dance

Microsoft expects its Azure cloud business revenue to grow by 49% to 50% in the second fiscal quarter, with total revenue reaching between 96 billion and 97.1 billion dollars.Revenue from the Intelligent Cloud and Infrastructure segment is expected to be between 80.1 billion and 80.7 billion dollars, while revenue from the Devices and Consumer segment is projected to be between 15.9 billion and 16.4 billion dollars. Microsoft also anticipates that capital expenditures in the second fiscal quarter will exceed 50 billion dollars.

Federal Reserve Chairman Waller stated not to trust forward guidance unless a crisis occurs.

Former Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Blinder stated that now is an excellent time for Waller to use forward guidance. Blinder pointed out that the Federal Reserve is facing a dilemma, as decision-makers can provide ample justification for either maintaining interest rates or raising them. He believes that the so-called "hawkish pause" can only be reflected through forward guidance.

On October 28, B.AI announced that ByteDance's Seedance series video generation models have been integrated into the API, with official support for full access. A total of four models have been launched, covering different tiers from flagship to lightweight.Seedance 2.5 focuses on multimodal audio-visual joint generation, with a maximum single duration of 30 seconds, up to 1080p 10-bit, supporting up to 50 reference materials and targeted timestamp editing; Seedance 2.0 emphasizes high-quality output, supporting up to 4K 10-bit with audio-visual synchronization, and allows control of the first and last frames as well as extensions before and after; Seedance 2.0 Fast balances speed and cost, providing quick generation at 480p/720p, suitable for advertising variants and storyboard iterations; Seedance 2.0 Mini meets budget-sensitive creative and prompt testing needs at a lower unit price. Developers can now call the above models through the B.AI API, and are welcome to log in to chat.b.ai/chat to experience it.

According to Solid Intel, Brazil's largest bank Itaú Unibanco has become the first bank to officially engage in cryptocurrency trading and custody services under the new regulations set by the Central Bank of Brazil. The bank has reported the relevant business to the Central Bank of Brazil on Tuesday, ahead of the deadline of October 30.

Nick Timiraos, the "Fed's Mouthpiece," stated that when Waller took office, it coincided with the Federal Reserve's shift to a tightening cycle; historically, such periods are often when "forward guidance" plays a key role. It is commonly believed that "forward guidance" originated during the ultra-loose monetary policy period of 2008-2009 and afterward, as the Federal Reserve heavily relied on this tool when interest rates hit the "zero lower bound." However, in reality, the history of forward guidance can be traced back to 1999.At that time, Federal Reserve officials wanted to retract the rate cuts made in 1998 while also avoiding the miscommunication that caught the market off guard during the rate hikes of 1994. Therefore, in May 1999, the Federal Reserve attempted for the first time to issue a policy statement after a meeting where interest rates were kept unchanged.Previously, the Federal Reserve would only release statements after meetings where interest rates were adjusted. Six weeks later, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates. The minutes from the May 1999 meeting indicated that officials were already aware of the high likelihood of a rate hike and hoped to guide market expectations accordingly. Officials did not want the market to misinterpret their policy intentions.

According to CoinDesk, a large number of AI-assisted vulnerability reports have flooded in, prompting the Solana validator client Firedancer team to require researchers to permanently destroy 1 SOL (approximately $100) for each submitted vulnerability report to curb spam reports. This fee is non-refundable, even if the report is invalid, out of scope, or a duplicate; reports that do not destroy SOL are ineligible for rewards.The $1 million audit competition from April 9 to May 9 attracted 162 researchers who submitted 809 reports, resulting in 127 unique security findings, with nearly half of the valid submissions being duplicates. Jump Crypto believes that almost all submissions involved AI agents in the discovery or writing process, with pending reports once piling up to 299.Meanwhile, Jump has raised the reward standards, with eligible findings able to receive double the standard bounty before November 20, and specific vulnerabilities for Alpenglow being three times, with critical findings up to $300,000.

According to a report by Top Chinese Science and Technology Community, one of the core leaders of ByteDance's Seed AI research and development, Zhou Chang, submitted his resignation last week. Sources reveal that he will start his own venture, possibly related to embodied intelligence, and he has already been in contact with well-known funds, major corporate investors, and leading large model unicorns. People close to Zhou Chang, however, deny his resignation.Public information shows that Zhou Chang holds a bachelor's degree from Fudan University and a doctorate from Peking University. He previously served as the head of Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen large model before joining ByteDance, where he was responsible for Seed multimodal interaction, world modeling, and Seed Robotics. Reports indicate that members of his original Alibaba team have also recently submitted their resignations, and the two may start a venture together.

