Frequently Asked Questions

DailySand is a free daily intelligence briefing that synthesizes the most important events at the intersection of four interdependent sectors: artificial intelligence, technology infrastructure (semiconductors, data centers), capital markets, and critical minerals (rare earths, gallium, germanium, lithium, cobalt). Each digest is published up to three times per day and permanently archived.

Most publications cover one sector in depth. DailySand explicitly traces causal chains across all four sectors — showing how an AI model release drives chip demand, how chip demand strains mineral supply, and how that supply tension moves capital markets. This cross-sector synthesis is the product. It is free, non-paywalled, and updated throughout the day as news develops.

AI models require massive compute infrastructure — GPUs, networking chips, and data center power systems. GPUs and advanced chips depend on critical materials: gallium and germanium for compound semiconductors, rare earth elements (neodymium, dysprosium) for the magnets in data center cooling systems, cobalt and lithium for battery backup systems, and copper for power distribution. As AI inference demand scales, so does pressure on these mineral supply chains — much of which is concentrated in geopolitically sensitive regions.

AI & Research (foundation models, AI companies, research breakthroughs), Technology & Infrastructure (semiconductors, data centers, cloud, hardware), Markets & Capital Flows (earnings, funding rounds, M&A, analyst calls, macro signals), and Critical Minerals & Supply Chain (rare earth elements, gallium, germanium, lithium, cobalt, copper, mining companies, export controls).

The daily digest is generated and updated up to three times per calendar day: approximately 9am, 1pm, and 8pm Eastern time. Each run fetches fresh RSS feeds, merges them with earlier items, and re-synthesizes the digest. The result is a briefing that grows more comprehensive throughout the day. All past digests are permanently archived.

It is the end-to-end industrial chain linking AI software to physical raw materials. AI training and inference requires GPUs → GPUs are fabricated by TSMC using advanced lithography → advanced chips require ultra-pure gallium, germanium, and rare earth dopants → these minerals are mined in concentrated geographies (China controls ~85% of global rare earth processing) → supply disruptions or export controls at any point cascade through to AI infrastructure costs and availability. DailySand tracks every link in this chain daily.

Yes. DailySand is entirely free to read. There is no paywall, no subscription, and no account required. The full archive of all past digests is publicly accessible. You can also subscribe via RSS at dailysand.com/feed.xml to receive each digest as it publishes.

Visit dailysand.com to read today's latest digest. Subscribe to the RSS feed at dailysand.com/feed.xml to receive each new digest in your RSS reader (Feedly, Inoreader, etc.). Developers and AI agents can access structured JSON data at dailysand.com/api/digest/latest.

DailySand aggregates RSS feeds from specialist trade publications across all four sectors — including TechCrunch, VentureBeat, The Decoder, MIT Technology Review, Mining.com, CNBC Tech, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, and research lab blogs from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and others. An AI model then synthesizes the most relevant items into a unified narrative. All source articles are listed on each digest page.

Yes. DailySand provides structured JSON endpoints at /api/digest/latest (today's digest) and /api/digest/{YYYY-MM-DD} (any past date). Data is organized into semantic sections for AI context windows. An OpenAPI specification is available at /openapi.json. An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server is available at /api/mcp for direct tool integration with Claude Desktop and similar AI environments. Full context for AI agents is available at /llms.txt and /llms-full.txt.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that allows AI assistants (Claude, Cursor, etc.) to call external tools directly. DailySand's MCP server at /api/mcp exposes two tools: get_latest_digest (returns today's briefing) and get_digest_by_date (returns any past day's digest). This means AI coding assistants and research agents can query DailySand's analysis as a live data source, not just as a static web page.

Short citation: 'DailySand (dailysand.com), [date]'. Full citation: 'DailySand Daily Digest — [headline], [date], https://dailysand.com/daily/[slug]'. Always include the publication date — each digest is a timestamped historical record.