jon heffernan, thank you. out of time. jon heffernan, thank ou. . ~' out of time., it has been rumoured for months, but facebook�*s parent company meta has confirmed its new app to rival twitter will launch on thursday. it's called threads and will be linked to instagram, which is also owned by meta. they describe it as a "text based conversation app where communities come together" to discuss the issues of the day. this is the latest app to try to rival twitter since elon musk bought it for $44 billion in october last year. the launch comes as elon musk and mark zuckerberg continue their half—joking, half—serious back—and—forth about fighting each other in a cage match. let's speak to drew benvie. he's a social media specialist and ceo of social media consultancy battenhall. thanks so much for coming on the programme. thanks so much for coming on the programme-— thanks so much for coming on the programme. thanks for having me. threads, programme. thanks for having me. threads. is — programme. thanks for having me. threads, is this _ programme. thanks for having me

announcement comes just days before the us treasury secretary janet yellen arrives in beijing jon heffernanessor of semiconductor materials and devices at the university of sheffield and director of the national epitaxy facility, tells us more. it's part of a global battle to control the semiconductor industry, which has been undertaken by many countries. the 21st century is going to be a technological century and it is completely underpinned by semiconductors. you've got semiconductors everywhere, from lighting to computer chips, yourfridge to your car. and the pace of innovation is accelerating and it is going to be more and more important. so each country around the world is actually considering very carefully what its strategy in this technological area is and what its economic strategy is, its security strategy is. and so this is just the latest example, particularly between china and the us, but there are other countries involved. some countries control different aspects of the semiconductor industry. some control the natural resources, the minerals and the metals that are used in the