Iran Ceasefire Called "Life Support" by Trump, Strait Blockade Reaches 10 Weeks. Samsung Strike Window Approaching, AI Learns to Write Zero-Day Exploits, Three Crises Emerge Simultaneously.
1｜Trump Considers Resuming Military Action, April CPI Hits 3.8% Expectation
Iran's response handed over through a Pakistan mediator was deemed "large-scale life support" by Trump, who called Iran's latest nuclear proposal "garbage" on social media. Axios reported that Trump is discussing options to resume military actions with the national security team, with two officials indicating he is inclined to "put some pressure on them." The Strait of Hormuz has been substantially closed since February 28, now reaching a full 10 weeks, with the nationwide U.S. gasoline price surpassing $4.50 per gallon.
The White House had previously stated that pausing federal gasoline tax was "not under consideration," but Trump has now shifted to support this on the 11th. Market attention is more focused on the April CPI data (to be released at 8:30 on 5/12 Eastern Time), with economists expecting a year-on-year increase from 3.7% to 3.8%, higher than March's 3.3%. The tariffs that took effect on April 2 are starting to show in this data, with Fed research stating that tariff costs have now been fully passed on to consumers, and companies are no longer absorbing them. While the surface story is the escalation of the Middle East conflict, the underlying forces of tariffs, energy, and geopolitical pressures are all squeezing household spending simultaneously, tightening the central bank's room for interest rate cuts.
(Source: Axios / Fortune / Federal Reserve / U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics / Kiplinger)
2｜Samsung Strike Window Nears, Workers Demand AI Bonus Sharing, Global HBM Supply Chain Faces Pricing Risks
The Samsung strike window with the union from May 21 to June 7 has entered the "final negotiation" stage, with government intervention in mediation. The union is requesting to link performance bonuses to operating profit at 15%, contrasting SK Hynix's AI memory revenue-sharing model that distributed bonuses of up to $900,000 to semiconductor employees annually. Samsung's last one-time bonus of $340,000 to employees was rejected by the union, with 93% of union members voting in favor of the strike.
JPMorgan estimates that a full-scale strike could reduce Samsung's quarterly profit by up to 12%, with DRAM output declining by 3% to 4% and NAND decreasing by 2% to 3%. Additional 2-3 weeks would be needed for restart after the shutdown and line stabilization. The Pyeongtaek plant holds the HBM supply for global AI data centers. The market has already started pricing, with Micron up over 6%, Qualcomm up over 8%, Western Digital up over 7%, and NVIDIA hitting new highs. The tail of AI capital expenditure is turning into a labor negotiation chip. The dividend distribution of AI giants has extended from Silicon Valley executives to engineers in Seoul factories.
（Source: Tom's Hardware / Korea Herald / TrendForce / J.P. Morgan / 36Kr）
3 | Google Blocks First-Ever 'AI-Discovered' Zero-Day Vulnerability, 2FA Bypass Attack Intercepted Prior to Execution
Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) documented with "high confidence" the discovery of an attacker using an AI model to find and weaponize a zero-day vulnerability targeting a popular open-source server management tool. With valid user credentials, the attacker could bypass two-factor authentication using this vulnerability. This was intended for a "large-scale exploitation event," but Google notified the vendor and patched the vulnerability before the attack was carried out. The AI model used by the attacker was neither Google's Gemini nor Anthropic's Claude Mythos.
Prior to this, AI had only been used in the attack chain to generate phishing text and aid in reconnaissance, making AI directly discovering undisclosed vulnerabilities a paradigm shift. Google's simultaneous release of a "Threat Intelligence" report on the same day stated that criminal organizations are "driving innovation" in AI-enabled attacks. Also occurring the same week was the debut of OpenAI's Daybreak security AI, just one month after Anthropic introduced Mythos. While it may seem like a cybersecurity achievement on the surface, the underlying asymmetry in AI offense and defense has taken shape, with the attackers automating zero-day vulnerability exploitation ahead of defenders.
（Source: Bloomberg / CNBC / The Verge / Engadget / Google Threat Intelligence Group）
4 | OpenAI Outsources Enterprise AI Deployment to Private Equity, TPG Leads $4 Billion, PE-ization of Intermediary Layer Emerges
OpenAI announced the establishment of the OpenAI Deployment Company, with initial funding exceeding $4 billion (not the previously rumored $10 billion). TPG led the investment, with Advent, Bain Capital, and Brookfield serving as founding partners, and 19 investors participating in the multi-year collaboration. OpenAI holds the majority and controlling stakes in the new venture. The new company simultaneously acquired the 150-person AI deployment consulting firm Tomoro to serve as a Forward Deployed Engineer reserve, ready to be deployed to client enterprises from day one.
