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Many developers find that AI programming assistants have made writing code easier than ever. But maintaining the infrastructure that actually runs that code remains a challenge, requiring engineers to have detailed knowledge of complex cloud systems and how their companies use them. A startup called Antimetal is working to harness AI to guide engineers through resolving issues with software infrastructure in much the same way existing tools help them write code. “We’re going to investigate that by piecing this data together, telling you this really thorough narrative of what happened and why, and leading you to prescriptive actions about what you should do next,” says Antimetal cofounder and CTO Shreyas Iyer. The company began about two-and-a-half years ago, initially focusing on helping businesses optimize their spending on Amazon Web Services. The cloud platform is known for offering a vast range of infrastructure for startups and enterprises to run software online, but it’s also notoriously difficult to optimize for cost. Unexpected eventssuch as a surge in app popularity or a simple coding or configuration issuecan trigger sudden spikes in costs as metered resources are consumed more rapidly than anticipated. Antimetal’s software can automatically recommend ways to reduce monthly bills and quickly alert engineers to unexpected cost spikes before they cause financial strain. But, says cofounder and CEO Matthew Parkhurst, cost management was only the starting point for building a broader AI-driven infrastructure management platform. “Cost is still very important to us,” he says. “But now we’re going a bit more broad in terms of more holistic management.” [Image: Courtesy of Antimetal] Antimetal, which recently secured a $20 million Series A funding round, is now beta testing technology that helps engineers address infrastructure issues as they arise. The AI can offer suggestions or automate tasks such as rolling back code or restarting systems to fix problems. It also integrates with a wide range of platforms, including code repositories like GitHub, logging and monitoring tools, and major cloud providers like AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. This allows it to fetch relevant data and propose potential solutions. It can even tap into companies ticketing platforms to understand how previous issues were resolved. “What we’re doing to start is plugging into effectively every surface area of your infrastructure stack, your observability platform, your cloud, your ticketing system, your source code,” Iyer says. The software, expected to be publicly available later this year, is designed to learn how individual customers prefer to approach various issues, and which solutions tend to be most effective. Many customers begin by granting read-only access, allowing the software to analyze data and offer insights without making changes. As trust grows, they can assign more granular permissionssuch as letting it roll back problematic configuration changes on its own. “We’re not trying to jump to full automation out of the gate,” Iyer says. “We want to build this sort of incremental flow from being an autopilot and assisting you in your time of need to actually automating.” Looking ahead, Antimetal also aims to assist with new software deployments. The system could help teams anticipate potential issues and set up the necessary infrastructure to support new code from day one, Iyer says. The companys original pricing model for its cost optimization tool was based on a percentage of customers’ AWS spending. Parkhurst says pricing for the new AI capabilities will likely be usage-based, though specifics are still being finalized while the product is in beta. He sees strong demand for AI that can support the scaling and maintenance of software productsa task that for many companies is now more daunting than writing the code itself. “Writing code is not the hardest thing anymore,” Parkhurst says. “It’s maintaining it that is, by far, the biggest issue when building a company, or really anything, and serving it to the world.”
