A profile of Microsoft CFO Amy Hood, a budget hawk who has been in the position for 11 years and is at the center of the company's AI spending spree (Tom Dotan/Wall Street Journal)

Tom Dotan / Wall Street Journal:
A profile of Microsoft CFO Amy Hood, a budget hawk who has been in the position for 11 years and is at the center of the company's AI spending spree  —  Amy Hood is at the center of Microsoft's bet-the-company dive into AI

US House Speaker Mike Johnson says the GOP "probably will" try to repeal the CHIPS Act, but then walks it back, saying the GOP may "further streamline" the bill (Stephen Groves/Associated Press)

Stephen Groves / Associated Press:
US House Speaker Mike Johnson says the GOP “probably will” try to repeal the CHIPS Act, but then walks it back, saying the GOP may “further streamline” the bill  —  House Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday that Republicans “probably will” try to repeal legislation …

A Chainalysis study based on digital wallet use data from January 1, 2024 to October 8, 2024 suggests Tether's USDT has gained traction in EMEA time zones (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
A Chainalysis study based on digital wallet use data from January 1, 2024 to October 8, 2024 suggests Tether's USDT has gained traction in EMEA time zones  —  - Some data signal USDT activity moved toward EMEA time zones  — US officials are reportedly stepping up probes into the token

Satellite services provider Globalstar says Apple took a 20% ownership stake worth ~$400M, and has committed another $1.1B to expand satellite service capacity (Benjamin Mayo/9to5Mac)

Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Satellite services provider Globalstar says Apple took a 20% ownership stake worth ~$400M, and has committed another $1.1B to expand satellite service capacity  —  Satellite services provider GlobalStar today disclosed an expansion of its deal with Apple.  Apple will commit an additional $1.1 billion …

The capital expenditures of Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft are set to total over $200B in 2024 as companies accelerate spending chasing AI (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
The capital expenditures of Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft are set to total over $200B in 2024 as companies accelerate spending chasing AI  —  - Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft all accelerated spending  — Mixed results from the big tech won't slow 2025 investment

Canalys: global smartphone shipments grew 5% YoY in Q3 to reach 309.9M units, the strongest Q3 performance since 2021; Samsung led with 57.5M units, Apple 54.5M (Canalys)

Canalys:
Canalys: global smartphone shipments grew 5% YoY in Q3 to reach 309.9M units, the strongest Q3 performance since 2021; Samsung led with 57.5M units, Apple 54.5M  —  According to Canalys research, global smartphone shipments grew 5% year on year in Q3 2024, reaching 309.9 million units, the strongest Q3 performance since 2021.

Crypto firm Immutable says it received a Wells notice from the SEC related to the sale of its IMX tokens in 2021, accuses the SEC of "regulation by enforcement" (Callan Quinn/CoinDesk)

Callan Quinn / CoinDesk:
Crypto firm Immutable says it received a Wells notice from the SEC related to the sale of its IMX tokens in 2021, accuses the SEC of “regulation by enforcement”  —  The firm's IMX token is down over 13% at $1.16 following the announcement.  — Immutable said that it received …

Ubisoft reports Q2 net bookings down 36% YoY to €352.3M, vs. €368M est., and expects Q3 net bookings of €380M, down from €626M in Q3 2023, as its big games flop (Daniel Zuidijk/Bloomberg)

Daniel Zuidijk / Bloomberg:
Ubisoft reports Q2 net bookings down 36% YoY to €352.3M, vs. €368M est., and expects Q3 net bookings of €380M, down from €626M in Q3 2023, as its big games flop  —  - Expects net bookings over lucrative holiday season to be down  — Success of Assassin's Creed Shadows in February is critical

PlayStation shutters Firewalk, which released shooter game Concord earlier in 2024 before taking it offline, and mobile studio Neon Koi, impacting ~210 jobs (Jason Schreier/Bloomberg)

Jason Schreier / Bloomberg:
PlayStation shutters Firewalk, which released shooter game Concord earlier in 2024 before taking it offline, and mobile studio Neon Koi, impacting ~210 jobs  —  The company will also close the mobile game studio Neon Koi, which hasn't released a game, according to a blog post from Sony on Tuesday.

Sources: SoftBank plans to put Arm's tech at the center of a new network of data centres to build and train AI, setting Arm on a collision course with Nvidia (Financial Times)

Financial Times:
Sources: SoftBank plans to put Arm's tech at the center of a new network of data centres to build and train AI, setting Arm on a collision course with Nvidia  —  Almost 20 years ago, Intel made a decision that changed the course of computing history.  —  Soon after Apple started putting Intel inside …

Sources: TSMC has suspended shipments of 7nm chips to at least two chip developers over suspicions they were trying to circumvent US export controls on Huawei (Cheng Ting-Fang/Nikkei Asia)

Cheng Ting-Fang / Nikkei Asia:
Sources: TSMC has suspended shipments of 7nm chips to at least two chip developers over suspicions they were trying to circumvent US export controls on Huawei  —  TAIPEI — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has suspended shipments to at least two chip developers over suspicions …

Nigeria-based Moniepoint, which offers bank accounts, loans, and POS terminals, raised $110M led by DPI, sources say at a $1B+ valuation, after raising $55M (Aanu Adeoye/Financial Times)

Aanu Adeoye / Financial Times:
Nigeria-based Moniepoint, which offers bank accounts, loans, and POS terminals, raised $110M led by DPI, sources say at a $1B+ valuation, after raising $55M  —  Company raises $110mn from investors including Google despite slowdown in fundraising for African start-ups

How Jeff Bezos, who bought The Washington Post in 2013 and a DC mansion in 2016, never made a splash in the capital, visiting only on occasion for glitzy events (New York Times)

New York Times:
How Jeff Bezos, who bought The Washington Post in 2013 and a DC mansion in 2016, never made a splash in the capital, visiting only on occasion for glitzy events  —  The billionaire made splashy purchases of The Washington Post and a mansion in Washington.  But his status as a power player in the nation's capital was never realized.

Hong Kong outlines an AI policy for finance and proposes an extension of a tax break on owning digital assets, as it seeks to become Asia's go-to financial hub (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Hong Kong outlines an AI policy for finance and proposes an extension of a tax break on owning digital assets, as it seeks to become Asia's go-to financial hub  —  - Tax break law to be tabled by year-end: treasury secretary Hui  — City was denied access by major AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini

Online influencers are earning thousands for a single post on behalf of groups backing Harris or Trump, with scant regulatory oversight or public transparency (Cat Zakrzewski/Washington Post)

Cat Zakrzewski / Washington Post:
Online influencers are earning thousands for a single post on behalf of groups backing Harris or Trump, with scant regulatory oversight or public transparency  —  On TikTok, Instagram and X, freelance creators profit from the murky practice of persuading their large followings to back Trump or Harris.