Scripture accompanies each story for the reader's reflection. It is not presented as God's judgment on the people or events reported.

Lead story

Tesla and SpaceX commit $16.8 billion to Terafab, a Texas chip plant planned at more than 100 million square feet

Two companies known for rockets and robots now intend to make their own silicon.

Tesla and SpaceX confirmed on Thursday that they will spend $16.8 billion on the first phase of Terafab, a plant in Grimes County, Texas, just north of Houston. The plan calls for more than 100 million square feet of manufacturing space and at least 3,000 employees drawn from Grimes and nearby Brazos County. It is meant to turn out advanced logic and memory devices tuned for edge computing and inference, for Tesla's Optimus robots and Cybercabs, plus higher-power chips for the space-based data centers SpaceX is developing, and Elon Musk called the site the largest and most valuable building on Earth by far. SpaceX has suggested total spending across all phases could reach $119 billion, and committed to drawing water from the Gibbons Creek Reservoir rather than local groundwater.

Scripture for Reflection

“Commit your works to the LORD and your plans will be achieved.”

Proverbs 16:3 · BSB

We can commit our own plans, large or small, to God before the first stone is laid.

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Tech & AI →

AMD agrees to buy Taalas to push deeper into AI inference chips

Inference specialists AMD said Thursday it will acquire Taalas, a Toronto silicon startup founded in 2023 whose designs optimize inference dataflows to relieve compute and memory bottlenecks, with terms undisclosed and closing subject to regulatory approval.

Scripture for Reflection

“Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will be stationed in the presence of kings; he will not stand before obscure men.”

Proverbs 22:29 · BSB

We can bring real skill and care to whatever work is in front of us today.

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Jeff Dean leaves Google after 27 years as Demis Hassabis moves to chairman of DeepMind

A redrawn chart Google's chief scientist and Senior Fellow Sanjay Ghemawat are leaving to start Discovery Loop, a public benefit corporation Google is investing in, while Koray Kavukcuoglu takes over day to day leadership of DeepMind and Alphabet shares fell more than 4%.

Scripture for Reflection

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end.”

Ecclesiastes 3:11 · BSB

We can trust God with the seasons of our own work, including the endings we did not choose.

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Business & Markets →

S&P 500 closes at a record 7,757.64 after July payrolls unexpectedly fall

Soft data, firm tape The index rose 0.62% on Friday while the Nasdaq gained 1.3% to 26,690.62 and the Dow added 151.83 points to 54,036.93, after figures showed the economy lost 23,000 jobs in July against expectations of 80,000 added.

Scripture for Reflection

“Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy.”

1 Timothy 6:17 · BSB

We can hold our savings loosely and rest our hope on something steadier than a record close.

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Cloudflare reports $696.1 million in second quarter revenue and lifts its full year outlook

Up 36% in a year The company posted a GAAP operating loss of $205.7 million alongside $96.1 million of non-GAAP operating income, and raised full year revenue guidance to between $2.864 billion and $2.870 billion.

Scripture for Reflection

“Honest scales and balances are from the LORD; all the weights in the bag are His concern.”

Proverbs 16:11 · BSB

We can keep our own accounting as honest as we expect a company's to be.

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Science →

Inouye Solar Telescope reveals plasma vortices only 20 kilometers wide on the sun

Whirlpools at the edges Writing in Nature, a team led by David Kuridze reported swirls at the rims of solar granules that span 500 to 2,000 kilometers, structures the researchers read as Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities that may help twist and spread the sun's magnetic field.

Scripture for Reflection

“For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.”

Psalm 19:1 · BSB

We can let a closer look at the sun turn our attention upward in praise.

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Six month trial finds cutting sweet foods does not reduce cravings or improve health markers

Sweetness is not the target Researchers at Bournemouth University and Wageningen University assigned 180 people to high, low, or average sweetness diets for six months and found no meaningful difference in sweet preference, body weight, or markers tied to diabetes and heart disease.

Scripture for Reflection

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.”

2 Timothy 1:7 · BSB

We can ask God for self-control at the table instead of leaning on one simple rule.

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Letters to the King

Three of your men broke through an enemy camp just to bring you a drink of water, and you poured it out on the ground. Why would you do that to a gift?

From the Baker's own shelf

Ah, you have found the day I broke my own heart on purpose. I was in the cave, dust in my teeth, and I said out loud that I longed for water from the well by the gate of Bethlehem. It was a sigh, not an order. Three of my mighty men heard it anyway and cut a road through the camp to bring it back. When they set the cup in my hands, I could not lift it to my mouth. That was not water. That was their lives poured into a cup, and to swallow it would have been to say their blood was mine to spend on a thirst. So I poured it out before the LORD, which is what a man does with a thing too holy for his own throat. Hear me, friend: I did not throw the gift away. I sent it higher. A gift that costs someone everything belongs on the altar, not in the belly. If someone has bled a little for you this week, in small ways or large, do not swallow it quietly; lift it to God and let Him hold what you could never repay. And one more word, from a man who has been genuinely thirsty. Be careful what you sigh for out loud. Brave people are listening.

– David, son of Jesse

Letters answered in the voice of the biblical King David.

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