The day in tech.

Zhongji Innolight shares surged as much as 8% Monday after the Chinese optical transceivers firm received approval for a Hong Kong listing worth up to $8 billion. The deal will exceed Luxshare Precision's $3.1 billion IPO, becoming the largest Hong Kong listing this year. Hong Kong's IPO market posted its strongest first-half result in five years.

Morgan Stanley topped Wall Street in AI-related debt deals and beat estimates on trading and deals, driven by strong performance in its trading and investment banking divisions.

AZ-COM Maruwa Holdings, a Japanese logistics company, plans to adopt the JPYC stablecoin to pay around 2,300 business partners, including truck drivers. The yen-denominated stablecoin enables faster, more frequent payments with no transfer fees. AZ-COM Maruwa is also considering a partnership with JPYC and an investment of over 1 billion yen ($6.2 million).

Allbridge Core paused its cross-chain bridge after a $1.65 million exploit on its Solana deployment. The attacker used a $1.12 million USDC flash loan from Kamino to manipulate the stablecoin pool's exchange rate, then withdrew liquidity at manipulated rates and bridged stolen funds from Solana to Ethereum into privacy pools.

The HONOR Robot Phone is expected to launch in China in August with a 1.5K flat display, Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, and ~6,000mAh battery. It features a 200MP 4D gimbal primary camera, 50MP ultrawide, and 200MP periscope telephoto lens, all manufactured by Arri Imaging.

Apple is testing a new AI-powered Live Notes feature at some retail stores that transcribes and summarizes Genius Bar conversations. The system requires both employee and customer opt-in. Transcripts are saved to the employee's iPad and the internal Genius Bar system, but managers do not receive them and recordings are not saved.

A surge in ransomware attacks is widening the divide over whether victims should pay ransoms. The debate intensifies as more organizations face extortion demands, with no clear consensus on the best response strategy.

Artificial intelligence is expanding the capabilities available to cyber hackers, making their toolkits more powerful and dangerous. The technology enables more sophisticated attacks, including automated vulnerability discovery and realistic social engineering. This shift raises the threat level for organizations and individuals alike, demanding stronger defenses.

Training AI models introduces a new workplace power play, shifting control over data and decision-making. Employees and employers face competing interests as model development requires access to proprietary information and labor. The process creates leverage for those who own or contribute to training data, altering traditional hierarchies.

Alibaba released a new artificial intelligence model as Chinese AI firms disrupt Silicon Valley. The model aims to compete with leading Western counterparts. The move intensifies the global race for AI dominance between the United States and China.