This includes guidelines governing how the public and private sector collaborate, deploying AI in society, complying with both the AI Act and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), mitigating risks and reducing bias, scaling AI implementation, storing data securely, and training up staff.
Netcompany CEO André Rogaczewski said the provisions laid out in the white paper were primarily aimed at companies in heavily regulated industries, such as in financial services. He told CNBC he's aiming to address one core question: "How can we scale the responsible usage of AI?"
Trump initially floated the idea of an efficiency commission in September. Since then, Musk — who has called himself the "Dogefather" in the past and has been known to make public comments about the memecoin that influence its price — has posted on his social media platform X, referring to the commission as the "Department of Government Efficiency" or "D.O.G.E."
What is the EU AI Act?
The EU AI Act is a landmark law that aims to govern the way companies develop, use and apply AI. It came into force in August, after previously receiving final approval from EU member states, lawmakers, and the European Commission — the executive body of the EU — in May.
The law applies a risk-based approach to governing AI, meaning various applications of the technology are treated differently depending on the risk level they pose. It's been touted as the world's first major AI law that will give firms clarity under a harmonized, EU-wide regulatory framework.
Dogecoin gained relevance in 2021 following Musk's endorsement and continuous hype on social media, which has since become a big catalyst for the coin. In May that year, Musk's posts fueled dogecoin's rally to its all-time high of 67 cents, per Coin Metrics. Though his appearance at the time on SNL, in which he called dogecoin "a hustle," sent its price crashing down.
Though the rules are technically in effect, implementation them is a lengthy process. Most of the provisions of the Act — including rules for general-purpose AI systems like OpenAI's ChatGPT — won't materialize until at least 2026, at the end of a two-year transition period.
"It is absolutely vital for the competitiveness of our businesses and future progress of Europe that both the private and public sector will succeed in developing and using AI in the years to come," Caroline Stage Olsen, Denmark's minister of digital affairs, told CNBC, calling the white paper a "helpful step" toward that goal.
The rest of the crypto market was on pause from its postelection rally. Bitcoin was trading flat at about $87,000, after briefly touching $90,000 in late afternoon trading. Crypto stocks Coinbase and MicroStrategy were lower by 1% and 2%, respectively, in extended trading.
Netcompany's Rogaczewski told CNBC that pitched the idea for a white paper to some of Denmark's biggest banks and insurance firms some months ago. He found that, though each organization was "experimenting" with AI, institutions lacked a "common standard" to get the most out of the tech.
Rogaczewski hopes the Danish white paper will also offer a blue print for other countries and businesses seeking to simplify compliance with the EU AI Act.
Microsoft's decision to sign up to the guidelines is of particular note. "Getting Microsoft involved was important since generative AI solutions often involve algorithms and global tech," said Rogaczewski, adding the tech giant's involvement underlines how responsible digitization is possibility across borders.
The U.S. tech giant is a major backer of ChatGPT developer OpenA, which secured a $157 billion valuation this year. Microsoft also licenses OpenAI's technology out to enterprise firms via its Azure cloud computing platform.
Dogecoin jumped after President-elect Donald Trump announced the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency, or "DOGE."
Memecoins are seen as a gauge of retail interest and risk appetite in crypto. When memecoin activity ramps up, it usually indicates that retail investors are participating and have an appetite to speculate further out on the risk curve.
Mortgage rates continued to climb last week as investors considered the future of the economy under a Trump presidency. The mortgage market basically took a breather.
Total application volume was essentially flat, rising just 0.5% last week, compared with the previous one, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's seasonally adjusted index. While tiny, the increase marked the first rise in overall demand in seven weeks.
The company also boasted the benefits of employing its self-developed artificial intelligence tools, amid a broader global boom in the AI space:
"We are increasingly seeing tangible benefits of deploying AI across our products and operations including marketing services and cloud, and will continue investing in AI technology, tools and solutions that assist users and partners," Tencent said in an earnings release.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances of $766,550 or less increased to 6.86% from 6.81%, with points decreasing to 0.60 from 0.68, including the origination fee, for loans with a 20% down payment.
