Articles
November 10, 2020
The Minus-70 Degree Supply Chain: The Coldest Logistics Problem of the Year
There is a supply chain that was revealed this week, and the supply chain is the cold: the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine candidate that showed more than ninety percent effectiveness in the interim analysis on November 9, the messenger RNA shot that must be stored at about minus 70 degrees Celsius, the ultra-cold chain that now has to circle the world. The announcement was the breakthrough, and the breakthrough was the problem: the vaccine that must be kept colder than the Antarctic winter, the dry ice and the specialized shippers and the freezer farms, the distribution that has to reach the clinics and the arms. The vaccine is the November story, and the story is the lesson: the logistics that decides whether the science reaches the people.
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November 5, 2020
The IPO That Vanished: Ant Group and the Largest Listing in History
There is an IPO that vanished this week, and the IPO is the record: the Ant Group that priced the largest offering in history, the thirty-seven billion dollars that was raised on paper, the valuation near three hundred ten billion, the debut that was supposed to happen on November 5 and did not. The suspension came on November 3, two days before the listing, when the Shanghai Stock Exchange put the offering on hold and Hong Kong followed, the regulators citing the new rules for the online lending business, the fintech empire of Jack Ma stopped at the gate. The IPO is the November story, and the story is the lesson: the listing that was priced, the rules that changed, and the risk that no prospectus can price.
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October 26, 2020
The Antitrust Case Against Google: When the Search Default Became the Charge
There is a case that arrived in the courts this week, and the case is the monopoly: the Department of Justice that filed the lawsuit against Google on October 20, the eleven state attorneys general that joined the complaint, the charge that the search giant broke the antitrust laws, the accusation that it used its power to lock the market. The case is the 2020 landmark: the first major federal antitrust action against a technology company since the government took on Microsoft in 1998, the moment the platform era met the law, the industry that waited two decades for the reckoning. The case is the October story, and the story is the lesson: how the defaults became the moat, how the scale became the shield, and how the biggest search engine on earth finally got its day in court.
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September 16, 2020
The $40 Billion Chip Deal: Nvidia Buys Arm
There is a deal that is shaking the chip industry this week, and the deal is the acquisition: the agreement that Nvidia announced on September 13, 2020, the Arm that would be bought from SoftBank for the $40 billion, the architecture that powers nearly every smartphone, the neutrality that is now in question, the scrutiny that is already forming. The deal is the structure: the $21.5 billion in Nvidia stock, the $12 billion in cash, the payments that could add more, the Jensen Huang who called it a historic moment, the regulators in the United Kingdom and the European Union and China who will review. The Nvidia deal is the September 2020 story, and the story is the lesson: the chip design that everyone depends on, and the buyer that everyone will watch.
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August 6, 2020
The Executive Order: TikTok and WeChat
There is an order that was signed this week, and the order is the ban: the two executive orders that President Trump signed on August 6, 2020, the transactions with TikTok and WeChat that are prohibited after 45 days, the ByteDance and the Tencent that are the targets, the sales that must happen or the apps that must end. The orders came on the same day: the TikTok order that is about the national security, the WeChat order that is about the same, the two apps that are caught in the same storm, the companies that threatened to sue, the Microsoft talks that continue. The executive order is the August 2020 story, and the story is the lesson: the deadlines that are signed, and the deals that are forced.
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July 31, 2020
The TikTok Deadline: Microsoft and the 45 Days
There is a deadline that is forming around TikTok this week, and the deadline is the sale: the app that grew to a hundred million American users, the parent ByteDance that is pushed to sell, the buyer Microsoft that is in the talks, the ban that the president threatened on July 31, 2020, the reports from the New York Times and CNBC that broke the story. The deadline is the shape of the week: the negotiations that are private, the 45 days that are spoken of, the national security that is the reason, the data that is the concern, the deal that would be one of the largest in the industry. The TikTok deadline is the July 2020 story, and the story is the lesson: the apps that are caught between the governments.
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June 23, 2020
The Silicon Switch: Apple Leaves Intel
There is a switch that is happening in the Mac this week, and the switch is the silicon: the processors that Apple will design itself, the ARM chips that follow the iPhone, the end of the Intel partnership that lasted fifteen years, the transition that Tim Cook announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference on June 22, 2020. The keynote came as a video, and the video was the statement: the first Macs with Apple Silicon by the end of 2020, the full lineup that follows in about two years, the Rosetta 2 that will translate the old apps, the Big Sur that will carry the change. The silicon switch is the June 2020 story, and the story is the lesson: the company that owns the stack.
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June 11, 2020
GPT-3: The API That Learned to Write
There is a model that is learning to write this week, and the model is GPT-3: the language system from OpenAI, the successor to GPT-2, the neural network with 175 billion parameters that writes the paragraphs and the code and the answers, the API that opened to a private beta on June 11, 2020. The announcement came as a blog post and a waitlist: the developers who signed up, the researchers who studied the samples, the industry that took notice. GPT-3 is the June 2020 story, and the story is the lesson: the machines that write like us, and the businesses that will build on them.
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May 29, 2020
The Dragon Returns: Crewed Flight From US Soil
The return is set for tomorrow, and the return is the launch: the Crew Dragon that is scheduled to lift off on Saturday at 15:22 EDT from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, the astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, the first crewed orbital flight from American soil since the shuttle stopped flying, the nine years that end with the liftoff. The return is the attempt: the first try on Wednesday that was scrubbed by the weather, the thunderstorms that rolled in, the rocket that waited, the countdown that stopped at sixteen minutes. The Dragon is the May 2020 story, and the story is the lesson: the commercial crew that will fly, the partnership that built it, the gap that closes tomorrow.
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April 24, 2020
Negative Oil: The Day the Barrel Cost Nothing
The number is in the books this week, and the number is the shock: the West Texas Intermediate contract that settled at minus $37.63 a barrel on April 20, the first negative price in the history of the market, the day the seller paid the buyer. The number is the mechanics: the storage that was nearly full at Cushing, the contract that was about to expire, the traders who had to sell, the barrels that nobody would take. The negative oil is the April 2020 story, and the story is the lesson: the paper that left the physical behind, the storage that became the price.
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