DRONES

Air Vax

Zipline operates the world’s largest drone delivery network. It’s familiar with airdropping sensitive medical items, like blood and medication, at scale. In the past year, Zipline has delivered 1 million non-Covid vaccines in Africa. 

You probably see where this is going

Zipline is getting ready to deliver the vaccine we’re all thinking about. Yesterday, the seven-year-old startup said it’s developing end-to-end cold chain capabilities with an unnamed Covid vaccine manufacturer. By April, the infrastructure should be all-systems-go in the countries where Zipline is active: Rwanda, Ghana, and soon, Nigeria. Oh, and Zipline is also flying in North Carolina.

Cold chain refresher: The most effective Covid vaccines require ultracold refrigeration. Pfizer’s must be kept colder than Antarctica. Moderna’s, by comparison, only needs to be chilled at a balmy -20° Celsius. 

• These Ice Age requirements pose a huge distribution challenge. From sub-zero fridges to temperature-controlled trucks, key parts of the vaccine’s supply chain may not exist in less-developed parts of the world, including harder-to-reach rural communities.

Any item that Zipline delivers must first go through a node: the distribution center. Zipline is adding ultracold capacity to these hubs, which serve a wide geographical web of clinics. The distribution center is conveniently colocated with a drone airport, which runs on-demand flights. This “Uber for healthcare, in the air” design reduces the probability of a vaccine expiring or spoiling. 

• Zipline’s drones have a 100-mile round-trip range. Centers can service 8,000 square miles, give or take. And deliveries are completed in 30–45 minutes. 
• The three new distribution centers in Nigeria will each have 30 drones, running 24/7, and serve roughly 1,000 health clinics across 37,000+ square miles. 

Drone deliver is already plenty difficult

It doesn’t fly in more populated areas or congested airspaces. Technological constraints still exist. But drones could work well for the vaccine use case in the markets Zipline serves, helping governments leapfrog cold storage constraints. 

Big picture: The technology is nearly ready, but a broader problem persists—Western nations have earmarked doses of the most effective vaccines for themselves, making it hard for African countries to secure access.

HARDWARE

Cash In Your Chips

On Wednesday, Qualcomm brought home an earnings report card stacked with As—thanks to lots and lots of chips.

The bright side

At about $8.24 billion, last quarter’s revenue was the second-highest on record—up 62% year-over-year. 

Breakup tech → makeup tech: After burying the hatchet on a two-year legal dispute with Apple, Qualcomm began supplying iPhone processors again in 2020—which led to an 81% revenue increase for its chip business. 

New chip flavor: RF front end chips are one of Qualcomm’s newest moneymakers. The 5G-friendly semiconductors live near a smartphone’s antenna and brought in $1 billion last quarter (more than 2x this time last year). 

The plight side

Bullish Wall Street analysts had been expecting an A+, in the form of $8.25 billion in revenue. Qualcomm pointed to the global semiconductor shortage as the primary reason for the difference. 

• A combination of poor planning from automakers and surging demand for consumer electronics and IoT chips caused a litany of silicon supply chain issues.

Looking ahead: “The shortage in the semiconductor industry is across the board,” said Cristiano Amon, president and CEO-elect, on the earnings call. “We expect…this to normalize toward the later part of 2021 as capacity is put in place.” 

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EV

Ready, Charge

Revel, the shared electric moped startup, is switching gears a bit. This spring, it’s building a quick-charge hub for electric vehicles in New York City. 

Like the city, the hub won’t sleep: Its 30 stations will be open 24/7 and, according to Revel, 20 minutes of charging = 100 miles of driving. 

Plug it in, change the world

Located a 15-minute walk from Hayden's apartment in Williamsburg, this charging hub is the first of several that Revel has planned for NYC. The company is aiming to encourage electric transport of all kinds. 

• Since EV sales spiked 30% in 2020, and are projected to increase 71% in 2021, charging stations should be in high demand. 

Bottom line: “If New York City is going to push large-scale electrification, somebody needs to be building the infrastructure,” Frank Reig, Revel’s co-founder and CEO, told the WSJ. 

BITS & BYTES

Stat: The cloud infrastructure market grew to $129 billion last year, per Synergy Research Group—up from ~$97 billion in 2019. 

Quote: “We have a product called Snowmobile. It’s a gas-guzzling truck...It's like a modular datacenter on wheels...There's an armed guard in it at all times.”—An anonymous Amazon worker in a December interview with Logic Mag. 

Read: VentureBeat’s case studies of successful AI startups. 

SPONSORED BY ASANA

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WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Apple mixed-reality headset specs, c/o The Information: $3,000+ price tag, 8k displays, eye-tracking, and 12+ cameras. 
• More Apple: CNBC reports the company’s EV will most likely be manufactured by Kia, designed for last-mile autonomy, and tentatively scheduled for 2024 production. 
• The UK and EU will open probes into Nvidia’s $40 billion Arm acquisition, per the FT.
• GM is idling three North American plants due to the auto chip shortage. Mazda is also cutting production. 
• Amazon will begin using AI-powered cameras to monitor delivery van drivers, per The Information.
• Myanmar’s military junta ordered internet service providers to block Facebook in the country. The ISPs are complying. 

GOING PHISHING

Four of the following news stories are true, and one...we made up. Can you spot the odd one out?

1. Dubai made a space court to settle off-planet commercial disputes...
2. ...but SpaceX’s ToS say disputes “will be settled through self-governing principles, established in good faith, at the time of Martian settlement.”
3. You can now buy robotic “diamond hands.” 
4. Scientists “taught” spinach to send emails. 
5. Verizon is building a stadium in Fortnite for the Super Bowl. 

FROM THE ARXIVES

Today’s research that caught our attention comes from the corporate labs. Scientists in Cupertino published research showing that the Apple Watch could help monitor Parkinson’s disease symptoms. Meanwhile, starting next month, Google Pixel owners will be able to use their phone cameras to measure pulse and breathing rates. 

The takeaway: Smart devices’ biometric features are increasingly doubling as diagnostic tools, a trend that’s only accelerated in the past year. 

ICYMI

Catch up on the top Emerging Tech Brew stories from the past few editions: 

• Robotic Process Automation: Why UiPath just raised $750 million 
• Inside a hot-button research paper: Q&A with Dr. Emily M. Bender
• Parallels between the r/WSB saga and the wider tech industry 

GOING PHISHING ANSWER

There is no robotic diamond hands (that we know of).