"Mortgage rates continued to increase last week, driven by higher Treasury yields as financial markets digested the likely impacts of a Trump presidency," said Joel Kan, the Mortgage Bankers Association's deputy chief economist. "The Federal Reserve's 25-basis-point rate cut was already anticipated and did little to move the markets."
The company said that search within the Weixin app saw growth in commercial queries and click-through rates, thanks to large language model capabilities.
In June, Tencent upgraded an advertising feature that uses AI to select or help create targeted ads that sit inside articles and videos based inside its messaging app. That update drove a nine-fold increase from last year in the number of accounts using the feature — to more than 200,000 users, according to the company.
Applications to refinance a home loan, which are most sensitive to weekly moves in interest rates, fell 2% for the week to the lowest level since May. They were, however, 43% higher than the same week one year ago. Last year at that time, mortgage rates were 75 basis points higher.
Applications for a mortgage to purchase a home rose 2% for the week and were 1% higher than the same week one year ago. Homebuyers may be looking at lower rates than last year, but they are also seeing higher home prices. Meanwhile, the supply of homes for sale remains lean.
Tencent has sought to build up its short video accounts and mini-program e-commerce offerings to compete with ByteDance's Douyin — the local version of TikTok — and major online shopping platforms.
In the third quarter, Tencent said mini programs' gross merchandise value — an industry measure of sales over time— expanded by the "high teens" from a year ago to more than 2 trillion yuan, as people used the app for help with ordering food, electric vehicle charging and medical services.
Kan noted that applications for loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs helped drive stronger purchase activity, increasing 3% and 9%, respectively.
"FHA mortgage rates bucked the overall trend and were lower over the week, which likely helped some borrowers," Kan said. "Conventional purchase applications were also up slightly."
Mortgage rates moved higher this Tuesday; the bond market was closed Monday for the Veterans Day holiday.
"The market continues to work through election-related volatility," wrote Matthew Graham, chief operating officer at Mortgage News Daily. "That involves a complex set of considerations. Some of them have to do with actual expectations for changes in fiscal policy in the coming years. Some of the considerations are as simple as traders going through the process of exiting (and re-setting) trading positions heading into the election."
pecial counsel Jack Smith and his team plan to resign before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, a source familiar with the matter said.
Smith’s office was evaluating the best path for winding down its work on the two outstanding federal criminal cases against Trump, as the Justice Department’s longstanding position is that it cannot charge a sitting president with a crime.
The New York Times first reported Smith will step down.
He predicted that Chinese and American companies will be competing on technology into the distant future and urged U.S. and European companies to collaborate to grow economies and bring new advancements like artificial intelligence to the rest of the world.
Microsoft CEO Brad Smith participates in a meeting at The Westin Palace Hotel, on 20 May, 2022 in Madrid, Spain.
Jack Smith, the special counsel who pursued two federal prosecutions of Donald J. Trump, plans to finish his work and resign along with other members of his team before Mr. Trump takes office in January, people familiar with his plans said.
Mr. Smith’s goal, they said, is to not leave any significant part of his work for others to complete and to get ahead of the president-elect’s promise to fire him within “two seconds” of being sworn in.
Microsoft has operated in China since 1992, according to the company's web page, including through its largest research and development center outside the U.S. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said last year that the firm wasn't focused on China as a domestic market, but that it provides services to Chinese companies and has a more visible presence locally than do many other U.S. tech giants.
Before Trump’s re-election last week, Smith and his team had taken significant steps in their election interference case against Trump. After Trump’s victory, however, the federal judge overseeing the case said she would pause the process to allow the special counsel’s office time to decide how to proceed.
The Justice Department indicted Trump last year in their investigation of his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. But Smith’s case was hindered in July of this year by the Supreme Court’s ruling that he has immunity for some conduct as president in his federal election interference case. In August, Trump was charged with the same four counts after a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment in the case following the immunity ruling.
Mr. Smith, who since taking office two years ago has operated under the principle that not even a powerful ex-president is above the law, now finds himself on the defensive as he rushes to wind down a pair of complex investigations slowed by the courts and ultimately made moot by Mr. Trump’s electoral victory.
