What I Read This Week...
Biden refuses a cognitive test, Masa makes a new semiconductor bet, and Reddit signs a $60mm AI licensing deal
Listen to Our Discussion About AI Hardware
Caught My Eye…
President Biden has decided not to take a cognitive test as part of his upcoming physical exam. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre explained to reporters on Monday that the President’s physician does not believe a cognitive test is necessary, and that the President proves his cognitive ability “every day in how he operates and thinks”. At 81, Biden is already the oldest sitting President, and recent surveys indicate that ~86% of Americans consider him too old for re-election.
Masayoshi Son, the founder of Softbank, is seeking to raise up to $100Bn to build a new semiconductor company. Codenamed ‘Izanagi’ after the Japanese God of Creation, Masa aims to supplement Softbank’s existing investment into ARM with another semiconductor company that can compete with Nvidia to produce and supply critical chips for AI applications.
Reddit has entered into a $60mm licensing deal with an ‘unnamed large AI company’ allowing it to train its large language models using content published on Reddit’s platform. The news follows a wave of licensing deals struck by companies like OpenAI which aim to secure diverse, high-quality sources of information for their AI chatbots to provide more accurate and contextually-relevant responses.
Other Reading…
OpenAI’s Newest Model Sora Can Generate Videos - And They Look Decent (TechCrunch)
Hot Inflation Reading Reinforces the Fed's Cautious Approach to Rate Cuts in 2024 (Yahoo Finance)
White House Touts $11 Billion U.S. Semiconductor R&D Program (Reuters)
Carl Icahn Wins Seats on JetBlue Board After Taking Stake in Airline (CNBC)
'Obelisks': Entirely New Class of Life Has Been Found in The Human Digestive System (Science Alert)
Lyft CEO Apologizes For $2B Typo (LinkedIn)
On X…
Thank you Chamath. Since this has become the hot topic right now, here is my newest article analyzing whether inflation has become a problem for the Fed:
https://open.substack.com/pub/arkominaresearch/p/has-inflation-become-a-problem-for?r=1r1n6n&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
2024 year of cost cuts and layoffs...not pretty... Japan and UK in recession yet Japanese billionaire plans massive semiconductor plant...so who is right?
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/18/companies-2024-cost-cuts.html