Intel said it's buying Israeli chipmaker Tower Semiconductor for $5.4B as it seeks to add capacity to its new foundry business. The move is part of the U.S. chipmaker's IDM 2.0 strategy that centers on making processors for other companies to compete with the likes of TSMC and Samsung. More: - Tower, formerly TowerJazz, has manufacturing sites in Israel, Texas, and Japan, where it makes 2 million wafers annually on behalf of other chipmakers.
- It specializes in chips for wireless communications, imaging, and power management.
- Intel said it plans to integrate Tower with its new Foundry Service division, which the company created in 2021 to make processors for third-party companies and governments.
- Intel agreed to pay $53 per share for Tower, a 60% premium on Monday's $33.13 closing price on the Nasdaq.
- In January, Intel said it plans to invest $20B+ in a chipmaking facility in Ohio amid surging global demand for more semiconductor manufacturing.
BARRON'S 
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 Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity Virgin Galactic will open ticket sales for space flights to the public on Wednesday. The 90-minute sub-orbital spaceflight costs $450,000 per person, including an initial $150,000 deposit. Virgin Galactic wants to sell 1,000 tickets before commercial flights start later this year. More: - Flights aboard the firm's passenger rocket plane VSS Unity will launch from New Mexico.
- The trip includes a Mach-3 boost to the edge of space, where up to six passengers will experience several minutes of weightlessness, the company said.
- Prior to the flight, passengers will have to undergo several days of astronaut training and be fitted with an Under Armour spacesuit.
- The company has launched four non-commercial spaceflights so far, including founder and billionaire Richard Branson's flight to the edge of space in July.
- Earlier this week, SpaceX said it plans to have its first commercial spacewalk as part of its Polaris Program missions.
THE VERGE
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Crypto lending platform BlockFi Lending will pay the SEC and U.S. states a combined $100M to settle claims related to its savings product, which lets customers accrue interest on their cryptocurrency holdings. BlockFi is accused of violating securities laws and making false statements about the risk involved with the accounts. It's the first fine levied by the SEC against a crypto lending platform as the federal agency seeks to crack down on some crypto-related services. More: - BlockFi began offering BlockFi Interest Accounts, or BIAs, to the public in March 2019. The product advertised annual yields of up to 9.25%.
- BlockFi said that it will no longer allow U.S. customers to open new accounts for its service, which offers high-interest rates on digital assets. Existing clients will continue receiving interest payments but cannot add assets or capital to their accounts.
- As part of the settlement, BlockFi must comply with the Investment Company Act of 1940.
- It plans to register a new replacement crypto interest-bearing security, called BlockFi Yield, with the SEC.
Zoom-out: - The settlement comes as the SEC and states have been investigating whether BlockFi and other crypto lending services are akin to securities that should be registered.
- A senior SEC official said that other crypto companies "should take immediate notice of today’s resolution and come into compliance with the federal securities laws."
Some of this information first appeared in our Inside Daily Brief, a twice-daily digest of the major news stories. COINTELEGRAPH
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The attorney general of Texas sued Facebook parent Meta for allegedly violating state laws through its now-shuttered facial recognition system for photo tagging. Texas is reportedly seeking financial damages that could amount to hundreds of billions of dollars. More: - Texas passed a law in 2009 making it illegal to collect a person's biometric data, like their facial geometry, without their permission.
- In the lawsuit, the AG claims Meta's Facebook failed to receive consent before collecting the facial identifiers of people in Texas, whether they were Facebook users or not.
- The company is accused of "tens of millions of violations." Texas is seeking $25,000 in civil penalties for each violation and another $10,000 per violation of the state's Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
- A Meta spokesperson said the claims are "without merit."
Zoom-out: - Facebook no longer uses facial recognition algorithms that automatically scan and tag users in photos and videos.
- In 2020, it agreed to pay $650M to settle a class-action privacy lawsuit that similarly accused it of using biometric identifiers without users' consent.
CNBC
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 A message from PASSBASE ~60M Americans have been affected by identity theft and fraudsters are only getting more advanced. In fact, as more business has moved online throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, cybercrime has increased 600% – whoa! That’s why it’s become even more critical for companies to have scalable KYC programs that can distinguish real users from bad actors. Our favorite resource on the topic is the latest e-book from Passbase that unpacks top approaches to fight fraud and protect customers without compromising on user experience. Their New Identity Playbook covers: - How identity verification (IDV) has evolved from passwords and one-time database checks to today’s modern technologies
- Comparisons between standard and best-in-class IDV across key customer touchpoints
- The questions to ask your IDV provider as you evaluate your solution.
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 China claimed more than one-third of the revenues from last year's record semiconductor sales, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). Despite the ongoing chip shortage, global sales topped $555.9B in 2021, up 26% YoY. More: - The industry shipped 1.15 trillion chip units in 2021, a new record, according to the SIA.
- Chip companies substantially ramped up their production to new levels to address continued high demand, it said.
- China's sales reached $192B. All Asian countries accounted for 70% of the total, compared to 22% for the Americas and 8.5% for Europe.
- When broken down by segment, sales of analog chips grew by 33% to $74B, followed by logic and memory chips, each of which rose 31%.
- The SIA predicts that demand for chip production will rise significantly in the coming years. It called on the U.S. government to fund CHIPS Act investments in chip research, design, and manufacturing.
CNBC
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 The 5G neckband with Lenovo's ThinkReality A3 glasses. Motorola and Verizon announced a 5G neckband that powers smart glasses and lightweight AR/VR headsets. The neckband makes it possible to offload some of the battery, processing, and connectivity to the device so headsets are lighter and more comfortable. More: - The neckband contains a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor and a 5,000mAh battery along with a gyroscope, GPS, SIM card slot, accelerometer, and barometer.
- The device is compatible with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon VR platform and Microsoft’s Remote Network Driver Interface.
- The company's R&D group, Motorola 312 Labs, developed the solution for the past year with Verizon as its "connectivity partner."
- Users will be able to use the device to connect to Verizon's mmWave 5G network.
- The idea is to add a portability factor to XR headsets, which often have to be tethered to smartphones or powerful PCs to power graphically intensive systems and apps.
THE NEXT WEB
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- Elon Musk donated 5,044,000 Tesla shares, worth around $5.7B, to an undisclosed charity in November, an SEC filing reveals.
- Instagram is rolling out Private Story Likes for sending likes on Stories without clogging a person's DM inbox with messages or emoji.
- U.K. financial regulators have warned banks not to deploy automated and AI technologies that could display bias in loan applications.
- Mobileye, Intel's self-driving tech unit, plans to launch autonomous last-mile shuttles in the U.S. for passengers starting in 2024.
- Microsoft Teams introduced new 3D emoji for all platforms.
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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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