Sources: the US has granted an annual license to Samsung and SK Hynix to ship their chip manufacturing equipment to their facilities in China for 2026 (Hyunjoo Jin/Reuters) https://www.reuters.com/world/china/samsung-wins-us-annual-approval-chipmaking-tool-shipments-china-source-says-2025-12-30/
Sources: Meta is buying Manus for $2B+, after approaching the startup during a fundraising at a $2B valuation; Manus CEO Xiao Hong will report to Javier Olivan (Wall Street Journal) https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/meta-buys-ai-startup-manus-adding-millions-of-paying-users-f1dc7ef8?st=hE75oB&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Meta says Manus, initially based in Beijing and Wuhan, will cut Chinese investor ties after the deal and "will discontinue its services and operations in China" (Nikkei Asia)
Shares of Shenzhen-based OneRobotics opened flat in their HK debut after the Chinese home robotics maker raised $210M by selling 22M+ shares at about $9.50 each (Nikkei Asia)
Shares of Insilico rose 45% in their Hong Kong trading debut after the AI drug discovery startup raised $293M in an IPO; Insilico reported $85M+ in 2024 revenue (Bloomberg)
Samsung, up 125%, and SK Hynix, up 268%, accounted for nearly half of the 76% gain in South Korea's Kospi, the world's best-performing major stock index in 2025 (Youkyung Lee/Bloomberg)
Driven by the AI boom, chipmakers posted $400B+ in sales in 2025; FactSet projects revenue for Nvidia, Intel, Broadcom, AMD, and Qualcomm to reach $538B in 2026 (Wall Street Journal) https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/after-a-year-of-blistering-growth-ai-chip-makers-get-ready-for-bigger-2026-d9f62dbd?st=RVHQU9&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Meta says it will continue to operate and sell the Manus service, and Manus' talent will join Meta to deliver agents across Meta products, including Meta AI (Meta)
UK-based Octopus Energy reaches a deal to sell about $1B of equity in Kraken Technologies, its tech spin-off, at an $8.65B valuation to a syndicate of investors (Financial Times)
Meta has agreed to acquire AI startup Manus; the Singapore-based startup said in December that its annual revenue run rate is over $125M (Kurt Wagner/Bloomberg)