Business briefings

Iran accused the United States on May 27 of a “grave violation” after new U.S. strikes hit Iranian forces despite a ceasefire announced in April.

Nvidia said on May 20 that fiscal first-quarter revenue rose to $81.6 billion as Blackwell demand accelerated and data center sales reached $75.2 billion.

The Supreme Court on February 20, 2026 voided Donald Trump’s 2025 tariffs under IEEPA, triggering refund claims, customs confusion and new litigation.

Anthropic on May 27 released a self-hosted Claude sandbox in public beta and a Security Guidance plugin aimed at enterprise-controlled deployments.

Business Insider, Tom’s Hardware and the Guardian reported on May 26-27 that entry-level hiring has fallen, with Bay Area discussions citing drops of 30% to 50%.

Cognition said on May 27 it raised more than $1 billion in fresh funding, valuing the AI coding startup at $26 billion.

Greg Isenberg said on May 27 he returned from five days in San Francisco with notes that framed “forward-deployed engineers” and agent-first software as current hiring themes.

Tesla’s careers site shows an open backend AI tooling role tied to Autopilot work, with similar postings emphasizing large-scale pipelines, annotation and search systems.

OpenRouter said on May 26 it raised $113 million in a Series B led by CapitalG to expand its AI model exchange.

A founder’s May 27, 2026 post laid out a web-development stack built around Vercel, Railway, TypeScript, Tailwind, NativeWind, Claude and Cursor.

Trajectory launched on May 27, 2026, with former Google and Apple researchers pitching software that updates AI products from live user feedback.

FleetPoint reported on May 27 that Red Sea insecurity was still raising freight costs and delaying U.K.

Uber and Nvidia executives said on May 27 that AI spending is getting harder to justify as compute and token bills rise faster than clear returns.

Nikkei Asia reported on May 27 that AI data-center demand is tightening supplies of lasers, optical fiber, connectors and substrates used in high-speed networks.

TrendForce said custom AI ASIC shipments are projected to grow faster than merchant GPU shipments in 2026, as cloud providers expand in-house chip programs.

Anthropic said on May 22 that Project Glasswing used Claude Mythos Preview with about 50 partners to flag more than 10,000 high-severity vulnerabilities.

Governor Gavin Newsom on May 21 signed Executive Order N-6-26, directing California agencies to prepare for AI-driven disruption affecting workers, small businesses and communities.

China’s State Administration for Market Regulation said on May 27 it fined Luxshare Precision 900,000 yuan over a Wingtech asset acquisition completed without prior clearance.

Catalyst Brands and Figure AI said on May 26 they signed a commercial partnership starting at Catalyst’s Reno, Nevada distribution logistics center.

Micron Technology shares jumped on May 26 after UBS raised its price target to $1,625, citing AI-driven memory demand and long-term supply agreements.

OpenAI and South Korean government-linked cyber bodies are expanding ties around defensive AI, extending the company’s Korea push into security and critical-infrastructure protection.

On May 27, 2026, warehouse-automation examples circulating on social media highlighted robotic loaders and goods-to-person systems designed to replace repetitive heavy lifting.

European Union regulators are preparing a major Digital Markets Act fine against Alphabet’s Google over alleged search self-preferencing, according to reports published on May 26.

Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” on May 25, 2026, calling for artificial intelligence to be “disarmed” and regulated.

OpenAI said on May 27 it expanded its cybersecurity program to South Korea, giving government agencies, public institutions and companies access to defensive AI tools.

Japan’s Finance Ministry said on May 26 that the country’s net external assets rose to a record ¥561.8 trillion at the end of 2025.

The Supreme Court on February 20, 2026, ruled that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act did not authorize President Donald Trump’s 2025 tariffs.

U.S. Central Command carried out self‑defense strikes on Iranian vessels in the Strait of Hormuz even as President Trump said talks with Iran were "proceeding nicely".

Nvidia said on May 20 that first-quarter fiscal 2027 revenue rose to $81.6 billion, driven by data-center demand and a faster global AI buildout.

UPS began issuing refunds on eligible tariff-hit shipments on May 27, moving the post-Supreme Court rollback of Donald Trump’s 2025 tariffs into payment.