ByteDance's divestment of TikTok's U.S. assets may be extended to one year. The delivery wait time has been significantly reduced, and Nvidia's stock price has entered correction territory. Users find the Apple VR headset to be uneye-friendly. Foxconn plans a rotating CEO system. Switzerland demanded that UBS must significantly raise its capital levels. BSH reports results. After the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill last month to require ByteDance to divest TikTok, the U.S. Senate is discussing extending the deadline for TikTok's divestiture, and lawmakers may extend the deadline to force ByteDance to divest TikTok's U.S. assets to one year. This would push back any possible TikTok ban until 2025, after the presidential election in November this year. This undoubtedly won a little respite for TikTok, which is struggling to survive in the cracks. The bill is largely unpopular with TikTok users, many of whom also happen to be young voters who could have significant influence in the 2024 U.S. election, and senators are well aware of this.
Nvidia, a popular chip stock, has entered correction territory. Nvidia closed at $853.54 on Tuesday. A close below $855.02 means that the stock has entered correction territory. Entering the correction zone is when the stock price retreats 10%-20% from the bull market high. Previously, Apple's stock price also entered correction territory. Tesla, the other tech stock in the "Big Seven", is in a bear market, that is, 20% below the bull market high. Four other companies are trading near their highs, including Alphabet, Amazon (Amazon.com), Meta Platforms and Microsoft (Microsoft).
A TSMC executive said that the waiting time for delivery of the Nvidia H100 has been significantly reduced in the past few months, from the initial 3-4 months to the current 2-3 months (8-12 weeks). Server OEMs also revealed that compared with the situation that it is almost impossible to buy Nvidia H100 in 2023, the current supply bottleneck is gradually easing. Six months ago, the H100 had an 11-month wait time, and most Nvidia customers would have to wait nearly a year to get their AI GPUs.
Arm has made a name for itself for minimizing smartphone power consumption and extending battery life. Now, the company's head says that in AI applications, there is also a need to improve energy efficiency. Rene Haas, Arm's chief executive, said that AI models such as OpenAI's ChatGPT "simply can't satisfy their thirst for electricity." "The more information they collect, the smarter they get, but the more information they collect in order to get smarter, the more electricity they need. "Without improving efficiency," AI data centers could consume as much as 20 to 25 percent of U.S. electricity by the end of the decade. Honestly, it's hard to sustain."
Some Apple Vision Pro users have found that the virtual reality (VR) headset is not very eye-friendly after all, with some experiencing dark circles, headaches, and neck pain. Several early users of Apple's mixed reality headset, the Apple Vision Pro, said that the inappropriate fit has been a "pain point", but they still love the new device. Apple has provided several guidelines for the use of the Apple Vision Pro. The company also warns that users should stop using the device at any point as soon as they start feeling sick.
Hon Hai Precision (Foxconn Technology Group) is planning to institutionalize a rotating CEO, with the aim of developing future leaders and implementing corporate governance. One option to consider would be to have four rotating CEOs for six months each. This is the first time that Hon Hai has delegated business decisions that are centralized in the hands of the chairman to four people. However, the details have not yet been finalized and are still uncertain. Although Terry Gou, the founder of Hon Hai Group, has faded out of Hon Hai, he still has some influence on the company, which is one of the variables to consider. Terry Gou stepped down as Hon Hai's chairman in 2019 and was replaced by Liu Yangwei as Hon Hai's new chairman.
Google Inc. (Google) announced on the 10th that it will invest $1 billion to lay submarine fiber optic cables between Japan and the United States. In addition to the new fiber optic cables connecting Japan with the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam, and between Japan and Hawaii, other fiber optic cables will be extended to expand communication lines between Japan and the United States. Google says the move will improve the reliability of digital communications between the United States and Japan, as well as with Pacific countries. NEC and KDDI will also assist in the construction of the optical cable.
Four directors of the Shari Redstone-controlled entertainment company are expected to leave the board soon as Paramount Global discusses a merger with Skydance Media. Former Spotify executive Dawn Ostroff, lawyer and former Sony Entertainment president Nicole Seligman, veteran investment banking executive Frederick Terrell and longtime Redstone lawyer Rob Klieger are all expected to leave the company's board in the coming weeks. At least one of the directors who is leaving the board has raised concerns about a potential deal with Skydance.
