Techmeme
July 17, 2024, 6:05 PM

Top News

New York Times:
Sources: at a June dinner, David Sacks, Chamath Palihapitiya, and others told Trump to pick JD Vance as VP; Elon Musk and Peter Thiel also advocated for Vance  —  Mr. Vance spent less than five years in Silicon Valley's tech industry, but the connections he made with Peter Thiel and others became crucial to his political ascent.
Marina Temkin / TechCrunch:
On their podcast, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz explain why they are backing Trump, say Trump is pro-crypto, Biden's overregulation harms startups, and more  —  Marc Andreessen, the co-founder of one of the most prominent venture capital firms in Silicon Valley, says he's been a Democrat most of his life.
The Information:
Bloomberg:
Sources: the US is considering using tougher trade rules if companies like Tokyo Electron and ASML continue giving China access to advanced chip technology  —  - Restrictions would hit technology from Tokyo Electron and ASML  — US companies like Lam have urged softer approach in meetings
Arjun Kharpal / CNBC:
Global chip stocks fell sharply after reports of tighter export restrictions from the US and comments from Trump, who said Taiwan should pay the US for defense  —  WATCH NOW  —  Global chip stocks fell sharply, with ASML, Nvidia and TSMC posting declines amid reports of tighter export restrictions …
Reuters:
Sources: GitLab, which has an ~$8B market cap, is exploring a sale after attracting interest from its peers, including Datadog, which has a $44B market cap  —  GitLab (GTLB.O), a U.S. provider of cloud-based software development tools whose investors include Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O) …
Ina Fried / Axios:
Meta says it will withhold future multimodal AI models in the EU because of what it says is a lack of clarity from regulators; text-only models will be offered  —  - Apple similarly said last month that it won't release its Apple Intelligence features in Europe because of regulatory concerns.
Samuel Stolton / Bloomberg:
The EU's General Court says TikTok is large enough to fall under the DMA, rejecting ByteDance's challenge; ByteDance can appeal to the European Court of Justice  —  - TikTok attempt to avoid EU's Digital Markets Act is dismissed  — Chinese-owned social media giant also risks ban in the US
Ookla:
T-Mobile was the fastest US mobile network in H1 2024, with a Speed Score, which combines download and upload speeds, of ~206, vs. AT&T's ~112, Verizon's ~108  —  T-Mobile leads on key mobile KPIs  —  T-Mobile continues to dominate the mobile landscape in the U.S., boasting the fastest speeds …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft launches its AI-powered Designer app out of preview on iOS and Android, letting users create images, stickers, and more, expanding on the web client  —  Microsoft's AI-powered Designer app is coming out of preview today for both iOS and Android users.
Caroline Mimbs Nyce / The Atlantic:
Meta launches a small pilot program to let some researchers access Instagram data for up to about six months to study the app's effect on teens and young adults  —  The teens are on Instagram.  That much is obvious.  A majority of teens say they use the app, including 8 percent who say they use it …
Financial Times:
Source: Fei-Fei Li's World Labs, founded in April 2024 and aiming to create “spatial intelligence” in AI, raised ~$100M in its latest round at a $1B+ valuation  —  Stanford computer scientist's ‘spatial intelligence’ venture wins backing from investors including Andreessen Horowitz
Bloomberg:
Sources: Coatue, Alkeon Capital, General Catalyst and others have invested in Figma as part of a deal valuing it at $12.5B; Figma is delivering ARR of $700M+  —  - Deal was secondary share sale with current, former employees  — Other investors included Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Iconiq
More: The Verge
Arjun Kharpal / CNBC:
ASML reports Q2 net sales down 9.5% YoY to €6.24B, vs. €6.03B est., net income down 18.7% YoY to €1.6B, vs. €1.4B est., and keeps its FY 2024 outlook unchanged  —  ASML reported second-quarter earnings and sales that beat forecasts, as interest in artificial intelligence chips drives …
Bloomberg:
Donald Trump says “I'm for TikTok, because you need competition”, and “if you don't have TikTok, you have Facebook and Instagram” and “that's Zuckerberg”  —  It's late June, and Donald Trump is plotting his next presidency in the gilded offseason isolation of the Mar-a-Lago Club.
The Verge:
How Russian design firm Art Lebedev's Optimus keyboards, with built-in OLED screens in each key, laid the foundations for Elgato's popular Stream Deck  —  Art Lebedev's expensive Optimus keyboards seemed like a footnote in tech blogging history until a small German company saw the potential for a new generation of content creators.
More: 9to5ToysThreads: @jonporterukMastodon: @ernie@writing.exchangeX: @tomwarrenLinkedIn: Julian Fest

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Emilia David / VentureBeat:
Laura Waxmann / San Francisco Chronicle:
Akash Sriram / Reuters: