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Techmeme
July 18, 2026, 2:10 AM
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New York Times:
Sources: Meta is in talks to rent computing power from its data centers to Anthropic in a deal that could be worth ~$10B over two years  —  A deal would underline how scarce computing power is for artificial intelligence development, and could create a new business for Meta.
Transformer:
Kimi K3 hype shouldn't alarm the US about “losing the AI race” to China; K3 is a good model but not frontier-level and likely lacks dangerous cyber capabilities  —  Transformer Weekly: NY data center moratorium, NDAA export controls and Amodei's $1m to safety super PAC
Gavin Baker / @gavinsbaker:
Models like Kimi K3, Grok 4.5, and Muse 1.1 may prevent the dominance of 2-3 frontier labs with 90% inference margins from hurting other AI ecosystem layers
Michael Nuñez / VentureBeat:
Kimi K3 takes #1 on the Frontend Code Arena benchmark, surpassing Claude Fable 5, and scores 88.3 on Terminal Bench 2.1, trailing only GPT-5.6 Sol's 88.8
Reuters:
Sources: Trump Media pitched a monthly fee of as much as $100K for the Truth API, with fast access to Trump's posts, for banks, algorithmic traders, and others  —  Donald Trump's social media company has discussed charging Wall Street traders and investment firms as much as $100,000 a month …
David Shepardson / Reuters:
Memo: the DOJ says federal employees can now download TikTok on government devices, citing TikTok US' transfer of control, lifting a 2022 congressional ban  —  The U.S. Justice Department said on Friday that federal employees can now download the short-video app TikTok on government devices.
Reuters:
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index sank ~10% for the week, its largest weekly fall in over a year, and is now down ~20% from its late-June all-time high  —  A brutal week for chip stocks — the same names that fueled this year's blistering market rally — has left investors from Seoul …
Claude / @claudeai:
Anthropic says Claude Fable 5 will be included in Max and Team Premium plans at 50% of limits from July 20 and via usage credits for Pro and Team Standard users  —  Beginning July 20, Claude Fable 5 will be included in all Max and Team Premium plans, at 50% of limits. Pro and Team Standard users will continue to have access to Fable via usage credits, and will receive a one-time $100 credit. Demand for Fable has been challenging to
Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple and the DOJ are in early discussions about settling a 2024 antitrust lawsuit alleging that Apple violated antitrust laws  —  Apple Inc. and the US Justice Department are in early discussions about settling a 2024 lawsuit that alleges the iPhone maker violated antitrust laws.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: AI inference chip startup Etched is raising funds at a ~$20B valuation and is raising capital at a $10B valuation in a separate round led by Sequoia  —  Startup is also raising capital at $10 billion valuation in separate round led by Sequoia  —  Etched, a startup developing AI chips …
Minxiao Chang / South China Morning Post:
China's National Data Administration says the country's daily AI token consumption hit 140T in March 2026, up from 100T in December 2025 and 100B in early 2024  —  Every month, a Beijing-based ByteDance employee says he burns through close to a billion units of a new corporate currency - one that cannot buy a coffee or pay rent.

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 2:10 AM ET, July 18, 2026.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

From Mediagazer

Finya Swai / The Hill:
In an unprecedented move, Reporters Without Borders calls for impeachment of FCC Chair Brendan Carr, accusing him of politically tinged investigations and more

Oliver Darcy / Status:
Sources: Mary Hager, senior executive producer of CBS News' Face the Nation and executive editor of politics, is leaving after over three decades at the network

Matt Donnelly / Variety:
A look at cost cutting measures at Skydance, as sources say the company is on track to cut nearly $3B, exceeding its original $2B target

More News

Robert Booth / The Guardian:
Amazon apologizes after some AWS users received bills as high as $1.5T due to “an issue with unit pricing within the estimated billing computation subsystem”

Earlier Picks

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple raises the price of Apple Music, with the individual plan up by $1 to $11.99, and some Apple One bundles, citing rising licensing costs
Matt Burgess / Wired:
San Francisco sends legal notices to Apple and Google, demanding they take down 13 AI apps used to make deepfake nude images; Google says it deleted five apps
Michael Acton / Financial Times:
Sources: Apple has sent personal legal warnings to ~40 former employees who now work at OpenAI, directing them to preserve documents and meet with its lawyers
Reuters:
At the World AI Conference, Xi Jinping touts open-source AI, pledges to help the Global South build AI capabilities, and calls unequal AI access an “injustice”
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