Top chipmakers, new robotaxis, Sam Altman vs. Elon Musk: Tech news

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Image for article titled Top chipmakers, new robotaxis, and Sam Altman vs. Elon Musk: Tech news roundup — Photo: Sam Yeh/AFP (Getty Images), Mario Tama (Getty Images), Justin Sullivan (Getty Images), Michael Gonzalez (Getty Images), Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images (Getty Images), Jose Sarmento Matos/Bloomberg (Getty Images), Mengyu Annabelle Chih (Getty Images), Image: NurPhoto / Contributor (Getty Images), Apptronik, Illustration: Justin Sullivan / Staff (Getty Images)

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The top 6 chip producers in the world by revenue share

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company factory in Taichung, Taiwan on March 25, 2021.

Photo: Sam Yeh/AFP (Getty Images)

Chip foundries are responsible for producing a critical part of every piece of technology in the world.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM) is perhaps the most well-known chip manufacturer, known for fabricating advanced chips designed by Nvidia (NVDA) and Apple (AAPL). The Taiwan-based chipmaker has a 92% share in advanced AI chip production, according to data from Boston Consulting Group, cited by JPMorgan (JPM).

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The next big robotaxi push is almost here

A Waymo robotaxi operates without a driver in Los Angeles, CA.

Most Americans aren’t sold on driverless cars or robotaxis, but they’re coming anyways; Tesla (TSLA), Uber (UBER), and Lyft (LYFT) are betting on it.

The last big driverless-car hype cycle centered on rollouts from Waymo (GOOGL) and Cruise (GM) in the San Francisco Bay Area. Their fleet of robotaxis dominated headlines, as the sudden influx of autonomous vehicles divided residents over pedestrian safety and job automation. A deadly collision with a GM-backed Cruise robotaxi in Oct. 2023 heightened regulatory scrutiny and the company eventually exited the robotaxi business altogether

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Sam Altman to Elon Musk: ‘OpenAI is not for sale’

Sam Altman speaking with his hands up — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI DevDay on November 6, 2023 in San Francisco, California.

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has responded to Elon Musk’s offer to buy the artificial intelligence startup’s assets by saying it’s not for sale.

“OpenAI is not for sale,” Altman told Axios during the AI Action Summit in Paris. “OpenAI’s mission is not for sale — to say nothing of the fact that, like, a competitor who is not able to beat us in the market and you know, instead is just trying to say, like, ‘I’m gonna buy this’ with total disregard for the mission is a likely path there.”

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T-Mobile will let anyone send messages using Starlink for free — even Verizon and AT&T customers

SpaceX founder Elon Musk and T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert in 2022 announced a collaboration to work on providing cellular service using Starlink satellites.

T-Mobile’s (TMUS) direct-to-cell (DTC) satellite messaging service powered by Elon Musk’s Starlink is now free for anyone in the U.S., at least for a limited time, as the company looks to draw in customers.

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Apple just launched a major health study. Here is how you can join

IPhones 16 are seen in a store in Krakow, Poland on February 7th, 2025.

Apple (AAPL) just launched a new major health study looking at how technology can help improve users’ physical and mental health, as well as overall well-being.

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OpenAI may be trying to wean itself off Nvidia

"Open AI CEO Sam Altman speaks during a talk session with SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son at an event titled "Transforming Business through AI" in Tokyo, Japan, on February 03, 2025. SoftBank and OpenAI announced that they have agreed a partnership to set up a joint venture for artificial intelligence services in Japan." (Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images) — Open AI CEO Sam Altman speaks at an event in Tokyo on February 03, 2025.

Like the broader artificial intelligence sector, OpenAI relies on Nvidia’s (NVDA) costly training chips to build tools like ChatGPT, but that could change — if OpenAI’s in-house chip design somehow pans out.

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A top Google AI exec says there’s nothing new about DeepSeek

Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis during a Bloomberg Television interview on May 7, 2024 in London, U.K.

Photo: Jose Sarmento Matos/Bloomberg (Getty Images)

Despite rattling global tech stocks with competitive artificial intelligence models, Chinese AI startup DeepSeek didn’t introduce anything new, a Google (GOOGL) executive said.

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Google Maps now calls the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America instead

Google Maps (GOOGL) has updated the name for the “Gulf Of Mexico,” now calling it the “Gulf of America” following President Donald Trump’s order changing the name recognized by the U.S. government.

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A Google-backed startup raised $350 million to create a future where humans and robots are ‘true partners’

Apptronik’s five-foot-eight, 160-pound Apollo robots have been used to perform low-skilled work for Mercedes-Benz and GXO Logistics.

Apptronik said Thursday that it had closed its Series A fundraise at roughly $350 million, with plans to use the funding to scale production of its artificial intelligence-powered humanoid robots.

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Arm is making its first chip. Meta is already waiting in line

Rene Haas speaking in front of a light blue backdrop and wearing a microphone — Arm CEO Rene Haas at Computex Taipei on May 29, 2023 in Taipei, Taiwan.

Arm (SFTBY) is reportedly making its first chip — and counting on Meta (META) to be one of its first customers.

The British chip designer could launch its first in-house chip by the summer, the Financial Times reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. Producing its own chip would be a massive change to Arm’s business of licensing its chip designs to companies such as Nvidia (NVDA) and Apple (AAPL).

Top chipmakers, new robotaxis, and Sam Altman vs. Elon Musk: Tech news roundup

Plus, a top Google AI exec says there’s nothing new about DeepSeek