← Tech Brew Ride Home
Tech Brew Ride Home
TikTok Deals? Visa Rules?
00:21:40
Once again, I THINK a TikTok deal is happening, so updates on that. Why lots of folk in the tech industry are worried about new H-1B visa rules. Might those annoying cookie consent checkboxes be going away? And why the real land grab in data center building is happening in Scandinavia.
Loading summary
Transcript5 lines
- [00:05]
A
Welcome to the Tech Brew Ride home for Monday, September 22, 2025. I'm Brian McCullough. Today, once again, I think a TikTok deal is happening. So some updates on that why a lot of folks in the tech industry are worried about new H1B visa rules, might those annoying cookie consent checkboxes be going away, and why the real land grab in data center building is happening in Scandinavia. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech all right, here's the situation with the TikTok deal. I think there is a deal. The President has said there is a deal, but at least at the time of this writing, I don't see the official confirmations of a deal that I would expect. So all I can tell you is things seem to be going in that direction of a deal, but I'm not sure we're at the end of the line yet. The White House has said that TikTok's new US entity would lease a copy of ByteDance's algorithm, which Oracle would retrain. Thus US users wouldn't need to redownload the app. Quoting Axios President Trump is expected to sign an executive order later this week to approve the proposed deal. The current plan would be for ByteDance to create a duplicate copy of the TikTok algorithm, which would then be leased to a new joint venture controlled by a US Investor group led by Andreessen Horowitz, Silver Lake and Oracle. Oracle would then retrain the algorithm and protect US User data. The White House official says that the Chinese government approved those terms during a bilateral meeting last week in Madrid. Several existing ByteDance investors remain in the dark, though, and even some sources close to the deal are unsure about all the specifics. The United States government would not have a board seat or equity stake in TikTok US although both were discussed at one point. The new board would make final determinations on TikTok US management and would consist of new investors, existing ByteDance investors and one ByteDance representative. President Trump said in a Fox News interview aired Sunday that the investor group is expected to include Michael Dell, Lachlan Murdoch and Rupert Murdoch. Axios is told Trump was using shorthand for a firm affiliated with Dell, BDT and MSD Partners and the Murdoch controlled Fox Corp. Andreessen Horowitz, Oracle and silverlake either declined comment or didn't respond, end quote. So there you go. That's what I know at this moment in time. Now, late last week, President Trump signed an executive order forcing companies to pay an annual $100,000 fee essentially per employee on an H1B visa, which is the most popular work visa overseas workers are on, especially in the tech industry. So you know, I don't like to wade into politics, but I have to with this one because this is a move that could significantly impact the tech industry. The White House has further clarified that the $100,000 H1B fee will not apply to renewals or existing H1B holders re entering the US only to future applicants in a February lottery. The White House press secretary later said the H1B fee is not an annual fee and it is a one time fee that applies only to the petition in the upcoming lottery. But over the weekend, VCs and founders were warning that the $100,000 fee will make H1B sponsorship prohibitively expensive, especially for startups big tech and thereby might drive Talent outside the US quoting GeekWire Currently, companies pay several thousand dollars in government fees and legal costs per H1B application. Adding a $100,000 surcharge per worker would be unprecedented. Now we're making H1B sponsorship prohibitively expensive. Cities outside the US like Toronto, Vancouver and London will pick up the talent, manny Medina, co founder of Seattle startup outreach, wrote on LinkedIn. Medina, who is working on a new startup recently relocated to London, qu to my founder friends stuck in visa limbo. London's doors are open, he wrote in his post. Larger companies could theoretically absorb the new costs, but startups with limited Runway and cash would be especially impacted. Early teams can't swallow that tax, gary Tan, CEO of San Francisco's Y Combinator, wrote on LinkedIn. Xiao Wang, CEO of Seattle immigration startup Boundless, said the policy would be a blow to H1B and could hurt the country's competitiveness. The US has built its leadership in technology and innovation by making itself the destination of choice for the world's top talent, wang said in a blog post. Policies like this, alongside growing scrutiny of student visa applications, make it harder for bright, ambitious people to come here and put the United States standing as a global leader in innovation at