Taiwan’s Economy Minister, Kuo Jyh-huei, has refuted former President Donald Trump’s claims about Taiwan’s role in the semiconductor industry. Meanwhile, Brazil is considering imposing taxes on major tech companies, including a potential 15% global minimum tax on multinational corporations. This move aims to achieve their 2025 fiscal targets.
In the gaming world, Ubisoft’s recent release of ‘Star Wars Outlaws’ has fallen short of financial expectations. Similarly, Rocksteady Studios has reportedly laid off employees following the disappointing performance of ‘Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League,’ which cost Warner Bros. Discovery $200 million in revenue. Sony Group Corporation’s CFO, Hiroki Totoki, acknowledged the company’s lack of enough strong intellectual properties despite its impressive portfolio.
The debate surrounding teen smartphone use continues, with Apple reportedly opposing legislation that would require them to enforce age restrictions on apps. Huawei, in a bold move, is planning to release a ‘disruptive’ product that could rival Apple’s iPhone 16. The company claims they have achieved a breakthrough after five years of research.
Apple is rumored to be discontinuing some of its products following its annual iPhone event on September 9th. Additionally, they are reportedly planning to incorporate OLED displays in all iPhone models, including the budget-friendly iPhone SE, by 2025.
In the realm of television and streaming, a distribution agreement breakdown between Disney and DirecTV has resulted in over 11 million subscribers losing access to Disney content. Netflix, on the other hand, is utilizing the power of dubbed reality shows in South Korea as a way to expand its global reach.
South Korean law enforcement is investigating Telegram for its alleged role in distributing explicit deepfake content. Telegram founder Pavel Durov, who is currently under investigation in France, has criticized French authorities for detaining him instead of addressing their concerns directly with his company. Meanwhile, YouTube has removed the Tenet Media channel following a U.S. Department of Justice indictment.
Amazon is gearing up to revamp Alexa, its voice assistant, using Anthropic’s Claude AI models instead of its own. The revamped Alexa, set for an October release, is designed to answer complex queries more efficiently. The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission is calling for an investigation into e-commerce retailers Shein and Temu, following allegations about the sale of potentially dangerous baby and toddler products on these platforms.
Taiwan’s leading chip manufacturers are set to begin domestic production of neon gas by 2025, in collaboration with local steel and gas firms. This initiative, led by TSMC, Winbond, and United Microelectronics, aims to bolster supply chain resilience for key chip suppliers like Apple and NVIDIA.
Following Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s claim that the Biden administration pressured Facebook to censor content, the U.S. Department of Justice unveiled a new strategy to address foreign threats. PayPal is integrating its debit card with Apple’s mobile wallet, expanding its presence in the U.S. point-of-sale market.
Elon Musk has threatened to seize Brazilian government assets unless property belonging to his companies, X (formerly Twitter) and SpaceX, are returned. Despite earlier resistance, Starlink has decided to comply with a Brazilian court order to block access to X in Brazil.
Twitter won an appeal against a California law that mandates social media companies to disclose their policies against disinformation and hate speech. Concerns over the platform’s association with controversial content have led numerous advertisers to plan to reduce their spending on X in 2025. Elon Musk has also announced the beta launch of the X TV app, a new venture for the social media platform.
Microsoft has successfully avoided a comprehensive U.K. investigation into its recruitment of staff from startup Inflection AI. Alibaba is expanding its U.S. operations with a new AI-powered sourcing tool designed to simplify sourcing for American buyers. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is reportedly planning to invest tens of billions of dollars in expanding the artificial intelligence infrastructure project in the U.S. Safe Superintelligence (SSI) has raised $1 billion to develop advanced artificial intelligence systems.
Leading online dating platforms such as Tinder, Hinge, Bumble, and Grindr are developing or testing AI tools and chatbots to enhance user experience. These AI features aim to generate conversation starters, build user profiles, and provide feedback on user interactions.