Mr. Smith’s office is still drawing up its plan for how to end the cases, and it is possible that unforeseen circumstances — such as judicial rulings or decisions by other government officials — could alter his intended timeline. But Mr. Smith is trying to finish his work and leave before Mr. Trump returns to power, the people familiar with his plans said.
Asked about whether trade and tech transfers — or the movement of data, designs or innovations — with China will get more challenging as Washington transitions between the administrations of U.S. incumbent leader Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump, Smith it was too early tor know.
"The truth is, as an American technology company, we can do business in China only when we are offering a service that the Chinese government wants to have there, and the U.S. government wants us to bring there," he said, adding, "And in some cases they look at, say, a data center to support a Mercedes or a Siemens or a Starbucks or a General Motors — there seems to be a level of comfort. In consumer services, not really."
The election’s outcome spelled the end of the federal cases against Mr. Trump, since Justice Department policy has long held that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted for crimes. A Supreme Court ruling this summer significantly expanded the scope of official presidential conduct that cannot be prosecuted even after leaving office.
As he prepares for his last act as special counsel, Mr. Smith’s ultimate audience will not be a jury, but the public.
The Justice Department had also charged Trump in Florida with allegedly mishandling classified documents after he left office. But a federal judge dismissed the case in July, saying Smith’s appointment was illegal.
President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday that Elon Musk and former Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy will lead an efficiency group when his second term begins in January.
Trump wrote in a post that the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, will "become, potentially, 'The Manhattan Project' of our time." He also said the group would, "pave the way" for his next administration to "dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies."
One likely beneficiary of the funding announced Monday will be Japan-based Rapidus, a state-backed chip venture at the heart of the country's chip revitalization efforts.
Founded in 2022 by the Japanese government, Rapidus has backing from a host of Japanese firms— including Toyota Motor and the Sony Group — and is collaborating with U.S. tech giant IBM.
Trump didn't specify where cuts will take place or when the department may be formed. Congress hasn't created or funded such an office. He said the group's "work will conclude no later than July 4, 2026."
Musk's involvement in the envisioned group was previously promised by Trump and touted by the Tesla CEO, who spent an estimated $200 million backing the Republican nominee's 2024 campaign, as a reason to put the former president back in the White House. Musk, who also runs defense contractor SpaceX, has reportedly been stationed at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida since Election Night.
The company has already received over $2 billion in government support as it aims to mass-produce cutting-edge 2-nanometer logic chips by 2027.
Logic chips are used to process information and complete tasks within electronic devices. The most advanced logic chips are used in technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and machine learning.
Rapidus chairman Tetsuro Higashi has reportedly called the company Japan's "last opportunity" to regain a leading semiconductor position on the global stage as it looks to catch up with leaders like Taiwan and South Korea.
In the 1980s, Japan was the world's dominant chip player and occupied more than half of the global semiconductor market.
CNBC's Jim Cramer examined Tuesday's market action, saying the rally fueled by the victory of President-elect Donald Trump took a breather as Wall Street weighs what broad tax cuts could mean for the bond market.
"If you believe we're about to get big tax cuts, remember that somebody eventually has to pay for the missing tax receipts — as boring as that is — even if that means the government borrows a lot more money, causing bond yields to spike," he said.
However, the country began losing its leading edge with the emergence of foreign competitors like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., now the world's dominant contract chip manufacturer, and South Korea's Samsung.
Both Samsung and TSMC have laid out plans to begin commercial production of 2-nanometer chips by 2025.
The major indexes declined Tuesday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing down 0.86%, while the S&P 500 shed 0.29% and Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.09%. Cramer called the day's moves a "sobering reaction to the potential unfunded tax cuts from the bond market," as both the 10-year and 2-year Treasury yields surged more than 4%. The bond market and the stock market usually have a negative correlation, with investors coming in and out of each depending on yields.
Meanwhile, the U.S. has become a key player in chip design, with companies like Intel and Micron, while the Netherlands makes the world's most advanced chip-making equipment through its company ASML.