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E-Commerce
China’s dominance over critical minerals in global supply chains was a powerful bargaining chip in trade talks between Beijing and Washington that concluded with both sides saying they have a framework to pursue a deal.China has spent decades building the world’s main industrial chain for mining and processing such materials, which are used in many industries such as electronics, advanced manufacturing, defense and health care.Mines and factories in and around Ganzhou, a key production hub for rare earths, underpin China’s control over the minerals. Many residents grew up collecting rocks containing the valuable minerals from the forested hills surrounding the southern city and today make a living from mining, trading or processing them. Critical minerals as a trade issue Responding to ever higher tariffs and other controls on advanced technology, China told exporters of certain key rare earths and other critical minerals to obtain licenses for every shipment abroad. Approvals can take weeks, leading to supply chain disruptions in the U.S. and other countries.President Donald Trump said Wednesday that China would make it easier for American industry to obtain much-needed needed magnets and rare earth minerals, clearing the way for talks to continue between the world’s two biggest economies. In return, Trump said, the U.S. will stop efforts to revoke the visas of Chinese nationals on U.S. college campuses.But details remain scarce. Beijing has not confirmed what the negotiators agreed to, and Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump himself have yet to sign off on it.The Chinese Commerce Ministry said Saturday it had approved a “certain number” of export licenses for rare earth products, apparently acknowledging Trump’s personal request to Xi during a phone call last week. And on Wednesday, the Ganzhou-based rare-earth conglomerate JL MAG Rare-Earth Co. confirmed it had obtained some export licenses for shipments to destinations including the U.S., Europe and Southeast Asia.Experts say, however, Beijing is unlikely to do away with the permit system enabling it to control access to those valuable resources.“I think what the Chinese have proven is they have now created an entire export control regime for rare earths,” said Daniel Kritenbrink, a partner at The Asia Group consultancy. “They can turn that spigot on and off at will.”The only scenario in which China might deregulate its critical minerals export is if the U.S. fully removes tariffs imposed on Chinese goods as part of the trade war, said Wang Yiwei, a professor of international affairs at Renmin University, echoing the Chinese government’s earlier stance.“Without that,” he said, “it will be difficult to blame China for continuing to strengthen its export controls.” An industry built over decades with government support In 1992, Deng Xiaoping, the leader who launched China’s ascent as the world’s biggest manufacturing power, famously said “the Middle East has oil, China has rare earths,” signaling a desire to leverage access to the key minerals.Several generations later, Beijing has made its rich reserves of rare earths, a group of 17 minerals that are abundant in the earth’s crust but hard, expensive and environmentally polluting to process, a key element of China’s economic security. In 2019, during a visit to a rare earth processing plant in Ganzhou, Xi described rare earths as a “vital strategic resource.”China today has an essential monopoly over “heavy rare earths,” used for making powerful, heat-resistance magnets used in industries such as defense and electric vehicles.The country also produces around 80% of the world’s tungsten, gallium and antimony, and 60% of the world’s germaniumall minerals used in the making of semiconductors, among other advanced technologies.The risks of dependency on Chinese suppliers first came into focus in 2010, when Beijing suspended rare earths exports to Japan due to a territorial dispute. The ban was lifted after about two months, but as a precaution, Japan invested in rare earths processing plants in other countries and began stockpiling the materials.Beijing’s across-the-board requirement for export licenses for some critical minerals has put pressure on world electronics manufacturers and automakers.Some auto parts makers in Europe have shut down production lines due to delays in supply deliveries, according to the European Association of Automotive Suppliers. In the U.S., Tesla CEO Elon Musk said a shortage of rare earths is affecting his company’s work on humanoid robots. China’s critical minerals resources are dwindling In the drab industrial hub of Ganzhou, cradled by the scenic Dayu Mountains, the U.S.-China trade war is still a distant stressor. Miners and small mineral traders interviewed by The Associated Press said they are more concerned about depleting the mountains’ once-abundant resources.Zhong, a tungsten factory manager in Ganzhou who would only give his last name, worked his way up to manager from a miner, but he’s unsure there is a future for him and others in the industry.