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Trade Wars
Google Says It Likely Thwarted Effort By Hacker Group To Use AI For ‘Mass Exploitation Event’
Google’s Threat Intelligence Group said in a report on Monday that it thwarted an effort by hackers to use artificial intelligence models to “plan a mass vulnerability exploitation operation.” GTIG said it has “high confidence” that it recorded hackers using an AI model to find and exploit a zero-day vulnerability, or a software flaw unknown to developers, creating a way to bypass two-factor authentication.
The findings underscore how hackers are using available AI tools like OpenClaw to exploit software flaws in ways that can be particularly damaging to companies, government agencies and other organizations even as cybersecurity firms pump billions of dollars into bolstering their defenses. In Monday’s report, Google highlighted several examples of how hackers are already using tools such as OpenClaw to find vulnerabilities, launch cyberattacks and develop malware. Groups linked to China and North Korea “demonstrated significant interest in capitalizing on AI for vulnerability discovery,” the report said.
Read more at CNBC
GlobalFoundries Q1 Revenue Surpasses $1.6B, Beats Expectations
GlobalFoundries earned $1.6 billion in first-quarter 2026 revenue, down 11% from Q4 2025 and up 3.1% year over year. Results were driven by the manufacturing services sector as the company shipped about 579,000 300-millimeter-equivalent wafers in the quarter, up 7% from the prior-year period. The results “demonstrate a strong step forward in our multiyear journey to enhance the quality of our revenue composition, improve our structural cost position and achieve efficient scale acrossr world-class fabs,” CEO and Director Timothy Breen said on an the May 5th earnings call.
The company’s quarterly results also show further progress in implementing GlobalFoundries’ “three-pillar strategy”, which includes developing innovative technologies, deepening engagement throughout customers’ design cycles and scaling the company’s global footprint, Breen said. Among other innovations, he cited the company’s advances in optical networking, including its silicon photonics and silicon germanium capabilities. According to Breen, the market is moving to adopt these technologies for “pluggable, near and co-packaged optics.”
Read more at Manufacturing Dive
UPS and FedEx Up International Fuel Surcharge Rates, Add Surge Fees
FedEx and UPS have installed fuel surcharge rate increases and levied new shipping fees this month, adjustments that will impact a wide range of customers’ international shipments. The carriers are applying temporary fees for shipments between the U.S. and various countries until further notice. One from UPS is a 32 cent per-pound surcharge for volume to the U.S. from any origin country or territory, save for those in which a surge emergency fee already applies. “Our goal is to continue to meet our customers’ shipping needs without compromising on the quality or timeliness of service expected from us,” UPS said in a customer notice about the surcharge.
FedEx and UPS are upping their fuel fee calculations on import and export services as well. For example, if the price per gallon of jet fuel is $4 in a given week, FedEx will levy a 38.5% fuel surcharge for international exports. Previously, FedEx charged a 36.5% rate at that fuel price. Meanwhile, DHL eCommerce is increasing its fuel surcharge calculations for domestic products on May 30. The wave of surcharge hikes and adjustments adds to ongoing cost pressures for parcel shippers as logistics giants pass on increased expenses. Carrier surcharges tied to fuel prices have risen as the Iran war and Strait of Hormuz disruptions continue to squeeze the global oil supply.
Read more and see a chart of the fees at Supply Chain Dive
Will Mounting Supply Chain Strains Hamstring the AI Investment Boom?
The Middle East conflict has caused the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz (SOH). While the closure has had major implications for global energy markets the effects on global supply chains are much broader. This is illustrated in the New York Fed’s Global Supply Chain Pressure Index (GSCPI). Over the two months since the conflict began, the index rose by 1.3 points, to 1.8 standard deviations above its average value.
The increase in the GSCPI has exceeded the level of the Fukushima nuclear crisis in 2011 but remains well below the peaks reached during the COVID-19 pandemic. High inventories in China and high-income Asian economies provide some runway before shortages reach the U.S.—but there is nonetheless risk that spillovers will materialize more quickly through the “weakest links” in ASEAN. Since the beginning of 2024, U.S. reported imports from ASEAN have increased by about 46 percent, including a nearly 30 percent growth rate last year. Imports from the high-income countries grew by a similar amount, while those from China have plunged. Total U.S. imports from these three groups of countries have grown strongly. ASEAN has become a key supplier of goods like networking equipment that are crucial inputs for the build-out of AI-related data centers in the U.S.
Read more at the NY Fed
Import Cargo Volume to Remain Below 2025 Levels
Despite a skewed year-over-year bump in May and June, import volume at major U.S. container ports is expected to remain below last year’s levels into early fall, according to the Global Port Tracker report from the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates. “The numbers show a year-over-year increase for the next two months, but that’s only because of the sharp fall-off in imports after ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs were announced in April 2025,” NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said in a statement.
