Meta and BlackRock establish joint venture to develop and operate a 1 GW AI data center campus in El Paso, Texas with ~$140B total capex commitment. BlackRock-managed fund holds 80% stake, Meta holds 20% and signs lease with 4+4-year renewal options (20-year maximum flexibility).
On July 27, YouTube and media giant NBCUniversal announced a deepening of their strategic partnership. Under the agreement, starting in early 2027, YouTube Premium subscribers in the United States will gain access to NBCUniversal's Peacock Premium streaming service at no additional cost.
On July 28, Meta and BlackRock announced the formation of a joint venture to develop and own a data center campus in El Paso, Texas. BlackRock-managed funds will hold an 80% stake in the joint venture, while Meta will retain the remaining 20%. Both parties have committed to co-funding the full development costs of the campus's buildings and long-term power, cooling, and connectivity infrastructure, totaling approximately $14 billion. Additionally, Meta will enter into a lease agreement with the joint venture to occupy the entire data center campus. The initial lease term is four years with four renewal options, providing Meta with long-term flexibility of up to 20 years.
According to informed sources, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is expected to return to Washington on Wednesday and Thursday to hold meetings with White House officials, other U.S. government officials, and congressional members from both parties to discuss artificial intelligence-related policies. One source indicated that Altman is expected to meet with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, while two other sources stated he will also meet with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick. Altman's visit comes at a critical juncture affecting not only OpenAI but all AI enterprises with frontier models. U.S. lawmakers and regulators are currently struggling to balance preventing misuse of frontier models against fostering continued innovation.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on July 27 stated that it plans to require inspections of 453 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft registered in the United States to confirm whether certain passenger seats are properly installed on seat tracks. The FAA released an airworthiness directive draft applicable to some Boeing 737 MAX 8, MAX 9, and MAX 8200 aircraft. The agency stated that it previously received reports indicating that some seat components in these aircraft were improperly installed, with rear seat attachment mechanisms failing to fully engage with the tracks.
On July 28, NVIDIA signed a lease agreement with data center developer Hut8 to lease a hyperscale data center with a capacity of 1 gigawatt (GW) in Texas, with a total lease value potentially reaching $50 billion. Key details of the transaction show that the initial 15-year lease contract is valued at approximately $19.6 billion; including subsequent 30-year renewal options would bring the total value to $50 billion.
On July 28, Japan-based cloud services company SAKURA internet announced that its board of directors has approved an investment of approximately 26 billion yen to acquire GPU servers and related equipment needed for generative AI services. The investment will be used to purchase server rack systems equipped with NVIDIA HGX Rubin NVL8 GPUs, as well as networking equipment, storage equipment, and other infrastructure to enhance generative AI service capabilities and market competitiveness. SAKURA internet stated that the investment funds will be primarily financed through borrowing from financial institutions, with equipment delivery planned for January 2027; the specific deployment timeline remains to be determined.
On Monday, Microsoft launched a new artificial intelligence security product called "Project Perception," powered by multiple proprietary AI models developed specifically for cybersecurity scenarios. Microsoft positions this product as a cost-effective alternative to Anthropic's Mythos model, which similarly leverages artificial intelligence to automatically identify software vulnerabilities.
Changyu Pharmaceuticals announced the completion of a Series D funding round of 250 million yuan. This round was jointly led by Yifeng Capital and Gaote Jia Investment, with additional participation from institutions including Jiaxing Yuanfan and Real Capital Global. Qidian Capital served as financial advisor in this round. The funds will primarily support Changyu Pharmaceuticals' lead candidate XG005 in Phase III clinical trials for acute pain in the United States, while also supporting the continued development and global expansion of the company's core product pipeline.
GuoKe Superconductor completed a new round of funding exceeding 100 million yuan. The round was led by GuoKe Innovation Investment, with continuing participation from existing shareholders including Zhongguancun Capital, Shunxi Fund, Dingfeng, and Tsinghua Luming Alumni Seed Fund, alongside new institutional investors including Dongheng Petroleum, Beijing Zhongchuang Yizhuang Direct Investment Fund, Dongfang Securities, Zhongke Shengguang, Zhongying Innovation Investment, and Nazhen Investment. The funds will focus on performance optimization of iron-based high-temperature superconducting materials, pilot line construction and capacity ramp-up, verification and expansion of downstream application scenarios, and recruitment and development of core talent teams.
On July 28, the Xiong'an New Area announced the launch of the "Artificial Intelligence Large Model IPv6 Capability Enhancement Initiative," jointly initiated by the Central Cyberspace Administration working with cyberspace authorities from Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Shenzhen, together with five leading large model enterprises. The initiative aims to promote generative large model applications and ensure comprehensive IPv6 support, establishing a solid network foundation for the intelligent era. The Xiong'an New Area also formally launched the IPv6 single-stack deployment initiative. The new area will comprehensively advance single-stack IPv6 deployment, coordinating efforts across four dimensions—establishing foundations, enabling broad applications, strengthening key breakthroughs, and cultivating the ecosystem—to achieve large-scale IPv6 single-stack operations in newly developed districts by 2030.
At a State Council Information Office press conference on July 28, Vice Director of the Ministry of Commerce's Foreign Trade Department He Shaojun stated that according to customs statistics, China's exports of AI-related products including industrial robots and 3D printers in the first half of this year showed strong performance, with year-on-year growth of 18.6% and 109.3% respectively, becoming a "new business card" for Chinese foreign trade.
According to Austrian media reports, the Austrian government announced on July 27 that the draft legislation limiting children and adolescents under 14 from using certain social media platforms has been completed and has initiated a public consultation period. The draft will also be submitted to the European Commission for notification procedures. The draft requires relevant platforms to verify user age, restricting minors under 14 from accessing social media platforms with addictive design features, while instant messaging services primarily intended for direct communication are excluded from the restrictions.
According to information obtained, China's Ministry of Finance and State Administration of Taxation jointly announced that, effective September 1, 2026, enterprises will be exempted from urban land use tax on land they own or acquire through lease or gratuitous use for specified purposes. These include: land for fire prevention, flood control and drainage, windbreak, and sand prevention facilities within oil and natural gas (including shale gas and coalbed gas) production enterprises' mining areas; railway dedicated lines and road land outside production, office, and residential zones; land for oil and gas long-distance pipelines and construction temporary land; land for power supply enterprises' transmission lines (including tower foundations) and their construction temporary land, among others.