• South Korea's national assembly impeached acting president Han Duck-soo on Friday.
• Han took over from President Yoon Suk Yeol on December 14.
• Yoon was impeached after declaring martial law for several hours.

South Korean lawmakers impeached the country's acting president, Han Duck-soo on Friday, just two weeks after he had taken up the post.

Han, who is also the country's prime minister, took over from President Yoon Suk Yeol. Yoon was impeached after declaring martial law in South Korea on December 3.

The Democratic Party, South Korea's main opposition party, filed a motion to impeach Han on December 26.

While impeaching a president requires a two-thirds majority in the 300-seat National Assembly, impeaching a prime minister only requires a simple majority of lawmakers. 192 lawmakers voted on Friday to impeach Han.

Han has been suspended from his duties immediately. The country's finance minister, Choi Sang-mok, is next in line for the acting presidency.

The opposition moved against Han after he refused to appoint three judges to fill the nine-member constitutional court bench.

The constitutional court is the bench that will rule on Yoon's removal from office.

There are currently six justices, and six votes are needed to remove Yoon. This poses a potential obstacle ousting Yoon permanently, as the loss of one vote will allow him to continue to remain president.

The South Korean won on Friday fell to its lowest level against the dollar since 2009.

This story is developing, please check back for more updates.

• OpenAI and Microsoft have an internal definition for AGI, per The Information.
• The two companies agreed to define AGI as a system that can generate $100 billion in profits.
• OpenAI says on its website that AGI refers to AI systems that are smarter than humans.

OpenAI and Microsoft have a definition for artificial general intelligence, and it hinges on the money the emerging technology can bring in.

The two companies signed an agreement in 2023 that defined AGI as a system that can generate $100 billion in profits, The Information reported on Thursday, citing documents it had obtained.

OpenAI has, however, publicly defined AGI on its website as "a highly autonomous system that outperforms humans at most economically valuable work."

The ChatGPT maker added that its nonprofit board would decide whether AGI has been achieved.

"Such a system is excluded from IP licenses and other commercial terms with Microsoft, which only apply to pre-AGI technology," the company wrote on its website.

OpenAI and Microsoft did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Based on its agreement with Microsoft, OpenAI still has some way to go before it can achieve AGI.

The company expects to accumulate losses of around $44 billion between 2023 to 2028, and could hit $100 billion in revenue in 2029, The Information reported in October, citing financial documents it had obtained.

"My guess is we will hit AGI sooner than most people in the world think and it will matter much less," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said during an interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin at The New York Times DealBook Summit on December 4.

In November, Bloomberg reported that OpenAI is in preliminary talks with California's attorney general's office about becoming a for-profit company.

OpenAI was initially launched as a nonprofit research organization in 2015. The company closed a $6.6 billion funding round in October, valuing it at $157 billion.

• Elon Musk had some criticism for former Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun on Christmas Day.
• "Boeing is on a much better track with the new CEO," Musk wrote on X.
• Musk said Calhoun, an accounting graduate, "had no idea how airplanes or rockets worked."

Boeing is "on a much better track" after changing CEOs, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday.

Musk was talking about America's shortage of engineering talent on X when he was asked about the embattled aerospace manufacturer.

"That said, talking in terms of specific companies, Boeing is on a much better track with the new CEO. The prior guy had no idea how airplanes or rockets worked. Just zero," Musk wrote in his post.

Boeing was previously led by Dave Calhoun, who served as the company's CEO from January 2020 to July 2024.

The Virginia Tech accounting graduate was succeeded by former Rockwell Collins CEO Kelly Ortberg in August. Ortberg holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Iowa.

When Boeing announced Calhoun's resignation in March, Calhoun said the decision was 100% his own.

"I've entered my fifth year. At the end of this year, I'll be close to 68 years old," Calhoun said in an interview with CNBC.

This isn't the first time Musk has criticized Calhoun's academic background. Back in June, Musk said that Boeing had lost touch with its engineering roots.

"The CEO of an aircraft company should know how to design aircraft, not spreadsheets," Musk wrote in an X post on June 25.

Representatives for Calhoun and Ortberg at Boeing did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment. Musk also did not respond to a request for comment.

Calhoun's departure came amid a deepening quality-control crisis at Boeing.

The aerospace company faced intense scrutiny in January after a door plug flew off a Boeing 737 Max 9 during an Alaskan Airlines flight from Oregon to California.

The incident resulted in a series of investigations from the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Justice, and the National Transportation Safety Board.

According to a Senate subcommittee report on Boeing's safety and quality practices that was published in June, several whistleblowers came forward to express concerns about how Boeing handles faulty plane parts.

Calhoun's predecessor, Dennis Muilenburg, was fired after two crashes involving a different Max variant, the Max 8, killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019.

Calhoun publicly apologized to the families of the crash victims during a Senate hearing in June, but defended Boeing's safety record when he was grilled by lawmakers.

"You're proud of the safety record?" Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri asked Calhoun.

"I am proud of every action we've taken," Calhoun said.

In October, Ortberg shared his four-part turnaround plan for Boeing in a memo to employees.

Ortberg's plan called for a fundamental change in the company's culture, a stabilization of its business, an improvement in execution discipline, and the building of a new future for the planemaker.

"We need to be on the factory floors, in the back shops and in our engineering labs. We need to know what's going on, not only with our products, but with our people," Ortberg wrote.

"And most importantly, we need to prevent the festering of issues and work better together to identify, fix, and understand root cause," he added.

Boeing reported a net loss of $6.1 billion in the third quarter of 2024 in the same month. The company recorded a loss of more than $1.4 billion in the previous quarter.

Boeing's shares are down by over 31% this year.

"It will take time to return Boeing to its former legacy, but with the right focus and culture, we can be an iconic company and aerospace leader once again," Ortberg said in his October memo.

• President-elect Donald Trump named Elbridge Colby as his next undersecretary of defense policy.
• In February, Colby said "disabling or destroying TSMC is table stakes" if China invades Taiwan.
• Colby made the same point in 2023, saying the US should never allow TSMC to fall into Chinese hands.

President-elect Donald Trump's pick for undersecretary of defense policy, Elbridge Colby, once called for the destruction of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's chip plants if China takes over Taiwan.

"There's no scenario in which Taiwan falls to the PRC and Taiwanese can expect TSMC and its central role to persist," Colby, a former senior Pentagon official, wrote in an X thread in May 2023.

"If China attacks Taiwan, Taiwan itself and US should not allow TSMC to fall intact into PRC hands," Colby wrote in the thread.

TSMC, Colby wrote, needs to be included in the US' semiconductor sanctions against China in the event that Taiwan surrenders. The US and its allies can't afford to allow China to "have such dominance over global semiconductors," he wrote.

Trump announced Colby's nomination in a Truth Social post on Sunday, calling him a "highly respected advocate for our America First foreign and defense policy."

