Waymo's robotaxis will be Chinese-made

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Waymo buys Chinese cars for US robotaxis LINK

• Waymo has ordered thousands of Chinese-built electric vans from Geely's Zeekr brand to expand its US robotaxi fleet, a move drawing national-security and fair-competition scrutiny from US lawmakers.
• The Alphabet unit is on pace to import about 5,100 of the rebranded "Ojai" vehicles by year-end, more than doubling its current fleet, at roughly half the cost of its Jaguar robotaxis once its own sensors are added.
• A bipartisan bill would ban importing China-made vehicles even when US firms add their own software, closing the loophole Waymo uses; it offers a three-year grace period requiring compliance by 2030, as Commerce rules already bar Chinese connected vehicles from model year 2027.

🇺🇸 US bars DeepSeek from civilian agency systems LINK

• The US Department of Homeland Security has ordered federal civilian agencies to strip DeepSeek, the Chinese AI company, from their IT systems, with the ban taking effect immediately on publication today.
• The order reaches beyond DeepSeek's own products to cover its affiliates and any third-party tools built using its technology, barring agencies from both continued use and new purchases, with no transition period before the rules applied.
• DHS justified the move by warning that government use could expose sensitive data on US citizens and federal programs to China, citing security flaws in DeepSeek's iPhone and iPad app, extending earlier bans already in place at defense and intelligence agencies.

🇨🇳 DeepSeek is now designing Huawei's AI chips LINK

• DeepSeek has moved from buying Huawei chips to co-designing its next-generation silicon, with Huawei engineers stationed in DeepSeek's offices and the AI lab set to receive most of the supply of Huawei's Ascend 960DT training chip when it launches next year.
• The partnership extends to software, with both firms adopting the open-source language TileLang instead of Nvidia's CUDA; DeepSeek's September plan to deploy over 160,000 Huawei chips, and Huawei pulling the Ascend 960DT launch forward to early 2027, underline a bid to replicate Nvidia's hardware-software moat.
• The deepening alliance arrived the same day Washington ordered civilian agencies to strip out DeepSeek products, and the article frames it as decoupling from both sides: as the US cuts DeepSeek from government systems and Beijing cuts it off from Nvidia, two separate AI stacks are forming around CUDA/Nvidia versus TileLang/Ascend.

Anthropic in talks for 2nd $45B Nscale deal LINK

• Anthropic is in talks to strike a second $45 billion compute deal with AI infrastructure provider Nscale, barely a month after the two announced their first agreement of the same size, Bloomberg reports, though the terms could still change.
• The deal would add to a run of giant compute agreements Anthropic has signed over the past year, a spending spree that has unnerved some investors who worry AI firms are paying far too much for too little profit.
• Both companies are heading for stock-market listings, Anthropic is still expected to go public this year, while Nscale faces investor pushback over its proposed $30 billion valuation, Bloomberg reported today.

Macro News

• Canada's inflation rose 3.1% as surging energy prices kept costs high. LINK
• BOJ likely to raise inflation outlook but keep rates unchanged. LINK
• US deficit reached $2 trillion, widest since 2021, as debt costs mounted. LINK
• UK unemployment eased, but job vacancies hit a five-year low. LINK
• US homebuilder confidence hit a 14-year low amid high rates and costs. LINK
• Putin reportedly proposed a summit with Trump and Xi, excluding Ukraine. LINK
• Crypto group urged Treasury to narrow proposed GENIUS Act stablecoin rules. LINK
• CFTC cited CME data to defend approval of perpetual futures. LINK
• France narrowly approved taxing crypto gains swapped into dollar- or euro-pegged stablecoins. LINK
• Yen gained as record bond demand offset European political turmoil. LINK

Corporate News

• Mastercard launched a service screening stablecoin payments for fraud before blockchain transfers. LINK
• Tenstorrent raised $1.5 billion at a $6.2 billion valuation. LINK
• Elice shares plunged 32% after Korea's largest IPO of the year. LINK
• Amazon will fund an Indiana nuclear plant, becoming its first power buyer. LINK
• Albertsons seeks $8 billion from Kroger over their failed grocery merger. LINK
• Uber defeated £340 million in claims from London cab drivers. LINK
• Ramp applied for a bank charter to custody crypto and manage investments. LINK
• Amazon unveiled a free tool bringing PyTorch code to Trainium chips. LINK
• Mesh and Visa enable crypto spending at 175 million merchants worldwide. LINK

Stocks

▲ Biggest winners

JFrog rose 8% after unveiling JFrog Traffic Controller with Zscaler, Cloudflare, and Netskope. LINK

▼ Biggest losers

RB Global fell 5% after third-quarter revenue and profit missed Wall Street estimates. LINK

Cerebras Systems fell 5% after extending a broader selloff in the sector from last week. LINK

QXO fell 7% after RBC Capital Markets slashed its price target to $18 from $27. LINK

Research & Reports

• Digital gold could unlock $700 billion in demand, research estimates. LINK
• S&P warned technology companies may understate debt tied to AI investment. LINK
• JPMorgan expects Bitcoin to outperform stocks and gold, but says volatility remains high. LINK
• Tokenized deposits may accelerate unpredictable bank funding outflows, Kansas City Fed warns. LINK
• Jefferies traders recorded their most technology-heavy selling week in over five years. LINK
• Goldman warns against crowded trades while forecasting the S&P 500 at 8,000. LINK