March 24, 2021 Biz in 60

Pfizer begins human trials of oral COVID-19 drug Pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer, has begun early-stage US trials on a coronavirus oral anti-viral drug. The pill is designed to be taken early in an infection to prevent the virus from replicating in cells before patients get very sick. The drugmaker says there haven't been any unexpected problems in the study so far, and that it could generate results within weeks. Intel to invest $20B to build two semiconductor plants in US US chipmaker, Intel, says it will spend 20 billion dollars to build two semiconductor plants in Arizona in a bid to ramp up production. The announcement comes amid a global chip shortage that's slowed manufacturing activity in the auto industry. Intel's stock jumped as much as 7 percent after its announcement, while shares in Asian rivals, TSMC and Samsung, edged lower. Tesla starts accepting bitcoin as payment for its cars Tesla has started accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment for its electric cars. The option to pay using the cryptocurrency has been offered on the company's US website and will be available in other countries later this year. In a tweet, CEO Elon Musk also said that any bitcoin paid to Tesla will be retained as Bitcoin and not converted to a fiat currency.