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1 week ago | 
semafor.com | Rachyl Jones
The US Federal Reserve decided to hold its key interest rate steady Wednesday, a move largely expected by economists as the central bank tries to navigate through choppy economic waters as a result of President Donald Trump’s tariff regime. The unanimous decision represents the third time this year that the Fed has taken a “wait and see” approach on borrowing rates as it balances its so-called “dual mandate” to keep inflation low and unemployment steady.
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1 week ago | 
semafor.com | Rachyl Jones
MANASSAS, Va. — At a recent Prince William County meeting in Virginia, 71-year-old Elizabeth Martorana described living in a development area for Amazon, Microsoft, and Google data centers: “It’s like living in hell.”Martorana’s retirement community sits within a few miles of more than 20 proposed data center parks under various stages of development, and is adjacent to a proposed AI campus expected to be the largest in the world once operational.
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1 week ago | 
semafor.com | Rachyl Jones
The US risks losing its edge as the best place in the world to work in tech, according to new reports. Top minds and big money are mobile, while the White House cuts federal science funding and discourages immigration. China’s ascendency has played a role. A recent paper from the Hoover Institution, a policy think tank, flags that some of the industry’s most exciting recent advancements — namely DeepSeek — were built by Chinese researchers who stayed put.
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2 weeks ago | 
semafor.com | Rachyl Jones
LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman, who was an early investor in OpenAI, called out Elon Musk for his attempts to prevent OpenAI’s transition to a for-profit company.
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2 weeks ago | 
semafor.com | Rachyl Jones
Autonomous vehicles have to be around 10 times safer than human drivers for people to trust them, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said at Semafor’s World Economy Summit on Friday. Uber is ramping up its self-driving car services by offering rides via Waymo in select cities. The rides are available through Uber in Austin, Texas, and are coming to Atlanta.
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2 weeks ago | 
semafor.com | Rachyl Jones
CoreWeave’s rocky market debut can be attributed to Wall Street’s lack of understanding of the business, CEO Michael Intrator said Friday. “We are bringing a new business model to the market, and the validity of that model is being debated every day in the stock price by a lot of people who don’t have a ton of information or a track record with the company,” Intrator said at Semafor’s World Economy Summit.
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2 weeks ago | 
semafor.com | Rachyl Jones
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi on Friday responded to a new lawsuit against his company brought by the Federal Trade Commission, calling the action a “head-scratcher.”The FTC filed suit against Uber this week claiming its Uber One subscription platform charged consumers without their consent and made it difficult to cancel. “We make it incredibly easy to sign up for Uber One, the value is enormous, the renewal rates are over 90%.
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2 weeks ago | 
semafor.com | Rachyl Jones
The head of one of the largest US defense contractors said Thursday that China is “closing the gap” on American military dominance, and added that her firm had engaged in talks with Washington for a contract to help build a proposed missile defense shield.
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3 weeks ago | 
semafor.com | Rachyl Jones
Marty Makary, Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said Thursday that Americans would welcome a move by US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to withdraw the government’s recommendation for children to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic, has reportedly weighed reversing the CDC’s recommendation. “Most Americans do not believe in the COVID booster shot for young healthy children at this point,” Makary said at Semafor’s World Economy Summit.
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3 weeks ago | 
semafor.com | Rachyl Jones
The economic uncertainty triggered by President Donald Trump’s tariff plans is a risk factor for most businesses, but WeWork’s CEO John Santora sees it as a chance to pad his bottom line as the shared office space company claws its way out of bankruptcy. “With all the uncertainty around tariffs, who’s prepared to commit to a 10- or 15-year lease with $50 [million] or $100 million spend?” Santora said Thursday at Semafor’s World Economy Summit.
