Union Yes for Game Developers - DTNS 5094

We ask a developer why unions are important for them, and why US restrictions are improving China’s chip development. 

Starring Tom Merritt, and Huyen Tue Dao.

TOM: This is the Daily Tech News for Friday, August 29, 2025. We tell you what you need to know, follow up on the context of those stories and help each other understand.

HUYEN: Today, why do developers want to unionize? We’ll ask a developer. Me!

I’m Tom Merritt,

I’m Huyen Tue Dao

TOM: Let’s start with what you need to know with the big story.

[[BIG STORY]]
[[SOLO story of the day. Basic details, monitor commentary and sound when possible.]]

Blizzard’s Diablo team has unionized | The Verge
450 Diablo developers vote to unionize | GamesIndustry.biz

TOM: 450 workers in Blizzard's Diablo team have formed a union represented by the Communications Workers of America, including developers, artists, designers, engineers, and support staff. The Diablo team wants to bargain for improved compensation, job security, and workplace conditions. More than 3,500 Microsoft employees are now represented by the CWA, including 500 World of Warcraft workers. Last year, workers at Raven Software secured a contract with Microsoft after suing, alleging the company refused to bargain.

Huyen, you're a developer working for a company. How do you feel about the pros and cons of unions and how this is spreading in the game developer world?

HUYEN: DTNS is made possible by you the listener. Thanks to
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TOM: There’s more we need to know today, let’s get to the briefs.

[[BRIEFS]]
[[3-9 more solo reads with sound to complete the day in tech news. These are informational with minor commentary.]]

UK's demand for Apple backdoor may have been broader than previously thought | Engadget
Steam users in the UK will need a credit card to access ‘mature content’ games | The Verge

HUYEN: The UK Home Office has not yet dropped its requirement that Apple provide a way for it to subpoena information from its customers. That has led to Apple removing its Advanced Data Protection service for iCloud in the UK in February. The feature is opt-in for the rest of the world, and means you manage the keys for the end-to-end encryption on your iCloud data, so that Apple cannot unlock it even if it wanted to. Apple has challenged the order with the UK Investigatory Powers Tribunal, which this week submitted a legal filing in the case, that the Financial Times says was "not limited to" data protected by Apple's ADP, meaning it wanted broad access to all iCloud accounts.

In other UK regulatory news, Valve has decided to comply with the UK's Online Safety Act by requiring UK subjects to verify their age with a credit card in order to access mature content. You must be 18 or older in the UK to obtain a credit card.

Exclusive | Alibaba Creates AI Chip to Help China Fill Nvidia Void - WSJ
DeepSeek Fuels Return to Profit for Chinese Tech Champion Huawei - Bloomberg
DeepSeek Opts for Huawei Chips to Train Some Models — The Information
Alibaba (BABA) June quarter 2025 earnings report | CNBC
BYD's quarterly profit falls for first time in 3-1/2 years as price wars bite | Reuters
Trump Administration Removes China Tech Waivers for Intel, Samsung, SK Hynix - Bloomberg

TOM: Several stories today tell the tale of a resurgent tech industry in China, overcoming trade barriers from the US. The context is that the US has restricted all advanced chips that can be used for AI training from being exported to China, and restricted the sale of machines or technology that uses US IP to make these kinds of chips. US companies have been able to sell chips good for inferencing, the part where a trained model answers your query, but even those were paused for several months over the summer, like Nvidia's H20. Since those were unpaused, China has encouraged its domestic companies not to buy them.

And now we're seeing the results of those varying pressures. Alibaba announced revenue rose 2% on the year, driven by AI demand for its cloud services. Alibaba also announced it is testing an inferencing chip of its own design, made by a mainland Chinese company, that is compatible with software written for Nvidia chips. Shanghai's MetaX is preparing a chip for mass production that has more memory than the Nvidia H20, but uses more power. Beijing's Cambricon Technologies had robust orders over the summer for its chip, leading to a market cap of $87 billion, equivalent to Roblox in size and bigger than Dell. And Huawei has seen record orders for its Ascend chips, which are close to, if not ahead on some metrics, to some of Nvidia's Blackwell chips, though using much more power. Huawei just posted a first-half profit with revenue up 3.94%. Net profit fell 32% on the year but reversed a loss in Q4. The Information reports that DeepSeek will try using Huawei's chips to train the smaller versions of its upcoming R2 models. The only Chinese company reporting a fall recently is car-maker BYD with a profit drop of 29.9% as a result of intense price wars over EVs.

As these companies resist the headwinds imposed by the US, the US announced it will no longer grant a waiver to Korea's Samsung or SK Hynix to use chip-making equipment based on US IP, in their Chinese operations. This will put pressure on the companies to find other markets to make their memory chips.

DELL Q2 Deep Dive: AI Server Demand Drives Revenue, Margin Mix Raises Questions | Yahoo Finance
Marvell stock slumps after data center revenue, forecast disappoint | CNBC

HUYEN: Meanwhile, US companies are reporting earnings that generally show a positive upward trend based on demand for AI servers. Dell posted sales up 19% on the year, with revenue guidance for next quarter revised up 19.5%. Dell shipped more AI servers in the first half of this year than all of last year. Dell's storage sales softened, but it's pinning its future growth on servers. The outlier in the general positivity from US tech companies that make equipment for data centers came from Marvell, which had a record 58% year-over-year revenue jump thanks to AI demand, but was expected to have even stronger growth. The takeaway is that the worst report is one that set a record for its company, so sales are pretty strong.

