Weekly Intel - Oct 19 2025
The gap between what technology promises and what actually happens keeps widening. Governments are seizing control of chipmakers they don’t trust. Workers are organizing to block acquisitions they didn’t approve. Electric vehicles that were supposed to hold their value are cratering faster than gas cars. Meanwhile, the AI everyone’s racing to adopt just got cheaper and faster, but the experts building it say we’re still a decade from solving its core problems.
This week’s stories share a common thread: the technology works, but the political, economic, and organizational friction around it matters more than the specs. Here’s what you need to know.
Dutch Government Takes Control of Chinese-Owned Chipmaker Nexperia
The Dutch government seized control of Nexperia, a Chinese-owned semiconductor manufacturer, using emergency legislation to protect European chip access. This matters because governments are now willing to take direct control of private tech companies when national security is at stake. If you run international operations or rely on global supply chains, expect more interventions like this. The rules are changing mid-game.
EVs are depreciating faster than gas-powered cars
Electric vehicles are losing value at alarming rates. India’s BluSmart ride-hailing collapsed after its EVs lost 75% of their value. Tesla Model Ys dropped 42% compared to 20% for Ford F-150s. If you’re managing a fleet or considering EV investments, this depreciation trend changes the math on total cost of ownership. Battery lifespan concerns are creating real financial risk.
EA Union Workers Oppose $55B Private Acquisition
Electronic Arts employees and their union formally protested the proposed $55 billion acquisition by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners. They want a seat at the table. This shows how organized labor in tech is becoming a real force in M&A deals. If you’re planning acquisitions, you’ll need to think beyond shareholders and boards.
DoorDash and Waymo Launch Autonomous Delivery Service in Phoenix
DoorDash started testing Waymo’s autonomous vehicles for deliveries in Phoenix. They’re also offering $10 monthly ride discounts to DashPass members in three cities. Autonomous delivery is moving from pilot to production. The economics of last-mile logistics are about to shift. If delivery costs matter to your business model, pay attention.
Apple announced its M5 processor—3-nanometer tech, 10-core GPU, 4x better AI performance than M4, 45% better graphics. This means mainstream computers can now handle serious AI workloads without cloud infrastructure. If you’ve been waiting for edge AI capabilities that actually work, this changes what’s possible on a laptop.
It Will Take a Decade to Work Through Issues with AI Agents
Former Tesla AI Director Andrej Karpathy says we need a decade to solve AI’s current problems—reinforcement learning challenges, model collapse in large language models, and autonomous driving complexities. Translation: pace your AI expectations. Plan for gradual adoption, not overnight transformation. The hype cycle doesn’t match the engineering reality.
TurboTax’s 20-Year Fight to Stop Americans from Filing Taxes for Free
ProPublica’s investigation reveals how Intuit spent 20 years blocking free government tax filing while protecting TurboTax’s market. It’s a master class in defensive lobbying and market protection. It’s also a warning—when corporate interests look too self-serving, public backlash can erase years of goodwill. There’s a fine line between strategic positioning and reputational risk.
Claude Skills: Anthropic Introduces Task-Specific Enhancement Tools
Anthropic launched Claude Skills, letting you create specialized instruction sets for specific tasks—Excel work, brand compliance, whatever you need. Instead of generic AI, you can train it for your exact use case. This makes AI more useful and consistent across your organization. Finally, customization that doesn’t require an engineering team.
Claude Haiku 4.5: Faster, Cheaper AI That Matches Top-Tier Performance
Anthropic’s new small model delivers performance matching their previous flagship (Claude Sonnet 4) at one-third the cost and twice the speed. Real-time chat, customer service, code assistance—all suddenly more affordable and responsive. This accelerates how fast AI can spread through your operations.
No Science, No Startups: The Innovation Engine We’re Switching Off
Steve Blank warns that current policies toward university research programs threaten the pipeline that feeds American innovation. Universities produce the fundamental research that becomes commercial applications. Cut that pipeline, and you cut tomorrow’s competitive advantage. If you’re betting on U.S. tech leadership continuing indefinitely, this is worth reading.
That’s what I’m watching. What caught your attention this week?
-Eric
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