Washington Post Intelligence

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick (center) spearheaded the administration's equity acquisition policy by leveraging previously authorized funds from the CHIPS and Science Act. Over the past year, the Departments of Energy and Defense have similarly pushed for stakes in private companies in exchange for financing.

With frontier AI models now demonstrating impressive capabilities and improving at a breakneck speed, the bottleneck in deploying AI across an organization is no longer model intelligence but governance.

WP Intelligence is partnering with the New Lines Institute to run something we’ve never done before: a live, in-person geopolitical crisis simulation built around the scenario that keeps CEOs, defense planners and Taiwan Strait watchers up at night — a full-blown U.S.-China confrontation over trade, technology and Taiwan.

Drug development is slowed in the United States by a number of bottlenecks in the process. The Trump administration is proposing changes aimed at accelerating clinical trials. (Washington Post illustration; iStock) AI promises to revolutionize drug discovery: AI is driving innovation in the pharmaceutical industry, enabling scientists to develop new treatments for diseases at an unprecedented pace.

Flow batteries were largely overlooked during the lithium-ion boom. Today, however, their ability to deliver long-duration storage over decades of operation is attracting renewed interest as utilities seek ways to smooth the rapid load fluctuations of AI data centers, integrate renewable energy, and maintain grid reliability. (Noriko Hayashi / For The Washington Post) The rapid growth of AI data centers is creating a new energy storage challenge.

The DoD's June update of the 1260H list, designating 65 companies as Chinese military companies, including major Chinese companies such as BYD, BGI, Alibaba and WuXi AppTec, has been met by China’s imposing export controls against 10 U.S. companies on Chinese-origin exports and re-exports of dual-use items.

Growing demand for advanced chips, AI infrastructure, and defense technologies is increasing attention on gallium, a critical mineral used in high-performance compound semiconductors and power electronics. (Matthias Rietschel / Reuters) Gallium is becoming to critical minerals what rare earths were a decade ago — the mineral that is transforming supply-chain resilience from a niche industrial concern into a major geopolitical issue.

China is rapidly working to increase its biopharma capabilities, challenging Western companies' dominance of the industry. (Ng Han Guan / AP) The United States’ control of lifesaving treatments and the lucrative biotech industry faces threats as investments start to flow from Western countries to China. The Chinese government is prioritizing advancements in biotech and pharmaceutical development, raising concerns that China poses a challenge to U.S. dominance of the industry.

The new Syrian government is still working to shed the Assad regime’s international legacy, including its long-standing alliances and sanctions frameworks. Here, Syrian military engineering teams inspect and remove a fallen Iranian missile outside Damascus.

WPI Conversation with Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) (Courtesy of U.S. Senate Historical Office / WP Intelligence) Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) is entering the final stretch of his Senate career at a moment when many of the issues he has spent years working on are suddenly converging. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has rattled global energy markets, pushed fuel prices higher and renewed debate over America’s role in the Middle East.