Colby, a Harvard and Yale Law graduate, was part of the first Trump administration. He served as Trump's deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development from 2017 to 2018.

Colby made a similar point about TSMC in another X post earlier this year.

"Disabling or destroying TSMC is table stakes if China is taking over Taiwan," Colby wrote on February 24.

"Would we be so insane as to allow the world's key semiconductor company fall untouched into the hands of an aggressive PRC?" he added.

Representatives for Trump and Colby did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider. TSMC also did not respond to a request for comment.

TSMC is the world's largest contract chipmaker. It counts US tech giants like Apple and Nvidia as major customers.

Its core base, Taiwan, is also home to smaller chip producers like MediaTek and ASE, making the island a critical node in the global semiconductor supply chain.

According to the US-based Semiconductor Industry Association, 92% of the world's most advanced microchips are produced in Taiwan.

In May, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told lawmakers at a House hearing that a Chinese seizure of TSMC during a Taiwan invasion "would be absolutely devastating." The US is obliged by law to protect Taiwan by providing the island with military means to defend itself.

Under President Joe Biden, the US has strived to diversify its chip supply.

In August 2022, Biden signed the $52 billion CHIPS for America Act, which provides manufacturing incentives for chip production in the US.

The legislation drew criticism from Trump, who said in an interview with Joe Rogan in October that tariffs, not subsidies, would have been more effective.

"You could have done it with tariffs. You tariff it so high that they will come and build their chip companies for nothing," Trump said.

In December, the Biden administration introduced a new raft of export controls on China's semiconductor industry.

The restrictions, which target 140 Chinese companies, mark the third time the administration has cracked down on China's chipmaking industry since October 2022.

The list includes companies like Huawei, Naura Technology Group, and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation.

• Tricia Goh is a final year computer science student at the National University of Singapore.
• Unlike most of her peers, Goh says she is not gunning for a job at a FAANG company.
• Goh received a job offer after competing a six-month internship at a Norwegian software company.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Tricia Goh, 22, a senior at the National University of Singapore studying computer science. The following has been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider has verified her education and employment history.

Landing a job in the tech industry isn't as easy as it once was. It's scary to read news stories about how tough the job market is for computer science graduates these days.

Computer science has also become more popular and competitive as a major. There are nearly a thousand students in my batch. This means that each of us could end up fighting with hundreds of people for the same number of roles.

Interestingly, studying computer science wasn't always on the cards for me. Like most Singaporean youths, I had no idea what I wanted to study at university when I graduated from junior college.

To get a better sense of what I wanted to do, I spent the nine months I had before college doing internships. I ended up doing two internships — at a primary school where I taught English and mathematics and at a local IT company that focuses on enterprise software.

Working at that IT company was a transformative experience.

I had the benefit of getting one-to-one guidance from the company's founder, and got to learn more about the tech industry and ecosystem.

The internship ended up sparking my interest in computer science.

In fact, even when school started, I still found myself heading back to the company to help out and brush up on my understanding of areas like cybersecurity and software engineering.

Interning my way to a full-time job

It wasn't easy adapting to university life during my first few semesters.

The curriculum was challenging, and I thought my grades didn't accurately reflect what I could contribute to a company if hired as a full-time employee. That drove me to do more internships to accrue hands-on experience.

This year, I did a six-month internship at a Norwegian software company. The company recently set up its headquarters in Singapore, and I participated in its efforts to break into the Asian market.

At the end of this internship, I was offered a full-time job.

Rejecting the FAANG rat race to walk my own path

Many of my peers are gunning for top high-paying jobs at FAANG companies like Facebook and Google.

People like me who don't aim for those positions often get asked questions like, "Why aren't you going for the best jobs out there? Why aren't you trying to get a job at Google?"

However, I have no regrets about prioritizing my own growth by working at a smaller company.

Working at a FAANG company may be something that many computer science students see themselves doing, but such a goal isn't in line with what I want out of my career.

My long-term goal is to become an entrepreneur and start my own company. I know that I won't be happy earning lots of money if it means working long hours.

I would rather do something more fulfilling that still allows me to support my family and live well. I don't mind opting out of the hustle of chasing big-name companies for smaller learning experiences instead.

Do you have a story to tell about your tech or finance career? Reach out to this reporter at [email protected].

• Steve Ballmer said his investment strategy is partly influenced by Warren Buffett.
• But Ballmer, whose net worth is larger than Buffett's, has an unconventional investment portfolio.
• More than 80% of Ballmer's portfolio is held in Microsoft stock, per The Wall Street Journal.

Steve Ballmer has an unorthodox investing approach.

The former Microsoft CEO is worth $151 billion, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, making him the ninth richest person the world.

That puts him ahead of famed investor Warren Buffett by a nearly $10 billion margin.

In an interview published Sunday, Ballmer told The Wall Street Journal that his investment strategy is partly influenced by Buffett, who has long said that since most people picking stocks cannot beat the returns of a general index fund. But there's one key difference.

The Journal reported that Ballmer keeps more than 80% of his portfolio in Microsoft stock. The rest is held in index funds. Ballmer declined to say how large his stake is in Microsoft.

"Microsoft's outperformed just about every other asset I could have owned," Ballmer told the Journal.

Ballmer's investment strategy goes against conventional wisdom, which suggests that people reduce their risk by diversifying their capital across different asset classes. And the world's wealthiest people typically go beyond stocks and bonds to invest in non-liquid assets like private equity and real estate. Ballmer said he is "mostly dialing out of private equity."

To be sure, Ballmer wasn't always going against the trend.

The 68-year-old tried diversifying in the past but said he struggled to find money managers who consistently beat the market.

"The only stock I really study still is Microsoft, because that's still overwhelmingly, overwhelmingly, overwhelmingly the No. 1 thing that I own," Balmer told the outlet.

Ballmer began his career at Microsoft in 1980 and succeeded founder Bill Gates as CEO in 2000.

According to regulatory filings, Ballmer held 333 million shares, or a 4% stake, in Microsoft when he stepped down as CEO in 2014.

Microsoft's shares are up 16.1% this year. The Seattle-based tech giant has been in front of the AI race with huge bets on startups like Sam Altman's OpenAI and France's Mistral AI.

In October, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in an earnings call that the company's AI business is on track to top an annual revenue run rate of $10 billion next quarter.

This would make it the fastest business in Microsoft's history to reach that milestone, Nadella added.

Ballmer attributes his bumper gains in Microsoft's stock to luck.

"Forget the stock price. I had luck, essentially, in getting to listen to the right people," Ballmer told the Journal.

"But I also had luck in terms of my loyalty to the company and not wanting to be a seller as a leader of the business. It turned out to be a great investment thing, too," he added.

Ballmer did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Nissan and Honda are reportedly considering a merger.
• But former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said the move suggests that Nissan is in "panic mode."
• "There is practically no complementarity between the two companies," Ghosn told Bloomberg on Friday.

The potential merger between Japanese automakers Nissan and Honda is a "desperate move," said Carlos Ghosn, Nissan's former CEO.