“I find growing difficulties to source tungsten these days,” he said, adding that smaller mines and trading companies are slowly disappearing as the resources are dwindling. Tungsten is an ultra-hard metal used in armor-piercing ammunition, nuclear reactors and semiconductors.At least five tungsten mines have closed in the area in recent years, according to state media. Remaining reserves are deeper and harder to extract and process after decades of exploitation, said Li Shangkui, chairman of the Ganzhou-based Jiangxi Yuean Advanced Materials Co., Ltd.Processing factories in Ganzhou now routinely source materials from other provinces or other countries. Zhong’s plant imports some raw materials from places like Africa and Cambodia.Major state-owned and private companies in Ganzhou are also ramping up investments abroad. Tungsten producer Ganzhou Haisheng, for instance, announced last year a $25 million investment in a new tungsten plant in Thailand.Whatever the challenges in procuring raw materials, China likely will seek to maintain its dominance in critical minerals, said Fabian Villalobos, an engineer and critical minerals expert at the RAND think tank. The U.S. lags far behind China on critical minerals Between 2020 and 2023, the U.S. imported at least 70% of the rare earth compounds it used from China, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It has diversified its sources in recent years, but still mainly relies on China.Since beginning his second term in office, Trump has made improving access to critical minerals a matter of national security. Bu the U.S. has an incredibly long way to go to catch up with China, experts say.The sole operational U.S. rare earths mine, in Mountain Pass, California, is unable to separate heavy rare earths. It sends its ore to China for processing. The U.S. Defense Department has provided funding to the mine’s owner, MP Materials, to build new separation facilities. It will take months to build and still only produce a fraction of what is needed.Friction over the issue has opened the way for government-backed financing that was unavailable before, said Mark Smith, who ran the Mountain Pass mine in the early 2010s and now leads NioCorp. It’s seeking about $780 million in financing through the U.S. Export-Import Bank to build a processing facility in Nebraska for critical minerals including rare earths.The Defense Department has committed $439 million to building domestic rare earth supply chains, but building a complete mining and processing industrial chain like China’s could take decades.“There are going to be some real issues here unless we can figure out how to get along with China for a period of time while we’re developing our own resources and our mainstream processing,” Smith said.The spotlight on critical minerals also provides opportunities for smaller miners to invest in extracting and processing some critical minerals, such as tungsten, considered “niche” because they are needed in relatively small amounts in key industries, said Milo McBride, an expert on sustainability and geopolitics at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.“For many of these companies, the business strategy hedges on a scenario where the U.S. and China become more confrontational and where trade relations become more uncomfortable,” McBride said. “And all of a sudden, what was once an uneconomic project somewhere outside of China starts to make more sense.” Associated Press news researcher Shihuan Chen contributed to this story. Simina Mistreanu Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Toy robots that teach children to code. Sneakers made in America. Mold-resistant kitchen gadgets.The three items are among new products that have gotten stuck in the pipeline due to President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policies, according to the brand founders behind the stalled items. They say that instead of fostering U.S. innovation, Trump’s tariffs are stifling it with extra costs and unexpected work.At Learning Resources in Vernon Hills, Illinois, Made Plus in Annapolis, Maryland, and Dorai Home in Salt Lake City, research and development have taken a backseat to recalculating budgets, negotiating with vendors, and tracking shipments in the shifting tariff environment.“If we don’t have enough cash to cover just the restocks of the things that we know we need, do we want to take a risk on this new thing when we don’t know how well it will sell yet?” Dorai Home founder Kelsey O’Callaghan said.O’Callaghan started the eco-friendly home goods company with a stone bath mat and now offers about 50 kitchen and bathroom accessories, which are made in China with a non-toxic material that dries quickly. New launches are critical to increasing sales and attracting customers, she said.As Trump increased the tariff on Chinese goods to 20% and as high as 145% before reducing the import tax rate to 30% for 90 days, Dorai Home postponed introducing new merchandise. O’Callaghan said she had to lay off the CEO as well as the head of product development, who helped the company jump on new trends.“I haven’t really put the time or the emphasis on (innovation) because I’m covering too many other people’s roles,” she said.The company paused shipments from China in early April but resumed some on a staggered basis after the president’s rate reduction. On Wednesday, Trump touted progress in U.S.-China trade talks.With details still sketchy and a deal not finalized, entrepreneurs interviewed by The Associated Press said they viewed the tariffs war as an ongoing threat. Tariffs and American innovation The potential stunting of innovation follows an economic slowdown during the coronavirus pandemic, when companies also had to put projects on hold. Some experts think the on-again-off again tariffs may have more enduring consequences because they rewire markets and upend business strategies.