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The demand for lithium is rising as it has become a critical component needed in electric vehicle batteries. In 2021, the world produced 540 thousand metric tons of lithium and by 2030 the World Economic Forum projects the global demand will reach over 3 million metric tons.

Reserves of lithium have been discovered throughout the entire African continent with Zimbabwe, Namibia, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mali all having notable supplies. The price of lithium has skyrocketed. In May 2022, the price was seven times higher than it was at the start of 2021. Mineral-rich nations like Zimbabwe are taking note.

Zimbabwe has been mining lithium for 60 years and the government estimates that its Chinese-owned Bikita Minerals Mine, which is located 300 kilometers south of the capital Harare, has about 11 million metric tons of lithium resources. The country is the sixth largest producer of lithium, and the International Trade Administration projects that once it fully exploits its known resources it could potentially meet 20% of the world’s demand.

“We’ve seen a lot of investments within the mining sector over the past few years,” said Prosper Chitambara, a development economist for the Labor and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe. “For us to realize the full potential from the mining sector, it means we have to move up the value chain.”

In December 2022, Zimbabwe passed the Base Mineral Export Control Act that banned the export of raw lithium. However, companies that are in the process of developing mines or processing plants in Zimbabwe are exempt from this ban. That includes Chinese firms Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, Sinomine Resource Group and Chengxin Lithium Group which have invested $678 million into lithium projects in Zimbabwe.

“Any government in the world is bound to react when your resources are just flying in all directions,” said Farai Maguwu, director of Zimbabwe’s Center for Natural Resource Governance. “However, the lithium concentrate is still being exported lawfully out of the country. I think the government simply wanted to control the lithium that was being extracted by artisanal miners, which was not being accounted for and it was being smuggled out of the country.”

Artisanal mining, or small-scale mining, is a largely informal method where individuals use basic tools to extract minerals. The Zimbabwean government estimates that artisanal mining plays a critical role in the livelihood of over 1 million Zimbabweans.

“Artisanal miners were the most affected by the ban,” said Joseph Mujere, a lecturer in Modern African History at the University of York. “They had already accumulated loads of raw lithium that they were preparing to sell,” he said.

The Center for Natural Resource Governance estimates the government has lost nearly $2 billion in minerals smuggled across the border through artisanal mining leakage.

“There are two narratives,” Maguwu said. “The political narrative that mining is the savior of the economy. Then the grassroots narrative, which says mining is undermining our livelihoods. We sit in between. We want to see mining contribute to the economy, but not at the expense of the Zimbabwean people.”

While artisanal miners were affected by the export ban, the Chinese have benefited from its exemptions. Both the Bikita mine, which is the largest lithium mine in the country, and the Arcadia Lithium mine are Chinese owned.

In 2022, Chinese mining companies Tsingshan, China Nonferrous and Huayou Cobalt invested nearly $1.5 billion in Zimbabwe and in the same year, Sinomine Resource Group announced its plans to expand its current production at the Bikita mine by investing $200 million into building a new lithium plant.

“When we invest in the Chinese and allow them to come and do what the Zimbabweans are capable of doing, we are building China, not Zimbabwe,” Maguwu said. “Zimbabweans are saying leave room for the Zimbabwean people.”

The Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe declined to comment on this statement.

China accounts for over 70% of global EV battery production capacity, and with over 20 years of consistent commitment to African nations it has placed itself in the right position to access the resources needed to continue this trend.

“The Chinese have played for keeps,” said Mvemba Phezo Dizolele, director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The United States, our relationship is not always permanent. The Chinese are just consistent in that way,” he said.

In December, President Joe Biden welcomed 49 African leaders to Washington, D.C., for the country’s second U.S.-African Leaders Summit and its first since the Obama administration.

“The United States is all in on Africa’s future,” Biden remarked at the summit.