On Tuesday, Japanese newspaper Nikkei said the two companies are entering into merger negotiations.

Pooling their resources would allow Nissan and Honda to better compete against rivals in the electric vehicle space like Tesla and China's EV makers, the outlet reported.

Honda and Nissan are the second and third largest automakers in Japan, respectively. Their local rival, Toyota, is the world's biggest automaker.

A Nissan-Honda merger would result in the world's third-largest car company by volume.

Last week, Nissan and Honda told Business Insider that they are "considering various possibilities for future collaboration" but added that "no decisions have been made."

Ghosn said in an interview with Bloomberg on Friday that pursuing a merger with Honda suggests that Nissan is in "panic mode."

"It's not a pragmatic deal because frankly, the synergies between the two companies are difficult to find," Ghosn said.

"There is practically no complementarity between the two companies. They are on the same markets. They have the same products. The brands are very similar," he added.

Ghosn, Nissan, and Honda did not respond to requests for comment from BI.

Ghosn, once considered a legend in the auto industry, experienced a dramatic fall from grace in 2018.

The former CEO and chairman of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance was arrested in Japan and charged with financial crimes in November 2018.

Ghosn was detained in a Japanese jail for over 100 days, before he fled the country by smuggling himself to Lebanon in a musical-instrument case in December 2019.

The disgraced auto chief has maintained his innocence. Last year, Ghosn filed a billion-dollar lawsuit against Nissan in Lebanon for damaging his finances and reputation.

On Friday, Ghosn told Bloomberg that the Japanese government — specifically Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry — was likely behind the Nissan-Honda merger talks.

"So at the end of the day, they're trying to figure out something that could marry the short-term problems of Nissan and the long-term vision of Honda," Ghosn said.

The merger talks come at a precarious time for Nissan, which has been grappling with falling profits and decreased sales this year. Last month, Nissan cut 9,000 jobs globally in a bid to reduce costs. The company's stock is down 20.7% this year.

Nissan is also facing increased competition from Chinese EV makers like BYD, as automakers vie for market share in developing markets like Southeast Asia and Latin America. Data compiled by the technology firm ABI Research for BI showed that Chinese carmakers accounted for 70% of the EV market in Thailand and 88% in Brazil in the first quarter of this year.

Nissan initially led the EV race when it launched the world's first mass-market EV, the Leaf, in 2010.

But the Japanese car company's EV strategy has since floundered. Nissan is one of the few car manufacturers in the US without a hybrid or plug-in offering.

"Nissan finds itself now with a very poor lineup of products and without obvious leadership in EVs, and that's the direct result of poor management," Andy Palmer, the former chief operating officer of Nissan, told BI in November.

• China wants to hit a military modernization milestone in 2027.
• But China's ongoing crackdown on military corruption could disrupt its progress, says the Pentagon.
• China suspended a top military official last month, a year after firing its last defense minister.

China's near-term military modernization goal could be bogged down by its corruption scandals, a senior US defense official said on Monday.

"The substantial problems they have with corruption that have yet to be resolved certainly could slow them down on the path toward the 2027 capabilities development milestone and beyond," the official told journalists during a press briefing.

A transcript of the briefing was published on Wednesday, the same day the Defense Department released its annual assessment on China's military capabilities.

According to the Pentagon's report, at least 15 high-ranking Chinese military officials and defense industry executives were removed from their positions between July and December 2023.

Last month, The Financial Times reported that defense minister Adm. Dong Jun was under investigation for graft, the third consecutive person in the role to be investigated. A defense ministry spokesperson denied the FT's report, calling it a "sheer fabrication."

Also last month, China's defense ministry said a senior military official, Adm. Miao Hua, was suspended and under investigation for "serious violations of discipline." The accusation usually refers to corruption.

The 69-year-old oversaw political indoctrination in the People's Liberation Army and served on the Central Military Commission. The six-person commission, chaired by China's leader, Xi Jinping, oversees China's armed forces.

Miao's suspension came just a year after China's last defense minister, Gen. Li Shangfu was fired. Li was in office for seven months before he was removed.

Li and his predecessor, Wei Fenghe, were eventually expelled from the Chinese Communist Party for alleged corruption in June. They were also stripped of their military ranks.

"In 2023, a new wave of corruption-related investigations and removals of senior leaders may have disrupted the PLA's progress toward stated 2027 modernization goals," the Pentagon's report said.

Earlier this year, US intelligence highlighted corruption effects including missiles filled with water and intercontinental ballistic missile silos sporting improperly functioning lids that could derail a missile launch.

US intelligence sources told Bloomberg in January that corruption was so severe in China's Rocket Force and the wider PLA that it would most likely force Xi to recalibrate whether Beijing can take on any major military action soon.

US officials believe that Xi wants China to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. China first announced the modernization goal in October 2020. The 2027 milestone will coincide with the centennial of the PLA's founding.

"That doesn't mean that he's decided to invade in 2027 or any other year," CIA chief William J. Burns said in an interview with CBS in February 2023.

Representatives for China's defense and foreign ministries did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

• Elon Musk's DOGE has hired about 10 people so far, per Bloomberg.
• Boring Co. CEO Steve Davis and ex-Trump tech adviser Michael Kratsios are interviewing hires.
• The commission said in November that applicants could send their résumés via DM on X.

Elon Musk is tapping a mix of old and new faces to meet DOGE's staffing needs.

Last month, President-elect Donald Trump announced that Musk would co-lead an advisory group called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, alongside Vivek Ramaswamy.

DOGE, Trump said in his announcement, would be tasked with slashing excess regulations and trimming wasteful government spending. The commission is set to conclude its work by July 4, 2026.

On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that The Boring Company CEO Steve Davis and former US chief technology officer Michael Kratsios were interviewing potential hires. DOGE has hired about 10 people thus far, the outlet reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Musk's commission is also looking to recruit software engineers, including those with experience in artificial intelligence, per Bloomberg.

Much of the group's staffing is still unclear, including whether these are full-time roles, where they will be based, and how they will be paid.

According to a Bloomberg, DOGE is currently operating out of a SpaceX-leased office located near the White House.

In November, Musk said in an X post that DOGE employees will be involved in "tedious work" and draw zero compensation.

DOGE so far: a mix of Musk and Trump staffers

Davis is no stranger to Musk's enterprises.

The Boring Company chief holds a doctoral degree in economics from George Mason University and started out as a SpaceX engineer. Musk later handpicked Davis to run his tunneling company.

Davis was also involved in Musk's purchase of Twitter in 2022 and played a key role in Musk's pro-Trump super PAC, America PAC.

Joining Davis is Kratsios, who served as Trump's top technology advisor during his first administration. Prior to joining the Trump administration, Kratsios was tech billionaire Peter Thiel's chief of staff and a principal at Thiel Capital.

Kratsios is a managing director at Scale AI, a data labeling startup.

