SoftBank Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son and OpenAI's chief research officer, Mark Chen, attend an event to pitch AI for businesses, in Tokyo in June. If there's one relationship that illustrates how private credit is enabling some of the most consequential AI investments, it's Apollo Global Management's with SoftBank Group. Since 2021, Apollo has provided and arranged more than $15 billion of debt for SoftBank across multiple deals, people familiar with the matter said, helping to fuel Maysayoshi Son's nearly $65 billion bet on OpenAI. From lending tied to the ChatGPT maker's value to a loan backed by a flagship fund, SoftBank has become one of Apollo's largest corporate borrowers. But Apollo is also beginning to contend with the limits of its SoftBank lending as it takes a more defensive approach to AI investing. How far Apollo can go in bankrolling one of OpenAI's biggest investors is a crucial test for whether private credit will be able to profitably fill gaps in AI financing beyond the reach of traditional lenders.

Washington restricts exports to China of Nvidia's most advanced AI chips, but Chinese companies can access such processors remotely by renting computing power at data centers overseas. BEIJING - Chinese artificial intelligence companies are trying to rent Nvidia-powered computing capacity at data centers outside China on concerns that a scandal involving the U.S. chipmaker's chief executive, Jensen Huang, could spur Washington to tighten restrictions on their remote use of advanced processors, three people familiar with the matter said. The moves underline concern among Chinese technology companies over the potential closing of a gap in U.S. export controls. Seeking to protect U.S. dominance of the critical sector, Washington restricts exports to China of Nvidia's most advanced AI chips, but Chinese companies can access such processors remotely by renting computing power at data centers overseas. A major Chinese cloud provider has discussed internally whether to lock in overseas Nvidia chip capacity, while some companies have contacted data-center operators about reserving it, the people said. The people declined to be identified, or to identify the cloud provider because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Plumes of smoke rise from fires at an oil refinery following what the authorities said was a Ukrainian drone strike, in Moscow on Sept. 20. Russian authorities have registered the deaths of more than 11,000 foreigners from nearly 100 countries in the war against Ukraine, according to confidential data held by the country's statistics agency, Rosstat. The information comes from a cache of more than 11 million death certificates, along with accompanying details such as place of birth, citizenship and where people died. The data was obtained by the Belarusian pro-opposition group Cyber Partisans and the Ukrainian hacker operation Silent Crow. It was subsequently shared with Bloomberg and a small group of other outlets.

ByteDance plans the release of a Muse-like AI assistant in the coming weeks to augment its lead in AI video, a milestone event the company hopes will help close the gap with top U.S. labs in as soon as three years. Speaking to its AI team in an all-hands meeting recently, co-founder Zhang Yiming told researchers, engineers and supporting staff about the plan and set out key priorities, according to people familiar with the matter. He sees ByteDance able to compete with leading industry names like Anthropic and OpenAI at the cutting edge, though he cautioned it would take until at least 2029 or 2030, the people said, asking not to be named as the meeting was private. The planned new artificial intelligence agent will serve a similar role to Muse, introduced by Meta Platforms this September. Muse has proven a big hit for its U.S. creator, consolidating Meta's extensive AI research into a voice-based agent with an animated avatar that helps users with various tasks. Meta is distributing Muse across its hardware portfolio that includes various models of smart glasses and an upcoming Muse Charm gadget just for the agent.

Military-linked Chinese university bought Nvidia H200 chips despite U.S. blacklist, records show Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, faces mounting scrutiny over his relationship with a woman who is reportedly suspected of being a Chinese spy. Beijing - A Chinese university with deep ties to the People's Liberation Army bought Nvidia's powerful H200 artificial intelligence chips last month despite being on a U.S. export blacklist, procurement records show, highlighting gaps in Washington's efforts to curb China's access to advanced technology. The findings come as Nvidia and its CEO Jensen Huang face mounting scrutiny in Washington over his lobbying for looser restrictions on sales of AI chips to China, following reports alleging he was targeted by a Chinese spying operation. Huang has argued that continued U.S. sales to China would preserve American technological leadership and keep Chinese customers reliant on U.S. technology. But some U.S. lawmakers say access to Nvidia's most powerful AI chips can speed China's development of AI systems for weapons design, intelligence analysis and military modernization.

