Taiwan's Economy Minister, Kuo Jyh-huei, expressed that former President Donald Trump misunderstood Taiwan's critical role in the semiconductor industry. On another front, the Brazilian government is considering taxing large tech companies and might also implement a 15% global minimum tax on multinational corporations to achieve its 2025 fiscal target. Meanwhile, the gaming world saw Ubisoft's recent release, Star Wars Outlaws, developed by Massive Entertainment, fail to deliver the financial boost the company had hoped for. Following disappointing performance, Rocksteady Studios has reportedly laid off several employees after its latest title, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, failed to meet revenue expectations, costing Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. $200 million.
Sony Group Corporation's CFO Hiroki Totoki admitted that the company, despite its impressive portfolio, lacks enough intellectual properties (IP) that it has “fostered from the beginning.” In the smartphone domain, Apple Inc. is reportedly opposing legislative efforts requiring it to enforce age restrictions on apps. Apple could likely discontinue some of its products following its annual iPhone event on Sept. 9, and plans to incorporate OLED displays in all iPhone models, including the lower-priced iPhone SE, starting in 2025. In a tech rivalry move, Huawei aims to outshine Apple’s iPhone 16 with what it terms a ‘disruptive’ product launch, claiming to have ‘turned science fiction to reality’ after five years of research.
In the realm of TV, streaming, and social media, a failed distribution agreement between Walt Disney Company and pay-TV provider DirecTV has resulted in over 11 million subscribers losing access. Netflix is betting on dubbed reality shows to retain viewer interest, using South Korea as a testing ground. South Korean law enforcement agencies have launched an investigation into Telegram for its alleged role in disseminating sexually explicit deepfake content. Telegram founder Pavel Durov has criticized French authorities for detaining him instead of addressing complaints to his company.
E-commerce giant Amazon is reportedly planning to revamp its voice assistant, Alexa, using Anthropic's Claude AI models to improve its response to complex queries, with a new version set for release in October. The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission is calling for an investigation into Shein and Temu for allegedly selling dangerous baby and toddler products on their platforms. In technology, Taiwan's leading chip manufacturers, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Winbond, and United Microelectronics Corporation, are set to begin domestic production of neon gas by 2025 to bolster supply chain resilience.
In another development, the U.S. Department of Justice has unveiled a new strategy to deal with foreign threats following CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s remarks about the Joe Biden administration pressuring Facebook to censor certain content. PayPal Holdings is making a strategic push into the U.S. point-of-sale payments market by integrating its debit card with Apple's mobile wallet and offering various cashback rewards. Elon Musk's ventures continue to make headlines. His companies, Tesla and SpaceX, have threatened to seize Brazilian government assets unless property belonging to X, formerly Twitter, and SpaceX are returned.
Starlink, Musk's satellite broadband company, has decided to comply with a Brazilian court order to block access to social media platform X, after initially opposing it. Elon Musk also announced the beta launch of the X TV app, a new initiative for the social media platform X. In the artificial intelligence sector, Microsoft managed to avoid a comprehensive U.K. probe into its recruitment of staff from Inflection AI. Alibaba Group is expanding in the U.S. market with a new AI-powered sourcing tool aimed at simplifying the process for American buyers. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman plans to channel significant investments into U.S. AI infrastructure projects.
Safe Superintelligence, co-founded by Ilya Sutskever, has raised $1 billion to develop advanced AI systems. Leading online dating platforms, including Tinder, Hinge, and Bumble, are testing AI tools to generate conversation starters, build profiles, and provide feedback on user interactions.
