WEBVTT - Uber Plans Robotaxi Partnership with Lucid and Nuro 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:13.480 Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. Bloomberg Tech is a 0:00:13.520 --> 0:00:17.280 lie from coast to coast with Caroline Hyde and New 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:19.880 York and Vla Low in San Francisco. 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:25.840 This is Bloomberg Tech coming up. TSMC, the world's biggest 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:29.200 contract chip maker, gets a big boost from AI demand. 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:32.800 Plus Uber teams up with EV maker Lucid and self 0:00:32.920 --> 0:00:36.160 driving tech start up Neuro to launch a robotaxi fleet. 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:39.400 We'll speak with the CEO of Neuro and what to 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:42.479 expect from Netflix earning today. Will it be a blockbuster 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:46.120 or a bus Let's get to that curious three way 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:50.919 deal that is between Uber, Lucid and Neuro. Basically how 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:53.320 it works is Lucid's going to provide the cars, Neuro 0:00:53.400 --> 0:00:55.800 the self driving tech, and Uber's gonna pay for everything. 0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:57.480 We're gonna get a lot more detail on that later 0:00:57.560 --> 0:00:59.520 in the show. But look at shares of Lucid up 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:03.200 thirty six percent. This is a big move upwards and 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:05.520 we need to find out why. The big story in 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:10.200 global technology is TISMC, the world's largest and most important 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:13.520 contracts manufacturer. These are the US listed shares. ADR is 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:17.080 up two point eight percent, basically upgraded the growth forecast 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:19.680 on the top line to thirty percent, saying that there 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:23.759 is hot AI demand right now, but interestingly some headwinds 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:27.680 from currency which we can dig into. Luckily, bloombergsy and 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:29.760 King is here for more who leads our coverage of 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:32.640 the semiconductor industry. So actually quite a simple story that 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:34.480 in the numbers in the period gone and what they 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:38.080 said about what's to come. AI demand is everything now. 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:41.720 I mean only time you're saying thirty percent of year 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:44.600 saying we're having a good year. But it's important to 0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:47.200 point out that the start didn't do much locally and 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:49.880 why was that well because guess what some analysts were 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:53.880 expecting even more so fantastic obviously a great derivative for here, 0:01:54.040 --> 0:01:57.000 but maybe not as fantastic as some had expected. 0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:00.800 Tiersmc's business is really interesting because basically two thirds of 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:03.480 it is high performance compute, the chips that go into 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:07.320 data centers. Historically it was smartphones. So even though the 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:10.320 proportions have changed, I see both of those divisions growing. 0:02:10.720 --> 0:02:12.760 Yeah, both of them did well. As you said, high 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:17.560 performance computing, which is basically in videos, chips, amb's chips, 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:21.240 anything that any of the hyperscalers design themselves. That's sixty 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:23.639 percent of its business that's growing well. And that's really 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:27.320 what the focus is right now. That's what everybody wants 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:31.280 to see, is this story that is defining technology still 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:33.280 continuing And the answer was absolutely yes. 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:36.000 So TISMT is like the crown jaw of Taiwan. It's 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:38.919 their most important entity and company. They have a big 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:41.440 footprint there. But what was really interesting to hear about 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:44.640 was the headwind from currency. As I understand it, they 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:48.040 book all their revenue and US dollars, but their operating 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:51.160 costs are in Taiwanese dollars. What did they say about 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:52.960 that and how it's going to impact them? 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:56.280 Yeah, I mean this is obviously a complex story because 0:02:56.320 --> 0:03:00.160 they're in a distributed supply chain. Though you've got the 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:04.000 currency headwims, You've got concern about what's going to happen 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:07.240 to that supply chain. Are they moving, are they raising 0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:10.799 their expenses as they build factories here in the US, 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:13.560 what's going to happen with tariff? So all of these 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:17.080 kind of economic uncertainties and currency was one of them 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:20.880 factored into I think this kind of conservative or what 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:26.560 was considered conservative forecast with conservative in their context, which 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:27.640 is pretty amazing still. 