Taiwan’s Economy Minister, Kuo Jyh-huei, expressed that former President Donald Trump misunderstood Taiwan’s role in the semiconductor industry.
The Brazilian government is considering taxing large tech companies. It may also implement a 15% global minimum tax on multinational corporations to achieve its 2025 fiscal target.
Gaming
Ubi Soft Entertainment ADR UBSFY recent release of Star Wars Outlaws, developed by Massive Entertainment, has failed to deliver the financial boost the company had hoped for.
Rocksteady Studios has reportedly laid off several employees following the disappointing performance of its latest title, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which cost Warner Bros. Discovery Inc WBD $200 million in revenues.
Sony Group Corporation SONY CFO Hiroki Totoki admitted that the company, despite its impressive portfolio, lacks enough intellectual properties (IP) that it has “fostered from the beginning.”
Read: ‘Differentiation Is Key’: Nyan Heroes CEO Talks Unique IP, New Playtest Features On Epic Games Store
Smartphones
Amid ongoing debates about regulating teen smartphone use, Apple Inc. AAPL is reportedly opposing legislative efforts requiring it to enforce age restrictions on apps.
Apple could likely discontinue some of its products following its annual iPhone event on Sept. 9. Following the keynote, these Apple products are expected to be removed from the Apple Store.
Apple has reportedly decided to incorporate organic light-emitting diode or OLED displays in all iPhone models, including the lower-priced iPhone SE, from 2025.
Read: Apple’s Glowtime Event: Will The iPhone 16 Shine Or Fizzle?
TV, Streaming Platform & Social Media
A failed distribution agreement between Walt Disney Company DIS and pay-TV provider DirecTV, owned by AT&T Inc. T and TPG Capital, has led to more than 11 million subscribers losing access.
South Korean law enforcement agencies have launched an investigation into the encrypted messaging platform Telegram for its alleged involvement in the dissemination of sexually explicit deepfake content.
Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, who is currently under investigation in France, has publicly criticized French authorities for detaining him instead of addressing their complaints to his company.
YouTube has taken down the Tenet Media channel following a U.S. Department of Justice indictment.
E-Commerce
In a significant move, Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN is reportedly gearing up to revamp its voice assistant, Alexa, using Anthropic’s Claude AI models to replace its own AI. The new version, set for an October release, is designed to answer complex queries more efficiently.
In recent developments, the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) has called for an investigation into e-commerce retailers Shein and PDD Holdings Inc. PDD owned Temu. The demand comes in light of allegations regarding the sale of “deadly baby and toddler products” on these platforms.
Technology
In an effort to bolster supply chain resilience, Taiwan’s leading chip manufacturers are set to begin domestic production of neon gas by 2025, in partnership with local steel and gas firms. Apple and NVIDIA Corporation NVDA key chip suppliers, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. TSM, Winbond, and United Microelectronics Corporation UMC are leading this initiative.
Days after Meta Platforms, Inc. META CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the Joe Biden administration “pressured” Facebook to censor certain content on its platforms, the U.S. Department of Justice unveiled a fresh strategy to deal with foreign threats.
In a bold move to penetrate the U.S. point-of-sale (POS) payments market, PayPal Holdings, Inc. PYPL is integrating its debit card with Apple‘s mobile wallet and offering different cashback rewards.
Elon Musk
Tesla, Inc. TSLA and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk have threatened to seize Brazilian government assets unless property belonging to his companies X, formerly Twitter and SpaceX, are returned.
Elon Musk‘s satellite broadband company, Starlink, has decided to comply with a Brazilian court order to block access to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, in Brazil, reversing its previous stance.
Related: After X Ban, Elon Musk’s Starlink Defies Brazilian Court Order To Block Social Media Platform
Twitter has won an appeal against a California law that mandates social media companies to disclose their policies against disinformation and hate speech.
A significant number of advertisers plan to reduce their spending on X in 2025. This decision stems from concerns about the platform’s association with contentious content.
Elon Musk announced the beta launch of the X TV app, a new venture of the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Microsoft Corporation MSFT has managed to avoid a comprehensive U.K. probe into its recruitment of staff from startup Inflection AI.
Alibaba Group BABA is stepping up its U.S. expansion with a new AI-powered sourcing tool designed to simplify the sourcing process for American buyers.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reportedly plans to target the U.S. for the expansion of the artificial intelligence infrastructure project, which could cost “tens of billions of dollars.”
Safe Superintelligence (SSI), co-founded by Ilya Sutskever, has raised $1 billion to develop advanced artificial intelligence systems.
Leading online dating platforms such as Match Group, Inc. MTCH, which owns Tinder and Hinge, Bumble Inc. BMBL, and Grindr Inc. GRND are either developing or testing AI tools and chatbot assistants designed to generate conversation starters, build user profiles, and provide feedback on user interactions.
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