China Approves Nvidia H200 Sales, SoftBank Eyes $30B OpenAI Investment, ASML Record Orders | January 29, 2026

Daily AI Blog

January 29, 2026

📋 Quick Takeaways

China approves Nvidia H200 chip sales to ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent for 400,000+ units, marking major shift in US-China tech relations

SoftBank in talks to invest $30 billion more in OpenAI, potentially pushing valuation to $830 billion

ASML reports record Q4 orders of $15.8 billion, more than doubling analyst expectations amid AI chip demand surge

Amazon announces 16,000 layoffs, the largest workforce reduction in company history combined with October cuts

Waabi raises $1 billion and partners with Uber to deploy 25,000 robotaxis

$700M+ in major AI startup funding across autonomous vehicles, enterprise AI, and cloud infrastructure

🌏 Geopolitics & Semiconductor Trade

China Approves Nvidia H200 Chip Sales to ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent

Major Breakthrough: China granted approval for its three largest tech companies to purchase more than 400,000 Nvidia H200 AI chips, marking a significant shift in Beijing’s approach to balancing AI advancement against domestic chip industry development.

Key Details:

ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent received purchase approvals
Approvals coincided with Jensen Huang’s visit to China
Chinese tech firms have placed orders for 2+ million H200 chips total
Conditions attached to approvals still being finalized
Some sources indicate licenses are restrictive, slowing conversion to purchase orders

Geopolitical Significance: The H200, Nvidia’s second most powerful AI chip, has emerged as a major flashpoint in US-China relations. Despite strong Chinese demand and US export approval, Beijing’s hesitation had been the main barrier to shipments.

Market Impact: The approvals suggest Beijing is prioritizing the needs of major Chinese internet companies investing billions in data centers to compete with US AI rivals like OpenAI.

Sources: Reuters | CNBC | Bloomberg

💰 Major AI Funding & Investments

SoftBank in Talks to Invest $30 Billion More in OpenAI

Massive Capital Deployment: SoftBank Group is negotiating to invest up to $30 billion more in OpenAI, which would form part of a funding round potentially raising $100 billion and valuing the company at approximately $830 billion.

Investment Context:

SoftBank already holds 11% stake after $41 billion December 2025 investment
Discussions are fluid; final amount may change
Amazon and Nvidia also in talks to participate
OpenAI’s annualized revenue surpassed $20 billion in 2025

Strategic Significance:

SoftBank recently sold its entire Nvidia stake ($5.8B) to fund AI bets
Both companies are stakeholders in Stargate, a $500B AI data center initiative
Reflects Son’s ambition to play central role in AI development

Market Reaction: SoftBank shares jumped 8.8% on the news before settling around 3.7% higher in Tokyo trading.

Sources: Bloomberg | Reuters | Wall Street Journal

ASML Reports Record $15.8B Q4 Orders, Raises 2026 Outlook

Semiconductor Bellwether: Dutch chip equipment maker ASML reported record fourth-quarter orders of €13.2 billion ($15.8 billion), more than doubling analyst expectations of €6.32 billion.

Financial Highlights:

Q4 orders: €13.2B (record) vs €7.1B year-ago
2025 net profit: €9.6B (+26.3% YoY)
2025 annual sales: €32.7B (+15.5% YoY)
2026 guidance raised to €34-39B (above €35B analyst estimates)

Key Drivers:

Surging AI chip demand from TSMC, Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron
EUV machine revenue expected to “significantly increase” in 2026
Memory chip shortage driving capacity expansion plans

Strategic Moves:

Announced 1,700 job cuts (3.8% of staff) as part of “Agility Initiative”
Plans €12 billion share buyback through 2028
Will stop publishing quarterly orders data to reduce volatility

China Exposure: China remained ASML’s largest market at 33% of 2025 sales (down from 41% in 2024), expected to fall to 20% in 2026 due to US-led export restrictions.

Sources: CNBC | Reuters | MarketScreener

🏢 Corporate AI Strategy & Restructuring

Amazon Announces 16,000 Layoffs in Historic Workforce Reduction

Major Restructuring: Amazon cut approximately 16,000 corporate jobs, the second round of mass layoffs in three months. Combined with October’s 14,000 cuts, this represents the largest workforce reduction in Amazon’s history.

