US search engine start-up Perplexity AI submitted a bid on Saturday to TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動) for Perplexity to merge with TikTok US, a source familiar with the company’s plans told Reuters.
TikTok faced a US ban that started yesterday if it did not cut ties with ByteDance, although US president-elect Donald Trump on Saturday said that he would likely give the short-video social-media platform a 90-day reprieve today.
CNBC first reported the offer.
Photo: Reuters
Perplexity would merge with TikTok US and create a new entity by combining the merged company with New Capital Partners LLC, the source said.
The new structure would allow for most of ByteDance’s existing investors to retain their equity stakes and would bring more videos to Perplexity, the source said.
Perplexity believes its bid might succeed, as the proposal is a merger rather than a sale, the source said.
Perplexity’s search tools enable users to get fast answers to questions, with sources and citations. It is powered by large language models that can sum up and generate information, from OpenAI to Meta Platforms Inc’s open-source model Llama.
TikTok, which has captivated nearly half of all Americans, powered small businesses and shaped online culture, on Friday said that it would go dark in the US yesterday unless US President Joe Biden’s administration provided assurances to companies such as Apple Inc and Google that they would not face enforcement actions when a ban takes effect.
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities