Nov 3, 2026

China Drafts Lifecycle AI Rules as Marvell Bets $115B on Optics

China's economic planner says it will speed up AI legislation covering models from data to deployment, while Marvell agrees to buy Lumentum in a $115 billion all-stock deal and SUSE and Squarespace cut staff.

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Beijing moved on Tuesday to put a regulatory frame around the whole life of an AI model, from the data and computing power that feed it to the apps built on top. The announcement led a news cycle that also brought a megadeal in AI networking hardware, as Marvell Technology agreed to buy optical-component maker Lumentum, and fresh job cuts at two software companies that are reshaping their teams as AI changes their industry.

China plans safety rules for every stage of AI

China's state economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said on November 3 that it will speed up legislation covering what it called the core enablers of artificial intelligence. Wang Ruomeng, a senior NDRC official, outlined the plan at a briefing in Beijing, according to Bloomberg reporting carried by The Star.

The proposal would set safety standards and ethical guidelines across the full life cycle of AI systems: research, development and deployment, plus the upstream inputs of data, compute and algorithms. Key application scenarios would face their own rules. Developers and operators would be expected to strengthen risk management and to disclose safety risks, incidents and vulnerabilities, ideally on their own initiative.

Officials also signaled that the rules would not arrive all at once. Beijing plans a transition period and guidance to help companies comply, and it intends to set up sector-specific regulatory sandboxes where firms can test new technology under controlled conditions. Reports on the briefing say each sandbox would have defined steps for applying, testing, using and exiting, and that the framework would be reviewed regularly so outdated provisions can be revised.

The plan extends beyond technical safety. Authorities say they will monitor how AI affects employment and strengthen the social safety net for displaced workers. Coverage of the briefing also mentions measures against deepfakes, algorithmic discrimination, privacy leaks, and users becoming addicted to or emotionally dependent on AI.

The timing reflects mounting unease about AI security. Bloomberg's report ties the move to warnings from Silicon Valley leaders about existential risk and to a run of recent incidents in which AI systems misbehaved or were used to boost cyberattacks. Wang called for international cooperation on vulnerability disclosure and risk response, saying AI safety "is not a problem one company, industry or country can tackle alone."

China already introduced rules for public-facing generative AI services in 2023, and comprehensive AI legislation was added to the State Council's work plan in May. Beijing says it will keep encouraging open AI development through 2030, the end of the current five-year plan. That matters for homegrown developers such as DeepSeek, Moonshot and Alibaba, which are racing to match US rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic.

Marvell agrees to buy Lumentum for about $115 billion

Marvell Technology said it will acquire Lumentum in an all-stock transaction that values the optical-networking company at an implied enterprise value of roughly $115 billion, or about $1,132 per share.

Lumentum shareholders will receive 4.5 Marvell shares for each share they own. That works out to a premium of about 23.9% over Lumentum's closing price on October 28, the last trading day before speculation about a deal began. After the deal closes, Marvell holders would own about 67% of the combined company and Lumentum holders about 33%.

Marvell says the combination widens its addressable market to about $550 billion, should yield more than $1 billion in annual run-rate cost savings, and will add to adjusted earnings per share in its first year after closing. Matt Murphy will stay on as chairman and CEO. Three Lumentum directors, including CEO Michael Hurlston, will join Marvell's board. Both boards have approved the deal, but it is not expected to close until the first half of 2028, pending shareholder and regulatory approvals.

The deal is a bet on the plumbing of AI data centers. Marvell makes networking and custom chips, while Lumentum supplies the optical components that carry data between machines, and combining the two gives Marvell a broader hand to play as AI clusters keep growing.

Software firms cut staff as AI reshapes work

Two layoff announcements on Monday showed the jobs pressure Beijing says it wants to watch. SUSE, the enterprise Linux company, told staff it will cut about one in ten of its roughly 1,900 employees. According to The Register, a memo from CEO Dirk-Peter van Leeuwen cited automation and AI as changing how software companies operate, and said some existing roles have greatly diminished. Affected employees are due to be told by November 4.

Website builder Squarespace is cutting about 19% of its workforce, roughly 300 people, TechCrunch reported. The company described the move as a restructuring to simplify operations and sharpen priorities and did not attribute it to AI. Still, it comes as prompt-driven "vibe-coding" site builders shake up its market, and Squarespace is preparing an AI-native platform called Forma.

Why it matters

Together, the stories capture the AI boom's main pressures in a single day: governments trying to write rules before the next security failure, chipmakers paying huge sums to secure the hardware behind AI data centers, and employers already rebuilding their workforces around automation.