Top stories today:

1. Google Gemini Advanced launches at $20/mo
2. Sam Altman seeks to raise $7T for chip plants in U.S.
3. OpenAI crosses $2B in ARR, from $28M in 2022
4. Arm stock +48% to $117B market cap, 35x P/S after earnings release

0. Data and calendar

1. Google Gemini Advanced launches at $20/mo

• Uses the Gemini Ultra 1.0 model.

• Soon: Gemini in Gmail, Docs, Sheets, and other apps.

• Bard and Duet brandings are dead: Bard is Gemini and Duet is Gemini for Workspace.

Gemini Pro was already on par with GPT-4 in LMSYS’s Chatbot Arena Leaderboard — it’s possible Gemini Ultra will surpass GPT-4 soon

Gemini Advanced is part of Google One, meaning for some users it will only be a $10/mo upgrade

• 2-month trial available.

2. Sam Altman seeks to raise up to $7T from UAE, SoftBank to build chip plants in U.S. with TSMC’s help

• Unclear why so much money is needed: global sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment were $100B in 2023.

• U.S. plants may be hard, as TSMC’s efforts in Arizona are facing delays, shortage of skilled workers, and high cost.

• The U.S. government may need to authorize the UAE’s involvement. Commerce Secretary Raimondo is in the negotiations.

4. OpenAI crosses $2B in ARR, from $28M in 2022

And they expect to 2x+ in 2025:

Read more: FT.

5. Arm stock +48% to $117B market cap, 35x P/S after earnings release

• Arm’s forward price-to-earnings is 90, vs. 33 for NVIDIA and 46 for AMD.

• Q4 revenue was +14% YoY to $824M.

• Net income margin of 11%, with $87M in profits.

6. Top cool brands among Gen Z, Millennials: Nike, YouTube, Fenty, iPhone

7. Interesting videos, posts, and memes

8. Other headlines

AI

• Google joins Meta, Adobe in effort to identify, label AI content.

• AI scam robocalls banned by FCC.

Tech

• Disney’s $1.5B investment in Epic was at $22.5B valuation, from $32B in 2022.

• WWE to stream “Speed” matches on X.

• Pinterest’s revenue +12% YoY to $981M in Q4.

• Cloudflare’s revenue +32% to $362M.

• Spotify paid $9B to music industry in 2023, $48B since founding.

• Anduril announces Iris, family of imaging, targeting sensors.

• BetterHelp: professional online therapy to help you win at work.*

• HubSpot: free CRM that the Bay Area Times team uses.*

*Sponsored.

Tech & law

• Sequoia, 4 other U.S. VCs invested $1B+ in China’s chip industry.

• Iran’s Supreme Leader loses Instagram accounts.

• Activision already planned 2K layoffs before merger: Microsoft.

• TikTok removes total view count of hashtags, avoiding comparisons.

Biotech

• Ezra raises $21M for full-body MRIs, now total raised $41M.

• Hevolution’s Khan to speak at Rejuvenation Startup Summit 2024.

• Higher naloxone doses no better than lower ones: study.

Business

• Hedge funds to share more strategy details under new SEC rule.

• Piers Morgan giving up on linear TV show, going for YouTube-first.

• Saudi Aramco plans to sell another $20B in secondary.

• Thomson Reuters’s revenue +3% to $1.8B in Q4.

• Einhorn: markets “broken” due to passive, quant investors.

• Masterworks: invest in shares of paintings by Banksy and Picasso.*

• Sign up on Underdog before the Big Game and get a Mahomes Special Pick!*

*Sponsored.

Crypto

• Bitcoin ETFs ex-GBTC hold 192K BTC, ~1% of supply.

• Do Kwon wins 2nd appeal to avoid extradition to U.S.

• tea Protocol: click to subscribe to tea's newsletter and learn more about how to get rewards for your open-source contributions.*

*Sponsored.

U.S. politics

• Supreme Court unlikely to bar Trump, Justices’ questions suggest.

• Biden “willfully” mishandled classified docs but won’t be charged.

  • Biden’s age, poor memory would make it difficult to convince jury.

• Biden calls Israel’s response “over the top,” confuses Mexico, Egypt.

• $95B Ukraine, Israel aid advances to debate in Senate, 67 to 32.

• Tucker Carlson met with Snowden in Moscow.

• San Francisco: tech execs look to local politics to combat crime.

World

• Putin suggests Russia could end war with deal with U.S.

• Zelensky removes top general Zaluzhniy.

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