EP 279: Government Shutdown Blues: Tech Impact and Economic Uncertainty

The Six Five with Patrick Moorhead and Daniel Newman

On this episode of The Six Five Pod, hosts Patrick Moorhead and Daniel Newman discuss the tech news stories that made headlines this week. The handpicked topics for this week are:

1. AI Developments and Industry News: Recent AI deals going down, including Meta's $14 Billion infrastructure deal with CoreWeave and another deal between CoreWeave and OpenAI totaling $6 Billion.

2. Hyperscaler Strategies and Investments: Hosts analyze Meta's investments in AI infrastructure and capacity expansion and discuss hyperscalers' efforts to build their own AI chips versus using merchant solutions.

3. Microsoft's Commercial Focus: Microsoft appoints Judson Altoff as commercial CEO to emphasize AI in business applications. This move is interpreted as Microsoft's strategy to lead in enterprise software transformation.

4. Chip Manufacturing and Policy: A discussion on the feasibility of achieving 50% local chip manufacturing in the US and an analysis of the administration's efforts to increase domestic semiconductor production.

5. Custom vs. Merchant AI Chips Debate: Patrick argues for going all-in on merchant infrastructure for time-to-market advantages. Daniel counters, advocating for hyperscalers to develop custom chips for long-term control and profitability.

6. Economic and Political Landscape: A discussion on the recent US government shutdown and its immediate impacts. Hosts analyze the recent job market data, including its reliability and the potential effects of AI on employment.

For a deeper dive into each topic, please click on the links above. Be sure to subscribe to The Six Five Pod so you never miss an episode.