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Welcome to the August 1, 2025 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.
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The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has expressed concerns about potential security risks stemming from a U.S. proposal to equip advanced AI chips with tracking and positioning functions. CAC, China's Internet regulator, called for a meeting with Nvidia on July 31 regarding potential backdoor security risks in its H20 AI chip. In response, Nvidia said its H20 AI chip has no backdoors that would enable remote access or control.
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Reuters (July 31, 2025)
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Meta has boosted operating costs and research and development spending to develop AI with "superintelligence" through its Meta Superintelligence Labs. CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined plans for personal superintelligence that deeply understands users and helps them achieve their goals. To support this development, Meta is building massive datacenter clusters, including the upcoming 1+ gigawatt (GW) Prometheus cluster and Hyperion, which ultimately could scale to 5 GW.
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Computer Weekly; Cliff Saran (July 31, 2025)
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A new U.S.-EU trade agreement implements a 15% tariff on most European goods shipped to the U.S. while establishing zero-for-zero tariffs on strategic products, including semiconductor production equipment. U.S. chipmakers would have seen costs rise substantially, putting a damper on investment in U.S. fabs, if the 15% tariff had been imposed on ASML's DUV and EUV lithography tools, metrology tools, and inspection tools.
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Tom's Hardware; Anton Shilov (July 30, 2025)
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Major tech companies are using rapidly advancing AI technologies to transform game development, with usable models expected within five years. At the recent Game Developers Conference, Google DeepMind demonstrated autonomous agents to test early builds, and Microsoft showcased AI-generated level design and animations based on short video clips. Some developers surveyed by conference organizers said generative AI use is widespread in the industry, with some saying it helps complete repetitive tasks and others arguing it has contributed to job instability and layoffs.
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The New York Times; Zachary Small (July 28, 2025)
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Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker are promoting financial incentives, local workforce development initiatives, and ongoing support to attract quantum companies to the state. Illinois has invested $500 million in the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park in Chicago, which will feature several public and private labs for quantum and advanced microelectronics research and development.
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The Wall Street Journal; Isabelle Bousquette (July 29, 2025)
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A report by the 104 job bank and government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute found Taiwan's semiconductor industry was short 34,000 workers as of May. "Production/quality control/environmental safety," "research and development," and "operations/technical support and maintenance" were the most in-demand positions. The expansion of advanced processes and advanced production lines is fueling demand for equipment operators and maintenance personnel.
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Focus Taiwan; Liu Chien-ling; Ko Lin (July 28, 2025)
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At the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China, companies showcased robots performing a variety of tasks, from peeling eggs to boxing to playing mahjong. Back-flipping robotic dogs and six-legged robots also were on display. This comes as China looks to deploy humanoid robots to work in factories, hospitals, and households, although some estimates indicate it could take a decade before robots are integrated into daily life.
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Bloomberg; Saritha Rai; Annabelle Droulers; Adrian Wong (July 28, 2025); et al.
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Hackers breached the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office's Acquisition Research Center website, compromising intelligence community contract information. The attack exposed proprietary information from vendors supporting the highly classified Digital Hammer program, which develops AI-powered surveillance tools, miniaturized sensors, acoustic systems, and open-source intelligence platforms for countering Chinese intelligence operations. Space Force satellite surveillance programs, space-based weapons development, and the Golden Dome missile defense system may have been compromised as well.
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Cyber Security News; Guru Baran (July 28, 2025)
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Boosting U.S. solar energy by 15% could cut carbon emissions by 8.54 million metric tons annually. Using high-resolution modeling, researchers from Rutgers, Harvard, and Stony Brook found that climate benefits vary across regions. Solar investments in states like California and Texas yield significant emission reductions, while others show minimal impact. The researchers analyzed five years of hourly energy data to offer a roadmap for targeting solar where it’s most effective and demonstrate how data science can inform climate and energy policy.
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Rutgers University (July 30, 2025)
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The White House's new AI Action Plan calls on federal agencies to limit AI-related funding to U.S. states “with burdensome AI regulations that waste these funds.” The plan also stipulates the federal government will not interfere with state efforts to “pass prudent laws that are not unduly restrictive to innovation.” Said ACM policy director Tom Romanoff, “If state lawmakers want to enact these laws, they will now have to risk losing federal funds to do so."
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WSJ Pro Cybersecurity; Angus Loten (July 25, 2025)
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A recent symposium at Oregon State University (OSU)-Cascades, part of the Computer Science for Oregon initiative, brought together K-12 education leaders from across the state to learn different strategies for teaching computer science and expanding computer science education. The goal is to have a standard statewide computer science curriculum and make it a subject like math or science to increase participation, said OSU-Cascades' Jill Hubbard.
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The Bulletin; Noemi Arellano-Summer (July 30, 2025)
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Texas A&M University researchers have developed CLARKE, an AI system that rapidly assesses disaster damage using drone imagery. CLARKE can analyze damage in neighborhoods with thousands of homes in a matter of minutes, helping accelerate response times. Trained on drone images of more than 21,000 houses from 10 major disasters, CLARKE can identify damage patterns from hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and other types of catastrophic events.
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Texas A&M University; Lesley Henton (July 28, 2025)
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Computer science researchers at Johns Hopkins University developed a system enabling social robots to better handle real-time interruptions by understanding human intent. After analyzing conversation patterns, the researchers found people interrupt for various reasons, such as expressing understanding or disagreement, requesting clarification, or changing topics. Their robotic interruption handling system identifies overlapping speech and sends the interruption through a large language model to generate appropriate responses.
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Johns Hopkins University Hub; Jaimie Patterson (July 30, 2025)
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