Slashdot: Facebook's David Marcus, Creator of Embattled Diem Project, To Leave Company

Facebook's David Marcus, Creator of Embattled Diem Project, To Leave Company
Published on November 30, 2021 at 11:23PM
David Marcus, one of the top executives at Meta Platforms and the co-creator of the yet-to-be-launched Diem digital currency, is leaving the company after seven years to pursue other projects. From a report: Marcus, who joined the Facebook parent company in 2014 from PayPal Holdings, ran the Messenger service for years before moving over to form the company's blockchain division in 2018. He spent the last few years building Novi, the company's digital wallet that launched in October, and co-founded Diem, a digital currency formerly known as Libra that was intended as a way for people to send money cross-border. Getting Diem off the ground has proven to be a struggle for Meta and Marcus. Since the project was unveiled in 2019 -- with great fanfare and dozens of partners -- the currency's debut has been delayed and its original ambitions have been scaled back. Diem faced pushback from lawmakers and regulators when it was announced, and while Meta is still a partner on the effort, Diem is now run independently. Marcus's departure adds more uncertainty to Meta's digital payment push, but the longtime entrepreneur and angel investor says he has an itch to create something outside the company.

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Slashdot: US Plans $825 Million Investment For New York Semiconductor R&D Facility

US Plans $825 Million Investment For New York Semiconductor R&D Facility Published on November 02, 2024 at 03:00AM The Biden administration is investing $825 million in a new semiconductor research and development facility in Albany, New York. Reuters reports: The New York facility will be expected to drive innovation in EUV technology, a complex process necessary to make semiconductors, the U.S. Department of Commerce and Natcast, operator of the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NTSC) said. The launch of the facility "represents a key milestone in ensuring the United States remains a global leader in innovation and semiconductor research and development," Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said. From the U.S. Department of Commerce press release: EUV Lithography is essential for manufacturing smaller, faster, and more efficient microchips. As the semiconductor industry pushes the limits of Moore's Law, EUV lithography has emerged as a critical technology to ...

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Slashdot: Texas A&M University Tops Nation in Engineering Research Expenditures

Texas A&M University Tops Nation in Engineering Research Expenditures Published on June 19, 2024 at 12:50AM An anonymous reader shares a report: Texas A&M University held the largest engineering research portfolio of any academic institution in the country last year, nearing half a billion dollars and surpassing Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the top spot, according to U.S. News & World Report. The state flagship's College of Engineering recorded $444.7 million in research expenditures in the 2023 fiscal year, university officials said. A mix of federal, state and private grants funds those efforts, so more expenditures means more partnerships and a larger engineering footprint than ever, Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp said. "An awful lot of people in Washington, a lot of people in Austin, a lot of people in the private sector now rely on Texas A&M to do their engineering research," Sharp said. "Of all the places in...

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