Friday☕️

Earth Intelligence

19 Sep 2025 — 6 min read

Economics & Markets:

Yesterday’s U.S. stock market:

Yesterday’s commodity market:

Yesterday’s crypto market:

Geopolitics & Military Activity:

On September 18, 2025, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) conducted a wave of airstrikes in southern Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah military infrastructure including at least six weapons depots belonging to the group's elite Radwan Force in villages such as Meiss el-Jabal, Dibbin, Kafr Tibnit, and Chehabiyeh. Eyewitness videos and local media captured smoke rising from impacted sites, with no immediate casualties confirmed, though the Lebanese army reported the operations as part of over 4,500 Israeli violations since the November 2024 ceasefire agreement.

The strikes, described by the IDF as preventive measures to disrupt Hezbollah's attempts to rebuild capabilities, follow a pattern of post-ceasefire actions that have included more than 500 airstrikes overall, resulting in over 300 militant deaths according to Israeli reports. Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the attacks as flagrant breaches of the truce, while international observers noted the escalation risks further destabilizing the border region amid ongoing regional tensions. The operations underscore persistent cross-border hostilities, with Hezbollah maintaining it has not initiated violations, and calls from the United Nations for restraint to preserve the fragile peace.
Strike footage:

Environment & Weather:

On September 18, 2025, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the east coast of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula at approximately 3 p.m. ET, about 80 miles east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky at a shallow depth of 6 miles. The U.S. Geological Survey classified it as an aftershock of the region's major 8.8 magnitude quake in July 2025, occurring just before noon Pacific Time amid ongoing seismic activity in the area. The event prompted an immediate tsunami advisory for parts of Alaska's western Aleutian Islands, where waves up to 3 feet were possible, but the warning was canceled within hours after evaluations confirmed no significant threat to Hawaii, the U.S. West Coast, or other Pacific regions.

No major damage or fatalities were reported, though at least four people sustained minor injuries in Kamchatka from falling objects or structural shakes, with local authorities conducting inspections of buildings and infrastructure. Russian emergency services monitored the situation, and residents in coastal areas were briefly advised to move to higher ground during the advisory. Seismologists noted the quake's intensity could lead to further aftershocks, as seen with a subsequent 5.4 magnitude event nearby, while international agencies like the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center emphasized the region's vulnerability due to its position on the Pacific Ring of Fire.

Science & Technology:

On September 18, 2025, Meta announced the Ray-Ban Display smart glasses at its Connect 2025 event, developed in partnership with EssilorLuxottica. The glasses include a full-color, high-resolution monocular display in the right lens, placed to the side to minimize interference with the user's vision. They connect to the Meta Neural Band, a wristband that uses electromyography (EMG) to detect hand muscle signals for gesture-based control without physical input. The bundle costs $799 and provides up to six hours of battery life for the glasses during mixed use, extending to 30 hours with the charging case, plus 18 hours for the wristband, which is lightweight, water-resistant to IPX7 standards, and offered in three sizes. Other features include upgraded cameras for 3K Ultra HD video, enhanced audio for calls and music, and options for prescription lenses.

The glasses support various functions through Meta AI, including real-time display of notifications, messages, and translations; photo previews and zooms; step-by-step guides and query responses; live video captions and subtitles; map-based navigation; and integration with WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram for texting and calls. Controls use gestures on the Neural Band, such as thumb swipes for scrolling and finger pinches for selecting, enabling interactions without touching the glasses or phone. Sales start September 30 in the U.S. at retailers like Best Buy, LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, and Ray-Ban stores, with rollout to Canada, France, Italy, and the U.K. in early 2026. An Oakley version with added photo-capture buttons is planned for release later.

Statistic:

Largest public semiconductor companies by market capitalization:

🇺🇸 NVIDIA: $4.290T
🇺🇸 Broadcom: $1.630T
🇹🇼 TSMC: $1.393T
🇰🇷 Samsung: $373.33B
🇳🇱 ASML: $364.81B
🇺🇸 AMD: $256.27B
🇺🇸 Micron Technology: $189.00B
🇺🇸 QUALCOMM: $181.41B
🇰🇷 SK Hynix: $174.56B
🇺🇸 Texas Instruments: $165.11B
🇺🇸 Lam Research: $159.87B
🇬🇧 Arm Holdings: $155.22B
🇺🇸 Applied Materials: $151.17B
🇺🇸 Intel: $142.76B
🇺🇸 KLA: $138.12B
🇺🇸 Analog Devices: $122.52B
🇨🇳 SMIC: $90.40B
🇺🇸 Synopsys: $89.17B
🇨🇳 Cambricon Technologies: $82.09B
🇯🇵 Tokyo Electron: $80.16B
🇹🇼 MediaTek: $76.53B
🇯🇵 Advantest: $73.31B
🇺🇸 Marvell Technology: $63.99B
🇳🇱 NXP Semiconductors: $57.10B
🇩🇪 Infineon: $51.54B

History:

Semiconductors began as a scientific curiosity in the early 20th century when researchers explored how certain materials, such as silicon and germanium, could conduct electricity under some conditions and insulate under others. The breakthrough came in 1947, when Bell Labs scientists invented the transistor—replacing fragile, power-hungry vacuum tubes and becoming the building block of all modern electronics. This invention set off a wave of innovation, leading to Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce’s development of the integrated circuit in the late 1950s, which allowed thousands, and eventually billions, of transistors to be packed onto a single chip. Through the 1960s–1980s, U.S. companies like Intel, Fairchild, and Texas Instruments dominated, while Japan emerged as a rival with memory chip production. Moore’s Law, the principle that transistor density doubles roughly every two years, became both a self-fulfilling prophecy and the industry’s guiding principle, driving advances in computing power, miniaturization, and the rise of the digital economy.
By the 1990s and 2000s, the semiconductor industry’s economics shifted. Manufacturing chips at ever smaller nodes required astronomical capital investment, forcing many Western companies to abandon fabrication and focus on design (e.g., Apple, Qualcomm, NVIDIA). Into this gap stepped Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), founded in 1987 as the world’s first dedicated foundry. Leveraging government support, a skilled workforce, and a relentless focus on process technology, TSMC rose to dominate advanced manufacturing. Today, Taiwan produces over 90% of the world’s leading-edge semiconductors (7 nanometers and below), with South Korea’s Samsung holding a minority share. The U.S., Europe, and others still design chips but primarily outsource production, while many countries merely handle lower-value packaging and assembly. This asymmetric structure makes Taiwan the single choke point of the global digital economy: from iPhones and cloud servers to AI accelerators and military systems, nearly all depend on chips etched in Taiwanese fabs. The result is not just an economic reality but a geopolitical one—Taiwan’s semiconductor dominance is both its greatest strategic asset and the world’s greatest vulnerability.

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