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

In today’s edition, we are tackling the following:

🤖 MiniMax and Zhipu AI expose revenue limits ahead of Hong Kong listings.
🚚 NVIDIA plans to ship H200 chips to China after tariff approval.
🚕 Uber investigation finds violent felons approved as drivers in many states.
🎵 Spotify confirms massive music scraping tied to pirate activist group.
🌎 Bolivia paralyzed by transport strikes after government ends fuel subsidies.

TECHNOLOGY

• China’s OpenAI Rivals Unveil Sales Details Ahead of Stock Debuts (Bloomberg) 

  ^{_{More: Seeking Alpha, CNBC, China Daily}}

  • Chinese AI startups MiniMax and Zhipu AI disclosed revenue details as they prepare for Hong Kong listings.

  • The companies revealed business models that show revenue constraints relative to deep-pocketed Silicon Valley AI competitors.

  • Both firms count Alibaba and Tencent among their backers in a heated race to go public.

• NVIDIA Aims to Begin H200 Chip Shipments to China by Mid-February (Reuters) 

  ^{_{More: CNBC, Yahoo Finance, TechCrunch}}

  • NVIDIA plans to ship 40,000 to 80,000 H200 AI chips to China before the Lunar New Year.

  • The shipments mark the first H200 deliveries after the Trump administration approved sales with 25% tariff.

  • Beijing approval remains uncertain as China weighs allowing imports versus protecting domestic chip development efforts.

• Waymo Resumes Service After San Francisco Blackout Disrupts Robotaxis (TechCrunch) 

  ^{_{More: CNBC, SF Chronicle, CNN}}

  • Power outage caused Waymo robotaxis to stall at intersections, creating traffic jams across San Francisco.

  • Vehicles treated nonfunctioning traffic lights as four-way stops but remained stationary longer than usual.

  • Service resumed on Sunday after infrastructure was restored, underscoring the autonomous vehicle’s dependence on external power and data.

BUSINESS

• Uber Allowed Violent Felons to Drive on Platform, Investigation Finds (New York Times) 

  _{^{More: Engadget, AboutLawsuits, TruLaw}}

  • Uber can approve drivers with convictions for child abuse, assault, and stalking in 22 states if convictions exceed seven years.

  • Background checks in 35 states rely on recent residence history, potentially missing convictions from other locations.

  • An investigation found internal documents showing that Uber prioritized rapid driver onboarding over comprehensive safety screening.

• Alphabet to Buy Data Center Partner Intersect for $4.75 Billion (Bloomberg) 

  ^{_{More: CNBC, Reuters, Alphabet IR}}

  • Alphabet agreed to acquire clean energy developer Intersect for $4.75 billion in cash plus debt.

  • The deal gives Google access to more electricity for its data centers as aging grids struggle to meet AI-driven power demand.

  • The acquisition includes multiple gigawatts of energy and data center projects currently under development or construction.

• Spotify Music Library Scraped by Pirate Activist Group (Billboard) 

  _{^{More: Music Ally, Dataconomy, Beebom}}

  • Anna’s Archive scraped 86 million audio files and 256 million track metadata rows totaling 300 terabytes.

  • Spotify identified and deactivated malicious user accounts engaged in unlawful scraping.

  • The breach circumvented digital rights management and could enable unauthorized training of AI models on music.

• Explore the essential startup reading database*

  • Learning from the best is how you become the best. We’ve curated a list of top-notch articles, blogs, and readings that are pivotal for startup founders.

  • And here’s the kicker: we’ve organized it all in a user-friendly Notion database for easy access and tracking. Double win!

  • As aspiring leaders and innovators, we use this list as a bridge to absorb the knowledge that has propelled others to success.

MARKETS

WORLD

• Bolivian Transport Strikes Intensify as Fuel Subsidy Ends (Bloomberg) _{^{More: Associated Press, MercoPress, S&P Global}}

  • Bolivia’s largest cities, La Paz and Santa Cruz, were brought to a standstill as transport workers went on strike against a 100% fuel price increase.

  • President Rodrigo Paz vowed that Supreme Decree 5503, eliminating decades-old fuel subsidies, was a non-negotiable starting point.

  • Cutting fuel subsidies will yield $3 billion in savings, which will be reinvested in infrastructure, the government said, according to China Daily.

• Noem Says Venezuela’s Maduro Needs to Be Gone (Bloomberg) 

  ^{_{More: ABC News, PBS, CNN}}

  • Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stated Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro needs to be gone during a Fox News interview.

  • The UU.S.campaign involves strikes against drug-trafficking vessels and intercepts of oil tankers carrying Venezuelan crude.

  • Comments reflect continued Trump administration opposition to Maduro amid escalating pressure campaign, including naval blockade.

• Mexico’s $41 Billion Debt Binge Made Pemex Best Bond in LatAm (Bloomberg) 

  _{^{More: Rio Times, Latin Times, Investing.com}}

  • State-owned Pemex dollar bonds delivered 24% return this year, more than double the Latin American corporate debt average.

  • Mexico injected $41 billion into Pemex this year, significantly alleviating default concerns and restoring investor confidence.

