Latest / Connecting the Dots / Farewell to AOL Dial-Up, AI Talent Wars, and a New Chip Deal with Washington

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Farewell to AOL Dial-Up, AI Talent Wars, and a New Chip Deal with Washington · Connecting the Dots

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  Today's tech news moves fast, but understanding
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  it shouldn't be hard. That's why Snarful Solutions
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  Group brings you Connecting the Dots, where we
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  break down what's happening in tech and why it
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  matters to you. Now, let's dive in with your
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  hosts. Welcome to Connecting the Dots. I'm Alex.
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  And I'm Morgan. Great to be with you. It's Monday,
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  August 11th, 2025. And yeah, we're here to connect
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  those tech stories to what's actually happening
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  in your world. Absolutely. And starting close
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  to home here in Sacramento looks like another
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  hot one today. High of 99 degrees Fahrenheit
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  expected. Yep. Definitely feeling that summer
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  heat already kicking in. Okay, quick. Look at
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  the markets Dow Jones closed Friday at forty
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  four thousand two hundred and twenty three point
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  seven four Up just a tiny bit daily plus point
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  zero nine percent, but a good week overall up
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  one point one four percent. Yeah S &P 500 slightly
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  different story down a fraction daily minus 0
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  .04 % but still it finished the week strong up
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  1 .84%. Interesting split there. And Bitcoin,
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  how's that looking? Bitcoin kept climbing, closed
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  at 119 ,693 .73. That's up 0 .33 % for the day.
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  Wow. And yeah, quite the week for Bitcoin, up
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  over 4 ,600 points, more than 4 % since last
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  Monday. Always moving. So, any sports news? Our
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  Giants, how'd they do? Ah, okay. Brace yourself,
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  our San Francisco Giants. Yeah, unfortunately
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  they lost yesterday, August 10th. Yeah, against
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  the Washington Nationals, final score was 0 -8.
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  Ouch. 0 -8. That's rough. It really is. Mackenzie
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  Gore for the Nationals pitched a great game apparently,
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  and Josh Bell, he went three for four. Well,
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  good for them, I guess. Tough break for the Giants,
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  though. Yeah, it is. But hey, like we always
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  say, there's always the next game. That's the
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  spirit. Got to bounce back. Exactly. So maybe
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  a loss on the field, but definitely no shortage
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  of wins in today's tech news. Let's jump into
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  our Morningstar report. We've got three really
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  fascinating stories today. Yeah, looking forward
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  to it. And this first one, honestly, it made
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  me do a double take. Not the news itself, but
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  just the reminder. Oh, yeah. What is it? Story
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  number one. It's the end of an era. AOL dial
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  -up is officially hanging up. Wait, really? AOL
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  dial -up? Yep. September 30th, 2025. After 34
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  years, they're shutting down the dial -up service,
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  the AOL dialer software, the AOL Shield browser.
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  Wow. Okay, my first thought is probably what
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  you're thinking, what everyone's thinking. That
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  was still a thing? Exactly. That was my reaction
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  too. It's just, AOL dial -up. And instantly,
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  right, that sound floods back. Oh, totally. The
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  beeps, the static, screeches. And then... You've
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  got mail. Ha. Yes. That defined the internet
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  for millions back in the 90s. It felt like such
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  an event getting online. It really did. A whole
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  ritual. Clear the phone line. Hope nobody picks
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  up the other extension. Right. And then wait
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  for that modem handshake. Yeah. But here's the
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  thing. And this is important. It's not just nostalgia.
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  This shutdown has a real impact. OK. How so?
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  Who's still using it? Well, that's the surprising
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  part. It's a persistent user base. Get this.
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  In 2023, estimates put it at 163 ,000 US households
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  still on dial -up. 163 ,000 households. Households.
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  That was over 1 % of all household internet subscriptions
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  back then. And even a 2019 US census found about
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  265 ,000 Americans using it, plus hundreds of
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  thousands in Canada back in 2010. We're talking
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  about a lot of people. That's actually way more
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  than I would have guessed. So why? Why are people
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  still using dial -up in 2025? It really highlights
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  the digital divide, doesn't it? Most of these
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  users are in rural areas, places where broadband
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  is either unavailable, unreliable, or just plain
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  too expensive. Ah, I see. So dial -up wasn't
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  a choice. It was the only option for many. Exactly.
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  It was their lifeline for basic stuff, government
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  services, keeping in touch. So the impact now,
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  these thousands of users, they have to find something
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  else. Which is going to be tough if broadband
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  isn't there. Precisely. In areas where dial -up
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  was the necessity, finding an alternative ISP.
