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Tech 5: TSMC Gets US$6.6 Billion Biden Admin Grant, Bitcoin Price Hits New All-time High
1. Bitcoin price reaches new all-time high
Bitcoin's price has continued to soar in the wake of Donald Trump's US election victory, benefiting from bullish sentiment generated by anticipated crypto-friendly policies from the incoming administration. The market capitalization of the crypto industry has surpassed US$3.14 trillion, higher than the GDP of Canada, Brazil and Italy.
After rallying last week, Bitcoin ended the week up 19 percent over seven days, boosted by the prospect of looser regulations and support for innovation under the Trump administration.
The world’s most popular cryptocurrency reached a new all-time high of US$80,000 on Sunday (November 10) and continued its upward trajectory, peaking for the week at US$92,435 on Wednesday (November 13).
Bitcoin performance, November 9 to 15, 2024.
Chart via CoinGecko.
Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) experienced a surge in popularity as the price rose, with six consecutive days of inflows totaling US$4.71 billion as of Thursday (November 14). Analysts at Checkmate have identified demand for Bitcoin ETFs as the primary factor driving the surge in Bitcoin demand at the moment.
Additionally, Bitcoin futures open interest climbed to a notable US$55.07 billion.
However, Bitcoin struggled to maintain its hold above US$90,000, falling to the US$87,200 range after US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s address in Dallas, Texas, on Thursday. Fresh data on Friday (November 15) morning showed US$400 million of net outflows from Bitcoin ETFs on Thursday, the third-highest loss since the funds were listed.
A slight recovery followed later on Friday after news of a lawsuit against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Gary Gensler by 18 Republican attorneys general, alleging overreach in crypto regulation.
Coinciding with this news, XRP, the native token of Ripple — a company currently involved in legal disputes with the SEC — saw a 17 percent increase in value. The lawsuit challenges the SEC's application of the Howey Test to classify cryptocurrencies as securities, arguing that the SEC's interpretation goes beyond the original scope of the Howey Test.
Plaintiffs, including the DeFi Education Fund, point to the SEC's case against Ripple Labs as a precedent. The judge in that case determined that XRP and similar cryptocurrencies are not inherently securities, even if initially offered as part of an investment contract. This ruling is now being referenced in other legal proceedings.
This ongoing legal challenge could further reshape the regulatory landscape for cryptocurrencies in the US in 2025.
As of 6:00 p.m. EST on Friday, Bitcoin was priced at US$91,246.49.
2. Biden admin finalizes CHIPS Act deal with TSMC
In a push to distribute CHIPS and Science Act funds, the Biden administration has finalized an incentive agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) (NYSE:TSM,TPE:2330).
Under the terms of the deal, the company will receive US$6.6 billion in federal grants to expand operations in the US. In a statement released on Friday (November 15), President Joe Biden said:
“The first of TSMC’s three facilities is on track to fully open early next year, which means that for the first time in decades, an American manufacturing plant will be producing the leading-edge chips used in our most advanced technologies — from our smartphones to autonomous vehicles, to the data centers powering artificial intelligence.”
According to administration officials, TSMC will receive a minimum of US$1 billion out of the total funding awarded this year, since it has already met certain performance targets.
The Biden administration has reportedly been amping up efforts to finalize deals with companies promised CHIPS Act funds, including large firms like Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Samsung Electronics (KRX:005930).
Earlier this month, a group of 18 companies sent a letter to the president, urging him to “work with members of your Cabinet and staff across your Administration to remove any roadblocks that may exist, ensuring that the funds highlighted as critical to the success of the objectives of these laws are delivered as promptly as possible.”
The act — which set aside US$39 billion in grants, US$75 billion in loans and loan guarantees and 25 percent tax credits to entice semiconductor companies to manufacture in the US — was criticized as “so bad” by President-elect Donald Trump during his campaign. There is widespread speculation that he may attempt to renegotiate the agreements.
3. Oklo signs letters of intent with data center providers
Oklo (NYSE:OKLO), a company that is developing advanced fission power plants, announced on Wednesday that it has received two letters of intent from major data center providers for up to 750 megawatts of power.
This development marks a major milestone for Oklo, which is backed by OpenAI’s Altman, and underscores the growing demand for sustainable energy solutions within the data center industry.
Oklo says its technology has the potential to revolutionize the way data centers are powered, providing a reliable and sustainable source of energy that can support the ever-increasing demand for computing power.
