Dailytechwire

How Apple's Canceled Car Project Quietly Built the Foundation for Its AI Chips

The company's abandoned self-driving program drove a decade-long chip architecture pivot that now powers everything from Face ID to on-device large language models.

By Kenji Watanabe·Jul 13, 2026·4 min read

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The Brief

Twice daily · 07:00 / 18:00 SGT

AM · 07:00

MAS clears DBS for digital-asset custody. ERNIE-X is live in three VN banks.

Plus: VNG's listing math, TSMC's allocation reshuffle, and a UPI-Vietnam timeline.

PM · 18:00 (yesterday)

What we got wrong about Tokopedia–Grab – one year in.

The synergy thesis is finally producing real numbers. Some of them are layoffs.

Read →

Newsroom dispatches

Wire Drops

07:58HanoiVNG Cloud confirms Singapore listing filing; Q4 revenue grew 31% YoY per draft prospectus.

08:14JakartaGoTo posts adjusted EBITDA positive for second straight quarter; on-demand take-rate ticks up 40bps.

08:31SeoulSK Hynix says HBM4 sampling to top customers begins June; volume in Q4.

08:42SingaporeMAS approves digital asset custody licence for DBS – first major bank to clear the revised framework.

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How Apple's Canceled Car Project Quietly Built the Foundation for Its AI Chips

Kenji Watanabe · · 4m

Federal Regulators Tell Robotaxi Operators to Fix Emergency Response Failures

Daniel R. Whitfield · · 5m

Xiaomi Dominates Global Markets But Stays Out of America

Wei Zhang · · 6m

How AI Training Economics Are Reshaping Memory Chip Markets

Wei Zhang · · 4m

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How Apple's Canceled Car Project Quietly Built the Foundation for Its AI Chips

Kenji Watanabe · · 4m

Apple Takes OpenAI to Court Over Trade Secret Theft Claims

Arjun S. Mehta · · 5m

Meta Pulls Instagram AI Tool After User Revolt

Priya Nair · · 5m

OpenAI Merges Safety and Research Under Single Leadership

Arjun S. Mehta · · 5m

Startups

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How AI Training Economics Are Reshaping Memory Chip Markets

Wei Zhang · · 4m

Microsoft Confirms 3,200 Xbox Layoffs as Gaming Division Faces Strategic Reset

Marcus Halloran · · 6m

When Pitch Meetings Become Intelligence Leaks

Daniel R. Whitfield · · 4m

Bluesky Gambles on Permanence as Schneider Sheds Interim Tag

Arjun S. Mehta · · 5m

Products

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Xiaomi Dominates Global Markets But Stays Out of America

Wei Zhang · · 6m

HP Bets on Durability and Power in Its Revamped Ultraportable

Daniel R. Whitfield · · 5m

HyperTexting Wants You to Follow Websites, Not Algorithms

Marcus Halloran · · 5m

OpenAI Turns to Households as ChatGPT's User Base Ages and Broadens

Priya Nair · · 5m

Policy

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Federal Regulators Tell Robotaxi Operators to Fix Emergency Response Failures

Daniel R. Whitfield · · 5m

Apple Files Lawsuit Accusing OpenAI of Systematic Trade Secret Theft

Daniel R. Whitfield · · 4m

CISA Wrote Its Own Breach Playbook While Handling a Contractor Leak

Marcus Halloran · · 4m

Chinese Developers Eye Local Coding Tools as State Flags Security Risk in Foreign AI

Wei Zhang · · 5m

Asia Tech Spotlight

What's moving from Singapore to Seoul this week.

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Policy

Federal Regulators Tell Robotaxi Operators to Fix Emergency Response Failures

Singapore · 5 min

Startups

How AI Training Economics Are Reshaping Memory Chip Markets

Singapore · 4 min

Startups

Microsoft Confirms 3,200 Xbox Layoffs as Gaming Division Faces Strategic Reset

Singapore · 6 min

Policy

Apple Files Lawsuit Accusing OpenAI of Systematic Trade Secret Theft

Singapore · 4 min

Data desk · preview

Dashboards

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Asia Funding Tracker

$8.4B raised, 14 days

For informational purposes only · not investment advice

AI Leaderboard

This week's top models

filter by use case →

#	Model	Reason	Code	$/M
1	GPT-5.1 OpenAI	92	88	9.0
2	Claude Sonnet 4.5 Anthropic	91	90	8.4
3	Gemini 2.5 Pro Google	88	84	6.5
4	ERNIE-X 350B Baidu	84	80	2.1

Long-form · data-driven

Deep Dive of the Week

LatestDeep Dive·22 min read

The $84B build-out: every datacenter announced across ASEAN in the last 12 months, mapped

We pulled filings, planning permits, and grid-connection requests from seven jurisdictions. Here is what the spreadsheet actually says.

By Mei Lin and Jordan Chen & Arif Rahman·May 23, 2026·22 min read

Awards · Coming soon

The inaugural awards launch next year

Recognising the founders, operators, and engineers quietly shaping Asia's technology decade. Categories, panel, and nominations revealed closer to launch.

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