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Qualcomm and GlobalFoundries sign agreement to double chip manufacturing

Mon, 08 Aug 2022 15:43:22 GMT

Qualcomm and GlobalFoundries signed an agreement on Monday to more than double their existing long-term manufacturing agreement for chips used in 5G transceivers, Wi-Fi, automotive and Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity.

Under a multi-billion dollar revenue agreement, the chips will be produced in GlobalFoundries' factories in the United States, Germany, Singapore and France.

The companies committed to support U.S.-based manufacturing by expanding capacity at GlobalFoundries' most advanced semiconductor manufacturing facility, in Malta, New York.

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U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm was one of GlobalFoundries' first customers to sign a long-term agreement in 2021 to cover multiple geographies and technologies.

GlobalFoundries Chief Executive Thomas Caulfield said in a statement that having Qualcomm as a long-term customer of its upstate New York factory through 2028 would help, along with federal and state funding, to expand the company's U.S. manufacturing footprint.

The U.S. Senate last month passed sweeping legislation to subsidise the domestic semiconductor industry, providing about $52 billion in government subsidies for semiconductor production and an investment tax credit for chip plants estimated to be worth $24 billion.

"With major new federal incentives for microchip manufacturing in the United States, I look forward to many more announcements like this to come," said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

The European Union has also eased funding rules for innovative semiconductor plants to boost its chip industry and cut dependence on U.S. and Asian suppliers.

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Intel and GlobalFoundries have announced expansion plans on both continents to benefit from the subsidies, with GlobalFoundries partnering with STMicroelectronics to build a $5.7 billion semiconductor factory in France.

Trump's social media platform Truth Social, buyer need extension to complete merger

Sun, 07 Aug 2022 08:35:09 GMT

Former President Donald Trump's social media platform Truth Social and blank-check company Digital World Acquisition Corp. could not reach a merger deal by the cut-off date and will require an extension.

Digital World, the company taking the social media platform public, announced Friday a special shareholder meeting to approve an extension to the termination date to complete the merger.

"While we are using our best efforts to complete the Business Combination as soon as practicable, our board of directors believes that there will not be sufficient time before the Termination Date to complete the Business Combination," Digital World said in an SEC filing.

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The cut-off date to complete the merger is Sept. 8, 2022, and Digital World is looking to extend that by a year.

The announcement comes as U.S. regulators are investigating the merger.

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In June, Digital World said a Federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York had subpoenaed its board of directors.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority had also requested additional information about the merger.

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Trump Media & Technology Group Corp, which created the Truth Social platform, agreed in October to a merger with Digital World, and anticipated that the deal would be closed by the second half of 2022.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Elon Musk says Twitter deal could go forward once user data confirmed

Sun, 07 Aug 2022 04:35:59 GMT

Elon Musk's deal to buy Twitter may still go ahead, if the details on the social media platform's actual user accounts can be confirmed.

Musk wants to know how many are ‘spam bots’ and how many are real people.

The billionaire CEO of Tesla agreed to buy Twitter in April for $44 billion, but has been trying to back out of the deal since July, accusing Twitter of misleading his team about the true size of its user base and other problems he said amounted to fraud and breach of contract.

Twitter sued him last month to complete the acquisition and Musk countersued.

The two sides are headed to a trial in October in a Delaware court.

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"If Twitter simply provides their method of sampling 100 accounts and how they’re confirmed to be real, the deal should proceed on original terms," Musk tweeted early Saturday. "However, if it turns out that their SEC filings are materially false, then it should not."

Musk, who has more than 100 million Twitter followers, went on to challenge Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal to a "public debate about the Twitter bot percentage."

Twitter declined comment Saturday. The company has repeatedly disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission an estimate that fewer than 5% of user accounts are fake or spam, with a disclaimer that it could be higher. Musk waived his right to further due diligence when he signed the April merger agreement.