The summit was seen as an important step in trying to restore relations, which were rocky during the Trump administration. Notably missing from the event, however, was Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who has been under U.S. travel sanctions since 2002. Foreign Affairs Minister Frederick Shava attended in his place.

“The fact that he came is also still a signal that the U.S. is interested in keeping the door open with Zimbabwe,” Dizolele said. 

While the U.S. has made its intentions clear when it comes to engaging in African business, the reality is China has sunk its roots in the continent. It will be tough for the U.S. to make up for the lost time. In 2009, China overtook the U.S. as Africa’s largest trading partner. The country has grown from $121 million in total traded goods with Africa in 1950 to $254 billion in 2021, compared to the U.S. which sat at $64 billion in 2021.

“America has not been consistent in the way it engages with Africa,” said Dizolele. “If you leave and come back 10 years later, that void you left will be filled by somebody else, so it’s important that we be consistent.”

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Why is Sam Altman losing sleep? OpenAI CEO addresses controversies in sweeping interview

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Why is Sam Altman losing sleep? OpenAI CEO addresses controversies in sweeping interview

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Lisa Su, CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, testify during the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing titled “Winning the AI Race: Strengthening U.S. Capabilities in Computing and Innovation,” in Hart building on Thursday, May 8, 2025.

Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images

In a sweeping interview last week, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addressed a plethora of moral and ethical questions regarding his company and the popular ChatGPT AI model.  

“Look, I don’t sleep that well at night. There’s a lot of stuff that I feel a lot of weight on, but probably nothing more than the fact that every day, hundreds of millions of people talk to our model,” Altman told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in a nearly hour-long interview. 

“I don’t actually worry about us getting the big moral decisions wrong,” Altman said, though he admitted “maybe we will get those wrong too.” 

Rather, he said he loses the most sleep over the “very small decisions” on model behavior, which can ultimately have big repercussions.

These decisions tend to center around the ethics that inform ChatGPT, and what questions the chatbot does and doesn’t answer. Here’s an outline of some of those moral and ethical dilemmas that appear to be keeping Altman awake at night.

How does ChatGPT address suicide?

According to Altman, the most difficult issue the company is grappling with recently is how ChatGPT approaches suicide, in light of a lawsuit from a family who blamed the chatbot for their teenage son’s suicide.

The CEO said that out of the thousands of people who commit suicide each week, many of them could possibly have been talking to ChatGPT in the lead-up.

“They probably talked about [suicide], and we probably didn’t save their lives,” Altman said candidly. “Maybe we could have said something better. Maybe we could have been more proactive. Maybe we could have provided a little bit better advice about, hey, you need to get this help.” 

Jay Edelson on OpenAI wrongful death lawsuit: We're putting OpenAI & Sam Altman on trial, not AI

Last month, the parents of Adam Raine filed a product liability and wrongful death suit against OpenAI after their son died by suicide at age 16. In the lawsuit, the family said that “ChatGPT actively helped Adam explore suicide methods.”

Soon after, in a blog post titled “Helping people when they need it most,” OpenAI detailed plans to address ChatGPT’s shortcomings when handling “sensitive situations,” and said it would keep improving its technology to protect people who are at their most vulnerable. 

How are ChatGPT’s ethics determined?

Another large topic broached in the sit-down interview was the ethics and morals that inform ChatGPT and its stewards. 

While Altman described the base model of ChatGPT as trained on the collective experience, knowledge and learnings of humanity, he said that OpenAI must then align certain behaviors of the chatbot and decide what questions it won’t answer. 

“This is a really hard problem. We have a lot of users now, and they come from very different life perspectives… But on the whole, I have been pleasantly surprised with the model’s ability to learn and apply a moral framework.” 

When pressed on how certain model specifications are decided, Altman said the company had consulted “hundreds of moral philosophers and people who thought about ethics of technology and systems.”

An example he gave of a model specification made was that ChatGPT will avoid answering questions on how to make biological weapons if prompted by users.

