~techmeme | Bookmarks (1069)

Belle Lin / Wall Street Journal: An analysis of US DOL data: the IT sector unemployment rate rose from 3.9% in December to 5.7% in January, with the number of unemployed rising from 98K to 152K  —  Artificial intelligence continues to impact the technology labor market  —  The unemployment rate in the information technology sector rose …

The Economic Times: Indian Electronics and Semiconductor Association projects India's chip market, valued at $52B in 2024-2025, to grow to $103.4B at a CAGR of 13% through 2030  —  India's semiconductor consumption market, valued at $52 billion in 2024-25, is expected to grow at a 13% CAGR through 2030.

Bloomberg: Crypto.com and Kalshi launched sports wagers tied to the Super Bowl in 50 US states, creating a turf war with the sports betting industry and state regulators  —  Crypto.com and Kalshi have made an end-run around state regulators to allow wagers on the NFL championship, the biggest betting day in American sports.

Wall Street Journal: Source: TikTok CEO Shou Chew proposed to senior White House officials a US-based joint venture between US investors and TikTok that would oversee data security  —  Vance tapped to help oversee negotiations, with companies including Oracle and Amazon signaling interest while TikTok officials hope to avoid a sale

Nikou Asgari / Financial Times: Data from crypto security company Coinkite shows that 78 listed companies globally are following Strategy's example in buying bitcoin to hold in place of cash  —  Firms buy ‘kryptonite for short sellers’ as they try to emulate US software group's success  —  Software business-turned-bitcoin …

Fei-Fei Li / Financial Times: Three fundamental principles for the future of AI policymaking: have a clear view of reality, be pragmatic instead of ideological, and empower the AI ecosystem  —  It is possible to develop a model with the best intentions, and for that model to be misused later on

Cheng Ting-Fang / Nikkei Asia: Sources: TSMC is informing Chinese customers using its 16nm or better tech that it cannot ship orders unless they use a US “white list” chip packaging supplier  —  TAIPEI — The latest U.S. export controls on China's chip sector are causing more disruption than the industry expected …

Monique Mulima / Bloomberg: CoinMarketCap: Circle's USDC market cap reached a new high of $56.2B on February 9, after dropping to $24.5B in 2023 in the months following FTX's collapse  —  USDC reached a market value of $56.2 billion on Friday, after falling to $24.5 billion in 2023, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Jay Peters / The Verge: PlayStation Network has been experiencing a multi-hour outage, affecting account management, gaming and social, and PlayStation Video, Store, and Direct website  —  PSN has been experiencing a multi-hour outage.  You might have trouble loading purchased digital games or seeing which friends are online.

James Hunt / The Block: Nikkei: Japan's financial regulator asks Apple and Google to remove apps from Bybit, MEXC Global, LBank Exchange, KuCoin, and Bitget; Apple has removed the apps  —  - Japan's Financial Services Agency has reportedly requested Apple and Google to block five unregistered overseas crypto exchange apps in the country.

Thomas Germain / BBC: An Adalytics report shows how ad systems run by Google, Amazon, Microsoft and others inadvertently placed ads on a website that hosts CSAM  —  Some of the biggest tech companies in the world served ads on a website featuring images of child abuse, helping to fund its operations.

Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security: Chat logs reveal DOGE member Edward Coristine's ties to cybercrime community The Com, and a Telegram handle linked to him sought a DDoS-for-hire service in 2022  —  Wired reported this week that a 19-year-old working for Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) …

Financial Times: Docs: Palantir has won $2.7B+ in US contracts since 2009, including $1.3B+ in Pentagon contracts, and spent $5.8M in lobbying in 2024, up from ~$1M in 2015  —  Peter Thiel-chaired group has Washington and Westminster network that helped secure around $3bn in official contracts

Bloomberg: Sources: Island, which makes secure browsers for businesses, is raising money at a $4.5B valuation in a round led by Coatue; it was valued at $3B in April 2024  —  Valuation jump shows VCs are still enthusiastic for cybersecurity deals.  —  Enterprise software and security startup Island Technology Inc …

Financial Times: Sources: Klarna is targeting an IPO in the US in April with a valuation of up to $15B and is preparing to unveil its listing plans as soon as next month  —  Valuation of up to $15bn would make it one of the biggest listings this year  —  Swedish fintech Klarna is targeting an IPO in the US …

Bloomberg: Sources: Anthropic's funding round is oversubscribed and expected to raise $2B+, with Lightspeed set to invest ~$1B; Menlo, MGX, and others are in talks to join  —  - Oversubscribed deal is expected to raise more than $2 billion  — Lightspeed is set to contribute about $1 billion in backing

Punchbowl News: Sources: Trump has tasked JD Vance and National Security Adviser Michael Waltz with overseeing a potential sale of TikTok  —  Vance is in charge of “quarterbacking a deal to save TikTok,” according to a source familiar with the matter.  Waltz and the National Security Council are in charge …

CNBC: Sources: Anduril is in talks to raise up to $2.5B, led by Founders Fund with a $1B commitment, at a $28B valuation; Anduril's revenue in 2024 doubled to ~$1B  —  WATCH NOW  —  Anduril, the defense-tech startup founded by Palmer Luckey, has signed a term sheet to raise capital at a $28 billion valuation …

Louise Matsakis / Wired: Filing: Kash Patel, Trump's nominee to head FBI, was allotted Shein shares of $1M to $5M in exchange for consulting services; he has no plans to divest them  —  Donald Trump's pick for FBI director told senators he has no plans to divest his shares, which his financial disclosure form …

Reuters: SolarWinds says it will go private in a $4.4B deal with buyout firm Turn/River Capital; SWI closes up 21.8%  —  SolarWinds (SWI.N) said on Friday it would go private in a $4.4 billion deal with buyout firm Turn/River Capital, the latest sign debt-funded deals were set to rebound this year as borrowing costs decline.

Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch: Customer service software startup Sprinklr cuts 500 jobs, ~15% of its workforce, citing weak business performance; C-level staff remains unaffected  —  Sprinklr, a U.S. firm providing a customer experience management platform to global brands, has laid off about 15% of its workforce …

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: OpenAI updates o3-mini's chain of thought to make it easier for users “to understand how the model thinks”, available to both free and paid ChatGPT users  —  In response to pressure from rivals including Chinese AI company DeepSeek, OpenAI is changing the way its newest AI model …

Ashley Belanger / Ars Technica: Kadrey v. Meta: unsealed emails show Meta allegedly torrented 81.7TB+ of data across multiple shadow libraries through the site Anna's Archive for AI training  —  Newly unsealed emails allegedly provide the “most damning evidence” yet against Meta in a copyright case raised by book authors alleging …

Stephen Nellis / Reuters: Cerebras says it worked with Mistral to help its Le Chat app respond to user questions with 1,000 words per second, making it the world's fastest AI assistant  —  Cerebras Systems, an artificial intelligence chip firm backed by UAE tech conglomerate G42, said on Thursday it has partnered …