DOGE's first reported hire was announced by Trump — not Musk or Ramaswamy — earlier this month.

In a Truth Social post on December 4, Trump said that Republican lawyer William Joseph McGinley will serve as the commission's counsel.

McGinley, a former partner at the law firm Jones Day, served as Trump's White House cabinet secretary from 2017 to 2019.

Silicon Valley appears to have figured prominently in Musk's work on DOGE.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has reportedly been consulting Silicon Valley leaders, such as venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and Uber cofounder turned food tech entrepreneur Travis Kalanick, about his plans for the commission.

In November, the commission started an account on Musk's social network X and said that applicants could send in their CVs via direct message.

"We don't need more part-time idea generators. We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting," the post said.

Musk did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Nissan and Honda are considering a merger to help them compete in the EV industry.
• The news sent Nissan stocks skyrocketing by as much as 24% in early trading on Wednesday local time.
• The Japanese car companies are struggling with slumping profits and stock prices.

Honda and Nissan are set to negotiate a possible merger that could see the two Japanese car heavyweights strengthen their existing ties and increase their collective power locally and globally.

Japanese newspaper Nikkei reported news of the possible merger on Tuesday, adding that the two car companies are hoping their combined resources will help both compete against Tesla and Chinese electric vehicle makers.

The two companies are in talks to set up an umbrella holding company to facilitate a merger, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing a person with knowledge of the discussions.

"As announced in March of this year, Honda and Nissan are exploring various possibilities for future collaboration, leveraging each other's strengths," a spokesperson for Honda said in a statement to Business Insider on Tuesday.

"We will inform our stakeholders of any updates at an appropriate time," the statement added.

The merger could also include another automaker: Mitsubishi Motors, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Nissan is Mitsubishi's largest shareholder.

"The contents of the report is not something that has been announced by our company. Nothing has been decided at the moment," Mitsubishi said in a statement to BI.

On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that the parent company of Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn had approached Nissan to take a controlling stake in the automaker.

Representatives for Nissan and Foxconn did not immediately respond to BI's request for comment.

The news sent Nissan stocks skyrocketing. The company's shares were nearly 24% higher when local markets closed on Wednesday.

The stock's uptick follows a particularly difficult year for the car company. Amid falling profits and decreased sales, Nissan slashed its workforce by 9,000 jobs globally in November in an effort to reduce costs. Nissan's shares are down nearly 25% this year.

The potential consolidation comes after Honda and Nissan agreed to collaborate on EV batteries and software earlier this year.

During Nissan's November earnings call, CEO Makoto Uchida acknowledged that the company had fallen behind, saying the automaker needed to strengthen its competitiveness.

"There are limits if we are to do that alone. So, that had triggered us to engage in partnership with Honda," Uchida said on the call.

Honda investors, however, seemed less thrilled by the news.

The company's shares closed 3% lower on Wednesday. Honda's stock is down by over 15% this year.

December 18, 12:15 a.m. — This story has been updated with statements from Honda and Mitsubishi Motors.

• Elon Musk is the founder-CEO of rocket company SpaceX.
• But Musk isn't privy to all of SpaceX's classified work with the US government, per the WSJ.
• Musk obtained top-secret clearance in 2022.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's security clearance doesn't grant him complete access to the company's classified work with the US government.

Musk isn't allowed to enter SpaceX facilities where classified information is being deliberated upon, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The billionaire also isn't privy to the classified cargo SpaceX launches into space as part of the company's contracts with US national security agencies, per the outlet.

In October, Musk said at a Trump campaign event in Pennsylvania that he has "top-secret clearance" for his work at SpaceX.

Musk obtained his top-secret clearance in 2022, following a review process that took years, the Journal reported. SpaceX's lawyers had advised the company not to seek a higher security clearance for Musk because he would have to disclose details about his drug use and interactions with foreign nationals.

In 2018, Musk appeared to smoke a joint during an interview with Joe Rogan. Musk later said in an interview with "60 Minutes" that he had "no idea how to smoke pot."

When the Journal reported about Musk's drug use in January, he said that "not even trace quantities were found of any drugs or alcohol" in his system when NASA requested that he undergo three years of random drug testing.

As for interactions with foreign nationals, Musk's business dealings have seen him meet with various foreign leaders over the years.

In April, Musk visited China, where he met with Premier Li Qiang, the country's second-highest-ranking politician. The two discussed the roll-out of Tesla's self-driving technology in China.

In October, the Journal reported that Musk has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022. In a statement, SpaceX said the Journal's story was "incredibly misleading" and based on "completely unsubstantiated claims."

Musk and Trump's relationship grows closer

Musk's clearance status might no longer be a problem for him, given his close relationship with President-elect Donald Trump.

Musk endorsed Trump and spent at least $119 billion on his campaign. In the past weeks, he has reportedly joined Trump on calls with world leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In November, Trump announced Musk as the co-lead of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO will lead the commission alongside Vivek Ramaswamy.

Musk and Ramaswamy have talked about significantly reducing the size of the federal workforce and shutting down entire government agencies like the Department of Education and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Musk founded SpaceX in 2002. It was valued at about $350 billion during the latest round of staff share purchases. Musk is currently worth an estimated $455 billion, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, making him the richest person in the world by a roughly $200 billion margin.

Representatives for Musk at SpaceX and the Defense Department did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

• Andrew Minjun Park, 27, is a graduate student at Seoul National University.
• Park joined the protests in Seoul after South Korea's president abruptly declared martial law.
• He arrived at the National Assembly at about 11:45 p.m. Tuesday and stayed until the next morning.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Andrew Minjun Park, 27, a graduate student at Seoul National University. Park participated in the protests against martial law outside South Korea's National Assembly building on Tuesday night. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I was preparing for my political science Ph.D. applications on Tuesday when I heard the news about South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declaring martial law.

At first, I thought it was fake news. Putting the country under martial law is something that's often associated with the authoritarian governments South Korea had in the '70s and '80s.

But after watching the president's address on YouTube, I realized he was dead serious.

To me, this was a critical moment in Korea's modern history

Initially, I didn't want to join the protests that were forming outside the National Assembly building.

There was a possibility the protests could turn violent. You could also get arrested since protests are illegal under martial law.

But as more and more photos of security forces descending on the building came in, it began to dawn on me that this situation couldn't be taken lightly.

The president had crossed the line when he got the military involved. What he had done posed a risk to democracy.

To me, this was a critical moment in Korea's modern history.

I knew I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn't head down to the National Assembly.

The protests were scattered at first

I took the subway to the National Assembly. Unlike most nights, the train was packed. I think a few hundred people got off with me at the station when we arrived.

By the time I got to the building, it was around 11:45 p.m.

There was a police bus parked in front of the building's gate to prevent protesters from entering the National Assembly. I also saw helicopters flying over the building.

At first, the protests were scattered. Some groups were near the gate, while others were lingering behind. There didn't seem to be any central leadership.