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:30.359 Okay, Blimbozi and King, who again leads our coverage of 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:33.800 the semiconductor industry. Let's get more of a broader market's 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:36.440 perspective and go out to j Jacobs Blackrock, US head 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:39.720 of equity. Ets you and I've talked about infrastructure so much, 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:44.400 but I almost consider names like TSMC and ASML as 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:47.720 being kind of soft data sets rather than kind of 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:51.280 hard data sets. ASML gave us one signal and then 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:55.840 TSMC gave us another. As somebody that looks at their 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:59.160 exposure to this AI supply chain, what did you make 0:03:59.240 --> 0:03:59.400 of it? 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:01.360 Well, I think you really have to go up to 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:03.920 kind of the higher order of capital expenditures, which is 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:07.280 impacting so many different semiconductor stocks. If you look at 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:10.800 the top four builders of infrastructure this year and combine 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:14.560 them with energy and utilities companies, all of that capex 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:16.760 equals the rest of the S and P five hundred combined. 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:20.240 So you're just seeing so much investment from semi conductors 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:23.600 to energy and power sources across this AI megaporce that 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:26.400 it's really providing a ton of ballast to these stocks 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:27.640 as we enter into earning season. 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:31.599 I think we'd agree that AI is having a profound 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:35.000 impact on markets. That's probably an understatement at this point. 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:38.400 But when you consider the ETFs you're managing, where do 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:41.839 you see the enthusiasm or where do you see movement 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:45.480 of investors wanting to be exposed to what's happening. 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:48.040 Well, you know, if we look more broadly at what's 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:51.480 happening in the markets, this here, themes are really displacing 0:04:51.640 --> 0:04:54.800 sectors as having the most explanatory power of what's happening 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:58.119 around us. You know, artificial intelligence and baskets of stocks 0:04:58.160 --> 0:05:00.520 related to that explained a lot of what happened in February. 0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:03.880 If you look at geopolitical fragmentation and companies in the 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:06.840 infrastructure and defense space, that explains a lot of what's 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:10.040 been happening since April. So themes themselves have a ton 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:12.800 of explanatory power in the markets. To your question, you know, 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:14.680 where are we seeing some of the most excitement and 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:17.880 artificial intelligence? We continue to be looking at the build 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:20.040 out of digital infrastructure. You know, we know that we 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:22.080 are still in the build phase of AI. This is 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:24.240 where you're seeing hundreds of billions of dollars of capital 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:27.159 expenditure to build the best models, to make them smarter, 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:29.919 to make them more scalable. That's where we are today, 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:32.279 and that's where a lot of our active portfolio managers 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:35.560 like Tony Kim, who manages BAI for US, has positioned 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:36.600 a lot of his portfolio. 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:40.799 BAI is super interesting. We just showed it on the screen. 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:44.479 But the Tica BAI, there's this two point two billion 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:47.600 dollars of interest, you can quantify it. What are the 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:49.640 main facts behind that meeting? 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:52.560 Jay Well, I think a lot of investors are looking 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:55.560 at artificial intelligence but realize they don't really have great 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:57.560 exposure to it. In fact, you know, we looked at 0:05:57.600 --> 0:06:00.960 over ten thousand portfolios by financial advisors in the United 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:04.440 States and about ninety five percent of whatever AI exposure 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:06.680 they have in their portfolio is coming just from the 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:09.360 MAG seven. So maybe it's because they own index funds 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:11.200 that are just broad market in nature and getting that 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:14.000 MAG seven exposure. Maybe they're looking at tech sector and 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:16.920 getting MAG seven through that, but so little of their 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:23.839 exposure is to the broader AI value chain across digital infrastructure, power, infrastructure, applications, 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:26.440 data owners that we see a lot of investors are 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:30.680 more intentionally allocating to AI, selling down tech sector exposure 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:33.440 to allocate to a fund like BAI, or even selling 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:36.320 down core exposure in large in US large caps to 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:38.159 get exposure to a fund like BAI. 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:43.040 I find this sub theme of onshoring into America and 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:48.120 basically reindustrialization really interesting. Is there a sort of specific 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:52.160 basket of names which you would not necessarily feel are 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:56.159 the technology sector. I'm thinking a little bit like real 0:06:56.360 --> 0:06:58.280 estate and all of those names that are involved in 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:00.440 the construction of a data set into. 