This is the first time OpenAI has separated enterprise sales and deployment from its core business. Sam Altman's rationale is to outsource the sale to Fortune 500 companies to those best at doing that. Concurrently, Nadella referred to the attempt to oust Altman as "amateur hour," with Microsoft's early investment in OpenAI aiming for a $92 billion return. An intermediary layer that connects OpenAI with large enterprises is taking shape. On the surface, it's a sales expansion, but at its core, OpenAI seeks to tap into the enterprise AI market using others' balance sheets.
(Source: OpenAI / The Information / Bloomberg / Constellation Research)
5 | Kuaishou Plans to Spin Off Kuailing AI in a $20 Billion Deal, Separating from ByteDance and Alibaba in the Video Generation Race
Kuaishou is planning to spin off its AI video business Kuailing into an independent company, aiming for an IPO in 2027 with a pre-IPO valuation of $20 billion. The parent company Kuaishou, with a market capitalization of around $25 billion in April, has seen Kuailing's valuation approach its total market cap. Kuailing generated revenue of $1.04 billion (about $153 million) in 2025, with January ARR already surpassing $300 million. Estimated monthly revenue in the second quarter is around $35 million, with an annualized revenue of over $4 billion.
Unlike Western platforms embedding video generation into large pre-trained models, top Chinese internet companies are unbundling video models into separate assets. Kuailing is directly competing with ByteDance's See Dance and Alibaba's HappyHorse. While it may seem like a fundraising move, at its core, China's AI video race has moved beyond the subsidiary business stage. While U.S. AI video companies are still tied to foundational model companies, China has chosen the path of spinning off video generation into standalone companies. Capital recognition of independent valuations is accelerating this divergence.
(Source: The Information / Caixin Global / Techmeme / Yahoo Finance)
Also Worth Knowing ↓
Saudi Aramco's Q1 Profit Jumps 25% YoY to $32.5 Billion, Key to Full East-West Pipeline Operation. The East-West Pipeline flows 7 million barrels per day, directly from the eastern coast to the Red Sea, completely bypassing the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's blockade of the strait has ironically allowed Saudi Arabia to sell more oil, weakening the negotiation leverage over time.
(Source: Fortune / The National / CNBC)
Michael Burry Warns of Tech Stock Bubble Echoing 2000 Peak. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surged over 10% in a week, up 65% YTD in 2026, with the Shiller CAPE reaching 40.1, nearing the peak of the dot-com bubble. Burry states, "It's AI all day, every day, and no one is talking about anything else."
(Source: Bloomberg / CNBC)
SoftBank's Masayoshi Son Considers $100 Billion Investment in AI Data Center in France. SoftBank has already invested over $30 billion in OpenAI and is in discussions with Macron, possibly set to announce at the Choose France summit. AI data center financing is transitioning from single-point projects to national joint ventures.
(Source: Bloomberg / Reuters)
The U.S. banking industry group escalated the stablecoin yield battle ahead of the Senate vote. The CEO of the American Bankers Association made a final push to tighten stablecoin yield restrictions. In the eve of the legislative vote, the capital allocation game between traditional banks and native crypto forces intensified. (Source: CoinDesk)
Mira Murati's Thinking Machines showcased a near-real-time AI voice-video conversational model. The company, founded by the former OpenAI CTO, revealed its product direction for the first time, demonstrating a model that can simultaneously process audio, video, and text and respond in real time. The competition focus shifted from being "smarter" to being "more human-like." (Source: The Verge / VentureBeat)
Apple enabled end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging for iPhone-to-Android communication in iOS 26.5. Encrypted conversations display a lock icon at the top of the chat. This marks the first truly closed-loop support from Apple after Google's years-long push for Apple to support RCS, transitioning the message interoperability between the two major mobile camps from "can send" to "secure." (Source: TechCrunch / The Verge)
GitLab announced layoffs, stating it is reallocating budget to ramp up growth for the "agent era." On the same day, General Motors laid off hundreds of IT staff to hire AI talent. "Lay off the old, hire AI" is becoming the standard rhetoric for tech companies. (Source: Bloomberg)
Cerebras Systems has raised its IPO target valuation to $4.8 billion, up from $3.5 billion. The AI chip company's IPO window continues to heat up, and the valuation enthusiasm in the secondary market for the computing power supply side has not cooled with the market adjustment. (Source: Bloomberg / 36Kr)
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