The company focuses on developing micro reactors, which are smaller than traditional nuclear reactors. This makes them a more viable option as they are better suited for a variety of locations and applications.
While Oklo did not specify which data center operators it received the letters of intent from, the news demonstrates the commercial viability of its technology and the growing importance of nuclear power in the energy mix.
4. Applied Materials, Foxconn release quarterly results
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT), a leading provider of equipment and software used to manufacture semiconductors, unveiled results for its fourth fiscal quarter of 2024 on Thursday.
While the company's performance met market watchers' expectations, its revenue forecast of US$7.15 billion for its first fiscal quarter of 2025 fell short of estimates of US$7.25 billion.
The news resulted in a 9.81 percent decline in Applied Materials' share price for the week.
The company’s lower outlook suggests a slowdown in spending on semiconductor manufacturing equipment and indicates that chipmakers are potentially scaling back production expansion plans.
Meanwhile, Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn) (TPE:2354), a global electronics manufacturing giant best known for assembling iPhones, released its Q3 results ahead of expectations. The report highlights growing revenue from artificial intelligence (AI) servers, with orders for these servers making up over 40 percent of overall server revenue.
Foxconn projects that its AI server revenue will continue to grow, accounting for more than 50 percent of server revenue in 2025. The company relies on a steady supply of semiconductors to build these servers and its other products.
Foxconn's focus on server demand aligns with the increasing adoption of cloud computing and other data-intensive technologies, driven by the increasing use of cloud-based AI platforms.
5. OpenAI changes tactics as AI advances slow
According to a report published by the Information on Saturday (November 9), OpenAI's newer intelligence models are not exhibiting the same degree of progress as was observed between GPT-3 and GPT-4.
The news outlet states that testing of OpenAI's newest model, code named Orion, shows that the rate of improvement appears to be slowing down. During testing, Orion struggled to solve problems it hadn't been trained on.
The slowdown comes at a time when the availability of data to train AI models is declining. To address this issue, OpenAI has reportedly created a new team focused on improving its models’ capabilities — its strategies include using synthetic data produced by other AI models to train Orion and alter its post-training processes.
A Reuters article suggests that new training techniques will use more “human-like ways for algorithms to think." AI researchers told Reuters about a technique called test-time computing, which could enhance a model's ability to generate and assess multiple responses before selecting the optimal solution. This method could potentially provide models with increased processing power to tackle complex tasks such as solving math problems and coding.
Sources told Bloomberg that Anthropic and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) are seeing similar slowdowns with their newer models, despite investing billions in developing sophisticated AI models and generative AI (AGI).
“The AGI bubble is bursting a little bit,” said Margaret Mitchell, chief ethics scientist at Hugging Face. “It’s become clear that different training approaches may be needed to make AI models work really well on a variety of tasks.”
Researchers developing new training techniques could shift demand away from chips used to train AI and toward “inference clouds,” described to Reuters by Sequoia Capital partner Sonya Huang as “distributed, cloud-based servers for inference." This is the process of an AI model applying its knowledge to new data before generating results.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Syntheia: Game-changing Conversational AI Solutions for the Enterprise, SMB Markets
In an industry poised to transform customer engagement, Syntheia (CSE:SYAI) is an innovative conversational AI solution addressing the complex needs of modern communication. Designed to emulate human-like conversations, Syntheia’s platform targets both large enterprises and small-to-medium businesses, which often struggle with customer support inefficiencies and high employee turnover in customer-facing roles. Syntheia offers customers an experience closer to natural human interaction focusing on language processing, tonality, sentiment analysis, and conversational behavior.
The rising demand for customer-centric interactions, the need for operational efficiency, and cost reductions that companies can realize by automating and enhancing their customer support processes lead to explosive growth in AI-driven customer service solutions.
Key TechnologySyntheia’s AssistantNLP platform is designed to handle high volumes of customer queries in multiple languages and across industries, ensuring a scalable, reliable and flexible solution for diverse customer needs. AssistantNLP is also highly accessible, structured around a freemium revenue model that allows businesses to try the service at no cost and then upgrade based on usage and additional features.
Company Highlights
- Syntheia is a conversational AI solution delivering AI-driven, human-like customer service for enterprises and SMBs.
- The AssistantNLP Platform offers 24/7/365 multilingual support, accessible globally.
- Syntheia operates on a freemium revenue model, with scalable plans catering to varied business sizes and needs.
