Top Posts Today from The Information Subscribers

Shilpa Reddy on New Details on OpenAI's Strawberry; Apple's Siri Makeover; Larry Ellison Doubles Down on Data Centers

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Who can afford $100B over 4 or 5 years for data center? Very few are capable. The list is incredibly short. Maybe:
1. Microsoft/OpenAI
2. Google
3. Amazon
4. Apple
5. Meta
6. Maybe Elon (it is possible that there are enough crazy people to put money on Elon)

Anyone else?

I am increasingly doubtful if more than 3 or 4 will bother to invest at this level for training. In 3 or 4 years, there may be no one willing to invest at this level for training.

Rick Lane on Inside TikTok, It's Business as Usual-ish as Ban Looms

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I find the story "Inside TikTok, It's Business as Usual-ish as Ban Looms" from The Information interesting.

First, the TikTok national security legislation is not a ban, but a divestiture bill of TikTok from ByteDance. If ByteDance and the CCP decide not to allow for a divestiture then TikTok will be blocked from operating within U.S. borders. Therefore, it is only a ban if ByteDance/CCP makes it so.

Second, the US Congress and the Administration have overwhelmingly deemed TikTok a national security threat. The litigation that TikTok thinks it will win is not whether ByteDance's ownership of TikTok threatens US national security but whether the legislative remedy designed to mitigate that security threat is constitutional.

The fact that "ByteDance is confident it can drag out the process by getting an injunction order, which would prevent the law from going into effect early next year" or believes "there is a possibility for TikTok to negotiate a solution with the next presidential administration, but they are waiting until after the U.S. election in November" shows the contempt that ByteDance and the CCP have for our legal system. I am confident our courts will prove them wrong.

That is why it is unseemly that US companies and political campaigns continue to do business with an entity that IS a national security threat to the US and the American people. These U.S. companies and political campaigns should be held accountable for receiving income or funding an entity that is a clear and present danger to US national interests. It is unconscionable that the networks that broadcast college football are accepting advertising money from TikTok to facilitate TikTok's misinformation campaign, "TikTok for Good." It is unconscionable that the Washington Capitols, MLB, the NFL, and Amazon, pillars to the U.S. business community, have inked multiyear deals with TikTok.

I hope at some point the US business community will stand up for American values and America's national security before it is too late.

Todd Bezenek (Bezenek Ga) on Temu's Biggest Bargain: Its Parent Company's Stock

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With all the recent economic issues in China including factory closings, empty housing, and unemployed laborers, expecting Temu to do well in the near future (to bring the stock price back up) may be a fools errand.

Of course, the stock market is not always driven by economics, but often human feelings. Since the advent of electronic trading systems employed since the 1980s, factors that few people understand.

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