Loading summary
Transcript20 lines
- [00:01]
SailPoint Representative
Security tools miss what matters? Identity. Sailpoint unifies identity, security and data by detecting threats in motion and responding in real time. Transform risk into resilience. Welcome to the new era of adaptive identity driven by Sailpoint.
- [00:19]
Isabel Bousquet
Welcome to Tech News briefing. It's Friday, January 16th. I'm Isabel Bousquet for the Wall Street Journal. This week, Wikipedia is turning 25. The world's largest online resource has seen many technological changes over the years. But the rise of AI may be its biggest challenge yet. We're taking a look at how it's approaching this latest era. Then, the largest advanced chip manufacturer in the world is planning a massive US expansion. We dive into how and why Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, also known as tsmc, is expanding its manufacturing footprint in America amid growing geopolitical tensions with China. But first, today, Wikipedia is among the top 10 most visited websites globally. Its 65 million articles in over 300 languages are viewed nearly 15 billion times every month. That's according to the Wikimedia foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia. As part of its 25th anniversary, the nonprofit has announced AI content training partnerships with major tech companies, including Microsoft, Mistral, AI and Perplexity. They join existing partners such as Amazon, Google and Meta. Our producer, Julie Chang, spoke to the Wikimedia Foundation's Chief Product and Technology Officer, Selina Deckelman, about how Wikipedia is transforming for the Genai era. What do these partnerships entail exactly?
- [01:53]
Selina Deckelman
About five years ago, we set up a system, it's called Wikimedia Enterprise. And the intent here was to help companies, mostly commercial companies, but really anybody who wants to use our content at scale to have a more reliable system for accessing that data through APIs. And so with this, what we're doing is we're creating a separate infrastructure from the infrastructure that's supporting humans. Because the ways that robots access data, they're very different than the ways that a human being does. A human being might go onto a wiki page and look at the links on that page and click through and do what's called like a, you know, a Wikipedia rabbit hole, a robot. They're more interested in just like sequentially going through as many pages as possible. And that has very different impacts on the technical infrastructure. And so it's best for us to separate those things. So that's the intent. It's just an agreement with an organization for them to support that technical infrastructure.
- [02:59]
Isabel Bousquet
What is the long term vision for Wikipedia?
- [03:01]
SailPoint Representative
What comes next for you?
- [03:03]
Selina Deckelman
Wikipedia, it's weathered many changes in user behavior and major changes in search in the Internet in the past. Some of your listeners, they might remember when Google first launched the knowledge panels. That was in 2012. That resulted in a significant reduction in traffic to Wikipedia. And Wikipedia contributors who have a great sense of humor, they created a page called Predictions of the End of Wikipedia that catalogs the many changes to the Internet that people have said will cause Wikipedia to fail. So the approach of the foundation is to work very closely with our volunteers who have established a successful model of both content creation and article production that we have today. And we recently collaborated to produce some smaller scale viral videos on TikTok, part of a strategy that brings our creators to platforms that they might not otherwise go to to talk about their work. We also are investing in the on platform search experience, which, you know, I think it can be pretty easily adapted to be more natural language or chatbot like without sacrificing accuracy. But I just say like over 25 years we've stayed relevant through many tech shifts, smartphones, social media and streaming to name a few. And we've remained one of the most visited websites in the world because we have continued to be a regular destination for people who are seeking information.
- [04:35]
Isabel Bousquet
That was TNB producer Julie Chang speaking with Selena Deckelman, the Wikimedia Foundation's Chief product and technology officer. Have you been using Wikipedia more or less since the emergence of AI chatbots? If you're a listener on Spotify, let us know in this episode's comments. Coming up, why Taiwanese chip giant TSMC is betting big on a US Expansion that's after the break.
- [05:07]
SailPoint Representative
Security tools miss what identity. They can't see who is accessing what, when, where, why, or at what risk level until it's too late. Sailpoint adaptive identity unifies identity, security and data, detecting threats in motion and responding in real time. Because static security can't protect a dynamic enterprise, see what others can't stop threats before they spread. Transform risk into resilience welcome to the new era of adaptive identity driven by Sailpoint.
- [05:43]
Isabel Bousquet
TSMC has emerged as the world's dominant manufacturer of the high performance computing chips designed by Nvidia, Apple and others that are critical for running AI data centers. In its latest blockbuster earnings report this week, TSMC said it plans to spend a record of up to $56 billion this year to feed the world's insatiable appetite for chips. And now the $1.7 trillion company is planning for a massive manufacturing expansion. And in the US the move comes as part of a new trade deal between the US And Taiwan, but also raises questions about the resiliency of its Taiwanese operations amid geopolitical tensions with China. WSJ reporter Amrith Ramkmar joins us now to break down the reasons behind the expansion and what it means for American AI giants. Amrith, why is TSMC expanding in the.
- [06:40]
Amrith Ramkumar
US That's a really good question and it's a widely debated topic why TSMC is putting so much money into the US A lot of people say they're trying to be closer to its biggest customers like Apple and Nvidia and they want to be protected in case China decides to invade Taiwan. Other people say this is just how businesses operate. Right. There's a lot of risk in Taiwan potentially if everything you have, all your advanced factories, the that do the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing are on this small island. So it's a big debate about is this a big picture push for the company out of Taiwan or is this just some seeds being planted elsewhere in sort of normal course of business? At the same time, they're also trying to develop a presence in the United Arab Emirates. They just opened a fab in Japan. They're constructing one in Germany. And that is a big deal for the global economy. So that dynamic and that debate will be really interesting to watch moving forward. What are TSMC's true intentions here and is this a long term shift in strategy?
