Jan 13, 2025 4 min read

Week 3, 2025

Overview

Meta swings right with Trump
Big tech drops DEI programs
Apple keeps DEI despite pressure
Zuck slams Apple's innovation
Altman: "We've cracked AGI"
Anthropic hits $60B value
Apple: "No Siri data in ads"
Jensen doubts quantum future
AI boom lifts chip makers
VC money flows to AI

Key developments

Meta makes sharp right turn after Zuck-Trump meeting

Zuckerberg met Trump and completely overhauled Meta's policies.
Out went fact-checking, hate speech rules, and DEI.
In came political content and UFC's Dana White, a Trump ally, as board member.
The content moderation team is headed to Texas.
And Zuck blasted Biden on Joe Rogan.
While employees are up in arms, Zuckerberg says it's time to ditch "excessive censorship" and embrace free speech again.
Biden called it shameful; Trump's impressed.
Some say Zuckerberg is playing it safe for Trump's second term - others think he's finally showing his true colors.

U.S. companies ditch DEI in growing wave

Amazon jumped on the anti-DEI bandwagon, scaling back diversity programs even before Meta's move.
McDonald's and Walmart had already scrapped their DEI policies last year.
The corporate retreat from DEI is widely seen as companies aligning with the incoming Trump administration.
It all traces back to when the Supreme Court killed affirmative action in college admissions - since then, conservatives have been hammering DEI as reverse discrimination.

Apple stands firm on DEI

While other tech giants cave, Apple pushed back against shareholders demanding an end to its diversity programs.
Investors cited discrimination concerns and legal risks, but Apple dismissed this as an improper attempt to restrict business ahead of its annual meeting.
This marks a stark contrast with Meta, Amazon and others rushing to scrap their DEI initiatives as Trump's return looms.

Zuck slams Apple

In a fiery podcast appearance, Zuckerberg took direct shots at Apple, claiming they haven't produced anything groundbreaking since Steve Jobs' iPhone.
He dismissed Vision Pro as a decent try that doesn't justify its price tag.
Taking aim at Apple's App Store, Zuck claimed Meta's revenue would double without its "arbitrary rules."
He even threw in a wishful prediction that someone will dethrone Apple soon - likely hinting at Meta's own AR/VR ambitions.

Altman: 'We've cracked AGI, superintelligence next'

OpenAI's CEO kicked off the year with a bold claim: they've figured out how to build AGI.
Altman predicts AI agents will transform business productivity this year, and set his sights on developing "true superintelligence" next.
But experts aren't buying the hype, warning about overconfidence in AGI claims and pointing out how fuzzy the whole concept of superintelligence really is.

Anthropic to become America's 5th most valuable startup

Anthropic is raising $2 billion in fresh funding, shooting its valuation to $60 billion - triple last year's figure.
With annualized revenue hitting $875M, mostly from business customers, the AI company is set to join the elite ranks of U.S. startups, right behind SpaceX, OpenAI, Stripe, and Databricks.

Apple: 'Siri data never used for ads'

Apple agreed to a hefty settlement last week over claims it secretly collected Siri user data, but firmly denied using it for marketing.
In a statement, they insisted "Siri data was never used or sold for marketing purposes."
The Washington Post weighed in, arguing that tech companies using personal data for ads is an even bigger concern than eavesdropping.

Jensen: 'Useful quantum computers decades away'

Nvidia's CEO dropped a bombshell at CES 2025, predicting we're 20 years away from practical quantum computers.
The comment sent quantum stocks crashing up to 45%, with IonQ's 3x leveraged product going to zero and facing delisting.
D-Wave's CEO fired back, claiming companies are already using quantum computers successfully.
Some analysts suggest Jensen's gloomy forecast might be strategic - protecting Nvidia's traditional computing dominance.

AI boom lifts TSMC and Foxconn to record highs

TSMC's revenue soared 34% to $87.8B last year, riding high on AI chip demand from Nvidia and Broadcom, plus massive AI infrastructure spending by tech giants.
Meanwhile, Foxconn hit an all-time high with $64.7B in Q4 revenue, up 15%.
As Nvidia's AI server supplier, Foxconn expects its cloud business to match iPhone manufacturing revenue this year.

VC money in 2024: AI and America dominate

Global venture funding inched up 3% to $314B in 2024, with U.S. startups grabbing 57% of the pie - half of it in Silicon Valley.
AI companies gobbled up 35% of all U.S. investments.
While Q2 hit a five-quarter high at $94.3B, Q3 plunged to a seven-year low of $70.1B as election jitters and geopolitical tensions spooked investors.

Other

AI — Tech

ChatGPT Pro losing money.
Grok lands on iOS.
MS open sources Phi-4.
Perplexity partners w/ Tripadvisor
Google debuts AI audio briefs.
GoogleTV gets Gemini.

Chips / Infrastructure

Nvidia debuts personal AI supercomputer.
Nvidia builds Dutch AI research hub.
Micron breaks ground on Singapore HBM plant.
AMD pours $20M into drug discovery.
AWS invests $11B in Georgia cloud infra.
MS invests $3B in India AI infra.

Devices / Hardware

Apple still banned in Indonesia.
Dell rebrands PC lineup.

Content / Entertainment

Getty acquires Shutterstock.
Disney merges with FuboTV.
Disney+ ad tier hits 157M users.

Facebook tests eBay listings in Germany.
Reddit launches trend analytics tool.
TikTok pushes users to sister app.

Ecommerce

Amazon debuts retail ad service.

EV / Autonomous

Tesla recalls 240K cars over camera issue.
Tesla launches new Model Y in China.
VW building fast-charge network in China.

Space

Toyota invests $44M in Japanese rocket startup.

Regulatory

Tencent added to Pentagon blacklist.
Google faces privacy breach class action.

Etc

MS targeting low performers.
Musk criticized for EU meddling.
Musk lowers DOGE reduction target.
Altman denies sister's exploitation claims.

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