Top stories today:

1. Elon’s X bans certain accounts to get restored in Brazil
2. Intel gets takeover bid from Qualcomm, $5B funding offer from Apollo
3. Perplexity in talks with top brands on ad model to challenge Google
4. Cerebras crosses 2K tokens per sec. on Llama 3.1 8B
5. 26+ U.S. states trying to regulate GenAI usage in election

0. Data and calendar

1. Elon’s X bans certain accounts to get restored in Brazil after defying orders for 3 weeks

Elon was in a dispute with Brazil’s Justice Alexandre de Moraes over free speech:

• Elon had previously repeatedly vowed not to.

• He has not commented on this reversal.

• X has also agreed to pay fines, per its lawyers.

• Brazil’s top court has given X 5 days to produce certain documents.

• 300+ social media accounts have been ordered blocked by Moraes since 2019.

3. Intel reportedly gets takeover bid from Qualcomm, $5B investment offer from Apollo

Intel stock +3% on Friday, following the Qualcomm news:

• Qualcomm may sell some of Intel’s assets or parts to get the deal done.

• The deal would be the largest-ever transaction for the growing chip market.

• Intel recently struck a $B+ deal with AWS for a custom AI chip.

• The chip maker also planned to separate its foundry operations.

• “Equity-like” $5B offer from Apollo Global is still in discussions.

Qualcomm stock was -3% on Friday, with investors signaling they did not like the idea of taking over Intel

4. Perplexity reportedly in talks with top brands on ad model to challenge Google