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:03.160 Yeah, there's a few areas to look at. I mean, one, 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:06.400 we just broadly really like US infrastructure names. You know, 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:08.600 we've seen some good flows into IFRA, which is a 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:12.240 US infrastructurey TF because if you want to build semiconductors 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:14.080 in the United States, or you want to build you know, 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:17.920 kind of high end technologies like electric vehicles, you need roads, 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:20.000 you need highways, you need airports, you need ports, you 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:23.040 need electricity on the grid, you need waterways. It really 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:25.520 takes a wide range of infrastructure to set up these 0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:29.840 very expensive and complicated manufacturing supply chains within the United States. 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:33.520 So we see that physical infrastructure and digital infrastructure being 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:35.920 a really common denominator here. But if you really want 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:37.960 to kind of double click into one area. If you 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:41.160 look at semiconductor equipment manufacturers, you know, this is kind 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:44.360 of a highest upstream way to play. More semiconductors being 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:47.480 built in the United States, the semi's equipment manufacturers should 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:49.600 do quite well. And that's an area we have exposure 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:51.640 to in our manufacturing ETF made. 0:07:54.120 --> 0:07:55.440 Let's bring it back to the use of the day, 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:57.880 which is TSMC, and one of the themes that came 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:00.920 up was currency headwinds. And it was interesting because, in 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:04.920 simple terms, TSMC is a Taiwanese company that books revenue 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:08.600 in US dollars, but it operates in Taiwanese dollars. I 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:11.000 give that to you Jay, to kind of illustrate that 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:14.320 this is a name that if you're an American investor, 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:17.080 even though it's Taiwanese, you can still get exposure to. 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:20.240 But it's a company that's increasingly looking to the US 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:22.680 for its own investments and to build out more of 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:27.480 its own capacity here onshore or domestically. Yeah, that's right. 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:28.880 I mean what we've seen is, you know a lot 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:30.800 of latility in the dollar, and the weakening of the 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:33.679 dollar generally has you know, boosted international stocks. You know, 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:34.920 in fact, just if you look at a lot of 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:38.400 what our investors are doing today, it's allocating to international 0:08:38.480 --> 0:08:42.520 ETFs to benefit from the changing position of the dollar. 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:44.280 So I think we're going to see this more and 0:08:44.400 --> 0:08:46.280 more of this earning season. Currency is going to be 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:49.200 an important factor as companies trying to explain how their 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:50.880 earnings have done. And there's you know, there's just a 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:54.120 new element to back out of with dollar weekening. 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:57.640 Jay, we're a few weeks now into the second half 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:01.319 of the year. What do you expecting and watching foremost 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:03.840 closely in the balance of twenty twenty five. 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:07.079 Well, we just published our thematic media or update on 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:09.160 ishers dot com and we're really looking at kind of 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:13.000 the evolution of two areas, artificial intelligence and geopolitical fragmentation. 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:15.880 You know, in AI, what we're looking for is continued 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:18.680 breakthroughs in the intelligence of AI. You know, right now 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:20.880 we would say AI models are kind of college level 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:23.640 of intelligence. I think we're on the precipice of master's 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:26.360 degree level of intelligence of AI, and that should really 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:30.240 boost even more adoption on the geopolitical fragmentation front. You know, 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:33.720 we talked about infrastructure a bit, defense spending is still 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:35.679 very much in focus. But also even if you just 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:38.599 look at things like people buying gold, a lot of 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:42.800 diversification into monetary alternatives. It should be a pretty big 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:44.400 trend we see through the end of the year as well. 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:47.480 J Jacobs a black Rold. Great to have you back 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:50.400 on the show. Really appreciate it. Now, coming up, Congress 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:54.439 edges closer to the landmark crypto legislation. We're going to 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:57.800 speak with Kristen Smiths, Solana Policy Institute President about everything 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:00.719 that's going on in crypto week sous to take a 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:03.560 quick look at. Shares of Lucid now up forty percent, 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:06.880 almost forty one percent, a deal with Uber and euro 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:10.080 over the next six years for a fleet of robotaxis 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:15.120 on the platform. Also a one to ten reverse stock split. 