Nvidia assists DeepSeek while Google releases playbook

Key Takeaways

• China's tech giants (Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu) are investing billions in domestic AI chips to counter U.S. sanctions and reduce reliance on foreign technology.
• Chinese startups like Moore Threads, MetaX, Biren, and Enflame, along with Huawei (Ascend 910B), are rapidly developing AI chips to compete with Nvidia.
• A U.S. lawmaker alleges Nvidia provided "optimized co-design" assistance to China's DeepSeek, whose AI models were later used by the Chinese military.
• Enterprise AI leaders are shifting focus from AI capabilities to real-world results and outcomes, as seen with Salesforce's Agentforce and Conga.
• NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang describes AI as the largest infrastructure buildout in history, with over $100 billion invested in AI-native startups globally in 2025.
• Sharing AI product skills within companies enables faster prototyping and innovation, allowing individuals to quickly design and validate AI ideas.
• Google is actively selling its AI and cloud services to U.S. cities, releasing a "Mayors AI Playbook" and competing with Microsoft, Anthropic, and OpenAI for government contracts.
• CrowdStrike achieved ISO/IEC 42001:2030 certification for its AI security management system, covering its Falcon platform and Charlotte AI.
• Oracle partnered with TikTok US as a managing investor and security provider, offering cloud infrastructure and data governance to separate U.S. operations from ByteDance.
• The U.S. and China are in a fast-paced competition for AI leadership, with China rapidly catching up in compute power and research despite U.S. restrictions.

China pushes to build its own AI chips

China's tech giants like Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu are investing billions to create their own AI chips. This move aims to free them from U.S. sanctions that limit access to advanced semiconductor technology. Developing domestic AI hardware is crucial for China to overcome these barriers and become a global AI leader. This aggressive push could change the global semiconductor market and challenge companies like Nvidia and AMD. China wants to control the entire AI value chain, from hardware to software.

Lawmaker says Nvidia helped DeepSeek AI used by China military

A U.S. lawmaker, Representative John Moolenaar, stated that Nvidia helped China's DeepSeek improve its AI models. These models were later used by the Chinese military. Nvidia's technical help, including "optimized co-design," allowed DeepSeek-V3 to train with fewer H800 GPU hours than typical U.S. models. Nvidia's H800 chip was sold in China before U.S. export controls in 2023. Moolenaar's committee found that Nvidia treated DeepSeek as a commercial partner in 2024, before public links to the military were known.

China's "four dragons" push new AI chip development

China is seeing a rapid rise in home-grown AI chip companies, aiming to compete with Nvidia. Four startups, called China's "four dragons" Moore Threads, MetaX, Biren, and Enflame, have recently gone public or filed to. These companies, along with established firms like Huawei, are working to reduce China's reliance on U.S. technology. Experts note that Huawei's Ascend 910B chips are performing almost as well as Nvidia's A100. China also has a major advantage in energy production, which is crucial for powering AI development.

Sharing AI skills boosts company innovation

Sharing AI product skills across a company can lead to more innovation. AI Product Manager Jyothi Nookula explains that building AI products no longer requires huge teams or massive funding. Now, a single person with the right skills can prototype an AI product quickly. AI products can interpret unstructured information, classify data, personalize experiences, and even act proactively for users. Teaching these skills helps product managers design and validate AI ideas faster, combining deep industry knowledge with new AI possibilities.

Top AI leaders now focus on results not just AI

Many enterprise AI leaders are changing how they talk about artificial intelligence. Instead of focusing on AI's capabilities, they now emphasize the real-world results and outcomes it delivers. This shift comes as "AI fatigue" grows due to market saturation. Companies like Salesforce, with its Agentforce, initially highlighted AI's power, but now the focus is on benefits like faster resolution times and reduced friction. Dave Osborne, CEO of Conga, treats AI as a "digital assistant" to support existing workflows, not to take center stage.