“There are clear examples of where society has an interest that is in significant tension with user freedom,” Altman said, though he added the company “won’t get everything right, and also needs the input of the world” to help make these decisions.

How private is ChatGPT?

Another big discussion topic was the concept of user privacy regarding chatbots, with Carlson arguing that generative AI could be used for “totalitarian control.”

In response, Altman said one piece of policy he has been pushing for in Washington is “AI privilege,” which refers to the idea that anything a user says to a chatbot should be completely confidential. 

“When you talk to a doctor about your health or a lawyer about your legal problems, the government cannot get that information, right?… I think we should have the same concept for AI.” 

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on path to profitability: Willing to run at a loss to focus on growth

According to Altman, that would allow users to consult AI chatbots about their medical history and legal problems, among other things. Currently, U.S. officials can subpoena the company for user data, he added.

“I think I feel optimistic that we can get the government to understand the importance of this,” he said. 

Will ChatGPT be used in military operations?

Just how powerful is OpenAI?

Carlson, in his interview, predicted that on its current trajectory, generative AI and by extension, Sam Altman, could amass more power than any other person, going so far as to call ChatGPT a “religion.”

In response, Altman said he used to worry a lot about the concentration of power that could result from generative AI, but he now believes that AI will result in “a huge up leveling” of all people. 

“What’s happening now is tons of people use ChatGPT and other chatbots, and they’re all more capable. They’re all kind of doing more. They’re all able to achieve more, start new businesses, come up with new knowledge, and that feels pretty good.”

However, the CEO said he thinks AI will eliminate many jobs that exist today, especially in the short-term.

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China says Nvidia violated anti-monopoly law after preliminary probe

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China says Nvidia violated anti-monopoly law after preliminary probe

China is one of Nvidia’s largest markets, particularly for data centers, gaming and artificial intelligence applications.

Avishek Das | Lightrocket | Getty Images

China’s market regulator on Monday said that Nvidia violated the country’s anti-monopoly law, according to a preliminary probe, adding that Beijing would continue its investigation into the U.S. chip giant.

Shares of Nvidia were down around 2% in premarket trading.

Late last year, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) opened an investigation into Nvidia in relation to the acquisition of Mellanox and some agreements made during the acquisition. Nvidia acquired the Israeli technology company that creates network solutions for data centers and servers in 2020, in a deal that was approved by China at the time with certain conditions.

In a preliminary investigation, the SAMR said Nvidia had violated China’s anti-monopoly laws in relation to that acquisition and its conditions. China’s market regulator did not specify how Nvidia allegedly breached the country’s laws.

CNBC has reached out to Nvidia for comment.

China targets Nvidia with anti-monopoly probe

The update from the SAMR has the potential to complicate trade talks between Chinese and U.S. officials that began on Sunday in Madrid, Spain.

Tensions between Beijing and Washington appear to be on the rise on the technology front. China opened two separate probes into semiconductors on Saturday: one is an anti-dumping investigation into certain chips imported from the U.S., while the other is an anti-discrimination scrutiny of U.S. restrictions on China’s chip industry.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for more.

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Here are five fintechs that could be next to IPO after Klarna

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Here are five fintechs that could be next to IPO after Klarna

Specialist traders work at the post for Swedish fintech Klarna, during the company’s IPO at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, U.S., Sept. 10, 2025.

Brendan McDermid | Reuters

After Swedish payments group Klarna’s $17 billion initial public offering, investors are pondering which big fintech name will be the next to go public.

Klarna popped as much as 30% on the day of its New York IPO, before settling to close around 15% higher. The stock declined further to $42.92 by Friday but is still up about 7% from its IPO price of $40.

The debut demonstrated how Wall Street is becoming more welcoming of bumper fintech listings. Prior to Klarna, online trading platform eToro, stablecoin issuer Circle and crypto exchange Bullish all went public to a positive first-day reception.

Gemini, the crypto exchange founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, surged 14% in its IPO Friday.

