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

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

🧠 Anthropic unveils Claude plugins for banking, HR, and enterprise tools.
🌊 Deadly floods and landslides devastate Brazil’s Minas Gerais state.
🚨 Mexico launches manhunt after cartel jailbreak frees 23 inmates.
🚀 DeepSeek’s looming AI model rattles US tech giants.
🏭 Apple to manufacture Mac mini in Houston facility.

TECHNOLOGY

• The Looming Taiwan chip disaster that Silicon Valley has long ignored (The New York Times) 

  _{^{More: MacRumors, Apple Insider, DNYUZ}}

  • TSMC produces 90% of the world's advanced chips; a 2023 CIA briefing warned Tim Cook, Jensen Huang, and Lisa Su of a potential Chinese blockade.

  • Treasury Secretary Bessent called the US reliance on Taiwan "the single biggest point of failure" in the world economy, warning of an economic apocalypse.

  • Apple committed $600B in US investment and is on track to buy 100M+ TSMC chips in Arizona in 2026, but Arizona plants are still a generation behind Taiwan's technology.

• Anthropic links AI Agent with tools for investment banking, HR (Bloomberg) 

  _{^{More: Reuters, CNN, PYMNTS}}

  • Anthropic unveiled 10 new Claude Cowork plugins spanning investment banking, HR, private equity, engineering, and design, developed with partners including LSEG and FactSet.

  • New connectors link Claude directly into Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack, DocuSign, Microsoft Excel, and PowerPoint, reducing copy-paste friction across enterprise workflows.

  • The launch triggered share gains in Salesforce (+4%), FactSet (+5%), and DocuSign (+6%), weeks after a prior plugin release sparked an $830B global selloff in software stocks.

• Exclusive: Hegseth gives Anthropic until Friday to back down on AI safeguards (Axios) 

  ^{_{More: CNN, NBC News, TechCrunch}} 

  • After Tuesday's tense Pentagon meeting, Hegseth gave Amodei until Friday evening to grant the military unfettered access to Claude or face designation as a "supply chain risk."

  • The Pentagon is also weighing the Defense Production Act to force Anthropic to tailor Claude to military needs, with Gemini flagged as a potential replacement if talks collapse.

  • Anthropic holds firm on two red lines: no autonomous weapons, no mass domestic surveillance, while the Pentagon concedes privately: "The only reason we're still talking is we need them, and we need them now."

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BUSINESS

• Meta and AMD agree to an AI Chips deal worth more than $100B (The Wall Street Journal) 

  _{^{More: TechCrunch, Fortune, AP via Tom's Hardware}}

  • Meta will purchase AMD MI540-series GPUs at 6-gigawatt scale; the first gigawatt deployment begins in H2 2026, and the deal could exceed $100B.

  • AMD issued Meta a performance-based warrant for up to 160M shares (~10% of AMD's stock) at $0.01 per share, vesting as shipment milestones are met.

  • The deal mirrors AMD's October partnership with OpenAI and comes days after Meta also inked a separate multiyear Nvidia GPU agreement.

• Stripe's valuation soars 74% to $159B (TechCrunch) 

  • Stripe's latest secondary tender offer values the company at $159B, a 74% jump from $91.5B in February 2025, with Thrive Capital, Coatue, and a16z buying employee shares.

  • Stablecoin payment volume doubled globally to ~$400B in 2025, 60% from B2B; Stripe's Bridge acquisition saw volume quadruple, driving the bullish valuation step-up.

  • The announcement coincides with the Collison brothers' annual founder letter and confirms Stripe remains private with no IPO date set.

• Reddit fined £14m for 'concerning' child age check failings (BBC) 

  ^{_{More: The Guardian via Yahoo Finance, Yahoo News Canada}}

  • The ICO fined Reddit £14.47M, its largest children's privacy penalty ever, for processing data of under-13s without a lawful basis or robust age verification until July 2025.

  • The regulator estimated that 537k children visited Reddit in the UK in 2024, with ~226k under 13, potentially exposed to harmful content via easily bypassed self-declaration requirements.

