Good morning from the Financial Times.
Today is Thursday, August 21st, and this is your FT News briefing.
China is holding a grudge against the US Commerce Secretary,
and investors are not happy with the direction Target is headed.
Plus, battery swapping might be the future of electric cars, but is China ready for it?
I'm Mark Filipino and here's the news you need to start your day.
For years now, Chinese tech companies complain that the US restricted selling artificial intelligence chips to China.
And for a moment, it looked like they might get their wish for more processors.
US officials announced they plan to lift some of those restrictions this month.
But Chinese regulators are now looking to clamp down on the imports on their end.
The problem?
They are offended by comments US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick made last month.
Lutnick said that the chips going to China would be, quote, not our second best, not even third best.
The US limits AI processor sales to China for national security reasons.
The recent loosening of the rules only cover Nvidia's older H20 processors.
They also require Nvidia to pay a cut of the sales to the US government.
Big box retailer Target has a new incoming CEO.
Michael Fidelki has worked at the company for 20 years and needs to engineer a turnaround.
Target has been struggling lately after its revenue peaked in 2022.
But investors aren't too optimistic.