Pelosi means business
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi left Taiwan today after a brief visit that could have had far-reaching consequences.Painted extraordinary support From the Republican Party, condemnation from Beijing, and quiet defiance from the host in the face of China’s threat. But Chinese experts predict more impact for businesses and investors from the trip, which has tested China’s desire for confrontation.
‘The world faces a choice between democracy or tyranny,’ Pelosi said today Meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan. “America’s determination to maintain democracy here in Taiwan and around the world remains steadfast.” economic growth and trade were in it her agenda — along with the pandemic, climate change, human rights and democratic governance — but these have been overshadowed by geopolitics and China’s anger over visits to the autonomous islands it considers its own territory.
Above all, the trip was about tipping. Pelosi spoke today with Mark Liu, Chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer. TSMC is building a factory in Arizona, Pelosi and Liu reportedly discussed The recently passed CHIPS and Science Act provides subsidies for companies to open chip factories in the US (more on that below).
Chinese business backlash over Pelosi visit It included a ban on some fish and fruit imports from Taiwan, but it could have broader implications for U.S. shores. Bloomberg reports that China’s CATL, the world’s largest manufacturer of electric vehicle batteries, Delayed decision on North American factory Because of the “tension” surrounding travel.semiconductor company stock prices fall Yesterday, about fears of a escalating conflict, especially China’s plans to conduct live-fire military exercises in the area surrounding Taiwan from Thursday. TSMC’s Liu warned: CNN interview of the week It argues that a war over Taiwan could disrupt the geopolitical landscape and the global economy, citing the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
this is what is happening
Robinhood lays off almost a quarter of its employees. The company’s intermediary app surged in popularity at the start of the pandemic, but is now losing customers, including 1.9 million active monthly users in the second quarter. Separately, New York regulators have Robinhood’s cryptocurrency unit fined $30 million For violations of anti-money laundering and cybersecurity regulations.
Senators Propose New Regulators for Bitcoin and Ether. lawmaking the Commodity Futures Trading Commission the main regulator of the two largest cryptocurrencies, backed by the leaders of the Agriculture Commission. We stepped up crypto enforcement, arguing that we need to.
Forbes is trying to get. The company said it was considering a sale after a deal to go public through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company was scrapped in May. Forbes is looking for buyers at a time when digital media companies are entering. hated by investorsand the value of the SPAC transaction plummeted 90%.
Senate candidate Blake Masters, endorsed by Peter Thiel, wins the Republican primary in Arizona. Masters with Donald Trump I’ve been complaining, “Wake up” He faces off against Democratic incumbent Mark Kelly, who won the 2020 special election. Yesterday’s other election results included a victory for abortion rights in Kansas and generally poor results for candidates following Trump’s playbook.
Axis of Warner Bros. “Batgirl”. The studio, which spent $90 million on a nearly completed superhero movie, you won’t see the darkness of the theater, or subscribe to any streaming service. Warner said the decision was not based on the quality of the films, but was part of a new strategy to be more selective about which films to release.
The CHIPS Act Has Strings
According to Anna Swanson of The Times, lawmakers are banning a shelved plan by Intel intended to expand its chip manufacturing capacity by buying an abandoned factory in Chengdu, China, under CHIPS and Science Law. was used as an argument to pass. The legislation includes his $52 billion in grants and tax credits to global chip makers establishing or expanding operations in the United States, and gives significant powers over the private sector to the Commerce Department.
“This is not a blank check for these companies.” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimond said. “There are a lot of strings attached and a lot of taxpayer protection.” It has the power to make certain updates to the foreign investment rules over time.
China’s growing dominance in key global supply chains is creating new support among Republicans and Democrats For the government to foster strategic industries. South Korea, Japan, the European Union, and other governments have outlined aggressive plans to attract semiconductor factories. Also, the production of many advanced semiconductors in Taiwan poses an unacceptable security threat to many. “We need to move from a question of why we pursue industrial strategy to a question of how we pursue it,” said Brian Dees, director of the National Economic Council.
The bill still has many critics. By focusing regulation on a new generation of semiconductors, the law could leave China with the potential to monopolize the production of older chips used in cars and other consumer products. Some Republicans, like Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, say the guardrails aren’t strong enough to keep U.S. technology from leaking to China.Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont Some Democrats and their supporters, like Democrats, have described the bill as a giveaway to businesses.
How efficiently are funds used? With tens of billions of dollars to be paid out over the next few years, there may be many questions about how these investments will be distributed. There could also be more clashes between semiconductor companies, where he spent more than $20 million lobbying in the first half of this year alone, according to disclosures. A 10-year ban on investing in China’s more advanced equipment has been particularly controversial, with companies saying it would make them less competitive globally and ultimately hurt the U.S. in competing with Chinese competitors. But there are signs the ban is already having an effect. Rethinking investment in China.
“I tried 3 courses and 1 expert on the side and all I got was an empty wallet.”
— Scott Mitchell, 33 years old. YouTube automation.
antitrust horror story
A ghost lurks behind Penguin Random House’s proposed $2.2 billion deal to acquire rival Simon & Schuster, says our colleague and author of The Times’ subscriber-only newsletter On Tech. Shira Ovide, who is (Spoiler alert: Amazon.)
Yesterday, best-selling horror author Stephen King testified in support of a lawsuit filed by the Justice Department to block the merger. This is one of his efforts in the Biden administration to stem over-focusing on the US economy.
The administration says the merger would hurt the author. The deal will reduce the number of major US mass-market book publishers from five to four. King testified that authors have had fewer options to be published since they began selling books in the mid-1970s. According to King, progress is slowly declining, especially for writers with no sales record, as there are fewer publishers to compete with. It will be difficult, he said.
But Ovide claims the trial is haunted by the specter of Amazon. “Book publishers want to get bigger and stronger to have more influence over Amazon, by far the largest book seller in the United States,” she said. “One version of Penguin Random House’s strategy can be summarized as follows: Our book publishing monopoly is our best defense against Amazon’s book sales monopoly.”
Companies have long tried to justify acquisitions by saying they are trying to level the playing field.
Still, Ovide said another mega-merger is unlikely to solve the concentration problem in the book business. The competition expert told her that the best way to deal with Amazon’s domination of books was not to allow publishers to become monopolies, but to deal with Amazon’s sheer power with laws, regulations and enforcement. said that it was Bipartisan support for such a move is growing, but don’t hold your breath.
“This book-publishing lawsuit is a window into a deep-rooted problem in the U.S. economy,” Ovid wrote. These problems “will take decades to resolve and will take a long time to change”.
speed lead
bargain
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Neon, the distributor of the hit “Parasite,” is considering a sale. (NYT)
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Grubhub owner noted its value $3 billion, almost half of last year’s purchase price. (FT)
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investment in African startup It more than doubled in the first half of the year, defying uncertainty in the global economy. (Bloomberg)
policy
best of the rest
David F. Gallagher Contributed to today’s dealbook.
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