I noticed that many of the people who were already there seemed to be party members or unionists. The unionists were wearing uniforms and waving their unions' flags.

But at around 12:30 a.m. or so, I started to see families and students arriving in larger numbers. Some parents brought their children along.

This was my first protest, and I wasn't prepared for the physical aspects of it.

It was really cold, and my hands hurt from trying to hold up a banner I had made. And because it was so crowded, I kept bumping into people.

When the National Assembly voted unanimously to block the president's decree, the protests' agenda began to shift toward calling for the arrest and impeachment of President Yoon.

The protests took place in a peaceful manner.

At around 4:30 a.m. or so, the president announced he would lift martial law and withdraw the troops. Cheers broke out among the protesters. That was when I decided to take a cab back home.

The situation is not over yet

After getting home, I called my parents to tell them I had gone to the protests. I had originally told them that I wasn't going to participate in the protests because I could tell they were worried.

They told me I had made the right decision in going. Both of my parents lived through martial law when they were young.

I am wary of what could happen next. There have been calls for President Yoon to resign and for him to be impeached or indicted.

If there are more protests calling for Yoon's removal, I think I will definitely be there, too.

• Elon Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in February, only to briefly withdraw it in June.
• The withdrawal came after Musk met with Altman in March, per The WSJ.
• Musk has since refiled the lawsuit and coined a new nickname for Altman: "Swindly Sam."

Elon Musk briefly withdrew his lawsuit against OpenAI in June after he had a conversation with Sam Altman in March, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

Musk and Altman met at the sidelines of a technology conference in Big Sky, Montana. The pair shared a hug after speaking, the Journal reported, citing information from people who attended the conference.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO filed a lawsuit against the ChatGPT maker in February. Musk accused OpenAI of violating its nonprofit mission by partnering with Microsoft. The billionaire cofounded OpenAI with Altman but left its board in 2018.

But Musk withdrew the lawsuit on June 11, just a day before a judge was set to consider OpenAI's request to dismiss it.

"More on this later," Musk wrote in an X post shortly after news of the lawsuit's withdrawal broke out.

In August, Musk refiled the lawsuit. This time around, Musk's lawyers argued that OpenAI's executives had "deceived" him into cofounding the company by playing on his concerns about AI's existential risks.

Last month, Musk amended his lawsuit to include Microsoft as a defendant and accused Microsoft and OpenAI of forming a monopoly.

Then, on Friday, Musk's lawyers filed an injunction against OpenAI to stop its transition to a for-profit entity.

When approached for comment, a spokesperson for OpenAI told Business Insider that Musk's latest filing, "which again recycles the same baseless complaints, continues to be utterly without merit."

Musk and Altman's rocky relationship

Musk and Altman's relationship has been turbulent. In addition to suing Altman, Musk recently gave him a nickname: "Swindly Sam."

Experts BI spoke to in March said that Musk's real goal with his lawsuits may have less to do with winning and more to do with publicly dragging Altman and OpenAI.

"These types of lawsuits can air a lot of dirty laundry, and it can be a major distraction that could impact their day-to-day operations," David Hoffman, a contract law expert from the University of Pennsylvania, told BI's Grace Kay at the time.

Musk has also been hard at work at his own AI ventures, pitching investors on his vision for Tesla as an AI company.

In April, Musk said in an earnings call that he thinks it's fundamentally wrong to "value Tesla as just like an auto company."

"We should be thought of as an AI or robotics company," Musk said in April.

That's in addition to the work Musk has done with xAI, an AI startup he launched in 2023.

xAI is reportedly valued at $50 billion, more than what Musk paid to acquire Twitter back in 2022, per a story published by the Journal on November 20.

Representatives for Altman at OpenAI and Musk did not respond to requests for comment from BI.

• Indonesian tycoons are working on a huge real estate project —building a new city in North Jakarta.
• The city, PIK 2, is worth about $16 billion and is intended to drive tourism to the area.
• Bloomberg reported the developers are in touch with partners in China and Singapore to build a port at PIK 2.

Indonesian business tycoons are moving ahead with an ambitious real estate project: building a new city in North Jakarta to boost tourism.

The city, called PIK 2, is being developed in a former poverty-stricken area now made up primarily of gated neighborhoods and golf courses, per Bloomberg.

The project, which is currently in its conceptual phase, is a collaboration between Agung Sedayu Group — run by entrepreneur Sugianto Kusuma — and Salim Group, led by billionaire Anthoni Salim.

The publicly traded parent company behind the project — PT Pantai Indah Kapuk Dua — has a $16 billion market capitalization.

Kusuma is the president, director, and owner of PT Pantai Indah Kapuk Dua, and both men are members of the influential group of ultra-wealthy businessmen known locally as the "Nine Dragons," per Bloomberg.

According to Agung Sedayu Group's website, PIK 2 will be "located approximately only 7 minutes from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport" and "will cover approximately 6,000 hectares."

The development could, by its slated completion in 2060, feature amenities including a safari area and an international motor racetrack, per Forbes.

Bloomberg reported that the development may also include a theme park and that the project's backers hope to make an appeal to major racing events, including Formula 1.

The Indonesian developers are also in touch with partners in China and Singapore to build a port at PIK 2 that would increase its appeal to international tourists, per Bloomberg.

However, the outlet reported the project's owner said its continued expansion depends on global economic conditions.

"It's going to require huge spending but we are not building everything in one go," Kusuma told Bloomberg of PIK 2. "This isn't a short-term project. It's not going to be built just by me but future generations can continue it. But we want to lay down a foundation first."

Kusuma's project isn't the only major development that's happening in Indonesia.

In 2019, then-Indonesia President Joko Widodo said the government plans to relocate the country's capital from Jakarta to East Kalimantan.

The move — which involves a new city called Nusantara being built on the eastern coast of Borneo — is projected to cost Indonesia an estimated $35 billion. The project is set to be completed by 2045.

Representatives for Kusuma at PT Pantai Indah Kapuk Dua and Agung Sedayu Group did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

• Bernie Sanders says Elon Musk is right about the Defense Department's wasteful spending.
• The DOGE co-leader criticized the Pentagon's F-35 program and $841 billion budget last month.
• "Cool," Musk said in response to Sanders' remarks.

Elon Musk has a new supporter in his push to rein in government spending — Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

"Elon Musk is right," Sanders said of Musk's criticisms of the Defense Department's spending in an X post published Sunday.

"The Pentagon, with a budget of $886 billion, just failed its 7th audit in a row. It's lost track of billions," Sanders wrote.

In November, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO was tapped to co-lead President-elect Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

To be sure, Musk has yet to outline any specific cuts that the commission plans to make. But he did criticize the Pentagon's F-35 program in a series of X posts published on November 24.

Musk also referenced the Defense Department's $841 billion budget in an op-ed he wrote with his DOGE co-leader, Vivek Ramaswamy, for The Wall Street Journal on November 20.