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  It's going to be incredibly difficult, maybe
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  impossible for some. It really underscores a
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  big infrastructure gap we still have. So while
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  some of us are thinking about AIM and old screen
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  names. Right, the nostalgia trip. For others,
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  this is a serious connectivity crisis. It really
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  forces that conversation about digital equity.
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  So what happens to AOL itself? Is this like the
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  end of AOL? Oh, no, not entirely. This is specifically
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  about the dial -up service and that related software.
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  There are other more modern services. They're
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  still around, part of the larger Yahoo landscape
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  now. Okay, but yeah, it definitely marks the
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  end the final curtain call for that specific
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  era of internet access a big symbolic moment
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  Shows how far we've come but also how far we
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  still need to go for universal access a really
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  interesting piece of tech history Closing a chapter.
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  Yeah. Okay, let's pivot From the past, let's
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  look at the very fast -moving future, artificial
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  intelligence. Right. Story number two is all
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  about the AI arms race. We're talking OpenAI
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  versus Meta. Seems like they're locked in this
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  really intense catch -up game. OK, what's the
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  latest cell, though? Well, reports are saying
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  OpenAI is set to release a new open source AI
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  model next month. And the word is, it outperforms
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  the current ChatGPT options. Oh, wow. So turning
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  up the heat on Meta. Definitely seems that way.
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  It's intensifying the competition. And the industry
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  chatter around this is pretty revealing. Yeah.
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  What are people saying? Well, Yuxin Jin, CTO
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  of Hyperbolic, had a quote that caught my eye.
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  Said something like, it won't run on a phone,
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  but let's just say it edges out one of the models
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  in the ChatGPT dropdown. Meta's going to need
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  some time to catch up. So. focusing purely on
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  power, not necessarily device compatibility right
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  now. Seems like it. And Aaron Levy, the CEO of
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  Box, he actually echoed that sentiment. said
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  the focus should be on intelligence over fitting
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  it on every device. Raw capability first. Interesting.
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  And this comes at a time when we're hearing a
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  lot about talent wars in AI, right? Oh, absolutely.
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  That's a huge part of this story. The competition
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  for top researchers is fierce. We've seen several
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  key people from OpenAI actually jump ship recently,
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  heading over to Meta's super intelligence team.
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  Jump ship, like big names. Yeah, apparently so.
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  Yeah. Especially after OpenAI set up that office
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  in Zurich. There were even these wild rumors
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  flying around about a hundred million dollar
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  signing bonuses. A hundred million for one researcher.
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  Crazy, right? Now, Lucas Beier, one of the researchers
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  who moved, he shot that down publicly, called
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  it fake news. But the fact that rumors like that
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  even circulate tells you how high the stakes
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  are. Companies are basically battling for the
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  brain power. It really is an arms race, then.
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  So, OK, beyond the corporate drama and the big
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  money. Why should the average person or professional
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  care about this AI race? What's the impact for
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  us? Well, it matters because this competition
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  is driving faster innovation. It means more powerful,
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  more capable AI models are coming down the pipeline
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  sooner rather than later. And these models...
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  They're not just going to power chat bots. They'll
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  be integrated into tools across pretty much every
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  industry you can think of. Health care, finance,
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  design, coding, you name it. It could fundamentally
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  change how you work, how businesses operate.
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  So faster, smarter tools are on the way because
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  of this competition. Exactly. Think about productivity,
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  creativity. AI is poised to transform those things.
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  And you see the growth numbers reflecting this
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  urgency. OpenAI's revenue run rate apparently
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  doubled to $10 billion this year. Chat GPT. hit
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  500 million weekly active users. Incredible numbers.
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  Meanwhile, Meta is pouring resources into recruitment.
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  And Mark Zuckerberg himself is personally leading
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  their big AI push. It shows how central this
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  is to their future strategy. It's like this high
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  stakes chess match and the outcome impacts everyone.
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  Yeah, it really feels like a technological frontier
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  shifting right under our feet. The tools you
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  use every day could get a whole lot smarter.
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  Very quickly. That's the takeaway. AI is moving
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  from novelty to essential utility fast. OK, so
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  from AI's cutting edge, let's shift gears to
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  our third story and this one. Wow, it brings
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  together tech, big business and geopolitics in
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  a way we haven't really seen before. Yeah, this
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  is a big one. It involves Nvidia, AMD and the
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  US government. a really controversial chip deal.
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  Okay, lay it out for us. What's the deal? So,
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  Nvidia and AMD have reportedly agreed to something
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  pretty unprecedented with the Trump administration.
