Tech Turmoil: Crypto Hits $4 Trillion, SpaceX’s 8,000 Satellites & More Non-AI Bombshells (July 18–19, 2025)
Microsoft is restructuring its U.S. military cloud support after revelations it had been using engineers in China on Pentagon projects reuters.com. A ProPublica report prompted U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to order a review of all cloud contracts. Microsoft’s Frank Shaw said the company changed its processes “in response to concerns raised… to assure that no China-based engineering teams are providing technical assistance” on Pentagon systems reuters.com. U.S. Senator Tom Cotton blasted the prior practice as a security risk, noting China’s aggressive cyber threats to critical U.S. infrastructure reuters.com. Hegseth vowed that "China will no longer have any involvement whatsoever in our cloud services, effective immediately" reuters.com. A planned sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations faces new uncertainty after private equity giant Blackstone quit a bidding consortium reuters.com. The investor group – led by Susquehanna and General Atlantic – had emerged as frontrunner to buy TikTok from China’s ByteDance under a Trump-orchestrated plan, potentially giving U.S. owners an 80% stake reuters.com. Blackstone’s exit comes amid repeated delays in the forced divestment deadline, now pushed to Sept. 17 after President Trump’s third extension reuters.com. Some U.S. lawmakers accuse the administration of “flouting the law” by allowing extensions and warn that Chinese ownership