Restructuring Details:

Focused on “reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy”
US-based employees given 90 days to find internal roles
Severance, outplacement services, and health benefits provided
Follows October restructuring announcement

Strategic Context:

Amazon expects $125B capital expenditures for 2026 (highest among megacaps)
Company redirecting resources toward AI infrastructure
CEO Andy Jassy: efficiency gains from AI likely to reduce corporate headcount
Tech giant has said it plans to use generative AI to replace corporate workers

Financial Position: Despite layoffs, Amazon reported strong Q3 2025 results with profits up nearly 40% to ~$21B and revenue exceeding $180B.

Sources: Amazon Blog | Bloomberg | CNBC

🚗 Autonomous Vehicles & Robotics

Waabi Raises $1 Billion, Partners with Uber for 25,000 Robotaxis

Historic Canadian Funding: Toronto-based autonomous vehicle startup Waabi closed a $750 million Series C round plus a $250 million milestone-based investment from Uber, totaling $1 billion—the largest fundraise in Canadian history.

Investor Lineup:

Lead Investors: Khosla Ventures, G2 Venture Partners
Strategic Investors: Uber, NVentures (Nvidia), Volvo Group Venture Capital, Porsche Automobil Holding, BlackRock, Radical Ventures, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority subsidiary

Partnership Details:

Uber to deploy 25,000+ Waabi-powered robotaxis exclusively on its platform
Marks Waabi’s expansion from trucking to passenger vehicles
Same AI “brain” powers both trucks and robotaxis

Technology Breakthrough:

“Physical AI Platform” using end-to-end AI model for autonomous driving
Simulation-first approach dramatically reduces capital needs
Part of “AV 2.0” generation using data-driven learning vs. hand-coded rules

Industry Quotes:

“Waabi has developed a truly groundbreaking Physical AI platform that represents a fundamental leap forward.” — Vinod Khosla, Khosla Ventures

“Self-driving is one of the largest and most important AI opportunities of our time.” — Jensen Huang, NVIDIA CEO

Sources: Fortune | TechCrunch | Globe Newswire

💼 Enterprise AI & Startup Ecosystem

Decagon Raises $250M Series D at $4.5B Valuation

Rapid Growth: AI customer support startup Decagon raised $250 million in a Series D round led by Coatue Management and Index Ventures, tripling its valuation to $4.5 billion just six months after its previous round.

Business Metrics:

Signed 100+ new enterprise customers in 2025
Serves travel, hospitality, finance, and retail sectors
Conversational AI automates service workflows across chat, email, and voice

Investor Participation:

Lead: Coatue Management, Index Ventures
Existing: a16z, Bain Capital Ventures
New: ChemistryVC, Definition Capital, Starwood Capital

Market Context: Enterprises are increasingly looking to AI to deliver personalized customer experiences at scale. Decagon’s platform uses natural language and code-level instructions to automate complex service workflows.

Source: Tech Startups

SK Hynix Reports Record 2025 Profit on AI Chip Demand

Memory Chip Boom: South Korean memory chip maker SK Hynix reported record full-year profit for 2025, driven by unprecedented demand for HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) and other AI-related memory semiconductors.

Market Dynamics:

Shares surged more than 5% following earnings
Memory chip shortage causing unprecedented price increases
Industry expects crunch to continue through 2027
Major memory makers planning significant capacity expansion

AI Infrastructure Impact: SK Hynix’s HBM chips are critical components in Nvidia’s AI accelerators, making the company a direct beneficiary of the AI infrastructure buildout.

Sources: CNBC

PaleBlueDot AI Raises $150M Series B for AI Cloud Infrastructure

Unicorn Status: Silicon Valley startup PaleBlueDot AI secured $150 million Series B funding led by B Capital, valuing the company at over $1 billion.

