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 Trump Apple Announcement In The Oval Office with Tim Cook
President Donald Trump speaks behind an engraved glass disc presented to him by Apple CEO Tim Cook during an investment announcement at the White House (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Apple jumps after Trump says Apple and other firms that build in the US will avoid 100% chip tariff

Apple CEO Tim Cook announced an additional $100 billion investment in US manufacturing at the White House.

Rani Molla

It looks like Apple CEO Tim Cook’s latest $100 billion US manufacturing investment was enough to get the president off his back.

 “We’re going to be putting a very large tariff on chips and semiconductors,” President Trump said during the announcement at the White House yesterday. “But the good news for companies like Apple is if you’re building in the United States or have committed to build, without question, committed to build in the United States, there will be no charge.”

The stock was up 3% premarket.

Cook unveiled  Apple’s American manufacturing program to encourage production of more iPhone parts in the US, as well as agreements with a number of American companies, including Texas Instruments, Applied Materials, and Corning.

“For the first time ever, every single new iPhone and every single new Apple Watch sold anywhere in the world will contain cover glass made in Kentucky,” Cook said, after presenting the president with a 24-karat gold and glass statue with an Apple logo that he said was made in the US.

When asked about making the whole iPhone in the US — something analysts have said is impossible without raising the price substantially — Cook punted.

“Well, if you look at the bulk of it, we’re doing a lot of the semiconductors here. We’re doing the glass here; we’re doing the face ID module here. And so there’s a ton of it, and we’re doing these for products sold elsewhere in the world. And so there’s a lot of content in there from the United States,” Cook said. “The whole thing is just the final assembly.”

Apple said on its latest earnings call that it expects a $1.1 billion hit from tariffs this quarter, after spending $800 million in its June quarter.

While Apple will still likely have to pay other tariffs, including those for shipping finished iPhones from India, and anything related to the ongoing Section 232 investigation, the chip exemption was welcome news for Apple investors.

TSMC, Nvidia, Micron, and other companies that have made similar pledges to invest in US manufacturing during Trump’s term are also up this morning.

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Chinese AI chatbots reportedly must answer 2,000 questions, prove censorship compliance

For American companies building AI today, it is basically a free-for-all, a self-regulation zone with zero federal restrictions.

But for Chinese AI companies, the Chinese Communist Party exerts strict control over what models get released, and what questions they cannot answer.

A report in the Wall Street Journal details the rigorous tests that AI models are subjected to before being released on the global stage to compete with Western AI models.

AI models must answer 2,000 questions that are frequently updated, and achieve a 95% refusal rate for queries related to forbidden topics, such as the Tiananmen Square massacre or human rights violations, according to the report.

The strict regulatory framework does have some safety advantages, such as preventing chatbots from sharing violent or pornographic material as well as protections from self-harm, an issue which American AI companies are currently wrestling with.

A report in the Wall Street Journal details the rigorous tests that AI models are subjected to before being released on the global stage to compete with Western AI models.

AI models must answer 2,000 questions that are frequently updated, and achieve a 95% refusal rate for queries related to forbidden topics, such as the Tiananmen Square massacre or human rights violations, according to the report.

The strict regulatory framework does have some safety advantages, such as preventing chatbots from sharing violent or pornographic material as well as protections from self-harm, an issue which American AI companies are currently wrestling with.

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Report: OpenAI has started mocking up what ads in ChatGPT could look like

2025 saw OpenAI ink a flurry of massive deals. To pay for it all, the company has realized that it can’t get there on $20 per month subscriptions alone. It also needs to monetize its hundreds of millions of free users.

To this end, despite repeatedly denying that ads are coming to ChatGPT, a new report says OpenAI is actually working through all those details.

Citing people familiar with the discussions, The Information reports employees have discussed different ways to prioritize sponsored information in ChatGPT in response to relevant queries.

Since ChatGPT burst onto the scene in late 2022, its offerings have been ad-free, relying instead on a freemium subscription model. But with Google recently telling advertisers it plans to bring ads to Gemini next year, and with OpenAI burning through truckloads of cash, the pressure to follow suit is growing.

OpenAI is looking at its AI model-developing competitors Meta and Google, who are pulling in hundreds of billions of dollars per year in advertising revenue, to arrive at this conclusion. It’s also seemingly inspired by Amazon’s (and Google’s) idea of sponsored product placement.

According to the report, in addition to trying to build new kinds of ad units, OpenAI is considering a few options:

  • Leaning into chats that are clearly about buying a product, and giving priority placement to sponsored results — though this only works out to about 2.1% of queries, according to OpenAI.

  • Showing ads based on the treasure trove of information it has on users, by mining their chat histories

  • A “sponsored” sidebar showing ads related to the conversation

But the company realizes it has to be careful to not turn off users, who might not trust a chatbot that peppers sensitive conversations with ads.

