Technology

➚ MOVE FAST: Unlikely friend. Former president Donald Trump said that if he wins in November, he’d aim to stop Google from being broken up in a recent antitrust lawsuit that his own administration brought, citing competition from China. The backing from Trump, who has also been a critic of Big Tech, would be a real coup for Google.

➘ BREAK THINGS: Unlikely trend. The Dutch semiconductor giant ASML reported weak earnings, sending a shiver through the otherwise frothy chip market, even causing Nvidia’s stock to fall. But the slump at ASML, which makes the most advanced extreme ultraviolet lithography machines, isn’t because AI is fading. Instead, non-tech sectors that use its products, like autos, are struggling, along with delays at some fabs.

Elon Musk is suing the California Coastal Commission, an environmental watchdog agency, after it blocked a request by SpaceX to launch more rockets from Vandenberg Space Force Base, citing Musk’s political views in its decision.

The episode draws attention to a much bigger problem that plagues California where various groups have co-opted the state’s environmental protection laws to block new housing, mountain bike trails and just about everything else. It’s forced tech companies to bus workers from far-flung parts of the Bay Area due to the lack of nearby housing.

Musk’s lawsuit shows how it will soon become a bigger problem for the industry as artificial intelligence, space, and other sectors require more facilities — from massive solar power plants to nuclear reactors to data centers and launch sites. Antiquated laws and out-of-control agencies in California and other states will become a huge impediment.

African crypto startup Yellow Card raises $33 million

THE SCOOP

Yellow Card, the African fintech startup in the midst of a rapid expansion on the continent, raised $33 million in new venture capital funding from Blockchain Capital and other investors, the company said Wednesday.

The firm is the latest example of how cryptocurrencies are changing finance in emerging markets and enabling the free flow of capital in places with underdeveloped banking systems. At the same time, about 20% of countries in sub-Saharan Africa have banned digital assets as the collapse of the FTX exchange reverberated globally, and Nigeria moved this summer to seize funds in crypto wallets to cut financial support for a protest movement.

Yellow Card serves as a payment rail in 20 African countries, allowing customers to easily move money across borders while paying a fraction of the fees associated with traditional money transfers. With its new funding, the company is looking to grow its customer base and expand to other countries, like Morocco and Kenya, both of which are considering new legislation opening them up further to digital currencies.

The company, founded in 2016, uses stablecoins, which are usually tied to the value of the US dollar, as a common medium of exchange in order to enable smoother transactions. When customers deposit local currency with Yellow Card, they receive stablecoins like USDT and USDC, which customers can then use to send money around the world in other currencies using the Yellow Card platform.

“It’s not just a tool for, you know, dog and cat coin and criminals or whatever else US politicians say,” said Yellow Card co-founder and CEO Chris Maurice in an interview with Semafor. “It’s really showing that this technology can be used for so much more.”

The amount the US Defense and Homeland Security departments have paid for AI products since the launch of ChatGPT, Fortune reported. That’s a 20% increase from before. It’s both a sign of how ChatGPT has changed the conversation around AI and a reminder that the military was already heavily invested in AI before it became the hottest area in business. The biggest contract, at $91 million, is with Palantir, a well-established veteran in the sector.

Sergio Ermotti, CEO, UBS; Vincent Van Peteghem, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Belgium; Ali Zaidi, White House Climate Advisor; Lael Brainard, Director, White House National Economic Council; and Amos Hochstein, Senior Advisor to the President for Energy and Investments, White House, will join Semafor’s Fall Edition of the World Economy Summit. Hosted in the Gallup Great Hall and spanning four sessions over two days — Oct. 24 and 25 — Semafor will feature on-the-record interviews on the state of global finance, the future of technology, digital payment infrastructure, and sustainability. RSVP for the World Economy Summit here.

Tako, a small startup that turns text queries into data visualizations using generative AI, has attracted some big names as investors.

The startup, which launched earlier this year, announced a $5.75 million seed round Wednesday that was led by Eventbrite co-founder Kevin Hartz and includes investor Stanley Druckenmiller, AngelList co-founder Naval Ravikant, Vercel founder Guillermo Rauch and 49ers great Joe Montana, among other prominent tech industry names.

Tako uses public and licensed data to instantly create slick-looking, interactive charts and graphs it calls “knowledge cards.”

In an interview with Semafor, Tako co-founder Alex Rosenberg said the goal is to create a kind of “Google Maps for knowledge,” allowing people to move through data on the internet graphically, instead of textually.

The US is considering capping the number of advanced AI chips for specific countries, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing anonymous sources. The news is the latest sign of the cognitive dissonance among US officials about how best to beat China in the race to develop advanced AI.

The Bureau of Industry and Security allowed Nvidia chips to flow to the Gulf region in the spring and then announced a new “validated end user” program that would make it easier for approved data centers to purchase chips. Tuesday’s news appears to signal a possible swing back toward tighter restrictions.

Countries like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia want to build powerful AI data centers, which would no doubt help those countries speed up their own tech economies.

Those opposed to selling US chips to the Middle East say that China, which has close business ties in the region, will be waiting behind the scenes to snap up IP and potentially even the chips (which are banned from exporting to China).

There’s upside for the US, too. AI data centers can be built faster and cheaper in countries willing to bend over backwards to make them happen. The US is great at innovation, but when it comes to massive projects like new nuclear power plants, it’s a jungle of red tape.

The ancillary benefit is that working with the Gulf states brings them closer to the US and could prevent the region from becoming another Chinese sphere of influence.

• No matter who wins, the US is moving to the right.
• Giant money managers catch Washington heat.
• ADNOC’s hydrogen dreams hinge on ammonia.