You're reading a newsletter from The Indicator from Planet Money. Once a week, we curate our favorite stories and insights on business, finance, economics and why they matter. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Friday.A TILE GAME is giving a boost to Chinese factories.Our very own Jennifer Pak reported that Chinese manufacturers have not had the easiest few years with U.S.
tariffs and the war in Iran pushing up costs.Well, the aged game of Mahjong is giving them a surprising boost.
That's because it's having a moment in the U.S.and some entrepreneurial citizens in China are enjoying the benefits.
Mahjong sets can sell for like $300-$400 in the States … and want to know how much they cost to make? ~$30.One businessman said he used to make the game primarily for Chinese consumers.
Now, every set is exported to the U.S.Coming up:What to Know: Anthropic gave the world 94 pages of risks to its business (slash the entire AI economy) in its IPO prospectus aka the S-1.It wouldn't be Anthropic if they didn't discuss the "existential risks" to humanity and society several times.
And isn't that an important risk to disclose? Another that stood out: the AI boom has a glaring point of failure.The majority of advanced semiconductor manufacturing is concentrated in one place, Taiwan, and if anything were to happen there, it could disrupt the entire AI economy.
Think earthquake, Chinese military action, blockades.But I want to focus on a different risk, because it is FASCINATING!Committing to the past at a premium: Anthropic is worried about aging out of the tech that's powering its AI, while paying the same prices.
What does that mean?! AI companies have to lock into pricey contracts for all sorts of softwares, hardware, data center, and squadrons of GPUs.But technology is advancing quickly right now.
New GPUs, for example, could come along that can do the same amount of work for way less money.Then Anthropic is stuck like CHUMPS in a contract paying a pre...