The Download

Morning Brew Inc.

TL;DR: South Korean memory chip firms are having a great year, posting record profits and even enriching workers along the way. But growing fears that memory prices can’t rise forever—and a new lawsuit accusing top memory makers of price fixing (something they’ve done before)—are casting a cloud over the gold rush.

What happened: It’s an amazing time to be a South Korean memory chipmaker. SK Hynix, which makes a large percentage of the world’s high bandwidth memory chips, now has a market cap around $1 trillion after its stock price soared over sevenfold in the last year. And that number could jump even higher after its Nasdaq debut tomorrow, given that there aren’t enough shares to go around right now.

Then there’s Samsung, which posted brain-breaking profits this quarter, beating even Nvidia’s most recent quarterly earnings. Thanks to this chip boom, the country’s economy is now projected to grow 2.6% this year, per the IMF, the biggest growth upgrade given to any major economy in its latest projections.

The best of times: It’s not just top execs who are raking in money. A chip worker at SK Hynix or Samsung could pocket a bonus worth more than $400,000 this year, depending on the firms’ annual profits. The payouts are so eye-watering that they’ve stoked inflation concerns, and the windfall is upending all corners of Korean society—from what young people want to study in college to who they want to date.

And yet… Uncertainty looms over how long the party will last. Samsung’s stock fell sharply after its gangbuster profit still missed stratospheric expectations. The question on everyone’s mind: Will the incredible run continue, or is this the start of a memory chip bust? Especially given the cost of electronics could soon reach the ceiling for many consumers—particularly if RAM prices jump another 70% or so by the end of 2026, as one analyst estimates. The signs are already there: For the first time in over two years, worldwide PC shipments fell this past quarter.

The two Korean firms, alongside Micron, are also the subject of yet another lawsuit accusing them of colluding on prices, which could potentially come with costly consequences (Samsung and SK Hynix have pleaded guilty to price fixing DRAM before).

Bottom line: The sheer scale of South Korea’s chip boom is now fueling fears that we’re nearing the top of what people (and tech companies) will pay for memory—and it could all come crashing down as fast as it rose. —WK

      

Sponsored By Siemens Software

Humanoid robots are expanding beyond the trade show floor and into the workforce. So we teamed up with Siemens to get a sense of where this technology stands currently and what we can expect from it moving forward.

Our article helps you get a lay of the land when it comes to humanoids. We explore why different industries are looking to adopt humanoids. We look at what training these robots need and what that might look like. And we pull back the curtain on the tech that’s making it all possible.

Give it a read to learn about a future that’s not too far away.

One small step for recovery, one giant price tag for mankind

Disclosure: Companies may send us products to test, but they never pay for our opinions. Our recommendations are unbiased and unfiltered, and Tech Brew may earn a commission if you buy through our links.

I’m not a runner. I’m also not someone who thinks too much about foot recovery—except when my left ankle, weakened by an injury a decade ago, decides to make itself known. So when the space-age-looking Nike x Hyperice Hyperboot arrived, I had one real question: Could a $799 boot-shaped recovery device actually do something for a chronically unreliable ankle?

How we tested it: I’ve been testing the Hyperboots for the past few months, using them at varying heat and compression settings for sessions ranging from 15 to 45 minutes.

The Good: Setup is fairly intuitive—they have Velcro straps and clear instructions. They can also connect to the Hyperice app, which beats bending down to press the buttons on the shoes mid-session. At Level 2 heat paired with mid-to-high compression, it’s legitimately relaxing—and my tight ankle did feel a little looser afterward. They’re also FSA/HSA eligible, which softens the price a little.

The Bad: At $799 for feet-and-ankles-only coverage, it’s hard to justify (full-leg compression boots from some brands start around $549). After months of testing, the long-term benefits beyond feeling good in the moment or right after were hard to detect, although reviews from runners tended to be more enthusiastic. The practical annoyances add up, too: The highest heat setting is uncomfortable even with tall socks (which are required—ankle socks won’t cut it); the boots come in size ranges, so sharing is tricky; and the weighting makes walking in them awkward enough that you’ll want to stay seated unless you’re making a quick trip to the fridge (they’re also extremely squeaky).

Verdict: ❌ Noise—for most people. (Unless you’re a serious runner or spend your days on your feet, the price is a tough sell.) —SM

Note: We’re also going to have a runner test the boots, so our six-month review will be more comprehensive.

Sponsored By Eaton

Do you call yourself an IT ace? Put your skills to the test in Eaton’s Ace of Uptime. Each round of the card game drops you into a familiar IT situation along with a set of solutions to choose from—but do it quickly and correctly. Make the right call and you stabilize the system. Choose poorly and… things escalate.

The Zeitbyte

AI insists your terrible hotel stay wasn’t so bad

Shannon May, Photo: Adobe Stock

Here’s another reason to take what AI says with a grain of salt: Tripadvisor’s AI-generated hotel review summaries keep turning vacationers’ horror stories into sanitized blurbs fit for a marketing brochure, per an investigation by a UK consumer advocacy org. One property was sued by hundreds of guests for food poisoning—with reviews about being served raw chicken and seeing “dead little roasted mice by the sitting area.” Yet Tripadvisor’s AI notes that the place is “spotless.” And a resort where guests showered with bottled water because the taps ran dry? The AI summary praises its “abundant” amenities.

Exactly how the AI cooks up these summaries is unclear (though it should probably count how often the word “mice” appears in reviews). But AI writing has a bias toward sounding more positive, with a tendency to “rub off the edges” of criticism, according to one professor. Tripadvisor says it’s refining the tool but remains “confident these features are delivering exactly what they were designed to do.” Which is exactly the kind of optimistic spin an LLM would put on the situation. —WK

Chaos Brewing Meter: ☕☕☕☕/5

• AI companies are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the upcoming US elections. Here’s what they want for their buck.
• OpenAI’s new voice models let ChatGPT speak and listen at the same time.
• The US agency for traffic safety is really unhappy with autonomous vehicle companies, saying a growing trend “is unacceptable.”
• You’ll soon get a message from X if a post you’ve interacted with is corrected. Now all the company has to do is make sure Community Notes are accurate.
• A nonprofit foundation that caused waves with a viral report last year is calling for a slowdown in AI research in its new essay, “AI 2040.”
• Continuing with the surveillance theme… Meta reportedly filed a patent last year for a device that will track your emotions.
• This one’s for the Claudemaxxers and data geeks: A new dashboard will allow you to “reflect” on your usage.
• Every new car sold in the EU now has to have a driver-facing camera that will issue alerts—and it might not stop there.
• Here’s what Zuckerberg’s first tweet in three years is about.

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