Daily Tech & GNSS News Digest - January 16, 2026

The battle over AI’s energy footprint takes center stage as the Trump administration unveils plans to make tech giants pay for surging power costs. TSMC delivers another record-breaking quarter fueled by insatiable AI chip demand, while the FTC signals closer scrutiny of tech’s growing use of “acqui-hires” to skirt antitrust review.

Tech News

Trump Pushes Big Tech to Pay for AI Data Center Power Costs

President Trump and governors from 13 northeastern states unveiled a plan to shift electricity costs from consumers to tech companies operating power-hungry AI data centers. The initiative asks PJM Interconnection, the nation’s largest grid operator serving 65 million people, to hold an emergency wholesale electricity auction.

Under the proposed framework, tech companies would bid on 15-year contracts for electricity generation from newly constructed power plants. The plan would cap prices existing power plants can charge while requiring data centers to pay for new electricity generation built on their behalf—whether or not they use the power.

Trump announced that Microsoft was the first to agree to “make major changes beginning this week” to ensure Americans don’t “pick up the tab” for data center power consumption. The push comes as average US retail electricity prices hit a record 18.07 cents per kilowatt-hour in September, with residential prices jumping 10.5% between January and August 2025. PJM, however, noted it received “no advance notice” of the plan and won’t participate in Friday’s White House announcement.

TSMC Posts Record Q4 as AI Chip Demand Surges

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company delivered record-breaking fourth-quarter results, posting $16.01 billion in net income—a 35% surge year-over-year—driven by nonstop orders for AI chips from tech giants worldwide. Quarterly revenue reached $33.73 billion in US dollar terms, up 25.5% from a year earlier.

For full-year 2025, TSMC reported net revenue of $122.42 billion, representing 35.9% growth compared with 2024. High-performance computing now accounts for 58% of revenue, up from 51% in 2024, with advanced chips (7nm and below) comprising 77% of total wafer revenue in Q4.

CEO C.C. Wei addressed investor concerns directly, stating “AI is real” after spending months personally verifying demand with global cloud giants. TSMC raised its 2026 capital expenditure guidance to $52-56 billion and expects first-quarter revenue to surge as much as 40% year-over-year to $35.8 billion. The company confirmed around 30% of 2nm production will take place in the USA, with Arizona fab construction accelerating.

FTC to Scrutinize Big Tech Acqui-Hires

FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson announced the agency will examine “acqui-hires”—where tech giants hire away startup employees instead of acquiring the company—to ensure these deals aren’t circumventing antitrust review. The statement puts Nvidia’s recent arrangement with AI chip startup Groq under the spotlight.

Last month, Nvidia agreed to license chip technology from Groq and hire away its CEO Jonathan Ross, reportedly acquiring access to 400 engineers and licensing core technology valued at $20 billion. Ferguson made clear the FTC will look beyond headcount to factors like access to technology, intellectual property, and stock-based consideration when evaluating whether talent deals function as de facto mergers.

“We are beginning to examine these acqui-hires to make sure they are not an attempt to get around” merger review, Ferguson said on Bloomberg Television. He blamed the Biden administration’s aggressive antitrust enforcement for prompting companies to ramp up this practice.

Additional Headlines

Replit nears $9B valuation: The AI coding startup is raising $400 million led by Georgian, nearly tripling its September valuation of $3 billion. Revenue exploded from $2.8 million to $150 million annualized in less than a year.
Micron hits record highs: Shares are on track for their eighth straight week of gains—the best run since 2016—as AI memory demand creates unprecedented shortages and 50-55% price increases for DRAM.
European tech outperforms US: Technology is the best-performing Stoxx Europe 600 sector in January, up 10%, while the S&P 500 IT Index is flat.

GNSS News

Trimble Delivers Lane-Level Positioning to Lucid Gravity EVs

Trimble announced that its RTX and ProPoint Go positioning technologies will power navigation and driver-assistance systems in the Lucid Gravity electric SUV, making it the first EV to feature a resilient positioning engine capable of centimeter-level accuracy in challenging environments.

The system fuses Trimble’s satellite correction data with six-axis inertial sensors to maintain precise positioning in tunnels, parking garages, and dense urban canyons where standard GPS often fails. While conventional automotive navigation creates margin of error measured in meters, Trimble’s technology narrows this to just a few centimeters—directly feeding high-accuracy geolocation into Lucid’s Hands-Free Driving Assist (HFDA) system.

Additional benefits include more accurate battery-range calculations through detailed elevation data and enhanced fleet tracking capabilities. The Trimble solution will be standard on new Lucid Gravity vehicles starting in late January 2026, with existing vehicles receiving capabilities via over-the-air software update.

TrustPoint announced the first successful demonstration of its Low Earth Orbit Navigation System (LEONS), transmitting time-transfer and tracking signals from a compact ground node to an orbiting spacecraft. The milestone, achieved under the SpaceWERX AltPNT Challenge, marks a significant step toward commercial GPS-independent positioning.

The system addresses a growing vulnerability: most LEO spacecraft rely on GPS or other MEO signals for orbital state and timing data, but increasing jamming and electronic interference have created critical weaknesses. TrustPoint aims to deploy a constellation of approximately 300 spacecraft to provide global, commercial GPS-equivalent services with improved security and lower latency.

ESA’s Celeste LEO-PNT mission is also advancing, with two Pathfinder satellites scheduled to launch in early 2026 on a Rocket Lab Electron. The full 10-satellite constellation is planned for completion in 2027, providing stronger signals that can overcome interference and reach places where today’s satnav signals cannot.

Key Takeaways

AI infrastructure costs shift: The Trump administration’s push to make tech giants pay for data center power marks a potential turning point in how AI infrastructure costs are distributed between industry and consumers.
Semiconductor momentum accelerates: TSMC’s record earnings and sold-out AI memory capacity at Micron confirm AI chip demand remains insatiable, with no signs of slowing through 2027.
Automotive positioning evolves: Trimble’s Lucid Gravity integration demonstrates how GNSS correction services are moving from industrial applications to consumer vehicles, enabling true lane-level autonomy.