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

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

⚙️ Qualcomm launches AI200 and AI250 chips as stock jumps 11 percent.
🏢 Amazon plans 30,000 layoffs across logistics, gaming, and cloud divisions.
🌪️ Category 5 Hurricane Melissa threatens Jamaica with 175 mph winds and flooding.
🧮 Anthropic adds Claude Excel integration for financial modeling.
💪 Vercel trains AI agents on top salespeople to automate inbound workflows.

TECHNOLOGY

• Qualcomm announces AI chips to compete with AMD and Nvidia — stock soars 11% (CNBC) 
  _{^{More: Yahoo Finance, Tom's Hardware, Axios}}

  • Qualcomm unveiled AI200 and AI250 rack-scale accelerators launching in 2026 and 2027 for data center inference.

  • Each accelerator card supports 768GB LPDDR memory, with AI250 offering tenfold higher memory bandwidth through memory computing.

  • Stock surged 11% after the announcement as Qualcomm entered the data center market, targeting Nvidia's dominant position.

• OpenAI says over a million people talk to ChatGPT about suicide weekly (TechCrunch) 
  _{^{More: Gizmodo, Investing, SiliconANGLE}} 

  • OpenAI revealed 0.15% of 800 million weekly ChatGPT users show indicators of suicidal intent or planning.

  • The company worked with 170 mental health experts to reduce problematic responses by 65-80% in the updated GPT-5 model.

  • New model achieves 91% compliance with desired behaviors in suicide conversations compared to 77% in the previous version.

• Advancing Claude for Financial Services \ Anthropic (Anthropic) 
  _{^{More: VentureBeat, PYMNTS, WinBuzzer}}

  • Anthropic launched Claude Excel integration, allowing sidebar-based spreadsheet analysis, modification, and creation with full transparency.

  • Seven new connectors provide real-time access to financial data from Aiera, MT Newswires, Moody's, LSEG, and others.

  • Six pre-built Agent Skills automate financial tasks, including DCF modeling, earnings analysis, and comparable company valuations.

BUSINESS

• Amazon to Cut Corporate Jobs Across Core Departments (Bloomberg)
  _{^{More: CNBC, CNN Business, Reuters}}

  • Amazon plans to eliminate up to 30,000 corporate positions starting Tuesday across logistics, payments, gaming, and cloud units.

  • Cuts represent the largest tech industry layoffs since 2020 and nearly 10% of Amazon's 350,000 corporate workforce.

  • CEO Andy Jassy cited AI automation gains as reducing the need for certain roles while expanding other positions.

• Elon Musk launches Grokipedia, an AI-powered Wikipedia rival (The Washington Post) 
  _{^{More: NBC News, Gizmodo, Business Insider}}

  • Musk launched Grokipedia version 0.1 with 885,279 AI-generated articles as an alternative to allegedly biased Wikipedia.

  • Site uses xAI's Grok chatbot for fact-checking with no human editing allowed, though some content adapted from Wikipedia.

  • The Wikimedia Foundation noted that many previous alternative encyclopedias have failed, emphasizing Wikipedia's collaborative knowledge base.

• Make American Shipbuilding Great Again: Korea leans into shipbuilding as it woos Trump (Politico) 
  _{^{More: NBC News, CNN, Foreign Policy}}

  • South Korea secured a 15% tariff rate through the MASGA project, committing $150 billion to revitalize the US shipbuilding industry.

  • Korean shipbuilders HD Hyundai and Hanwha Ocean control 28% global vessel production, offering expertise to struggling US yards.

  • Partnership includes building US shipyards, training personnel, and transferring technology while addressing the Navy's shipbuilding crisis.

MARKETS

WORLD

• Live updates: Hurricane Melissa threatens catastrophe in Jamaica as a Category 5 storm (CNN) 
  _{^{More: Newsweek, NBC News, Fox Weather}}

  • Category 5 Hurricane Melissa intensified to 175 mph winds, becoming the strongest storm globally this year and threatening Jamaica.

  • Jamaica faces catastrophic landfall Tuesday with up to 40 inches rain, 13 feet storm surge, potentially worst hurricane on record.

  • Storm already killed six people across Haiti and the Dominican Republic while moving slowly at just 2 mph through the Caribbean.

• Trump signs rare earths deal with Japan as China limits supply (The Washington Post) 
  _{^{More: CBS News, Reuters, BBC}}

  • Trump and new Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi signed a framework agreement securing critical minerals and rare earths supply chains.

  • Deal reduces reliance on China following its October export restrictions on rare earth materials for electronics and defense.

  • Leaders formalized a 15% tariff trade agreement with Japan, pledging $550 billion US investment, heralding an alliance golden age.

• Mexican journalist who covered drug cartels found dead on highway with note next to body (CNN) 
  _{^{More: CBS News, LatAm Journalism Review, Yahoo News}}

  • Miguel Ángel Beltrán was found dead Saturday, wrapped in a blanket on the Durango-Mazatlán highway with a warning note beside his body.

  • The body was discovered with a message reading "for spreading false accusations," identified by the son who last saw him on Thursday.

  • Ninth journalist killed in Mexico this year, one of the world's most dangerous countries for reporters per Reporters Without Borders.

