Welcome back to your daily memorandum talking tech, business, AI, markets, and more. 🗞️

In today’s edition we are tackling the following:

👨🏻‍⚖️ Assad has taken asylum in Moscow, per reports.
📉 The Magnificent Seven’s growth is projected to slow meaningfully.
💵 Who was behind Silicon Valley's near $400M of election donations.
☔️ Google finally predicts the weather well.
🍟 Malaysia and Vietnam set to be winner in war for chips.

DEVELOPING

• Russian state news agencies say ousted Syrian leader Bashar Assad is in Moscow and given asylum

  • Ousted Syrian leader Bashar has Assad fled to Moscow after rebels seized Damascus, ending his family's 50-year rule.

  • Former al-Qaida commander Abu Mohammed al-Golani leads Syria’s future despite his group being labeled a terrorist organization.

  • The U.S. welcomed Assad's fall cautiously, while Russia called for a U.N. session, emphasizing negotiations and security for its bases in Syria.

TECH

• As Big Tech Profit Growth Slows, Investors Hunt for a New Thing

  • The Magnificent 7’s profit growth projections are set to slow from 34% to 18% in 2025.

  • Chip giant Nvidia is seen as driving most of that profit growth.

  • The growth of Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Tesla is projected to be just 3% if Nvidia is excluded.

• Apple and Sony are working on Vision Pro support for PSVR2 controllers

  • Apple and Sony have been working on adding support for Sony’s VR controllers, and even selling them separately in the Apple Store.

  • Under this partnership, Apple would be selling Sony’s controllers, which aren’t currently available on their own.

  • It’s been said to be great news for Vision Pro owners who wish the headset had more gaming chops.

• ElevenLabs Launches Feature to Create, Edit AI-Generated Podcasts

  • The launch of GenFM podcasts allows user to turn any content into a dynamic discussion with AI co-hosts.

  • This product is seen as a competitor to Google’s viral NotebookLM.

  • ElevenLabs is reportedly raising $200M at a $3B valuation.

BUSINESS

• Revealed: the tech bosses who poured $394.1m into US election - and how they compared to Elon Musk

  • Silicon Valley donated $394.1M, led by Musk’s $243M to Trump and $120.9M to Harris from key tech figures.

  • The donors came from tech’s biggest companies: Google, WhatsApp, LinkedIn and Netflix.

  • Cryptocurrency supporters heavily financed campaigns to resist regulation, showcasing tech’s political sway.

• OpenAI’s nightmare: What David Sacks as AI Czar could mean for Sam Altman’s $157 billion startup

  • Sacks' VC firm Craft Ventures invested an undisclosed amount of money into PayPal Mafia alum, Elon Musk’s, xAI.

  • The Musk-Sacks duo have been critical of OpenAI, with a long and contentious history among the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.

  • Musk, co-founded OpenAI with Altman nine years ago but left after a power struggle and has since launched his rival company.

• The end of the ISS will usher in a more commercialized future in space

  • The International Space Station will be decommissioned and deorbited, ending decades of space exploration and research.

  • NASA plans to use private space stations by Blue Origin, Starlab, and Axiom Space to maintain a cheaper human presence in orbit.

  • Tight timelines, potential delays, and gaps in capabilities during the transition raise concerns about readiness before the ISS's deorbit.

CONTENT

• The Economic Tightrope:Jerome Powell on the Fed’s Role in America’s Financial Future

  • Jerome Powell sits down with Andrew Ross Sorkin at the 2024 New York Times DealBook Summit.

  • The two discuss the Federal Reserve’s strategies for shaping America’s financial future amid economic uncertainty.

  • Also discussed; the importance of Fed independence, and what he expects from a second Trump administration.

• Our hottest and coldest 2025 takes

  • Nilay Patel and the team at The Verge are joined by Wall Street Journal columnist Joanna Stern bring all the predictions for 2025.

  • Takes include debating views on TikTok bans, the next social platforms, and if we’ve hit peak smart homes and the future of streaming services.

  • The Verge’s YouTube channel boasts close to 3.5 million subscribers.

• Moore's Law is Dead — Welcome to Light Speed Computers

  • This episode of S³ takes you inside Lightmatter, the company leading the photonic revolution.

  • Discussed; a new age of compute, from fibre optics to photonics, AGI scaling, founding the company, and more.

  • S3 tells the story of people working to change the world, often in deep tech and hardware.

WORLD

• US-China Tech War Fuels Asia Boomtowns Built on AI, Chips

  • Over $100 billion in foreign investment since 2020 has turned Malaysia and Vietnam into key hubs for AI and chip manufacturing.

  • Investment has boosted jobs and incomes but raised property prices, with top roles often going to foreign workers.

  • Malaysia and Vietnam aim to grow their economies, with Malaysia boosting chip production to reach high-income status.

• As Australia bans social media for kids under 16, age-assurance tech is in the spotlight

  • A new law banning social media for under-16s from 2025 highlights the need for robust age-assurance technologies to verify users' ages.

  • Australia will test tools like facial-age estimation and digital IDs, prioritizing privacy and compliance.

  • The global push for age assurance is fueling innovation, but issues like accuracy thresholds, data privacy, and compliance with evolving laws remain key hurdles.

• IAEA chief: Iran is poised to ‘quite dramatically’ increase stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium

  • The IAEA warns Iran is dramatically increasing its stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium using advanced centrifuges, raising global concerns.

  • Iran successfully launched a military payload into orbit using the Simorgh rocket, sparking fears over dual-use technology for missile development.

  • These developments heighten worries over Iran’s nuclear and space programs, despite its claims of peaceful intent, as U.S. and IAEA scrutiny continues.

AND MORE…

• Online star Hawk Tuah girl faces crypto coin criticism

  • Haliey Welch, the ‘Hawk Tuah’ meme star, launched a cryptocurrency called Hawk, which hit a $490M market cap before crashing over 95%.

  • Critics, including Coffeezilla, accused Welch of running a pump and dump scheme to profit from investors.

  • Welch denies the allegations, stating her team did not sell any of their tokens.

• Google says its new AI model outperforms the top weather forecast system

  • Google’s DeepMind launched GenCast, an AI-based weather model that generates complex probability distributions of future weather scenarios.

  • GenCast outperformed the leading ENS forecast system, proving more accurate 97.2% of the time in tests.

  • Google plans to integrate GenCast into Search and Maps and make its forecasts available for public research and modeling.

• The four startups from YC’s Fall batch that enterprises should pay attention to

  • Silicon Valley startup accelerator Y Combinator held a Demo Day for its inaugural Fall cohort this week.

  • 87% of Startups focused on AI, with many targeting customer-service and enterprise applications.

  • Four standout startups focus on tools to monitor AI applications and address inaccuracies, aiding enterprise adoption of AI.