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In today’s newsletter: 

• Tata, Micron, Paytm bet big on Gujarat
• Apple cracks down on offshore crypto apps in India
• AI to supercharge Elon Musk's X in 2024

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With semiconductor chips and artificial intelligence (AI) being the flavors of the season, there is no way they could have not spilled into the ongoing Vibrant Gujarat Summit.

Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran today announced that the Tata Group will build a semiconductor factory in Dholera, Gujarat.

• Chandrasekaran also revealed plans to begin construction of a 20 GW gigafactory for lithium-ion batteries in Sanand within the next two months

Meanwhile, Nvidia announced its partnership with Yotta to establish an "artificial intelligence data centre" in GIFT City, scheduled to be operational by the end of March.

Noida-based financial services firm Paytm also plans to invest Rs 100 crore in GIFT City to build a global financial ecosystem. 

• The company also aims to streamline cross-border remittances by offering faster and more cost-effective solutions powered by AI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision to make India a global hub for semiconductors will be a huge economic driver as the country marches towards becoming the world’s third-largest economy, Micron Technology chief Sanjay Mehrotra said.

• In September, the US chipmaker held a groundbreaking ceremony in Gujarat's Sanand for the first phase of a $2.75 billion semiconductor testing and packaging plant

Of the total cost, Micron will invest $825 million (around Rs 6,760 crore), with the remaining amount subsidised by the government in two phases.

However, this rapid growth will be met with massive energy requirements that cannot be sustained solely through fossil fuels.

• To that end, Reliance Industries Limited has pledged to help Gujarat meet half of its energy needs with renewable sources by 2030

Similarly, the Adani Group also revealed plans for a Rs 2 lakh crore investment in Gujarat, with a primary focus on the development of a green energy park that would be visible from space.

The recent show-cause notices issued by the Ministry of Finance to certain offshore crypto platforms appear to have been more than just a warning shot. 

Apple's App Store has delisted some of the leading global crypto exchanges operating in India.

• These exchanges, including Binance, OKX, and Kucoin, were under the ministry's close watch.

These developments began unfolding in early December 2023, when, in response to a query raised in the Lok Sabha, the finance ministry published a list of 28 compliant and registered crypto entities

• The ministry then demanded that offshore players register if they wished to operate within the country

On December 28, the ministry issued show cause notices to nine offshore entities and requested the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to block their URLs. 

• This order took effect today, resulting in the delisting of the apps. Notably, Google's Play Store is yet to comply

Following the development, Sumit Gupta, co-founder of CoinDCX, announced the launch of a $1 million Treasury Fund. 

• This fund will offer a 1% bonus to users who deposit their crypto between January 9 and 18, 2024

Meanwhile, CoinSwitch CEO Ashish Singhal said that this move will create a level playing field for Indian exchanges.

Find out more

Social media platform X (which we all still refer to as Twitter) shared its roadmap for 2024. Unsurprisingly, artificial intelligence (AI) plays a central role in it. 

The Elon Musk-owned firm will increasingly use AI to power various user and advertising experiences on X.

Musk's AI startup, xAI, will also help X in surfacing relevant content to users through the 'See Similar Posts' feature, as well as an upcoming feature, 'See Dissimilar Posts,' which aims to encourage people to “challenge their perspectives.”

…is peer-to-peer payments that is expected to play a crucial role in Musk's ambition to turn X into an "everything app"

• Musk wants to position X as the go-to destination for users to manage their entire financial world

X also claims that it is now a "video-first" platform as it looks to woo creators, challenging YouTube and Instagram.

• The firm announced three new shows with former CNN anchor Don Lemon, former US congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and sports radio commentator Jim Rome earlier today 

People watched 130 years’ worth of videos that are 30 minutes or longer in December 2023, X claimed.

The pitch is aimed at marketers, following a major advertiser exodus in the past few months after Musk's recent endorsement of antisemitic posts.

• Advertising sales, which still account for a major part of the company's revenues, are reportedly projected to fall to about $2.5 billion in 2023.

To shore up its advertising revenue, X is now reportedly wooing small and medium-sized businesses as well as eyeing political ad spends ahead of the forthcoming elections across several countries.

Go deeper

• Former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal has raised $30 million in funding led by Khosla Ventures for his undisclosed AI startup.
  
  
• In a bid to compete with Nvidia and Qualcomm in future car AI chips, Intel is launching automotive versions of its latest chips and acquiring EV tech startup Silicon Mobility.
  
  
• Walmart unveiled AI search and re-order tools at CES to help shoppers find products by use case.
  
  
• Using AI and supercomputing, scientists have discovered a new material that could reduce lithium use in batteries by 70% and has already powered a lightbulb.

Flying cars are no longer science fiction!

SkyDrive, a Japanese flying car company, soared into the Vibrant Gujarat event, showcasing its futuristic sky taxis. 

• These three-seater wonders whip you 15 km at 100 km/h, plus they land and launch from rooftops!

But hold on, the plot thickens! SkyDrive CEO Tomohiro Fukuzawa is eyeing India, hinting at a possible local production plant. And Suzuki, a familiar name on Indian roads, has partnered with SkyDrive to develop "skycar" in India.

Who knows, maybe we'll see a fusion of this flying tech and the iconic Maruti 800 someday.

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