Billionaire Ambani taps Google, Meta to build India's AI backbone | TechCrunch
Billionaire Ambani plans to take Reliance Jio public by mid-2026 | Reuters

TOM: Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani announced a new subsidiary called Reliance Intelligence that will aim to create a national-scale AI infrastructure in India. Reliance will partner with Google to build the cloud infrastructure, starting with a data center in Jamnagar, Gujarat. And Reliance Intelligence will create a joint venture with Meta to offer its Llama models as a service for businesses. Reliance also plans to take its telecom and digital device subsidiary, Reliance Jio, both international and issue public stock for it by mid-2026.

A number of Pixel 10 buyers report major Android Auto difficulties | MSN
Pixel 10 Comes With Its Refresh Rate Locked To 60Hz As Default Because Google Says The 120Hz Mode ‘Increases Battery Usage’ | Wccftech

HUYEN: With the release of every popular product comes the inevitable bug or two that you don't experience until the product is used at scale. And those bugs provide sustenance for starving blogs, hungry for traffic. And so we come to that moment for the Google Pixel 10 series. 9to5Google reports that multiple users are having trouble maintaining a stable connection between the Pixel 10 phones and Android Auto. The dashboard display just shows a blank screen, even though music and phone calls still play sound. If it does get past the blank screen, the interface is sluggish. Nobody has figured out a reliable workaround yet. And the next one isn't a bug, but Pixel 10 owners will find their new phones are locked to 60 Hertz refresh rate to save battery life. So if you don't care about that and want that buttery smooth 120 Hertz refresh rate, you'll need to turn on Smooth Display in the Display and touch settings.

Nvidia Faces Trial Over Engineer’s ‘Stolen’ Code Oops Moment - Bloomberg

TOM: Here's one that might blow over or could blow up. A federal judge in the US state of California has ruled there is enough evidence to set a trial in November to determine whether Nvidia benefited from confidential data taken by an engineer from Paris-based Valeo who left that company to work for Nvidia. Nvidia and Valeo were working on a project for Mercedes-Benz when the employee switched sides. Valeo employees recognized their company's source code on the new Nvidia employee's screen during a video call. The engineer has been convicted in Germany of infringing business secrets. Nvidia said it rolled back all the work that the engineer did, fired him, and asked for the case to be dismissed. The judge noted that Nvidia made rapid progress with its parking assistance technology after the code was shared, and that there were “numerous functionalities directly paralleling Valeo’s stolen code.” The trial will determine if there are other explanations for these coincidences.

Kobo ereaders are swapping out Pocket for Instapaper | Engadget

HUYEN: If you're a Kobo e-reader user AND a former Pocket user (which shut down in May), we have good news for both of you. Kobo has a deal with Instapaper to let you access any articles you save to Instapaper, including when offline, just like you used to be able to for Pocket. The one thing it lacks is handwritten annotations.

How end of US de minimis exemption will impact shoppers, businesses | Daily Sabah
How will the end of the de minimis exemption impact US shoppers and businesses? | Reuters

TOM: Friday marked the end of the US tariff exemption for packages worth less than $800, often called the "de minimis" exemption. The exemption has been in place since 1938 and was most recently raised from $200 to $800 in 2015. With a surge in e-commerce from companies like Aliexpress, Temu, and Shein, qualifying packages rose from 139 million in 2015 to 1.36 billion in 2024. Canada, Mexico, and the UK were the next biggest senders after China. The change not only raises prices directly by imposing a tariff, but increases delays, paperwork, and costs associated with inspections and compliance. US Customs and Border Patrol is offering a temporary flat rate based on which country the package originates from. All international postal systems must collect based on each parcel's individual value by February 28th.

Microsoft tests MAI-1-preview AI model boost to Copilot, rival OpenAI | CNBC

HUYEN: As Microsoft negotiated with OpenAI, it released its first foundation model developed entirely in-house. Microsoft's CEO of AI, Mustafa Suleyman, announced the MAI-1-preview model is being tested on a public websites and Microsoft is taking requests for early access.

[[PROMO]]

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[[HELPING EACH OTHER UNDERSTAND]]
[[Short missives from people with experience. Could be written email or pre-recorded from the person.]]

HUYEN: We end every episode of DTNS with some shared wisdom. Today Bodie has some added info on EV tax exemptions in the US.

TOM: Bodie writes

A follow-up to our discussion on the Federal EV tax credits. The IRS clarified an important detail. It was being reported that you had to take delivery of the vehicle on or before September 30th to get the tax credit.

The IRS gave us some clarification on this. If the vehicle won't be delivered by September 30th. The buyer can still receive the tax credit if they sign a binding contract with the dealer/automaker and put a deposit down on the vehicle on or before September 30th.

IRS clarification on EV tax credit deadline | InsideEVs

Bodie

[[DISCUSS]]

HUYEN: What are you thinking about? Got some insight into a story? Share it with us feedback@dailytechnewsshow.com

TOM: Thanks to Bodie for contributing to today’s show. And thank YOU for being along for Daily Tech News Show. You can keep us in business by becoming a patron, at Patreon.com/dtns