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:19.480 A reverse stock split non diluted reduces the number shares 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:23.319 outstanding proportionately raises the price lots to ask about that, 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:26.640 and actually later in the day on Bloomberg TV, I 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:28.600 heard that the Lucid CEO is going to swing by 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:46.800 stay with us. This is Bloomberg Tech Washington's weighing landmark 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:51.560 crypto legislation during what's been dubbed crypto week, digital assets 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:54.800 have been surging thanks in part to those regulatory prospects, 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:57.800 with ether ETF seeing a record breaking seven hundred and 0:10:57.800 --> 0:11:00.960 twenty six million in daily I want to get out 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:04.760 to Kristen Smith, Solana Policy Institute President, and this is 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:07.800 the bit that I'm trying to understand. It is Crypto Week, 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:09.959 and there seems to be a lot of excitement, and 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:14.679 that excitement alone is driving inflows into various places and 0:11:14.840 --> 0:11:17.760 trading activity across the world of crypto. Is that a 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:19.400 good ration now, Kristen. 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:22.839 Well, first of all, Happy Crypto Week. It's great to 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:23.240 see you. 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:24.240 Yeah. 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:27.800 I think there's a lot of excitement within the crypto industry, 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:31.040 within the policy making industry, but within the broader financial 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:35.320 services industry around what's happening in Washington here today. Later 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:38.200 this afternoon, the House of Representatives is going to vote 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:42.800 on three bills, the Genius Act, which regular stable coins, 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:45.320 the Clarity Act, which is the House's version of market 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:49.760 structure legislation, and the third bill on Central bank digital currencies. 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:52.400 So this is a really historic week, and one of 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:54.880 those bills, the Genius Act, is going to go on 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:57.240 this way to the White House for the President's signature. 0:11:57.520 --> 0:11:59.880 This is going to be the first time the US 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:03.600 government has put a new federal regulatory framework in place, 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:07.000 and so I think this is showing the entire market 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:10.520 that this is a technology that's here to stay and 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:13.000 it's got the full backing of the US government. 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:17.280 Something very interesting happened this week. It was crypto weeek, 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:19.839 but it was also Earning's week for the banks, And 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:22.160 I'm looking down at the list. You had the CEOs 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:25.760 of JP Morgan, Bank of America, and City Group all 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:29.920 basically a acknowledge the digital dollar, but then note that 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:33.719 it's a threat to how banking is currently done in 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:36.199 the context of this legislation that's going through. What do 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:39.600 you make of that those heavyweights of waters finance saying 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:40.559 we got to think about this. 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:43.800 Yeah, well, I've also seen a lot of those heavyweights 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:48.040 talk about getting into this stable coin industry themselves, and 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:50.440 so I think what we have here is there's going 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:54.240 to be an upgrade of our technology. Crypto rails, open 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:58.240 public blockchains like Solana, for example, are very good for 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:02.199 recording transactions and moving payments around the world in a 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:04.920 timely manner, and so I think what we're going to 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:08.240 see in the years A head is a real upgrade 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:11.400 to our system, one that will lower costs but will 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:14.880 also bring new opportunities. I think what's really great about 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:18.959 this legislation is that it will spur innovation across many 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:22.240 different sectors, and that innovation is really where the US 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:25.240 economy sees its growth come from. And so this is 0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:30.320 a real opportunity I think for crypto, for traditional finance, 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:34.680 and for the businesses and consumers here in the United States. 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:39.439 Christin, you've been involved in different roles in advocating the 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:44.439 industry's position to government and to regulators. What does this 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:48.360 moment represent if those different pieces of legislation get done 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:51.400 and dusted, how significant is that for what you've been 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:54.640 trying to work on in recent years. Yeah. 