Huawei alumni have become one of the strongest fundraising groups in China’s embodied intelligence sector this year, according to incomplete data cited from ITjuzi. From Jan. 1 to Aug. 14, 2026, 12 embodied AI companies founded or co-founded by entrepreneurs with Huawei backgrounds completed 24 financing rounds, with total funding estimated at roughly 8.635 billion yuan. The pace was heavily concentrated in early stages, with 9 angel rounds, 5 seed rounds and 5 Pre-A rounds, meaning more than 80% of the deals landed before companies had spent much time in market. Capital was also concentrated at the top. X Square Intelligence, founded less than two years ago by former Huawei autonomous driving CTO and chief scientist Chen Yilun and former Baidu intelligent driving executive Li Zhenyu, closed a $455 million Pre-A round in April, described in the report as the largest single financing round in China’s embodied intelligence industry. Kunlunxing Robotics also raised funding worth tens of billions of yuan, and the two companies together accounted for about 70% of the Huawei-linked total. Other names highlighted in the report include Ola Wanxiang, Knowin Intelligence, Gunao Panshi, Beta Infinite, Moxi Intelligence, Moushen Intelligence, Yuansheng Intelligence, Xinzhi Jushen, Zhicheng AI and Qiwu Technology.

CoreWeave reported fiscal 2026 second-quarter results after the U.S. market closed on Aug. 12, with its stock rising about 15% in after-hours trading. The quarter was not described as a major beat on headline revenue, which came in at nearly $2.58 billion, up 112% year over year and roughly in line with expectations. What stood out instead was the change in operating trends: active power reached 1,500MW, a net addition of 500MW from the prior quarter and well above market expectations of 250MW to 300MW, while capital expenditure climbed to $9.4 billion as deployment accelerated. The report also pointed to an early recovery in profitability. The article said CoreWeave’s “real” gross margin, defined there as revenue minus cost of revenue and Tech & Infra expense, rose to 7.3%, up 3 percentage points from the prior quarter’s low. Adjusted operating margin improved to 5% from 1%. Meanwhile, net debt approached $27.3 billion, but debt ratios and average borrowing costs moved lower on a relative basis. Management also said it had locked in more than $14 billion in cumulative equity and debt funding sources. Guidance remained central to the bullish reaction. Based on the midpoint, next-quarter revenue is expected to reach $3.53 billion, implying 158% growth, while adjusted profit is guided to $230 million. The company also raised its full-year fiscal 2026 outlook, with the article calculating implied fourth-quarter revenue at $4.3 billion to $4.9 billion and adjusted operating profit at $610 million to $740 million.

Wall Street turned cautious ahead of the U.S. July nonfarm payrolls report, with the three major stock indexes ending lower, Treasury yields climbing and the dollar testing the 100 level. Oil jumped after Iran advanced a draft rule for transit in the Strait of Hormuz, while LME copper neared historic highs after the Democratic Republic of the Congo moved to ban exports of copper-cobalt concentrates. At the same time, investors reassessed AI-related spending and guidance risk after sharp sell-offs in application software and memory names. The market is also watching a widening split in payroll forecasts, ranging from 18,000 to 83,000 new jobs. That dispersion has raised the stakes for Friday’s data as traders weigh the odds of a September rate hike. St. Louis Fed President Musalem said the probability of inflation staying above target has increased and signaled support for higher rates, while the Financial Times reported that Warsh could also push for a September hike if inflation runs hot in coming weeks. Within equities, SpaceX and several space-linked names outperformed, while Western Digital, SanDisk, AppLovin and Datadog were hit hard after earnings-related disappointments. Alphabet’s $25 billion bond sale, backed by roughly $115 billion in orders, added to supply pressure in long-dated Treasuries and sharpened concerns over how AI infrastructure spending may weigh on free cash flow.

Proof of Play said on Tuesday it is shutting down, saying it could not build a product and sustainable business that proved its blockchain-gaming thesis at scale. The studio is open-sourcing as much of its code and art as possible, including the Pirate Nation Unity app, smart contracts and an internal agent workflow tool on GitHub. Founder Pirates NFTs, Pirate Nation artwork, IP and logos are being released under CC0. The PIRATE token was trading around $0.001285 on Wednesday, up 10% in 24 hours, while Shiba Story Go! has been acquired by a third party and will continue independently.

U.S. markets split sharply overnight as the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.49% to log a third straight record close, while the Nasdaq fell 0.83% and the S&P 500 slipped 0.17% under pressure from weaker technology shares. Gold was the standout move, with spot prices jumping more than 4.2% in a single session, the biggest daily gain in five months, reclaiming the 50-day moving average and breaking above $4,300 an ounce for the first time since June 18. Bloomberg analyst Cameron Crise said the move ran far outside traditional models and pointed to concentrated CTA short-covering around the $4,200 level, combined with reduced long positioning by managed funds. Central bank buying remained a key support, with World Gold Council data showing record net purchases in the second quarter, including 51 tons by Poland and 33 tons by China. In equities, Nvidia rose 3.43% for a fifth straight gain, but AMD, Google and SpaceX fell sharply. SanDisk and Western Digital also dropped after hours as strong reported results were overshadowed by softer-than-expected forward guidance tied to elevated expectations for the AI storage cycle.

Web3 game developer Proof of Play said on Aug. 5 that it is ceasing operations. The team said it once believed blockchain games could drive the next generation of the decentralized internet, but failed to build a product that could validate that idea at scale or sustain the business. As part of the shutdown, Proof of Play will open-source what it can, including the Pirate Nation Unity app and Pirate Nation smart contracts. Founder Pirates NFTs, Pirate Nation artwork, intellectual property and branding have been released under a CC0 license. The Pirate Nation Foundation remains independent and will keep supporting the PIRATE token, with its website still running. Proof of Play points will not be redeemable for anything. Shiba Story Go! has been acquired by a third party and will operate independently. Proof of Play, a blockchain gaming startup, raised a $33 million seed round in September 2023, co-led by a16z and Greenoaks.

U.S. stocks finished last Friday with a V-shaped rebound, but the late-session rally did little to change what was still a weak month for risk assets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.53%, the S&P 500 gained 0.70%, and the Nasdaq climbed 1.00% on the day. For July, however, the S&P 500 was essentially flat, marking its weakest July since 2014, while the Nasdaq fell 3.2%, its worst July performance since 2004. Outside equities, oil sold off sharply after Donald Trump said he had canceled a planned new military strike on Iran following requests from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, while OPEC+ agreed to lift September production quotas by 188,000 barrels per day. WTI crude dropped more than 8% at the Monday open and briefly fell below $78 a barrel. Gold, by contrast, edged up 0.91% in July and was trading near $4,050 an ounce after a roughly 30% pullback from its January peak. Markets were also digesting confirmed joint U.S.-Japan currency intervention that pushed USD/JPY below 156, as well as rising long-end Treasury yields, with the 30-year yield near 5.281%, the highest level since July 2007. In technology, de-leveraging continued across semiconductors and memory, but cloud names surged. Microsoft, Amazon and Google added nearly $1.5 trillion in combined market value last week, pointing to a clear rotation toward companies seen as converting AI spending into cash flow more effectively.

The CLARITY Act, passed by the House, faces a Senate markup in mid-April. Missing the May window could delay crypto regulation to 2027. Stablecoin yield limits already triggered 20% drop in Circle and 10% in Coinbase, while DeFi rules remain vague.