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  They're going to pay 15 % of the revenue they
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  make from selling certain chips in China directly
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  to the U .S. government. Wait, pay the government
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  a percentage of their sales? 15%, yeah. In exchange
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  for getting export licenses for their H20 and
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  MI308 chips to be sold in China. This is apparently
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  a first. No U .S. company has ever had to do
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  this before share revenue, just for permission
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  to export. That sounds extraordinary. How did
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  this even happen? It seems it was finalized after
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  NVIDIA's CEO, Jensen Huang, met with President
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  Trump recently, and then, boom, the Commerce
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  Department started issuing the licenses on August
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  8th. So... The immediate benefit for Nvidia and
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  AMD is clear, right? Access to the huge Chinese
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  market that was previously restricted. Massive
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  benefit. For Nvidia, analysts are estimating
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  they could rake in maybe $23 billion just from
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  the H20 chip in China by the end of 2025. Getting
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  back into that market could mean recovering billions
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  in lost sales. Wow. And for AMD, it's being called
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  a game changer because they hadn't even factored
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  China sales into their forecasts for Q3 this
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  year. So yeah, huge potential revenue upside
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  for both companies. OK, massive upside. But I
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  sense a but coming. This sounds like it would
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  raise some eyebrows. Oh, definitely. The criticism
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  has been pretty sharp. You're hearing words like
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  extortion, pay to play. Some online comments
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  are even comparing it to... mafia -style tactics.
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  Strong words. Are there concerns beyond just
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  the style of the deal? Yes, absolutely. Big national
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  security concerns are being raised. Experts,
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  including former Trump advisor Matt Pottinger,
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  are warning that even these slightly less advanced
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  chips, like the H -20, could still significantly
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  boost China's AI capabilities. Ah, so it reopens
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  that debate. Where's the line between economic
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  benefit and potential security risk? Precisely.
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  Are we enabling a competitor's technological
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  advancement in exchange for revenue? And it's
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  a precedent, right? Is this a new form of state
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  -influenced capitalism, where the government
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  uses export controls not just for security, but
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  to directly generate revenue? Hmm, leveraging
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  regulatory power for cash. What does this mean
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  globally? Could other countries start doing this?
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  That's the worry. Does this open the door for
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  other nations to demand a cut of sales for market
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  access? It could really shake up international
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  trade norms. And think about the price of these
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  chips in China. They'll likely go up right to
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  cover that 15%. Almost certainly. Nvidia and
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  AMD will probably pass that cost onto their Chinese
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  customers. So it's effectively a tax on Chinese
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  tech buyers collected by the US government via
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  US companies. And how is Beijing reacting to
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  this this chip tax? Unsurprisingly, they're reportedly
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  unlikely to warm to the idea. Chinese state -affiliated
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  media has already started criticizing these H20
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  chips, talking about security vulnerabilities
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  and inefficiency. So Adding another layer of
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  tension to the US -China tech relationship. Absolutely.
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  It's incredibly complex. You've got huge potential
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  profits for US firms, serious national security
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  questions, the ethics of the deal itself, and
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  the international trade implications. It's a
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  major escalation of the tech competition. It
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  really shows how tangled everything is now. Chips,
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  AI, global politics, your wallet. It all connects.
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  It really does. This isn't just about Silicon
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  anymore. It's about the flow of money and power
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  globally. Okay, and that wraps up our Morningstar
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  report for today. Quite a journey we took. We
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  really did. We started with that nostalgic yet
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  impactful goodbye to AOL dial -up. A reminder
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  of the past, but also of the digital divide that
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  still exists right now. Yeah, affecting real
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  people. Then we jumped into that intense AI arms
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  race between open AI and meta. The talent wars,
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  the drive for smarter AI. It's changing how you'll
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  work and create. Definitely. And finally, that
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  unprecedented and, yeah, controversial chip deal.
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  NVIDIA, AMD paying the US government to sell
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  in China. It throws national security, economics
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  and global trade into a whole new light. These
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  stories really do illustrate the connections,
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  don't they? From the sound of a dial -up modem
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  to the geopolitics of semiconductor trade and
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  the race to build superintelligence. It all ripples
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  out and touches your daily life, your work. the
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  bigger picture. Absolutely. Technology is woven
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  into everything, often in ways we don't immediately
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  see, but the effects are always there. That's
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  why we try to connect these dots for you every
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  day. Couldn't have said it better. We're here
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  to help at Snarful, so reach out on our website
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  if you have any more questions. Thanks for listening,
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  and we'll catch you next time.