Techmeme
July 17, 2025, 12:25 PM

Top News

Nikkei Asia:
TSMC CEO C.C. Wei says the company is speeding up construction of its second and third Arizona plants “by several quarters” to meet chip demand from US clients  —  TOKYO — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. says it is speeding up construction of its second and third plants in Arizona …
Debby Wu / Bloomberg:
TSMC reports Q2 net income up 61% YoY to ~$13.5B, beating est. every quarter since 2021, and raises its 2025 sales growth guidance in USD from mid-20% to 30%  —  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. raised its outlook for 2025 revenue growth, shoring up investors' confidence in the momentum of the global AI spending spree.
Tom Hals / Reuters:
Meta shareholders suing Mark Zuckerberg and Meta leaders over Facebook's Cambridge Analytica privacy violations reach a settlement deal, ending an $8B trial  —  Mark Zuckerberg and current and former directors and officers of Meta Platforms (META.O) agreed on Thursday to settle claims seeking $8 billion …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Jack Dorsey invests $10M in “and Other Stuff”, a nonprofit focused on funding open-source projects and tools built on open protocols like Nostr and ActivityPub  —  Twitter co-founder and Block CEO Jack Dorsey isn't just vibe-coding new social apps, like Bitchat and Sun Day …
Jonathan Greig / The Record:
Google says threat actors are breaching fully patched, end-of-life cybersecurity company SonicWall's appliances and stealing sensitive data from organizations  —  Threat actors are stealing sensitive data from organizations by breaching end-of-life appliances made by cybersecurity company SonicWall.
Parmy Olson / Bloomberg:
Big Tech's acquihires of AI startups, like Meta's $14.3B Scale AI deal, leaves investors with modest or no returns and may further entrench Big Tech's dominance  —  Meta and Google's AI talent grab may lead to more sustainable tech companies.  —  If you're a venture capitalist …
Reuters:
The US House votes to advance three crypto bills following over nine hours of private talks on July 16, a day after President Trump intervened to save the bills  —  The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives cleared key procedural hurdles on crypto legislation on Wednesday …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Roblox taps Persona to estimate users' ages and verify they are 13+, renames Friends to Connections, and says only users over 13 can message Trusted Connections  —  Teens will have to prove they are older than 13 to make ‘Trusted Connections’ they can chat more freely with.
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
Uber partners with EV maker Lucid and AV startup Nuro to deploy 20K+ robotaxis in the US over six years; Uber plans to invest $300M in Lucid and more in Nuro  —  The companies plan to launch 20,000 robotaxis in the US over the next six years, starting with the first city in 2026.
Irina Ivanova / Fortune:
Delta plans for 20% of its fares to be individually determined using AI by the end of 2025, up from ~3% now, and has a goal to eliminate static pricing entirely  —  Each passenger has their specific price, and AI is helping Delta find it.  — Delta has a long-term strategy to boost …
Daniel Kuhn / The Block:
In response to a FOIA request, the US Marshals Service said it held 28,988+ BTC as of March, worth ~$3.4B at current prices, far fewer than previously believed  —  - The U.S. Marshals Service reportedly holds slightly over 28,988 BTC, worth about $3.4 billion, as of March …
New York Times:
Substack raised a $100M Series C from Chernin Group, a16z, and others, sources say at a $1.1B valuation, as it builds its social network and warms up to ads  —  Substack, originally a newsletter service, says its app now has millions of users interacting with its creators.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Multi-service messaging app Beeper relaunches, introducing a $10/month plan and the option to switch to an on-device model; Automattic acquired Beeper in 2024  —  Multi-service messaging app Beeper, which allows people to connect to all their chat apps from one interface …
Li Yuan / New York Times:
Chinese game Revenge on Gold Diggers, one of the most popular and contentious video games in the country, sparks a debate over misogyny and male resentment  —  A popular and contentious game, Revenge on Gold Diggers, sheds light on misogyny, inequality and the feeling among many men that they are economic victims.
Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch:
Mistral adds new features to its Le Chat chatbot, including a new “deep research” mode, native multilingual reasoning, and advanced image editing  —  French AI lab Mistral introduced a range of new features to its Le Chat chatbot on Thursday that bring it closer to the capabilities of rivals like OpenAI and Google.
More: Livemint and AI News
Taylor Soper / GeekWire:
SEC filing: Augmodo, which is developing wearable tech for retail store employees, including Smartbadges that collect inventory data, raised $37.5M  —  Augmodo, a Seattle startup developing wearable tech for retail store employees, raised $37.5 million in a new investment round.
Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News:
Boulevard, which provides business management software for the self-care sector, raised an $80M Series D led by JMI Equity at an ~$800M post-money valuation  —  Boulevard, a business management software platform for self-care businesses, has raised $80 million in Series D funding led by JMI Equity, the company announced on Thursday.
More: TechCrunch
Yogita Khatri / The Block:
Decentralized messaging protocol XMTP developer Ephemera raised a $20M Series B at a $300M equity and $750M network valuation, following a $20M Series A in 2021  —  - XMTP developer Ephemera has raised $20 million Series B at a $300 million equity and $750 million network valuation, with USV's Fred Wilson joining its board.
More: Fortune

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