The US is preparing to ‌tell dozens of countries they must pick sides in the artificial intelligence race with China, warning they will be excluded from a US-led AI coalition if they also sign up for Beijing’s competing framework, reports Reuters citing a leaked internal memo.

Washington last year launched the Pax Silica initiative aimed at securing supply chains for AI models, semiconductors and critical minerals, amid a fierce technology rivalry with ​Beijing. About two dozen countries have joined, including Kazakhstan, a key potential source of critical minerals that has also joined China’s coalition, as well as close US allies ​such as Japan, Australia and South Korea.

The draft letter, prepared by the State Department, is addressed to the 35 signatories of a US “AI ⁠Opportunity Statement” signed in June, which includes members of the non-binding Pax Silica framework and other countries that have expressed a desire to align cooperation on AI with Washington. In July, ​Chinese President Xi Jinping launched a rival “World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization”, promoting his country’s open-weight technology as a challenge to US influence over the fast-moving sector. Kazakhstan is the only country so far known to have joined both initiatives, setting off alarm bells in Washington.

Chinese autonomous driving firm Pony.ai ​announced on Friday ‌plans to deploy more than 2,000 robotaxis in ​Europe under an ​expanded partnership with Uber, reports Reuters.

The ⁠collaboration, dating back ​to May 2025, is ​set to expand from the existing commercial robotaxi service ​in Croatia’s capital ​Zagreb to four unnamed cities ‌in ⁠Europe, according to a company statement.

No timeline was given for ​when ​the ⁠rollout would be completed. The tie-up’s expansion ​plan also includes ​the ⁠Middle East, the statement said, without providing ⁠further ​details.

MSCI is adding 33 companies to its MSCI China Index, including a cluster of semiconductor-related firms and AI developer Zhipu AI, reports Caixin. The comes as it is also deleting 32 stocks including China Vanke and numerous solar companies.

The latest reshuffle reflects a broader reordering of valuations in China’s capital market, with investor interest shifting toward AI and semiconductor supply chains and away from pressured clean-energy names and some autonomous-driving plays.

The changes are part of MSCI’s August quarterly index review and will become effective after the close of trading on August 31. Of the 33 companies being added, 31 are mainland-listed A-shares, most of them concentrated in semiconductor equipment, materials and electronics manufacturing.

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed banning the import and sale of drones made by Texas-based Anzu Robotics, citing the company’s technological ties to a restricted entity widely understood to be the Chinese drone maker DJI, reports Caixin.

In a notice, the FCC proposed barring Anzu from continuing to import and sell certain drones and remote controllers that had previously received equipment authorization. If adopted, the order would require the company to stop those activities within 30 days. The proposed ban would not affect consumers already using the devices and would not apply to imports and sales for federal government use, commercial testing or product development.

Founded in 2023, Anzu has said it is backed by US capital and that its servers, customer support, repair operations and data storage are all based in the United States. According to the FCC, publicly available information shows that Anzu’s products are manufactured in Malaysia by an entity that has a technology-sharing or licensing arrangement with a company named in Section 1709 of the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act—which refers to two companies, DJI and Autel Robotics.

Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp (YMTC) has broken into the world’s top three NAND flash memory suppliers by volume for the first time, reports the South China Morning Post. The move marks a milestone for China’s semiconductor ambitions as it strives to narrow the revenue gap with global rivals in high-value data-centre storage.

The Wuhan-based chipmaker captured 14% of global NAND bit shipments–a measure of total storage capacity shipped rather than total chip units–in the second quarter, narrowly overtaking Japan’s Kioxia, according to data from Counterpoint Research published on Wednesday. Samsung Electronics retained the global lead with a 25% market share, while SK Hynix–including its Solidigm subsidiary–was second at 22%.

YMTC’s shipments climbed 22% year on year and 5% quarter on quarter, driven by expanding supplies to domestic electronics manufacturers and the increased production of its latest-generation 3D NAND architecture, Counterpoint said.