“I think the Klarna IPO would be viewed positively by some of the other scaled-up vendors,” Gautam Pillai, head of fintech research at British investment bank Peel Hunt, told CNBC.

There’s a crowded pipeline of fintech names that could be next to IPO after Klarna. CNBC looks at which companies look the most promising.

Stripe

Patrick Collison, chief executive officer and co-founder of Stripe Inc., left, smiles as John Collison, president and co-founder of Stripe Inc., speaks during a Bloomberg Studio 1.0 television interview in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Friday, March 23, 2018. 

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Revolut

Revolut CEO Nikolay Storonsky at the Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, Nov. 7, 2019.

Pedro Nunes | Reuters

Monzo

Monzo CEO TS Anil.

Monzo

Having recently reached a $5.9 billion valuation in a secondary share sale, British digital bank Monzo is another contender for the public markets.

A report surfaced earlier this year from Sky News that said Monzo had lined up bankers to work on an IPO that could take place as early as the first half of 2026.

However, in a fireside discussion moderated by CNBC at SXSW London, Monzo CEO TS Anil said that an IPO is “not the thing we’re focused on right now” — it’s worth noting though that this was back in June.

“The thing we’re focused on is scale the business, continue to grow it, double it again, reach more customers, build more products, continue to drive great economic outcomes on the back of that,” Anil said at the time.

Anil wouldn’t comment on where Monzo would list if it were to IPO, but he stressed the firm was “deeply committed” to being globally headquartered in London. 

Starling Bank

Raman Bhatia, incoming chief executive officer of Starling. Bhatia moved over from OVO Energy Ltd., where he was CEO. 

Zed Jameson | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Monzo’s rival neobank Starling Bank has reportedly been considering an initial public offering in the U.S. as part of expansion plans there.

On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that Starling had hired Jody Bhagat, former president of global banking at software firm Personetics Technologies, to lead the growth of its Engine technology unit in the U.S.

Starling declined to comment when asked by CNBC about its listing plans.

Last year, Starling’s CEO Raman Bhatia talked up the bank’s plans to expand globally via Engine, a software platform that Starling sells to other companies so they can set up their own digital banks.

“I am very bullish about this approach around internationalization of what is the best of Starling — the proprietary tech,” Bhatia said during a fireside chat at the Money 20/20 conference moderated by CNBC.

Starling was last privately valued at £2.5 billion ($3.4 billion) in a 2022 funding round. However, reports indicate the firm is looking to fetch a valuation of £4 billion in an upcoming secondary share sale.

Payhawk

Saravutvanset | Room | Getty Images

Though a lesser known name, Bulgaria-founded fintech firm Payhawk also has IPO ambitions.

The spend management platform was valued at $1 billion in 2022 and saw revenue surge 85% year-over-year in 2024 to 23.4 million euros ($27.4 million).

“We’re definitely seeing the IPO window open,” Payhawk CEO and co-founder Hristo Borisov told CNBC in an interview earlier this month. However, he stressed that “we are looking at more of a five-year horizon there.”

“If you look at the majority of the IPOs, the majority of those IPOs are companies with $400 million to $500 million-plus ARR [annual recurring revenue],” Borisov said. “That’s our goal.”

Some honorary mentions

There are other fintechs that look like potential IPO contenders further down the line — but the trajectory looks less clear.

Blockchain firm Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse told CNBC in January last year that the company explored markets outside the U.S. for its IPO due to an aggressive crypto enforcement regime under ex-Securities and Exchange Commission chief Gary Gensler.

That could change now thanks to President Donald Trump’s pro-crypto stance. Garlinghouse said last year though that Ripple had put any plans for an IPO on hold. The startup was most recently valued at $15 billion.

Germany’s N26 is another potential IPO contender. The digital bank was valued at $9 billion in a 2021 funding round.

However, it has faced some setbacks. N26 co-founder Valentin Stalf recently stepped down as CEO after facing pressure from investors over regulatory failings.

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