ByteDance's Volcano Engine has released the video generation model Seedance 2.5 4K, expanding the previous maximum support of 1080P in Seedance 2.5 to 4K film production. In addition to improving resolution, the new version enhances micro-expressions, subtle movements, and visual details through specialized training.Volcano Engine claims that when referencing generation and video editing, this model can better preserve the clarity, color, and fine text of the original material. Currently, the first batch is only open to 20 film studios and directors worldwide, with approximately 20 works participating in the trial, and the earliest projects are planned to be broadcast on satellite TV in November.

According to the American financial media Semafor, Musk invested 1 billion dollars in Skydance (SKYD.N) under David Ellison.

Beating AI news reports that Wen Shilei, the head of ByteDance's commercialization GenAI R&D, has recently left the company, with his next stop likely being the embodied intelligence company Octopus Power, where he will serve as a partner. Wen Shilei joined Baidu in 2011, previously serving as the head of visual technology and chief architect of the smart city division, and has won Baidu's highest award twice. After moving to ByteDance in 2021, he initially focused on digital humans, XR, and other technologies, and later took charge of engineering R&D for generative AI in commercial scenarios such as advertising.This business line has recently lost several core leaders. Former head of the commercialization GenAI department, Peng Bingyue, left in July this year and subsequently joined Google; the former head of the China region, Yuan Zehuan, also left in July to pursue a startup in world modeling. With Wen Shilei's departure, the remaining team members have been reassigned to other departments.Octopus Power was founded in January 2026 by former Horizon and Jianzhihui Robotics executive Du Dalong, primarily developing world models for robots, dexterous hands, and data collection systems, having raised nearly 1 billion yuan in total financing by June this year. On October 15, Octopus Power confirmed that co-founder Liang Zhujin will leave; Liang Zhujin previously oversaw post-training and data operations, and it is currently unclear whether Wen Shilei will take over related responsibilities.

IBM's revenue for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 was 17.1 billion dollars, a year-on-year increase of about 5%. The adjusted earnings per share were 2.95 dollars, both exceeding analysts' expectations. The company raised its full-year software revenue growth guidance to about 7%–8% and increased its full-year free cash flow growth guidance to over 1 billion dollars.Previously delayed software and mainframe deals, due to customer spending shifting towards data center infrastructure, have started to sign contracts. Free cash flow for the first nine months totaled 8 billion dollars, setting a historical record for the same period. IBM's stock price fell 4.95% in after-hours trading, closing at 239.02 dollars.

Tesla (TSLA.O) Chief Financial Officer announced that this year's capital expenditure guidance has been raised to 20 billion dollars.

AI Agent trading project NeoSoul announced today that Alan, former product head at Tencent and ByteDance, has been appointed as Chief Product Officer (CPO), fully responsible for product direction.Alan graduated from Tsinghua University and has worked on AI products at Tencent, ByteDance's TikTok, and SenseTime, with 8 years of Web3 experience. NeoSoul stated that it will continue to invest in product research and development, with a long-term focus on Agentic Trading.

According to a report by Reuters, on October 20, ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent have ordered over 3 million RTX PRO 5500 graphics cards from NVIDIA, with a unit price of approximately $11,400, totaling over $35 billion. Due to U.S. export controls, this chip does not include the advanced Blackwell architecture and is currently the most powerful compliant NVIDIA chip available for purchase in China.Insiders have indicated that due to demand far exceeding production capacity, NVIDIA has informed partners that it may only be able to fulfill 5% to 10% of orders. Chinese tech companies primarily use this chip for AI inference and post-training model generation. Although its performance is far inferior to the banned B300 and H200 chips, in the context of ongoing computing power shortages and restrictions, the RTX PRO 5500 has become an attractive alternative. Additionally, NVIDIA plans to shift most of TSMC's capacity to the new generation Rubin products starting in 2027. Currently, ByteDance, Alibaba, Tencent, and NVIDIA have not commented on this.

