The White House has paused planned restrictions on China Telecom, TP‑Link routers, and Chinese hardware in U.S. data centers ahead of President Donald Trump's April trip to Beijing. The shift follows late‑2025 changes to Nvidia H200 sales and a January 2026 TikTok deal, while China's October 2025 rare‑earth export controls increased leverage. The Pentagon has invested $400 million in MP Materials to mitigate supply risks.

Alphabet on Tuesday sold a £1 billion sterling century bond maturing in 2126, attracting £9.5 billion in investor bids at a coupon of about 6%. Analysts warn the deal, part of a $20 billion multi-currency funding push tied to roughly $185 billion in planned AI and data center spending, echoes the borrowing surge seen before the 1990s dotcom and telecom busts. Some market observers see the wave of long-dated debt for AI infrastructure as a potential sign of overheating if future demand fails to match current investment.

In an update dated February 11, 2026, Meta said it will invest over $10 billion to build a data center in Lebanon, Indiana, and started construction. Separately, auditor Ernst & Young identified a $27 billion Louisiana joint venture as a "critical audit matter," with Meta's commitments and guarantees potentially reaching $45.95 billion.

Ahead of the Labor Department's January nonfarm payrolls release on February 10, 2026, JPMorgan's trading desk has laid out five market reaction paths tied to different job creation ranges. The bank sees 60,000-90,000 new jobs as the most likely "Goldilocks" outcome that could lift the S&P 500, while stronger or weaker readings may pressure equities and alter expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts. The report lands as the Dow trades above 50,000, small-cap and value shares outperform mega-cap tech, and Big Tech pursues hundreds of billions of dollars in planned AI spending despite a sharp selloff in software stocks.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported Tuesday that U.S. credit card balances rose to $1.28 trillion in Q4 2025, up $44 billion in three months and 5.5% year over year. A Monday survey and data pointed to higher delinquencies, with Achieve finding 55% of cardholders using credit for essentials. Trump proposed a temporary 10% cap on card rates, drawing opposition from major banks.

On February 8, 2026, Elon Musk said taking Tesla from its current $1.5 trillion market value to $100 trillion would require an extraordinary amount of work and luck. He linked this upside to robotaxis, Optimus humanoid robots, and expanding energy storage, while Wall Street forecasts multi‑trillion‑dollar markets for autonomous technology and robotics. Critics argue Tesla's valuation already prices in huge future success, pointing to regulatory setbacks and delays in robotaxi and Optimus deployments.

In early 2026, US technology shares fell on weak earnings and concern over massive AI capital expenditure, while Hong Kong-listed Chinese tech slid largely on sentiment spillover. Mainland Chinese investors used the downturn to increase positions in names like Tencent and Alibaba, attracted by lower valuations such as a 16x P/E for the KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF. At the same time, Chinese AI firms including MiniMax and Zhipu AI completed major IPOs in Hong Kong, drawing strong demand and underscoring the city’s push to become a leading AI listing venue.

Waymo's onboard software lead argued robotaxis must exceed human-level safety, rejecting Tesla's camera-only approach. Following a Jan 29 ScaledML appearance by Tesla's AI chief, Waymo contrasted its 29-camera, 5-lidar, 6-radar setup and referenced an independent 200 million-mile audit indicating fewer serious crashes than human drivers.

Since late 2024, Chinese national and local authorities have assembled over $26 billion in funds for humanoid robotics and related AI, while more than 140 companies, concentrated in Shenzhen and Suzhou, are now producing these machines. Analysts expect Chinese firms to ship up to 100,000 humanoid units in 2026 after securing over $300 million in orders in the second half of 2025, even as the U.S. retains an edge in core AI models but depends on Chinese manufacturing. This state-backed manufacturing head start, including subsidies like free land and purchase incentives, is raising concern among American policymakers and industry leaders such as Elon Musk about China's long-term dominance in embodied AI.