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).