risk, end quote the new policy will likely be challenged in court, according to Boundless, which noted that the new visa fees can typically only be introduced either through legislation passed by Congress or through a formal rulemaking process that requires months of public notice and comment. Casium, another Seattle area immigration startup, added, this is an evolving situation. The proclamation is now in effect, but its real world application will depend on how agencies implement it, how courts respond to legal challenges, and whether additional guidance is released, end quote. Now among the potential impacts of this I'm hearing is the threat to the $280 billion IT services sector based in India, which heavily relies on H1B visas to deploy engineers to US client sites and also who has the most H1B workers among the big tech players. Quoting CNBC Amazon employed the most H1B holders, more than 14,000 as of the end of June. Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google had over 4,000 such visas, each among the top 10 recipients for the fiscal year of 2025. The announcement sent shockwaves through some of the country's biggest tech and finance companies. Amazon's immigration team advised its H1B and H4 visa holders to remain in the U.S. and for those overseas to return 12:01am Eastern Time on September 21, according to internal messages viewed by CNBC. JPMorgan Chase's law firm sent a memo asking H1B visa holders at the firm to remain in the U.S. avoid international travel until further guidance, according to a person familiar with the matter. Goldman Sachs told employees holding H1B visas to exercise caution when traveling internationally, based on guidance from immigration services firm Fragomen, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters. Microsoft has also reportedly advised H1B visa holders to remain in the US and for those overseas to return, warning that international travel could jeopardize their immigration status, according to emails seen by Reuters. This measure is likely to have humanitarian consequences by way of the disruption caused for families. Government hopes that these disruptions can be addressed suitably by the US Authorities, india's Ministry of External affairs said in a statement. South Korea's Foreign Ministry also said it is assessing the implications for Korean firms and skilled workers. You know how years ago the EU passed some rule and suddenly the whole Internet was plastered with those cookie consent banners every time you visited a website? Well, quoting Politico in a bid to slash red tape, the European Commission wants to eliminate one of its peskiest laws, a 2009 tech rule that plastered the online world with pop ups requesting consent to cookies. It's the kind of simplification ordinary Europeans can get behind. Cookies are a foundation of the Internet that allow website holders to collect information about visitors, everything from whether they've logged in with a password to what items they're looking to buy and therefore might want to see advertising about. European rulemakers in 2009 revised a law called the E Privacy Directive to require websites to get consent from users before loading cookies on their devices unless the cookies are strictly necessary to provide a service. Fast forward to 2025 and the Internet is full of consent banners that users have long learned to to click away without thinking twice too much. Consent basically kills consent. People are used to giving consent for everything, so they might stop reading things in as much detail. And if consent is the default for everything, it is no longer perceived in the same way by users, said Peter Cradock, data lawyer with Keller and Heckman. Cookie technology is now a focal point of the EU executive's plans to simplify technology regulation. Officials want to present an omnibus text in December scrapping burdensome requirements on digital companies. On Monday, it held a meeting with the tech industry to discuss the handling of cookies and consent banners. A note sent to industry and civil society attending a Focus Group on September 15th seen by POLITICO, showed the commission is pondering how to tweak the rules to include more exceptions or make sure users can set their preferences on cookies once, for example, in their browser settings instead of every time they visit a website. EU countries have floated similar ideas. Denmark, currently presiding over meetings in the Council of the European Union, suggested in May to drop consent banners for cookies, collecting data for technically necessary functions or simple statistics. End quote.
- [09:13]
B
I'm Christian McCaffrey, pro running back, and Abercrombie is an official fashion partner of the NFL. I'm not kidding when I say NFL by Abercrombie broke the Internet last year, and I think this season's lineup is even cooler. And so does my wife, who keeps stealing all my hoodies. Stay fit for the season and Abercrombie's newest arrival? Shop NFL by Abercrombie in the app, online and in store.
