China’s Moonshot unveils world’s largest open AI model, closing in on US rivals – Chinese AI startup Moonshot on Friday unveiled Kimi K3, a 2.8 trillion-parameter model that it said is the world’s largest open-weight AI system and delivers performance approaching U.S. giant Anthropic’s frontier Fable model. READ MORE
China’s DeepSeek considers raising more funds, reports say – Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is weighing raising new funds one month after closing its first round and has begun preparations for an initial public offering, according to media reports on Tuesday. READ MORE
Meta, Anthropic in talks for potential $10 billion compute lease deal, source says – Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab is in talks to lease computing power to Anthropic in a potential deal worth up to $10 billion over two years, according to a source familiar with the matter. READ MORE
AI-powered travel agency Fora hits unicorn status, raises $60M – Travel agency Fora announced a $60 million Series D round led by Forerunner and Tactile Ventures, valuing the company at $1 billion. READ MORE
Vertu wants executives to pay $6,880 for an AI agent — here’s how it actually performs – AI has become the smartphone industry’s latest battleground, with manufacturers racing to add AI-powered features to attract mainstream consumers. Vertu is taking a different path. READ MORE
UPCOMING EVENTS
1. 🌍 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC 2026) – China
- Date: July 17–20, 2026
- Location: Shanghai + limited online access
- Focus:
- Large-scale AI systems, robotics, LLMs
- Big tech participation (Alibaba, Tencent, global AI labs)
- What stands out: One of the biggest AI events globally with live demos and product launches
- Reality: Expect heavy focus on applied AI and infrastructure
Registration
2. 🇧🇷 AI Summit Brasil – São Paulo
- Date: July 22–23, 2026
- Location: Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnológicas (IPT), São Paulo, Brazil
- Focus:
- Brazil’s flagship AI conference (now in its 3rd year)
- C-level executive audience, Portuguese-language sessions
- What stands out: A regional network of editions across Belo Horizonte and Salvador feeds into this flagship event
- Reality: More about LatAm enterprise adoption than frontier research
3. ⚙️ AMD Advancing AI 2026 – San Francisco
- Date: July 22–23, 2026
- Location: San Francisco, California
- Focus:
- AI infrastructure, open-source frameworks like ROCm
- Deployment of autonomous agents at enterprise scale
- What stands out: The hardware/silicon-focused counterpart to bigger vendor-neutral shows
- Reality: Best for developers and IT architects optimizing on AMD silicon specifically — narrower than a general AI summit
4. 🏭 Automation Expo – Mumbai
- Date: July 22–25, 2026
- Location: Mumbai, India
- Focus:
- Industrial automation, robotics, and AI-driven manufacturing
- 65,000+ visitors, 2,000+ exhibitors expected
- What stands out: One of the largest industrial AI/automation gatherings in South Asia, with free registration
- Reality: Skews heavily toward factory-floor and supply-chain AI rather than consumer or frontier-model news
5. ✈️ Farnborough International Airshow – UK
- Date: July 20–24, 2026
- Location: Farnborough, England
- Focus:
- Aerospace and advanced manufacturing, with a growing AI/autonomy track
- 1,400+ exhibitors from 41 countries, six exhibition halls
- What stands out: The 78th edition adds a new sixth hall for 2026, reflecting how deeply AI and autonomous systems are now embedded in aerospace
- Reality: Not an “AI conference” per se, but AI-driven autonomy and defense tech will be a major undercurrent throughout