TSMC Lifts Chips, Amazon's Green Goals

TSMC Boosts Outlook and Chip Industry Sentiment

• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) has seen its US-listed shares surge to their highest level since 1997, with the company boosting its revenue growth outlook for 2024 by about 30% in dollar terms 1m11s.
• TSMC is the contract manufacturer to the world, producing high-performance GPUs and other important chips, which has led to a positive outlook for the chip industry in general 1m25s.
• The company's strong performance has alleviated concerns about the chip industry, which had been sparked by a report from Dutch equipment company ASML that bookings in the chip industry were only about half of what analysts had been expecting 2m2s.
• TSMC's CEO, Si Si Wei, has reassured the market that demand for AI is very strong, and the company has boosted its capital expenditures outlook for 2025 2m23s.
• The increased capital expenditures are partly due to TSMC's plans to build out manufacturing globally, including in the US, Europe, and Japan, in response to requests from these countries to reduce supply chain risks 3m36s.
• TSMC's commitment to capital expenditure is significant, as the company has traditionally produced its chips within Taiwan, but has been asked to build chipmaking plants in other countries to ensure a stable supply of chips 3m44s.
• The company's strong performance has also highlighted the bifurcation in the market, with some players like Intel and Samsung struggling, while others like TSMC and in video are doing well 3m24s.
• TSMC is being encouraged to expand its chip production to the United States, Japan, and Europe to ensure local production and reduce reliance on international supply chains 4m13s.
• Peter Ahlstrom, executive editor leading tech coverage from Asia, notes that this model has been working well so far 4m24s.

Apple and BYD's Battery Partnership

• Apple secretly partnered with Chinese automaker BYD to develop long-range EV batteries as part of its now-canceled car project 4m39s.
• The partnership, which lasted from 2017 to 2020, aimed to create a battery with maximum range and safety metrics, using a new chemistry called LFP lithium-ion phosphate 5m15s.
• Although Apple pulled the plug on its car project, BYD continued to develop its blade battery, which has become a game-changer for the company and helped improve its sales 6m7s.
• BYD has stated that there is no Apple IP in its blade battery, but the collaboration with Apple had a significant influence on its development 6m3s.
• The partnership between Apple and BYD was a two-way street, with both companies contributing their expertise to create a best-in-class battery 5m10s.
• BYD's success in the electric vehicle market, particularly in the cheaper categories, can be attributed to its innovative approach and collaboration with other companies like Apple 6m54s.
• The company's ability to produce cars with impressive technology at a low cost has made it the biggest carmaker in China and a major player in the global market 7m15s.
• The story of BYD's success is more complicated than just subsidies, and understanding the company's history and partnerships is crucial to grasping its global strides 7m4s.

TSMC's Success and Innovation

• TSMC's success in the chip industry is attributed to innovation, engineering breakthroughs, and determination, rather than just subsidies, as evidenced by the fact that there's only one bid for the company despite the large subsidies offered in China 7m58s.

Meta's Campaign to Protect Teens from Sextortion

• Instagram's parent company, Meta, has launched a new campaign to help protect teens on its platform from sextortion scams, which involve threatening to expose a sexual image or video to get someone to do something like send money 8m24s.
• The campaign includes an ad and raises awareness of red flags to look out for, such as someone coming on too strong, asking to trade photos, or moving to another app 9m4s.
• Meta's global head of safety discussed the campaign and its features, including the prevention of screenshots, blocking follow requests from potentially scammy accounts, and hiding follower and following lists of teens from scammers 9m32s.
• The prevention of screenshots feature prevents someone from taking a screenshot of a view once image or video, sending a signal that the sender wants to protect the image 9m40s.
• The blocking of follow requests feature is important because it closes down avenues for scammers to find teens on the platform, and is in addition to already blocking message requests from unconnected accounts for teens 9m59s.
• The hiding of follower and following lists feature is important because scammers often threaten to share images with friends and family found on those lists 10m16s.
• The campaign is being launched now because the crime has evolved into a financial crime, with people asking for more money, and there has been a spike in this activity across the internet 10m32s.
• Meta had previously launched additional protections, including teen accounts that put teens automatically into private accounts and have strict messaging restrictions 10m45s.
• Technology plays a role in identifying potentially scamming accounts, using signals such as new accounts sending a lot of follow requests to teens outside of their area 11m35s.
• Meta uses a large range of signals to identify potentially scamming accounts, and removes them if they are found to be scamming 11m58s.
• A discussion is held on how to protect social media users, particularly teenagers, from exploitation and harm, with a focus on listening to parents' concerns and implementing measures such as limiting notifications during sleep hours and preventing certain types of image sharing on browsers 12m51s.
• The importance of adjusting technology and policy to accommodate different access methods, such as smartphones and web browsers, is highlighted, with examples including preventing screenshots for certain types of image sharing on browsers 13m39s.
• The need for clear standards for assessing whether a particular app is suitable for teenagers is emphasized, with a push for legislation that would require operating systems or app stores to provide age information to enable age-appropriate experiences 14m31s.

