So far the AI is running with training wheels. Some stock-picking strategies have come solely from the machine, while others were developed with assistance from the fund\u2019s 10-person team.<\/p>\n
Will Abundance beat the market? As they say in the gym: No pain, no gain.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s tech news below. \u2014Andrew Nusca Want to send thoughts or suggestions to\u00a0Fortune Tech?\u00a0Drop a line\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Palantir staff question company\u2019s commitment to civil liberties Fabrice Coffrini\/AFP\u2014Getty Images<\/p>\n There\u2019s little doubt that Americans are questioning the White House in the wake of its use of force at home and abroad.\u00a0<\/p>\n Half of Americans say Trump\u2019s immigration actions are too aggressive, per a recent Politico poll<\/a>, and just two in five Americans support the Trump administration’s strikes on Iran, according to a new Reuters\/Ipsos poll<\/a>.<\/p>\n But what about the employees of the tech firms working with the federal government? Surely they\u2019re more on board than the average American, right?<\/p>\n Wrong, according to a new Wired report about Alex Karp-led Palantir. As the company touts its support of U.S. forces across the political spectrum, internal communications reportedly reveal a widening divide as Palantir\u2014which sells data analytics tools\u2014embraces an administration that has taken an aggressive stance on, well, everything.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need an understanding of our involvement here,\u201d one employee reportedly wrote on Slack after federal immigration agents shot and killed Minneapolis nurse Alex Pretti.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWere we involved, and are doing anything to stop a repeat if we were?\u201d another employee reportedly asked in the wake of the Feb. 28 missile strike on an Iranian elementary school.<\/p>\n Palantir staffers told Wired<\/a> that the secretive company\u2014which has consistently welcomed criticism from within\u2014has lately met feedback in internal channels with \u201cphilosophical soliloquies and redirection\u201d as CEO Karp promotes his book calling for a reinstatement of the draft, among other things.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were supposed to be the ones who were preventing a lot of these abuses,\u201d a former employee told the publication, adding: \u201cWe seem to be enabling them.\u201d \u2014AN<\/p>\n Engineer receives 10 years in prison for stealing TSMC data<\/p>\n A court in Taiwan is sending<\/a> several people to jail in a high-profile trade secrets case involving TSMC, the world\u2019s largest contract chip manufacturer, and an equipment supplier, Japan\u2019s Tokyo Electron.<\/p>\n Five people\u2014former TSMC and Tokyo Electron engineer Chen Li-ming, three former TSMC employees, and one former Tokyo Electron employee\u2014received prison sentences of up to 10 years.<\/p>\n The domestic arm of Tokyo Electron was also fined $5 million.<\/p>\n In August 2025, Chen was charged with unlawfully obtaining trade secrets<\/a> in an attempt to help Tokyo Electron win more business from TSMC.\u00a0<\/p>\n Those trade secrets pertained to TSMC\u2019s 2-nanometer chip production process, which that company describes as \u201cthe most advanced technology in the semiconductor industry in terms of both density and energy efficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n Taiwan\u2019s National Security Act was amended in 2022 to include specific protections for \u201cnational core technologies\u201d in an attempt to curtail the loss of intellectual property to foreign countries including China.\u00a0<\/p>\n The TSMC-TEL lawsuit is the first brought under the reinforced law. \u2014AN<\/p>\n ASML scrambles to meet AI chip demand<\/p>\n Speaking of computer chips: Have you heard of the Dutch chip equipment maker ASML?<\/p>\n Not exactly a household name, I\u2019ll grant you that. But if it\u2019s a smart idea to watch the chipmakers who supply the leading AI companies to better understand what\u2019s going on in the AI market, it\u2019s an even smarter idea to watch the equipment manufacturers who supply the AI chipmakers.<\/p>\n ASML takes a turn in the pages<\/a> of the Wall Street Journal\u00a0as it scrambles to meet\u2014what else?\u2014\u201dan industrywide surge in demand.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The company enjoys a near-monopoly on its complicated machines, called Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems and used for the highest density (7nm and below) chips. They\u2019re not to be confused with Deep Ultraviolet (DUV) systems, which are used for lower resolution, higher volume chips (e.g. automotive and Internet of Things).<\/p>\n That means there\u2019s a great deal of pressure for ASML to keep up with contract chip giant TSMC as it meets AI infrastructure spending commitments from Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft.\u00a0<\/p>\n So far, ASML believes it can meet customer demand. It will manufacture \u201cat least 60\u201d of its EUV machines this year, an uptick from the 48 it sold in 2025, and \u201cat least 80\u201d in 2027, according to the Journal.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But it won\u2019t be easy. \u201cASML\u2019s high-end lithography machines are roughly the size of a school bus and are among the most complex devices humans have ever created,\u201d the Journal writes, adding: \u201cThe machines take months to assemble and are built using components from hundreds of different suppliers.\u201d Ah, well. \u2014AN<\/p>\n More tech<\/p>\n \u2014OpenAI\u2019s new principles<\/a> include a pledge to \u201cresist the potential of this technology to consolidate power in the hands of the few.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014Gadgets everyone\u2019s obsessing about:<\/a> Tin Can\u2019s landline-inspired Wi-Fi phone.<\/p>\n \u2014An amateur using AI solved a 60-year-old math problem.<\/a> Significance? Unclear.<\/p>\n \u2014Google controls 25% of global AI compute<\/a>, Epoch AI estimates.<\/p>\n \u2014A new tech unicorn<\/a>: Japan\u2019s Genki Robotics, which focuses on the humanoid variety.<\/p>\n
P.S. Good stuff from colleague Nick Gordon about the push and pull from China<\/a> that awaits incoming Apple CEO John Ternus.<\/p>\n![\"Palantir](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2256666945_0936f3.jpg\"\/)
<\/a>Palantir Technologies CEO Alex Karp in Davos, Switzerland in January 2026.<\/p>\n