- [07:48]
Isabel Bousquet
Tell us a little bit about what the scope of the expansion is. How much money are they putting in here and what are they building with it?
- [07:55]
Amrith Ramkumar
They're investing at least a few hundred billion dollars in Arizona. And so some of this was already planned. They were expected to have around eight facilities in Arizona and now that will be up to dozen. And they're also in the coming years going to be bringing their currently most advanced production process, the 2 nanometer production process, over to Arizona. So that's also seen as a big win for the US after the government gave them billions of dollars in subsidies to build out this presence in Arizona and begged them to come so the US Wouldn't be fully dependent on overseas manufacturing. So it is a significant investment. The interesting part of this is it's part of a trade deal between the U.S. and Taiwan where Taiwan has said we'll invest over $300 billion or so in the U.S. that agreement is expected to be finalized later this month in the coming weeks. But TSMC's investment is the majority of that 300 billion. And a lot of TSMC's investment had already been planned. And this is where you get into this interesting dynamic where you have the Trump administration asking everyone around the world to invest more in the US and these companies that already had plans to invest a lot in the us it's not clear what's new here and what was already in TSMC's plans.
- [09:12]
Isabel Bousquet
And so for a long time people have felt like TSMC is so crucial to the global economy that China wouldn't invade them and that if they did, the US would intervene. Is that still the common thinking?
- [09:25]
Amrith Ramkumar
Yes. This is a huge debate now that TSMC is doing more outside Taiwan. Is the so called Silicon Shield you're talking about that keeps the peace there? Is that still in place? It's really like a 5050 split. Some people say that it's fracturing, it's changing a lot with all of these other fabs overseas and their plans and China developing its own capabilities. A lot of other people say though the Silicon Shield is Alive and well, TSMC's most dominant processes, its most advanced capabilities are still in Taiwan. Advanced research and development still in Taiwan, the talent pool still in Taiwan. Neither China nor the US want to tank their respective economies by messing that.
- [10:07]
Isabel Bousquet
Do we know how long it would take before TSMC could have a meaningful manufacturing presence outside of Taiwan?
- [10:15]
Amrith Ramkumar
It depends what you mean by meaningful. So they will definitely have a solid presence in the US and Arizona. Like they will have several fabs up and running at meaningful capacity in the next few years. That meaningful presence will still be a tiny fraction of their overall production globally and in Taiwan. So that's why the timeline questions are a bit tricky. But they are going to be investing a lot starting soon. They are still like opening the fabs that have been under construction that were funded with the 2022 Chips act and they could get more support for that down the road too. It is a meaningful deal for the US and these places that have zero capacity to go from zero to a meaningful amount of chips being constructed there.
- [10:59]
Isabel Bousquet
From the people you talk to, what was the thinking on how much of a role does the risk of a Chinese invasion play play in TSMC's decision to expand?
- [11:11]
Amrith Ramkumar
People said generally it's probably like a small to medium factor. Again, when you're talking about China potentially invading Taiwan. That has so many different geopolitical implications, other implications beyond semiconductors. There are other risks too. There are earthquakes. There are other things that could happen in Taiwan that could really create challenges for TSMC and the economy. So definitely a part of the conversation. But it's hard to parse out. Like what percentage is that versus other factors and normal course of business.
- [11:42]
Isabel Bousquet
That was WSJ reporter Amrith Ramkumar. And that's it for Tech News Briefing. If you're a listener on Spotify, be sure to take this episode's poll or leave us a comment. Today's show was produced by Julie Chang. I'm your host, Isabel Bousquet. Additional support this week from Anthony Bancey, Jessica Fenton and Michael Lavalle wrote our theme music. Our supervising producer is Katie Ferguson. Jessica Fenton is our technical manager. Our development producer is Aisha Al Muslim. Chris Zinsley is the deputy editor and Falana Patterson is the Wall Street Journal's head of News Audio. We'll be back later this morning with TNB Tech Minute. Thanks for listening.
- [12:30]
SailPoint Representative
Security Tools Today miss what matters Identity. They can't see who is accessing what, when, where, why, and at what risk until it's too late. Every new identity expands your attack surface, and with the explosion of AI agents across the enterprise, that surface has grown exponentially. But with Sailpoint Adaptive Identity, it becomes your strongest shield. Our platform unifies identity, security and data, detecting threats in motion and responding instantly. A living system that continuously understands who's requesting access to what, when, and at what risk level. AI makes decisions in real time, granting access when needed, revoking it when risk appears. The result? Reduced risk, less complexity, and a business that adapts as fast as the threats do. Sailpoint Adaptive Identity keeps you one step ahead across every identity every access point, every moment, every decision informed by who the identity is, the data they touch, and the security signals surrounding them, integrated in real time to deliver a complete picture no single system can provide alone. Welcome to the new era of adaptive identity driven by Sailpoint.