Google and Amazon Invest in Nuclear Energy

• Google has signed a nuclear energy deal with Kairos, marking a significant milestone in its 15-year journey to transition to clean energy, with nuclear energy seen as an important technology for providing always-on, carbon-free energy 15m41s.
• Amazon has also announced a half a billion dollar investment in nuclear clean energy, with Matt Garman, CEO of US, discussing the importance of this investment and the focus of hyperscalers on clean energy 16m8s.
• Amazon made a $500 million investment in X Energy, a company that specializes in small modular reactors, which are considered a promising technology due to their smaller footprint, safety, and ease of manufacturing 16m38s.
• The investment is part of Amazon's efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and achieve its goal of 100% renewable energy by 2025, with the company already announcing that it has hit 100% carbon-free energy in its system this year 19m42s.
• Amazon has also announced partnerships with utilities, including Dominion in Virginia and Energy Northwest in Washington and Oregon, to implement small modular reactors and deliver more than five gigawatts of nuclear energy 17m34s.
• The company's goal is to continue pushing on the carbon energy footprint needed as it scales around the country, with small modular reactors expected to be a competitive energy source from a cost perspective in the fullness of time 18m24s.
• Amazon is also exploring the possibility of bringing back online large nuclear plants, such as the one in Pennsylvania, through a partnership with Talon, which will bring more energy online in the state 18m41s.
• The company believes that both small modular reactors and large nuclear plants will be important components of a carbon-free energy world, with Amazon planning to take almost a gigawatt of power from the large plant in Pennsylvania and build data centers nearby 19m12s.
• Amazon is working to ensure a long-term supply of carbon-free energy to support growing energy needs from electric vehicles, digitization, and generative AI, with a focus on adding new power and data centers to its footprint 20m1s.
• The company has been the single biggest purchaser of renewable power contracts in the world for the last five years and continues to add power to its footprint, planning multiple years out due to the long lead time for new projects 20m56s.
• Amazon's growth is driven by the needs of its customers, and the company has lots of plans to continue growing its power supply 21m12s.

Nvidia, Amazon, and Anthropic's Chip Partnerships

• Nvidia's Blackwell chip is not expected to be available until early next year, with Amazon currently working with samples in the lab and expecting production quantities to be available then 21m21s.
• Amazon is also partnering with Anthropic on chips, with the partnership delivering fantastic new models, including the Sonnet 3.5 model, which is one of the most powerful models available today 22m2s.
• TSMC's updated revenue growth outlook is driving optimism in the market, with the company's US-listed shares moving to the upside, and Nvidia is also benefiting from the carry-through optimism 23m26s.
• TSMC's guidance is in stark contrast to ASML's earlier statement, with TSMC's outlook for 2025 being positive 23m43s.

AI Adoption in the Financial Sector

• A new report by AI benchmarking platform Evident shows that the rate of AI adoption in the financial sector is increasing rapidly, with top performers adopting AI at twice the rate of others 24m8s.
• The report covers the 50 largest banks in the US and Europe, looking at talent stack, innovation levels, use cases, ROI, and responsible AI practices 24m35s.
• The top ten ranked banks in the index are moving at double the pace of the rest, indicating a bifurcation in the rankings, with leaders pulling ahead and others falling behind 24m59s.
• A good bank is able to move AI use cases from ideation to production quickly, identifying problems, testing solutions, and implementing them swiftly and well 25m52s.
• The top three performers in the report are JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and Capital One, which have reorganized themselves to look like tech companies, with AI-first businesses, research labs, and a focus on attracting top talent 26m35s.
• These leading banks went out early and big, reorganizing their data infrastructure, decision-making processes, and striking a balance between build and buy, with JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon famously laying out his strategy in 2018 26m50s.
• The leading banks are reaping the benefits of their early adoption, but are not standing still, continuing to move at double the pace of other banks and investing in more people and technology 27m50s.
• Jamie Dimon mentioned that JPMorgan's ROI from investments is at $2 billion, making it one of the few banks explicitly discussing their ROI, along with DBS in Singapore 28m12s.
• In the next 6 to 12 months, banks are expected to ramp up their announcements of ROI as use cases move into production and pressure to show ROI increases 28m39s.
• Many banks are currently measuring the impact of their investments internally, looking at both numerical and non-numerical terms 28m55s.
• During the recent bank earnings season, four banks were asked about their strategy, spend, and use cases, including Jamie Dimon, Ted Pick from Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America 29m30s.
• Ted Pick discussed a tool called "debrief" that Morgan Stanley has rolled out to help manage meetings and responses, showcasing the bank's efforts to utilize new technologies 29m51s.
• The banking industry is still in the early stages of a monumental transformation, with tools getting better and more reliable, and new technologies like TKI being tested and considered 30m9s.
• Banks are using various models, including those from Openai, AI, and competitors, and are also building their own large language models, with each model having its unique features and use cases 30m43s.
• The implementation of these models requires engineering and fitting to the bank's specific data and systems, making it a unique process for each bank 31m16s.

