Seeking Alpha’s roundup of statements, announcements and remarks that could impact the technology sector.
- Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shareholders will have a chance to vote in November on whether the EV company should invest in AI developer xAI, which is majority owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
According to a proposal appearing in Tesla’s latest proxy statement, shareholders will vote on whether to authorize Tesla’s board to make an investment in xAI “in an amount and form deemed appropriate by the Board, to capitalize on the synergies between the two companies and strengthen Tesla’s position as a leader in AI, robotics, and energy.”
Tesla shareholders are scheduled to vote on the measure during their annual meeting on Nov. 6.
Known largely for its AI chatbot Grok, xAI also owns X, formerly known as Twitter. SpaceX (SPACEX), another Musk company, was part of a $5 billion fundraising round for xAI announced in June, committing $2 billion.
- The European Commission is fining Alphabet’s Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) 2.95 billion euros, or around $3.45 billion, for violating EU antitrust rules with its adtech business.
“Today’s decision shows that Google abused its dominant position in adtech harming publishers, advertisers, and consumers. This behaviour is illegal under EU antitrust rules. Google must now come forward with a serious remedy to address its conflicts of interest, and if it fails to do so, we will not hesitate to impose strong remedies,” said EC official Teresa Ribera, in a statement.
“The Commission has already signaled its preliminary view that only the divestment by Google of part of its services would address the situation of inherent conflicts of interest, but it first wishes to hear and assess Google’s proposal,” the EC added.
- Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) CEO Cristiano Amon said that Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) needs to improve its production technology in order for his company to consider using it as a supplier.
“Intel is not an option today,” Amon told Bloomberg TV on Friday. “We would like Intel to be an option.”
Qualcomm currently uses Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) and Samsung Electronics as suppliers.