The popular AI framework Virtuals Protocol will host an in-person meet-up in Hong Kong on Friday, January 17.

Beating AI News (Dongcha) reports that last year, DeepSeek attempted to train its R2 model using Huawei Ascend chips but failed. The Financial Times previously disclosed issues with chip stability, inter-chip communication, and software support. Even with Huawei engineers on-site assisting, DeepSeek ultimately switched back to Nvidia chips to complete the training. Over a year later, the two parties have deepened their collaboration to include hardware design. The Information now reveals that Huawei engineers are permanently based at DeepSeek’s offices, integrating the practical demands of model training directly into the design of next-generation Ascend chips—including how to schedule computing tasks and transfer data between chips. At the end of September this year, DeepSeek open-sourced the Ascend version of TileLang, plus underlying tools for matrix computation, MoE expert communication, etc., to reduce the development work required for migrating models to domestic chips. However, getting the software to run is still a long way from full pre-training. Tens of thousands of chips need to operate continuously for weeks; any single chip failure or data transmission delay could slow down the entire cluster. Now, the two sides are starting to tackle these issues at the chip design stage. Huawei plans to prioritize allocating most of its supply of Ascend 960DT, set to be ready in Q1 2027, to DeepSeek rather than distributing it to other model companies. DeepSeek, for its part, is preparing to start pre-training as early as the end of this year using the 950DT. So far, related tests have used over 1,000 chips, but full pre-training may require tens of thousands, and some cluster management software remains incomplete. Meanwhile, DeepSeek is still seeking more Nvidia chips.

According to an official announcement, OKX will launch xNFLX USDC spot trading at 19:00 Beijing time on October 20.

According to Bitget market data, South Korea’s KOSPI index closed down 214.93 points on Tuesday, October 20, with a 3.73% decline, ending at 5553.08 points. Samsung Electronics fell 2.98%, while SK Hynix dropped 4.22%.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will close the public comment period for its "Regulation Crypto Assets" proposal on Tuesday. Unveiled in August, the proposal received approximately 140 submissions over the 60-day comment window, including 6 anonymous ones. Comments primarily focus on safe harbor provisions and issuance exemptions for assets under a certain value. The MiCA Crypto Alliance broadly supports the revisions to disclosure requirements, and recommends the SEC further define crypto asset-specific concepts and data structures.

Citrini analyst Jukan said that Tesla and SpaceX, both under Elon Musk, are advancing the Terafab semiconductor project in Texas, which is fully excluding Chinese suppliers. Due to the high cost of Japanese products, the project is shifting to South Korean suppliers, and requires Korean companies to offer quotes even lower than those from Chinese suppliers. On the opening day of SEMICON West 2026, Terafab visited around 10 South Korean companies' booths according to a pre-prepared list. Global equipment manufacturers Lam Research and Applied Materials have set up dedicated teams for Terafab. The analyst noted that the initial facility, with a monthly production capacity of about 100,000 wafers, is expected to be completed before 2030. For logic chips, Terafab is collaborating with Intel and in talks with TSMC; for memory chips, it is developing a separate process. An overseas equipment manufacturer representative said that Musk initially explored acquiring production lines from Intel, TSMC, and Micron, but was rejected, so he turned to cooperation instead. The level of push for this project is rare in the semiconductor industry. A South Korean partner company stated that even if questions are raised in the early morning on the U.S. East Coast, a response is usually received within 30 minutes to an hour, and engineers hold decision-making power. The collaboration approach is completely different from that of typical clients.

Xinhuo Group Chief Economist Fu Peng published an article noting that current U.S. stocks, represented by the S&P 500, are exhibiting a distinct market capitalization concentration bubble and severe market breadth divergence. "Weighted large-cap blue-chip stocks, supported by passive funds and crowded positioning, have propped up the broad index to stay relatively calm, while the vast majority of stocks across the market are actually undergoing deeper technical pullbacks. Market breadth is approaching its extreme tipping point, and the suppression of volatility could be broken at any time."