Plus, Intel announced further separation of its chip-manufacturing and design operations. And Amazon tells workers to return to the office five days a week. Zoe Thomas hosts.
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[00:00:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Here's your TNB Tech Minute for Monday, September 16.
[00:00:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Zoe Thomas for The Wall Street Journal.
[00:00:08] [SPEAKER_00]: TikTok and the Department of Justice were in court today, arguing over legislation that
[00:00:13] [SPEAKER_00]: could shut down the Chinese-backed app in the U.S.
[00:00:17] [SPEAKER_00]: A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals appeared skeptical of the social media
[00:00:21] [SPEAKER_00]: platform's arguments, including that the law violates the First Amendment.
[00:00:25] [SPEAKER_00]: The Justice Department said TikTok creators can post what they want, just not on a major
[00:00:31] [SPEAKER_00]: platform controlled by a foreign adversary.
[00:00:34] [SPEAKER_00]: U.S. lawmakers passed the legislation earlier this year amid concerns that TikTok, which
[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_00]: is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, could be influenced by the Chinese government.
[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_00]: ByteDance has until January 19 to sell the platform, but has said it can't and
[00:00:49] [SPEAKER_00]: won't sell its U.S. operations by that deadline.
[00:00:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Intel says it will further separate its chip manufacturing and design operations.
[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_00]: It's part of a raft of measures intended to help the company better compete with rivals.
[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_00]: In an interview, CEO Pat Gelsinger said increasing the separation between the two operations
[00:01:08] [SPEAKER_00]: will allow the manufacturing arm to get financing independently and reduce concerns about its
[00:01:14] [SPEAKER_00]: independence.
[00:01:15] [SPEAKER_00]: The move stopped short of splitting off and selling the manufacturing operations,
[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_00]: though it could pave the way for that later.
[00:01:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Gelsinger also said Intel is pausing factory projects in Germany and Poland for two years
[00:01:27] [SPEAKER_00]: and putting a manufacturing project in Malaysia on hold until demand picks back up.
[00:01:33] [SPEAKER_00]: And Amazon has told its workers it wants them back in the office five days a week,
[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_00]: starting in January.
[00:01:40] [SPEAKER_00]: CEO Andy Jassy said in a post on the company's website that Amazon believes there are
[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_00]: significant advantages to having employees in the office full-time.
[00:01:47] [SPEAKER_00]: The e-commerce giant has required workers to come into the office at least three days a week
[00:01:52] [SPEAKER_00]: since May of 2023.
[00:01:55] [SPEAKER_00]: And last year, Amazon told many employees that they would have to relocate to, quote,
[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_00]: main hub locations, such as Seattle, New York or San Francisco.
[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_00]: For a deeper dive into what's happening in tech, check out Tuesday's Tech News Briefing podcast.