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The White House is reducing Intel’s CHIPS Act award by over $600 million. Initially set to receive $8.5 billion from the domestic silicon production bill, the company will get up to $7.85 billion instead. On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that Intel has extended some plant openings beyond 2030 government deadlines. However, the Commerce Department said the funding reduction was instead due to a $3 billion military contract Intel was awarded.

Intel posted its biggest-ever quarterly loss last month after announcing 15,000 layoffs in August. The chip-maker’s struggles have reportedly led some government officials to worry about its ability to deliver as a central component of the Biden White House’s CHIPS Act.

Intel will receive at least $1 billion in CHIPS Act funding before the end of the year. The company plans to invest $90 billion in the US by the decade’s end, a reduction from its initial goal of $100 billion in the next five years. The Commerce Department said the chip maker is still on schedule to invest the full $100 billion on projects in four states: Arizona ($3.94 billion), Oregon ($1.86 billion), Ohio ($1.5 billion) and New Mexico ($500 million).

One of the outgoing President’s landmark bills, the CHIPS Act is projected to create over 125,000 jobs across 20 states while spurring US silicon manufacturing and decreasing reliance on foreign manufacturers. Intel is the largest recipient of CHIPS Act money.

The Commerce Department has reportedly moved quickly to finalize awards with the bill’s recipients before the second Trump term begins in January. The President-elect attacked the legislation and its cost during his campaign, and House Speaker Mike Johnson said at the time Republicans “probably will” try to repeal the CHIPS Act. However, Johnson later walked back his remarks, and analysts predicted after the election that the legislation would likely survive.

Earlier this month, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s leading advanced chip maker, was the first to have its grants finalized. It will receive $6.6 billion (including at least $1 billion before the end of the year) for three plants in Arizona, which are expected to create “tens of thousands of jobs by the end of the decade.”

US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo has reportedly urged tech companies — including Apple, Amazon, NVIDIA, AMD and others — to work with Intel because the 56-year-old company is the only US-based logic chip maker. However, most companies were said to have rejected her pleas because “Intel’s chip-making techniques are not as sophisticated” as TSMC’s, according to a NYT report last month.

Although Taiwan is an ally and economic partner of the US, the Biden administration reportedly views reliance on it as “increasingly risky” as China poses a continual threat to take over the self-governing island. Last month, China held military “drills” in the sea and sky surrounding Taiwan as a warning after the island’s president, Lai Ching-te, reasserted the island’s independence in a holiday speech. The US State Department said it was “seriously concerned” about the show of force.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/intels-chips-act-funding-cut-by-over-600-million-184518662.html?src=rss 

Are you eagerly anticipating the next crop of games from Devolver Digital? Well, you’re going to have to wait a little longer. The indie game studio will unveil the nominees and winners of its annual Devolver Delayed Awards at 1 PM Eastern Wednesday on its official YouTube page. Devolver’s tongue-in-cheek awards show aims to honor “the brightest, best indie games you can’t play yet” and yes, Skate Story is still in that category.

It’s all part of Devolver’s satirical marketing strategy — like calling the event the “15th annual” despite the fact that last year’s Delayed Awards was the “first-ever showcase celebrating brands that are courageously moving into 2024,” according to a press release.

Devolver will at least tide us over with more footage from some of these unplayable games. Titles might include the minimalist brawler Stick It to the Stickmen, the story driven walking sim Baby Steps and the long-awaited ragdoll puzzler Human Fall Flat 2. The studio also hinted that there may be a glimpse of “something new” for 2025.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/devolver-digitals-delayed-awards-returns-wednesday-185754203.html?src=rss 

Japan’s Fair Trade Commission has conducted a raid on Amazon over antitrust concerns. “There is a suspicion that Amazon Japan is forcing sellers to cut prices in an irrational way,” an unnamed source told Reuters.

Amazon Japan received an on-site inspection by the regulator today to explore whether the retailer gives better product placement in search results to sellers who offer lower prices. Additional reporting in The Japan Times suggested that this inquiry is focused on Amazon’s Buy Box program, which puts recommended items more prominently in front of online shoppers. The publication said that in addition to demanding “competitive pricing,” sellers were allegedly required to use Amazon’s in-house services, such as those for logistics and payment collection, to qualify for Buy Box placement.

The Japanese FTC has not released an official statement about the inquiry. We’ve reached out to Amazon for a comment.