Trump campaigned on the promise of tax cuts across a wide swath of sectors. Many on Wall Street expect these cuts will come in aggregate, but remain unsure of the specifics, Cramer noted. He suggested that if Trump's new tax plans are similar to those he implemented in 2016, wealthy people will stand to benefit the most — which may not help the economy but will usually help the market see gains.
Though it has lost its leadership in semiconductor production and manufacturing, Japan remains a leader in certain semiconductor materials and equipment, Michael Yang, senior director of semiconductors at analyst and consulting firm Omdia, told CNBC.
Through its chip subsidies, which have mostly been geared toward increasing manufacturing capacity, the country should be able to expand into other aspects of the supply and enhance its position, Yang added.
After investors spent days reveling at the thought of how tax cuts could boost earnings, they may now be anticipating how the U.S. will be forced to make up for those lost contributions — usually by selling bonds, Cramer added. He rebuked a few theories about other ways the government could recover these funds, such as increased tariffs or some sort of plan to drastically trim the deficit thought up by a newly-empowered Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a close ally of Trump.
Still, regaining the chip market will be an uphill battle for Japan and will require Rapidus to find a "shortcut" in chip design and production to reach the level of advancement of leading semiconductor companies, said Brady Wang, semiconductor analyst at Counterpoint Research.
Rapidus representatives have said that the architecture of the 2-nanometer chip is different from that of 3-nanometer ones, making mass production of the former a "blank-slate challenge for all players," and presenting a prime opportunity to break into the market.
"We can only hope the stock market goes back to ignoring long-term interest rates, or that those rates come back down in response to some benign inflation numbers," Cramer said. "Otherwise, you got to expect more days like today."
Those bondholders, who constitute a sizable portion of Dish's creditor base, rejected the renewed offer earlier this week.
The likely collapse of the deal would leave Dish in a difficult financial position. Pay TV has been in a long and accelerating decline, and Dish parent company EchoStar on Tuesday reported earnings that disappointed investors, sending shares plunging nearly 13%.
However, in this endeavor, "subsidies are a must-have, but cannot guarantee their success," Wang said, adding that it took TSMC over a decade to catch up to global chip firms and build relationships with customers.
"Subsidies are only a basic requirement for entering the semiconductor industry, but success requires more supportive measures, such as talent, technology, and strategic planning," said Ken Kuo, senior research vice president at tech market intelligence firm TrendForce.
In addition to trying to establish a dominant chip producer in Japan, subsidies have also been aimed at attracting the global leaders that once took its chip business.
With aid from the Japanese government, chipmakers such as TSMC, Samsung Electronics, and Intel Corp have agreed to invest billions of dollars into Japan.
Such companies are leaders in producing memory chips used to store data, which are essential in data centers used for AI and cloud computing.
TSMC has already announced plans to build a second fabrication plant in Japan ahead of the completion of its first.
According to Counterpoint's Wang, attracting such companies entering Japan can help the country quickly boost vertical integration across the supply chain and more quickly build up its semiconductor ecosystem.
Japan has also signed collaboration agreements — with allies such as the U.S., the U.K., Taiwan and a number of EU countries — that are aimed at advancing research and development involving next-generation semiconductors.
The first, essential step in achieving mass production is collaboration with overseas partners. According to Shindo, “We need to cooperate with various companies around the world, since particular technologies and processes are being advanced by different leading-edge firms.” In 2022, Rapidus formed a partnership with IBM, which has successfully developed the 2-nm chip technology. Around 100 engineers from Rapidus have already been dispatched to IBM’s R&D center—the Albany NanoTech Complex in the state of New York—to jointly develop technology for the chip’s mass production. It also plans to open a business base in Silicon Valley, home to major IT and AI development companies. Additionally, Rapidus has formed a cooperative relationship with Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (imec), an international organization in Belgium for semiconductor research, to receive technical support in such matters as the development of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems.
This includes guidelines governing how the public and private sector collaborate, deploying AI in society, complying with both the AI Act and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), mitigating risks and reducing bias, scaling AI implementation, storing data securely, and training up staff.
