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AI news flash: Japan’s share of core AI technology patents has shrunk dramatically over the past two decades, dropping from 25% of the global total to just 8%, driven mainly by the US and China’s dominance in breakthrough AI technologies and related fields. In core areas like AI mechanisms and foundational technology, Japan now ranks just fourth in patents, behind China, the US, and South Korea — a clear sign that Japan has fallen behind these three major competitors in the AI patent race. See the full story below.

AI news brief: Bitdeer AI, the AI cloud computing subsidiary of Taipei-based Bitcoin miner Bitdeer, has signed a five-year contract with an undisclosed but creditworthy customer covering roughly 50% of the capacity at its Malaysia A102 facility, with the deal locked in before the facility even goes live. The agreement is expected to bring Bitdeer around $400 million in total revenue, with related revenue and costs recognized starting Q1 2027 when service…

AI News Brief: major exchanges like Binance and others are gradually opening up crypto markets to autonomous AI agents, with different players taking different strategic paths. Kraken launched an AI investment assistant in July that monitors markets and recommends trades based on users’ financial goals and risk preferences, but still requires user approval before execution—an ‘assisted decision, human gatekeeper’ model. OKX is going further, launching a beta marketplace where AI agents can find work opportunities on their own, trade with each other, and even…

AI news flash: OpenAI has launched a new blog series called ‘AI Futures,’ focused on exploring how transformative AI might reshape power structures, government governance models, economic systems, and individual freedom. The series positions itself as OpenAI’s long-term platform for public reflection, using ongoing articles to explore the key questions society needs to think through as AI capabilities keep advancing.

Korean startup Onerve combined AI with electronic medical records to cut the prep time for a single dose of Korean herbal medicine from 300 minutes to 5, winning a CES Innovation Award and raising 6.2 billion won. But the real story isn’t speed - it’s that they only automated the repeatable, standardizable part of manufacturing while leaving diagnosis and prescription judgment to the Korean medicine doctor. That’s exactly the right division of labor for bringing AI into any traditional industry.

AI news brief: Bitcoin mining companies are pouring big money into AI and high-performance computing (AI/HPC), but there’s still a massive gap between capital deployed and actual revenue. According to BlocksBridge Consulting’s latest Miner Weekly report, 15 public bitcoin miners and AI data center companies posted combined capex of $30…

AI News Flash: On 8/20, Binance launched its Agent OS platform, letting AI agents analyze markets and execute trades on users’ behalf — the first time the world’s largest crypto exchange (over 300 million registered users) has brought autonomous AI directly into fund management. The platform connects to Binance’s existing APIs, Wallet Agentic Hub, x402 transaction verification and payment facilitation APIs, and Skill Hub, plus adds new support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP)…

AI News Flash: Alibaba Group’s Q1 FY2026 earnings (quarter ended June) show net profit down 75% year-over-year to RMB 10.44 billion (about $1.55 billion), missing market expectations. The sharp profit decline is driven mainly by the company’s continued heavy capital spending on AI, with capex up 75% year-over-year as the group builds ahead of expected growth in AI agent demand, while also facing rising chip procurement costs.

AI news flash: TSMC’s stock has topped NT$2,300 per share, more than 40x above the average NT$55 entry price paid by an Apple supply chain executive who bought in 20 years ago on conviction about TSMC’s importance to global tech, and has held ever since — a $200,000 original stake now worth over $27 million (roughly NT$840 million). The piece also notes a senior executive at a TSMC equipment supplier is planning a week-long family vacation in Europe, flying business class and staying in five-star suites running $6,300 a night, a sign the wealth effect from the AI hardware supply chain is spreading.

AI News Brief: Stripe confirmed Wednesday it’s acquiring OpenRouter for $7.05 billion, far above the company’s $1.3 billion valuation from this past May. According to The New York Times, the founding team alone will pocket $1.5 billion from the deal — more than the company’s entire valuation just three months ago — while the remaining $6 billion goes to investors. Stripe reportedly beat out other bidders, including Databricks, to land the fast-growing startup.