The AI lab revolving door spins ever faster
AI labs just can’t get their employees to stay put. Yesterday’s big AI news was the abrupt and seemingly acrimonious departure of three top executives at Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines lab.
Tech
The US claims it just strongarmed Taiwan into spending $250 billion on American chip manufacturing
The US just lowered Taiwan’s tariffs in exchange for a massive domestic chipmaking promise, the Commerce Department announced on Thursday. Under the deal, tariffs on goods from Taiwan will decrease from 20 to 15 percent, while Taiwanese technology companies will invest $250 billion into building and expanding chipmaking facilities in the US, supported by at […]
Taiwan to invest $250B in US semiconductor manufacturing
The U.S. struck a trade deal with Taiwan as the country looks to help boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing.
Krafton is trying to find its next PUBG
PUBG developer Krafton has 26 games in development, and in a recent town hall meeting, the company outlined a plan to “focus on its core gaming business while outlining a disciplined approach to building long-term Franchise IPs.” “During the past year, KRAFTON has prepared for Franchise IP development by strengthening its creative leadership, as well […]
Amazon’s New World: Aeternum MMO will shut down next year
Amazon has announced that the servers for New World: Aeternum, one of the company’s MMOs, will be shut down on January 31st, 2027. The game will also be delisted and no longer available for purchase starting today, January 15th. Last year, Amazon announced that it would be pivoting away from MMOs to put more of […]
AI video startup, Higgsfield, founded by ex-Snap exec, lands $1.3B valuation
Higgsfield says it’s on a $200 million annual revenue run rate. So it opened its previous Series A round back up and sold another $80 million in shares.
Apple lost the AI race — now the real challenge starts
For an AI loser, Apple did an awful lot of winning last year. The mess that was the Apple Intelligence rollout was embarrassing, to be sure, but through it all, the company kept doing what it does best: selling iPhones. With this week’s news that it’ll use Gemini models to power the long-awaited smarter Siri, […]
Iran’s internet shutdown is now one of its longest ever, as protests continue
Iran’s government-imposed internet shutdown enters its second week as authorities continue their violent crackdown on protesters.
Democrats push FTC to investigate Trump Mobile
Elizabeth Warren and other Democrat lawmakers have written an open letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) asking for an investigation into alleged “false advertising and deceptive practices” from Trump Mobile. The company first announced its T1 Phone more than six months ago, but is yet to ship a single phone to buyers. The letter […]
Amazon is buying copper harvested by bacteria for its data centers
Amazon’s data centers will reportedly utilize copper from a mine in Arizona that’s leaching metal from ores using microorganisms, the Wall Street Journal reports. Amazon Web Services will be the first customer for Nuton Technologies, which developed the “bioleaching” technology. AWS will also be providing “cloud-based data and analytics support,” helping to optimize Nuton’s mining […]