Nintendo sells 5.2 million copies of'Zelda' remake in four days A visitor poses for pictures at the Nintendo The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time stand during the preview night of Paris Games Week 2026 on Oct. 21 in Paris. Nintendo sold 5.2 million copies of its "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" remake in just four days, invigorating the Switch 2 platform that had been waiting for a blockbuster hit. Released on Nov. 5 for $59.99, the 2026 edition is a complete recreation of the 1998 classic action-adventure game for the Nintendo 64 console, replete with new graphics, level and character designs. It ranks among the best-reviewed video games of recent times, earning a score of 96 out of 100 from both players and professional reviewers on aggregator Metacritic. The Switch 2 console has had an uneven first year on the market, challenged by the rising cost of memory pushing hardware prices up. The fast start by the new "Ocarina of Time" takes the Zelda game past the cumulative sales of "Donkey Kong Bananza," another popular title from 2025.

Microsoft, along with other companies and trade groups, is making a case that a ban on imports of Chinese optical transceivers could irreparably damage the U.S. edge over China in the AI race. WASHINGTON - Microsoft and other companies and trade groups have pressed the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to halt plans to bar imports from China of a key component used in artificial intelligence data centers, three people familiar with the situation said. In August, the Trump administration was reported to be seeking a ban on U.S. imports of new models of Chinese optical transceivers, which allow data to travel over fiber-optic cables at the speed of light within data centers. The concern is that they could be used by Beijing to steal data, install malware or disrupt service at U.S. data centers. Microsoft has 35 data centers under construction in the U.S. and another 134 planned, according to Cleanview, a market intelligence company that tracks data center development. It is one of a group of companies and trade groups making the case to the Trump administration that such a ban could irreparably damage the U.S. edge over China in the AI race by further slowing the data center rollout, the sources said.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei looks on after a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron during the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on Feb. 19. As the speed of artificial intelligence development has become increasingly controversial, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is among those calling for top AI labs to pace the frontier" in order to prioritize safety. Anthropic and some of its shareholders are seeking to raise as much as $64.4 billion in an initial public offering, stopping short of targeting more than SpaceX gathered in its record-setting first-time share sale. The Claude chatbot maker is marketing shares in its IPO for $70 to $78 each, according to a filing on Monday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Anthropic is offering 801.4 million shares, while backers are selling 23.6 million shares. At the top of the price range, Anthropic would have a market value of about $1 trillion, based on the shares outstanding listed in the filing.

SoftBank logs $7 billion loss after U.S. data center costs swell SoftBank is increasingly seen as a proxy for sentiment toward OpenAI and the broader AI sector. Its shares have plunged more than 50% from their record high in June. SoftBank Group reported Tuesday its first net loss in almost two years after swallowing a $3.7 billion writedown over a U.S. data-center project amid rising fears around the sustainability of AI growth. The Tokyo-based backer of OpenAI tumbled to a ¥1.12 trillion ($7.1 billion) loss in its fiscal second quarter around nonrefundable advance payments made to secure equipment and manufacturing capacity for its Ohio data-center campus. Analysts on average expected a profit of ¥129 billion. Declines in the stock prices of chipmakers Arm Holdings and Intel, as well as South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang, further dragged down SoftBank's bottom line.

Sakana AI might list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange or Nasdaq, or it may choose a dual listing on both. Sakana AI might go public next year and is considering a listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Nasdaq or both for its initial public offering (IPO), media reports say. According to Nikkei, which broke the news, the company's market capitalization could exceed Mercari's ¥680 billion ($4.3 billion) and set Sakana AI on track to become one of Japan's most valuable startup listings. Goldman Sachs has been hired as an adviser, according to the report. In an X post on Monday, Sakana AI said it has no near-term plans for an IPO. "Our priority remains building a generational AI company that serves as Japan's national AI champion," the post read.