“When executive attention shifts from innovation to regulatory compliance, the innovation pipeline suffers. Companies end up optimizing for the political landscape rather than technological advancement,” economists J. Bradford Jensen, a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and Scott J. Wallsten, president of the Technology Policy Institute think tank, wrote in an April blog post.Trump has argued that curtailing foreign imports with tariffs would help revive the nation’s diminished manufacturing base. Analysts and various trade groups have warned that fractured trade ties and supply chains may depress R&D activity of U.S. tech and health care companies that rely on international partnerships or foreign suppliers.Small companies, which often drive the innovations that create jobs and economic growth, already are under strain.With fewer people on staff and tighter budgets compared to large corporations, entrepreneurs say they are spending more time on cutting costs, suspending or arranging orders, and deciding how much of their tariff-related costs to charge customers. That means they’re spending less time thinking of their next big ideas.Schylling Inc., a Massachusetts company that produces modern versions of Lava lamps, Sea-Monkeys, My Little Pony and other nostalgic toys, has its products made in China. As part of its strategy to account for tariffs, the company put a group of employees on temporary unpaid leave last month to reduce expenses.Marketing director Beth Muehlenkamp said she and other furloughed workers typically would have been planning products for the final months of 2026. But Schylling isn’t focusing on designing new products given the unstable trade outlook.“It’s really hard to focus on innovation and creativity when you’re consumed with this day-to-day of how we’re just going to balance the books and deal with the changing rates,” Muehlenkamp said. An uneven product pipeline Even some companies that do their manufacturing in the U.S. are scaling back investments in new products. Made Plus, a Maryland company that makes athletic shoes at a small factory in the state capital, put a planned golf line on hold because two key componentsa foam insole and the tread for the bottom of the shoecurrently are made in China, founder Alan Guyan said.The company customizes its shoes on demand and charges $145 to $200 a pair. The footwear is made from recycled plastic bottles with advanced knitting, 3D printing and computerized stitching techniques. It’s looking into getting components from Vietnam instead of China.Embracing new technology is essential to restoring manufacturing capability in the U.S. and competing with Asia, Guyan said. But given ongoing trade frictions, he said he does not want to invest time or money evaluating the latest embroidery and knitting machines, which come from Germany, Italy, China and the U.S.“We’re just battening down the hatches a little bit and just hoping that there’s enough influence in the community of footwear that it will somewhat change and get resolved and we can move forward,” he said of the tariff roller coaster.In contrast, many big companies are forging on. Google parent Alphabet confirmed late last month that it still planned to spend $75 billion on capital expenditures this year, with most of the money going toward artificial intelligence technology. What’s next for R&D? Sonia Lapinsky, a managing director at consulting firm AlixPartners, has advised her clients to limit tariff discussions to a small group of executives and to keep their product creation cycles in motion.Businesses have an even greater imperative to come up with attention-grabbing innovations when consumers may be reluctant to open their wallets, she said.Yet smaller companies may struggle to wall off tariff discussions from the rest of the business.Learning Resources CEO Rick Woldenberg said that roughly 25% to 30% of the 350 employees at the educational toy company’s headquarters, including product developers, are working at least part-time on tariff-related tasks.The company usually develops 250 different products a year and expects to get half that many off the drawing board for 2026, Woldenberg said. While exploring factories in countries besides China, he said, Learning Resources is delaying the next generation of its interactive robots that help children develop computer programming skills through games and other activities.The family-run business and Woldenberg’s other toy business, hand2Mind, are locked in a legal battle with the Trump administration. Te jointly owned companies filed a lawsuit accusing the president of exceeding his authority by invoking an emergency powers law to impose tariffs.A federal judge ruled in favor of the two companies last month, and the administration has appealed the decision. Woldenberg said he’s ready to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.“It’s a win at the Supreme Court that we need,” he said. “And so until then, there will be no certainty. Even then, if the government is bound and determined to keep us in an uncertain situation, they’ll be able to do that.” Anne D’Innocenzio, AP Retail Writer
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E-Commerce
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