Business, Financial & Legal - Page 59

We heard rumors but now we have confirmation: TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) will be making a big new $7 billion chip fabrication plant in Japan, with an investment of Sony included.

The PlayStation giant will be chipping in $500 million out of the $7 billion, with construction of the factory slated to begin in 2022 and will be complete in 2024 according to Sony and TSMC. Sony and TSMC explained: "The fab (plant) is expected to directly create about 1,500 high-tech professional jobs and to have a monthly production capacity of 45,000 12-inch wafers".

Japanese industry ministry officials said that they want the world's No.1 contract chipmaker, so this case TSMC, to build plants in order to supply the required chips for Japan's electronic device makers (mostly Sony) and auto companies (the second-largest customer). We all know the issues between the US and China, with Taiwan and Japan right in the middle of the mess.

TSMC has approved a further $9 billion in capital expenditure that will be spent towards building the very best chip manufacturing plants in the world -- a continuation of what TSMC already does -- and will expand into the US and Japan, expanding out from Taiwan.

At least a portion of the $9 billion investment will go into the new chip plants overseas, with TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) pushing down into the Ant-Man-style world of 3nm. TSMC will have its 3nm chips ready for a trial production run in 2H 2022.

TSMC is on the 5nm node right now, which we're seeing made into Apple's new MacBook Pro laptops with the super-impressive M1 Max and M1 Pro SoCs. TSMC is hard at work on continuing the work on 5nm which includes the newer N4P node, which is the "third refinement of the 5nm process family" and has up to 22% more power efficiency, and up to 11% performance improvements over the first-gen N5 node.

We all know videos where the dislike count is higher than the like count, especially on some videos released by corporations -- and especially since Joe Biden became President -- there are a lot of videos with more dislikes than like and now YouTube is doing something about it.

The company says that the dislikes on YouTube will not be seen by the world, but the dislike button itself would remain. This means that you can still click or tap on the thumbs down button, which will let the creators behind the video know that you didn't like it, but no one else will know that you didn't like it.

Earlier this year, YouTube removed the dislike counter on videos... and while you've been free to like and dislike videos on the platform, now you simply can't. Well, you can -- but no one else will see it other than the content creator. YouTube also added that it has talked with small content creators, and said some of them felt like they were being targeted with dislike attacks -- more so than larger creators.

TSMC is quite ahead of the game but Samsung of all companies knows this, and now the South Korean giant is tripling down on its chip production manufacturing.

During a recent Samsung earnings conference call, Samsung executive Han Seung-hoon explained: "We plan to expand our capacity about three times by 2026 to meet customers' needs as much as possible by expanding capacity in Pyeongtaek as well as considering establishing a new plant in the U.S."

Samsung is already finalizing its $17 billion chip manufacturing plant in Texas, but also pushed into a huge $151 billion chip manufacturing deal that would last through to 2030. It's good to see that Samsung is not just wanting to expand its operations in South Korea, but a new plant in the US as well.

We all know SpaceX and Tesla Motors founder and CEO Elon Musk is a troll at heart, and if he wasn't busy -- hell, he is busy with running those companies -- and yet he continues to troll away.

His latest time in the headlines today is after the director of the United Nations' food scarcity organization, the UN World Food Program (WFP), said that 2% of Elon Musk's wealth could solve world hunger. Musk replied: "If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it. But it must be open source accounting, so the public sees precisely how the money is spent".

In 2020, the UN WFP raised $8.4 billion and yet couldn't solve world hunger... and now Musk has called them out very boldly here, and now the WFP needs to reply on how exactly it would solve world hunger for $6 billion. Hell, if they can reply, Musk will sell Tesla stock right now and pay for it.

If you purchased Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC) a week ago... hell, just a couple of days ago, you'd be laughing all the way to the bank right now.

President Donald J. Trump announced his new social media company, TRUTH Social, in the last 24 hours or so, and was announced that Trump Media & Technology Group and Digital World Acquisition Corp. have entered into a definitive merger agreement that makes TMTG into a publicly listed company, subject to regulatory and stockholder approval.

Between then and now, just 24 hours or so, Digital World Acquisition Corp. stock has skyrocketed from around $10 or so, through to a huge $105 representing an increase of 1000% or more. We're talking crazy manic meme-level crypto gains, but in the "real-world" of stock trading. DWAC stock skyrocketed 357% just today, which is crazy.

Warren Buffet is worth $103 billion, Mark Zuckerberg is worth $121 billion, Bill Gates is worth $130 billion, Jeff Bezos is worth $197 billion... but Elon Musk beats them all with a net worth of $236 billion.

The SpaceX and Tesla founder is now worth an incredible $236,000,000,000 compared to his filthy peasant friends worth less than $200 billion. Musk has been battling Amazon and Blue Origin founder -- and recent space explorer, Jeff Bezos -- for the top spot. Between Musk, Bezos, and Bernard Arnault there's some incredible wealth... but why the sudden surge for Musk?

