Nissan & Honda Merger Talks, Micron Earnings, TikTok Supreme Court Challenge, & More Tech News

SandboxAQ, an AI solutions company, secured $300 million in funding to develop AI models for applications in drug discovery, navigation, and medical devices.

### Merging Giants: Nissan and Honda's Potential Alliance Amidst Tech and Market Dynamics
* 🚗 Nissan is in talks with Honda for a merger that could form the **world's third-largest automaker**, enhancing competition against Toyota and Tesla in the **electric vehicle (EV) market**.
* 📈 The discussions were reportedly spurred by Foxconn's interest in **acquiring a stake in Nissan**, reflecting a broader strategy among Japanese firms to **resist international investment pressures**.
* ⚡ The merger could significantly **bolster Nissan's offerings in hybrids**, an area where they have struggled, while Honda's strengths could provide a **competitive edge in the U.S. market**.
* 📊 Meanwhile, Micron's earnings report is highly anticipated, with analysts keen to see if **AI demand will translate into growth**, especially in **high-bandwidth memory sectors**.
* 💡 DataBricks has reached a valuation of **$62 billion** following a new funding round, signaling **strong market confidence in AI applications** across various industries.
* 🧑 The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear TikTok's challenge against a potential ban, with implications for the **broader tech industry amid rising tensions with China**.
* 📉 The Biden administration is also investigating older semiconductor chips from China, aiming to **protect U.S. competitiveness in the tech sector**, while tariffs on these chips could **increase**.
* 🔍 As the semiconductor landscape evolves, companies like MicroStrategy are actively raising capital to invest in Bitcoin, highlighting the **ongoing interplay between tech innovations and market strategies**.

>> THIS IS BLOOMBERG TECHNOLOGY
WITH CAROLINE HYDE AND ED LUDLOW. CAROLINE:
COMING UP, NISSAN IN TALKS TO MERGE WITH HONDA.
WHY TECH GIANT FOXCONN CATALYZED

THE AUTO DEAL DISCUSSIONS.
PLUS, DATA BRICKS' VALUATION RISES TO $62 BILLION.
AND ALL EYES ON MICRON EARNINGS AFTER THE CLOSING BELL. CAN AI DEMAND DELIVER?

WE ARE FLAT ON THE DAY WHEN IT
COMES TO THE NASDAQ 100. LET'S LOOK AT KEY ADDITIONS.
FROM A POINTS PERSPECTIVE, IT IS ALL ABOUT NVIDIA.
THAT ADDS WHOPPING AMOUNTS IN

TERMS OF MARKET CAPITALIZATION.
IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO OFFSET SOME OF THE DRAGS.
QUALCOMM SOLD OFF FOR THE SECOND STRAIGHT DAY.
PROFIT-TAKING IS STILL WHAT WE WATCH WHEN WE'RE LOOKING AT
BROADCOM.

CHIPMAKERS STEPPING ON MICRON.
CAN WE SEE HIGH-BANDWIDTH MEMORY DELIVER?
CAN AI DEMAND DELIVER FROM MICRON?
LET'S GET TO THIS KEY STORY OF THE DAY, THE MERGER DISCUSSIONS.
NISSAN IN TALKS WITH HONDA, AND

IT WOULD BE A DEAL THAT COULD
CREATE THE WORLD'S THIRD-LARGEST AUTOMAKER WITH A
BETTER CHANCE TO COMPETE WITH TOYOTA AND TESLA IN THE EV SPACE.

The discussion between the two may have accelerated after Foxconn actually approached Nissan about taking a stake. Japanese companies are trying to fend off international investors.

This is a case of a company that has been challenged for years, since the moment Carlos Ghosn was unceremoniously arrested by folks in Japan. There was concern within the government about the long-term

viability of this company, and I think a desire to drive them into the arms of Honda. I think Honda was reluctant, and perhaps Foxconn, with its interest in entering the auto

industry, its interest in particular in electric vehicles, knocking on Nissan's doors, is indicative of the sort of prospect that would only further alarm the Japanese

government. Caroline: I remember talking to Carlos Ghosn about the Nissan Leaf. He was upbeat about the scale of the market they had in electric vehicles, and it pales in comparison to Tesla.

How would the combined units be beneficial? Craig: It would help Nissan in a blank space, which is hybrids. A few years ago, we would have been talking about

Do hybrids have a future? Are Teslas the way of the industry going forward? I think we have seen this real renaissance, particularly in the U.S. market, but also other parts of the world, where it is clear

consumers are still not ready to pull the trigger on a Nissan Leaf or a Tesla. It has been the case that Nissan has had a lot of issues, but one of them has been the

complete lack of hybrids in the U.S. market. Honda has strength in that regard and would help Nissan to better compete if these were to combine. Tim:

I am not -- Caroline: I am not sure hybrids will help in California. Tell us what is coming from the Biden administration in terms of regulations compelling people to have EV, zero-emission cars. Craig:

California announced intentions to phase out combustion cars from 2035. To enshrine that and protect that, the state needs to go to the federal government and get

a waiver, and there is a precedent for this going back decades, where California, because of the unique issues it has had with air quality going back many years ago, there is

PRECEDENT FOR THE STATE TO BE ABLE TO SET ITS OWN STANDARDS SEPARATE FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, AND THERE ARE MANY STATES THAT FOLLOW AND ADOPT CALIFORNIA STANDARDS.

THIS IS A CASE OF THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION MAKING IT MORE DIFFICULT, ON ITS WAY OUT THE DOOR, FOR ANY EFFORT THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IS INEVITABLY GOING TO TRY AND TAKE A STAB AT

THE VARIOUS WAIVERS THAT CALIFORNIA HAS HAD TO TRY TO SET TOUGHER POLICIES FOR THE AUTO INDUSTRY. CAROLINE: WE WILL SEE HOW IT SURVIVES THE NEXT ADMINISTRATION.

A BRILLIANT ROUNDUP OF ALL THINGS AUTO AND EVs. LET'S GET BACK TO THE SEMICONDUCTOR SPACE. MICRON REPORTING AFTER THE BELL AS WELL TODAY. ANALYSTS LOOKING FOR GROWTH IN THE COMPANY'S HIGH-BANDWIDTH

IT IS ALL ABOUT AI INFRASTRUCTURE. A MAN KNOWS ALL ABOUT ALL THESE THINGS. A PORTFOLIO MANAGER ON THE GLOBAL TECH TEAM. YOU OWN ALL OF THE BIG NAMES WHEN IT COMES TO SEMICONDUCTORS. YOU HAVE HAD EXPOSURE TO THE

BIGGEST RALLIES OF THE YEAR. WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF HIGH-BANDWIDTH MEMORY, THE FOCUS ON U.S. CHIPMAKERS TO GET INTO THE SPACE? DENNY: WE HAVE WITNESSED THE LARGEST DEPLOYMENT OF ADVANCED

Semiconductor content ever in our history, and the reason that has happened is we have advanced AI over the last couple of years. Those advancements continue. We have really laid the tracks the last couple of years with free

training of all of these models from OpenAI, from Google. What is interesting is we are making the transition from what we have seen with these models to reasoning, and that is a big deal.

Now we will start seeing the handoff in a material way from pre-training and training to inference and time-based inference. That should continue to be quite good for accelerated computing.

The mix might get different over time. As it relates to GPUs, custom ASICs from the hyperscalers, high-bandwidth memory, optics, it should continue -- Caroline: I am not seeing it in your

Global Technology Fund. I'm interested in what we see about the shift going on. Now people are moving across the software. Craig: That is -- Denny: That is absolutely right.

I think 2025 will be an interesting year because you cannot put investment into data centers we have put in unless you start to monetize. We are starting to see the breadcrumbs over the last couple of quarters from a lot

OF COMPANIES, AND YOU HIT IT ON THE HEAD. THE APPLICATION SOFTWARE ECOSYSTEM, WHETHER THAT IS PUBLICLY TRADED VENDORS STARTING TO TALK ABOUT SPECIFIC CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE REVENUE MODELS, OR A TON OF STARTUPS

THAT ARE RACING TO DISRUPT THE EXISTING VENDORS AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS MULTITRILLION-DOLLAR OPPORTUNITY. THE SOFTWARE INDUSTRY OVER THE LAST 20 YEARS GREW TO $600 OR $700 BILLION

IN AGGREGATE AS IT EXPANDED THE SOFTWARE. BUT AS YOU START THINKING ABOUT WHAT AI CAN DO, THIS JUMP TO REASONING AND WHERE WE ARE GOING FROM HERE, IT BRINGS NOT ONLY THE SOFTWARE INTO PLAY BUT THIS LARGER SERVICES TAM

THAT CAN BE ATTACKED BY AI, AND THAT SHOULD BE REALLY GOOD FOR THE SOFTWARE ECOSYSTEM. CAROLINE: HOW ARE WE GOING TO START TO SEE THE WHEAT FROM THE CHAFF? ABOUT 2020, FOR ALL BOATS HAVE

RISEN UNTIL THE SECOND HALF. WE STARTED TO PIT WINNERS AGAINST LOSERS. ADOBE COMPARED TO PALANTIR, THAT HAS EXPLODED BECAUSE OF THE AI OPPORTUNITY. DENNY: THAT IS WHERE WE ARE AT.

WE HAVE SEEN THE NARROWING IN THE SEMICONDUCTOR ECOSYSTEM IN TERMS OF THE WINNERS AS WE LOOK AT PICKS AND SHOVELS, AND THAT IS TO BE EXPECTED. EVERY TIME THERE IS A THEME,

LIKE THIS, YOU GET A RISING TIDE
LIFTS ALL BOATS, AND YOU GET A NARROWING OF IT.
THAT IS WHAT WE WILL SEE ACROSS THE REST OF THE TECH ECOSYSTEM,
INCLUDING SOFTWARE, IN 2025.

AS YOU SAID, WE WILL SEPARATE
THE WHEAT FROM THE CHAFF. COMPANIES HAVING MEANINGFUL
CONVERSATIONS WITH AI WILL GET HIGHER MULTIPLES, AND THEIR
GROWTH WILL ACCELERATE, AND IT

WILL BE GOOD NEWS.
THERE WILL BE COMPANIES THAT ARE CLEARLY STRUGGLING TO GET
TO THE RIGHT SIDE OF TIME. AS YOU MENTIONED, ADOBE IS AN
INTERESTING CASE STUDY BECAUSE

IT HAS BEEN A HEAVILY DEBATED
TOPIC IN THE INVESTMENT COMMUNITY FOR THE LAST COUPLE
OF YEARS, AS INVESTORS HAVE GONE FROM ADOBE BEING ON THE RIGHT
SIDE OF TIME, AS IT RELATES TO

AI, TO POTENTIALLY BEING ON THE
WRONG SIDE. CAROLINE:

MANY ARE TRYING TO PASS THE RIGHT OR WRONG SIDE OF THE NEXT
ADMINISTRATION. THIS WILL AFFECT SOME INTERNET
NAMES. WE HAVE BREAKING NEWS: THE
U.S. SUPREME COURT WILL HEAR

HAVE NAVIGATED IT FOR THE LAST
EIGHT AND A HALF YEARS. WE HAVE HAD A VERY HOSTILE
BACKDROP FOR THE LAST FOUR YEARS.
IT IS PROBABLY HARD TO GET WORSE. WILL IT GET BETTER?
IT MIGHT GET A LITTLE BIT

BETTER IN CERTAIN AREAS, BUT I
EXPECT IT TO CONTINUE TO BE A DIFFICULT ENVIRONMENT FOR
LARGE-CAP TECH. THAT DIMINISHES THE OPPORTUNITY
FOR THEM TO DO M&A, AND IT ALSO

WILL CONTINUE TO SEE AGGRESSIVE
POSTURES FROM THE DOJ, LIKE WE HAVE
SEEN WITH THE GOOGLE CASE. CAROLINE:

THE SUPREME COURT HAS ANNOUNCED
IT WILL HEAR TIKTOK'S CHALLENGE TO ITS U.S.
BAN ON JANUARY 10, JUST DAYS BEFORE THE BAN
OR DIVESTMENT ARGUMENT ON JANUARY 19.

WE SEE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR
SNAP. SNAP SHARES ARE FALLING. META SHARES HAVE BEEN PARING
THEIR GAINS ON THE NEWS. COMING UP, CRACKING DOWN ON
CHINA. THE LATEST ACTION BEING TAKEN
BY THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION.

THIS IS BLOOMBERG TECHNOLOGY. CAROLINE:
CROSSING THE BLOOMBERG TERMINAL IS THE NEWS THAT THE SUPREME COURT WILL HEAR TIKTOK'S ARGUMENTS ON
JANUARY 10 BEFORE A POTENTIAL

BAN ON JANUARY 19.
BLOOMBERG'S KAILEY LEINZ JOINS US FOR MORE.
THIS IS ALL EITHER TO DIVEST OR BE BANNED ON JANUARY 19, BUT
THEY MANAGED TO GET THE SUPREME COURT

TO HEAR THE ARGUMENT.
KAILEY: SINCE THIS LAW WAS FIRST PASSED
AND SIGNED INTO LAW BY PRESIDENT BIDEN, IT HAS BEEN CONTENDED
IT VIOLATES THE RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH EMBEDDED IN THE BILL OF RIGHTS AND THE U.S.

CONSTITUTION.
THAT IS THE LAW WITH WHICH TIKTOK IS PURSUING THE APPEAL
AT THE SUPREME COURT AFTER HAVING LOST AN APPEAL IN THE
D.C. CIRCUIT FEDERAL COURT OF APPEALS

WHICH VOTED 3-0 AGAINST
THE COMPANY'S ARGUMENTS, SAYING THAT CONGRESS WAS WELL WITHIN
ITS RIGHTS TO PUT INTO PLACE THIS BAN.
WE WILL SEE HOW THIS GOES ON JANUARY 10, JUST NINE DAYS
BEFORE THE BAN IS SET TO GO

INTO EFFECT.
THE SUPREME COURT DOES HAVE A CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY, THREE
JUSTICES OF WHICH WERE APPOINTED BY FORMER PRESIDENT
DONALD TRUMP, WHO EARLIER THIS WEEK, WHEN ASKED ABOUT THE
TIKTOK BAN, SAID HE HAS A WARM

PLACE IN HIS HEART FOR TIKTOK,
TALKING ABOUT HOW HE DOES THINK IT IS A PLACE TO PICK UP MORE
OF THE YOUTH VOTE. AT MAR-A-LAGO, HE MET WITH THE
TIKTOK CEO.

Interesting to see if we hear from the President-elect on the Supreme Court's decision to hear TikTok's arguments. Caroline: This is having market implications.

We see Snap losing market value. Also paring some of its earlier -- Meta also paring some of its earlier gains. All of this is in the context of U.S. versus China.

Biden will be announcing a Chinese semiconductor probe. Kailey: This is interesting. This probe will be looking at foundational chips, the older generation that are

the backbone to everything from cars to smartphones. Knowing this administration for the last several years has been putting into place export controls around advanced semiconductor technology, the things that go into

artificial intelligence. The concern this White House still has is that China, because it is still producing these older chips, is going to be able to flood the market with them

and make American companies less competitive. Already, this administration announced they would like to raise the tariffs on older chips from 25% to 50%. The feeling of the administration is that is not

ENOUGH TO ADEQUATELY PROTECT COMPETITION.
HENCE THE LAUNCHING OF THE INVESTIGATION.
WHILE THIS INVESTIGATION WILL BE LAUNCHING,
THE INAUGURATION WHERE JOE BIDEN WILL LEAVE OFFICE
IS JUST OVER 30 DAYS

AWAY.
ULTIMATELY, THE FINDINGS OF THE PROBE WILL BE LEFT
AT THE DISCRETION OF DONALD TRUMP AS TO HOW TO HANDLE THEM,
WHETHER TARIFFS OR OTHER RESTRICTIONS AROUND TRADE.
WE KNOW THE PRESIDENT-ELECT IS

NOT SHY WHEN IT COMES TO TARIFFS ON CHINA.
CAROLINE: HE LOVES THE WORD.
WE KNOW HE DID INVITE PRESIDENT XI TO THE INAUGURATION.
COULD A LOT OF THIS END UP NOT

BEING IMPLEMENTED BECAUSE DEALS ARE DONE?
KAILEY: THAT IS ENTIRELY POSSIBLE, AND IT IS A LIVE
CONVERSATION IN WASHINGTON AS TO WHETHER OR NOT THE
TARIFFS DONALD TRUMP HAS

THREATENED ARE JUST A NEGOTIATING TACTIC,
A WAY TO START THE CONVERSATION, TO EXTRACT MORE
FROM CHINA, A WAY TO USE LEVERAGE.
IT WILL BE UP TO HIS DISCRETION IF HE WANTS TO ACT,
IF THE FINDINGS CONCLUDE THERE ARE UNFAIR

TRADING PRACTICES CHINA IS INVOLVED IN
WHEN IT COMES TO THIS CRITICAL TECHNOLOGY
THE U.S. IS ALREADY HEAVILY INVESTED IN DEVELOPING.
WHILE A LOT OF THIS IS AT THE DISCRETION
OF THE PRESIDENT

Congress is consistently acting hawkish toward China as well. It is Congress where the TikTok ban originated as well. In the continuing funding

resolution released last night includes language related to outbound investment into China restrictions. This is something we are seeing across the board. Caroline: Now it is time for Talking Tech. The risk of blackouts will

increase for most of North America over the coming decade, according to a report by the grid reliability regulator. The report underscores utility challenges as demand is forecast to rise the most in decades.

Plus, a new court order issued Monday says TikTok must turn over its source code and financial data after claims from the Chinese tech company Beijing Network of Cues. The social media platform faces accusations of copyright infringement and

misappropriation of trade secrets. Meta's Instagram is expected to account for half of the company's ad revenue in the United States. Instagram is expected to top $32 billion in advertising

revenue, more than 24% from the current year. Coming up, Sandbox announces a new funding round. We'll be discussing the company's plans to use AI and

INNOVATE EVERYTHING FROM MEDICAL DEVICES TO CYBERSECURITY. CAROLINE: AI SOLUTIONS COMPANY SANDBOXAQ HAS CLOSED ITS LATEST ROUND OF FUNDING, RAISING $300

MILLION. RAISING $300 MILLION. THE COMPANY SAYS THE INVESTMENT WILL BE USED IN AREAS LIKE DRUG DISCOVERY, NAVIGATION, AND MEDICAL DEVICES USING ITS OWN AI TECHNIQUES.

CEO JACK IS HERE WITH US. HOW IS WHAT YOU ARE BUILDING DIFFERENT FROM THE LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS? JACK: GREAT TO BE HERE LIVE IN BOSTON. IN A WORLD OF ZOOM, IT IS GREAT TO BE HERE IN PERSON. THIS IS A NEW AREA OF AI.

WE ARE ALL FAMILIAR WITH LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS. MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE USING IT AROUND THE WORLD, AS THEY SHOULD BE. NOW COME LARGE QUANTITATIVE MODELS. WHEN WE LOOK AT THE MAJORITY OF THE BUSINESS SECTORS, THE

ECONOMY, CHEMICALS, ENERGY, FINANCIAL SERVICES, THESE ARE QUANTITATIVELY DRIVEN, NOT LANGUAGE-DRIVEN. THE MAJORITY OF OUR ECONOMY IS QUANTITATIVE RELATIONSHIPS.

