5G

A Very Large Auction Has Concluded and It Didn’t Even Involve the Blockchain

The US government just sold $81 billion worth of air. 

Ok, why don’t we back up

On Wednesday, the Federal Communications Commission announced it had auctioned off a good chunk of US C-band spectrum. Terminology refresher, c/o our Guide to 5G: 

• Spectrum = The invisible radio wave frequencies that carry communication signals. Spectrum bands are grouped by wavelength.
• Mid-band spectrum = Great for 5G, “but large swaths of the mid-band spectrum are already being used for other applications, meaning some bands need to be defragmented and repurposed.”
• C-band = The prime rib of mid-band, and the spectrum sold in this latest auction. In 2019, the FCC controversially announced that it would be yanking some C-band spectrum from satellite operators who had licenses to the airwaves.  

Meet the auction winners

If you live in the US, chances are you know them pretty well. Verizon spent $45 billion for 3,511 spectrum licenses, AT&T dropped $23 billion for 1,621 licenses, and T-Mobile rounded out the pack plucking down $9 billion for 142 licenses. 

• Analysts’ high-range estimates for this sale hovered around ~$60 billion. The final price tag was $21 billion higher. Congrats to the US Treasury? Galaxy brain: Tackling inflation by reducing money supply via expensive spectrum auctions. 

Why the telcos paid so much

Well, they could really use some good spectrum. In December, PCMag found that Verizon’s 5G network speeds actually underperformed 4G in parts of NYC that used the carrier’s dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS).

• DSS = using 4G LTE and 5G in the same spectrum band.

“This auction reflects a shift in our nation’s approach to 5G toward mid-band spectrum that can support fast, reliable, and ubiquitous service that is competitive with our global peers,” FCC Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said. Mind the geopolitical nod at the end there.

Big picture: 5G will boost AR, self-driving cars, and more emerging technologies. But so far, 5G networks have been pretty meh. The auction results should help change that.  

HARDWARE

From: Everyone / To: Chipmakers / Subject: Plz Fix

“They don’t know how the sausage gets made at the bottom.” That’s Mike Hogan, an SVP at contract chip maker Globalfoundries, telling the WSJ about automakers’ attitudes toward semiconductors. 

Well, they’re learning now. We first touched on the great semi shortage a few weeks ago, but let’s get up to speed:

• President Biden issued an executive order Tuesday calling for a review of the US’s most strained and critical supply chains, and he met with congressional reps Wednesday to discuss chip production. 
• Automakers are still idling production at various plants around the world. 
• PlayStation’s CEO recently told WaPo the shortage has most definitely affected Sony. It’s competing with automakers and smartphone vendors for more chips.  

Strange times: From GameStop to semi shortages, unusual stories are landing on the president’s desk. Semiconductors aren’t as buzzy as meme stonks, but they’re a key geopolitical, consumer, and tech problem wrapped together in one story. 

Endgame: The White House is seeking $37 billion to alleviate the semi shortfall. Building cutting-edge chip fabs in the US now seems like a foregone conclusion. Those plants are currently concentrated in Asia and operated by contract chipmakers. 

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If you’re spending too much time managing spreadsheets (and you’ve read this far), odds are it’s time to say so long to your accounting software. 

Learn more and download Oracle NetSuite’s full whitepaper here. 

CRYPTO

Coinbase, Meet Nasdaq

Coinbase filed yesterday to go public through a $1 billion direct listing on Nasdaq. Last week, The Block reported that Coinbase shares recently exchanged hands in the private markets at an implied valuation of $100 billion. 

• If that holds, it’s just shy of the record valuation for a US tech company going public (Facebook). If Coinbase tops FB’s $104 billion, it will take the record. 

The nine-year-old cryptocurrency exchange’s S-1 filing is exactly what you’d expect from a nine-year-old cryptocurrency exchange. Satoshi Nakamoto scores a mention on the first page; Coinbase also says unmasking the pseudonymous creator(s) of bitcoin could harm its business. Finally, the remote-first company lists “address not applicable” as its headquarters. 

By the numbers (data from end of Q4 ‘20)

• The total value of crypto assets on Coinbase’s platform = 11.1% of the total market cap of crypto assets
• $456 billion has been traded on Coinbase over its lifetime; $90 billion of assets are stored on the platform
• Coinbase has 43 million verified users

Zoom out: We’ll leave you with this graph, which tells its own story. 

Coinbase/SEC

BITS & BYTES

Stat: While we’re on the topic of crypto investing charts...Robinhood Crypto says it’s welcomed 6 million new customers this year.  

Quote: “Good Ideas Deserve to be Found”—Facebook. That’s the title of FB’s new TV, radio, and digital ad campaign making the case for personalized advertising.  

Read: The daily Brew’s FAQ for NFTs.

Get in: Tired of meme stocks? Give art a shot. Masterworks lets you invest in multi-million dollar works by artists like Basquiat at a fraction of the price. Brew readers can skip the 17,500-person waitlist today.*

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SPONSORED BY ASANA

Multitasking has gotten way too taxing. Asana’s Anatomy of Work Index report breaks down the pitfalls of having to multitask between too many apps. In fact, 72% of respondents surveyed feel pressure to multitask during the day. That means more duplicated work and more deadlines you’re likely to miss. Read all the multitask stats in Asana’s report here.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Facebook is rolling out an opt-in voice assistant for Portal and Oculus Quest. 
• More Facebook: The company is considering building facial recognition into its forthcoming smart glasses, BuzzFeed News reports. 
• Blue Origin, a Jeff Bezos side hustle, is delaying the first launch of its next-gen rocket until late 2022. 
• Flying taxis will be LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman’s new side hustle. Joby Aviation, an eVTOL startup, will merge with a SPAC co-led by Hoffman.
• Twitter announced a subscription product. 
• Xbox Live had an hours-long outage yesterday. 

GOING PHISHING

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

1. Shawn Mendes is selling NFTs. 
2. “Hey Facebook” is the wake word for that voice assistant we told you about in What Else is Brewing. 
3. A Colorado startup making self-skiing Jet Skis just raised $25 million. 
4. Google cofounder Sergey Brin’s disaster relief airship company is building a massive blimp that runs on hydrogen.

LEADERBOARD

This is a new below-the-fold section. We’ll present lists, data, and rankings that caught our eye—sourced from the experts, of course.

MIT Tech Review’s top 10 breakthrough technologies of 2021: Messenger RNA vaccines, GPT-3, TikTok recommendation algorithms, lithium-metal batteries, data trusts, green hydrogen, digital contract tracing, hyper-accurate positioning, remote everything, and multi-skilled AI. 

• Data trust = Legal entity that collects and manages personal information on your behalf
• Hyper-accurate positioning = identifying location down to the centimeter level or less
• Multi-skilled AI = Models that can learn multiple “senses,” such as video and audio, simultaneously

ICYMI

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

• AR is Snap’s future—Facebook and Apple too
• A primer on NFTs
• Nvidia’s plan for weathering the semi shortage

GOING PHISHING ANSWER

Sadly, there is no Colorado startup making self-skiing Jet Skis that just raised $25 million.

✤ A Note From Masterworks

*See important information