Iran proposes converting the Strait of Hormuz into a toll route, demanding ships pay $40 billion annually for security and environmental services. The U.S. and regional allies have swiftly rejected the plan, warning it would set a dangerous precedent for global waterways.
Tesla is hiring 1,000 workers at its Berlin factory to boost production to 7,500 vehicles weekly by October, part of a strategic shift toward Europe where EV demand surges. The expansion, creating 3,500 jobs total, comes as US EV sales plummeted 27% while European market share nearly tripled.
Memory chip prices surged 98% in Q1 2026, and Micron locked in elevated pricing through 2030. Apple raised MacBook and iPad prices Thursday, with iPhones expected to follow before fall as component costs hit historic highs.
Former Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka raised $32 million for Hang Ten Systems, a startup using AI to generate code and replace traditional IT services firms. The startup already has paying clients including Siemens Gamesa and Fresenius, betting that generative AI has fundamentally disrupted the economics of large IT services companies.
The US Commerce Department blocked Polestar’s 2027 model-year sales under the Connected Vehicle Rule, forcing the Swedish-Chinese automaker to exit the American market. Volvo, which shares ownership and a factory with Polestar, received a waiver after demonstrating sufficient operational control over data security—suggesting the ban targets governance and data infrastructure, not just Chinese ownership.
Options traders are pricing $52,000 Bitcoin as a live target for the rest of the year, not a tail risk. When BTC broke below $58,700 on Thursday, it fell through a support level that had held since February, triggering massive put buying and $450 million in liquidated leveraged longs.
SBI Holdings is acquiring Japanese crypto exchange Bitbank for $289 million, positioning the combined entity as Japan’s largest domestic exchange by assets under custody. The strategic move precedes stricter regulatory requirements set to take effect in 2027, mirroring consolidation patterns seen ahead of Europe’s MiCA implementation.
Kraken and Maple Finance launched the first onchain warehouse lending facility, connecting institutional borrowers with USDC liquidity through transparent, blockchain-verified loan books. The revolving credit structure addresses crypto lending’s core 2022 failure: the lack of real-time visibility into collateral quality and pool health that caused Celsius, BlockFi, and Voyager to collapse.
IBM achieved a major semiconductor breakthrough with its “nanostack” transistor design, fitting 100 billion transistors onto a 0.7-nanometer chip using a novel staggered stacking approach. The innovation promises 50% better performance and 70% better energy efficiency, potentially revolutionizing AI accelerators within five years.
The European Commission has designated Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services as gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act, marking the first time cloud infrastructure providers face this regulation. Both companies must now stop favoring their own products and ensure interoperability with competitors, though they can challenge the ruling until November.