Sign in Subscribe
5 min read

Week 18, 2025

-

highlights

1 / Musk pledges return to Tesla as political role backfires

2 / Google breakup battle heats up

  • Google search antitrust case enters three-week remedies hearing
  • DOJ demands Chrome spinoff
  • Google argues breakup would hamstring its ability to compete against Chinese AI rivals
  • OpenAI, Yahoo and Perplexity express interest in acquring Chrome
  • "We would purchase Chrome and transform it into an AI-first browser"
  • Chrome's dominant 65% market share and 3.3 billion users represent the ultimate data goldmine for AI
  • Analysts estimate approximately $50 billion for standalone Chrome business
  • Final testimony by early May
  • Final order expected by August
3 / Huawei races to replace Nvidia Chips in China
  • Huawei began mass shipments of Ascend 910C as direct "form-fit alternative" to restricted Nvidia H20
  • Next-gen 910D samples arriving late May to compete with Nvidia's premium H100
  • iFlytek showcases Xinghuo X1 model trained solely on Ascend chips matching OpenAI's o1 benchmarks
  • Morgan Stanley warns restrictions "more destructive than thought" with 9% hit to Nvidia sales
  • Chinese giants stockpiled $16 billion in H20 GPUs creating one-year supply cushion
  • Tencent alone spent 280 million on last-minute GPU purchases in Q1
  • Analysts predict double-digit market share for Huawei by year-end
  • Success depends on overcoming CUDA inertia in developer ecosystem
4 / Tech giants caught in tariff war crossfire


Meta's online ad revenue

  • US ended $800 import exemption and raised Chinese package tariffs to 120%
  • In response, Temu slashed ad spending 31% while Shein cut 19%
  • This could cost Meta $7 billion in ad revenue
  • X also facing financial pressure as top advertiser Temu pulls back

Tesla's humanoid production

Apple's India production

  • Apple's strategy to shift iPhone production to India faces serious obstacles as China blocks export of manufacturing equipment
  • Chinese equipment suppliers are creating shell entities and alternative supply routes to bypass restrictions
5 / Intel's new chief rushes turnaround
6 / AWS and Nvidia address AI data center growth concerns
7 / Apple chasing Meta in smart glasses market
  • Apple developing "Project N50" smart glasses targeted for 2027 release
  • Tim Cook has prioritized this project as potentially iPhone's successor
  • Apple aims for mass-market pricing to drive widespread adoption
  • Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses have sold 2 million units and generated approximately $600 million in revenue
  • Ray-Bans feature Meta AI for translations, photo analysis, and voice control
  • Meta expanding availability to India, Mexico, and UAE as demand grows

-

more

ai

xAI seeks $20B funding

xAI adds "Grok Vision" for video analysis

OpenAI eyes Chrome acquisition

OpenAI launches "lightweight" Deep Research

OpenAI introduces AI tools to Singapore Airlines

OpenAI partners with WSJ, NY Post, Washington Post

ChatGPT "thank you" responses waste power

OpenAI's weird model naming creates confusion

OpenAI's O3 model scores 136 IQ

ChatGPT exceeds 500M weekly users

Gemini reaches 350M monthly users

Google AI Overview hits 1.5B monthly users

Gemini AI summarizes YouTube videos

Meta creates AI system for space station

Meta hosts first "LlamaCon" developer conference

Meta sued by 200 French news outlets

Meta asks MS, Amazon for Llama training funds

Microsoft simplifying Copilot sales process

Apple shifts Vision OS team to Siri redesign

Anthropic's "MCP" gaining traction in China

-

chips / cloud

Intel posts solid Q1 results but weak Q2 forecast

Intel announces 20% workforce reduction

Intel reshuffles leadership and appoints AI chief

TSMC-Intel leadership meeting reignites joint venture rumors

TSMC to start 1.4nm production in 2028

TSMC faces labor shortage for 24 global factories

Huawei begins testing next-gen "Ascend 910D"

Huawei ships "Ascend 910C" in volume

iFlytek unveils AI model using only Huawei chips

Jensen Huang lobbies Japan for more power

Amazon reportedly halts data center expansion

Amazon and Nvidia deny AI data center demand slowdown

xAI "Colossus" data center faces pollution controversy

TikTok considering wind-powered data center in Brazil

-

robotics

Apple separates robotics project from AI division

Tesla faces robot production delays due to China's rare earth magnet controls

-

commerce

Temu and Shein raise US prices to counter tariffs

Amazon stockpiles goods in Canada to avoid tariffs

-

social media

Meta loses $7B from reduced Temu/Shein ads

Threads begins global ads after two years

Instagram blocks fake adult accounts with AI

Meta releases video editing app "Edit"

TikTok entering Japanese e-commerce with TikTok Shop in June

-

content / entertainment

Meta lays off Reality Labs metaverse staff

-

device / hardware

Apple aims to produce all US iPhones in India

Google increases Pixel production in India

Apple falls to 5th place in Chinese smartphone market

iPhone 17 half as thick with up to 12GB RAM

Apple developing smart glasses codenamed N50

-

app / platform

MS adds "Recall" feature to Windows

Google drops plan to block third-party cookies in Chrome

Google Messages adds "snooze" for group chats

-

ev / autonomous

Tesla car sales drop 20%, profits plunge 71%

Tesla European EV sales fall 45%

Musk pledges millions of robotaxis next year

BYD Q1 profits double

BYD partners with Saudi Aramco on new energy vehicles

BYD enters Japanese mini EV market

BYD and CATL unveil ultra-fast charging batteries

Huawei launches ultra-fast EV chargers

Xiaomi planning German EV R&D base

-

energy / environment

Altman steps down as Oklo chairman

Google signs first offshore wind PPA in Taiwan

Google purchases first geothermal power in Taiwan

-

space

Amazon's Project Kuiper satellite internet faces production delays

SpaceX leads bidding for Trump's "Golden Dome"

-

etc

EU fines Apple and Meta €700 million

Zuckerberg buys mansion "10 minutes from White House"

Google threatens layoffs while reducing remote work

Neuralink raising $500M at $8.5B valuation

Bitcoin becomes world's 6th largest asset, surpassing silver and Amazon

-

Know anyone who might benefit from this newsletter? Forward this email to them. They can also sign up here.

-

Subscribe to Big Tech Digest