$60 billion has been added onto Musk's net worth this year thanks to Tesla stock increases, as well as a recent share sale at SpaceX which saw the company valued at over $100 billion. This added another $11 billion to the net worth of Musk and helped bump him over $200B+ net worth.

It might be hard to buy a new GPU right now, but for the most part the PC industry hasn't been too affected by the pandemic... but it appears the industry is slowing down a little, just a little.

According to a new IDC report, there were over 86 million PCs shipped in Q3 2021. Now in these numbers they're including desktops, notebooks, and workstation machines with that 86.7 million PCs shipped being a 3.9% increase of 2020, with it being the 6th consecutive quarter that the PC has continued to grow.

But in the US, American PC users and gamers are getting hurt by shortages with Neha Mahajan, an IDC senior research analyst explaining: "Bottlenecked supply chains and ongoing logistic challenges led the U.S. PC market into its first quarter of annual shipment decline since the beginning of the pandemic".

Intel has been struggling of late, but the right seeds are being planted right now -- ready for an improved battle in the years to come in all areas: especially semiconductor manufacturing.

Freshly-minted Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has teased a gigantic $94 billion investment in semiconductor manufacturing in Europe, a plan that would span for up to the next 10 years. This discussion was reiterated again, this time during the IAA Mobility Auto Show in Munich, Germany.

Gelsinger says this gigantic expansion project with $94 billion behind it would be "the most advanced chip fab anywhere in the world". It will be using ASML Holdings' EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography) tools for future cutting-edge components. This step would have Intel on the same footing as TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) and Samsung -- both of which are making advanced chips, and Intel wants to dominate in this area again.

TSMC is expected to have a chip facility operational in the next couple of years, somewhere in the 2023-2024 period, with Sony reportedly ready to invest $7 billion into TSMC's new factory.

The new chip factory would find a new home in Japan on Sony's own property, with Sony and TSMC's joint venture into the world of chip manufacturing. The Japanese government is reportedly ready to cough up half of the $7 billion, resulting in $3.5 billion of financing that would be given towards Sony and TSMC's new factory.

The new factory won't be pumping out chips for the PlayStation 5, or a next-gen PlayStation 6, but rather would be making around 40,000 wafers per month on the older 28nm node. The big new factory would be making camera image sensors, chips for cars, and other products.

Elon Musk has announced that Tesla will be getting out of California, moving its HQ from Palo Alto, California to Austin, Texas. The news was announced during Tesla's recent shareholder meeting.

Musk didn't detail when the move would happen, but Tesla will be continuing to expand its manufacturing capacity in San Fransisco. So, while the Tesla HQ might be moving from California to Texas, the company isn't fully pulling out of California. Musk also talked about Tesla delivering record numbers of vehicles this year, all in a world where there are massive chip shortages impacting Tesla's competitors.

Musk explained: "We're taking it as far as possible, but there's a limit how big you can scale it in the Bay Area. Just to be clear, though, we will be continuing to expand our activities in California. This is not a matter of leaving California".

Computex has been a yearly ritual for many of us in this industry, and with the pandemic it was completely ruined -- like every other trade show -- but will reportedly return to in-person goodness in 2022.

Computex 2022 will take place between May 24 and May 27, 2022 with the organizers explaining: "This annual tech event will continue to lead in the discovery of the latest technology trends. Due to the pandemic, the annual physical show was cancelled for two years, but COMPUTEX 2022 is back, and it is open for international exhibitor registration starting from October 6. In addition, the global warm-up tour, #COMPUTEXisEverywhere, will begin on November 18".

As for what to expect, it should be an exciting show considering Intel will be ramping up into the launch of its Arc Alchemist graphics cards, Sapphire Rapids CPU platform, NVIDIA's next-gen Ada Lovelace GPUs, and AMD's next-gen RDNA 3 GPUs. DDR5 memory launches with Alder Lake, which is just days away now, and PCIe 5.0 devices which also launches with Alder Lake. Computex 2022 should be absolutely bonkers, if nothing tragic happens between now and then.

If you thought it was going to be easier, or cheaper to buy a CPU, GPU, or console between now and Christmas then you'd be wrong -- very wrong.

During a recent event, AMD CEO and President Dr. Lisa Su spoke with Code Conference producer Kara Swisher and CNBC tech reporter John Fortt, Su talked about the silicon and component shortages we've been experiencing over the last 18 months.

Su said that the silicon and component shortages will be with us for the rest of the year, and now into the first half of 2022 which she said there would be "tight supply". These issues would begin to get better in the second half of 2022, but there's no exact science here. Su is giving her estimates, but there are renewed concerns in China with ongoing production issues now that China is clamping down on power usage across the country.

China is cracking down on virtually everything, but with new energy use restrictions, it is affecting companies like Apple, Qualcomm, and even Tesla and their production.

Apple and Tesla suppliers are suspending production, a move forced on them because of local policies that are controlling energy consumption for industrial use. There are some companies that will keep their factories closed through to the end of the week.