Netcompany CEO André Rogaczewski said the provisions laid out in the white paper were primarily aimed at companies in heavily regulated industries, such as in financial services. He told CNBC he's aiming to address one core question: "How can we scale the responsible usage of AI?"
Trump initially floated the idea of an efficiency commission in September. Since then, Musk — who has called himself the "Dogefather" in the past and has been known to make public comments about the memecoin that influence its price — has posted on his social media platform X, referring to the commission as the "Department of Government Efficiency" or "D.O.G.E."
What is the EU AI Act?
The EU AI Act is a landmark law that aims to govern the way companies develop, use and apply AI. It came into force in August, after previously receiving final approval from EU member states, lawmakers, and the European Commission — the executive body of the EU — in May.
The law applies a risk-based approach to governing AI, meaning various applications of the technology are treated differently depending on the risk level they pose. It's been touted as the world's first major AI law that will give firms clarity under a harmonized, EU-wide regulatory framework.
Dogecoin gained relevance in 2021 following Musk's endorsement and continuous hype on social media, which has since become a big catalyst for the coin. In May that year, Musk's posts fueled dogecoin's rally to its all-time high of 67 cents, per Coin Metrics. Though his appearance at the time on SNL, in which he called dogecoin "a hustle," sent its price crashing down.
Though the rules are technically in effect, implementation them is a lengthy process. Most of the provisions of the Act — including rules for general-purpose AI systems like OpenAI's ChatGPT — won't materialize until at least 2026, at the end of a two-year transition period.
"It is absolutely vital for the competitiveness of our businesses and future progress of Europe that both the private and public sector will succeed in developing and using AI in the years to come," Caroline Stage Olsen, Denmark's minister of digital affairs, told CNBC, calling the white paper a "helpful step" toward that goal.
The rest of the crypto market was on pause from its postelection rally. Bitcoin was trading flat at about $87,000, after briefly touching $90,000 in late afternoon trading. Crypto stocks Coinbase and MicroStrategy were lower by 1% and 2%, respectively, in extended trading.
Netcompany's Rogaczewski told CNBC that pitched the idea for a white paper to some of Denmark's biggest banks and insurance firms some months ago. He found that, though each organization was "experimenting" with AI, institutions lacked a "common standard" to get the most out of the tech.
Rogaczewski hopes the Danish white paper will also offer a blue print for other countries and businesses seeking to simplify compliance with the EU AI Act.
Microsoft's decision to sign up to the guidelines is of particular note. "Getting Microsoft involved was important since generative AI solutions often involve algorithms and global tech," said Rogaczewski, adding the tech giant's involvement underlines how responsible digitization is possibility across borders.
The U.S. tech giant is a major backer of ChatGPT developer OpenA, which secured a $157 billion valuation this year. Microsoft also licenses OpenAI's technology out to enterprise firms via its Azure cloud computing platform.
Dogecoin jumped after President-elect Donald Trump announced the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency, or "DOGE."
Memecoins are seen as a gauge of retail interest and risk appetite in crypto. When memecoin activity ramps up, it usually indicates that retail investors are participating and have an appetite to speculate further out on the risk curve.
Global monthly average users for the messaging app rose by 3% from a year ago to 1.38 billion in the third quarter.
Advertising spend from games and e-commerce gained ground, more than offsetting a revenue drop from real estate and food and beverage.
Mortgage rates continued to climb last week as investors considered the future of the economy under a Trump presidency. The mortgage market basically took a breather.
Total application volume was essentially flat, rising just 0.5% last week, compared with the previous one, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's seasonally adjusted index. While tiny, the increase marked the first rise in overall demand in seven weeks.
The company also boasted the benefits of employing its self-developed artificial intelligence tools, amid a broader global boom in the AI space:
"We are increasingly seeing tangible benefits of deploying AI across our products and operations including marketing services and cloud, and will continue investing in AI technology, tools and solutions that assist users and partners," Tencent said in an earnings release.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances of $766,550 or less increased to 6.86% from 6.81%, with points decreasing to 0.60 from 0.68, including the origination fee, for loans with a 20% down payment.
