Sources: to hedge against Beijing approval risk, Nvidia is requiring Chinese customers to pay upfront for H200 chips, with no cancellations, refunds, or changes (Reuters) https://www.reuters.com/world/china/nvidia-requires-full-upfront-payment-h200-chips-china-sources-say-2026-01-08/
Ubisoft closes its mobile-focused Halifax studio weeks after majority of the workers voted to unionize, as CWA Canada says it is "demanding information" (Chris Kerr/Game Developer)
Microsoft's chief scientist Eric Horvitz warns that the US' cuts to academic research funding could push talent abroad and hand rivals an edge in the AI race (Financial Times)
Grok's website and app are being used to produce extremely graphic, sometimes violent, sexual imagery of adults that is far more explicit than images on X (Wired)
Chinese AI company Zhipu opened up 3.3% in its Hong Kong trading debut after raising ~$558M in its IPO at a valuation of about $6.55B (Yantoultra Ngui/Reuters) https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/chinese-tech-companies-led-by-zhipu-ai-climb-hong-kong-debut-2026-01-08/
Sources: OpenAI last fall set aside RSUs worth 10% of the company, which was valued in October at $500B; it has already awarded about $80B in vested equity (Sri Muppidi/The Information) https://www.theinformation.com/articles/openai-reserves-50-billion-stock-grant-pool