KOSPI plunges 4.5%·Samsung BioLogics acquires Polypeptide for $1.8B·Ebola deaths 930

Chinese AI startup Moonshot AI suspended new Kimi K3 subscriptions on July 20. The 2.8 trillion parameter MoE model launched July 16 achieved explosive popularity and reached GPU computing capacity limits. Existing subscribers can continue using the service normally.

Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) announced on July 20 it will deploy an AI SuperPOD based on the Nvidia DGX Vera Rubin NVL72 — first in the life sciences industry. It delivers up to 10x higher performance per megawatt vs. its predecessor for drug discovery research.

Moonshot AI's Kimi K3 ranked 3rd on the Artificial Analysis AI leaderboard after its July 16 launch. It features a 1 million token context window and native vision capabilities, ranking highly on front-end coding benchmarks.

Samsung Electronics America laid off more than 800 employees — 739 in New Jersey and over 100 in Texas — as it relocates its HQ from New Jersey to Plano, Texas. Some employees were offered relocation packages, but many were terminated.

When the EU Commission demanded access for third-party AI assistants under the DMA, Apple and Google refused, citing privacy and security threats. Apple stated it will not launch its new Siri in the EU.

Bloomberg reported that Gemini 3.5 Pro's launch was delayed months due to falling short of internal expectations, causing Alphabet's stock to plunge 4.4%. The company lost approximately $200 billion in market cap in one day.

Bloomberg reported that Microsoft trained its sales team at a new fiscal year strategy meeting to emphasize cost and security advantages of its MAI model compared to products from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google.

Enterprise AI platform Fireworks AI completed a $1.5B Series D led by Atreides Management, Index Ventures, and TCV, achieving a $17.5B valuation. It provides customized AI infrastructure to enterprise customers including Uber and Shopify.

General-purpose robotics developer Walden Robotics exited stealth with a $300M round led by Toyota and Deviation Capital. Valued at $1.1B, the company develops general-purpose robots for manufacturing and logistics.

AI drug discovery startup Chai Discovery raised a $400M Series C led by Index Ventures, with Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins participating. The company is valued at $3.8 billion.

Geopolitical risks heightened as the US launched additional strikes on Iran and Yemen forces declared a blockade on Saudi maritime routes. Oil rose 2% to break $80/barrel, while Nasdaq and S&P 500 were slightly up, but semiconductors fell ~20% from June highs.

The Federal Reserve's inflation outlook released July 20 contained unexpected warning signals. June CPI came in at 3.5% vs. an expected 3.8%, but some Fed officials mentioned the potential need for additional rate increases.

Intel announced additional layoffs as part of broad strategic restructuring. More than 5,000 employees have been laid off across California, Oregon, Arizona, and Texas locations.

A federal judge sided with 12 state attorneys general and issued a 14-day temporary restraining order on the Paramount-WBD merger, citing antitrust concerns over reduced competition in theatrical and cable markets. PSKY fell 1.1%, WBD fell 1.7%.

The US and Iran exchanged attacks for 6 consecutive days over control of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's Health Ministry officially stated that at least 50 people have been killed and over 500 injured by US air strikes since July 6.

Russia launched 41 ballistic missiles at Kyiv on July 19, killing at least 1 person and injuring 16. Seven large-scale air strikes have occurred this month, with Ukraine suffering a shortage of Patriot interceptor missiles.

The Philippine Senate impeachment court proceeded with day 7 on July 21, voting on searching VP Duterte's bank accounts and tax records. The NBI director appeared as the prosecution's final witness.

Monsoon rains caused floods and landslides devastating southeastern Bangladesh, killing at least 44 people and isolating over 1 million. Power, road, and communication networks were widely disrupted.

Microsoft fixed 570 vulnerabilities on July Patch Tuesday. The update included 2 zero-days actively exploited in SharePoint Server and Active Directory, with immediate updates strongly recommended.

A vulnerability chain using CVE-2026-60137 and other flaws enables unauthenticated attackers to fully compromise WordPress sites. Approximately 500 million sites worldwide are affected, requiring immediate patching.