CrowdStrike earns top security certification for AI

CrowdStrike has achieved ISO/IEC 42001:2030 certification for its AI security management system. This makes CrowdStrike one of the first cybersecurity companies globally to meet this new standard. The certification covers all parts of its Falcon platform, including CrowdStrike Endpoint Security, Falcon Insight XDR, and CrowdStrike Charlotte AI. An independent audit checked the company's AI governance, policies, risk management, and development practices. CrowdStrike President Michael Sentonas stated this validates their responsible approach to developing and operating AI.

Oracle partners with TikTok US for cloud and security

Oracle has become a managing investor and security partner in a new U.S. based TikTok joint venture. This deal aims to separate TikTok's U.S. operations from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, due to national security and data privacy concerns. Oracle will provide cloud infrastructure and data governance services for TikTok's U.S. data. This partnership could boost Oracle's cloud business against rivals like AWS and Microsoft Azure, and highlight its AI and security technologies. The venture's success depends on navigating competition and a complex regulatory environment.

Chub AI offers unfiltered character chat experience

Chub AI is a character chat interface and library, not an AI model itself. It allows users to connect their chosen AI "brain" or Large Language Model (LLM) through an API for unfiltered interactions. Popular connections include KoboldAI, OpenAI, Janitor AI, and NovelAI. Chub AI provides a massive library of user-created character sheets and supports NSFW content. While the platform is free to use, users must pay for their own backend API access or run a local AI model. It is best for unfiltered role-play and deep character customization.

US and China battle for AI leadership

The U.S. and China are in a fast-paced competition to lead in artificial intelligence. While the U.S. currently leads in most AI metrics, China is rapidly catching up. Compute power, or access to AI chips, is a major factor, with U.S. restrictions impacting China. However, new export rules could boost China's AI capabilities. China also produces more top AI researchers and has a significant advantage in energy generation, which is crucial for powering AI training. Despite Chinese LLMs lagging behind U.S. models, the gap is closing.

Google helps cities adopt AI with new playbook

Google is actively working to sell its AI and cloud services to cities across the U.S. The company released an updated "Mayors AI Playbook" to guide cities on how to implement and scale artificial intelligence. This playbook helps local leaders build an "AI-ready city" by covering governance, staffing, and procurement. It also provides examples of AI in action, such as multilingual communications and modernizing call centers. Google's competitors, including Microsoft, Anthropic, and OpenAI, are also vying for government contracts. Cities like NYC, Miami, and San José are already using AI to save time and improve services.

WVU seeks campus views on AI impact

West Virginia University (WVU) is gathering feedback on how artificial intelligence affects its campus community. Aldo Romero, director of WVU Research Computing and a physics professor, is leading this effort. He created an anonymous feedback form to understand how faculty, administrators, and students perceive and use AI. This initiative aims to support colleagues and students as they navigate AI's opportunities and challenges in teaching, learning, and research. A summary of the responses will be shared with the community in March.

Jensen Huang calls AI biggest infrastructure project

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang stated at the World Economic Forum that AI represents the largest infrastructure buildout in human history. He described AI as a five-layer stack, starting with energy and moving up through chips, cloud data centers, AI models, and applications. Huang believes the real economic value and job creation will come from the application layer. Investments in AI-native startups exceeded $100 billion globally in 2025. This massive transformation requires significant investment across all layers to support its growth and impact on various industries and job markets.

Sources

• China’s next AI shock is hardware
• Exclusive: Nvidia helped DeepSeek hone AI models later used by China's military, lawmaker says
• China’s next DeepSeek moment could come from a group of AI chipmaking 'dragons'
• Can Democratizing AI Product Skills Lead To More Company Wide Innovation?
• Why Serious Enterprise AI Leaders Have Stopped Talking About AI
• CrowdStrike achieves ISO certification for AI security
• Oracle’s TikTok US Stake Reframes Cloud, AI And Security Story
• Análise do Chub AI (2026): O que saber sobre esta IA de personagem sem filtros
• 6 Graphs That Show Who’s Really Winning the US–China AI Race
• Exclusive: Inside Google's push to sell AI to cities
• Share your perspectives on AI
• AI Is the Largest Infrastructure Buildout Ever—Are Investments Keeping Up?