Techmeme
May 20, 2025, 11:15 AM

Top News

Bloomberg:
Sources: Nintendo picked Samsung to produce the Switch 2's main chips, aiming to sell 20M+ units by March 2026, a key win for Samsung as it competes with TSMC  —  Securing a contract for one of the summer's hottest new gadgets will likely help lift utilization or boost business for the Korean conglomerate's chip foundries.
Lauren Feiner / The Verge:
Trump signs the Take It Down Act, criminalizing the distribution of nonconsensual intimate images and requiring platforms to promptly remove them when notified  —  The bill sailed through Congress with a focus on deepfakes and other nonconsensual intimate images.
Wall Street Journal:
Analysis: four of the world's top 50 tech companies are European, and none of the top 10 quantum companies are in Europe, as the continent lags the US and China  —  A risk-averse business culture and complex regulations have stifled innovation on the continent, weighing on its future
Clare Duffy / CNN:
The US House Budget Committee advances a budget bill that would ban US states from enforcing any law regulating AI for 10 years; the bill now goes to the House  —  New York CNN —  —  More than 100 organizations are raising alarms about a provision in the House's sweeping tax …
Steven T. Dennis / Bloomberg:
The US Senate advances the GENIUS Act, a stablecoin bill, after a group of Democrats dropped their opposition on May 19, a major victory for the crypto industry  —  Stablecoin legislation overcame a procedural blockade in the US Senate, marking a major victory for the crypto industry …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Sam Altman had for months sought to delegate more responsibility before hiring Fidji Simo, an adept and detail-oriented manager, in contrast to Altman  —  Fidji Simo is leaving Instacart for a newly created role at Sam Altman's startup as it prepares for a potential public offering
Bloomberg:
Malaysia downplays its deal to use 3,000 Huawei chips to build a first-of-its-kind AI system by 2026, underscoring its delicate position in the US-China AI race  —  Malaysia declared it'll build a first-of-its-kind AI system powered by Huawei Technologies Co. chips, only to distance itself …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
SAG-AFTRA files an NLRB unfair labor practice charge against Epic's Llama Productions for using AI to recreate James Earl Jones' Darth Vader voice in Fortnite  —  The actors union said Epic-owned Llama Productions “chose to replace the work of human performers with AI technology” …
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Spotify says Apple approved an update that lets US users buy individual audiobooks and see audiobook prices inside its iOS app, after the Epic v. Apple ruling  —  You'll see a ‘Buy’ button alongside an audiobook's price. … It's finally possible to purchase an audiobook from Spotify's iPhone app with just a few taps.
Washington Post:
Investigation: for two years, New Orleans police secretly scanned city streets using 200+ facial recognition cameras, seemingly violating a 2022 city ordinance  —  Following records requests from The Post, officials paused the first known, widespread live facial recognition program used by police in the United States.
Pradeep Viswanathan / Neowin:
Microsoft unveils Microsoft Discovery, an enterprise agentic platform with a graph-based knowledge engine meant to help scientists and engineers accelerate R&D  —  At Build 2025, Microsoft announced a new enterprise agentic platform called Microsoft Discovery that will help enterprises …
Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:
Microsoft open sources the Windows Subsystem for Linux, launched in August 2016, and releases its code on GitHub, except for a few Windows-specific components  —  Microsoft has open-sourced the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), making its source code available on GitHub, except for a few components that are part of Windows.
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft adds xAI's Grok 3 and Grok 3 mini to its Azure AI Foundry service, risking further OpenAI tensions; sources say Satya Nadella had pushed to host Grok  —  Grok 3 and Grok 3 mini are both coming to Microsoft's Azure AI Foundry service. … I reported in my Notepad newsletter earlier …

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Earlier Picks

Luisa Beltran / Fortune:
CNBC:
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Ryan Gallagher / Bloomberg:
Dean Seal / Wall Street Journal: