Shenanigans

Before the end of the decade, the world will see the first construction megaproject with a cost estimate exceeding $1 trillion,  according to 1Build estimates. Out of  the nine projects worth over $100 million currently underway, as identified by 1Build, International Construction Magazine and Construction Review , four are being built in Arab Gulf States. This includes Neom City, actually ...

The European Semiconductor Industry Association (ESIA) is reported to have asked for a Chips Act 2 without the preliminary courtesy of accounting for the benefits obtained from Chips Act 1. It’s obvious why not – there aren’t any benefits. The goal of boosting EU chip output to 20% of the world market has zero chance of being achieved. The aspiration ...

According to its conflict minerals report (CMR) for 2023, Amazon cannot rule out having sourced minerals from nine of ten African countries where human rights-violating militias finance themselves through mining. These countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia and Angola. The other four ...

The EU exported 32.1 million tonnes of waste to non-EU countries in 2022, according to Eurostat. This is a slight decline from the 33.0 million tonnes of waste exports to these countries in 2021. Turkey was the primary destination country for EU waste that year with some 12.4 million tonnes sent there, accounting to 39 percent of the total exports ...

The antitrust lawsuit against Apple focuses on five areas: streaming, super-apps, cross-platform messaging, smartwatches and digital wallets. In all of these examples, the US DOJ alleges, Apple used it position to put in place rules and policies that make it harder for non-Apple devices and services to compete with Apple’s own offerings, thus keeping users in the company’s (in)famous walled ...

It’s Friday again and though it may not be Amami Wave-Set night for you, it’ll probably mean a snifter or two and a good time. Having a good time is one of the three most important aspects in life for many people according to survey results from Statista Consumer Insights. The Japanese  are particularly keen on enjoying themselves, as 77 ...

The US Chip Act looks as though it’s going the same way as the hundreds of billions of dollars China threw away on its chip industry – ruined by incompetent execution.. In China, the money got wasted because the fund managers and bureaucrats dispensing the money seemed to have no idea of who was a genuine semiconductor operator and who ...

In a campaign video Donald Trump has declared that he will “implement a bold series of reforms to completely eliminate dependence on China in all critical areas.” He has already said he may put 60%+ duties on Chinese imports in a move to reduce America’s trade deficit with  China to zero over his term of office, if elected. The video ...

The strangest thing I ever read about the semiconductor industry – and I’ve read some very strange things – is the Wall Street Journal story that OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman is trying to raise $5-7 trillion to build fabs to make AI chips. At $20 billion a pop, that’s 250 to 350 fabs. Will there be so many AI software ...

Nvidia’s toughest rivals may not be other chip companies but its customers. Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Meta are all building their own chips for training AI systems. Last year, Google spent $2-3 billion on making a million proprietary AI chips, Amazon spent $200 million on 100,000 AI processors and Microsoft began testing its first AI chip, according  to Pierre Ferragu, ...