Amid ongoing economic uncertainty, Hackett Associates Founder Ben Hackett said retailers have been cautious about building up inventories. “Containerized imports in the first quarter were down year over year, and forward demand is weakening,” Hackett said in a statement. “Stalling re-stocking efforts and rising geopolitical tensions are increasingly clouding the outlook.” U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 2.16 million TEUs in March, the latest month for which final data is available. That was up 0.6% year over year and up 13.6% from February, when many Asian factories were closed for Lunar New Year celebrations and bad weather delayed the arrival of cargo at some U.S. ports.
Read more at Material Handling & Logistics
Space Force Weighs Vulcan Flights Without Solid Boosters
The U.S. Space Force is exploring whether it can resume flights of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket without using the solid rocket boosters now under investigation, a workaround that could allow some missions to proceed even as the vehicle remains grounded for national security launches. “We think we can change the manifest slightly and eliminate the need for solids,” Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, head of Space Systems Command, said last week at the Space Symposium.
Vulcan has been sidelined since its Feb. 12 USSF-87 mission, when a performance anomaly appeared on one of its solid rocket boosters shortly after liftoff. The rocket still delivered its payload to geosynchronous orbit, but the Space Force halted further launches pending a joint investigation with ULA. Officials are reviewing flight data and imagery to determine the cause, with no timeline for a return to flight. In the interim, some missions have been reassigned to SpaceX, leaving the Space Force dependent on a single provider for critical national security launches.
Read more at Space News
Lufthansa Group Orders 20 New Airbus And Boeing Twin-Aisle Aircraft Worth $7.7 Billion
Germany’s Lufthansa Group has ordered 20 additional long-haul aircraft from Airbus and Boeing as it continues on the largest fleet modernisation program in its history. On 11 May, the carrier placed orders for 10 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners and 10 Airbus A350-900s in a deal said by the company to be worth $7.7 billion. The new aircraft are largely intended to replace the Group’s ageing and less efficient widebody aircraft currently in service, which includes Airbus A330s, A340s, plus Boeing 747-400s. Deliveries of the new aircraft are scheduled for between 2032 and 2034.
These latest orders mark the next step in the Lufthansa Group’s fleet modernisation programme, which kicked off when Lufthansa’s first Airbus A350-900 arrived in April 2022. Since then, the carrier has received an additional 30 of the type, with another two yet to be delivered from a previous order. Meanwhile, Lufthansa became a Boeing 787 Dreamliner operator in August 2022 and now has 16 aircraft in service, with a further 10 yet to be delivered from an outstanding order. The new order adds to an already large backlog of new aircraft across the Lufthansa Group. The group now has 232 aircraft on order in total, including both single-aisle and twin-aisle aircraft types.
Read More at Aerospace Global News
FedEx Express Completes First McDonnell Douglas MD-11 Test Flight Following Six-Month Grounding
On 9 May, a FedEx Express McDonnell Douglas MD-11F (registration N621FE) conducted the first test flight for the type in roughly six months, after it was grounded following the crash of a UPS example in November 2025. The background to the recent test flight was the National Transport Safety Board inquiry into the UPS MD-11 accident, which found that an engine and pylon separated during take-off. Investigators linked the failure to structural fatigue issues in a bearing component, prompting regulators to ground the MD-11 fleet worldwide while Boeing developed a fix.
Built between 1990 and 2000, McDonnell Douglas (later taken over by Boeing) delivered 200 MD-11s in total. Although primarily designed as a widebody trijet to replace the DC-10, the aircraft later found its niche as a freighter, operating with several major cargo airlines worldwide during its career. However, the MD-11 became known as having something of a mixed safety record. Throughout the bulk of its operational life, there have been 10 hull loss incidents involving the type, with around 260 deaths as a result. Its hull-loss rate is noticeably worse than that of aircraft like the Boeing 777 or Airbus A330.
Read more at Manufacturing Dive
Coal-Based Steelmaking Outpaces The Industry’s Low-Emissions Transition
Growing investment in coal-based steelmaking capacity is outpacing the industry’s transition to low-emissions alternatives, such as electric arc furnaces, threatening global efforts to reach net zero goals, an energy watchdog group said. Steel producers plan to bring online 319 million tonnes per annum of new coal-based blast furnace capacity, a 5% increase from the previous year, according to the Global Energy Monitor’s sixth annual report, published Monday. They also plan to reline, or refurbish, 80 MTPA of existing blast furnace capacity.
Those efforts dwarf the amount of blast furnace capacity scheduled to retire as investment in EAF steelmaking begins to plateau. “We are not moving fast enough toward decarbonization to meet net zero goals,” said Astrid Grigsby-Schulte, project manager of GEM’s global iron and steel tracker and author of the report. The share of global EAF steelmaking capacity grew by 1% over the past year to 34%, according to GEM’s report. Emissions-heavy blast furnaces comprise the remaining 66% of global steelmaking capacity.
Read more at Manufacturing Dive
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