MUSK'S COUNTERSUIT AGAINST TWITTER SAYS HE AND WALL STREET WERE MISLED: REPORT

In details reported about Musk's countersuit, he is accusing Twitter of intentionally "miscounting" the number of spam accounts it hosts in order to juice its user metrics "as part of its scheme to mislead investors about the company's prospects."

He also claims that Twitter's reliance on the metric mDAU, or monetizable daily active Twitter users, as a basis of revenue is misleading in and of itself.

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Twitter replied in a filing in Delaware Chancery Court, calling Musk’s reasoning "a story, imagined in an effort to escape a merger agreement that Musk no longer found attractive."

The Associated Press contributed this report.

New-age space rules up for revision, FCC says

Sat, 06 Aug 2022 16:27:29 GMT

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said it would kickstart the process to revise decades-old rules on getting rid of space junk and other issues in space.

In a release, it said the inquiry would examine satellite refueling, inspecting and repairing in-orbit spacecraft, capturing and removing debris and transforming materials through manufacturing while in space.

The agency's chairwoman, Jessica Rosenworcel, told reporters Friday after a unanimous 4-0 FCC vote that rules currently in place were "largely built for another era."

Rosenworcel said the FCC needs to make sure rules are "prepared for the proliferation of satellites in orbit and new activities in our higher altitudes."

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The leader said that the FCC is focusing on in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing (ISAM).

"Today’s action continues this modernization effort as in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing capabilities – or "ISAM" – has the potential to build entire industries, create new jobs, mitigate climate change and advance America’s economic, scientific, technological and national security interests," the FCC wrote.

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It noted that steps are being taken to update satellite rules and adopt new rules to assist satellite launch companies, giving them "ready access to spectrum for transmissions from space launch vehicles during pre-launch testing and space launch operations."

Furthermore, the proceeding will review the spectrum needs of these missions, implications on the FCC’s orbital debris rules and any "unique regulatory issues" that arise due to ISAM activities beyond the Earth's orbit.

According to NASA, more than 27,000 pieces of orbital debris are tracked by the Department of Defense’s global Space Surveillance Network (SSN) sensors.

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Much more debris exists in the near-Earth space environment, but is too small to be tracked.

"Since both the debris and spacecraft are traveling at extremely high speeds (approximately 15,700 mph in low Earth orbit), an impact of even a tiny piece of orbital debris with a spacecraft could create big problems," the agency said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Virgin Galactic delays commercial spaceflights again

Fri, 05 Aug 2022 17:10:58 GMT

Billionaire Richard Branson's aerospace company Virgin Galactic announced on Thursday the third delay in its plans to begin offering commercial space flights, sending shares of the aerospace giant tumbling.

"While our short-term plans now call for commercial service to launch in the second quarter of 2023, progress on our future fleet continues and many of the key elements of our roadmap are now in place to scale the business in a meaningful way," Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said in a statement released alongside the company's second-quarter earnings results.

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During Friday's trading session, Virgin Galactic shares fell more than 15% on the news.

The company also posted a greater net loss of $110.7 million in the second quarter, after losing $94 million in the same quarter a year ago.

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Virgin Galactic originally planned to begin commercial flights in the third quarter this year, but pushed that back to the fourth quarter last fall in order for the company to conduct a previously announced enhancement period for its VSS Unity spaceplane and VMS Eve mothership.

Then the company announced in May that the new target fly-window for space tourism would be the first quarter of 2023, citing "escalating supply chain and labor constraints."

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The aerospace firm is currently selling tickets for forthcoming spaceflights for $450,000 apiece.

FOX Business' Lucas Manfredi and Reuters contributed to this report.

Battle over semiconductor market leads to Chinese buying of chipmaking stocks

Fri, 05 Aug 2022 15:40:51 GMT

Chinese chipmakers' shares jumped by the most in two years this week as House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan heightened tensions with the U.S., driving patriotic bets on a sector Beijing sees as key to its rivalry with Washington.

The surge in interest in chipmaking stocks, which had lost more than a third of their value over the past year on valuation concerns, came after the U.S. Senate last week passed the "Chips and Science" Act to better compete with China.