- [09:43]
A
Curious about the digital infrastructure that powers today's biggest tech? Then check out the Interconnected Podcast. It's a new series from Equinix that explores emerging tech megatrends and the infrastructure, making them possible through candid conversations with industry experts. The show breaks down highly complex topics in a way that's easy to understand. In the very first episode covering AI in the medical field, the hosts do a great job helping listeners understand the computational models and interconnected data systems powering today's most promising medical developments. From there, they reveal the connection between this infrastructure and the groundbreaking healthcare breakthroughs we're seeing lately, like rapid diagnostics, personalized medicine, and supercharged drug discovery. Stay tuned into the digital infrastructure powering today's biggest tech trends with interconnected Give it a listen and follow the show on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [10:39]
C
When did making plans get this complicated? It's time to streamline with WhatsApp, the secure messaging app that brings the whole group together. Use polls to settle dinner plans, send event invites and pin messages so no one forgets mom 60th and never miss a meme or milestone. All protected with end to end encryption. It's time for WhatsApp message privately with everyone.
- [11:02]
A
Learn more@WhatsApp.com Interesting raise time sources say that smart ring maker Aura is raising a $875 million Series E round at a $10.9 billion valuation, which is up from a $5 billion valuation back in November of 2024, probably because they have reportedly sold around 3 million of their smart rings just in the past year. Quoting Bloomberg Aura Health Oi the maker of the popular Aura Health and Fitness ring is closing in on a roughly $11 billion valuation after selling about 3 million rings over the past year. Tom Hale, Aura's chief executive officer, declined to comment on the company's fundraising process, but in an interview he said Aura has been growing like a rocket ship, adding that he has never had a stronger quarter in his 130/4 working in business, the company now has sold 5.5 million rings in total, up from 2.5 million through June of 2024. Hale said Aura is on track to generate more than $1 billion in RE revenue in 2025, doubling the $500 million it posted in 2024. Looking ahead, it expects sales to exceed $1.5 billion in 2026. Recent growth has been fueled by female shoppers, retail store sales, purchases made with Health Savings Account funds and international expansion. Aura launched its latest ring in Japan and Germany earlier this year and is planning further global rollouts. Today, the company sells its devices across 4,000 stores. The US military is Aura's largest business customer, with tens of thousands of service members using the rings for fat research. Still, Hale said revenue from that arrangement is a relatively small contributor to overall sales. Hale also said that Aura has widened its margins in recent quarters, though he declined to disclose profitability. The combination of hardware and subscription revenue puts us on a different level than most hardware companies, he said. About 20% of Aura's revenue now comes from subscriptions, he added. Asked about a potential ipo, Hale said there are real advantages to being a private company, pointing to the success of firms like SpaceX and Stripe. I don't want to say we're never going public, but I am also not saying we plan to go public or have made a decision to go public, he said. Compared with smart watches, fitness rings are still in their infancy and make up a small slice of the overall wearables market, though some consumers are choosing to use both. A common setup is wearing a smartwatch during the day and using the smaller ring for sleep or exercise. Tracking Aura remains the dominant player in its category, but competition is increasing. Samsung launched the Galaxy Ring last year to a tepid reception, while startups like Amazfit, Velia and Ultrahuman have also entered the space. Apple has also explored ring style devices in the past as well. End quote Another interesting raise will allow us to talk about something that I've been noticing, but we haven't really spoken about that much yet. Cardless, which lets Coinbase and others launch co branded credit cards, raised $60 million and projects annualized revenue will grow from $15 million right now to $150 million by next year. And that's what I've been seeing. Fintech is not only back, it's literally everywhere all of a sudden. I could do a story every day about some new Robinhood product or Neo bank product that blurs the lines of banking and investing and often includes crypto in some way. This is becoming ubiquitous. For example, here's an interview with Brian Armstrong saying Coinbase plans to become a financial super app that integrates its crypto offering with traditional banking services, quoting Coindesk, Coinbase intends to integrate services people typically get from banks and Fintechs and deliver them on crypto rails. He pointed to a recently launched Coinbase credit card that pays 4% back in