> I don't think people realize the sheer magnitude of reaching $3B ARR in under two years.
These things impress people who fail to digest business fundamentals. Anyone with a suit and a slick powerpoint preso can in theory start a money-incinerating machine. The real measurement is the profit. And before someone makes the "capture the market" comment - this isn't ZIRP anymore. Money costs fuckin money now.
Or maybe, just maybe, TSMC has gaslit all of us to think it is much harder than it really is. If Taiwan isn't needed for its chips, what is the strategic interest of the USG?
It's not like nobody is trying to compete with TSMC, Samsung and Intel are doing their best, but TSMC are consistently ahead despite all of these companies using the same ASML lithography machines.
Good point. However my mind is drawn back to the fact that the USG licenses the patents to ASML. A tweak or change of that licensing model could suddenly make TSMC's cost basis rise and Intel's drop. We are after all talking about US national security interests as the backdrop - the usual market rules may not apply so cleanly.
TSMC has way to many competitors for this to make sense. And besides one very important key supplier who has huge wait lists for their EUV stuff, ASML.
Sometimes the evidence speaks for itself. I'm not an expert in this field, but the fact that literally no one in the world can compete toe to toe with TSMC is a sign of ... something. If nothing else, "Taiwan #1".
Interesting. What charging network were you using out of curiosity? I've never had any issue with Charge Points beyond the initial account and payment setup. I've used my NACS-CCS adapter dozens of times now mostly at hotels when I charge overnight.
ChargePoint is usually fine. I've rarely had problems except in rare cases where the cables were cut, presumably by some MAGA person.
EVgo and Electrify America routinely fail at the payment-charging stage for me. The Tesla is expecting to get charge as soon as it is plugged in; the charger on the other hand wants me to plug in BEFORE payment, and payment takes FOREVER by the time I open the app, inevitably have to re-log-in (for some reason ChargePoint keeps me log in but the others routinely log me out), forget my password, reset my password, then locate the goddamn charger stall ID zooming in from a map of the US and then have to search some stupid IKEA-like name of the actual charge station. By the time I finish this the car has already given up and when the charger catches up to telling the car "hey I have charge now", it's too late.
The real workflow should be either
(a) tap a EMV credit card, approved, THEN plug in, no app needed
OR
(b) scan a QR code, Google/Apple Pay, THEN plug in, no login needed
The charger should facilitate immediately delivering charge as soon as it's plugged in to the car.
> Are you bragging that it did work for nearly 99% of your trip, and therefore the haters are out of sorts?
As someone who has trialed FSD, I'd say the haters are out of sorts.
There are situations it handles surprisingly well. I drove through some road construction and FSD gracefully handled following the traffic cones that guided cars outside the painted lines. I was able to have FSD drive me from right outside my house (It won't back out of the driveway yet) to a friend's house across town completely automated with zero intervention. 15 miles of both surface streets (Including neighborhood streets with no painted lines and curbs lined with cars) and busy highway.
But there are still some bone-headed things it does. When one lane turns into two, it still sometimes gets confused and tries to drive in the middle and then suddenly decides to take a specific lane and swerves into it. It is overly cautious at stop signs and will easily piss off anybody behind you.
I truly believe that Tesla will achieve actual FSD, but it just won't be on the timescale that Elon keeps saying. I also think that FSD will eventually be Level 5 capable, but they won't call it Level 5 and still expect drivers to pay attention so they can dodge legal liability.
Yes. Kidding aside I am fairly satisfied with FSD. I don't expect it to perform miracles - but it does a pretty damn good job of rolling the car safely down the road when I don't want to do it.
I‘m not a lawyer, but if courts would deem this to be fraud, Tesla would have to take accountability towards their customers as well as their shareholders.
It's sad how politics can dominate even "smart" people to the point that they refuse to appreciate how magical it is that an off the shelf car can drive itself on the vast majority of roads.
