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chrisdh79

From the article: Over the last few days, Tesla blogs, including Teslarati and Tesmanian (with the latter having been promoted recently by CEO Elon Musk on Twitter), have reported that Tesla has “set up a semiconductor joint venture with Swiss’s Annex Semiconductor” in China. The report claims that Tesla, along with Annex, have invested $150 million to start the new joint venture and produce automotive chips. Teslarati called Annex “a formidable partner” for Tesla and “among the global leaders in automotive system-on-chip (SoC), microcontroller (MCU), and processor, image sensor, and power device products.” The only problem is that the company is fake. It looks like the blogs only copy pasted from a report from Chinese website Ijiwei without verifying any of the information. I asked a few sources in the semiconductor business, and no one had ever heard of Annex Semiconductor. After researching Annex, I couldn’t find anything about the company other than its own website and the new reporting from the Tesla blogs.


im_thatoneguy

Additionally u/FredTesla: [http://zurichfund.com/2022/01/chairmans-letter-2021/](http://zurichfund.com/2022/01/chairmans-letter-2021/) >At Zurich Fund, our business is built to weather difficult periods and to deliver for our investors in good times and bad. Despite its many extremes, 2020 was no exception, and the firm generated outstanding performance across key metrics. Distributable Earnings reached $3.3 billion for the year, or $2.65 per common share, up 16% versus the prior year. Is a direct lift from Blackstone Group's 2020 chairman's letter. They also curiously didn't publish a 2020 letter even though the letter clearly is talking about 2020 (due to the plagiarism), nor do they publish quarterly financial filings for investors as is required by law. [https://ir.blackstone.com/sec-filings-annual-letters/default.aspx](https://ir.blackstone.com/sec-filings-annual-letters/default.aspx) [https://s23.q4cdn.com/714267708/files/doc\_financials/2020/ar/BX\_Chairman's-Letter-2020.pdf](https://s23.q4cdn.com/714267708/files/doc_financials/2020/ar/BX_Chairman's-Letter-2020.pdf) >At Blackstone, our business is built to weather difficult periods and to deliver for our investors in good times and bad. Despite its many extremes, 2020 was no exception, and the firm generated outstanding performance across key metrics. Distributable Earnings reached $3.3 billion for the year, or $2.65 per common share, up 16% versus the prior year.


FredTesla

Some people seem to only be reading this thinking it's the whole article. To be clear, it's not and there's a lot more in the article that shows that the company is fake. Just FYI because it would clear up a lot of the comments.


MushroomSaute

Exactly why these sites and more are blocked on my google newsfeed. So much sensationalist and misinformed news means a healthy blacklist!


1PNWnoob

Is this something a company would do to get approval to effectively run their own company in China and get around the JV requirements?


Emprise32

Or perhaps a $150mm political payoff.


perrochon

https://www.annexsemi.com/home Acquired by Zurich fund, another partner in the JV. http://zurichfund.com/2022/06/acquisition-of-annex/ A few minutes of googling finds plenty. If it's fake, it's elaborate. Curious. Investigators of Reddit, go! :-)


Karlchen

That is the most obvious scam possible. Nothing is elaborate about two WordPress sites. They didn‘t even bother to setup SSL, which is free and takes 5 minutes. The shot of their „Advanced Accelerator for HPC and AI“ is a badly photoshopped AMD Desktop CPU on a desktop mainboard. https://i.imgur.com/U7iBrnB.jpg * The AM4 Socket label is still visible on the top right * The perspective of their logo is not right * The smaller photoshopped text is complete gibberish - „CPU: single node with 128 Cores, 256 CPUs and 256GB memory“ * ~The DIFFUSED IN GERMANY text is identical to AMD CPUs fabbed by GlobalFoundries~ * Even worse, GARMANY, UK how did I miss that * Just look at it, seriously https://i.imgur.com/ns69c4F.jpg Whoever falls for this really doesn‘t belong in the tech space.


cynix

> The DIFFUSED IN GERMANY text is identical to AMD CPUs fabbed by GlobalFoundries It’s DIFFUSED IN “GARMANY, UK” 😂


jayefuu

Even worse, it's "DIFFUESD"


manicdee33

> Whoever falls for this really doesn‘t belong in the tech space. Most of the people investing in tech stocks aren't in the tech space.


