Morgan Lewis adds David Plotinsky, ex-DOJ’s Foreign Investment Review Section, as partner, working on national security, telecom and transactions subject to review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. ... Life360 appoints Kirsten Daru as general counsel-chief privacy officer; she was general counsel of Tile, which Life360 recently acquired.
SiriusXM's buying AudioID, announced Monday, is expected to simplify advertising buys for satellite radio, streaming music and podcasts, said SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz on Tuesday's Q4 call. She focused on SiriusXM’s streaming business, which “still has a long way to go.” The company is working to make it easier to use its app “in many more places,” to drive usage by satellite and stand-alone digital subscribers. When subscribers stream, they consume more, she said: “They listen twice as many hours on twice as many devices.” The company expects most subscriber adds to come in the second half, “given continuing semiconductor shortages and other factors limiting vehicle sales” late last year into 2022, said Chief Financial Officer Sean Sullivan. Shares closed 6.3% higher Tuesday at $6.76. Given automotive constraints, SiriusXM “played the hand they were dealt … about as well as they could have played it,” Pivotal Research's Jeffrey Wlodarczak wrote investors. Short-term risks are the economy and chip shortages curbing auto production, said the analyst. Long term, he cited autonomous driving as a threat.
Increasing network efficiency is critical to keeping up with 5G, with a need for more sensitive receivers in base stations and user equipment, said Rob Maunder, chief technology officer of semiconductor company AccelerComm, during a Mobile World Live webinar Tuesday. Installing more-efficient equipment is often cheaper than buying spectrum licenses or installing towers or small cells, he said. “By building better receivers, more sensitive receivers, we can get more bang for our buck in the wireless network … and this creates more capacity.” Maunder predicted “exponential growth” of 5G traffic worldwide, to 178 billion GB monthly by 2027, at which point 5G will be 62% of mobile traffic. “No longer is a one size-fits-all solution suitable,” he said: “What’s needed in the industry is an ecosystem around available [technology] that addresses these challenges so that the whole industry can build solutions.” With 5G, the biggest efficiency gains compared with 4G will come through more use of multiple-input, multiple-output technologies, he said. Anastasios Karousos, Real Wireless managing consultant, said the savings will vary by carrier, but even a slight increase in spectrum efficiency means lower cell utilization and reduced capital costs.
Senate Commerce Committee leaders were hoping to meet with Senate leadership Tuesday or Wednesday to establish chips legislation negotiations, ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told us Tuesday. Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., addressed the possibility of moving to informal conference negotiations to speed up the process.
The House Rules Committee will consider several telecom- and tech-focused amendments to the America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength Act (HR-4521) Tuesday, for a potential floor vote on the measure later this week. The measure mirrors some elements of the Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260), including $52 billion in subsidies to encourage U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturing (see 2201260062). Many proposed amendments aim to make changes to the chips language.
WilmerHale adds former FTC officials Jennifer Milici, ex-Competition Bureau, and Dominic Vote, ex-Mergers II Division, as partners, Antitrust Group; Milici also joins the Trial Practice; both "anticipate officially beginning at the firm in March" ... SoftBank Group announces Chief Operating Officer Marcelo Claure departs the company “by mutual agreement,” and moves Michel Combes to replace him as CEO, SoftBank Group International.
Ohio offered Intel $1.29 billion in “direct cash incentives” to invest $20 billion in building two semiconductor fabs on a 1,000-acre campus in Licking County (see 2201210085), Department of Development Director Lydia Mihalik told a virtual media briefing Friday. The project is expected to add $2.8 billion to Ohio’s annual “gross state product” when it’s fully operational in 2025, said Mihalik. State tax authorities “will obviously have say over the job creation tax credit,” said Mihalik. "In terms of the direct cash incentives, we’ll be working with our partners in the legislature to bring those to fruition.” The Ohio Tax Credit Authority (TCA) approves all applications for the JCTC program and customarily meets monthly on the last Monday of each month, said a Department of Development spokesperson. "When an JCTC application is submitted to the TCA for review and approval, it will appear on a meeting agenda" that's posted publicly on the Thursday before the meeting, he said.
Intel is “very excited” about Tuesday's introduction of HR-4521 (see 2201260062), House Democrats’ proposed companion to the Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260), said CEO Pat Gelsinger on a Q4 call Wednesday. President Joe Biden and members of his administration “have been clear on the importance of this transformational investment,” said Gelsinger. “It's encouraging to see the strong bipartisan and bicameral support as we continue to work together to address the long-term impacts of the semiconductor shortage, restore U.S. leadership in this critical industry and rebalance the global supply chain.” Gelsinger joined Biden last week to appeal for enactment (see 2201210085). The CEO spoke with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., “at length on this subject" Tuesday, he said. He expects HR-4521 “will be debated on the floor next week, and hopefully, following what we expect will be passage in the House, a reconciliation process” with S-1260. Unprecedented chip demand “continues to be tempered by supply chain constraints,” said Gelsinger: IoT and data centers were affected. Intel shares closed 7% lower Thursday at $48.05.
Indiana’s Senate Commerce Committee unanimously approved privacy legislation Thursday modeled after Virginia’s new law. Several members said they need more information on a last-minute amendment before they can support the bill on the floor. The House hasn't introduced companion legislation. The law would take effect in January 2024.
The America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength Act (HR-4521), House Democrats’ proposed companion to the Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260), got a mixed reception from lawmakers and tech sector entities Tuesday and Wednesday. The measure, like S-1260, includes $52 billion in subsidies to encourage U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturing. The two measures diverge in other respects, including the size and scope of a potential National Science Foundation tech directorate. The House Rules Committee plans to consider amendments to HR-4521 next week before a floor vote, with proposals due Friday. President Joe Biden said the measure is “squarely focused on easing the sort of supply chain bottlenecks like semiconductors that have led to higher prices for the middle class.” HR-4521 “will supercharge our investment in” chips, “advance manufacturing at home, strengthen our supply chain, transform our research capacity and advance our competitiveness and leadership abroad,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calf. “These transformative investments in science and innovation will help us to revitalize our research infrastructure” and “enhance our semiconductor manufacturing capabilities,” said House Science Committee Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas. House Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said both HR-4521 and S-1260 would be “massive expansions of government subsidies and federal control,” which “are not how we beat China.” It’s “another attempt to outspend” the Chinese government “with duplicative, multi-billion-dollar command and control programs that will diminish our global competitiveness, fail to solve the supply chain crisis, and make inflation worse.” Chip funding “will help ensure more of the chips Americans need are researched, designed, and manufactured on U.S. soil, strengthening our supply chains and creating new, high-paying American jobs across the country,” said Semiconductor Industry Association President John Neuffer. The Computer & Communications Industry Association backs some elements of HR-4521 but the addition of “unrelated trademark liability provisions would impose impractical and punitive regulations upon ecommerce merchants and individual sellers using digital channels to succeed, at a time of economic disruption,” said President Matt Schruers. TechNet is “glad to see movement on” HR-4521 and is “encouraged by the commitment that leaders in the House and Senate have shown to advance this bill and invest in American innovation, increase opportunities for U.S. workers, and strengthen our global competitiveness,” said President Linda Moore.