The website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission shows that CITIC Securities released the "Report on the Progress of the Guidance Work for the Initial Public Offering and Listing of MiniMax Group Inc. (Phase II)" on October 15. This phase of guidance started on July 10, 2026, and lasted for more than three months. CITIC Securities, together with Tongshang Law Firm and Ernst & Young, continuously monitors the company's operational performance and compliance in accordance with regulatory requirements and the guidance agreement, and conducts guidance through on-site training and communication on specific issues.The report states that the guidance target has established an internal governance structure and relevant company management systems, but there is still room for optimization in execution. CITIC Securities will collaborate with intermediary institutions, combine due diligence, continuously refine and improve corporate governance and standardized operations, propose rectification suggestions, and supervise the implementation of internal controls. In the next phase, work will continue with Tongshang Law Firm and Ernst & Young, focusing on enhancing standardized operational levels and preparing for guidance acceptance.On May 29, 2026, CITIC Securities signed a guidance agreement with MiniMax and submitted a guidance filing application to the Shanghai Regulatory Bureau of the China Securities Regulatory Commission on the same day, which was accepted, marking MiniMax's official entry into the guidance period. The large model company MiniMax (00100.HK) was listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on January 9, 2026, approximately four years from establishment to listing, and has focused on the research and development of full-modal models since its inception.

Phoenix Technology reported that on October 19, ByteDance's cloud and AI service platform Volcano Engine launched the Seedance Premium AI Drama Incentive Program, providing financial incentives for premium AI short dramas produced using Seedance and launched on the Hongguo Short Drama App. This program excludes live-action dramas and is only open to AI comics, AI simulated dramas, and other AI-generated forms. The video content of the submitted works must be entirely produced using Seedance, with the usage of Seedance 2.5 accounting for more than 50%, and the generation format through API or tool platforms is not limited.Works must rank within the top 50 AI dramas of the month based on Hongguo's popularity index and pass the review. The applicant can be a company or an individual and must ensure that the information is true and complete. The incentives are divided into three tiers based on monthly rankings: for TOP 1 to TOP 10, 200,000 yuan per work; for TOP 11 to TOP 20, 100,000 yuan per work; for TOP 21 to TOP 50, 50,000 yuan per work. The distribution method is 50% cash plus 50% equivalent vouchers. The vouchers can be chosen by the applicant at the time of registration from three options, including an equivalent Volcano Ark API Token, equivalent "Drama Creation" usage rights, or equivalent "Comic Creation Tool" usage rights. Selected works must cooperate to complete the verification of the work and generation records, and if necessary, submit original generation materials. Those who do not pass the verification or have false declarations will be disqualified from receiving incentives. The deadline for the first phase of the activity is January 31, 2027.

According to Bloomberg, ByteDance is close to reaching an agreement with MediaTek to procure semiconductors for data centers. Sources familiar with the matter say that the Chinese social media company is in deep discussions with MediaTek regarding the supply of custom chips, which will be used to operate ByteDance's data centers.Sources indicate that MediaTek will provide an unspecified number of application-specific integrated circuits, which are chips customized for the client's platform. If the deal is finalized, ByteDance could become MediaTek's second-largest customer for such chips after Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet, and it would help the Taiwanese chipmaker compete with Qualcomm. Due to the private nature of the arrangements, the sources requested anonymity.

According to reports from Major Factory Daily, ByteDance released a company-wide letter on October 13, initiating a new round of stock option repurchases, with a pre-tax repurchase price of $241.35 per share, the same as the price circulated in early September. Participants in this repurchase include former employees, with those who recently left due to business adjustments receiving the same repurchase price per share as current employees, with no discount.According to the company-wide letter, the repurchase amount is calculated based on each granted option. For total package and other types of options, such as those granted upon joining and adjustments to total packages, 50% of the shares that have vested in each batch can be applied for repurchase after vesting, increasing by 10% for each additional year thereafter. For performance-based options granted before January 1, 2026, 100% of the shares that have vested in each batch can be applied for repurchase after vesting; for grants on or after January 1, 2026, 55% can be applied for repurchase after vesting, increasing by 15% for each additional year thereafter. For bonus-based options, 50% of the shares that have vested can be applied for repurchase one year after the first vesting date, and 100% can be applied for repurchase after two years.The company-wide letter also indicated that total package options granted upon joining require approximately 5 years to achieve 100% vesting, while options granted for outstanding performance require about 3 to 4 years to achieve 100% vesting.