China is experiencing a tight supply of coal and natural gas, forcing the prices of them both high -- on top of that, China is wanting to reduce carbon emissions so these changes are being trusted upon the country rather fast. The upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics is also forcing the country to require "Olympic blue skies" that has China fixated on environmental changes so quickly.

Apple designer Jony Ive left the company back in June 2019 to open up his own company, which his first client was Apple -- but now LoveForm has signed a new multi-year partnership with Ferrari.

In a press release, Ferrari said: "The first expression of this new partnership will bring together Ferrari's legendary performance and excellence with LoveFrom's unrivalled experience and creativity that has defined extraordinary world changing products".

LoveFrom co-founders Jony Ive and Marc Newson said in a joint statement: "As Ferrari owners and collectors, we could not be more excited about collaborating with this extraordinary company and in particular with the design team expertly led by Flavio Manzoni... We see some uniquely exciting opportunities working together which we believe will yield important and valuable work".

Elon Musk has "semi-separated" from Grimes and will continue on separate paths, where they'll co-parent their one-year-old son X Æ A-12.

Musk spoke with Page Six where he said: "We are semi-separated but still love each other, see each other frequently, and are on great terms. It's mostly that my work at SpaceX and Tesla requires me to be primarily in Texas or traveling overseas, and her work is primarily in LA. She's staying with me now, and Baby X is in the adjacent room".

The couple made their big public debut at the Met Gala back in 2018, and their son was born in May 2020 kicking up headlines as Musk and Grimes named him X Æ A-Xii. But it's okay, you pronounce it "X Ash A 12" so that'll be easier for kids in school (I'm sure he'll be trained by an AI or something anyway) to tease him.

Ryff is going to be a name that we hear more and more over the next few years, with ex-AMD Studios boss Roy Taylor staffing up with another ex-AMD executive, Nick Knupffer.

Knupffer joins the company from Cornelis Networks and prior to that, AMD -- where he will be the SVP Marketing and Communications for Ryff in their new UK offices. Knupffer will be joined by Harry Charalambous who is joining Ryff in their new UK offices as the Director of Sales for Europe.

Nick brings with him decades of experience in the tech industry, with 16 years at Intel and previously with AMD as the head of brand and creative. After AMD he joined Cornelis Networks and has now moved into the world of Ryff. Nick's fellow ex-AMD gaffer, Roy Taylor, CEO of Ryff, said: "Digital advertising is a global industry and expanding our footprint beyond the US was a clear next step".

The United Nations has cranked its fear-mongering blaster that has been fixated on the planet for a while now, to 11, with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warning the world and the nations that attended the 76th General Assembly session -- with Bill Gates even attending -- that all 193 member states need to do what Neo was asked to do by Trinity in The Matrix and "wake up" as solidarity is the only way out of this. Right.

Guterres said: "We are on the edge of an abyss. We face the greatest cascade of crises in our lifetimes".

He added: "Human rights are under fire. Science is under assault. And economic lifelines for the most vulnerable are coming too little and too late -if they come at all. A surplus in some countries. Empty shelves in others. This is a moral indictment of the state of our world. It is an obscenity. We passed the science test. But we are getting an F in Ethics".

The US government is about to hit its debt ceiling, with renewed concerns over the economy looming as the Benjamins tick over, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell not budging on refusing GOP assistance on increasing the debt ceiling.

McConnell said that Democrats need to raise it in order to finance their huge social spending plans on healthcare, education, and childcare. Business Insider reports that there is a loophole in solving this issue, where instead of raising the debt ceiling, the Treasury Department has the power to mint a $1 trillion platinum coin.

The $1 trillion platinum coin would be minted and then deposited at the Federal Reserve, and then the US government would continue away paying its bills like nothing happened -- without the debt ceiling being raised. But then the not-so-federal Federal Reserve has that $1 trillion platinum coin in their possession.

The global chip shortage has been hitting industries across the board, including 5G phones, graphics cards, and cars, with critical components holding back the production of finished goods. In the past, Intel has been able to avoid being the bottleneck in production, but it seems that the shortage has been sneaking up to Intel's doorstep. Although Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger recently made predictions that the shortage will get worse in the "second half of this year," it seems that the company had already been experiencing an extremely low inventory on mobile and other low-power CPU parts for months.

Intel's problems with the low inventory became noticeable in the middle of March. At the onset, manufacturers stated that the delays were due to global shipping issues related to the pandemic. In early April, specific products in the channel had their supplies quickly drying up, with vendors giving estimates of 3-4 weeks for orders that were placed in March. By the end of April, after notifying some customers of additional delays, those dates had slipped to the end of June. We had been hearing rumors in April from our sources that shipping delays were not necessarily the issue, but increased demands by specific partners were causing the shortages.

This story played well until we saw similar issues with Intel's larger partners. International computer manufacturer Lenovo shifted their estimated delivery dates from mid-June to October. One of Intel's largest partners, Dell, went even as far as to start proactively contacting customers stating that they would be unable to ship specific system configurations that had been accepted and recommended other models due to constraints on acquiring specific CPUs.