Bitcoin as an early example and argued Card Network's 2 to 3% swipe fees show why payments need an overhaul. The longer term target, he said, is a comprehensive application that handles spending, savings, payments and investing, not just trading. Armstrong spelled out the ambition explicitly, we want to be a bank replacement for people. We want to be their primary financial account, adding that Coinbase aims to provide all types of financial services, not only crypto. He agreed with the framing that this amounts to becoming a super app, and said crypto rails make that feasible by offering faster, cheaper settlement. While building a super app is a monumental task that has gained momentum, Coinbase still needs to look out for rivals who might be fighting for market share. However, Armstrong isn't worried. Rather, he welcomes the competition. With new exchanges entering the US Market, including platforms launched by Gemini and others, Armstrong said Coinbase benefits from its head start. He argued that a thriving ecosystem is essential for mainstream adoption, and Coinbase's advantage comes from trust. According to Armstrong, Coinbase now stores more crypto than any other provider, which encourages customers to use its broader suite of services from trading to payments, he said. The ambition is not just to facilitate transactions, but to eventually become the platform people use as their primary financial account. Armstrong's primary account vision echoes remarks from Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, who asked at the all in Summit 2025, can we be your comprehensive financial platform and outline banking and wealth features as steps toward that goal? According to a Business Insider report, the comparison suggests multiple US Fintechs are angling to expand beyond trading into everyday finance. End quote. Finally today, remember when crypto was first ascendant and people were flocking to weird places and doing things like setting up their crypto mining rigs and abandoned power plants and near waterfalls and things like that? Well, according to Bloomberg, with this new data center land rush, it's the same thing, a search for cheap electricity, but it's even more massive. For example, power companies in Sweden, Norway and Finland are positioning themselves to benefit substantially from Europe's surging demand for data centers. Bloomberg Intelligence estimates that power demand from data centers in the Nordics could quadruple by 2032, with annual electricity consumption growth of 14 to 19%, outpacing much of the rest of the EU. Why? Well, it's colder up there. Key Nordic utilities Vettenfall AB, StatsCraft, AS, Fortem, Oige and Orsted AS are expected to see materially improved earnings as more capacity is built in cooler northern climates. These areas offer two big competitive advantages lower power prices, especially relative to central Europe, and naturally cool weather that reduces cooling and operating costs. Other favorable conditions are helping drive the trend. Plenty of available land, regulatory environments that are relatively favorable, and strong incentives, including for renewable power sources. Additionally, the climate lets facilities rely more on free cooling, which is essentially cool ambient air to reduce energy use. In short, the Nordic countries are increasingly attractive for companies developing these mega data centers seeking reliable, cheap, low carbon power. Utilities in these countries are expected to capture much of the upside from this. Who could have predicted the bottom final link in the show notes today is to my second AI content experiment. Remember when I did those tech history for sleep videos? I was like well I can do these because I know this stuff already. And so that made me think I wanted to see if I could create something credible that I didn't know about. Like you hear all the time that the potential end game of AI creation for content is for all of us someday to have the ability on demand to create content just for us. So the video I've linked to is a three Hour for Sleep style video breaking down every single episode of season five of The Simpsons. The behind the scenes of the production, the jokes, who wrote what, who got the guest star, what the guest star said, the whole nine yards. And yeah, I created something that I didn't know that I myself would listen to, something that I would listen to, and I gotta be honest, is very, very entertaining to me. Like, it is a niche interest, a niche topic, but it's targeted just directly to me. On demand. It did take a few hours to do, but I was like, AI, I want you to make me my dream behind the scenes documentary of the making of a classic Simpsons season. And it did it. Is it 100% accurate? Well, I took pains to prompt it in a way that I had to have it show work and sources. So I think it's good. Although of course I do. I don't know. All I know is it is entertaining. Hit the link and see what I mean. It did exactly what I wanted done. If you want to know if we are on the cusp of being able to produce ad hoc bespoke content for ourselves on demand, I'm here to tell you folks, we are very, very close. Talk to you tomorrow.