Techmeme
September 20, 2025, 4:45 AM

Top News

Emmett Lindner / New York Times:
Trump appears to suggest Xi Jinping approved a deal to divest TikTok's US operations during a call, but neither side elaborated on what the approval entailed  —  The president wrote on Truth Social, “appreciate the TikTok approval,” after a call with China's top leader, Xi Jinping.
Reuters:
The Trump administration says it would require companies to pay an annual $100,000 fee for H-1B visas, a move that could significantly impact the tech industry  —  - Visas are used principally by tech sector  — Over 70% of beneficiaries of H-1B visas enter US from India
More: The White House, CNN, CBS News, Bloomberg Law, The Economic Times, Moneycontrol, Times of India, Business Today, Bloomberg, Hindustan Times, Livemint, San Francisco Chronicle, Press Trust of India, Business Insider, Engadget, Associated Press, Reuters, Fortune India, Türkiye Today, NDTV Profit, The Indian Express, Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, Daily Sabah, Benzinga, Sky News, The Guardian, Implicator.ai, The Register, The Information, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, Washington Post, NBC News, Le Monde, Al Jazeera, The American Bazaar, Business Insider, Baller Alert, @amuse, Financial Times, The Daily Caller, Newsweek, Axios, MacDailyNews, Watcher Guru, and The Independent
xAI:
xAI launches Grok 4 Fast, a multimodal model with a 2M context window and a unified architecture that combines reasoning and non-reasoning modes  —  Pushing the Frontier of Cost-Efficient Intelligence  —  We're thrilled to present Grok 4 Fast, our latest advancement in cost-efficient reasoning models.
Isabelle Bousquette / Wall Street Journal:
Microsoft says it will bring a $3.3B data center in Wisconsin online in early 2026 and calls it “the world's most powerful AI datacenter”  —  The $3.3 billion project in Wisconsin is expected to come online in early 2026, said Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith.
Jez Corden / Windows Central:
Microsoft plans to raise Xbox Series X price by $50 to $649.99 and Series S by $20 to $399.99 starting Oct. 3, citing “changes in the macroeconomic environment”  —  The cost of gaming in America just went up — here's why.  —  The tariff situation in the United States …
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Sources: xAI has raised $10B at a post-money valuation of $200B, weeks after reportedly raising $10B in debt and equity at a ~$150B valuation  —  Elon Musk's xAI is raising $10 billion from investors in a round that values the artificial intelligence startup at $200 billion, sources told CNBC's David Faber.
The Information:
Sources: OpenAI is recruiting from Apple's hardware, design, manufacturing, and supply chain teams, as it targets late 2026 or early 2027 for its first devices  —  As OpenAI's plans to make devices infused with its artificial intelligence get closer to reality, the company is increasingly plucking talent …
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Meta CTO says the technical issues during live demos of its new smart glasses were due to a self-inflicted DDoS and a bug that put Zuckerberg's glasses to sleep  —  Meta ran into some spectacularly embarrassing technical issues during the live demos of its new smart glasses this week, and now we know why.
Olivia Tam / Bloomberg:
China's market regulator opens a probe into Chengdu Kuaigou, a Kuaishou unit involved in livestream shopping, for suspected violations of e-commerce rules  —  China's market regulator is beginning a probe into a unit of Kuaishou Technology for how live-streaming services are used to promote e-commerce …

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Featured Podcasts

Lenny's Podcast:
"Engineers are becoming sorcerers" | The future of software development with OpenAI's Sherwin Wu
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
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Cheeky Pint:
Ben Thompson from Stratechery on AI ads, the end of SaaS, and the future of media
Stripe cofounder John Collison interviews founders, builders, and leaders over a pint.
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Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
His Excellency Khaldoon Al Mubarak: Investing in an AI-Driven World
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
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The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
The Billionaire Button w/ Tim Wu
Nick Bilton, Dick Costolo, and Paul Kedrosky pull back the curtain on AI, startups, and the future rushing toward us, all with healthy dose of irreverence.
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Great Chat:
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Who's Winning The AI Race? + Software's Future — With Sridhar Ramaswamy
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
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The Information:

Earlier Picks

Sri Muppidi / The Information:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Tim Bradshaw / Financial Times:
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy / Sherwood News:
Reece Rogers / Wired: