阅读清单：2026年7月4日Reading List 07/04/26

Welcome to the reading list, a weekly roundup of news and links related to buildings, infrastructure and industrial technology. This week we look at households without homeowners insurance, crackdowns on AI chip smuggling, Japan’s two electrical frequencies, Meta’s AI compute business, and more. Roughly 2/3rds of the reading list is paywalled, so for full access become a paid subscriber!

Someone making the (somewhat dubious) point that fixed-rate mortgages have many similar impacts as rent control. The biggest difference, obviously, is that fixed-rate mortgages don’t disincentivize creating new housing supply the way that rent control does, but it’s interesting to see the similarities. “A homeowner with a 3 percent mortgage is, in practice, protected from the market in much the same way as a tenant in a rent-stabilized apartment. Both receive a valuable incumbent benefit. Both face a large penalty for moving. Both may remain in housing that no longer fits their needs because leaving would mean surrendering that benefit. And both systems impose costs on outsiders: prospective tenants in one case, prospective buyers in the other.” [Substack]

Apparently one in seven homeowners in the US don’t have homeowners insurance? [Insurance Dimes]

It looks like we’re starting to see more crackdowns on smuggling AI chips into China from Taiwan. “Taiwan government agencies raided the offices of Super Micro Computer and several of its local affiliates, deepening an investigation into the alleged smuggling of Nvidia chips into China using the company’s servers.” [Japan Times]

Ford rehired a few hundred quality inspectors that it had tried to replace with AI. [BBC]

Sony will stop making physical discs for playstation games in 2028. [IGN]

The US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) denied Polestar, a brand spinoff of Volvo which is owned by Chinese company Geely, an authorization to sell cars in the US starting in 2027. Volvo, which is also owned by Geely, isn’t yet affected for some reason. “Polestar clearly didn’t see this situation coming. The automaker announced a reboot plan in February, which would’ve seen a slew of new product coming to the U.S. as the company grew the lineup. Global production of the Polestar 3 was moved from Chengdu, China, to Volvo’s Ridgeville, South Carolina, plant specifically to avoid the Trump Administration’s tariffs. The Polestar 3 currently rolls off the South Carolina assembly line alongside its platform mate, the Volvo EX90.” [The Drive]

China is building a factory to produce, among other things, personalized cancer vaccines. “The facility will house cell therapy research laboratories together with a production line of the company’s flagship product, LK101, a personalised cancer vaccine that analyses each patient’s tumour DNA to pinpoint the specific genetic mutations driving the disease. With AI, the company said the procedure could be completed in a day.” [SCMP]

Car companies are apparently switching to aluminum wiring due to the high costs of copper. [Reuters]

韩国计划投资 1 万亿美元用于存储芯片晶圆厂和人形机器人。据路透社报道，“在这些超大型项目中，耗资最大的一项是 Samsung 和 SK Hynix 承诺斥资 5850 亿美元在韩国西南部各省建设新的芯片制造厂，同时推动首尔首都圈的半导体晶圆厂建设。政府的目标是在五年内将韩国动态随机存取存储器（DRAM）的产量翻一番。”[Ars Technica]

与此同时，《华尔街日报》报道了 Micron 一座存储芯片晶圆厂延期的事件，该厂原定于两年前动工，但却因蝙蝠等因素受阻。“舒默先生曾将 Micron 的选址描述为‘空旷的田野’，但实际上那里包含数百英亩的湿地和林地，是濒危蝙蝠的栖息繁衍地。这使得许可证审批和建设过程变得更加复杂。树木只能在蝙蝠非筑巢期——即 11 月至次年 3 月——进行砍伐。为了获得联邦和州政府的许可，Micron 承诺出资 100 万美元用于保护蝙蝠，并安装 10 个‘蝙蝠屋’。作为换取 60 亿美元联邦巨额资助的条件，该制造商还同意为员工提供现场托育服务，并与工会签订项目劳工协议。”[WSJ]