Contemplations News
This is the latest addition to our website, and its purpose is to help you stay in touch with current news posts. Click on any post to read the full text.
- Global smartphone shipments fell 11% YoY in Q2 to the lowest Q2 levels since 2013 amid the DRAM and NAND shortage; Samsung returns to #1 with a 24% market share (Shilpi Jain/Counterpoint Research)
- Apple's stock is up 16% since June 25, adding ~$650B in market value and pushing shares back to record territory, as investors flee an AI stock selloff to Apple (Ryan Vlastelica/Bloomberg)
- Sources: the US estimates unauthorized distillation costs US AI labs up to $6B/year; Silicon Valley told the White House it could become an existential threat (Maggie Eastland/Bloomberg)
- Source: OpenAI still believes it is on track to unveil its first device in 2026 and release it in 2027; Apple's lawsuit may complicate hiring and supply chains (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)
- Anthropic hires Tom Blomfield, a Monzo co-founder and one of the biggest names in UK tech, to join its compute team; he is taking a leave of absence from YC (Robert Scammell/Business Insider)
- Intel plans to invest €5B to expand chip manufacturing at its Leixlip facility in Ireland; in 2025, Intel canceled a planned €30B factory in Magdeburg, Germany (Financial Times)
- Nearly 200 economists, including 15 Nobel laureates and Anthropic's Jack Clark, sign a letter titled We Must Act Now, warning of rapid AI-led job displacement (Ben Casselman/New York Times)
- Samsung says it now aims to begin operations at its first chipmaking plant in South Korea's Yongin by 2029, bringing the timeline forward from 2030 or 2031 (Henry Siu/The Information)
- Meta says it will spend an extra $40B on its nearly 4,000-acre data center campus in Louisiana, aiming for 5GW+ of compute, pushing its total spend beyond $250B (Riley Griffin/Bloomberg)
- The EU blacklists Russian intelligence group members it says were responsible for spying on and hacking targets across the EU and Ukraine from as early as 2010 (Politico)
- China says President Xi will deliver a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the three-day World AI Conference in Shanghai on Friday, his first appearance (Bloomberg)
- SK Hynix's stock falls 15%+ in Seoul, its largest-ever decline, after a strong Nasdaq debut, as investors book profits amid its US stock valuation uncertainty (Lee Ying Shan/CNBC)
- Investigation: Western intelligence officials identify a Russian military intelligence unit in Tokyo that smuggles high-tech components for the war in Ukraine (New York Times)
- Sources: Shein is targeting a $40B+ valuation after winning Beijing's approval for a Hong Kong IPO, set for as early as Q3; Shein canceled its US IPO in 2024 (Wall Street Journal)
- How a Denmark-based research team is using quantum computers to accelerate AI protein discovery, showing a near-term commercial application for the quantum tech (Isabella Ward/Wired)
- A look back at the 2007 heist of a Verizon data center in London, highlighting the role of physical data security as cyber defenses grow more sophisticated (Nathaniel Rich/New York Times)
- Munich-based defense tech startup Helsing raised a $1.8B Series E from Dragoneer, Iconiq, and others at an $18B valuation; Germany made a €270M order this year (Mark Bergen/Bloomberg)
- Docs: Uber lobbied for a "phased transition" to AVs, giving it an edge over self-driving developers; Uber says AV industry proposals overlook drivers' rights (Aarian Marshall/Wired)
- Eating disorder therapists say patients are increasingly using AI chatbots for advice, while AI also appears to be directing more patients to helplines (Julie Jargon/Wall Street Journal)
- A look at ADI Predictstreet's troubled launch, marked by tiny trading volumes, withdrawal bugs, and other issues, as it tried to challenge Kalshi and Polymarket (Wall Street Journal)