The US is considering blacklisting a number of Chinese chip firms linked to Huawei after it notched a significant tech breakthrough last year.

Most of the Chinese entities that could be affected were previously identified as chipmaking facilities acquired or being built by Huawei, in a presentation by the Washington-based trade group Semiconductor Industry Association.

Such a move would mark another escalation in a US campaign to ringfence and curtail Beijing’s AI and semiconductor ambitions. It would also ratchet up the pressure on a Chinese national champion that’s made advances despite existing sanctions. Read more here: https://bloom.bg/4cqoFr8

📷: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

Sam Bankman-Fried said US prosecutors’ proposal to put him in prison for as long as 50 years "distorts reality" and paints him as a "depraved super-villain."

Prosecutors have argued that a sentence ranging from 40 to 50 years is necessary for the FTX co-founder’s "historic" crime involving more than 1 million victims and losses of more than $10 billion in the collapse of his crypto empire. Read more here: https://bloom.bg/3x1Reeh

📷: Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg

Gold standard: Zimbabwe, the poster child of hyperinflation, is allowing a free fall in its currency that it’s no longer keen to defend and is instead working on a new exchange rate potentially backed by gold. https://bloom.bg/4akxAs3

Industry slump ends: Ghana's economy expanded at the fastest pace in a year as the industry sector ended four quarters of decline. https://bloom.bg/3TsBzMw

Rates signal: South Africa’s inflation rate climbed to a four-month high, likely cementing the central bank’s resolve to keep borrowing costs on hold when it meets next week. https://bloom.bg/3VrNOvs

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz

Rural India, home to most of the country’s population, has been instrumental to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s rise over the last decade.

But while India remains the fastest-growing major economy — a place where Apple is making more of its iPhones and global investors are parking money once bound for China — outside of its metropolises, investment is still weak, infrastructure remains spotty and economic prospects for its citizens are far less rosy.

If Prime Minister Narendra Modi earns a third term in office, as polls suggest he will, it will be in spite of the state of the rural and farming economy — not because of it. Here's why: https://bloom.bg/3IK8Rll

📷: Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg

Senegal votes: After a tumultuous buildup, Senegalese people will elect a new leader on Sunday to oversee one of the world’s fastest-growing economies and a nascent oil and gas producer. https://bloom.bg/3TKViZc

Step aside: South Africa’s speaker of parliament is taking “special leave” after her house was raided this week as part of a corruption investigation. https://bloom.bg/43rgN4v

New leader: Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni named his son, who says he wants to be the nation’s next leader, as chief of the defense forces. https://bloom.bg/4cuDPvw

Sign up for our twice-weekly newsletter on where sub Saharan Africa stands now — and where it’s headed at https://bloom.bg/3OsOf3y. Next Africa publishes every Tuesday and Friday.

Narendra Modi's BJP took the lion’s share of over $720 million from a now-banned electoral bonds scheme, but who were the biggest donors?

Read what the numbers reveal about funding for India’s political parties: https://bloom.bg/3Vv9BCg

A growing army of underwater robots is helping the shipping industry clean up its act. They’re on a mission to help decarbonize an industry responsible for nearly 1 billion tons of CO2 emissions each year.

Watch how the robots scrape off the algae, seaweed and barnacles that accumulate on ships to improve fuel-efficiency. Read more here: https://bloom.bg/4acGMiA

Repo rate decision: South Africa’s central bank leaves borrowing costs unchanged at a 15-year high at its final rate-setting meeting before elections in May. https://bloom.bg/4ad32Ja

Inflation woes: Zimbabwean annual inflation surges to a seven-month high, days after the finance minister pledged to address price increases that are being fueled by the nation's plunging currency. https://bloom.bg/3TsfLjS

Political rivalries: South Africa’s ANC sees the rival Inkatha Freedom Party as a bigger electoral threat, and is dismissing former President Jacob Zuma’s new organization as “a nuisance.” https://bloom.bg/4aaBSCK

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz

Political partnerships: South Africa’s Democratic Alliance will resist forming a coalition with the ruling African National Congress in order to govern the country should it need to. https://bloom.bg/3vC3PnO

Majority win: Senegal’s opposition leader Bassirou Diomaye Faye is officially confirmed as the winner of Sunday’s presidential elections, beating the ruling coalition’s candidate by an overwhelming margin. https://bloom.bg/3TvCiwm

Dirty air: South Africa is home to many of the world’s worst emission sites for toxic nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide and most of those are operated by the nation’s state power utility, according to Greenpeace. https://bloom.bg/3TAw7aq

