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August 18th - BHP Billiton's annual profit rose by nearly a third, driven by higher commodity prices, and for the first time, its copper revenue surpassed its iron ore revenue. BHP Billiton announced on Tuesday that its underlying profit for the fiscal year ending in June reached $13.2 billion, a 30% increase year-on-year, exceeding analysts' expectations. The company also announced a final dividend of 99 cents, equivalent to a 72% payout ratio. Copper prices surged to record highs during the past fiscal year, and iron ore, another core product of BHP Billiton, continued its strong performance. BHP Billiton expects global copper demand to increase from approximately 34 million tons currently to 50 million tons per year by 2050. However, with declining grades and aging mines, BHP Billiton's copper production at its Chilean mines is currently declining, prompting the company to invest billions just to maintain production.

[Compiled by: Daily Tech News Roundup (August 18)] Artificial Intelligence: 1. Anthropic's annualized revenue surpassed $65 billion before its IPO. 2. ByteDance signed an agreement with the Motion Picture Association of America to strengthen copyright protection for its AI models. 3. Nvidia partnered with SB Energy to develop an 8-gigawatt hyperscale AI data center in Ohio, USA, and invested $1.5 billion in SB Energy. 4. Nvidia: OpenAI pledged to deploy Nvidia's AI infrastructure on a large scale by 2030, corresponding to a computing business scale of approximately $600 billion. Other: 1. Meta's exorbitant lawsuit will begin its trial on Tuesday. 2. Jiuguang released a humanoid robot capable of lifting a 50-kilogram barbell. 3. CITIC Capital's acquisition of Alibaba's Lingxi Interactive Entertainment has officially taken effect. 4. Xiaomi Auto: Xiaomi SU7 series deliveries surpassed 500,000 units in 28.5 months. 5. Unitree Robotics achieved a 2-meter high jump and a top speed of 12.66 m/s, surpassing the world records for both standing high jump and running speed.

On August 18th, Scottish company DataVita secured £300 million (approximately $407 million) in financing from ING, ABN AMRO, and other European banks to expand its existing data center in Scotland and build a new one. The UK government facilitated the financing by guaranteeing 80% of the £252 million provided by two Dutch banks and Santander. The remaining funds will be provided unsecured by the Scottish National Investment Bank and Siemens Financial Services. Computing giant Dell will relocate its Scottish headquarters to the site. This investment is a key signal of a significant revival for the UK's so-called "AI growth zones" under the leadership of new Prime Minister Burnham. Former Prime Minister Starmer had identified these areas as a crucial pillar of the Labour government's AI policy.

On August 18th, the State Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau released key regulatory indicators for the banking and insurance industries in the second quarter of 2026. Data showed that the net interest margin (NIM) of commercial banks was 1.41% in the second quarter, a slight increase of 0.01 percentage points from 1.40% in the first quarter, marking the first quarterly increase since 2022. However, different types of banks showed divergent trends. State-owned banks, city commercial banks, rural commercial banks, and private banks all saw their NIMs increase quarter-on-quarter, while joint-stock banks remained flat, and foreign banks experienced a decline. Industry analysts believe the core driver of this NIM stabilization is on the liability side: the concentrated maturity and repricing of high-interest deposits, coupled with banks' proactive optimization of their liability structure, effectively reduced interest costs. Under regulatory guidance, the interest rate self-regulation mechanism played a role in curbing irrational price competition in lending rates, helping to stabilize asset pricing and supporting the NIM.

August 18th - Foreign investors' holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds declined in June, primarily due to reductions in holdings by Japan and China. According to data released by the U.S. Treasury Department on Monday, foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds decreased by $72.1 billion month-on-month to $9.3 trillion in June. Foreign holdings have declined in three of the past four months since reaching a record high in February. During this period, U.S. Treasury bonds fell as investors worried about the massive fiscal deficit and above-target inflation. Japan, the largest holder of U.S. Treasury bonds, saw the largest reduction in June, decreasing its holdings by approximately $26.4 billion to $1.12 trillion. The yen has been under continued pressure in recent months, prompting Japan to intervene to stabilize its exchange rate. The U.S. also participated in intervention at the end of July. Some market observers believe the underlying reason is concern that Japan might sell U.S. Treasury bonds to defend the yen, thereby pushing up U.S. borrowing costs. "Japan's actions are clearly driven by the need for foreign exchange intervention," said Paresh Upadhi, a strategist at Vanguard Investments. He pointed out that U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessant not only intervened in July but also suggested that Japan might utilize the Federal Reserve's tools to avoid directly selling its government bonds. It goes without saying that we will not see Japan selling U.S. Treasury bonds again.

