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Jul 29, 2026
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Happy Wednesday! The U.S. bans the imports of new humanoid robots from China. More than 1,100 executives and employees at AI firms sign a letter asking the U.S. to help "deliberately pace" AI development. PayPal's CEO says the company is open to evaluating deal offers.
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The U.S. government announced a ban on the imports of new foreign-made humanoid robots, which are mostly from China, citing national security risks. The move reflects Washington’s growing concerns about China’s critical role in the global robotics industry and its supply chain. China currently accounts for the vast majority of the world’s humanoid production. The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday said it has added foreign humanoids and quadrupeds to its list of equipment and services that pose a risk to U.S. national security, preventing such robots from receiving FCC authorization to be imported, marketed or sold in the U.S. “Advanced robotic devices collect data that could be leveraged by malign actors to surveil Americans, enhance the capabilities of foreign intelligence services, or to remotely commandeer the robots,” the White House said in its National Security Determination statement. The ban applies to new models of robots, the FCC said. American consumers can continue to use robots they have already purchased, and retailers can continue to import and sell existing models of robots that previously obtained FCC authorization.
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More than 1,100 senior executives and other employees at leading AI companies signed a letter asking the U.S. government to “support an international effort to develop the technical and governance tools needed to deliberately pace the frontier of automated AI development.” Signatories of the letter, published on Tuesday and endorsed by Anthropic and OpenAI, included Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI chief scientist Jakub Pachocki, Google vice president of safety and alignment Anca Dragan and Meta AI chief scientist Shengjia Zhao. Last week, OpenAI models broke out of their internal testing systems and hacked the model repository Hugging Face during a cybersecurity test, sparking alarm among AI employees. In the letter, the researchers wrote that leading AI labs believe they could be close to automating AI research. “It is hard to predict exactly how much this will accelerate AI progress, but there is a real risk that capability development rapidly accelerates beyond our ability to understand or control the resulting systems,” researchers wrote. The Trump Administration is finalizing a voluntary framework for AI companies to submit their most advanced models to the government before releasing them to the public, The Information has reported.
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PayPal CEO Enrique Lores said the company is committed to executing its turnaround strategy while “open” to evaluating deal opportunities. Earlier this month, Stripe and Advent International submitted an unsolicited joint offer to buy PayPal at $60.50 per share, or more than $53 billion. On the earnings call Tuesday, Lores declined to comment on any specific offers. “What I can say is that our board and management team are open and have a clear responsibility to objectively evaluate every opportunity that’s presented to us, compare it with our own plan, and choose the option that creates more value,” he said. PayPal reported second-quarter net revenue of $8.7 billion, up 5% from a year ago. Net income fell 12% to $1.1 billion. The company raised its forecasts for 2026 adjusted profitability and transaction margin dollars. Shares rose 4.3% to $58.50 per share.
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Meta Platforms is bringing in BlackRock to take over much of the financing for its El Paso, Texas, data center campus, the companies announced on Tuesday. The joint venture underscores how big technology companies are increasingly relying on a combination of external financing, such as private infrastructure funds and debt, as well as their own capital to fund rapid AI infrastructure build-outs. Meta had previously announced it would invest $10 billion in the campus. Now, funds managed by BlackRock will acquire an 80% ownership stake in the campus, while Meta will retain the remaining 20%, the Facebook, Instagram and Threads parent said. BlackRock’s investment will be partly financed through $12.5 billion in debt, while Meta will receive a one-time $1 billion distribution to align ownership with the 80/20 split. Meta will contribute land and construction assets valued at about $2.3 billion, while BlackRock will make a cash contribution of about $4.9 billion, the companies said. The El Paso campus is expected to become operational in 2028. It is one of 33 data centers that Meta has in operation or under construction globally.
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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest chip manufacturer, said it is gradually resuming operations at its plant in southern Japan after a magnitude 7 earthquake struck the region on Tuesday. TSMC said in a statement that the structures of the buildings are safe, but it is still conducting detailed inspections and impact assessments. It is unclear whether there have been any damages to wafers or equipment inside the plant. TSMC also said all of its workers at the plant are safe, as the facility was evacuated immediately after the quake. TSMC’s plant in the southern prefecture of Kumamoto began operations in 2024. The company is also building a second plant that will use advanced manufacturing processes. TSMC said the construction site for the second plant was unaffected, but it has suspended parts of the work on the site as a safety precaution measure against potential aftershocks. TSMC’s presence in Kumamoto is part of the Taiwanese firm’s effort to diversify its supply chain, mitigate potential geopolitical risks and work closely with Japanese customers such as automakers.
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