Global accounting firm EY announced that a third-party vendor operating its IT support ticket system was breached, exposing customer information. Affected customers were individually notified.

Two hackers from the Scattered Spider group were sentenced to 5 years 6 months for the 2024 attack that disabled London Transport Authority (TfL) systems and affected 27,000 employees.

An atmosphere was confirmed for the first time around rocky planet LHS 1140b, 48 light-years away. Helium escape was detected, suggesting a stable atmosphere maintained for billions of years, opening new avenues for studying potential habitability.

Researchers successfully created cosmic dust in a glass tube simulating the space environment. Complex carbon molecules containing essential elements for life were detected in the generated dust.

Scientists determined that the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago was an extremely rare CO chondrite type originating from the outer solar system, providing new clues for research on asteroid origins.

Skyroot Aerospace's Vikram-1 rocket launched from Sriharikota on July 18 and reached a 450 km low Earth orbit in 17 minutes. India became the third country with a private company capable of orbital launches.

Ebola deaths in the DRC surpassed 930, with 37 additional deaths in 24 hours. With 2,344 confirmed cases, it achieved the fastest breakthrough to 2,000 cases on record, spreading across 5 provinces.

Immunomic Therapeutics, HLB's US subsidiary, dosed the first patient in the VITAL-TNBC Phase 1 trial of self-amplifying mRNA vaccine ITI-5000. The trial evaluates safety and immune activation as monotherapy and in combination with Keytruda.

The Indian Council of Medical Research's nationwide survey found 87.3% of Indian adults have abnormal lipid levels. Cardiovascular risk factors including high LDL and low HDL are widely prevalent across the country.

A federal judge issued a 14-day temporary restraining order on the Paramount-WBD merger on July 20, following antitrust lawsuits filed by 12 state attorneys general alleging harm to theatrical and cable market competition.

On July 19, BTS, Justin Bieber, Shakira, and Madonna performed an 11-minute 30-second halftime show at the FIFA World Cup final. BTS performed Dynamite while Bieber delivered an acoustic set.

The Esports World Cup 2026 PUBG division opened in Paris on July 21. This year's EWC moved from Saudi Arabia to Paris, with 25 competitions and over 2,000 players participating.

Microsoft added The Planet Crafter, a survival terraforming game, and several other new titles to Xbox Game Pass on July 21. SEED (MMO) and Dewdrop Dynasty also launched simultaneously on PC.

Meta announced the launch of a feature that immediately alerts parents when their children have self-harm or suicide-related conversations with Meta AI, rolling out in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada.

X launched an Ads Manager beta that lets advertisers ask the Grok chatbot directly about advertising strategy. The feature is seen as a precursor to Musk's goal of a fully automated AI advertising system.

X enhanced engagement bait detection using Grok AI and blocked monetization for accounts that have stolen others' content. The platform detected 15 million stolen posts in the latest enforcement cycle.

TikTok announced a global partnership with the NBA and WNBA. The partnership will provide exclusive in-app content and expand reach within the basketball fan community.

Iranian ship attacks have caused daily tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to plummet from 60-70 vessels to just 2. The US has struck over 140 Iranian military facilities, while the UN maritime organization called for restraint.

The Philippine Department of Energy implemented price increases starting July 21: gasoline +₱3.65/L, diesel +₱10.68/L, kerosene +₱11.77/L. The increases reflect disruptions to global energy supply chains from renewed US air strikes on Iran.

The European Commission unveiled its 'Electrification Action Plan' to double electricity's share of final energy consumption from 23% to 46% by 2040. The goal is to save 260 billion euros annually in fossil fuel import costs.

US wind and solar new project tax credits expired July 4, but a court restored a 5% safe harbor, allowing over 200GW of projects to secure grandfathered eligibility before the deadline.

Hyundai Motor, Kia, Hyundai Mobis, and Hyundai Glovis completed board approval and officially confirmed the complete acquisition of Boston Dynamics on July 20, matching SoftBank's put option deadline.