BHP Billiton: The cost environment has "significantly changed" due to the conflict in the Middle East.

BHP Billiton's revenue for the fiscal year was US$58.76 billion, a 15% increase year-over-year. Capital and exploration expenditures for the fiscal year were US$10.26 billion, a 5% increase year-over-year.

BHP Billiton's net profit for the fiscal year was US$9.83 billion, up 9% year-on-year. BHP Billiton's underlying profit for the fiscal year was US$13.2 billion, up 30% year-on-year, exceeding market expectations of US$12.66 billion.

August 18th - A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on August 17th showed that US President Trump's approval rating has dropped to 33%, a new low during his second term. The poll indicated that 64% of Americans disapprove of Trump's performance in the White House, and approximately 80% expect the conflict between the US and Iran to "last a long time." The survey was conducted online nationwide, collecting feedback from 1,166 American adults.

On August 18th, international oil prices rose by about 3% on Monday due to the bleak prospects for US-Iran peace talks. Trump stated that he had no intention of extending the expiring agreement with Iran. The US-Iran memorandum of understanding, signed in June, technically expired on Monday. The two sides still have disagreements on many issues, including the Strait of Hormuz. Other officials suggested that the US is not in a hurry to end the conflict, which has lasted for nearly six months. The US Energy Secretary stated that the US is engaged in a long-term game with the Islamic Republic of Iran; while Trump's senior advisor, Kushner, said that Trump would remain patient in reaching an agreement.

According to Iranian media Fars News, a fuel tank fire and explosion occurred in Sulaymaniyah, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

August 18th - According to three sources on Monday, the United States and Canada are in talks to potentially reduce U.S. auto tariffs from the current 25% to 15% (after deducting certain value components). The U.S. will impose high new tariffs on $20 billion worth of other Canadian goods after Wednesday's deadline. If an agreement is reached, the tariff level will be significantly lower than the 25% tariff currently imposed by Trump on auto imports. Sources indicated that U.S. officials have proposed deducting only U.S. value components from the current 15% tariff on Canadian autos, but Canadian officials want to deduct all North American components, including parts from Canada and Mexico. Automotive industry officials say that if a broader deduction of regional value components is implemented, the effective U.S. tariff rate on North American-made cars could fall to single digits. This rate is far lower than the current 15% tariff on North American cars imported from Japan, South Korea, and the European Union, and the 10% tariff on most British cars.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told US President Donald Trump that Israel is attacking Palestinians in Gaza, when the second phase of the peace plan was supposed to take effect.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told US President Donald Trump that it is important to continue dialogue with Iran to make full use of diplomatic channels, and that Türkiye is ready to contribute to this effort.

1. Six people were killed in an attack by Ukrainian forces in Russia's Belgorod region. 2. Russian authorities stated that they attacked port infrastructure in Ukraine's Izmail region overnight. 3. The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that Russian troops have taken control of Novosoloshin in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region. 4. The Ukrainian military reportedly attacked a factory in Russia's Rostov region related to missile fuel production. 5. Russia stated that it has hit two cargo ships in a Ukrainian port.

An executive at Petrobras, Brazil's state-owned oil company, stated that the oil discovered in the Amazon region appears to be of high quality, but further analysis is needed. The company has identified the locations of the next three wells in the Amazon region.

An executive at Petrobras, Brazil's state-owned oil company, said that the cost of drilling in the Amazon estuary to date is approximately $300 million.

On August 18, it was reported that Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law, stated on August 17 local time that the level of dialogue between various departments of the U.S. and Iranian governments had reached an "unprecedented" level, but he also acknowledged that the two sides "have not yet reached a consensus."

Venezuelan interim president Rodriguez: The death toll from the Venezuelan earthquake has risen to 6,438.