China's semiconductor index rose 6.8% on Friday to a four-month high, bringing the week's gains to 14.2%, the best weekly performance since mid-2020.

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Although the U.S. Chip Act would further restrict the use of advanced U.S. technologies in China, while prodding more semiconductor investment in the U.S, some investors interpret it as good news for local Chinese players.

"Domestic chipmakers will have huge opportunities to replace imported products," said Niu Chunbao, director of investment at private fund house Wanji Asset, adding local players could see explosive growth.

This view was echoed by Guorong Securities, which said in a note that the U.S. Chip Act will "stimulate the development of China's semiconductor industry".

Shares in Shenzhen China Micro Semicon Co Ltd soared 82% on their first day of trading in Shanghai, in contrast with weaker recent stock market debuts.

Chinese chipmaking giant Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) jumped 7.1% in Hong Kong and 4.4% in Shanghai. The SSE STAR Chip Index surged 8.3%.

But Chinese chipmakers are expensive compared with their global peers, at a time when the prospect of a global economic recession threatens chip demand.

The global industry, which suffered from supply-chain snags during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, now faces weak demand as inflation and recession fears reduce orders for chips used in everything from cars to mobile phones.

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China's sector trades at around 57 times earnings, and remains the priciest sector in China's stock market.

Elon Musk will have 'tough time' changing Twitter's culture: Trump Media CEO

Fri, 05 Aug 2022 15:20:20 GMT

Trump Media and Technology Group CEO Devin Nunes reacted to Elon Musk reportedly accusing Twitter of fraud in a countersuit Friday, telling "Mornings with Maria" the billionaire entrepreneur has to know he will have a "tough time" trying to change the "woke" culture at the social network.

DEVIN NUNES: At Truth Social we never wanted to become Twitter, that was not something that we wanted. I think at first when I was saying that people would say, "why wouldn’t you want to" because Twitter does have a global brand. What I said at the time was they are just a pr wire on the internet for celebrities and sports figures and corporations. It’s not a place that people go to social network.

MUSK'S COUNTERSUIT AGAINST TWITTER SAYS HE AND WALL STREET WERE MISLED: REPORT

So if you’re a large account like an Elon Musk, you’re going to get a lot of interaction there, but it’s going to be difficult for you to find other people and like-minded people. Not to mention how woke and how left they are. I think Elon Musk knows he will have a tough time even beginning to change the culture at Twitter.

WATCH FULL INTERVIEW HERE:

Amazon buys Roomba maker iRobot in $1.7B deal, its newest expansion into home devices

Fri, 05 Aug 2022 14:06:43 GMT

Amazon has acquired iRobot for $1.7 billion in cash as the mega corporation looks to expand its offering of home devices.

iRobot is a robotics manufacturer with a specialty of house-keeping devices and domestic gadgets. The robotics company is best known for the Roomba — a small disc-shaped robot that can vacuum a home's floors independently.

The acquisition is pending approval from iRobot's shareholders.

"Over many years, the iRobot team has proven its ability to reinvent how people clean with products that are incredibly practical and inventive—from cleaning when and where customers want while avoiding common obstacles in the home, to automatically emptying the collection bin," said senior vice-president of Amazon Devices Dave Limp.

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Limp added, "Customers love iRobot products—and I’m excited to work with the iRobot team to invent in ways that make customers’ lives easier and more enjoyable."

Amazon's purchase of iRobot shows the company's commitment to home devices like Echo speakers, Fire tablets and Ring security systems.

The company is being sold for $61 a share and Amazon will take on all of iRobot's debts.

"Since we started iRobot, our team has been on a mission to create innovative, practical products that make customers’ lives easier, leading to inventions like the Roomba and iRobot OS," said iRobot CEO Colin Angle.

Angle added, "Amazon shares our passion for building thoughtful innovations that empower people to do more at home, and I cannot think of a better place for our team to continue our mission. I’m hugely excited to be a part of Amazon and to see what we can build together for customers in the years ahead."