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz

NEW: FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison for stealing billions of dollars from customers, marking the final chapter in a case that has both captivated and overshadowed the crypto industry. Read more here: https://trib.al/zBBhwdP

Follow the Bloomberg Crypto Telegram channel: https://tttttt.me/bloombergcrypto

📷: Getty Images

Several workers from World Central Kitchen were killed in an airstrike by the Israeli military in Gaza, the disaster relief group founded by celebrity chef José Andrés said. More here: https://bloom.bg/3J3TGU0

📷: AFP via Getty Images

Woman leader: President Felix Tshisekedi appoints Judith Tuluka Suminwa as the next prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the first female to hold the role in the world’s second-biggest copper producer. https://bloom.bg/3TFjevS

Corruption arrests: South African Speaker of Parliament Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula lost a court bid to prevent the authorities from detaining her over allegations of corruption, and now faces arrest. https://bloom.bg/4aeKjNx

Egyptian presidency: Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi was sworn in for a third term as expectations build for a change of course after a $50 billion international bailout warded off the worst economic crisis in decades. https://bloom.bg/4aH3pM5

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz

LIVE: Tsunami alerts are in force in Taiwan and Japan after a strong earthquake. Follow our free-to-read blog for the latest news and updates https://bloom.bg/3PMegfn

📷: TVBS/AP Photo

Human rights: Uganda’s Constitutional Court rejected a bid to overturn stringent anti-LGBTQ legislation that led the World Bank to suspend funding. https://bloom.bg/4am2Ze8

Money woes: Zimbabwe’s currency plunges to another record low as citizens rush to the safety of the US dollar ahead of an expected announcement on the fate of the local unit. https://bloom.bg/3U3JEJ8

Africa's largest refinery: Nigeria’s new mega-refinery will begin domestic gasoline deliveries in May, weaning Africa’s most populous country of costly petroleum imports. https://bloom.bg/3xlzmv3

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz

Succession planning is kicking into high gear in India. Here are the 16 next-gen heirs preparing to lead some of India’s biggest businesses — including those belonging to the Ambani and Adani families https://bloom.bg/3TNKlF1

Investment opportunities: BlackRock sees an opportunity to invest in Kenyan stocks, which have gone from the world’s worst performers in 2023 to the best this year. https://bloom.bg/4aonAi6

Wildlife threatened: A third of Africa’s gorillas, bonobos and chimpanzees are at risk because they live in areas that overlap with mining operations for metals critical to the global clean energy transition. https://bloom.bg/3xwDV5t

Surviving summer: Egypt is buying liquefied natural gas, a rare move by the fuel exporter to avoid shortages this summer. https://bloom.bg/3xnUpNm

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz

Apple laid off more than 600 employees in California as part of the decisions to end its car and smartwatch display projects, according to filings.

At least 87 of the people worked at an address corresponding to a secret Apple facility for its next-generation screen development. More here: https://bloom.bg/3TOyh6s

📷: Haiyun Jiang/Bloomberg

New currency: Zimbabwe replaces its battered dollar with a new gold-backed currency called ZiG. https://bloom.bg/3POzzx3

Energy solutions: South Africa picks a $300-million standalone battery project to boost energy supply. https://bloom.bg/3TO5HBV

Power play: Microsoft's Azure cloud business is set to be hit by a formal complaint from South African antitrust watchdogs. https://bloom.bg/3U8SS6Y

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz

New money: ZiG, Zimbabwe’s new currency, began trading on Monday as businesses struggled with the nation’s sixth attempt at introducing a revamped unit. https://bloom.bg/3xzWqGc

Billion dollar deals: Vivendi's Canal+ has made an all-cash formal offer for MultiChoice, valuing the broadcaster at $2.9 billion. https://bloom.bg/49usQ2r

Corruption charges: Former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele pleads not guilty to new allegations of foreign-currency infractions brought against him by one of the country’s finance watchdogs. https://bloom.bg/43QgsZe

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz

Money rally: Zimbabwe’s ZiG strengthens a day after its debut, even as it disrupts commerce nationwide with banks, retailers and utilities battling to switch to the new unit. https://bloom.bg/3VSPbn8

Project funding: Guinea says shareholders involved in Simandou, the biggest untapped iron-ore reserve globally, have signed $15 billion in financing agreements for the project. https://bloom.bg/3xDhsDR

Jail time: Nigeria sends a Binance executive charged with tax evasion and fraud to prison ahead of trial in May. https://bloom.bg/3PTuT9b

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz