No single company or country can “effectively produce semiconductors,” said Semiconductor Industry Association CEO John Neuffer on a Center for Strategic and International Studies webinar Wednesday about opportunities for U.S.-South Korea collaboration to bolster global supply chain resilience. “For better or for worse, and by far for better,” semiconductors are a “global business with global supply chains, and the last thing we should be doing is putting up barriers to innovation in our policies,” he said. East Asia produces “the most sophisticated, the most advanced semiconductors” in nodes below 10 nanometers, said Neuffer. Taiwan produces 92% of those devices, South Korea the rest, he said: “Do we want to put up barriers to that kind of innovation as we’re going forward with our manufacturing incentives or our other policies? No, I don’t think we do.” It’s not the goal of the U.S. semiconductor industry to “onshore everything,” said Neuffer. “We’re trying to diversify our supply chains and spread out our risk.” The industry doesn’t want to “create an environment” that encourages “important players like Samsung” -- a “massive’ U.S. investor -- to stay “offshore,” he said. “We want to bring the innovation onshore. That creates more competition here and helps us ensure that U.S.-headquartered companies again take the lead when it comes to the most advanced chips.” Samsung didn’t respond Thursday to requests for comment.
PayPal will pay $2.7 billion to buy Paidy, a provider of buy now, pay later solutions in Japan, said the buyer Tuesday. This will expand PayPal's domestic payments presence in Japan, the No. 3 e-commerce market behind China and the U.S., it said. Paidy will continue to operate its own business and maintain its brand, it said. The transaction is expected to close in Q4.
BBC and Netflix will for five years develop and fund new content featuring "disabled creatives both in front of and behind the camera,” they said Friday. Their goal is to “widen the range of stories produced and give disabled writers and creatives greater choice when it comes to the sort of stories they wish to tell,” they said: BBC will take the lead in accepting “project submissions and pitches.”
"Zero tariff" mobile data packages violate open internet access rules, the European Court of Justice ruled Thursday. EU law also outlaws limitations on bandwidth, tethering or on use when roaming when using such a package, ECJ said. It defined zero tariff options as commercial practices in which access providers apply either no charge or an advantageous one to data traffic associated with an application or category of specific apps offered by their partners. The data isn't counted toward the data volume purchased, making offers more attractive to users. The case arose from a Vodafone offering that German telecom regulator Bundesnetzagentur found breached the EU roaming regulation and barred the operator from using. Vodafone appealed. The high court found that a zero tariff option such as the one at issue "draws a distinction within internet traffic, on the basis of commercial considerations, by not counting towards the basic package traffic to partner applications," in breach of the roaming regulation.
FuboTV subscribers can stream South American Qatar World Cup 2022 qualifying matches beginning Thursday. The virtual MVPD has integrated FanView so users can monitor stats and scores. FuboTV CEO David Gandler said Monday it’s the first time a company has “integrated live streaming television, free games and live stats within the same platform, on the big screen.”
Verizon will waive charges through Sept. 6 for calls to Afghanistan from consumer and business wireless customers, plus residential landline customers. Customers with international coverage plans can call the country without using any minutes from their time-allotment blocks, the provider said Tuesday. “During this time of need, customers need to stay connected with loved ones in Afghanistan,” said Ronan Dunne, CEO of Verizon Consumer Group.
Comments are due Sept. 7, replies Sept. 22 in FCC docket 21-321 on Univision's request for a foreign ownership declaratory ruling, said a Media Bureau public notice Friday. Univision seeks OK to be more than 25% foreign-owned to let its investors SoftBank and Liberty Global own voting interests above 5% (see 2107210046).
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency of the Department of Homeland Security launched a task force Thursday to collaborate with government agencies and the private sector on cyber defense. CISA’s Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative will “integrate unique cyber capabilities” across agencies and companies. It will design U.S. cyber defense plans, implement coordinated defense efforts and support “joint exercises to improve cyber defense operations.”
The U.S. needs to do more to protect against Chinese theft of American data, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., said at a hearing Wednesday. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., pushed for support for his Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale Act (see 2104210053), which aims to end a legal loophole that allows data brokers to sell Americans’ personal information to law enforcement and intelligence agencies without Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court oversight. It would end the bulk sale of data to foreign entities, Wyden said. FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson recently endorsed the legislation. Evanina Group CEO Bill Evanina, an ex-director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, told the committee it’s unnecessary for China to buy the data because it can be taken for free due to the lack of cybersecurity defenses. He cited Equifax and other data breaches. Warner expressed frustration that U.S. companies are “giving up” on American values to gain access to Chinese markets, allowing the Chinese government to collect sensitive information about Americans. Vice Chairman Marco Rubio, R-Fla., agreed China is using American “corporate lust” against the U.S.
Amazon threw its weight into Section 301 litigation inundating the U.S. Court of International Trade, alleging in a complaint Monday that the Lists 3 and 4A tariffs are unlawful under the 1974 Trade Act. It said they violate Administrative Procedure Act rules against sloppy rulemakings and are unconstitutional because only Congress, not the executive branch, can levy taxes. Amazon reported 2020 revenue of $386.1 billion and is believed now to be the second largest Section 301 plaintiff behind Walmart, which sued March 8. Walmart reported $559.2 billion in revenue for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31. Both companies are the relatively few among the roughly 6,500 importer plaintiffs to challenge the tariffs on constitutional grounds. Crowell & Moring is representing Amazon. Walmart’s attorneys are from Hogan Lovells. Both law firms sit on the 15-member plaintiffs’ steering committee formed in March to help manage the litigation.