Waymo launched fully autonomous robo-taxi service in San Diego, Las Vegas, Tampa, and Denver. The company currently operates over 500,000 paid rides per week across 11 cities.

TrendForce's July 20 report analyzed the global humanoid robot industry transitioning from technology validation to commercial mass production, with intensifying US-China competition for supply chain dominance.

At Shanghai's WAIC 2026, SAIC Mobility unveiled a robo-taxi project targeting 2027 launch, while AgiBot showcased 4 new products including the A3 Ultra full-size humanoid.

Amazon (35.7%) and Shopify (14%) combined captured 49.7% of the US e-commerce market. This represents a sharp increase from approximately 43% in 2021, effectively surpassing the 50% threshold.

Starting July 1, a fixed 3 euro tariff per parcel is applied to packages under 150 euros imported into the EU. This affects 93% of all e-commerce logistics, and Chinese platforms are responding by expanding EU warehouse capacity.

Men's Wearhouse parent Tailored Brands filed for IPO and announced plans to open 500 additional stores by 2027, starting with 20 new locations this year — a turnaround after closing over 400 stores in 2020.

Online furniture and home retailers Wayfair and QVC launched July holiday-themed promotion campaigns. In the same week, RadioShack appointed a new managing director to lead its US business revival.

The FTC released a proposed policy that would define secretly manipulating AI system outputs as deception under Section 5 of the FTC Act. Public comment is being solicited through July 31.

Connecticut's amended data privacy law took effect July 1. The law classifies neural data including brainwaves as sensitive data requiring explicit consent and mandates disclosure of LLM training data usage.

Comprehensive privacy laws from 20 states — including Indiana, Kentucky, Rhode Island, and Arkansas — took effect in 2026. Enforcement focused on automated decision-making and consent mechanisms is intensifying pressure on businesses.

As of mid-2026, cumulative GDPR fines exceeded 7.1 billion euros, with over 60% of the total imposed since 2023. Individual enforcement continued in July, including penalties for Romanian bank data deletion delays.

Micron poured concrete for its semiconductor campus in Clay, New York, a quarter ahead of schedule. The company also announced plans to invest $250 billion in the US through 2035.

Virginia began imposing a 1.1-cent per kWh data center power consumption tax starting July 1. The state targets up to $600 million in annual revenue, with a 500MW facility facing approximately $48 million in costs.

Digital Realty acquired the Astra Enterprise Park site in Kansas City for approximately $475 million and signed contracts for 600MW by early 2028 and ultimately 2GW.

Blackstone subsidiary Airtrunk signed a memorandum of understanding to invest $21 billion in a 3GW AI data center near Mumbai in Raigad, Maharashtra.

The US Department of Education's final Workforce Pell Grants rule took effect July 20. Federal aid can now be used for short-term training programs of at least 8 weeks in high-demand occupations, with graduate income-based tuition caps mandated.

PwC's 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer found that AI-skilled workers' wage premium rose from 57% to 62% year-over-year. AI-specialized roles are being hired at twice the rate of non-specialized roles.

As of July, 25 companies announced 13,532 total layoffs, with Microsoft leading at 4,664. The impact of AI automation has been concentrated in software, cloud, and cybersecurity sectors.

Fortune analysis shows US remote work at 21.7% in June 2026, down only slightly from 2 years ago. Fidelity strengthened its policy by requiring many teams to return to five-day, in-office work starting September.

On July 20, KOSPI fell 4.5% to the 6,490 level as US-Iran military conflict escalated. Samsung Electronics (-4.4%) and SK Hynix (-3.3%) plummeted together, while Brent crude rose 3.2% to break through $80 per barrel.

Samsung BioLogics announced July 20 it will acquire Swiss peptide API company Polypeptide Group for 1.46 billion Swiss francs (approximately $1.8 billion) in an all-cash deal. The primary goal is to capture the GLP-1 obesity treatment ingredient market.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with North Korean Foreign Minister Choi Sun-hee at the Kremlin in Moscow on July 20. At FM Lavrov's invitation, the meeting included discussion of Kim Jong-un's potential visit to Russia.