- The conversational AI market is expected to reach $32.62 billion by 2030, with Syntheia well-positioned to capitalize on this growth.
- Syntheia’s algorithms have achieved an 84 percent success rate in data collection and 98 percent in outreach programs, highlighting exceptional efficiency.
- Financially stable, Syntheia has $2 million in cash, no debt and trades on the Canadian Securities Exchange.
This Syntheia profile is part of a paid investor education campaign.*
Click here to connect with Syntheia (CSE:SYAI) to receive an Investor Presentation
Syntheia
Investor Insight
Syntheia’s innovative conversational AI solution is transforming the face of customer engagement for the B2B market. Backed by a stable financial foundation, Syntheia is well-placed to execute its growth strategy, offering investors a compelling opportunity.
Overview
Syntheia (CSE:SYAI) has rapidly emerged as an innovative player in the expanding conversational AI platform-as-a-service market.
In an industry poised to transform customer engagement, Syntheia addresses the complex needs of modern communication through cutting-edge AI solutions. Designed to emulate human-like conversations over phone and digital channels, Syntheia’s platform targets both large enterprises and small-to-medium businesses, which often struggle with customer support inefficiencies and high employee turnover in customer-facing roles. Syntheia’s focus on language processing, tonality, sentiment analysis, and conversational behavior makes its offerings distinctive, providing customers an experience that moves closer to natural human interaction than traditional chatbot solutions.
At the core of Syntheia’s strategy is an innovative approach to AI-driven customer service solutions, a sector experiencing explosive growth. The global conversational AI market, valued at $9.9 billion in 2023, is anticipated to reach a staggering $32.62 billion by 2030. With a projected compound annual growth rate of 21.5 percent, the demand for AI solutions that can handle customer inquiries seamlessly is clear. Factors fueling this market growth include the rising demand for customer-centric interactions, the need for operational efficiency, and cost reductions that companies can realize by automating and enhancing their customer support processes. Syntheia is well-positioned within this trend, providing businesses with tools that reduce onboarding costs, language barriers and other operational challenges while enhancing engagement.
Syntheia is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the ticker symbol SYAI, and its stock is closely held, with a tight float that allows for controlled expansion of shares. Financially, the company is in a solid position with $2 million in cash and no debt, and maintains a well-structured capitalization profile that includes options and warrants. This stable financial foundation provides Syntheia with the means to execute its growth strategy while maintaining flexibility to adapt to market shifts.
Company Highlights
- Syntheia is a conversational AI solution delivering AI-driven, human-like customer service for enterprises and SMBs.
- The AssistantNLP Platform offers 24/7/365 multilingual support, accessible globally.
- Syntheia operates on a freemium revenue model, with scalable plans catering to varied business sizes and needs.
- The conversational AI market is expected to reach $32.62 billion by 2030, with Syntheia well-positioned to capitalize on this growth.
- Syntheia’s algorithms have achieved an 84 percent success rate in data collection and 98 percent in outreach programs, highlighting exceptional efficiency.
- Financially stable, Syntheia has $2 million in cash, no debt and trades on the Canadian Securities Exchange.
Key Technology
Syntheia is a front-runner in conversational AI, employing natural language processing (NLP) algorithms that are continually refined for accuracy and contextual understanding. The platform’s advanced NLP technology, bolstered by proprietary algorithms, enables it to understand and respond to various conversational cues, including tone, sentiment, semantics, and even idiomatic expressions. These sophisticated capabilities make interactions feel more fluid, accurate and responsive, which is particularly advantageous in sectors like healthcare, finance and customer service, where nuanced communication is essential. In fact, Syntheia’s algorithms exhibit impressive efficacy rates, achieving an 84 percent success rate in data collection and a 98 percent success rate in outreach initiatives, demonstrating the system’s effectiveness in real-world applications.
One of the most compelling aspects of Syntheia’s solution is its proprietary AssistantNLP platform, which offers 24/7/365 conversational AI service. The AssistantNLP platform is designed to handle high volumes of customer queries in multiple languages and across industries, ensuring a scalable, reliable and flexible solution for diverse customer needs. Syntheia’s platform is also highly accessible, structured around a freemium revenue model that allows businesses to try the service at no cost and then upgrade based on usage and additional features. The freemium model’s flexibility is essential in broadening Syntheia’s customer base by reducing the initial financial commitment for prospective clients and encouraging growth from smaller firms to larger enterprise accounts.
