AMD Announces Acquisition of AI Inference Chip Firm Taalas, Strengthening Its Inference Market Footprint

Network security firm Cloudflare released its Q2 financial results and raised its full-year profit forecast, projecting adjusted earnings per share (EPS) for 2026 to range from $1.25 to $1.26, up from the prior guidance of $1.19 to $1.20 and exceeding Wall Street analysts’ consensus estimate of $1.20. The company’s second-quarter performance also beat market expectations. Cloudflare noted that as AI applications expand rapidly, corporate demand for network infrastructure and security services continues to grow. CEO Matthew Prince stated that the internet is shifting toward AI answer engines and agent-driven business models, with machine-to-machine traffic reshaping the network ecosystem. Back in May this year, Cloudflare announced it would cut roughly one-fifth of its workforce while advancing its AI agent-first strategy.

The U.S. July non-farm payrolls report will be released at 20:30 Beijing time today, with Wall Street firms forecasting a wide range of 18,000 to 83,000 jobs added, showing massive divergence. A Dow Jones survey puts economists’ average forecast at 83,000 new jobs, with the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.2%; Bank of America projects around 80,000, while Vanguard forecasts just 18,000. Such a broad forecast range reflects highly inconsistent signals from the current labor market. Market participants believe that if the final data deviates significantly from expectations, sharp volatility could hit stock, bond and dollar markets. The unemployment rate remains a core variable for the Federal Reserve. Bank of America economist Aditya Bhave noted that if household employment data is strong, the unemployment rate could stay at 4.2%, but if the labor force participation rate rises, the rate may edge up slightly to 4.3%. If the data shows the labor market is "all clear", the Fed could raise interest rates up to three times this year, but the federal funds futures market is currently pricing in only one rate hike this year. After Fed Chair Walsh abandoned forward guidance, the market lacks clear policy direction, and economic data has grown in importance, becoming the decisive factor in pricing the Fed’s future interest rate path.

According to Bitget market data, South Korea’s KOSPI index turned negative during intraday trading, down 1.4%. SK Hynix fell more than 4.5%, while Samsung Electronics rose 0.6%.

Bitcoin miner MARA released its second-quarter 2026 financial report. Revenue totaled $175 million, a 27% year-over-year decline; net loss amounted to $611 million, with adjusted EBITDA coming in at a negative $361 million. End-of-period computing power rose 22% year-over-year to 70.3 EH/s, Bitcoin production increased 3% YoY to 2,422 coins; Bitcoin holdings decreased 29% YoY to 35,577 coins; the combined value of cash and Bitcoin stood at approximately $2.5 billion.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Koo Kwang-mo, chairman of LG Group, will hold a face-to-face meeting with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang in Silicon Valley, U.S. next week to deepen their cooperation in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and robotics. The meeting comes roughly two months after the two executives’ earlier gathering in Seoul in early June. Sources familiar with the matter said the two sides are expected to discuss potential investment scale and technology development timelines. During their June 8 Seoul meeting, Huang announced that NVIDIA would partner with LG Group on humanoid robots and next-generation data centers. Koo noted at the time that detailed discussions could not be held due to time constraints, prompting Huang to invite him to California for follow-up talks. The Silicon Valley meeting is a continuation and deepening of the Seoul discussions. LG Electronics, an LG Group subsidiary, has already carried out multiple collaborations with NVIDIA in AI data centers and robotics. This direct top-level dialogue will establish a specific framework and roadmap for the two sides’ strategic cooperation in AI infrastructure and robotics.

On-chain analyst Ai Yi (handle @ai_9684xtpa) has detected that the hacker who previously targeted the prominent MEV bot Jaredfromsubway.eth, inflicting over $7.5 million in losses, has resumed activity after a month. Ten hours ago, the hacker spent their remaining 2.44 million DAI to buy 1,277 ETH, and it is speculated they will next mix the funds via Tornado Cash—this is also the hacker’s last pending on-chain fund.