Angle will remain iRobot's CEO after the merger is complete.

Elon Musk's answer to Twitter lawsuit to be made public by Friday

Thu, 04 Aug 2022 06:45:05 GMT

Elon Musk’s response to Twitter's lawsuit over the billionaire's attempt to call off his $44 billion takeover of the social media company is coming before the end of the week.

It is expected to be made public by Friday evening at the latest, according to a judge's ruling.

That's a couple days later than Musk's team wanted. Attorneys wanted to file a public version of their answer and counterclaims in Delaware court Wednesday.

Twitter attorneys complained that they needed more time to review and potentially redact Musk’s sealed filing, saying it refers "extensively" to internal Twitter information and data given to Musk.

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Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick, in a teleconference Wednesday, directed that the public filing be docketed by 5 p.m. Friday, but it could be filed earlier.

Twitter attorneys argued that court rules require that five business days lapse before a public version of Musk's filing is docketed.

"Few cases attract as much public interest as this one, and Twitter is mindful of this court’s commitment to ensuring maximum public access to its proceedings," Twitter attorney Kevin Shannon wrote. "Twitter has no interest in proposing any more redactions to defendants’ responsive pleading than are necessary."

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Musk attorney Edward Micheletti argued that Twitter's lawyers were misinterpreting the court rules. Musk attorneys also say there is no confidential information in Musk's filing that should be withheld from the public.

"Twitter should not be permitted to continue burying the side of the story it does not want publicly disclosed," Micheletti wrote.

Musk agreed to buy Twitter in April and then indicated he wanted out of the deal in July.

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Twitter filed a lawsuit to hold him to the "seller-friendly" agreement.

Twitter shares closed Wednesday at $41, well off a 52-week high of $69.81.

Musk says Twitter has failed to provide him enough information about the number of fake accounts on its service.

Twitter argues that Musk is deliberately trying to tank the deal because market conditions have deteriorated and the acquisition no longer serves his interests.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Researchers discover how to delay the decay of cells and tissue, restore function

Wed, 03 Aug 2022 21:11:38 GMT

Researchers have found that decay of tissues after death can be halted and cell functions restored based on early experiments in pigs that may eventually help increase the number of transplantable human organs.

Sixty minutes after stopping the heart in the anesthetized animals, Yale researchers were able to restart the circulation using a specialized machine and a synthetic fluid carrying oxygen and other components that promote cellular health and suppress inflammation.

Six hours later, treatment with the so-called OrganEx technology had reduced or corrected some of the damage, such as organ swelling and collapse of blood vessels, that typically results from lack of oxygen when cardiac arrest halts blood flow.

The results show that when the heart stops, the body is "not as dead as we previously assumed," Zvonimir Vrselja of Yale University said at a press briefing. "We were able to show that we can persuade cells not to die."

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Genetic analysis of the tissues suggested that molecular and cellular repair processes had begun once circulation had been restored, the researchers reported on Wednesday in the journal Nature.

Compared to the traditional means of restoring circulation - extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) - OrganEx "preserved tissue integrity, decreased cell death and restored selected molecular and cellular processes across multiple vital organs," the researchers wrote.

During the entire experiment, the pigs had no evidence of electrical activity in the brain, the researchers said.

They hope OrganEx will eventually enable increased use of organs retrieved after withdrawal of life support in donors with severe, irreversible brain injuries by preventing the damage that ensues when blood stops circulating. Currently, these organs do worse after transplant than those procured from brain-dead donors who remain on life-support.

That could be years away, however.

The pig study result "stops far short of saying that any organs were restored to the level of function" necessary to support life, said Stephen Latham of Yale's Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics.

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Theoretically, the technology could someday be used to restore life in someone who has just died. "In order to do that, there's a great deal more experimentation that would be required," Latham said. "And you'd have to think about what is the state to which a human being would be restored."

Use in organ transplantation is a much closer, more realistic goal, Latham said. Any use of OrganEx as a medical therapy "is going to be a long ways away."