"The Pentagon recently failed its seventh consecutive audit, suggesting that the agency's leadership has little idea how its annual budget of more than $800 billion is spent," Musk and Ramaswamy wrote.

Sanders echoed the pair's views on Sunday.

"Last year, only 13 senators voted against the Military Industrial Complex and a defense budget full of waste and fraud," Sanders wrote in his X post.

"That must change," he added.

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for the Defense Department pointed Business Insider to a press briefing given by the department's CFO, Michael J. McCord, on November 15. During the briefing, McCord said the Pentagon has "a lot of work to do" on its audit performance but is "making progress."

Common ground on military spending aside, Sanders and Musk do have their political differences.

The 83-year-old is the longest-serving independent in Congress, though the progressive politician did run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020.

On Saturday, Sanders released a statement saying that America needed to "defeat the oligarchs and create an economy and government that works for all, not just the few."

"Today, in America, we have a political system that is increasingly controlled by the billionaire class. In the recent elections, just 150 billionaire families spent nearly $2 billion to get their candidates elected," Sanders said in the statement.

Musk, on the other hand, was a major contributor to Trump's 2024 campaign. The billionaire spent just under $119 million on his pro-Trump political action committee, America PAC.

"Cool," Musk said in an X post in response to a New York Post story about Sanders' remarks on defense spending.

Representatives for Sanders and Musk didn't respond to requests for comment from BI.

• Seoul city authorities want to tackle the loneliness epidemic with a $322 million plan.
• Lonely individuals can call a 24/7 counseling hotline and win rewards for attending local events.
• While the plan is a step in the right direction, experts say it will not address the problem's roots.

Seoul's loneliness epidemic is eating the city from within.

The city glitters, but there's a reason the locals call South Korea "Hell Joseon." Locals contend with crippling debt and pressure-cooker academic and work lives. Loneliness and isolation stem from and compound those problems. It's a scourge that manifests in different ways across the metropolis's sprawling cityscape, and a pressing issue the government is keen to address.

According to a 2021 study from the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, about 3.1% of those aged 19 to 39, or around 340,000 people, are considered to be lonely and reclusive.

At the extreme end is "godoksa," or lonely death, where someone dies by suicide or illness after living in social isolation.

Lonely deaths in South Korea increased from 3,378 in 2021 to 3,661 in 2023, per the South Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare's data.

The South Korean government plans to spend over $322 million on measures that attempt to fix loneliness. However, experts told Business Insider this initiative fails to address the root causes of the problem — and might not have the effect the government is hoping to achieve.

A 'Seoul Without Loneliness'

Titled "Seoul Without Loneliness," the five-year initiative takes a multi-pronged approach to address the problem.

City authorities said in an October statement that people experiencing loneliness can tap a 24/7 counseling hotline. They can also eat together in community spaces and collect perks and activity points for participating in sporting activities and attending local events.

"We will mobilize our resources to create a happy city where no one is isolated, implement the Seoul Without Loneliness initiative, and thoroughly manage the issue from prevention to healing, reintegration into society, and the prevention of re-isolation," Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said in the statement.

When contacted by Business Insider, a representative for the Seoul Metropolitan Government said that the plan will involve all departments in the city's government collaborating to "establish a systematic support framework tailored to specific fields and life stages."

"'Seoul Without Loneliness' is a bold challenge for the city and not an easy path to take," the representative said. "While numerous trials and errors are expected, and not all issues can be resolved at once, Seoul is confident that continuous efforts and various innovative attempts will eventually lead to achieving its goals."

"Seoul will continue to do its utmost to create a city where all citizens can live happily," the representative added.

Last year, the country's Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said it would pay socially isolated youth around $500 a month to encourage them to mingle with society.

Prevention is better than cure when it comes to tackling loneliness

Psychologists and sociologists that Business Insider spoke to said that while October's initiative is a step in the right direction, it's not a silver bullet.

"It may be helpful for those who feel they're isolated and who are willing to get out of their loneliness. But for those who do not want outside help, then these policies are probably irrelevant to them," Joonmo Son, a sociology professor at the National University of Singapore, told BI.

"The other issue we need to think of is that the policy itself does not prevent loneliness. Rather, it's to prevent the lonely deaths of those who are isolated," Son added.

Eva Chen, a psychology professor at Taiwan's National Tsing Hua University, told BI that South Korea should address the country's competitive culture, which starts young.

Last year, nearly 80% of children participated in private education programs like "hagwons" or cram schools, according to data from South Korea's National Statistics Office. Families also splashed out $19.4 billion on private education — which can span all manner of supplementary drilling on schoolwork, from after-school "hagwon" sessions to tutoring.

"It's an incredibly competitive society, and you can see these issues start to appear when children start their formal schooling. You will notice that suicide rates among Korean students are fairly high when compared to neighboring countries," Chen said.

In 2023, South Korea recorded a suicide rate of 27.3 out of 100,000 people, the highest rate among OECD countries like the US, UK, and Japan.

Navigating such a competitive environment, Chen said, can result in people becoming more withdrawn and isolated.

"It sort of breaks down that willingness to be helpful. In young children, the natural tendency is toward empathy and valuing moral goodness over more superficial factors like your salary and your education," she continued.

Kee Hong Choi, a psychology professor at Korea University, said that his country's education system needs to be "changed dramatically" to become less competitive.

"People become individualistic because they are emotionally hardened from social pressure and judgment," Choi said.

"Many people get traumatized by these kinds of social comparisons in an education system and start to develop depressive, or social anxiety symptoms," he added.

Stakes are high for solving the problem of loneliness

South Korea's ongoing struggle with the loneliness epidemic poses both social and economic implications.

Sohyun Kim, a psychology professor at Korea University, told BI that "the problem of loneliness is one of the most urgent social and economic problems" the country faces.

"Many of these individuals are also financially struggling, which is not surprising as all of these issues can affect various areas of our lives, including our productivity, and also those who are financially more limited have been found to be at higher risk of isolation," Kim said.

Korea University's Choi said social isolation among youths could exacerbate the country's existing socio-economic problems, such as its birth rate.

South Korea's fertility rate was 0.72 in 2023, the lowest in the world. It's even lower in Seoul, which recorded a fertility rate of 0.55 in the same year.

Based on its current trajectory, the country's population of 51 million is expected to halve by 2100. That's another problem Seoul's government is trying to solve with its "birth encouragement" program to raise fertility rates. Nearly a fifth of South Korea's population lives in Seoul.

"Lonely individuals are, of course, less likely to form families. That's a huge problem for Korea right now, to produce the next generation of children, and more practically, the next generation of the workforce," National Tsing Hua University's Chen said.

• Putin says Trump is a "smart and experienced person" and can "come up with a solution" to the Ukraine war.
• Trump said on the campaign trail this year that he would end the war in 24 hours if elected.
• In 2022, Trump also said that he "knew Putin very well" and got along "great" with the Russian leader.

