SK Hynix tops Samsung as US unlocks Iran oil

SK Hynix eclipsed Samsung to become South Korea's most valuable listed company, with a market cap of $1.35 trillion after a 340% share rally this year. The leap reflects the chipmaker's dominance in high‑bandwidth memory for AI systems, underscoring AI's reshaping of the semiconductor hierarchy.

The Treasury issued a 60‑day general license that lets Iran produce, sell and receive payment for crude and petrochemicals in U.S. dollars through Aug. 21, the broadest sanctions rollback since 1979. Analysts estimate the move could free 67 million barrels of stranded oil, delivering $8‑9 billion to Tehran and opening the door for renewed U.S. imports and Chinese purchases.

Beijing added MP Materials and USA Rare Earth to its export control list, halting Chinese dual‑use shipments to the two firms that anchor the U.S. mine‑to‑magnet supply chain. The move is a retaliation for recent U.S. restrictions on Chinese companies and could tighten global rare‑earth prices, pressuring domestic manufacturers and investors.

Apple shut down its Towson, Maryland store, the company’s first unionized location, citing declining mall traffic. Union leaders say the move is retaliation, raising doubts about the future of organized labor in Apple’s retail chain. The closure signals a rare contraction in Apple’s otherwise expanding footprint.

Jane Street has grown to 3,500 employees and is planning to add another 500 this year after pulling nearly $40 billion in trading revenue last year. The hiring spree spans trading, tech and research roles across its global offices, signaling the firm’s confidence in further expansion, including in digital assets.

Satya Nadella warned that a handful of AI firms could monopolize value creation, urging regulators and the public to demand broader access and cheaper models. He positioned Microsoft’s low‑cost AI suite as a counter to high‑priced frontier models, signaling a strategic push to dilute market concentration.

S&P Global says June factory layoffs hit the highest levels since the 2009 financial crisis, once Covid‑19 shutdowns are excluded. The index’s modest gain masks an inventory‑driven rally, suggesting weak underlying demand and rising cost pressures that could dent growth prospects.

Bank of America now foresees three 25‑bp Fed rate hikes in 2026, taking the benchmark to roughly 4.25‑4.5% after moves in September, October and December. The revision follows a jump in core PCE, solid job growth and rising oil prices, indicating the Fed’s patience is ending.

Alan Greenspan, the former Fed chairman who steered U.S. monetary policy for 19 years, died at 100 from Parkinson’s complications. His “irrational exuberance” warning and decades of influence shaped markets from the 1990s boom to the 2008 crisis, leaving a mixed legacy for policymakers today.

AbbVie agreed to buy Apogee Therapeutics for $10.9 billion cash, adding a pipeline that includes a half‑life‑extended IL‑13 antibody for atopic dermatitis and an anti‑TSLP combo for asthma. The deal expands AbbVie’s immunology footprint and targets multi‑billion‑dollar markets, boosting long‑term shareholder value.

Local opposition to hyperscale AI data centers is turning into a national bottleneck: over 100 towns have imposed moratoriums and 12 states are drafting statewide bans. The backlash stems from noise, energy spikes and water use, and politicians are now demanding federal limits. This could stall AI compute expansion and pressure tech firms’ growth plans.

Chinese open‑source models such as DeepSeek’s R1, Moonshot’s K2.5 and Alibaba’s Qwen are now matching top U.S. systems while costing roughly one‑seventh as much. Their free weights have made them the most downloaded AI models globally, prompting U.S. startups to switch and threatening the U.S.‑centric innovation pipeline.

LineShine, a CPU‑only supercomputer built in Shenzhen, clocked 2.198 exaflops on the HPL benchmark, seizing the top spot on the June 2026 TOP500 list. It is the first Chinese system to lead since 2017 and marks the first sustained exascale performance without GPUs, reshaping the US‑China high‑performance computing balance.