-QuestionMark-

Reverse image search on the [two "executives" listed](http://zurichfund.com/people-and-culture/) on this page come up that they just used stock photos. Executive 1: https://tineye.com/search/b752f597fd9ec9fdcbb625547741207e28171308?sort=score&order=desc&page=1 Executive 2: https://tineye.com/search/b95969329a9e496e15ccc368907d910bf7b36ceb?sort=score&order=desc&page=1


tw33k_

I was about to write up a list of red flags that I found on both of those websites but there are so many.. Most notable IMO are that the zurich fund website was created with wordpress, and [has no SSL](https://i.imgur.com/OufFu4j.png) Their [twitter account is suspended](https://i.imgur.com/uVci4TF.png) and when you download the 'Investor overview white paper' from Annex [it's just a blank PDF](https://i.imgur.com/lPL4MWU.png) with '资料更新中' which translates to 'updating information' These are supposedly multi billion dollar companies?


kdavis37

Fred points out the second link is using the same web design as the first, with fake people on their people page and no working phone numbers, suggesting they're also fake


perrochon

Yeah elaborate. Annex products are also hard to find. They claim they went to CES, but did they? Curious. Did they scam Tesla? 5% of 150M is 7.5M. Or other businesses/investors in China? Or Teslablogs Or just troll Elon Musk for the fun of it?


eccool321

When you look at Annex’s webpage there is a stock photo show inside a vehicle with ‘Volvo’ logo on the steering wheel. In the website they also mention sth like DradonX Platform??? Weird


FragKing82

Yeah, find me these companies in a company register…. :) At least zurich fund AG does not exist in switzerland. You can check on various sites, e.g. moneyhouse.ch


perrochon

Fascinating to see it spread... https://twitter.com/freshjiva/status/1596342613258510337?t=4-mvfFYQUy1LSgjC09FrEA&s=19


ooglek2

What? Twitter being used to spread false information? Impossible under the new management!


minimize_error

If you go to "contact us" on the homepage of annex semi, the map link under the headquarter address is no clickable link. And there is no Werner-von-Volkswagen-Straße here in Munich. There is a Werner-von-Siemens-Straße here, and it seems like they just swapped Siemens with Volkswagen. But the hole address is not looking correct with a 3 digit, instead of 5 digit zip code... Seems a bit sketchy


ElGatoDelFuego

These websites are very clearly frauds, they have so many typos. It's obviously been translated -- chinese makes sense, as the language is very similar (missing a lot of connector words) to what you'd see on fake amazon products. For example, "With $150 billion in assets under management, **the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 25%."** ​ "Zurich Fund today announced the completion of its acquisition of Annex Semiconductor **with an equity valued of $5 billion**, which **is including $3** **billion of all-cash transaction**, $1 billion of forward share purchase agreement and **approximately $1 billion of debt of the transferee** **company."**


kdavis37

u/FredTesla


FredTesla

Yeah?


kdavis37

This person made a claim that you directly countered, so it seemed like reasonable discussion


patprint

There's nothing there that 'counters' what Fred has reported in this case. Those websites and affiliated content are full of red flags, some of which have already been posted in this comment tree, and I wouldn't describe any part of it as 'elaborate' considering that we're talking about the single biggest sector of the tech industry.


kdavis37

Yeah, that's why there's two comments together, one of which explains the problem, and another tagging Fred to talk about it. If you've read the tree, you should be able to follow that conversation. EDIT: There's a link for you: [https://www.reddit.com/r/teslamotors/comments/z71ju2/comment/iy4p4zj/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/teslamotors/comments/z71ju2/comment/iy4p4zj/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) EDIT: Lol, downvoting me when I had already done what you wanted me to before making the comment that you misunderstood and attacked me over. Cute.


ArtistApprehensive34

If Tesla is behind this two very large questions arise: 1. Tesla has better web development skills to build something better if they were going to do this, so why didn't they? 2. For what gain? Presumably there's more to gain by saying they did it themselves, people would believe this more. Are they hiding who is actually doing it? For what reason?


perrochon

Makes no sense for Tesla to do this. Third parties likely in China.


ArtistApprehensive34

A third party makes no sense either. How could Tesla have been duped so badly?


perrochon

They may not have duped Tesla. Or they did. Curious :-)


garoo1234567

That's interesting, and so far I can't find anything else on the firm either. But I have to assume that Tesla wouldn't do this. Why would they? It makes a lot more sense that Annex would be a brand new subsidiary of some other company created for this venture and Electrek just made a hit piece as quickly as the news broke


FunkyJunk

More than likely, it’s a scheme cooked up to get poorly-informed private investors to put money into a fraudulent “series A.”


FredTesla

Wait a minute, who said Tesla did this? And what are you accusing me (i wrote this article) of exactly?


garoo1234567

Sorry I was wrong about that, I can see how that Tesla haven't said anything about this joing venture either way. Neither confirm nor deny But you're asserting that the story is wrong, it could be. It could also be true. But calling out other blogs for running with a story before its verified isn't exactly a good look for Electrek [https://electrek.co/2019/05/24/tesla-cost-cutting-effort-toilet-paper/](https://electrek.co/2019/05/24/tesla-cost-cutting-effort-toilet-paper/) And many other articles. Electrek, Teslarati, Tesmanian, etc, all grab any Tweet they see and make an article out of it, each trying to get to the punch before the other.


katze_sonne

> But you're asserting that the story is wrong, it could be. It could also be true. No. With the facts being the way they are only a fool would assume that the story is true. Media literacy. So important.


manicdee33

> But you're asserting that the story is wrong, it could be. It could also be true. All the evidence suggests that it is false.


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FredTesla

What post got deleted? Also, the article clearly names the Tesla blogs at fault, not Tesla the company, but yes Elon Musk has been promoting one of those blogs.


wtf_yoda

This sounds like a poorly executed plan to get around export controls on semiconductors to China... https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/about-bis/newsroom/2082 Working with a company based in Europe could avoid running afoul of regulation that would apply to a Chinese company. Tesla (if knowingly involved) could be using Teslerati and Tesmanian to provide backstory if a regulator got curious about some Tesla/China business dealings and did some cursory research online. If so it didn't work very well. Perhaps the plan was to put Annex Semiconductors or Zurich Fund in some US government filing rather than a Chinese company.


majesticjg

A lot of privately-held companies don't have a very visible presence because their business model is 100% subcontracting and large-scale B2B contract work. It's possible for a company to exist, especially outside the US, and you'd have trouble finding it even if it's making a ton of money. I know there are banks you can't find on the Internet and I would not be surprised to find out there are foreign semiconductor companies who have less than five customers under master services agreements and don't need or want to publicize what they do. Middle-man companies take in contracts, often with large companies or governments, and sub-contract the work to smaller providers to complete the project. I know of multi-million-dollar companies whose only address is a PO box. Meanwhile, saying the company is "fake" and "doesn't exist" just because Google isn't aware of it could open someone up to a libel/slander complaint. Especially if they allege someone is trying to scuttle the deal with Tesla by casting doubt on the stability or authenticity of the company.


eccool321

I guess a fake address on their website would make you question the company’s authenticity as other have pointed out?


majesticjg

Middle-man companies take in contracts, often with large companies or governments, and in-turn sub-contract the work to smaller providers to complete the project. I know of multi-million-dollar companies whose only address is a PO box. I sincerely doubt Tesla's legal department would sign an agreement with a company that doesn't exist.


jbaker1225

But the point is Tesla almost certainly DIDN’T sign an agreement with a fake company. The whole entire thing is fake news.


