tech

Rani Molla10/25/24

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s chip success rate is somehow even higher in the US

In an important breakthrough for US chip production, Bloomberg reports that the share of chips that are usable at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s Arizona plant is 4 percentage points higher than in Taiwan.

That success rate is a major indicator of a plant’s economic viability, and is good news for Washington’s effort to revitalize the semiconductor-manufacturing industry in the US. It’s also good news for TSMC, who is reportedly being probed by the US for possibly selling chips to Huawei after sanctions were put in place.

“We now expect volume production of our first fab to start in the beginning of 2025, and are confident to deliver the same level of manufacturing quality and reliability from our fab in Arizona as from our fabs in Taiwan,” TSMC CEO CC Wei told investors last week.

TSMC’s Arizona Chip Production Yields Surpass Taiwan’s in Win for US Push

TSMC’s Arizona Chip Production Yields Surpass Taiwan’s in Win for US Push

“We now expect volume production of our first fab to start in the beginning of 2025, and are confident to deliver the same level of manufacturing quality and reliability from our fab in Arizona as from our fabs in Taiwan,” TSMC CEO CC Wei told investors last week.

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Reuters: Amazon to cut 30,000 corporate jobs

Amazon is planning on cutting as many as 30,000 corporate workers starting on Tuesday, nearly 10% of its 350,000 strong corporate workforce, to “pare expenses and compensate for overhiring during the peak demand of the pandemic,” Reuters reports.

Last week the New York Times reported Amazon’s plans to automate 75% of its operations in coming years, a move that could lead to 600,000 fewer hires.

Exclusive: Amazon targets as many as 30,000 corporate job cuts, sources say

Exclusive: Amazon targets as many as 30,000 corporate job cuts, sources say

“Without Elon, Tesla could lose significant value”

Tesla Chair Robyn Denholm sent shareholders a letter today pleading with them to approve CEO Elon Musk’s $1 trillion pay package — which is tied to the company’s performance over the next decade — or risk losing him.

“If we fail to foster an environment that motivates Elon to achieve great things through an equitable pay-for-performance plan, we run the risk that he gives up his executive position, and Tesla may lose his time, talent and vision, which have been essential to delivering extraordinary shareholder returns,” Denholm wrote. “Without Elon, Tesla could lose significant value.”

Many have long tied Tesla’s success to retaining its longtime CEO, even Musk himself. Musk used Tesla’s earnings call last week to plea for approving his pay package, saying that it’s the voting control more than the money that’s important.

“If we build this robot army, do I have at least a strong influence over that robot army?” Musk said.

COMMERCIAL ROUTE

Apple is planning to put advertising in the Maps app by 2026

Boosting its Services division with a few extra ad dollars sounds nice — but it could drive users away.

Apple Maps, Google Maps, Uber and other Apps on iPhone screen

Meta is expected to spend a bigger share of its revenue on capex than ever before

Capital expenditures could represent 37% of Meta’s revenue in Q3, according to analyst consensus estimates.

Meta's Facebook data center

tech

Rani Molla10/24/25

After Tesla earnings, prediction markets think unsupervised FSD is less likely than ever to be rolled out this year

Tesla’s unsupervised full self-driving technology, which would autonomously ferry passengers around without a human driver having to pay attention, is supposed to help catapult the electric vehicle company’s valuation further into the stratosphere. It was also supposed to be available this year, but prediction markets participants, as well as former Tesla self-driving leaders, no longer think that will happen.

On Tesla’s earnings call this week, CEO Elon Musk said the company now had “clarity” on achieving unsupervised full self-driving — something he’s repeatedly said would be available at least in some markets this year.

The comments seemed to give Polymarket prediction markets participants some clarity. There, the market-implied probability that Tesla will release unsupervised FSD this year reached its lowest point since the event contract was opened in May.

The odds of it happening had been pretty high up until late June, when Tesla’s long-awaited robotaxi launched with a safety driver in the passenger seat. The unsupervised FSD event contract specifies the feature can have “no requirement for human intervention.”

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