Management Team
Tony Di Benedetto – Chairman, Chief Executive Officer
Tony Di Benedetto has nearly 20 years of IT entrepreneurship, mergers and acquisitions, and capital markets experience. As a seasoned technology business leader, he has successfully built and brought multiple tech businesses to market.
Richard Buzbuzian – President
Richard Buzbuzian is a capital markets executive with over 25 years of investment experience in Canada and Europe, and operates a family office with an investment portfolio of public and pre-IPO companies. Buzbuzian holds a degree from the University of Toronto.
Paul Di Benedetto – Chief Technology Officer
Paul Di Benedetto is a technology visionary with expertise in diverse innovative technologies, including blockchain and AI. He is responsible for overseeing the ongoing development of patent-approved technology at work from Syntheia.
Veronique Laberge – Chief Financial Officer
Veronique Laberge is a chartered professional accountant and holds the title of auditor. With more than 17 years of experience in professional practice, she specializes in certification mandates and general accounting, and acts as a consultant for public and private companies.
Emilio Iantorno – VP of Product & Experience Strategy
Emilio Iantorno, a 20-year design veteran, specializes in crafting engaging product experiences for diverse audiences and industries. Emilio leads the Syntheia design process, effectively harnessing the best technology to tackle business challenges.
Tech 5: Big Tech Players Release Latest Results, Super Micro Shares Plummet
1. Bitcoin teases all-time high
Bitcoin recovered over the weekend from a dip last Friday, climbing above US$69,000 by Monday (October 28), fueled by growing optimism that Donald Trump will win the upcoming election, as reflected in his favorable odds on betting platforms. This surge widened Bitcoin’s dominance to almost 60 percent, its highest since March 2021, fueled by strong ETF inflows.
The rally continued Tuesday (October 29), pushing Bitcoin past the elusive US$70,000 it had been stuck beneath for weeks to US$71,540. By Wednesday (October 30) it was near its all-time high, hitting US$73,295. This triggered some liquidations, but strong exchange-traded fund inflows suggested continued demand.
Bitcoin performance, October 26 to November 1, 2024.
Chart via CoinGecko.
However, profit-taking on Thursday led to a selloff, driving Bitcoin's price below US$70,000.
The subsequent 24 hours were marked by extreme volatility, with Bitcoin's price swinging from US$68,840 to US$71,500 and back to US$69,350 in less than a day. By the end of the trading week, Bitcoin closed at US$69,284, reflecting a 4.39 percent decrease from its highest point this week.
2. Mixed results in tech earnings reports
This week’s tech earnings reports were a mixed bag, with most companies facing investor skepticism. AMD (NASDAQ:AMD), the first to report on Tuesday (October 29), saw its share price decline due to a lower-than-expected sales forecast, despite exceeding revenue predictions and demonstrating growth in sales of its data center chips.
Similarly, Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) strong revenue growth was overshadowed by concerns about a slowdown in its Azure cloud business. Executives attributed the decrease to capacity constraints rather than decreased demand, but it wasn’t enough to appease investors who sent its share price down by three percent after hours.
AMD, Microsoft, Meta Platforms and Intel performance, October 28 to November 1, 2024.
Chart via Google Finance.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), despite reporting its highest quarterly revenue growth in two years, disappointed investors with its sales forecast, following a lackluster reception to its limited AI feature launch. Apple shares are down 4.54 percent for the week.
Both Amazon and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) reported strong overall revenue growth, with their cloud computing businesses as a key growth driver. Alphabet was trading slightly ahead leading up to the release of its Q3 report, which revealed an increase in total revenue to US$88 billion, 15 percent higher than last year’s Q3 and beating estimates of US$86.44 billion. The primary contributor to Alphabet's growth was its Google Cloud business, which expanded by 39 percent. This growth was fueled by AI, which attracted new users and increased engagement with existing ones.
Conversely, search ad growth decelerated, decreasing by 12 percent compared to the previous quarter's 14 percent decline. Capital expenditures, which have set a running rate of around US$13 billion per quarter this year, are set to increase in 2025, although growth will likely be smaller than it was in 2024, which may have eased investors' worries that spending on AI will eat into the company’s profits.
Amazon and Alphabet performance, October 28 to November 1, 2024.
Chart via Google Finance.