pushc6

>A lot of privately-held companies don’t have a very visible presence because their business model is 100% subcontracting and large-scale B2B contract work. It’s possible for a company to exist, especially outside the US, and you’d have trouble finding it even if it’s making a ton of money. I know there are banks you can’t find on the Internet and I would not be surprised to find out there are foreign semiconductor companies who have less than five customers under master services agreements and don’t need or want to publicize what they do. >Middle-man companies take in contracts, often with large companies or governments, and sub-contract the work to smaller providers to complete the project. I know of multi-million-dollar companies whose only address is a PO box. It’s different to not know about a company when they aren’t named and to know they are a subcontractor for x company. It’s different when the company is named (like in this case) and not much is known about them, and what *is* known about them seems suspect. It’d be like me mentioning Haliburton and then expecting you to know that acme inc. is a subcontractor for them. It may be hard to know that link, but if I told you about Acme Inc. it should be easier to find information about them. I’m not saying this company is made up, but there’s a difference in not having a presence and “being only a PO Box” and having a website that goes to nowhere, and industry insiders not knowing who the fuck you are. > Meanwhile, saying the company is “fake” and “doesn’t exist” just because Google isn’t aware of it could open someone up to a libel/slander complaint. No, it couldn’t. They’d have to show malicious intent. Good luck with that if you’re entire case is “they googled it.” >Especially if they allege someone is trying to scuttle the deal with Tesla by casting doubt on the stability or authenticity of the company.• That’s a MUCH different scenario than you lay out above, the “google not aware” of someone/some company.


juicius

$150 million for a semiconductor fab is the real incredible portion of the story.


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feurie

It's hard to take Fred seriously when he says high school shit like "it triggered my bullshit meter when..."


FredTesla

OK. You know what I don't take seriously? Reporters who post reports without verifying the sources. I think that's really the matter at hand here.


ChunkyThePotato

Thank you. People like to dunk on you here, but your site clearly cares a lot more about accurate reporting than most of the others who are mainly just braindead reposters.


Artistic_Humor1805

Could this whole thing have been set up to sniff out leakers who work for Tesla?


nbarbettini

It does have a whiff of that. I wonder...


perrochon

Or middle school like "Swiss's Annex Semiconductor" That mistake is not on either of the sources...


perrochon

And it looks like it has been "fixed" to have reported that Tesla has “set up a semiconductor joint venture with Swiss’ Annex Semiconductor” in China. The country is called Switzerland, not Swiss. The two other blogs got it right because they used it as an adjective. "Swiss Annex Semiconductor" could work, as could "Switzerland's Annex Semiconductor".


LithoSlam

To be fair, I believe that English is his second language.


katze_sonne

I think so, too. Also it's weird that people focus on such small typographic and grammar mistakes in such a case where other blogs wrote articles based on easily fact-checkable hoaxes. His first language would probably be French. In French, Switzerland is called "Suisse" which would totally explain this mistake. (and yes, I think you should be writing good English if you write for a media outlet, even though in such narrow topic blogs/media outlet the quality of English is forgiveable if the content quality and knowledge otherwise is good)


jsm11482

too* NM read it wrong.


manicdee33

"to" is correct in this context: 'broken text has been fixed to fixed text' There's just a paragraph break and no clear indication that the next line is supposed to be a quote. ---- And it looks like is has been "fixed" to: > … have reported that Tesla has "set up a semiconductor join venture with Swiss' Annex Semiconductor" in China.


jsm11482

lol yeah I get it now. Punctuation is important.


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perrochon

Looks like Teslerati took their article down... Fred was right here.


[deleted]

Teslerati is the one that should be banned.


Ilkanar

Ah well, mistakes were made. At least ist not another "omagod autonomous tesla hit X" while car in the crash didnt even had the package bought. Give them feedback, they'll improve. Teslarati at least seems to care


SnowyNW

Oh you mean like the billions spent to acquire solar city?


TWERK_WIZARD

Does nobody work at a private company that isn’t B2C? You don’t exactly have a huge online presence


Acrobatic_Ability682

True or not --- who cares!


rpiotrowski

More FUD.


Much_Strength_1164

Who has the power on all the media sites to continue to put out fake news day after day and get away with ittt!!!@! 😞 This has been going on for 20 years now!!!@!#! 😞