"Mortgage rates continued to increase last week, driven by higher Treasury yields as financial markets digested the likely impacts of a Trump presidency," said Joel Kan, the Mortgage Bankers Association's deputy chief economist. "The Federal Reserve's 25-basis-point rate cut was already anticipated and did little to move the markets."
The company said that search within the Weixin app saw growth in commercial queries and click-through rates, thanks to large language model capabilities.
In June, Tencent upgraded an advertising feature that uses AI to select or help create targeted ads that sit inside articles and videos based inside its messaging app. That update drove a nine-fold increase from last year in the number of accounts using the feature — to more than 200,000 users, according to the company.
Applications to refinance a home loan, which are most sensitive to weekly moves in interest rates, fell 2% for the week to the lowest level since May. They were, however, 43% higher than the same week one year ago. Last year at that time, mortgage rates were 75 basis points higher.
Applications for a mortgage to purchase a home rose 2% for the week and were 1% higher than the same week one year ago. Homebuyers may be looking at lower rates than last year, but they are also seeing higher home prices. Meanwhile, the supply of homes for sale remains lean.
Tencent has sought to build up its short video accounts and mini-program e-commerce offerings to compete with ByteDance's Douyin — the local version of TikTok — and major online shopping platforms.
In the third quarter, Tencent said mini programs' gross merchandise value — an industry measure of sales over time— expanded by the "high teens" from a year ago to more than 2 trillion yuan, as people used the app for help with ordering food, electric vehicle charging and medical services.
Kan noted that applications for loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs helped drive stronger purchase activity, increasing 3% and 9%, respectively.
"FHA mortgage rates bucked the overall trend and were lower over the week, which likely helped some borrowers," Kan said. "Conventional purchase applications were also up slightly."
Mortgage rates moved higher this Tuesday; the bond market was closed Monday for the Veterans Day holiday.
"The market continues to work through election-related volatility," wrote Matthew Graham, chief operating officer at Mortgage News Daily. "That involves a complex set of considerations. Some of them have to do with actual expectations for changes in fiscal policy in the coming years. Some of the considerations are as simple as traders going through the process of exiting (and re-setting) trading positions heading into the election."
pecial counsel Jack Smith and his team plan to resign before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, a source familiar with the matter said.
Smith’s office was evaluating the best path for winding down its work on the two outstanding federal criminal cases against Trump, as the Justice Department’s longstanding position is that it cannot charge a sitting president with a crime.
The New York Times first reported Smith will step down.
He predicted that Chinese and American companies will be competing on technology into the distant future and urged U.S. and European companies to collaborate to grow economies and bring new advancements like artificial intelligence to the rest of the world.
Microsoft CEO Brad Smith participates in a meeting at The Westin Palace Hotel, on 20 May, 2022 in Madrid, Spain.
Jack Smith, the special counsel who pursued two federal prosecutions of Donald J. Trump, plans to finish his work and resign along with other members of his team before Mr. Trump takes office in January, people familiar with his plans said.
Mr. Smith’s goal, they said, is to not leave any significant part of his work for others to complete and to get ahead of the president-elect’s promise to fire him within “two seconds” of being sworn in.
Microsoft has operated in China since 1992, according to the company's web page, including through its largest research and development center outside the U.S. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said last year that the firm wasn't focused on China as a domestic market, but that it provides services to Chinese companies and has a more visible presence locally than do many other U.S. tech giants.
Before Trump’s re-election last week, Smith and his team had taken significant steps in their election interference case against Trump. After Trump’s victory, however, the federal judge overseeing the case said she would pause the process to allow the special counsel’s office time to decide how to proceed.
The Justice Department indicted Trump last year in their investigation of his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. But Smith’s case was hindered in July of this year by the Supreme Court’s ruling that he has immunity for some conduct as president in his federal election interference case. In August, Trump was charged with the same four counts after a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment in the case following the immunity ruling.
Mr. Smith, who since taking office two years ago has operated under the principle that not even a powerful ex-president is above the law, now finds himself on the defensive as he rushes to wind down a pair of complex investigations slowed by the courts and ultimately made moot by Mr. Trump’s electoral victory.
