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DeepSeek: Stop the Panic

DeepSeek: Stop the Panic

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake:

DeepSeek nearly sank Nvidia and other AI model players. Except DeepSeek itself is barely known by anyone, its true story still a mystery, and the likely impact on the artificial intelligence market undetermined. It won’t be the last enterprise to put a dent on the AI market, however, according to Market Traction’s Steve Carr who says many more such surprises are waiting in the wings, both in the West and in China.

The race for leadership of the artificial intelligence market got scrambled last week. The debut of China’s DeepSeek AI model sparked a selling frenzy on Wall Street as spooked investors dumped Nvidia and other AI-related stocks. The implications of DeepSeek’s platform are not clear, however. Not enough is known about how it was developed, meaning a full assessment of its market implications are months away.

What is clear is that DeepSeek’s AI model isn’t a result of any mega innovation in semiconductor or software processing, considering the Chinese company is leveraging resources from other models, including ChatGPT, and depended on chips from Nvidia Corp., the market’s leading vendor of AI semiconductors. This doesn’t take away from the disruptive effects DeepSeek has had on the market already, though. Other questions were raised in a webcast discussion with Steve Carr, founder of Markettraction.io and TalkingIoT.

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Mercury and SpaceShipOne: 40-years of Evolution

Mercury and SpaceShipOne: 40-years of Technical Evolution

By Lee Goldberg, Contributing Editor

What’s at Stake:

Technological evolution is about building on the foundations and lessons of the past. The heritage of the US Space Program is a testament to that evolution. There is great value in comparing and contrasting two groundbreaking “firsts.” Read the 3-part mission to learn more.

More than six decades ago, Alan Shepard became the first American in space aboard a Mercury capsule which was propelled into its suborbital flight by a rocket derived from the V2, a WWII-era ballistic weapon. Roughly forty years later, Mike Melvill piloted SpaceShipOne, a privately funded, air-launched, rocket-propelled vehicle to the edge of space, becoming the world’s first licensed commercial astronaut.

Although they served very different objectives and were separated by decades of technological advances, each project laid the foundations for the more advanced missions that followed. Surprisingly, Mercury and SpaceShipOne also shared several important elements that contributed to their missions’ success. In this first of a three-part series, we’ll look at both spacecraft to see how they were different and, especially, how they were similar.

Two Very Different Spacecraft – or were they?

At first glance, the Mercury capsule and SpaceShipOne appeared to have had little in common. 

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Eloy: The Future of Automotive is being Created in China

Eloy: The Future of Automotive is being Created in China

By Bolaji Ojo

Jean-Christophe Eloy has been closely involved in the electronics and semiconductor industries for several decades, during which period the founder and CEO of the Yole Group has observed a handful of transitions in the sector.

Another one is taking place now, according to Eloy, who says the current transformation of the technology world is multifaceted and deeper than previous ones because it encompasses most segments of the global economy. To further complicate the situation, the industry is also trying to wrangle down the disruptive impacts of geopolitical disputes and the uncertainties associated with the applications, investments and access to innovations in artificial intelligence, he noted.

In a webcast interview with editors of the Ojo-Yoshida Report, Eloy explored diverse topics of interest to the industry, ranging from AI to the increasing role of China in the semiconductor supply chain and the outlook for leading players like Nvidia and TSMC. He also delved into the fractious issue of how Taiwan’s relationship with China and the West will be resolved, suggesting that he sees a peaceful, negotiated resolution that while not pleasing to everyone would still be acceptable on a longer-term basis.

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A Lone Voice in Support of America’s Strict AI Rules

A Lone Voice in Support of America’s Strict AI Rules

By Bolaji Ojo

China is ascendant. In everything. Short of a civil war, this reality is unstoppable.

So, why is America plunging ahead with plans to restrict Chinese access to advanced artificial intelligence technologies, processes and the semiconductor manufacturing equipment required to gain the associated benefits? Here’s why we agree that these actions are necessary and worthwhile, despite the flaws and the futility of achieving the totality of American objectives.

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Has US Export Control Lurched Towards AI Tyranny?

Has US Export Control Lurched Towards AI Tyranny?

By Peter Clarke

What’s at stake:

The future of the technology-based society and the world’s super-power landscape hang in the balance. A belief that control of AI development could determine winners and losers for decades has driven US bureaucrats to lay down an interim final rule (IFR) that seeks to control global access to AI technology. But in a globalized era, it is not clear that such measures will work. They may even be counterproductive.

One of the last acts of the Biden Administration was to issue yet another export control ruling – an interim final rule (IFR) – on AI chips, published on January 13, just days before the inauguration of President Trump.

This has not been debated in the US Congress, as the Department of Commerce has the authority to issue and enforce export control regulations under existing laws.

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Intel: The Market Awaits Bigger News

Intel: The Market Awaits Bigger News

By Bolaji Ojo

Soon, the electronics world will be treated to a special news conference to be hosted by Intel Corp. When this event will take place is uncertain, but it will hopefully occur soon. What we are certain about is that it will be more consequential and involve more than what the semiconductor supplier announced this week.

Intel Capital is being set free, the company said. As an independent firm, Intel Capital “will have the flexibility to attract external capital,” the press statement noted.

That wasn’t the news anyone was expecting to hear from Intel, hence the flaccid market response.  However, “this step supports our broader strategy to maximize the value of our assets while driving greater focus and efficiency across the business,” David Zinsner, interim co-CEO and CFO of Intel said, in a statement.

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Russian Kosmos 2553: Scientific Satellite or Weapon of Mass Destruction?

Russian Kosmos 2553: Scientific Satellite or Weapon of Mass Destruction?

By Steve Taranovich

What’s at stake:

Global powers are increasing their space-based capabilities over the next decade to secure their defense and economic interests. Creating a free-for-all environment presents unacceptable risks to global stability. Has Russia triggered the rush for unfettered space-based weapons systems?

Why did Russian Aerospace Forces launch the Kosmos 2553 satellite (to a highly unusual trajectory in a lonely orbit at 1,240 miles above the Earth) on February 5, 2022? Moscow tells the world they are testing their latest onboard instruments and systems. Given the lack of transparency about such programs, however, I am skeptical.

The United States Space Command is very interested in this Soviet satellite as it orbits the Earth every two hours in a “graveyard” orbit, a.k.a. the high-radiation “Van Allen belt,” a band where disposal or junk typically orbit, outside of common operational orbits.

Kosmos 2553 shares this particular orbit with 10 “dead” satellites that have floated within the belt for many years. The rarely used, high-radiation Van Allen belt circles planet Earth and satellites here eventually fall into the stratosphere and burn up. Why would Moscow put Kosmos 2553 in such an orbit around our planet?

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