Russian President Vladimir Putin believes President-elect Donald Trump will be able to put an end to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

"President Trump, a smart and experienced person, will come up with a solution, especially given that he has gone through quite an ordeal of fighting to reclaim the Oval Office," Putin told reporters in Kazakhstan on Thursday.

Putin was speaking at the sidelines of a security summit in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, when he was asked about President Joe Biden's recent decision to give Ukraine long-range missiles.

Representatives for Putin and Trump did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

Trump talked about ending the Russia-Ukraine war in Ukraine while on the campaign trail. In July 2023, he said on Fox News that he would end the war within 24 hours if elected.

"I would tell Zelenskyy, no more. You got to make a deal. I would tell Putin, if you don't make a deal, we're going to give him a lot. We're going to give more than they ever got if we have to," Trump said.

Both Ukraine and Russia have been dismissive of Trump's proposal.

However, Putin's praise for Trump comes just weeks after the pair reportedly spoke over the phone. Trump also took a separate call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in November.

Putin and Trump talked about resolving the war in Ukraine and achieving peace in Europe during their call, The Washington Post reported on November 10, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Kremlin denied the call had taken place, while a spokesperson for the Trump campaign said they "do not comment on private calls" between Trump and other foreign leaders.

Putin's admiration of Trump appears to be mutual.

Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Trump called Putin's move "genius" and "wonderful." He also said without substantiation that the reason Putin chose to invade Ukraine during Biden's presidency instead of his was because he had a better relationship with Putin.

"I knew Putin very well. I got along with him great. He liked me. I liked him," Trump said during a February 2022 appearance on the "Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show."

Meanwhile, in February, Putin told the state-owned television channel Russia-1 that he would "work with any US leader whom the American people trust."

• Being born in the year of the dragon is auspicious, according to the Chinese lunar calendar.
• Dragon babies are regarded as smart, successful, and natural leaders.
• Experts say that being born in this year can make life harder at work and in school.

Jackson Koh was born in Singapore in the Chinese Year of the Dragon. Growing up, he says he was his aunts' and uncles' favorite — and he knows why.

"When I was young, every Chinese New Year, my relatives would ask, 'What zodiac is your child?' And my parents would say, 'Oh, he's a dragon,'" said Koh, a 23-year-old student at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.

"And then all the relatives were, like, 'Wow! He's going to grow up to be very rich and very successful,'" he added.

"Obviously, listening to all this every year, it'll build up your ego. You just think, 'Oh, I'm a dragon, I'm special,'" Koh said.

Why the Dragon Year is special

There are 12 Chinese zodiac animals, arranged in the following order: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. The cycle repeats every 12 years.

Under the lunar calendar, 2024 is the year of the dragon.

The dragon is the only mythical creature among the dozen animals. It's considered the most auspicious zodiac by the Chinese — and people in Asia make it a point to procreate, with hopes of birthing a child in those 12 calendar months.

According to Singapore's Department of Statistics, births went from 36,178 in 2011 to 38,641 in 2012, the most recent dragon year. The number of births in the following year, 2013, dipped back down to 35,681.

A similar trend of dragon-year birth spikes was observed in 1988 and 2000.

People born in the dragon year are said to be natural leaders, intelligent, and charismatic.

"Dragon babies are, for the most part, intensely desired and prized by their parents. Culturally, dragons are held in the highest esteem — they were symbols of the emperor," Ee Cheng Ong, an associate professor of economics at the National University of Singapore (NUS), told Business Insider.

Special attention, but more competition

Several dragon babies in Singapore told Business Insider they were a source of pride for their family elders, who showered them with more attention because of their birth year.

Melissa Anne Lim, a self-employed 23-year-old, said that, like Jackson Koh, she was doted on growing up.

"My grandma loves that I'm a dragon," said Lim. "Being a dragon baby kind of gave me a little more special attention, from the aunties especially."

Dragon babies are also likely to face more competition in school and in the workplace from their direct peers.

"Because schools have limited resources, including numbers of classrooms, facilities, and teachers, it is indeed correct that people born in such years may face disadvantages in terms of having larger class sizes and more competition in accessing 'top schools,'" said Kelvin Seah, a senior economics lecturer at NUS.

And it's not just schools. Seah said dragon babies will also have a tougher time looking for jobs after graduation.

"There are only so many jobs available in the economy. The larger cohort size means more competition for the limited number of jobs after graduation," Seah said.

In 2017, researchers from NUS published a study on the life outcomes of dragon babies in Singapore.

The study — which had a sample size of 4,608 and is based on local birth, employment, and university admissions data from 1960 to 2015 in Singapore — found that Chinese dragon babies earned 6.3% less than other Chinese birth cohorts upon entering the workforce.

The study also found that Chinese dragon babies were 2.3% less likely to gain admission to local universities in Singapore.

A numbers game

In other places where the lunar year is observed — and accorded cultural significance — people born in the year of the dragon also face a unique set of challenges.

In China, for instance, dragon babies taking the gaokao, the country's marathon university entrance exams, may face more intense competition with a larger cohort, said Stuart Gietel-Basten, a professor of social science and public policy at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

China also sees birth rate spikes in dragon years. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, in 2012, China's birth rate reached 14.57 births per 1,000 people. That was an increase from 13.27 births per 1,000 people in 2011. Births dipped the following year, to 13.03 births per 1,000 people in 2013.

But the latest crop of dragon babies may have it easier, with competition evening out as birth rates drop.

And cultural expectations may be changing, Gietel-Basten added. Dragon babies might have once been subject to great pressure to exceed expectations, but Gietel-Basten says he'd be "surprised" if that same level of pressure would be applied to 2024's dragon babies as they grow older.

"You could even say that if you're a dragon baby, you become more confident," Gietel-Basten said. "And so you could prosper not out of the pressure that's been put on you, but because of that confidence."

Dragon baby spikes aside, birth rates remain low

Whether it's hard to be a dragon baby or not, one thing is clear: Asian countries — including Singapore and China, both of which follow the lunar year — are facing a birth rate problem.

In 2023, China's population fell for the second year in a row due to record-low birth rates. Singapore recorded a total fertility rate of 0.97 in 2023, the first time it had ever fallen below 1.0.

Policymakers across Asia are resorting to a wide range of measures to try to convince people to have more children.

In 2016, China dropped its controversial one-child policy and allowed couples to have two kids. The government changed its rules again in 2021 to let couples have up to three children.

Tokyo's government said in June that it was investing $1.3 million to launch its own dating app for residents. Japan's total population has declined for the 15th straight year in 2023.

Seoul is offering up to $730 in incentives to people looking to reverse their vasectomies and tubal ligations. South Korea in 2023 recorded the world's lowest fertility rate, at 0.72 births per woman.

Some leaders are using the allure of the dragon baby in their messaging to encourage more children.

In February, then-Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in his annual Chinese New Year message that it is a good time for families to "add a 'little dragon.'"

"I hope my encouragement prompts more couples to try for a baby, although I know that the decision is a very personal one," Lee said.