FUTURISM

• Vercel trained an AI agent on its best salesperson (Business Insider) 
  _{^{More: Yahoo Finance, WebProNews, BizToc}}

  • Vercel reduced the inbound sales team from 10 to one person using an AI agent modeled after a top salesperson.

  • AI lead agent automates qualifying leads, drafting responses, and routing support with human oversight via Slack feedback.

  • The company plans to deploy hundreds of AI agents within 6-12 months, targeting replicable and deterministic workflows.

• Spotify's redesigned tvOS app brings podcast and music videos to Apple TV (Engadget) 
  _{^{More: 9to5Mac, Digital Trends, PhoneArena}}

  • Spotify launched a rebuilt Apple TV app with a native tvOS interface featuring music videos, podcasts, and lyrics display.

  • New experience includes queue management, Spotify Connect remote control, AI-powered DJ recommendations, and playback speed.

  • Update available now globally via App Store with automatic rollout to all users by mid-November.

• Fitbit's revamped app with Gemini-powered health coach rolls out to Premium users (TechCrunch) 
  _{^{More: Android Authority, Android Central, 9to5Google}}

  • Gemini-powered Fitbit Coach launches October 28 as a public preview for US Premium subscribers on Android.

  • AI coach creates personalized fitness plans, adjusts workouts based on real-time data, and provides sleep quality insights.

  • Redesigned Fitbit app features four main tabs with dark mode and improved navigation alongside the Coach chatbot.

CONTENT

• Claude Skills Just 10x'd My AI Agents (Greg Isenberg)

  • Amir demonstrates how Claude Skills can build digital employees with zero-code workflows for marketing and analytics automation.

  • The episode explores performance improvements, sub-agent evolution, and how Claude Skills address context rot in long tasks.

  • It ends with a live build of a tweet-to-newsletter converter and lessons on scaling AI adoption effectively.

• The Quantum Leap That Changed Everything (All-In Podcast)

  • David Friedberg interviews Nobel laureate John Martinis about his groundbreaking work in quantum tunneling and superconducting qubits.

  • The conversation unpacks the origins of quantum computing, its role in advancing AI, and America’s rivalry with China.

  • Martinis reflects on decades of research, innovation hurdles, and how fundamental physics continues shaping computational frontiers.

• How China’s AI Efficiency Could Gut the U.S. Economy (Prof G Markets)

  • Scott Galloway and Ed Elson debate whether China’s open-source AI edge threatens U.S. dominance in innovation and productivity.

  • They examine the surge in private security investments and Warner Bros. Discovery’s rumored acquisition talks amid streaming turbulence.

  • The hosts conclude with insights on macroeconomic shifts, AI geopolitics, and strategic opportunities for global market investors.

EXTRAS

• First banker jailed over Libor interest rate-rigging to sue UBS for $400m (The Guardian) 
  _{^{More: Reuters, Bloomberg, Financial Times}}

  • Hayes claims UBS made him a scapegoat to shield executives after the Libor scandal cost banks $10 billion in fines.

  • UK Supreme Court overturned his conviction in July, ruling trial judge had incorrectly instructed the jury on dishonesty standard.

  • Lawsuit seeks damages for lost earnings and emotional harm after Hayes served five years of an eleven-year prison sentence.

• Trump keeps pressuring the Fed to cut rates (NPR) 
  _{^{More: Fortune, CNN, NBC News}}

  • Trump attempted to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook over mortgage fraud allegations, raising concerns about central bank independence.

  • Experts warn political interference risks higher inflation, citing examples where presidents pressured central banks with harmful results.

  • Fed independence prevents short-term political decisions that could fuel years-long inflation by keeping rates artificially low.

• Sudan paramilitary says it seized the last army stronghold in Darfur (NPR)
  _{^{More: CBC, Eye Radio, Al Jazeera}}

  • RSF captured the army headquarters in El Fasher after an eighteen-month siege, trapping 250,000 civilians without food or medical supplies.

  • UN officials report summary executions and ethnic killings by RSF forces, accused of genocide against non-Arab populations.

  • Darfur takeover raises fears Sudan could split in two as RSF consolidates control over entire western region.

• Focus on winning deals, not updating CRM fields*

  • Building a company is hard enough, and your CRM shouldn’t feel like another job.

  • Clarify's AI updates your pipeline, preps you for meetings, and takes notes so nothing slips through the cracks.

  • Close more deals without the busywork. Up and running in minutes, free to start.

AND MORE

• Asian stocks pause after strong tech outlook and rate-cut hopes.

• ASEAN and China sign upgraded free-trade deal covering digital and green sectors.

• U.S. and Japan agree on a critical-minerals supply framework amid the rare-earth race.

• Roko’s Basilisk skips the buzz words and cuts straight to what moves markets, products, and careers. Read it over coffee, sounds brilliant on your next call.*

• Oil prices dip as planned OPEC output increase clouds trade optimism.

• China calls for joint science and tech collaboration with Japan, South Korea, and ASEAN.

• Paramount Global intends to keep Warner Bros. Discovery largely intact if the merger proceeds.

• More than 5,600 U.S. flights were delayed as the federal shutdown disrupted air traffic control.