  • Reddit will appeal, arguing that forcing identity collection from all UK users undermines the platform's core commitment to anonymity and privacy.

MARKETS

WORLD

• Russia investigating Telegram founder Durov as part of criminal case, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reports (Reuters) 

  ^{_{More: Euronews, The Moscow Times, Meduza}}

  • Russia's FSB has opened a criminal case against Telegram founder Pavel Durov under Article 205.1, "facilitation of terrorist activities", citing 153k+ crimes committed via the platform since 2022.

  • State-affiliated media allege NATO and Ukrainian intelligence are using Telegram for "hybrid warfare," organizing political unrest and sabotage, while Durov has ignored 150k+ removal requests from Roskomnadzor.

  • Durov, who lives in Dubai and holds French and UAE citizenship, frames the crackdown as a push to force Russians to adopt MAX, a state-backed surveillance messenger; Russia is set to block Telegram fully on April 1.

• Floods and landslides in Brazil kill at least 20 (BBC) 

  _{^{More: AFP via Jamaica Observer, AFP via The Standard, Xinhua}}

  • Torrential rains in Minas Gerais state killed at least 20 people — 16 in Juiz de Fora and 4 in Uba, with 45 missing and over 440 displaced as of Tuesday, February 24.

  • Juiz de Fora is experiencing its rainiest February on record; at least 20 landslides have isolated neighborhoods, and the Paraibuna River has overflowed its banks, with buildings collapsing.

  • The mayor declared a state of emergency; Brazil has suffered escalating climate-driven flood disasters in recent years, including 200+ deaths in Rio Grande do Sul in 2024.

• Mexico hunts 23 inmates sprung from jail during wave of violence (BBC) 

  _{^{More: Washington Examiner, Newsweek, AP via Yahoo News}}

  • Armed CJNG members rammed a vehicle through the Puerto Vallarta prison gate, killing one guard and freeing 23 inmates, during widespread cartel retaliation for El Mencho's death.

  • Jalisco's security secretary, Juan Pablo Hernández, confirmed a multistate manhunt; prisoners' identities have not been released, and cartel-related road blockades extended across 19 states.

  • The breakout compounded a broader death toll of 70+, including 25 National Guard members; cruise lines skipped Puerto Vallarta, and airlines suspended flights amid the unrest.

FUTURISM

• New AI Agent logs directly into college platform Canvas to do your homework for you (Futurism) 

  ^{_{More: The Verge}}

  • Companion.AI's "Einstein" agent logs into Canvas LMS autonomously, watches lectures, writes essays, joins discussions, and submits assignments without any student involvement.

  • The founder frames the tool as an inevitable evolution, like calculators or Google, arguing that students are already using ChatGPT and that universities must adapt to AI-assisted learning.

  • Educators warn of institutional policy violations, disciplinary exposure, and a broader race to build AI agents explicitly designed to circumvent academic integrity at scale.

• American AI Industry trembles as DeepSeek prepares to release new model (Futurism) 

  ^{_{More: CNBC, Economic Times}}

  • DeepSeek V4 is expected to release imminently, based on the prior version's cadence; V3's debut last year tanked the Nasdaq by 3% and wiped $600B from Nvidia's market cap in a single session.

  • US tech giants — Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, and Google — collectively committed an additional ~$650B in AI spending for 2026, raising the stakes for any repeat disruption from a cheap Chinese rival.

  • DeepSeek V3 was built for under $6M using lower-powered Nvidia chips; if V4 matches current frontier models, the pressure on American AI incumbents could be far greater this time.

• Daring Space Mission would catch up with 3I/ATLAS and intercept It (Futurism) 

  • A new paper proposes a mission launching by 2035 that would use a close solar Oberth maneuver aboard a refueled SpaceX Starship to reach 3I/ATLAS by 2085, over 700 AU from the Sun.

  • The spacecraft would need delta-V exceeding 5 miles per second, potentially record-breaking, while enduring extreme temperatures during a brush past the Sun, followed by Venus gravity assists.

