⛵ Battery Chain Flips

Good Morning, Early Adopters!

Industries are starting to break, and what replaces them may be faster, cleaner, and far less centralized than before.

NEW TECH

Tesla’s New Lithium Plant Signals Industrial Breakpoint

👀 What’s happening: Tesla’s lithium refinery in Texas has officially begun production, becoming the first large-scale U.S. plant to convert hard-rock spodumene directly into battery-grade lithium hydroxide using a novel acid-free process. Instead of using sulfuric acid and generating toxic waste, the facility applies an alkaline leach/thermal pathway that yields lithium hydroxide and benign sand-like co-products.

🌍 How this hits reality: This process sidesteps the traditional multi-stage sulfuric-acid route that first makes lithium sulfate or carbonate and produces heavy pollution and sodium sulfate wastes. It simplifies the value chain by taking ore to usable hydroxide in one place with lower chemical, energy, and disposal costs. By doing so at commercial scale in Texas, Tesla cuts reliance on established processing hubs and challenges legacy systems that underpin about 60% of global battery supply processing today.

⛵ Key takeaway: If this scalable, low-waste lithium pathway proves durable, incumbent processing in China and elsewhere built on acid roasting and hazardous byproducts faces rapid obsolescence as battery makers shift to cleaner, cheaper inputs.

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LAWSUIT

Musk’s OpenAI Lawsuit Uses Grievance as a Strategy

👀 What’s happening: Elon Musk is pushing his lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft into a higher gear, now demanding up to $134 billion in damages. The filing reframes his early $38 million contribution and advisory role as entitling him to a share of OpenAI’s current roughly $500 billion valuation, just as the case heads toward a jury trial.

🌍 How this hits reality: This is no longer just about nonprofit principles. It lands squarely on timing. OpenAI is restructuring, formalizing Microsoft’s 27 percent stake, and preparing for public market scrutiny. Musk’s claims turn governance history into a valuation dispute, forcing disclosures, expert testimony, and legal uncertainty. Even if the math is rejected, the process itself adds friction to fundraising, IPO prep, and partner confidence.

⛵ Key takeaway: As an OpenAI IPO gets closer, expect these lawsuits to intensify. Personal fallout is part of it, but the larger play is strategic pressure. Legal action becomes a tool to slow momentum, shape narratives, and complicate the path to market.

NEW TECH

Fluid Gears Work in Theory but Not Yet in Markets

👀 What’s happening: Researchers at New York University demonstrated a gear concept that replaces teeth with fluid flow. Rotating disks transfer motion through controlled vortices in viscous liquid. There is no contact, no jamming, and rotation speed or direction shifts via spacing and viscosity. The result was published in Physical Review Letters.

🌍 How this hits reality: The physics works, but engineering details are missing. The study does not report transmission efficiency or force loss, which are central for real machines. Any viscous coupling implies continuous energy dissipation as heat. That makes it hard to compare against gears that routinely exceed 95 percent efficiency under load.

⛵ Key takeaway: This validates a new physical mechanism, not a market-ready transmission. Until loss, scaling, and thermal behavior are quantified, fluid gears stay in the lab. Long term impact depends on niche cases where reliability beats efficiency.

BAY AREA MEMOS

• Sequoia Capital plans to invest in Anthropic, breaking VC tradition by backing multiple rival AI labs alongside OpenAI and xAI.
• NASA’s Artemis II mission has reached the launch pad and entered final testing, setting the stage for the first crewed lunar flyby since the Apollo era in early 2026.
• Lawmakers urged the FTC to investigate Trump Mobile over alleged false advertising, deposits taken without deliveries, and misleading promotions.
• Meta is exiting enterprise Quest VR sales and services to refocus on consumer hardware and its expanding smart glasses lineup.
• China’s move to block Nvidia’s H200 AI chips has halted supplier output and turned the processor into a new flashpoint in U.S.-China tech tensions.

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