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Techmeme
August 19, 2025, 3:55 PM
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Top News

New York Times:
Sources: Meta considers downsizing its AI division, with some executives expected to leave, and is exploring using third-party models for its AI products  —  Meta is expected to announce a new restructuring of its artificial intelligence division amid internal tensions over the technology, people with knowledge of the plans said.
Kanishka Singh / Reuters:
US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard says the UK has dropped its mandate requiring Apple to provide a backdoor for accessing users' encrypted data  —  Britain has dropped its demand for the iPhone maker Apple (AAPL.O) to provide a “backdoor” that would have enabled access …
Reuters:
Sources: Nvidia is developing a new Blackwell-based AI chip for China, tentatively known as the B30A, that will be more powerful than its H20 model for China  —  Nvidia (NVDA.O) is developing a new AI chip for China based on its latest Blackwell architecture that will be more powerful …
Prakhar Srivastava / Reuters:
Tether hires Bo Hines, who stepped down as White House Crypto Council Executive Director earlier in August, as an adviser to help it expand in the US  —  Cryptocurrency firm Tether has appointed former White House crypto policy executive Bo Hines as a strategic adviser to help steer its expansion …
Daniel Kuhn / The Block:
Wyoming launches a stablecoin, FRNT, marking the first time a US state has issued a blockchain-based, fiat-pegged token to be used by retail and enterprises  —  Start trading crypto Get a crypto rewards card 1inch: Swap Sol ↔ EVM  — After years of research, the Wyoming Stable Token Commission …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is making all four iPhone 17 models in India ahead of debut, a first, as it expands to five factories to cut reliance on China for US-bound units  —  Apple Inc. is expanding iPhone production in India at five factories, including a pair of recently opened plants …
Sheryl Estrada / Fortune:
An MIT report finds that 95% of GenAI pilots at companies have little to no financial impact, due to the “learning gap” for both the tools and the companies  —  Good morning.  Companies are betting on AI—yet nearly all enterprise pilots are stuck at the starting line.
Kashish Tandon / Reuters:
OpenAI launches ChatGPT Go, a new India-only plan priced at Rs. 399, or ~$4.57, per month, its most affordable yet, to grow users in its second-largest market  —  ChatGPT maker OpenAI on Tuesday launched ChatGPT Go, a new India-only subscription plan priced at 399 rupees ($4.57) per month …
Krisztian Sandor / CoinDesk:
Bullish says it has received all $1.15B in capital raised from its IPO in stablecoins, including USDC, USDG, and PYUSD, marking a first for US public markets  —  Stablecoins used in the settlement include dollar- and euro-pegged tokens of Circle, Paxos, PayPal, Ripple and Societe Generale, among others.
Bloomberg:
DeepSeek releases V3.1, adding a longer context window, with few other details; Chinese media blames CEO Liang Wenfeng's perfectionism and bugs for R2's delay  —  DeepSeek announced what appeared to be an update to its older V3 artificial intelligence model on Tuesday, declaring an enhanced version ready for testing.
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
SoftBank agrees to invest $2B in Intel, buying ~2% of Intel's outstanding shares for $23 per share, becoming Intel's fifth-biggest shareholder; INTC jumps 5%+  —  Intel and SoftBank announced on Monday that the Japanese conglomerate will make a $2 billion investment in the embattled chipmaker.
Financial Times:
Sources: Masayoshi Son met Lip-Bu Tan to discuss SoftBank acquiring Intel's faltering foundry business in the weeks before announcing SoftBank's $2B investment
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
A US federal appeals court rejects T-Mobile's bid to overturn a $92M fine for illegally selling customer location data without consent, after a 2024 FCC ruling  —  A federal appeals court rejected T-Mobile's attempt to overturn $92 million in fines for selling customer location information to third-party firms.
Angel Au-Yeung / Wall Street Journal:
Databricks is finalizing a Series K at a $100B valuation, up 61% from its December 2024 round; sources say it is co-led by Thrive and a16z plans to participate  —  The data analytics company, fueled by the AI boom, was valued at $62 billion less than a year ago

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:55 PM ET, August 19, 2025.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

From Mediagazer

Todd Spangler / Variety:
A Paramount shareholder lawsuit claims David and Larry Ellison made an illegal deal with Trump in trade for approval of the WBD merger, promising to revamp CNN

Ted Johnson / Deadline:
Brendan Carr proposes repealing the national ownership cap, which restricts amassing TV stations that cover more than 39% of households, and sets an Aug. 6 vote

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
The NYT filed a motion Wednesday to quash DOJ subpoenas of three of its reporters demanding they disclose their sources, following coverage of Air Force One

More News

Earlier Picks

Jody Godoy / Reuters:
The US FTC sues Key Investment Group, operator of sites like TotalTickets.com, for evading purchasing limits to buy up and resell live event tickets at a markup
Carl Franzen / VentureBeat:
Nvidia debuts Nemotron-Nano-9B-v2, a hybrid Mamba-Transformer model, saying it achieves comparable or better accuracies than Qwen3-8B on reasoning benchmarks
Kia Kokalitcheva / PitchBook:
American Exceptionalism Acquisition, a SPAC led by Chamath Palihapitiya and focused on energy, AI, DeFi, and defense, files for a US IPO, seeking to raise $250M
Arasu Kannagi Basil / Reuters:
Blockchain-based lender Figure files for a US IPO, reporting H1 2025 revenue up 22% YoY to $191M and a $29M net income, compared with a $13M net loss in H1 2024
Devindra Hardawar / Engadget:
Nvidia plans to roll out RTX 5080-class performance to GeForce Now in September, letting users of its $20-per-month Ultimate tier stream in up to 5K at 120fps
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