Citing people familiar with the discussions, The Information reports employees have discussed different ways to prioritize sponsored information in ChatGPT in response to relevant queries.

Since ChatGPT burst onto the scene in late 2022, its offerings have been ad-free, relying instead on a freemium subscription model. But with Google recently telling advertisers it plans to bring ads to Gemini next year, and with OpenAI burning through truckloads of cash, the pressure to follow suit is growing.

OpenAI is looking at its AI model-developing competitors Meta and Google, who are pulling in hundreds of billions of dollars per year in advertising revenue, to arrive at this conclusion. It’s also seemingly inspired by Amazon’s (and Google’s) idea of sponsored product placement.

According to the report, in addition to trying to build new kinds of ad units, OpenAI is considering a few options:

  • Leaning into chats that are clearly about buying a product, and giving priority placement to sponsored results — though this only works out to about 2.1% of queries, according to OpenAI.

  • Showing ads based on the treasure trove of information it has on users, by mining their chat histories

  • A “sponsored” sidebar showing ads related to the conversation

But the company realizes it has to be careful to not turn off users, who might not trust a chatbot that peppers sensitive conversations with ads.

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NHTSA investigates Tesla Model 3 over concerns mechanical door release is “not readily accessible or easily identifiable”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Wednesday it is investigating the emergency exit controls on 179,071 model year 2022 Tesla Model 3 vehicles after receiving a defect petition alleging the vehicles’ “mechanical door release is hidden, unlabeled, and not intuitive to locate during an emergency.”

The investigation is separate from a probe the agency announced this fall into instances of electronic door handles on 2021 Tesla Model Y vehicles becoming inoperable from the outside.

The action follows a series of reporting from Bloomberg examining the role of Tesla’s door designs in accident fatalities. Tesla has previously said it is working on redesigns to its door handles.

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Jon Keegan

FCC bans new Chinese drones and components from DJI and Autel Robotics

Yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) banned new drones and critical components from the market-leading Chinese drone manufacturer DJI, and smaller firm Autel Robotics, calling the foreign made drones “an unacceptable national security risk.”

The ban covers all drones and related components from any foreign manufacturer. DJI dominates the worldwide (nonmilitary) drone market, with a market share greater than 90%, according to some estimates.

In addition to hobbyists, the quadcopter-style drones made by DJI are used heavily by a wide variety of businesses including agriculture, infrastructure inspection, real estate, and also by first responders. Blocking foreign drones leaves many critical industries without a viable US-made alternative, as the industry has struggled to develop new supply chains that don’t come from China and match the quality of DJI’s hardware and software.

Shares of Florida-based drone builder Unusual Machines are up over 8% in early trading. Donald Trump Jr. is an investor and advisor to the company.

DJI has said its drones do not present a security risk, and welcome a national security review, noting that their drones can be used without an internet connection, and all data is saved locally.

FCC Chair Brendan Carr said:

“I welcome this Executive Branch national security determination, and I am pleased that the FCC has now added foreign drones and related components, which pose an unacceptable national security risk, to the FCC’s Covered List. Following President Trump’s leadership, the FCC will work closely with U.S. drone makers to unleash American drone dominance.”

The ban covers all drones and related components from any foreign manufacturer. DJI dominates the worldwide (nonmilitary) drone market, with a market share greater than 90%, according to some estimates.

In addition to hobbyists, the quadcopter-style drones made by DJI are used heavily by a wide variety of businesses including agriculture, infrastructure inspection, real estate, and also by first responders. Blocking foreign drones leaves many critical industries without a viable US-made alternative, as the industry has struggled to develop new supply chains that don’t come from China and match the quality of DJI’s hardware and software.

Shares of Florida-based drone builder Unusual Machines are up over 8% in early trading. Donald Trump Jr. is an investor and advisor to the company.

DJI has said its drones do not present a security risk, and welcome a national security review, noting that their drones can be used without an internet connection, and all data is saved locally.

FCC Chair Brendan Carr said:

“I welcome this Executive Branch national security determination, and I am pleased that the FCC has now added foreign drones and related components, which pose an unacceptable national security risk, to the FCC’s Covered List. Following President Trump’s leadership, the FCC will work closely with U.S. drone makers to unleash American drone dominance.”

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Rani Molla

Tesla’s EU sales fell nearly 40% in the first 11 months of 2025

From January through November this year, Tesla sales fell 39% to 129,000 in the European Union compared with the first 11 months of 2024, according to new data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, known as ACEA. In that same time, sales of Chinese competitor BYD grew 240% to 110,000. BYD first outsold Tesla there this spring, but Tesla is still outpacing BYD for the year.

Overall, sales of battery electric vehicles in the EU rose 28%.

Tesla has struggled throughout this year in Europe, its third-biggest market — something CEO Elon Musk has blamed on Europe’s lack of regulatory approval for its Full Self-Driving tech, though the decline likely has more to do with competition from China.

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