Later, on Thursday evening, Amazon’s Q3 report showed 50 percent growth in Amazon Web Services' quarterly operating profit to US$10.4 billion. Revenue also increased by 19 percent to US$27.5 billion. Investors appeared unconcerned about Amazon's significant capital expenditures, sending its shares up 6.75 percent on Friday morning.
This is likely because AWS's generative AI business is rapidly expanding. Andrew R. Jassy, president and CEO of Amazon, explained during a conference call that AWS’ AI segment is growing at a triple-digit rate, exceeding even AWS's early growth trajectory.
On the other hand, Meta’s (NASDAQ:META) 4.19 percent share price dip was triggered by plans for increased capital expenditure and anticipated losses in its AI division, highlighting growing investor impatience with the company’s ambitious spending on AI ventures, especially as its cloud business hasn’t generated the profits seen by Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft to offset these losses.
Finally, after a disastrous performance in Q2, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) managed to restore some investor confidence. Its Q3 results beat analysts' expectations, despite reporting a 6 percent decline in quarterly revenue to US$13.28 billion and losses of US$16.6 billion, arising from the company’s ongoing restructuring efforts. The company’s stock is up 2.34 percent for the week.
3. Apple's week of product launches
Apple had a busy week of product rollouts, starting with the launch of Apple Intelligence on October 28 (Monday). However, the initial release proved underwhelming due to its limited functionality, offering only AI enhancements to Photos and Writing tools. Most highly anticipated features are delayed until December, and users are required to join a waitlist to gain access to them.
Apple also introduced its new line of iMacs featuring M4 chips and built-in Apple Intelligence, which failed to garner enthusiasm. Apple ended the trading day slightly below its opening price.
Tuesday saw the launch of the new Mac mini, a compact 5x5 inch desktop designed for flexibility; the computer is sold as a stand-alone product and is compatible with non-Apple peripherals, allowing consumers to design their own system by adding their preferred display, keyboard and mouse. This product launch resulted in a marginal increase in its share value.
On October 30 (Wednesday), Apple introduced the powerful M4 Pro and M4 Max chips, designed for high-performance users with higher memory bandwidth and more GPU cores than the standard M4. However, in the lead-up to the company's Q3 earnings report on Thursday, Apple's share value dipped by over one percent.
Overall, Apple's stock value has decreased by 4.54 percent this week.
4. Super Micro Computer faces financial turmoil
Shares of Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ:SMCI) are down a whopping 45.5 percent this week after the California-based server maker disclosed that global accounting firm EY had resigned.
The firm cited issues with the company’s financial reporting as the reason for terminating the relationship, saying it had identified issues that raised concerns about the Audit Committee’s representations. The news was reported by Reuters on Wednesday and resulted in a 33 percent drop in Super Micro’s share price.
Super Micro Computer, whose valuation peaked in 2024 at US$118.81 mid-March and was up over 65 percent year-to-date before this story broke, disagrees with the firm’s findings; however, investors seem to be airing on the side of caution, as this latest development adds to a series of unanswered questions surrounding the company's financial reporting.
Super Micro delayed filing its annual report in late August to assess its internal controls over financial reporting after Hindenburg Research made claims of possible account manipulation. Super Micro then hired a special committee to investigate the matter, which EY said it could “no longer rely on” in a recent filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The US Department of Justice reportedly also began an investigation into the company in September, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
5. Google Cloud gains a new partner
Google Cloud announced a partnership with web3 infrastructure provider MANTRA on Tuesday.
Under the terms of the deal, Google Cloud will serve as the primary validator and infrastructure provider for the MANTRA Chain, a Layer-1 blockchain designed to facilitate the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs). MANTRA Chain will be integrated into Google Cloud’s Web3 portal, giving developers the tools they need to build RWA solutions on the platform. The partnership aims to drive the adoption of RWAs in industries like finance and real estate.
Furthermore, MANTRA and Google Cloud are launching MANTRA Incubator in 2025, an accelerator program to support real-world asset tokenization projects with resources and expertise.
This agreement presents a potentially lucrative revenue stream for Google Cloud and strengthens the company’s presence in the Web3 space. As the primary validator for MANTRA, Google Cloud will earn rewards for validating transactions and securing the network. As the MANTRA Chain grows and handles more transactions, Google Cloud’s revenue will likely increase.
This collaboration marks a significant step for both companies, highlighting the growing interest and potential of blockchain technology in transforming traditional industries.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Technology for real-time news updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.