March 20 2024
Petro-AI
1 Supreme Court allows TX to proceed with state border law, superseding federal authority
2 Chipmaker Nvidia unveils next gen AI semiconductors
3 Saudi Arabia plans massive AI investment fund
4 Intel to spend $100 billion across four US states on chip factories
5 Chinese electric cars are ridiculously inexpensive
3/20/1854 Republican Party founded
see ad astra on x @greg_loving
1 Supreme Court allows TX to proceed with state border law, superseding federal authority
The Supreme Court temporarily sided with Texas on Tuesday in its increasingly bitter fight with the Biden administration over immigration policy, allowing an expansive state law to go into effect that makes it a crime for migrants to enter Texas without authorization. As is typical when the court acts on emergency applications, its order gave no reasons. But Justice Amy Coney Barrett, joined by Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, filed a concurring opinion that seemed to express the majority’s bottom line. They were returning the case to an appeals court for a prompt ruling on whether the law should be paused while an appeal moves forward, Justice Barrett wrote. “If a decision does not issue soon,” she wrote, “the applicants may return to this court.” For now, though, Texas law enforcement officials will be allowed to arrest people suspected of crossing the border illegally. How long that remains true is now a question for the appeals court.
NYT
2 Chipmaker Nvidia unveils next gen AI semiconductors
Nvidia has unveiled its latest more powerful artificial intelligence chips as it sets its sights on extending its dominance in the burgeoning industry. Chief executive Jensen Huang on Monday said Nvidia’s Blackwell graphics processing units would massively increase the computing power driving large language models. The Blackwell GPU has 208bn transistors, compared with 80bn in last year’s H100, in a measure of its increased power. Huang said the chip was twice as powerful when it came to training AI models as its current generation of GPUs, and had five times their capability when it came to “inference” — the speed at which AI models such as ChatGPT can respond to queries.
FT
3 Saudi Arabia plans massive AI investment fund
The government of Saudi Arabia plans to create a fund of about $40 billion to invest in artificial intelligence, according to three people briefed on the plans — the latest sign of the gold rush toward a technology that has already begun reshaping how people live and work. In recent weeks, representatives of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund have discussed a potential partnership with Andreessen Horowitz, one of Silicon Valley’s top venture capital firms, and other financiers, said the people, who were not authorized to speak publicly. They cautioned that the plans could still change. The planned tech fund would make Saudi Arabia the world’s largest investor in artificial intelligence. It would also showcase the oil-rich nation’s global business ambitions as well as its efforts to diversify its economy and establish itself as a more influential player in geopolitics. The Middle Eastern nation is pursuing those goals through its sovereign wealth fund, which has assets of more than $900 billion.
NYT
4 Intel to spend $100 billion across four US states on chip factories
Intel is planning a $100 billion spending spree across four U.S. states to build and expand factories after securing $19.5 billion in federal grants and loans - and it hopes to secure another $25 billion in tax breaks. The centerpiece of Intel's five-year spending plan is turning empty fields near Columbus, Ohio, into what CEO Pat Gelsinger described to reporters on Tuesday as "the largest AI chip manufacturing site in the world" starting as soon as 2027. The U.S. government announced the federal funds to Intel under the CHIPS Act on Wednesday, sending its shares up 4% in premarket trading. Intel's plan will also involve revamping sites in New Mexico and Oregon, and expanding operations in Arizona, where longtime rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co is also building a massive factory that it hopes will receive funding from President Joe Biden's push to bring advanced semiconductor manufacturing back to the U.S.
Gelsinger has previously said that a second round of U.S. funding for chip factories likely will be needed to re-establish the United States as a leader in semiconductor manufacturing, which he reiterated on Tuesday. "It took us three-plus decades to lose this industry. It's not going to come back in three to five years of CHIPS Act" funding, said Gelsinger, who referred to the low-interest-rate funding as "smart capital".
Reuters
5 Chinese electric cars are ridiculously inexpensive
No American car buyer today can purchase a Chinese brand’s electric vehicle. And no one is really sure when these EVs will arrive on US shores. But the prospect of cheap Chinese-made EVs is already causing sleepless nights in Detroit. The primary threat comes from cars such as BYD Co.’s Seagull hatchback, which features angular styling, a two-tone dashboard shaped like a seagull’s wing and six airbags. There’s even a 10-inch rotating touchscreen for its infotainment system. BYD’s company slogan, “Build Your Dreams,” is embossed on the rear of the vehicle. The car’s most extraordinary feature, though, is its $9,698 price tag. That undercuts the average price of an American EV by more than $50,000 (and is only a little more than a high-end Vespa scooter). Such aggressive pricing by BYD, which surpassed Tesla Inc. in late 2023 to become the world’s largest producer of electric vehicles, is indicative of how Chinese auto manufacturers will likely force US makers to pivot away from mainly producing expensive second cars for the affluent and toward more reasonably priced EVs for the Everyman.
Bloomberg
Ed note: lobbying and voter sentiment mean you won’t see Chinese EVs in the US. But Chinese EV penetration globally will challenge non-Chinese automakers and reduce oil demand. Big story.
3/20/1854 Republican Party founded
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