Plus: A $250 Million Plan To Pull Lithium For Batteries From The Great Salt Lake |
Good morning,
Amid the AI boom, a growing number of startups are scrambling to build voice tools with the technology. A new company from a former Meta and Google researcher is the latest.Neil Zeghidour’s startup Gradium aims to commercialize new technology in the speech recognition and generation space, like a live translation tool and multilingual chatbot. Zeghidour, whose research has attracted backers like former Google CEO Eric Schimdt, is in discussions to raise about $60 million, sources told Forbes. Still, he faces competition from firms like the $6.6 billion-valued Elevenlabs, among many others.
Let’s get into the headlines, |
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| Democrats are digging in as the government shutdown stretches into its 10th day Friday, with recent polling showing 41% of respondents blame Republicans for the stalemate, compared to 30% who blame Democrats. “Every day gets better for us,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told Punchbowl, suggesting it hurts Republicans’ image the more they threaten permanent workforce and funding cuts—which President Donald Trump threatened to do again on Thursday. A district court judge blocked Trump’s deployment of National Guard in Chicago temporarily on Thursday, similar to actions taken earlier this week by a separate judge regarding troops sent to Portland. District Court Judge April Perry said evidence suggests that the deployment may lead to “civil unrest,” and that the Department of Homeland Security’s assessment of the situation was “unreliable.” |
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 | | FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES |
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| The U.S. could become a major supplier of lithium for batteries in the next few years after the Trump Administration took a stake in the developer of a massive mine in Nevada. But Silicon Valley startup Lilac Solutions thinks it’s got a better idea that avoids the higher costs and environmental harms of traditional mining: extract the pricey mineral from briny water at oil fields and sites like the Great Salt Lake in Utah instead of digging it out of the ground. Oakland-based Lilac, which has been refining its patented ion-exchange technology for lithium extraction since its founding nearly a decade ago, is raising $250 million to build its first commercial processing facility at the Great Salt Lake that could produce 5,000 metric tons of lithium per year by 2028. If all goes well, that’s just the start as the startup looks to help energy companies pull lithium out of massive underground brine deposits that are often a byproduct of active oil and gas fields across the U.S., according to CEO Raef Sully. Despite the Trump Administration’s dramatic reversal of federal efforts to curb climate change, including killing incentives for electric vehicle purchases, demand for lithium for batteries is on the rise. Globally, the lithium market was worth an estimated $28 billion last year, and demand could increase 26% to nearly 1.5 million tons this year, according to Mining.com. That’s driven mainly by the growth of electric vehicles, the top battery user, and batteries for energy storage. |
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| “The U.S. is almost entirely reliant on China for processed lithium and other critical minerals, which most politicians agree creates economic and national security concerns,” says Forbes senior editor Alan Ohnsman. “Fortunately, the U.S. appears to have vast, untapped reserves of lithium that companies are beginning to target. High-tech approaches like Lilac’s, if they scale as the company hopes, would not only build up a large domestic supply base but do so at lower cost and with less damage to the environment.” |
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| As the shutdown continues to stall the scheduled release of the federal government’s jobs data, figures from private firms and economists show a slowing in the labor market. For instance, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that the number of new hires in 2025 so far dropped 58% from a year ago to its lowest level since 2009. Luxury automaker Ferrari had its worst day on European and U.S. markets Thursday after issuing guidance that was worse than analysts anticipated. The stock plunged 15% on the New York Stock Exchange, its biggest single-day drop, as investment research firm CFRA lowered its target for and downgraded Ferrari’s stock to a “sell,” citing concerns of slowing growth. |
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| WEALTH + ENTREPRENEURSHIP |
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| With a $2 billion investment from the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, Polymarket’s 27-year-old founder Shayne Coplan is now the world’s youngest self-made billionaire. The deal caps a meteoric ascent for the blockchain-based prediction platform, which has soared to a $9 billion valuation, up from $1.2 billion earlier this year. |
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| In its bid to catch up with market leader Nvidia, chip giant AMD scored a major victory with its multibillion dollar deal that will see ChatGPT maker OpenAI use its chips. But another key component of the deal is the company’s efforts around software, which AMD says is crucial to unlocking better performance and functionality of the coveted chips. Tesla is facing a new inquiry from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, as the agency examines reports of cars running red lights and driving the wrong way down lanes of opposing traffic. Tesla’s Full Self-Driving feature is in an estimated 2.8 million vehicles. |
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From 3,000 to 350,000 | The increase in signups per day for the app, founder Sridhar Vembu said last month | |
| 50% | President Donald Trump’s tariff on U.S. imports from India, which coincides with the country’s push for homegrown products |
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| The IRS released its annual inflation adjustments for the tax year 2026, and while you won’t need them to prepare your return for 2025, it’s important to keep the updated numbers in mind. The standard deduction will increase to $16,100 for individuals and married couples filing separately, while married couples filing jointly will see a deduction of $32,200. There are also seven tax rates: 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35% and 37% (as well as zero). |
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| GAMES | | QUIZ | | Facing pressure from GOP leaders, a major social media platform opened a “second chance” program for creators who were previously banned for spreading misinformation. Which platform is it? | | A. | X | | B. | YouTube | | C. | Facebook | | D. | Instagram |
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