AN EXAMPLE WOULD BE IN BIO-PHARMA. LET'S SAY WE WANT TO TAKE A NEW DRUG FOR CANCERS, FOR ALZHEIMER'S, OR PARKINSON'S. WE DO NOT WANT TO TAKE THE DRUG OFF A LANGUAGE MODEL TRAINED ON

Reddit and CAPTCHA pictures, but we can use large language models to summarize scientific literature. When it comes to the quantitative relationships of creating the drug, seeing if it

fits that receptor and developing that throughout the clinical trial, that is a job for large quantitative models. The data is fundamentally different, the models are

different, the whole field is a new area. CAROLINE: How practical is it in its application? When you're raising $300 million, what is that for? Is it for talent, to drive the necessary improvements in the

models? JACK: The good news is we have now proven with customer after customer that it is having an impact. UCSF, one of the best places for biomedical work, is using our software to advance its drugs

for neurodegenerative diseases right now. This is having an impact today. It is having an impact on NVIDIA and Alphabet. It is running right now. These are quantitative models, not trained on words on the

internet, but trained on the relationships of chemicals and atoms in those dynamic relationships. It is having an impact right now. CAROLINE: You talked about a spin-off. It was a spin-off from Google, your

CHAIR IS ERIC SCHMIDT, AND WE UNDERSTAND THE WAY IN WHICH THE COMPANY WAS BORN. THEN WE LOOK AT GOOGLE QUANTUM, EVERYONE IS EXCITED ABOUT REAL APPLICATIONS FOR QUANTUM IN THE

NEXT FIVE TO 10 YEARS. IS THAT REALISTIC? JACK: THAT IS A GREAT QUESTION. WHAT WE CALL OUR COMPANY, SANDBOXAQ. A FOR AI, Q FOR QUANTUM. ADVANCED COMPUTING HAS TWO ENGINES:

THE AI ENGINE OF LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS, BUT NOW IT ALSO HAS THE Q. THE BREAKTHROUGH GOOGLE ANNOUNCED LAST WEEK, OUR COLLEAGUE ANNOUNCED THAT AT THE SANTA BARBARA CAMPUS OF GOOGLE. IT IS A WONDERFUL EXAMPLE

OF THE MILESTONES BEING ACHIEVED IN THE QUANTUM HARDWARE SPACE. WE DO NOT BUILD QUANTUM HARDWARE, WE *USE* QUANTUM HARDWARE. TODAY, QUANTUM COMPUTERS ARE VERY EARLY, BUT LAST WEEK, WITH

THE WILLOW CHIP, AS YOU SCALE THE NUMBER OF QUBITS, YOU CAN DECREASE THE NUMBER OF ERRORS. THAT WAS A CRITICAL MILESTONE IN TERMS OF HOW WE CAN ADVANCE QUANTUM COMPUTING. THE FUTURE WE SEE IS ONE THAT

HAS GPU AND --  QPU WORKING TOGETHER IN THE HYBRID CLOUD. THAT IS THE FUTURE, AND WE WILL SEE SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS IN THE QUANTUM HARDWARE ITSELF. CAROLINE: ALL OF THAT MEANS YOUR

APPLICATIONS BECOME MORE BROAD. HOW QUICKLY ARE YOU GOING TO BE MAKING MONEY FROM THIS FOR YOUR INVESTORS? JACK: THE GOOD NEWS IS WE ARE GENERATING REVENUE TODAY AND CREATING VALUE FOR OUR CUSTOMERS.

BE IT IN BIO-PHARMA OR THE CHEMICALS AND MATERIALS BASE, WE KNOW THE IMPORTANCE OF BATTERIES, NOT JUST FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES. THE BIGGER MARKET FOR BATTERIES

ARE STATIONARY BATTERIES TO STORE ENERGY FROM RENEWABLE SOURCES. WE MUST LEAPFROG BEYOND THE TECHNOLOGY.