Mr. Smith’s office is still drawing up its plan for how to end the cases, and it is possible that unforeseen circumstances — such as judicial rulings or decisions by other government officials — could alter his intended timeline. But Mr. Smith is trying to finish his work and leave before Mr. Trump returns to power, the people familiar with his plans said.
Asked about whether trade and tech transfers — or the movement of data, designs or innovations — with China will get more challenging as Washington transitions between the administrations of U.S. incumbent leader Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump, Smith it was too early tor know.
"The truth is, as an American technology company, we can do business in China only when we are offering a service that the Chinese government wants to have there, and the U.S. government wants us to bring there," he said, adding, "And in some cases they look at, say, a data center to support a Mercedes or a Siemens or a Starbucks or a General Motors — there seems to be a level of comfort. In consumer services, not really."
The election’s outcome spelled the end of the federal cases against Mr. Trump, since Justice Department policy has long held that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted for crimes. A Supreme Court ruling this summer significantly expanded the scope of official presidential conduct that cannot be prosecuted even after leaving office.
As he prepares for his last act as special counsel, Mr. Smith’s ultimate audience will not be a jury, but the public.
The Justice Department had also charged Trump in Florida with allegedly mishandling classified documents after he left office. But a federal judge dismissed the case in July, saying Smith’s appointment was illegal.
President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday that Elon Musk and former Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy will lead an efficiency group when his second term begins in January.
Trump wrote in a post that the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, will "become, potentially, 'The Manhattan Project' of our time." He also said the group would, "pave the way" for his next administration to "dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies."
One likely beneficiary of the funding announced Monday will be Japan-based Rapidus, a state-backed chip venture at the heart of the country's chip revitalization efforts.
Founded in 2022 by the Japanese government, Rapidus has backing from a host of Japanese firms— including Toyota Motor and the Sony Group — and is collaborating with U.S. tech giant IBM.
Trump didn't specify where cuts will take place or when the department may be formed. Congress hasn't created or funded such an office. He said the group's "work will conclude no later than July 4, 2026."
Musk's involvement in the envisioned group was previously promised by Trump and touted by the Tesla CEO, who spent an estimated $200 million backing the Republican nominee's 2024 campaign, as a reason to put the former president back in the White House. Musk, who also runs defense contractor SpaceX, has reportedly been stationed at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida since Election Night.
The company has already received over $2 billion in government support as it aims to mass-produce cutting-edge 2-nanometer logic chips by 2027.
Logic chips are used to process information and complete tasks within electronic devices. The most advanced logic chips are used in technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and machine learning.
Rapidus chairman Tetsuro Higashi has reportedly called the company Japan's "last opportunity" to regain a leading semiconductor position on the global stage as it looks to catch up with leaders like Taiwan and South Korea.
In the 1980s, Japan was the world's dominant chip player and occupied more than half of the global semiconductor market.
CNBC's Jim Cramer examined Tuesday's market action, saying the rally fueled by the victory of President-elect Donald Trump took a breather as Wall Street weighs what broad tax cuts could mean for the bond market.
"If you believe we're about to get big tax cuts, remember that somebody eventually has to pay for the missing tax receipts — as boring as that is — even if that means the government borrows a lot more money, causing bond yields to spike," he said.
However, the country began losing its leading edge with the emergence of foreign competitors like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., now the world's dominant contract chip manufacturer, and South Korea's Samsung.
Both Samsung and TSMC have laid out plans to begin commercial production of 2-nanometer chips by 2025.
The major indexes declined Tuesday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing down 0.86%, while the S&P 500 shed 0.29% and Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.09%. Cramer called the day's moves a "sobering reaction to the potential unfunded tax cuts from the bond market," as both the 10-year and 2-year Treasury yields surged more than 4%. The bond market and the stock market usually have a negative correlation, with investors coming in and out of each depending on yields.
Meanwhile, the U.S. has become a key player in chip design, with companies like Intel and Micron, while the Netherlands makes the world's most advanced chip-making equipment through its company ASML.