But higher than ordinary birth rates in a given year can also stress social systems.

"If there's still a bunching of baby deliveries in dragon years, that will create tension within schools and public educational resources," said Qian Wenlan, a finance and real estate professor at the National University of Singapore. Qian co-authored the 2017 study about life outcomes for dragon babies in Singapore.

"In some years, you just have to employ more teaching staff — such as adjunct teachers, for example — to accommodate and to educate more students," Qian added.

Still, even if the road is paved with challenges, sometimes being born a dragon is little more than a happy accident.

"At the end of the day, there are many other factors to take into consideration when we family plan," Lim, the 23-year-old dragon baby, said. "I have a niece and nephew who were both born in the year of the dragon. Did their parents plan for them to be dragons? Not exactly — but it was a pleasant surprise."

• Elon Musk's demand for Nvidia chips has put pressure on the company to deliver.
• A Nvidia sales lead told colleagues in an email that their supply chain was under strain, per the Journal.
• A Nvidia spokesperson told BI that the company has "worked hard to meet the needs of all customers."

Nvidia is feeling the pressure from trying to meet Elon Musk's insatiable demand for chips.

Musk's demand for chips was straining the chip giant's supply chain, a sales lead for Nvidia told colleagues in an email obtained by The Wall Street Journal.

The Journal's report, which was published on Wednesday, did not specify when the email was sent.

When approached for comment, a spokesperson for Nvidia told Business Insider that the company has "worked hard to meet the needs of all customers."

Nvidia has also "greatly expanded the available supply" of its chips, the spokesperson added.

Musk did not respond to a request for comment from BI.

Nvidia's chips have become a hot commodity among tech companies, who use them to train and deploy their AI models.

In January, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told The Verge in an interview that Meta would own more than 340,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs by the end of 2024.

"We have built up the capacity to do this at a scale that may be larger than any other individual company. I think a lot of people may not appreciate that," Zuckerberg told the outlet.

Musk, meanwhile, has been building his own war chest of chips. The billionaire launched his own AI startup, xAI, in 2023 and has since raised billions of dollars in funding.

In June, CNBC reported that Musk had redirected $500 million worth of Nvidia chips from Tesla to X and xAI.

"Tesla had no place to send the Nvidia chips to turn them on, so they would have just sat in a warehouse," Musk said on X in response to CNBC's story.

Then, in September, Musk announced that xAI had brought a massive new training cluster of Nvidia chips online.

The system, dubbed Colossus, was built using 100,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs in Memphis, Tennessee, in 122 days, Musk wrote on X.

"Colossus is the most powerful AI training system in the world. Moreover, it will double in size to 200k (50k H200s) in a few months," Musk said in his post.

The engineering feat was praised by Nvidia's founder and CEO, Jensen Huang, who called it a "superhuman" feat.

"As far as I know, there's only one person in the world who could do that. Elon is singular in his understanding of engineering and construction and large systems and marshaling resources," Huang said in an interview on the "Bg2 Pod" podcast that aired on October 13.

"It's just unbelievable," Huang added.

Musk and Zuckerberg aren't the only tech executives hungry for Nvidia's chips.

Larry Ellison, the cofounder and chairman of Oracle, said in an earnings call in September that he and Musk had asked Huang for more GPUs while the three were having dinner.

"I would describe the dinner as me and Elon begging Jensen for GPUs," Ellison said.

The robust demand for chips has turned Nvidia into one of the most valuable companies in the world.

Nvidia announced its third-quarter earnings on November 20, where it recorded $35.08 billion in revenue for the quarter — a 94% year-over-year increase. The company's shares are up by 173% year to date.

• Marc Andreessen says that AI-controlled jets are "far superior" to their crewed counterparts.
• Drones, he said, can move much faster because they don't have to carry a person.
• Andreessen's comments echo that of Elon Musk, who said this week that he thinks crewed fighter jets are inefficient.

Elon Musk isn't the only tech executive who thinks drones are way better than fighter jets.

Marc Andreessen, a cofounder and general partner of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, made a similar comment during an interview on The Joe Rogan Experience that aired Tuesday.

AI-controlled jets, Andreessen told Rogan, are "far superior" to fighter jets that need pilots.

"And there's a bunch of reasons for that. And part of it is just simply the speed of processing and so forth," Andreessen said.

"But another big thing is if you don't have a human in the plane, you don't have the, as they say, the spam in the can, you don't have the human body in the plane," the venture capitalist continued.

"You don't have to keep a human being alive, which means you can be a lot faster, and you can move a lot more quickly," he added.

Representatives for Andreessen at Andreessen Horowitz did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Musk has been weighing in on the F35 fighter jet while advocating for drone warfare

Andreessen's comments to Rogan echo Musk's, who criticized the Pentagon's F-35 program in a series of X posts on Sunday.

"Crewed fighter jets are an inefficient way to extend the range of missiles or drop bombs. A reusable drone can do so without all the overhead of a human pilot," Musk wrote in one of his posts.

Musk continued to comment on fighter jets on Tuesday, making an X post responding to Andreessen's interview with Rogan.

"Future wars are all about drones & hypersonic missiles. Fighter jets piloted by humans will be destroyed very quickly," Musk wrote on Tuesday.

In the meantime, Silicon Valley has become increasingly interested in disrupting the defense sector.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said he was a "licensed arms dealer" during a lecture he gave at Stanford University in April.

Schmidt said this was because he was working with Udacity CEO Sebastian Thrun to mass-produce drones for Ukraine's ongoing war with Russia.

Then, in August, startup accelerator Y Combinator said it was backing its first weapons startup, Ares Industries. The company said it wants to make smaller and cheaper anti-ship cruise missiles.

Musk's remarks on the F-35 have taken on a heightened significance given his recent appointment as the co-lead of President-elect Donald Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

Musk hasn't specified any cost cutting plans for the F-35 program. However, he did reference the Defense Department's $841 billion budget in an op-ed he wrote with his DOGE co-lead Vivek Ramaswamy for The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

"The Pentagon recently failed its seventh consecutive audit, suggesting that the agency's leadership has little idea how its annual budget of more than $800 billion is spent," the pair wrote.

Drones have been game-changing in modern warfare, but military experts say there are still advantages to having manned fighter jets over drones.

Justin Bronk, a Royal United Services Institute airpower analyst, told BI that a human pilot's flexibility is "very difficult to replicate in an automatic system."

The viability of drone technology also needs to be weighed against the F-35's extensive bombing, surveillance, battle management, and communications capabilities. On that front, uncrewed aircraft are "simply not there," Mark Gunzinger, a retired US Air Force pilot and the director of Future Concepts and Capability Assessments at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, told BI.

When approached for comment, a Pentagon spokesperson told BI on Monday that the US's combat-capable aircraft "perform exceptionally well against the threat for which they were designed."

"Pilots continually emphasize that this is the fighter they want to take to war if called upon," the spokesperson said.