China fires up moon race

Good morning, tech enthusiasts. China just claimed a breakthrough in sending astronauts to the moon by 2030, upping the pressure on NASA’s 2027 south pole mission.

But with U.S. setbacks stacking up, the question looms: if China plants its flag first, does America’s lunar legacy risk becoming ancient history?

In today’s tech rundown:

• China closes in on moon landing

• iPhone 17 may be ‘thinnest iPhone ever’

• Xiaomi’s revenue soars, Europe launch in sight

• Softbank hands Intel a $2B lifeline

• Quick hits on other tech news

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

SPACE RACE

🌝 China closes in on moon landing

The Rundown: China took a giant step forward in putting astronauts on the moon with a successful landmark test of the 26-ton “Lanyue” lunar lander — a full-scale mockup designed to ferry taikonauts to the moon’s surface before 2030.

The details:

• In a cavernous test facility outside Beijing, engineers suspended the lander from massive overhead tethers that recreated the Moon’s reduced gravity.

• The lander reportedly executed a simulated touchdown on a cratered surface and powered up for a dramatic “lunar” liftoff.

• Officials hailed the exercise as China’s first direct trial of crewed landing and takeoff hardware beyond Earth, a prelude to future real-world missions.

• Lanyue is built to support two astronauts, lunar samples, and scientific payloads designed to operate for up to 6 days on the moon’s surface.

Why it matters: Analysts hail the Lanyue test as a game-changer, proof that China’s moon program is accelerating faster than expected. With NASA’s Artemis III aiming for a 2027 landing, Beijing now looks poised to go head-to-head with the U.S. in staking humanity’s next off-world milestone before the decade closes.

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APPLE

🍏 iPhone 17 may be ‘thinnest iPhone ever’

The Rundown: Apple is gearing up for a hardware blitz on September 9, with iPhone 17, a reimagined Apple Watch, and next-gen AirPods all set to drop. Plus, rumors suggest the iPhone 17 could be the boldest redesign we’ve seen in years.

The details:

• The baseline iPhone 17 will reportedly feature a 6.3-inch OLED screen, with a 120Hz refresh rate finally coming to the standard models.

• If true, this display upgrade should make for a tangibly slicker experience in gaming and interface navigation, outpacing the old 60Hz.

• New colorways, including purple and green, are expected, while the front-facing camera is pegged to jump to 24 megapixels, up from 12MP.

• Rumors are particularly hot around an “iPhone Air,” an ultra-thin 17 series variant poised to replace the Plus.

Why it matters: As always, Apple’s event could hold a surprise or two, but all signs point to a fall release that leans into “bigger, thinner, and bolder,” aiming to keep its premium smartphone lineup at the cutting edge as rival flagship phones relentlessly raise the bar.

XIAOMI

🚗 Xiaomi’s revenue soars, Europe launch in sight

The Rundown: Smartphone giant-turned-EV player Xiaomi said that its revenue soared 30% last quarter after announcing its second EV, the YU7, set to rival Tesla’s Model Y. The company also plans to launch in Europe in 2027, Bloomberg reports.

The details:

• Xiaomi’s Q2 2025 revenue surged 30%, reaching a historic high of 115.96 billion yuan ($16B), largely due to the success of its first electric car, the SU7.

• The SU7 sedan’s 2024 launch put Xiaomi into China’s top five EV makers by volume within a single quarter, with deliveries scaling up since its debut.

• Xiaomi’s upcoming YU7 SUV, priced well below Tesla’s Model Y, also broke records with over 289K reservations in its first hour.

• Robust demand for tech-packed features and competitive pricing has made Xiaomi cars especially popular among China’s young urban consumers.

Why it matters: Xiaomi’s immediate popularity, fueled by government subsidies and excitement over tech-laden features, has made Xiaomi a serious contender in China’s hot auto sector. Analysts note EV sales for Xiaomi more than tripled year-over-year, as rivals like Xpeng and Nio poured billions into R&D to keep pace.

SOFTBANK

💰 Softbank hands Intel a $2B lifeline

The Rundown: SoftBank’s CEO Masayoshi Son made headlines after markets closed on Monday with the news of a $2B investment in Intel, marking a strategic bet on U.S. chip supremacy at a critical moment for global semiconductors.

The details:

• Under the terms, SoftBank will acquire Intel common shares at $23 apiece, slightly below the closing price of $23.66.

• Intel stock jumped 5% after hours, showing trader optimism and heightened speculation about follow-on investments or deepened partnership activity.

• SoftBank’s $2B investment makes it one of Intel’s largest single outside shareholders.

• The SoftBank-Intel deal lands just days after the Trump administration threatened fresh tariffs on imported chips.

Why it matters: SoftBank’s $2B shot in the arm supercharges Intel’s pivot to AI and next-gen chips, juicing its R&D and U.S. manufacturing for a future built on supply chain muscle. For SoftBank, it’s a power move, staking out influence in the world’s chip epicenter as data, automation, and hardware innovation go into overdrive.

QUICK HITS

📰 Everything else in tech today

OpenAI rolled out ChatGPT Go in India, a new subscription tier priced at ₹399 per month ($4.60), undercutting the existing Plus Plan, which costs around $20/month.

Hon Hai Precision (Foxconn) will run SoftBank’s U.S. factory, launching the first production hub for the $500B Stargate data center project with OpenAI and Oracle.

Thailand is launching an 18-month pilot program that lets foreign tourists convert crypto into baht for local payments via approved providers and QR codes.

Google has chosen Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for its first small modular nuclear reactor, set to deliver 50MW of clean energy to local data centers by 2030.

Bo Hines, Trump’s former senior crypto adviser, has been snapped up by Tether, the dominant stablecoin provider, to spearhead its U.S. expansion.

A July cyberattack on Allianz Life exposed the personal data of 1.1M customers, with hackers raiding a cloud-hosted database.

Analytics firm Databricks said its valuation is expected to jump 61% to over $100B in a fresh funding round, spotlighting investor appetite for AI startups.

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Rowan, Jennifer, and Joey—The Rundown’s editorial team