Amazon has also been questioned about anti-competitive behavior around the world. Stateside, both the Fair Trade Commission and the Attorney General of Washington DC have raised similar concerns about Amazon’s practices. The company is also expected to face an antitrust investigation in the European Union next year.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/amazon-japan-hit-with-a-raid-over-antitrust-concerns-191558080.html?src=rss 

There are a bunch of Black Friday deals on PlayStation products, but here’s one that was perhaps a little unexpected. The PS5 Access controller has dropped to $59, which is a record low price. It’s slightly over a third off the list price of $90.

Sony created this controller to make the PlayStation 5 more accessible to a wider group of players. It released the Access controller last December.

The Access controller comes with 19 button caps and three stick caps to help players find a configuration that works best for them. A button cap that takes up two sockets might be a better fit for someone compared with the standard one, for instance. There are 23 swappable tags for the button caps to help players identify which input they’ve mapped to each button. In addition, there are four 3.5mm aux ports, into which players can plug external buttons, switches and other accessories.

It’s possible to create as many as 30 profiles with different button and stick settings. Buttons can be disabled to avoid accidental presses too. Meanwhile, there’s the option to pair up to two Access controllers and a standard DualSense together as one virtual controller. That way, as many as three people could control the same character, meaning that loved ones and caregivers can offer some direct assistance to those playing the games.

Check out all of the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals here.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-ps5-access-controller-is-on-sale-in-a-black-friday-playstation-deal-174747478.html?src=rss 

Threads just announced that it has experienced significant growth throughout November, to the tune of 35 million signups. A platform spokesperson told Engadget that the social media app has received more than a million signups every single day for the past three months. To that end, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri announced 15 million signups for November in the middle of the month. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently informed investors that the app had over 275 million monthly active users. 

There’s one likely reason Threads is crowing like this. Rival social media app Bluesky has been rapidly growing and snagging a whole lot of positive press. However, it’s worth noting that Bluesky just passed the 20 million user mark, which my advanced math skills tell me is much lower than 275 million. Threads garnered 20 million users in around a day after launching, though it has the entire weight of Meta behind it, and both Facebook and Instagram display posts from the app to pull in new users. Bluesky basically has word of mouth and a collective seething hatred of X

Threads has also begun to copy some of the pre-existing features from Bluesky. The platform recently introduced custom feeds and the ability to change the default feed to people you follow. Mosseri admitted that it had started “pulling forward” certain features that “were already in the works.” In other words, it’s certainly feeling some kind of heat.

This tells me that Meta thinks there can be just one short-form, text-based social media app to rule public attention. Both platforms want to be the next X, now that X is a sludge-filled cesspool of grievance, pornbots and off-putting advertisements. The platform is also home to a whole bunch of Nazis.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/threads-just-announced-it-had-more-than-35-million-signups-in-november-175705975.html?src=rss 

American EV maker Rivian just announced that it has received a commitment from the US Department of Energy (DOE) for a loan totaling $6.6 billion. This is thanks to the DOE’s Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) Loan Program. This includes a principal loan of $6 billion and approximately $600 million of capitalized interest.

The company says it will use this money to “to accelerate its growth and leadership of electric vehicle design, development and manufacturing in the United States.” Rivian fans can guess what that means. The Georgia manufacturing plant is back on the table, after the company halted construction to save money back in March.

If finalized, the loan will support continued construction of its manufacturing facility near Social Circle, Georgia. This plant will be used “for production of the company’s midsize platform,” which includes the forthcoming R2 SUV and the absolutely stunning R3/R3X line.

“Designed, engineered, and built in America to deliver an incredible combination of capability, function, performance, and pricing, Rivian believes its R2 and R3 vehicle lines will be critical drivers in the company’s long-term growth and profitability,” the company wrote in a press release.

Rivian says this will bring around 7,500 operational jobs to the area, along with 2,000 construction jobs. The plant will be able to build 400,000 vehicles each year, which will support Rivian’s continuing expansion both in America and in foreign markets. The current plan is for the facility to be built in two phases, with phase one (accounting for 200,000 vehicles per year) going live in 2028.

This will not impact the manufacturing output of the company’s current plant in Normal, Illinois. However, that facility is reportedly not the safest place to work, so maybe it could stand to slow things down a bit.

The loan hasn’t been fully finalized yet, as the “DOE and the company must satisfy certain technical, legal, environmental and financial conditions before the Department of Energy enters into definitive financing documents and funds the loan.” The ATVM Loan Program is quite renowned in the EV space, as it is largely credited for saving Tesla from an early death all the way back in 2010. Thanks to that loan, Tesla can continue to create the internet’s favorite punching bag, the Cybertruck, and a bunch of robots that don’t actually do anything. No wonder Rivian has been posting outstanding preorder numbers.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/rivian-will-likely-receive-66-billion-loan-from-the-government-to-open-its-plant-in-georgia-164338924.html?src=rss