  • ESA's Comet Interceptor mission, set to launch in late 2028 and orbit near perihelion awaiting a target, offers a more practical architecture for intercepting future interstellar visitors.

CONTENT

• 'Stripe’s 2025 Annual Letter' (Cheeky Pint)

  • John Collison reflects on Stripe’s 2025 performance and accelerating growth across the global internet economy.

  • Agentic commerce and stablecoin payments gained traction as digital businesses scaled faster than expected.

  • Total payment volume rose by one third, signaling durable momentum in online economic activity.

• 'Dan Sundheim – The Art of Public and Private Market Investing' (Invest Like the Best)

  • Dan Sundheim discusses balancing public and private investments amid shifting market cycles and liquidity conditions.

  • He explains the research discipline, position sizing, and the management of concentrated portfolios across different asset classes.

  • The conversation explores long-term capital allocation, risk management, and sustaining performance through volatility.

• 'Billions in Tariff Refunds — Who Gets the Money?' | Prof G Markets

  • Ed Elson analyzes Trump’s new tariffs and the economic implications following the Supreme Court decision.

  • Peter Harrell and Ryan Petersen assess refund eligibility and the impact on importers and supply chains.

  • The episode examines the broader legacy of tariffs on trade policy and market dynamics.

EXTRAS

• How Jeffrey Epstein ingratiated himself with top Microsoft executives (The New York Times) 

  _{^{More: DNYUZ, CNBC, NBC News}}

  • Epstein cultivated a network inside Microsoft for over two decades, becoming privy to succession discussions; former Windows chief Steven Sinofsky emailed him after his $14M payout: "Got paid. You will be too :)".

  • Epstein leveraged his Microsoft ties to solicit other contacts — in a 2013 email to billionaire Tom Pritzker, he casually asked if Pritzker had "any interest in running Microsoft."

  • Microsoft said it was disappointed to read emails between Epstein and "former Microsoft employees acting in their personal capacities," acknowledging one former executive shared confidential company business.

• Apple plans to manufacture Mac Mini in Houston (The Wall Street Journal) 

  _{^{More: Apple Newsroom, Reuters, 9to5Mac}}

  • Apple will begin assembling Mac mini units at a Foxconn facility in north Houston later in 2026, the first time the desktop has been manufactured in the US, while production continues in Asia.

  • COO Sabih Khan told the Journal Apple makes "thousands every week" and wants to scale the Texas line over time; the announcement coincides with Trump's State of the Union address.

  • Apple also confirmed it will expand AI server manufacturing and open a 20k sq ft Advanced Manufacturing Center in Houston, offering training to students, suppliers, and US businesses.

• Breaking down the viral memo that spooked markets (The Wall Street Journal) 

  _{^{More: Bloomberg, Invezz, Yahoo Finance}}

  • Citrini Research's "The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis", a fictional dispatch from a post-AI-shock future, triggered a Dow plunge of 800 points and sent IBM down 13%, its worst day since 2000.

  • The scenario models a "human intelligence displacement spiral": AI-driven white-collar layoffs collapse consumer spending, software license revenue collapses, and the S&P falls 38% from October 2026 highs.

  • Citrini's co-author, Alap Shah, called for an AI windfall tax in a Bloomberg TV interview; the memo itself explicitly states it is "a scenario, not a prediction," written while the S&P is near all-time highs.

AND MORE

• Trump’s new 10% global tariff takes effect, unsettling global trade and markets.

• U.S. stock futures rise after steep sell-off tied to tariffs and AI spending.

• German aircraft-engine maker MTU Aero Engines forecasts stronger 2026 commercial revenue.

• Hire AI engineers who build, deploy, and maintain models that perform reliably in production.*

• Iran cannot defeat U.S. military might, but could still achieve strategic wins.

• Anthropic connects AI agents to banking and HR tools for enterprise clients.

• Brazil floods and landslides kill at least 20 people in southeastern states.

• Russia opens criminal investigation into Telegram founder Pavel Durov amid security concerns.

• Epstein tried to buy Moroccan palace months before his death, files reveal.