Taiwan Adds Huawei and SMIC to Strategic Export Control List Amid Security Concerns

/in /tarafından

Taiwan has placed China’s tech giants Huawei Technologies and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) on its export control list, requiring Taiwanese firms to obtain government approval before exporting any products to these companies.

The additions were part of a recent update to the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ trade administration strategic high-tech commodities entity list, announced on June 10. Alongside Huawei and SMIC, the update included 601 entities from countries such as Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Myanmar, and China, including groups like the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Taiwan’s trade administration stated the review and update were driven by “prevention of arms proliferation and other national security considerations.” It urged manufacturers to comply with export control regulations, fulfill verification obligations, and carefully assess transaction risks.

Taiwan is home to TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker and a key supplier to AI leader Nvidia. Both Huawei and SMIC are pivotal to China’s ambitions in chips and artificial intelligence and have been striving to close the technology gap.

Taiwan already enforces strict chip export controls on Taiwanese companies that manufacture domestically or supply Chinese firms, reflecting ongoing tensions between Taipei and Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its territory.

Huawei is also subject to U.S. export restrictions barring access to American and foreign-made goods involving U.S. technology, including chips manufactured by TSMC. Last year, TSMC was ordered by the U.S. Commerce Department to halt shipments of certain chips to Chinese customers, including Huawei and Sophgo, a Chinese chip designer linked to Huawei’s AI processor.

Taiwan’s government has repeatedly pledged to combat Chinese efforts to steal technology and attract Taiwanese chip talent, emphasizing the strategic importance of the semiconductor sector.

SMIC, China’s largest chipmaker, continues to invest heavily to expand capacity amid U.S. export curbs, aiming to boost China’s domestic semiconductor capabilities.

BT CEO Kirkby Signals AI Could Accelerate Job Cuts, Openreach Spin-Off Possible – Financial Times

/in /tarafından

BT Group CEO Allison Kirkby indicated in an interview with the Financial Times that advances in artificial intelligence (AI) might deepen the extensive job cuts already planned at the British telecom giant.

Kirkby noted that BT’s current plan to cut over 40,000 jobs and reduce costs by £3 billion ($4 billion) by 2030 “did not reflect the full potential of AI.” She suggested that depending on AI developments, BT could become “even smaller by the end of the decade.”

The company had previously announced plans to cut up to 55,000 jobs, including contractors, by 2030 under former CEO Philip Jansen, aiming for a leaner workforce and substantially lowered costs by decade’s end.

Kirkby, who took over from Jansen a year ago, also hinted at the possibility of spinning off Openreach, BT’s network infrastructure arm. She expressed concerns that Openreach’s value is not currently reflected in BT’s share price, stating that if this undervaluation continues, BT “would absolutely have to look at options.”

In response to Reuters, BT clarified that a spin-off of Openreach is not an active consideration at this time and did not comment further on Kirkby’s remarks.

BT’s recent financial update highlighted strong fibre broadband demand and over £900 million in cost savings, which helped sustain full-year earnings and improve cash flow. Growth in Openreach compensated for revenue and profit declines in the business and consumer segments, where legacy voice services and handset sales continue to decline.

Meta’s $14.8 Billion Scale AI Deal Raises Regulatory Questions Amid AI Partnership Scrutiny

/in /tarafından

Meta’s $14.8 billion investment in data-labeling startup Scale AI, along with hiring its CEO, poses a test of the Trump administration’s stance on so-called “acquihire” deals—arrangements that some critics argue are used to bypass antitrust scrutiny.

The deal, announced Thursday, gives Meta a 49% nonvoting stake in Scale AI, which employs gig workers to manually label data and serves major clients including Meta’s rivals Microsoft and OpenAI. Because Meta does not gain a controlling stake, the transaction avoids mandatory U.S. antitrust review. Still, regulators could investigate if they suspect the deal was structured to sidestep rules or harm competition.

The structure aims to prevent Meta from cutting off competitors’ access to Scale’s services or gaining undue insight into rival operations. Despite this, Reuters reported that Alphabet’s Google has decided to sever ties with Scale following Meta’s investment, while other customers are reconsidering their relationships.

Scale AI stated its business remains strong and that it is committed to protecting customer data. Scale’s 28-year-old CEO Alexandr Wang will join Meta as part of the deal but will remain on Scale’s board with restricted access to sensitive information.

Experts say that while the Trump administration’s antitrust enforcers are cautious of big tech platforms, they generally want to avoid overregulating AI development. William Kovacic, competition law expert at George Washington University, noted regulators will watch these partnerships closely but might not intervene if they do not stifle competition.

Previous FTC inquiries into “acquihire” deals under the Biden administration—including Amazon’s hiring from AI startup Adept and Microsoft’s $650 million deal with Inflection AI—have so far resulted in no enforcement action.

Boston College Law professor David Olson highlighted Meta’s choice of a minority, nonvoting stake as a legal shield, though he acknowledged the FTC could still seek to review the deal.

The investment has drawn criticism from U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who called for scrutiny to ensure Meta does not unlawfully suppress competition or increase monopoly power. Meta is already facing an FTC monopoly lawsuit, but whether regulators will challenge this specific investment remains unclear.

Separately, the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust division is probing whether Google’s partnership with chatbot maker Character.AI was structured to evade regulatory review and is seeking advance notice of Google’s AI investments as part of broader efforts to rein in the company’s dominance.