Tech Stocks Tumble on Worries Over A.I. Spending and China’s Chips

A global technology stock sell-off intensified on Tuesday, underpinned by worries over hefty bills for the build-out of artificial intelligence systems and concerns over tougher competition from China. The Nasdaq Composite index, chock-full of big technology companies, came close on Tuesday to falling into correction, Wall Street’s term of a drop of 10 percent or more from its recent peak, before rebounding and ending the day down just 0.2 percent. Still, the slide among top chipmakers remained. The American chip company Micron declined more than 8 percent on Tuesday, as…

‘Suddenly, I Was Free’: A Chinese Pastor’s Journey From Jail to the U.S.

The Chinese police officers hurried the pastor out of the jail cell where he’d been held for 266 days. They hustled him into a van, then onto a train — where he sat surrounded by about two dozen officers, many with cameras trained on him. The pastor, Jin Mingri, who founded one of China’s most prominent underground churches, wondered aloud if he was being transferred to a secret prison. An officer laughed and told him to think more positively. Hours later, Mr. Jin, who also goes by Ezra, had been…

The Quest for ‘Technological Sovereignty’ in Europe (and Why It’s So Hard)

The French government said this year that it would replace Zoom and other American videoconference software with a French-developed alternative. Germany is building a homegrown platform for artificial intelligence. Companies in both countries are teaming up to build A.I. chips to rival those of the United States and China. These are modest steps in Europe’s high-stakes race to catch up to America and China in the global sprint for digital independence. Without it, Europe’s political and business leaders worry, they will be vulnerable to sudden losses of access to critical…

China’s Chip Champion to Raise Billions in Race for A.I. Control

China’s largest maker of memory chips is raising billions of dollars in a blockbuster public offering to pursue the nation’s agenda of technological self-sufficiency and leadership in the global race to develop artificial intelligence. ChangXin Memory Technologies, known as CXMT, said in a filing on Wednesday that it had roughly doubled the price of its offering on the Shanghai exchange from earlier guidance, based on strong investor demand. It is seeking to raise the equivalent of up to $9.8 billion. That would be the largest initial public offering in Asia…

U.S. Presses China to Free American Seismologist Accused of Spying

An American seismologist who did contract research for the U.S. government related to nuclear tests in North Korea has been detained in China for nearly two years and accused of spying, his family and supporters said. Youlin Chen, who was born in China, was detained by Chinese state security officers at a Beijing airport in November 2024, when he was about to return to home in Boston. Dr. Chen’s family and supporters said they were making his case public for the first time this week in the hope that the…

Trump Paid $2 Million by South Korean Company Facing Trade Investigation

The lead investor in a South Korean aluminum company that has challenged Commerce Department penalties on certain exports from South Korea to the United States made a $2 million payment last year to President Trump’s holding company. The payment by the parent company, Base Group, was revealed for the first time in Mr. Trump’s annual financial disclosure form released in late June. The document offered only a cryptic explanation for the payment, stating that it was part of a “letter of intent” and a “nonrefundable development fee.” In statements to…

Typhoon Bavi Hits China, Causing Evacuations, Floods and Flight Delays

Typhoon Bavi caused landslides and flooding over the weekend as it made landfall in eastern China, where the authorities evacuated almost two million people in anticipation of the strongest storm to hit the country this year. The typhoon touched down in the city of Taizhou in Zhejiang Province at around 11:20 p.m. on Saturday, lashing the area with winds of almost 90 miles per hour. It made a second landfall in the city of Wenzhou, also in Zhejiang, around midnight. Across the province, 1.7 million people were evacuated, many of…

Alibaba’s A.I. Is a Hit, but Hard to Turn Into a Moneymaker

Last year, the titans of China’s technology industry received a rare invitation to meet with Xi Jinping, the country’s leader, in the ceremonial Great Hall of the People. But when the entrepreneurs — including the heads of national stars like the telecommunications giant Huawei and rising companies like the robotics start-up Unitree — assembled in neat rows before Mr. Xi, an unexpected figure was among them: Jack Ma. Mr. Ma, who founded the Alibaba e-commerce empire in a cramped Hangzhou apartment and became a rock star of China’s internet era,…

Why A.I. Distillation Has Become a Hot Topic in the Race with China

The American companies building artificial intelligence systems are loudly complaining that their Chinese competitors are unfairly copying their technology, and they are pleading with officials to do something about it. On June 10, Anthropic sent a letter to Senators Tim Scott and Elizabeth Warren, accusing the Chinese tech giant Alibaba of surreptitiously copying its A.I. technologies using a technique called distillation. Like other Chinese companies, Alibaba tapped into Anthropic’s technologies through tens of thousands of unauthorized accounts, according to the letter, which was viewed by The New York Times. Then…

China Test Fires Long-Range Ballistic Missile in the Pacific

China test-fired a long-range ballistic missile with a dummy warhead in the Pacific Ocean on Monday, the first such launch in almost two years, prompting alarmed countries to criticize the move as destabilizing. Governments in the region were warned of the launch shortly beforehand. The overt display of China’s fast-expanding military capabilities threatens to further fan a defense buildup around the Pacific in the midst of anxieties about the strength of the U.S. commitment to the region. The missile was launched from a Chinese nuclear-powered submarine and sent a “mock…