  • The bond rally reflects market belief that the government will continue to back the heavily indebted petroleum company indefinitely.

FUTURISM

• Why Do AI Chatbots Use “I”? (New York Times) 

  _{^{More: DNyuz, Business Standard, OpenTools AI}}

  • AI chatbots use first-person pronouns, creating an illusion of consciousness despite lacking self-awareness or sentience.

  • The design choice stems from making interactions feel natural, but it raises concerns about anthropomorphizing machines.

  • Researchers debate whether the use of pronouns misleads users about AI capabilities and underlying computational processes.

• YouTube Shutting Down AI Slop Channels (Futurism) 

  _{^{More: Deadline, Wide Open Country, WebProNews}}

  • YouTube terminated two massive channels that peddled fake AI-generated movie trailers, with a combined total of a billion views.

  • Screen Culture and KH Studio used AI shots spliced with copyrighted footage to trick viewers.

  • Crackdown targets monetized channels that use generative AI to create mass content with no genuine value.

• Professor: AI Making Wealthy People Inevitable (Futurism) 

  ^{_{More: WebProNews, NPR, Salon}}

  • Sociologist Tressie McMillan Cottom argues the AI future is for the rich, used by the wealthy to seize control.

  • When people try to sell the idea that the future is settled, it’s because it is deeply unsettled, Cottom said.

  • Early access to advanced AI tools and capital creates competitive advantages difficult for others to overcome.

CONTENT

• How Brands Stay Visible When AI Decides | Profound CEO James Cadwallader (Grit)

  • James Cadwallader explains how AI assistants are reshaping brand discovery as consumers increasingly rely on ChatGPT responses.

  • Profound helps brands like Eight Sleep and MongoDB influence model outputs through narrative rather than content scale.

  • Cadwallader and Kleiner Perkins’ Ilya Fushman discuss early global scaling and shifting expectations for SaaS growth timelines.

• The coming AI security crisis (and what to do about it) | Sander Schulhoff

  • Sander Schulhoff details how prompt injection attacks bypass safeguards, exposing fundamental weaknesses in today’s AI systems.

  • He explains why major AI security incidents remain limited and warns that more capable agents will rapidly escalate risks.

  • Schulhoff argues that effective defenses require blending classical cybersecurity practices with AI-native testing and red-team expertise.

• Seven Big Thoughts on OpenAI’s Strategy & Future | Sam Altman (Big Technology Podcast)

  • Sam Altman outlines OpenAI’s strategy around model capability, product integration, and sustaining long-term competitive advantage.

  • He discusses infrastructure scale, compute constraints, and how inference revenue may offset rising training and deployment costs.

  • Altman addresses governance, partnership dynamics, and scenarios, including eventual public markets and evolving industry regulation.

EXTRAS

• TPU Mania: The Chip Letter (Substack) 

  _{^{More: Ars Technica, Tom’s Hardware, The Verge}}

  • Google’s Tensor Processing Units are gaining attention as specialized AI chips competing with Nvidia’s market dominance.

  • TPUs offer advantages for specific machine learning workloads, with an optimized architecture for neural network training.

  • Growing interest reflects a broader industry trend toward custom silicon designed for artificial intelligence applications.

• Instacart Ending All-Item Price Tests on Platform (Wall Street Journal) _{^{More: TechCrunch, CNBC, Bloomberg}}

  • Instacart discontinued experiments charging uniform prices across all items in response to retailer and consumer feedback.

  • Pricing tests aimed to simplify the shopping experience but created conflicts with grocery partner pricing strategies.

  • The decision reflects a balance between platform economics and maintaining positive relationships across the retail partnership network.

• Colin Angle on iRobot, the FTC, and the Amazon Deal That Never Was (TechCrunch) 

  _{^{More: Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, The Verge}}

  • Former iRobot CEO Colin Angle discussed the failed Amazon acquisition extensively, citing FTC antitrust concerns.

  • The deal’s collapse left iRobot facing financial challenges and strategic uncertainty in the competitive robotics market.

  • Angle expressed frustration with the regulatory process that prevented the merger, which he believed would have benefited the company’s growth.

AND MORE

• ASEAN foreign ministers meet in Kuala Lumpur to seek a ceasefire resolution in the Thailand-Cambodia conflict.

• Asian stock markets rise sharply as tech gains fuel broad equity rally and yen weakens to historic lows.

• Turkey anticipates that the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal will begin early in 2026, following diplomatic talks.

• Global tech companies issue record $428.3 billion in bonds as AI investment drives debt-financed expansion.

• Roko’s Basilisk skips the buzz words and cuts straight to what moves markets, products, and careers.*

• Thailand and Cambodia agree to resume detailed ceasefire negotiations after border clashes displaced thousands.

• United Nations General Assembly elects former Iraqi president as next UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

• French, Saudi, and UU.S.officials push plan to disarm Hezbollah amid fears ceasefire may unravel.

• ReU.S. morning briefing highlights UU.S.Coast Guard pursuit of UU.S.tanker, tougher 2026 UU.S.immigration policy, and UK asylum hotel protests.