Sam Altman’s Financial Engineering

Hi. This is Joe from Vanta. In today's digital world, compliance regulations are changing constantly, and earning customer trust has never mattered more. Vanta helps companies get compliant fast and stay secure with the most advanced AI, automation, and continuous monitoring out there. So whether you're a startup going for your first SOC two or ISO 27,001 or a growing enterprise managing vendor risk, Vanta makes it quick, easy, and scalable. And I'm not just saying that because I work here. Get started at vanta.com. Welcome to the Tech Brew ride home for Tuesday, 10/14/2025. I'm Brian McCullough. Today, the Dutch government has taken control of a Dutch chipmaker that had Chinese owners. Yet another big OpenAI deal, this time with Broadcom. The first AI desktop workstations are arriving and we check-in with Matt Levine to get his take on what he says is Sam Altman's genius for financial engineering. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech. Here's something you don't see every day. In fact, I don't think I've seen this in my twenty five years in the tech industry. The Dutch government has taken control of Chinese owned Dutch chipmaker Nexperia using its goods availability act to, according to the Dutch government, safeguard chip supply for Europe, quoting the Feet. In a statement on Sunday, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs said it acted because of, quote, a threat to the continuity and safeguarding on Dutch and European soil of crucial technological knowledge and capabilities, end quote. The move escalates frictions between Western countries and China over access to high end technologies such as advanced semiconductors and critical raw materials. On Thursday, China placed sweeping restrictions on the exports of rare earths used in products from cars to wind turbines. The Dutch ministry said it invoked the country's goods availability act because of, quote, recent and acute serious governance shortcomings and actions at Nexperia, which is based in The Netherlands and has been majority owned by Chinese technology group WingTech since 2019. The decision aims to prevent a situation in which the goods produced by Nexperia finished and semi finished products would become unavailable in an emergency, its statement added. Nexperia produces chips used in the European automotive industry and in consumer electronics. Vincent Caramans, the Dutch economy minister, can now block or reverse decisions taken by Nexperia's board. His department acted on September 30, but only made its move public on October 12. A state backed Chinese investment consortium acquired Nexperia for $2,750,000,000 in 2017 after it was carved out of NXP Semiconductors, a Dutch chip manufacturer. The following year, the consortium began selling its shares to WingTech. WingTech, which started as a contract manufacturer for smartphones, said in a statement that the decision constitutes an act of excessive interference driven by geopolitical bias, not by fact based risk assessment, end quote. According to filings, the Dutch government seized Nexperia after The US warned it would not be removed from its export control list …