Unity's New Developer Platform and Growth Strategy

• Unity has released its latest developer platform called Unity Six, a suite of tools used by the gaming industry and professionals to create, market, and grow games and VR experiences across various platforms 32m16s.
• Unity CEO Matt Bromberg explains that Unity is a global platform that enables and powers a large chunk of the video game industry, with over 70% of mobile games built on top of their platform 33m0s.
• Unity provides a full suite of services, from prototyping to operating and monetizing games, making them a close partner with game developers worldwide 33m13s.
• The company is rebuilding trust with developers after the previous CEO's departure due to pricing issues, with the new CEO, Matt Bromberg, focusing on being a good partner and listening to customer needs 33m46s.
• Unity has reverted to a subscription model, making the software more available to small users and raising prices on larger customers, with the news being well-received by the community 35m19s.
• The company aims to retain and build on its market share by releasing better software, such as Unity Six, and providing stable and performant tools to its customers 34m56s.
• Unity faces competition from Epic Games' Unreal Engine and open-source game engines, but is confident in its position due to its long-standing relationships with developers and its ability to deliver what customers need 34m36s.
• The approach to reconnecting with customers involves spending time with them, listening to their needs, testing ideas, and avoiding surprises, which has been well-received in the rollout of pricing and its nature 35m48s.
• The company plans to revert to annualized increases, typical in the industry, with minimal drama expected 36m1s.
• Unity's focus under the current leadership is on delivering for core customers in video gaming, providing rock-solid software for building businesses, acquiring new users, and selling advertising inventory 36m48s.
• The goal is to establish trust with customers before exploring other investments, which may include inorganic and organic growth opportunities 37m5s.
• Developing generative AI offerings is a key area of interest, with a focus on building in-house capabilities to change the economics of the industry and enable game developers to create games more quickly and efficiently 37m25s.
• The use of AI aims to obfuscate the complexity of software and help developers move more quickly, which is seen as a key benefit for the industry 37m45s.
• While the company is focused on organic growth, it does not rule out the possibility of acquisitions in the future 37m59s.
• The video game industry is a large and vibrant business, bigger than streaming video, music, and the global box office combined, with growth expected to return to the market driven by creative geniuses and new platforms 38m34s.

News from Elon Musk, Tesla, Apple, and Netflix

• The EU may include revenue from several of Elon Musk's businesses, including SpaceX, when calculating a fine for violating content moderation rules 39m9s.
• Tesla has responded to criticism about its Optimus robot relying on human help, releasing a new video showcasing the bot's autonomous capabilities, including navigating a factory floor and avoiding obstacles using neural nets 39m30s.
• Apple's chief people officer, Carol Surface, is leaving the company after less than two years, having been responsible for overseeing HR, inclusion, diversity, and recruitment for Apple's 160,000 employees 40m1s.
• Netflix reports earnings, with analysts expecting strong numbers despite revenue growth slowing down, and the company's stock price having tripled since May 2022 41m18s.
• Cable companies are struggling with broadband, with Charter's broadband subscription data showing a potential loss of up to 481,000 internet customers in the third quarter, the worst ever decline for the industry 40m53s.
• Netflix's growth is driven by its password crackdown and the introduction of a lower-priced ad tier, with the company also investing heavily in live programming, including live sports, to attract advertisers and viewers 42m2s.
• The Hollywood industry is in a belt-tightening phase, with production still down from its peak during the TV years, but the major crisis has passed, and the strikes are over 43m19s.
• Netflix has made investments in gaming, which is a topic of ongoing curiosity 43m31s.
• The company experienced a shake-up in its gaming department over the summer 43m36s.
• Despite the challenges, Netflix is expected to highlight successful content, such as Squid Game, in the next quarter 43m43s.

Podcast Conclusion

• The discussion concluded with appreciation for Felix Gillette and an invitation to listen to the podcast recap 43m53s.
• The segment ended with a sign-off from Bloomberg Technology 43m59s.