Platform Capabilities:

“Neocloud” for AI workloads
Enables enterprises to deploy dedicated AI clusters across multiple data centers
Lower cost than major cloud providers for training large models
Taps idle data center GPUs while adding proprietary hardware

Use of Funds:

Expand nodes in North America, Europe, and Asia
Enhance scheduling software
Address shortage of affordable, geographically distributed AI compute

Market Need: The funding addresses critical demand for elastic AI computing resources as enterprises scale model training beyond what traditional cloud providers can efficiently offer.

Source: Tech Startups

Cellares Secures $257M for Automated Cell Therapy Manufacturing

Biotech AI Milestone: Cell therapy manufacturing company Cellares raised $257 million to scale its automated cell therapy factory platform, representing a major intersection of AI and biotechnology.

Strategic Focus:

AI-driven automation for cell therapy production
Addresses critical manufacturing bottlenecks in personalized medicine
Enables faster, more consistent production of cellular therapies

Source: Tech Startups

Outtake Lands $40M to Combat Deepfake Impersonation Attacks

AI Security Focus: AI security startup Outtake raised $40 million to stop deepfake-enabled impersonation attacks, addressing growing concerns about AI-powered fraud and identity theft in enterprise environments.

Market Context: As generative AI capabilities advance, deepfake attacks have emerged as a critical security threat for businesses, particularly for video conferencing and identity verification systems.

Source: Tech Startups

Gyde Emerges from Stealth with $60M for Insurance & Wealth AI

Vertical AI Play: AI startup Gyde emerged from stealth mode with $60 million in funding to modernize insurance and wealth brokerage operations with AI-native automation.

Target Market:

Insurance operations automation
Wealth management workflows
Brokerage process optimization

Source: Tech Startups

🔧 AI Infrastructure & Supply Chain

Advantest Accelerates Semiconductor Test Equipment Production

Supply Chain Critical: Advantest announced it is accelerating production capacity for its semiconductor test equipment as AI spending continues to tighten the supply chain for critical manufacturing steps.

Industry Impact:

Test equipment represents a key bottleneck in AI chip manufacturing
Increased capacity signals continued acceleration of AI buildout
Supports TSMC, Samsung, and other foundries ramping production

Source: Tech Startups

Global Chip Stocks Rally on Multiple AI Tailwinds

Market Performance: Semiconductor stocks rallied broadly on January 28-29, driven by strong ASML earnings, China’s H200 approval, and SK Hynix’s record profit.

Stock Movements:

ASML: Initially surged 7%, settled with gains
Nvidia: Rose ~1.6% in premarket on China approval news
SK Hynix: Closed 5%+ higher after record profit announcement
Broader semiconductor ETFs: Posted significant gains

Investment Thesis: The rally reflects investor confidence in sustained AI infrastructure spending and resolving concerns about China market access for key chipmakers.

Sources: CNBC

📊 Market Impact Analysis

The convergence of geopolitical developments, record semiconductor orders, and massive AI investments signals a pivotal moment for the AI industry:

Category	Key Metric	Significance
Geopolitics	400K+ H200 chips approved for China	US-China AI competition enters new phase
Funding	$30B potential SoftBank investment	Largest single AI company investment ever
Semiconductors	$15.8B ASML orders	2x analyst expectations; AI demand validated
Workforce	16,000 Amazon layoffs	Big Tech restructuring for AI era
Autonomous	$1B Waabi raise	Robotaxi race accelerating

Key Observations:

Geopolitical Détente: China’s H200 approvals suggest pragmatic balancing of AI competitiveness vs. domestic chip industry goals
Capital Concentration: OpenAI potentially commanding $100B+ round shows AI leader-take-most dynamics
Infrastructure Validation: ASML’s record orders confirm AI capex cycle has years to run
Workforce Transformation: Amazon layoffs reflect broader tech industry AI-driven restructuring
Physical AI Emergence: Waabi’s billion-dollar raise signals autonomous vehicles entering mainstream deployment phase

🔮 Looking Ahead

Key Trends to Watch:

Final terms and conditions of China’s H200 import approvals
OpenAI funding round closure and valuation implications
ASML capacity constraints as orders surge
Autonomous vehicle deployment timelines (Waabi/Uber, Tesla, Waymo)
Big Tech workforce restructuring patterns

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Last Updated: January 29, 2026, 11:59 PM CST