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:58.000 Well, I've been in the crypto advocacy space for almost 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:00.480 seven years now, and so for me, this this week 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:03.400 is the highlight of my career. I have a red 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:05.199 dress I bought to hopefully word of the White House 0:14:05.240 --> 0:14:08.480 film signing ceremony, and I think it's a really big moment. 0:14:09.080 --> 0:14:11.719 But really this is I think the true opportunity for 0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:14.520 the American people. I think for a long time, our 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:17.520 financial services system has been you know, sort of stuck 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:21.960 on old technology and this is the first step forward. 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:24.600 And so I'm, you know, very excited that we've had 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:29.560 such strong leadership with Senator Haggerty, Senator jillibrand also Congressman 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:32.640 Thompson and Chairman Hill in the House, and then President 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:36.200 Trump and David Saxson Bohines for really really digging in 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:38.400 and making this a priority. I think it's something that 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:42.080 we're going to see payoff for all of the American 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:43.160 people in due time. 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:47.080 There was discussion that I had with David Sachs in 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:49.280 the last couple of weeks or a few weeks about 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:53.160 the bipartisan nature or not of the legislation. So if 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:55.680 we take the Genius Act and stable Coin, for example, 0:14:56.280 --> 0:14:58.680 there were things that the Democrats wanted in there that 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:03.160 ended up not being From the salon a Policy institute's perspective, 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:05.920 did you get what you felt was needed in the 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:08.720 content of that bill. Yes. 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:12.240 At Lana Policy Institute, we're very happy with the way 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:15.760 that the Genius Bill ended up, And people who know me, 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:19.240 I'm very skeptical of early drafts. But that's why we 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:22.760 have advocates in Washington who can go with work with 0:15:22.880 --> 0:15:26.240 Congress fine tune the legislation and make sure that it 0:15:26.360 --> 0:15:29.960 has the customer protections that the policy makers want, but 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:32.680 also is done in a way that allows those who 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:35.680 are building around the technology to have the certainty that 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:38.360 they need in order to build and innovate. And so 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:41.480 I think they've nailed it here with the Genius Act. 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:44.600 I think it's it's really good language, and I think 0:15:44.640 --> 0:15:46.360 it's one of the reasons why the House is going 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:48.560 to you know, sort of pass it without changes and 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:51.960 send it on to the President's desk. You know, there 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:55.480 is another issue, the market structure issue, that that debate 0:15:55.640 --> 0:15:58.600 is continuing to happen, and so you know, if there's 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:00.760 any cleanup that needs to happen, you know, I think 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:01.960 we'll get another bite at the apple. 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:05.960 Kristen Smith, Slana Policy Institute President. Great to have you 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:08.520 back on the show. Thank you very much. Now, coming up, 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:12.720 Uber teams up with ev maker Lucid and self driving 0:16:12.800 --> 0:16:16.600 tech startup Neuro to launch a robotaxi fleet. We're going 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:19.200 to speak to the CEO of Neuro. That's coming up next. 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:37.200 This is Bloomberg Tech. Okay, let's take a look at 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:39.960 shares of the ev maker Lucid. Take a look at this. 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:44.880 The stock in the session is currently up significantly forty 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:48.240 six percent. It went wild in the pre market for 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:51.080 various reasons. The first one that hit the wire a 0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:56.120 reverse one to ten stock split. Basically, it is non 0:16:56.240 --> 0:16:59.560 dilute tree. It reduces a number of shares outstanding. It 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:03.400 proportionately raises the share price for holders of note. Later 0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:05.040 in the day. We can get into mechanics of that, 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:08.640 because what's really boosting it is the three way robotaxi 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:12.679 deal that this company's done. Lucid with Uber is launching 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:16.080 a partnership along with self driving text dot up Neuro. 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:19.840 It's a new robotaxi which will be available on Uber's 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:24.840 ride hailing service. The details are important, fortunately, Dave Ferguson, 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:27.920 the co founder and president of Neuro's with us, give 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:31.639 me a second. With this, Lucid provides the gravity SUVs. 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:36.160 You guys provide a part of the technology stack. Uber 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:40.320 basically pays for everything. They've invested three hundred million dollars 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:45.080 into Lucid, several hundred million dollars into you. What happens next? 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:48.159 Yes, so, Ed, First, thanks for having me. Great to 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:50.440 see you, Great to be here, I think you've got it. 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:55.159 So Lucid is integrating Neuro's driver hardware components, so the 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:58.200 sense and compute into their vehicles on the production line. 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:01.399 Those vehicles are then ship to Uber. Uber owns and 0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:07.119 operates them, and neuro drivers software provides the driving capability 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:08.639 for those vehicles on the Uber network. 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:11.520 What does Uber get out of its investment in you? 0:18:11.640 --> 0:18:14.359 In fact, let's just be honest about it. Lucids is 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:17.159 clear three hundred million. How much is Uber putting into you? 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:19.320 And what are they getting in return in terms of 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:22.919 IP or guaranteed access to something. 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:26.520 I think Uber is investing in Neuro in a standard 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:28.879 equity stake, and so I think that they're very, very 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:31.400 excited about this partnership and this program, and they want 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:33.359 to make sure that all of the parties are very 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:36.520 invested in the success of that program. And so they 0:18:36.600 --> 0:18:39.600 want to make sure that they also have some ownership 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:42.920 and frankly some upside in Neuro. Given how deeply we're 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:44.879 going to be partnering to build this and the scale 0:18:44.920 --> 0:18:46.560 that we're going to be embarking on together, how. 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:50.399 Much are they investing? Well, we carefully worded it as 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:53.880 why not just give us a number. 0:18:54.080 --> 0:18:57.159 Yeah, well, I think some of that is within our 0:18:57.240 --> 0:18:59.639 control and some of that is outside of our control. 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:01.880 We were not mind so much giving you the number. 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:04.280 I think there there's more sensitivity in other courts. 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:08.120 Well, we'll phone and ask. You have a very close 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:12.840 relationship with Nvidia, you know, essentially building on top of 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:16.240 what Nvidia offers and and just explain it because it 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:18.080 seems like a bit of our unlocked for you guys. 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:20.760 And this deal kind of involves in video to a 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:21.720 certain extent as well. 0:19:21.960 --> 0:19:22.160 Yeah. 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:26.159 Absolutely, So part of what we believe differentiates Neuro is 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:29.920 that we have a dramatically lower cost hardware set of 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:33.040 sensors and compute that powers all of the vehicles that 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:37.679 we create as self driving vehicles. And so Nvidia plays 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:39.920 a very large part of that because they provide for 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:42.879 us the SOOC that powers all of the compute. So 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:45.879 all of the compute on this robotaxi platform is going 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:50.080 to be based on video chips SC That's right, and 0:19:50.280 --> 0:19:54.800 for us, for Neuro, that has dramatically simplified our overall 0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:57.600 compute because before we had that system, we had to 0:19:57.680 --> 0:20:01.000 have FPGAs that dealt with the sensor data. We had 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:03.359 to have CPUs, we had to have GPUs, we had 0:20:03.400 --> 0:20:06.200 to have safety computers. We've been able to effectively collapse 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:09.639 all of that into the thor SoC So it's a 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:13.560 simplification and the complexity as well as a significant reduction 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:14.040 in costs. 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:17.119 You've been, I understand a testing a Lucid vehicle but 0:20:17.240 --> 0:20:20.439 on a closed circuit to make sure the tech stack works. 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:22.920 What's the evolution of that? Like the plan as I 0:20:23.040 --> 0:20:26.600 understand it is, Gravity goes into production late twenty twenty 0:20:26.680 --> 0:20:29.800 six and twenty thousand thousand of them are due to 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:32.640 Uber over six period year period. How do you get 0:20:32.680 --> 0:20:33.520 to public roads? 0:20:33.960 --> 0:20:36.560 Yeah, so we as a company, Neuro has been doing 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:39.959 fully driverless operation on public roads for over five years now, 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:42.240 so we have a lot of experience with what it 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:45.120 takes to validate our tech and to get it out 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:48.320 onto those roads safely. With the Lucid platform, it's obviously 0:20:48.359 --> 0:20:50.280 a new vehicle platform for us to work with. We 0:20:50.400 --> 0:20:53.040 got the first one going our first prototype in something 0:20:53.080 --> 0:20:56.000 like seven weeks, which is unheard of for us and 0:20:56.080 --> 0:20:58.879 we think the industry, so we'd be moving very very quickly. 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:01.119 So Lucid's providing the sensor suite. 0:21:01.440 --> 0:21:04.720 The sensor suite is neuro driver hardware, so it's a 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:08.879 sensor suite that neuro has designed, although all of it 0:21:09.000 --> 0:21:11.480 is automotive grade, set the shelf off the shelf sensing, 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:14.800 So Neuro has basically provided a design template for that, 0:21:15.000 --> 0:21:18.119 and Loocid is going to integrate that for the prototype 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:21.920 vehicles where we're doing small scale integration. For the twenty 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:25.840 thousands fleet, it's going to be integrated directly into the 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:26.520 production line. 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:30.440