Trump campaigned on the promise of tax cuts across a wide swath of sectors. Many on Wall Street expect these cuts will come in aggregate, but remain unsure of the specifics, Cramer noted. He suggested that if Trump's new tax plans are similar to those he implemented in 2016, wealthy people will stand to benefit the most — which may not help the economy but will usually help the market see gains.
Though it has lost its leadership in semiconductor production and manufacturing, Japan remains a leader in certain semiconductor materials and equipment, Michael Yang, senior director of semiconductors at analyst and consulting firm Omdia, told CNBC.
Through its chip subsidies, which have mostly been geared toward increasing manufacturing capacity, the country should be able to expand into other aspects of the supply and enhance its position, Yang added.
After investors spent days reveling at the thought of how tax cuts could boost earnings, they may now be anticipating how the U.S. will be forced to make up for those lost contributions — usually by selling bonds, Cramer added. He rebuked a few theories about other ways the government could recover these funds, such as increased tariffs or some sort of plan to drastically trim the deficit thought up by a newly-empowered Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a close ally of Trump.
Still, regaining the chip market will be an uphill battle for Japan and will require Rapidus to find a "shortcut" in chip design and production to reach the level of advancement of leading semiconductor companies, said Brady Wang, semiconductor analyst at Counterpoint Research.
Rapidus representatives have said that the architecture of the 2-nanometer chip is different from that of 3-nanometer ones, making mass production of the former a "blank-slate challenge for all players," and presenting a prime opportunity to break into the market.
"We can only hope the stock market goes back to ignoring long-term interest rates, or that those rates come back down in response to some benign inflation numbers," Cramer said. "Otherwise, you got to expect more days like today."
Those bondholders, who constitute a sizable portion of Dish's creditor base, rejected the renewed offer earlier this week.
The likely collapse of the deal would leave Dish in a difficult financial position. Pay TV has been in a long and accelerating decline, and Dish parent company EchoStar on Tuesday reported earnings that disappointed investors, sending shares plunging nearly 13%.
However, in this endeavor, "subsidies are a must-have, but cannot guarantee their success," Wang said, adding that it took TSMC over a decade to catch up to global chip firms and build relationships with customers.
"Subsidies are only a basic requirement for entering the semiconductor industry, but success requires more supportive measures, such as talent, technology, and strategic planning," said Ken Kuo, senior research vice president at tech market intelligence firm TrendForce.
A representative for EchoStar didn't immediately return a request for comment. A representative for TPG didn't immediately provide a comment.
In addition to trying to establish a dominant chip producer in Japan, subsidies have also been aimed at attracting the global leaders that once took its chip business.
With aid from the Japanese government, chipmakers such as TSMC, Samsung Electronics, and Intel Corp have agreed to invest billions of dollars into Japan.
Such companies are leaders in producing memory chips used to store data, which are essential in data centers used for AI and cloud computing.
TSMC has already announced plans to build a second fabrication plant in Japan ahead of the completion of its first.
According to Counterpoint's Wang, attracting such companies entering Japan can help the country quickly boost vertical integration across the supply chain and more quickly build up its semiconductor ecosystem.
Japan has also signed collaboration agreements — with allies such as the U.S., the U.K., Taiwan and a number of EU countries — that are aimed at advancing research and development involving next-generation semiconductors.
The first, essential step in achieving mass production is collaboration with overseas partners. According to Shindo, “We need to cooperate with various companies around the world, since particular technologies and processes are being advanced by different leading-edge firms.” In 2022, Rapidus formed a partnership with IBM, which has successfully developed the 2-nm chip technology. Around 100 engineers from Rapidus have already been dispatched to IBM’s R&D center—the Albany NanoTech Complex in the state of New York—to jointly develop technology for the chip’s mass production. It also plans to open a business base in Silicon Valley, home to major IT and AI development companies. Additionally, Rapidus has formed a cooperative relationship with Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (imec), an international organization in Belgium for semiconductor research, to receive technical support in such matters as the development of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems.
President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday named Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and military veteran, as his pick for defense secretary.
In a statement, Trump described Hegseth as "tough, smart and a true believer in America First."
"With Pete at the helm, America's enemies are on notice — Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down," Trump said.