 Elon Musk said Tesla's humanoid robot is the "most important" product it's developing this year after confirming that its Cybertruck is behind schedule. During a Q4 earnings call yesterday, Musk said the "Tesla Bot" could become more significant than the company's car business over time. More: - Tesla first revealed plans for the bipedal bot, internally named Optimus, at its AI Day presentation held in Aug. 2021.
- On Wednesday, Musk said the bot's first application would likely be at Tesla facilities, moving around parts at a factory.
- The 125-pound bot would rely on the same AI technology that powers Tesla's semi-autonomous Autopilot tech for vehicles.
- Musk has said he hopes to have a working prototype of the robot by the end of this year.
Tesla earnings: - Tesla reported record quarterly profits in Q4 2021. The company's $2.88B net income on $17.7B in revenue beat analysts' expectations.
- The company also generated a record profit of $5.5B on $53.8B of revenue in all of 2021. In 2020, it reported $721M in profit on $31.5B in sales.
- Tesla won't introduce any new models in 2022 and will instead focus on scaling output of its current vehicles, Musk confirmed. He hopes to increase deliveries by more than 50%.
- Musk noted that the Tesla Cybertruck pickup, Roadster supercar, and Semi tractor-trailer are behind schedule but will “hopefully” go into production in 2023.
ELECTREK 
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Apple intends to roll out a feature that would enable small businesses to accept contactless payments on iPhones without added hardware. The tap-to-pay feature is expected to turn iPhones into payment terminals. More: - Businesses would be able to accept credit/debit card payments directly from the iPhone's built-in NFC (near field communications) chip without the need for external third-party hardware.
- That hardware is often provided by Block-owned Square, which dominates the market for the technology.
- Apple's tech will also rely on contactless NFC technology, similar to Apple Pay. It's unclear if it will roll out as part of Apple Pay.
- The rollout has been anticipated after Apple acquired contactless payment startup Mobeewave for $100M in 2020.
- Bloomberg reports that the software update is expected "in the coming months," potentially with iOS 15.4.
- Apple released iOS 15.3 to the public today. It includes bug fixes along with security and performance upgrades.
BLOOMBERG
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 Samsung Electronics reported record revenue in Q4 2021, driven by strong sales of smartphones, TVs, and consumer appliances. The Korean tech giant's revenue for the three-month period rose 24%, reaching a record 76.6 trillion won (~$63.6B). More: - Samsung also reported a record high of 279.6 trillion won ($232.5B) in revenue for the entirety of 2021.
- Despite supply-chain challenges, Samsung's semiconductor business grew 52% YoY, boosted by its memory chips.
- It reported 43.6 trillion won ($36.3B) in capital expenditure for semiconductors in 2021, exceeding the investments of rivals.
- In 2021, Samsung overtook Intel as the largest chip maker by revenue, which it also achieved in 2017 and 2018.
- Samsung announced plans to unveil its latest flagship Galaxy S22 smartphones at an event on Feb. 9.
- The company is targeting more 5G-capable models in 2022.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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 Valve intends to start shipping its first Steam Deck handheld gaming PCs to preorder customers on Feb. 28. The company is still accepting reservations for the Switch-like Steam Deck, with current orders expected after Q2 2022. More: - Steam plans to email the first reservation holders on Feb. 25 and give them three days to purchase the console.
- Valve said it will release new order email batches to those who have made reservations on a weekly basis.
- The portable device, announced in July, allows Steam users to play PC games from their libraries.
- The company shipped hundreds of units to developers last month to ensure that their games were compatible.
- The cost ranges from $399 for the 64GB model to $649 for the 512GB model.
STEAM
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 Intelligent electric-vehicle startup Jidu raised $400M to develop a nearly-autonomous robocar. The investment was led by Chinese search giant Baidu and its strategic partner, auto manufacturer Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. More: - Baidu and Geely had previously invested $256M in the joint venture, which Baidu Group established in March.
- Jidu is now set to unveil its flagship EV, a robotic concept car, at the Beijing Auto Show in April.
- Sales of the mass-produced model are expected in 2023.
- Jidu announced earlier this month that the first model will be powered by Nvidia's Drive Orin system-on-chip, which can process 254 trillion operations per second.
- It will reportedly have L4 autonomous driving capability, meaning it can drive without human intervention in most cases with the option for a driver to take over when needed.
INSIDE EVS
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Chinese regulators granted approval for AMD's $35B acquisition of programmable silicon maker Xilinx, paving the way for the transaction to close this quarter. The deal, one of the largest in the global chip industry in recent years, was first announced in October 2020. More: - China’s State Administration for Market Regulation cleared the deal under certain conditions.
- The antitrust regulator has requested that AMD not discriminate against Chinese clients.
- It also asked the U.S. chipmaker to maintain its supply of Xilinx’s products to China, among other requests.
- Xilinx specializes in chips known as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).
- The reprogrammable chips are often used in 5G telecommunications infrastructure, radar systems, and military communications.
- The deal is expected to help AMD, which specializes in CPUs and GPUs, to better compete with Intel's Altera FPGA business.
BARRON'S
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- The Meta-led Diem Association, which sought to create a stablecoin, is selling its technology to crypto-focused bank Silvergate Capital for $200M.
- Supersonic jet maker Boom will build a manufacturing facility in Greensboro, N.C., which would roll out the first commercial jet in 2025.
- The rebranding of the Oculus Quest VR headset to the Meta Quest is generating negative reactions online.
- Google may be working on gaming-centric Chromebooks with full-color RGB keyboards, according to recent Chrome OS code changes.
- Logistics giant DHL announced a $15M investment to bring Boston Dynamics' Stretch robot to its North American warehouses over three years.
- YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki revealed the platform has been piloting livestream shopping in the U.S., Brazil, and South Korea.
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 |  | Beth is an Inside Analyst and a former public policy/investigative reporter. She has covered AI, VR, technology, and e-commerce for Inside. When she's not busy writing, she's hiking in Arizona's desert, playing pickleball, or trying out new Mexican food recipes. |   | | Editor | Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is writing an illustrated book about climate change that will be published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
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