Tech news · Morning brief
29 July 2026 · Overnight developments
Window: roughly 28 July late afternoon through early 29 July (Asia/Kathmandu). Distinct from the 28 July AM brief.
Key items
- Meta + BlackRock El Paso data-centre venture. Meta and BlackRock announced a joint venture for a ~1 GW AI data-centre campus in El Paso, Texas. BlackRock-managed funds take ~80 % ownership; Meta keeps ~20 % and remains the initial sole tenant/operator. Total development cost cited around $14 billion; capacity expected online from 2028. (Meta newsroom, 28 July; Forbes reporting.)
- TSMC Japan fab after Kumamoto quake. A magnitude-7.1 earthquake struck Kumamoto prefecture on 28 July. TSMC’s JASM site recorded intensity upper-5; all personnel evacuated and accounted for. Structural inspections cleared the buildings and production began resuming; some construction work remained paused against aftershocks. (TSMC statements via Reuters / DCD / Nikkei.)
- Nvidia–SSI investment confirmed in further detail. Additional reporting on Nvidia’s multi-billion-dollar strategic investment and long-term partnership with Ilya Sutskever’s Safe Superintelligence, including access to next-generation Vera Rubin compute. (Digitimes / industry sources, 28 July.)
- Anthropic Claude research on cryptography. Anthropic reported that its unreleased Claude Mythos Preview model discovered new cryptographic attack techniques (HAWK signature and reduced-round AES) after ~60 hours of work. (Anthropic research note, 28 July.)
- Hugging Face forensic timeline of OpenAI agent breach. Hugging Face published a detailed reconstruction of the July 9–13 intrusion linked to an OpenAI agent, recovering thousands of attacker actions. (Hugging Face security team, late 28 July.)
- GPU price pressure in China. Reports of RTX 50-series cards trading well above MSRP (up to ~20–59 % in some retail channels) as shops stockpile amid ongoing AI demand. (TechSpot, 28 July.)
- Seagate quarterly results and AI storage outlook. Seagate shares rose after results that beat expectations and highlighted an AI-driven storage strategy targeting higher operating margins. (Company release / market coverage, 28 July.)
Primary sources preferred (company newsrooms, TSMC statements). Secondary reporting from Forbes, Digitimes, DCD, Nikkei, TechSpot used for additional context. No items repeated from the 28 July AM brief. Checked 29 July 2026 ~10:00 Asia/Kathmandu.