THIS IS A JOB FOR A LARGE QUANTITATIVE MODEL. WE RAISED THE MONEY TO ADVANCE OUR INVESTMENT IN THE PRODUCT ENVIRONMENT. WE HIRE MORE PHDS AND SOFTWARE

ENGINEERS. WE HAVE QUITE A FEW READY, BUT IT IS TIME TO HIRE MORE. IF YOU HAVE THOSE SKILLS, PLEASE CONTACT US. CAROLINE: EXPECTING THE QUARTER-POINT CUT. WE ARE TOTALLY FLAT. UNDERNEATH THE SURFACE, THEIR

KEY CONTRIBUTORS ARE COMING FROM NVIDIA. LET'S DIG INTO WHAT IS HAPPENING ON THE CRYPTO SIDE OF THINGS. NOW THE RISK, AS IT IS TRADING -- WE ARE NOW AT $103,000. YESTERDAY WE MANAGED TO PEAK ABOVE $108,000.

WE ARE SEEING A LITTLE BIT OF MONEY COMING OFF AHEAD OF THE HOLIDAYS. MICROSTRATEGY DOWN. HEARING FROM MICHAEL SAYLOR EARLIER. WASHINGTON CONSIDERING CRYPTO REGULATION, HOW IT WILL ITERATE

COMING IN, MICROSTRATEGY IS BUYING BITCOIN, BRINGING TOTAL INVESTMENTS TO $4.15 BILLION. THE CHAIRMAN, MICHAEL SAYLOR, SPOKE TO BLOOMBERG ON WHY THE COMPANY IS INVESTING IN

ADDITIONAL ASSETS AND WHETHER HE WOULD CONTINUE A ROLE IN SHAPING NEW CRYPTO POLICY. MICHAEL: I HAVE MET WITH A LOT OF PEOPLE IN THE INCOMING ADMINISTRATION, BUT I CANNOT COMMENT FURTHER THAN THAT.

KATIE: I WAS GOING TO ASK YOU ABOUT PLANS, BUT INSTEAD, I WILL ASK YOU ABOUT WHETHER YOU WOULD BE WILLING TO SERVE IN THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IN ANY CAPACITY. BLOOMBERG HAS REPORTED THERE COULD BE A CRYPTO ADVISORY

Nissan, Honda Explore Merger, Databricks' $62B Valuation | Bloomberg Technology

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Bloomberg Technology

Discussion of Nissan's potential merger with Honda, catalyzed by Foxconn's interest in Nissan, and its implications for the global auto market.

Nissan and Honda are in merger talks, potentially creating the world's third-largest automaker.

The merger aims to strengthen their position against Toyota and Tesla in the EV market.

Foxconn's approach to Nissan prompted the merger discussions, reflecting Japanese companies' efforts to resist foreign investment.

Concerns about Nissan's long-term viability and the Japanese government's desire for a domestic merger played a role.

The merger would benefit Nissan by adding Honda's hybrid technology to its portfolio.

Analysis of the semiconductor industry, focusing on Micron's upcoming earnings report and the impact of AI demand on high-bandwidth memory.

Micron's earnings report is anticipated, with a focus on growth in high-bandwidth memory driven by AI infrastructure.

The discussion highlights the significant deployment of advanced semiconductor content due to AI advancements.

The transition from AI model training to inference and its implications for accelerated computing are discussed.

The shift in focus from hardware to software applications within the AI ecosystem is noted.

The discussion touches on identifying winners and losers within the software ecosystem, using Adobe and Palantir as examples.

Breaking news regarding TikTok's Supreme Court challenge to its US ban, alongside analysis of the Biden administration's actions against China.

The Supreme Court will hear TikTok's challenge to its US ban on January 10.

TikTok's argument centers on the ban violating free speech rights.

The news has market implications, with Snap and Meta shares reacting negatively.

The Biden administration is announcing a probe into Chinese semiconductor practices, focusing on foundational chips.

The probe's findings will be left to the discretion of the incoming Trump administration.

SandboxAQ's recent funding round and its plans to use AI in various sectors, including drug discovery and medical devices.

SandboxAQ raised $300 million in funding to develop AI solutions in various sectors.

The company focuses on large quantitative models, contrasting with large language models.

The company's AI applications are discussed, highlighting their practical use in bio-pharma and other quantitative fields.

The discussion explores the potential of quantum computing and its integration with AI in the future.

SandboxAQ's current revenue generation and future plans for investment and talent acquisition are mentioned.