📬 Daily Brief: The Taiwan semiconductor story

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Here’s what you need to know

Apple is reportedly developing its own AI chips. Produced with the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the project would allow Apple to run artificial intelligence software on its own semiconductors in data centers.

Boeing’s plans to send astronauts into space were revised again. After pushing back the expected launch of its Starliner spacecraft late Monday, takeoff is now expected for Friday at the earliest.

Self-driving cars are getting more auto safety scrutiny. Tesla was issued a looming deadline by U.S. regulators to explain its Autopilot recall. (All the while, a different self-driving startup raised $1 billion from the likes of Microsoft and Nvidia.)

Disney’s streaming business actually turned a profit. For the first time, Disney+ and Hulu brought in income for the House of Mouse — although Disney’s direct-to-consumer division overall is still in the red.

It could soon be easier to identify AI-generated images. OpenAI announced a new tool that can (mostly) identify whether content was created by DALL-E 3, its text-to-image generator.

The inflation economy has come for Big Food

Fast food executives are acutely aware that consumers are stretching every dollar. Remember when Wendy’s faced a public relations nightmare over the possibility that it would implement “surge pricing” — or “dynamic pricing,” as Wendy’s preferred to call it. The company backtracked amid an uproar.

Nick Villa, a Moody’s economist, described that as a tipping point for consumers. It highlighted “the growing discontent among many Americans after years of seeing a discernible erosion in their purchasing power for goods and services,” he said.

One solution to the sector’s labor and price challenges may ultimately lie in technology. Quartz’s Francisco Velasquez looked into how earnings reports from some of the biggest food companies have highlighted struggles with higher prices, labor shortages, and more.

How TSMC started making everyone’s chips

When you think of AI chips, the first company that may come to mind is Nvidia, and for a good reason — the chipmaker is the third-most valuable company in the U.S.

But there’s a company behind Nvidia’s dominance, and really, most of its competitors (including Apple): Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. TSMC makes an estimated 90% of the world’s cutting-edge logic chips — the tech that powers some of the most advanced electronics on Earth, from iPhones to artificial intelligence models.

How did Morris Chang, the Chinese-born, U.S. citizen who founded TSMC in 1987, lead the firm to beat its chip manufacturing rivals and become one of the world’s most valuable companies? Quartz’s Britney Nguyen has the story.

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Surprising discoveries

Sperm whales have their own alphabet. After analyzing the whales’ clicks and clacks, a team of marine biologists and computer scientists discovered they use phonetics sort of like people do.

We might soon know why Venus is so dry. Billions of years ago, Earth’s neighbor had plenty of water — and the reason it’s now gone may have to do with whizzing hydrogen atoms.

A once-lost Caravaggio painting is getting the gallery treatment. “Ecce Homo” was confirmed as an original by the Italian Baroque master, and it’s going on display later this month.

Katy Perry deepfakes fooled even her own mother. The singer wasn’t in attendance at the Met Gala, but AI-generated images placing her on the red carpet were convincing to Mom.

The next Swiss Army Knife won’t include a knife. Some new models are going bladeless, thanks to more strict regulations on sharp objects.

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Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, Hulu streams, and whale letters to talk@qz.com. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Morgan Haefner and Gabriela Riccardi.