A group of congressional Republicans is urging the U.S. International Trade Commission to enforce U.S. patent rights in a case involving Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., according to a letter exclusively obtained by Axios.
Why it matters: This escalates a fight over whether the world's largest chip manufacturer, TSMC, should receive special consideration because of its role in providing the U.S. the chips necessary to stay ahead in the global AI race.
OpenAI has banned China-linked accounts that used ChatGPT to draft social media influence campaigns targeting U.S. debates over tariffs and AI data centers, the company said Wednesday.
Why it matters: The campaigns don't appear to have been effective, but they show how pro-China actors are testing AI tools to amplify existing political and economic divisions in the U.S.
The government should legally be able to block or deter dangerous AIdeployments, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei wrote in an essay Wednesday.
Why it matters: Anthropic's ideas for tech regulation and economic disruption from AI go far beyond anything currently under serious consideration in Washington.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Officials from federal agencies and local governments at a June 9 Axios Live event said public-sector organizations should embrace nimbleness.
Why it matters: The rise of artificial intelligence and shifting economic conditions are putting pressure on leaders to innovate and support their workforces and communities.
The summit was sponsored by Anthropic.
What they're saying:
10 years is "too slow" to build "our first AI supercomputer for science," U.S. Department of Energy undersecretary for science Dario Gil said.
"We are growing at a rate less than inflation, so that necessitates different thinking," Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said.
"I'm trying to introduce … measured risk" in decision-making, U.S. Office of Personnel Management director Scott Kupor said. "Let's at least have the conversation about, OK, what's the downside that might happen here?"
Threat level: Winning "the AI arms race" is crucial, U.S. Small Business Administration head Kelly Loeffler said.
"If China wins, this is going to be really problematic for the entire country."
Yes, but: Some communities risk being left behind, said Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.).
Advancement must be "democratized" and reach "every neighborhood, senior centers, after-school programs, churches [and] small businesses," he added.
The bottom line: "The most important thing … is to move with the speed that is commensurate with the technological revolution that is unfolding," Gil said.
Content from the sponsor's segment:
Anthropic is "an organization with a very clear mission, and that is to help humanity get through the AI transition as safely as we possibly can so that we can get to the benefits," said its head of North American government affairs, Brian Peters.
The Trump administration and Congress should be focused on "urgency" and "oversight" when it comes to AI, Peters added.
Apollo and Blackstone announced that they've partnered with Broadcom to launch an AI infrastructure platform backed by an initial $35 billion loan.
Why it matters: It's further commoditization of compute, which could challenge SpaceX's long-term growth prospects.
It's also one of the largest private credit deals ever.
Zoom in: The financing is expected to be syndicated, and will help Anthropic lease Google chips that Broadcom helped develop — all via Fluidstack data centers.
Overall, the platform is designed to enable more than 20 gigawatts of compute capacity through 2028.
Go deeper, via PitchBook: "Holding the hardware in the SPV keeps it off Anthropic's balance sheet — useful for a company preparing to list on a market where companies with high debt loads are often punished by investors. ... The use of off-balance-sheet financing has also set alarm bells ringing among regulators."
Inflation surged to its highest rate in over three years, catapulted by rising energy costs that are increasingly squeezing American households.
The silver lining: The pain is not bleeding through to inflation in other goods and services.
Why it matters: At least for now, this does not look like the broad-based inflation that defined the post-pandemic surge. Instead, consumers are absorbing the fallout from the Iran war mostly through higher gasoline and energy bills.
Harbinger is ready to produce thousands of unmanned hybrid-electric vehicles a year for national-security customers, chief executive John Harris told Axios.
The news follows the rollout of Harbinger Praesidia, the business' dedicated defense division.
Why it matters: The vehicles are autonomy-ready, easily exportable and can be configured for a wide range of missions, including resupply, communications, troop transport, patrol and counter-drone, according to specs shared with Axios.
Skyler Shuford, a Hermeus co-founder, has a new startup, Reaxiomatic. He's keeping much of it out of the public eye.
The big picture: Reaxiomatic is dedicated to aerospace and defense, Shuford confirmed in an interview. It could easily be associated with the growing American reindustrialization and supply-chain-awareness crowds.
"At Hermeus, we built an organization that can design, build and fly brand-new jets from scratch in about a year, which is about eight times faster than any near-peers. A similar playbook can, and must, be applied to other critical defense systems," Shuford told Axios.
Antares' advanced reactor, Mark-0, hit criticality this month at Idaho National Laboratory, meaning it reached a self-sustaining chain reaction.
Another chain reaction within the national security community quickly followed.
Why it matters: Today's battlefields and bases are rife with energy hogs. Drone batteries need charging; computers and servers and networks and radars need to stay online.
Investors have already handed the AI hyperscalers more than twice as much money in 2026 as through all of last year.
Why it matters: The astonishing scale is raising concerns over an AI bubble bursting, as well as worries over whether these investments will actually pay off in the end.
