is directly hardcoded, or frozen, onto the silicon – the chips are designed to speed up models by limiting the transfer of data during queries and could be deployed as early as 2028. The chips represent the latest product from model developers aiming to break Nvidia’s [NVDA] stranglehold on the AI semiconductor ecosystem.

Is Nokia back?

Once the world’s leading mobile phone company, Finland’s telecoms giant [NOK] missed the boat on the smartphone boom but appears to be embracing the AI era with gusto. Armed with a Nvidia partnership and an optical networking portfolio following the February 2025 acquisition of Infinera, Nokia is muscling its way into the booming AI infrastructure market. Aureon examines what’s new for this old name ahead of its Q2 2026 earnings on 23 July.