Top Stories This Morning: U.S. Strikes Iran, AI Helps Samsung, EU to Tighten Oversight of ChatGPT

The U.S. has resumed massive strikes on Iranian targets in response to Tehran’s missile attack on American forces in the region. Samsung Electronics reported record quarterly profits, exceeding analysts’ forecasts thanks to high demand for memory for AI servers. The European Union is preparing to designate ChatGPT and Roblox as “very large online platforms,” which will require the companies to comply with stricter requirements for content moderation and transparency. Read about these and other topics in our roundup of key events as of the morning of July 30.

The U.S. military launched a new wave of strikes against dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets in Iran in response to Tehran’s missile attack on U.S. forces in the Middle East, according to CNBC. The strikes targeted command centers, missile and drone infrastructure, and coastal defense systems. Against this backdrop, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned of the risk of further escalation of the conflict in the region.

The escalation once again fueled a rise in oil prices: Brent was trading near $91 per barrel, while WTI stood at $84.6. Analysts are warning of risks of disruptions to oil supplies and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, although the expected increase in OPEC+ production in September could partially offset a potential supply shortage.

Samsung Electronics posted a record operating profit of 89.5 trillion won in the second quarter, exceeding analysts’ expectations, while revenue fell slightly short of those expectations at 171.5 trillion won ($118.7 billion), according to CNBC. On the back of the strong earnings report, the company’s stock rose 8% but then lost nearly all of its gains. The main drivers were strong demand for memory for AI servers and record sales of DRAM and NAND chips.

The company has increased its investment in the production and development of next-generation HBM4 memory, anticipating that the industry-wide supply shortage will persist at least through 2027. Samsung also announced agreements with the world’s five largest data center operators and negotiations with five other major customers, and confirmed plans to expand its business in the fields of AI and robotics.

OpenAI, with ChatGPT, and Roblox could be designated as “very large online platforms” as early as August (VLOP) under the European Digital Services Act (DSA), after their number of monthly users in the EU exceeded 45 million, Bloomberg reports, citing sources. This means stricter requirements for content moderation, publishing transparency reports, risk assessment, and measures to mitigate risks.

Companies face fines of up to 6% of their annual global revenue for violating the DSA. The law is aimed, in particular, at strengthening the protection of children online, and its requirements have already led to investigations into more than a dozen platforms and fines for X and the e-commerce service Alibaba.

Zhongji Innolight, a Chinese company that manufactures optical components for AI data centers, cloud services, and high-speed networks, made its debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, according to CNBC. The company raised 53.4 billion Hong Kong dollars ($6.8 billion) by offering shares at 980 Hong Kong dollars per share—below the upper end of the price range. This was the second-largest IPO in Asia this year, following the offering by Chinese memory chip manufacturer CXMT.

According to the prospectus, Zhongji holds a 21.2% share of the global market for optical components that enable high-speed data transmission between servers in data centers, the TV channel explains. The company will use the proceeds to fund research and development, expand its overseas manufacturing capacity, strengthen its supply chains, and make potential acquisitions.

— Japan's broad-based Topix index fell 0.8%, while the Nikkei 225 rose 0.8%.

— Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.2%, while mainland China's CSI 300 Index fell 1.4%.

— In South Korea, the KOSPI fell 1%, and the KOSDAQ fell 2.5%.

— Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.9%.

— Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.6%, S&P 500 futures rose 0.3%, and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 0.1%.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor