Blizzard and its former Chinese publisher NetEase have reached an agreement to restore several games in the country after they were taken offline last year due to a licensing feud between the companies.
Additional games returning alongside the popular MMO (which previously had an estimated three million players in China) include Hearthstone and titles in the Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo, and StarCraft franchises.
Bloomberg reports that the Biden administration is awarding TSMC $6.6 billion in grants and $5 billion in loans under the CHIPS Act to help construct a third factory in Phoenix, Arizona by 2030, alongside $25 billion of the chipmaker’s own investments.
This new plant, which joins two other facilities already expected to open in 2025 and 2028, is meant to produce 2-nanometer chips that could power future iPhones and MacBooks.
While airlines are paying aviation excise taxes that go towards the necessary air traffic controls during takeoff, commercial space companies like SpaceX — which require similar airspace safety measures around launches — are exempt.
Now, the Biden Administration is proposing these companies start paying their share of the government resources being used. Former F.A.A.-licensed aircraft dispatcher William J. McGee told the New York Times:
“This is a question of fundamental fairness. It would be the equivalent of having a toll system on a highway and waving through certain users and not others”
Its initial $17 billion investment in Taylor, Texas will swell to about $44 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal, as Samsung plans to build a second chip factory and a new facility for advanced packaging and R&D.
An official announcement is expected on April 15th. Samsung’s first Texas-based factory was expected to start production this year, though this has reportedly been delayed till 2025.
