Overview Tesla's 3Q Surprise: Stock Leaps 22% Waymo Scores Massive $5.6B Investment. Nvidia Chief Admits Blackwell flaw: "100% Our Fault" TSMC's Huawei Headache: Mystery Chips Raise Export Alarms Anthropic Unveils "Computer Use": AI that Operates Computers. Google's AI Assistant 'JARVIS' Coming Soon. Apple Rolls Out 'Apple Intelligence' in iOS 18.1. Meta Signs First Content Deal for AI. OpenAI Taps Democratic Economic Talent. Microsoft to Discuss Bitcoin Investment Proposal.
Highlights
1 Tesla crushed their earnings expectations. Operating profits soared 54% to $2.7 billion.Wall Street loved it - stock jumped 22% in one day. Carbon credits are Tesla's secret weapon - $740M in just one quarter. They've slashed car production costs to $35K per vehicle. Cheaper battery materials mean better competition with China. Car sales? Just 2% growth. But energy storage is booming - up 52%. They're selling $2M battery systems like hotcakes. Service revenue is quietly climbing - up 29%. Self-driving software and charging stations are catching on. Next year looks bright: 20-30% more EV sales expected. Most analysts are giving thumbs up. JP Morgan's the party pooper - warns stock could halve.
2 Parent company Alphabet led the investment. Tech heavyweights joined in: a16z, Fidelity, Tiger Global. They're America's only commercial robo-taxi service running. Operating 100,000+ rides weekly across three cities. Currently serving San Francisco, LA, and Phoenix. Main rival Cruise is sidelined after accidents. Tesla's entering the game with steering-free "Cybercab". Musk threw shade at Waymo's design choices. His quote: "Robo-taxis with steering wheels are pointless." But Waymo's got the safety edge. Zero fatal accidents in their history. Meanwhile, Tesla's under investigation for 31 deaths.
3 "We had a design flaw in Blackwell, it was functional, but the design flaw caused the yield to be low. It was 100% Nvidia's fault."— Jensen Huang, Nvidia CEO
Jensen Huang takes full responsibility for Blackwell chip design flaw.Firmly denies rumors of conflict with TSMC. Previous report about Nvidia-TSMC dispute? Fake news. Good news: Production already underway. All seven Blackwell chips got redesigned. Yield issues resolved with TSMC's help. No finger-pointing - Nvidia owns the mistake.
4 TSMC chips were found in Huawei's AI processors. This could violate U.S. export controls on China. They promptly self-reported to U.S. authorities. The supply chain path remains a mystery. Signs point to potential third-party intermediaries. TSMC has halted shipments to a suspect customer. Chinese chip designer Sophgo is under scrutiny. Their orders matched Huawei's specifications. Sophgo firmly denies any Huawei connection. TSMC finds itself in a U.S.-China bind. They lost 30% of revenue dropping Huawei in 2020. They've followed U.S. export rules since September 2020.
"Global free trade in semiconductors has died."— Morris Chang, TSMC Founder
5 Built into Claude 3.5 Sonnet, it handles computers like humans do. Performs mouse control, typing, and basic computer operations. Can execute multi-step tasks from web searches to document creation. Marks a shift from language models to action-taking AI. Could reshape how humans interact with computers. Bill Gates predicts it will transform computing within 5 years. McKinsey estimates it could automate 60-70% of global work tasks. Call centers are prime candidates for early adoption. Google and OpenAI are developing similar capabilities. Experts see this as a significant step toward AGI.
VIDEO
6 Will act as a personal digital assistant that can execute real-world tasks independently. Can handle shopping, flight bookings, and more. Similar to Anthropic's Computer Use feature. But limited to Chrome browser operations. Launch expected as early as December. Will debut alongside next-gen Gemini model. Yes, it's named after Iron Man's AI butler.
7 Apple finally enters the AI arena with 'Apple Intelligence'.Tim Cook calls it "as revolutionary as touchscreen". Biggest innovation challenge since Steve Jobs era. Key strength: deep integration with existing Apple apps. Taking measured approach to rollout. Starting with basic features like writing tools.
"We don't need to be first."— Tim Cook, Apple CEO
8 Meta strikes multi-year deal with Reuters. AI chatbots can now cite Reuters news directly. Terms about AI training data remain unclear. Marks dramatic shift in Meta's media stance. Zuckerberg previously dismissed content value. His old view: "Won't pay for content access." AI search competition changed the game. Quality training data now crucial priority. Copyright battles heating up across industry.
9 OpenAI names Aaron Chatterji as first Chief Economist. He's coming from Duke University professorship. Former chief economist at Obama's economic council. Led CHIPS Act implementation under Biden. Will study AI's impact on jobs and economy. Latest in string of Democratic-linked hires. Follows Summers, Nakasone, Lahane appointments. Shows OpenAI's growing political strategy positioning AI as strategic national asset.
10 Conservative think tank wants 1% of assets in Bitcoin. Pitched as inflation hedge strategy. Vote scheduled for December shareholders meeting. Board urges shareholders to vote "no." Claims it's unsuitable for liquidity needs. Says existing practices are sufficient. Microsoft sits on $76 billion cash pile. 10% would equal 100,000 bitcoins. Such purchase could shock crypto market.
Other OpenAI ex-researcher exposes copyright violations.UK probes Google-Anthropic partnership.Google launches "SynthID" to spot AI writing.
Chips Intel courts Samsung for foundry partnership.Qualcomm develops AI chips for phones.Huawei builds massive Shanghai campus.
Device/Hardware Tim Cook makes second China trip in 7 months.iPhone 16 banned in Indonesia over unfulfilled investment promises.Apple slashes Vision Pro production targets.
Healthcare Apple develops non-invasive blood glucose monitoring app.
Finance Apple Card gets hit with $89M fine for consumer deception.
Commerce Walmart expands 30-minute prescription delivery to 49 states.Amazon ends same-day doorstep delivery service.Amazon eliminates plastic air pillows from packaging.
Content/Entertainment Netflix closes its AAA gaming studio Team Blue.
Meta bans accounts tracking celebrity private jets.Meta combats celebrity scam ads with face recognition tech.
EV/Autonomous Vehicles Tesla cancels affordable Model 2 development.Tesla discusses robotaxi pilot with Palo Alto city.Tesla to retail Powerwall in 1,000 Japanese stores.
Space
Etc Gates donates $69M to Harris foundation.Musk faces '90s illegal work permit allegations.