The BBC has subsequently restructured its largest overseas news agency after it came under regulatory scrutiny by Indian authorities after airing a controversial documentary about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. New Delhi called the documentary a "propaganda piece". The British public broadcaster will spin off its news business to form an independent production company that will operate independently of the BBC, but the BBC is its main client.
In a notice to employees, Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma praised the company's top leadership and ongoing restructuring efforts, a rare move by the billionaire since he stepped out of the spotlight in recent years. Jack Ma praised Alibaba's chairman, Joe Tsai, and CEO Wu Yongming for their leadership. Alibaba announced a restructuring in March last year, splitting the group into six independently operated companies. But then it abandoned some of its restructuring plans, including plans to list its logistics business Cainiao in March this year. The company has also shelved a plan to spin off its cloud computing business.
At Huawei's Hongmeng Ecosystem Spring Communication Conference on April 11, Yu Chengdong said that the new M7 has been on the market for seven months, with a cumulative number of more than 174,000 units, and the M9 has exceeded 70,000 units in three months. He also revealed that after experiencing the difficulties of factory relocation and chip shortage, Zhijie S7 will now start mass deliveries. Yu Chengdong also revealed that Huawei will unveil the new M5 model at the Beijing Auto Show on April 23.
Tesla is in talks with Reliance Industries to produce cars in India. Negotiations are in their initial stages and have been going on for a month. Tesla is likely to set up a site in Maharashtra, which borders the Arabian Sea, and now the company is looking for a location suitable for both domestic production and exports. Tesla has allocated $2 billion to its India program. Negotiations with Reliance are not exclusive. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has already expressed his desire to offer Tesla cars in India.
European aircraft maker Airbus disclosed delivery data showing that 142 aircraft were delivered in the first three months of this year, up more than 11% year-on-year. Despite this, the global aviation industry is currently facing a huge demand gap. At present, Airbus's "accelerated" delivery of aircraft is still difficult to make up for the market gap caused by Boeing's deep "quality control turmoil" and reduced production capacity. Boeing, which is in the midst of a "crisis of confidence" in the first quarter of this year, delivered only 83 aircraft, 60% of the same period in 2023. Some analysts said that Airbus had to face cost pressures while planning to expand production capacity.
UBS must significantly raise its capital levels to comply with new rules designed to prevent a repeat of Credit Suisse's near-collapse last year, Switzerland said. UBS and other banks should build a greater risk buffer on their stakes in large overseas subsidiaries, the Swiss Federal Council said, adding that the impact on UBS's capital would be significant. According to the Swiss Federal Council, UBS would already have to increase its capital by about 10% by 2030, even if its size remains the same, according to current rules.
Temasek plans to invest up to S$25 billion (US$18 billion) in Europe over the next five years. This large-scale investment demonstrates Temasek's long-term confidence in the European market and reflects the further expansion of its global strategy. As of March 2023, Temasek's exposure to Europe was €32 billion (US$34 billion), with SGD 328 billion under management, with EMEA accounting for 12% of its total assets.
The CEO of German energy company RWE has warned that German industry is unlikely to return to pre-war levels in Ukraine, as rising prices for imported liquefied natural gas have put Europe's largest economy at a "disadvantage". Markus Krebber, CEO of RWE, said: "Gas prices on the European continent, and especially in Germany, are structurally high at the moment, as we are ultimately dependent on LNG imports. German industry was at a disadvantage. ”
German chemical giant BASF AG (BASF) said it was considering laying off all employees at its battery materials plant in Finland. The plant has been in a state of shutdown for years due to red tape and opposition from environmental groups. The company said on Thursday that it would begin talks about layoffs next week. Europe's industrial giants have long complained that they are overwhelmed by red tape and rising energy costs when competing with rivals and generous subsidies under the US Inflation Reduction Act. Chemical companies such as BASF and LANXESS, which have benefited from cheap Russian gas for decades, are now cutting costs and production cuts to preserve profits.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals said Wednesday that it would buy biotech company Alpine Immune for about $4.9 billion in cash for the latter's drugs to treat kidney autoimmune diseases.
As sales of coronavirus vaccines fell, Moderna, a U.S. biotechnology company, suspended plans to build a vaccine factory in Kenya. It is understood that previously, Moderna reached an agreement with the Kenyan government to invest about 200 million US dollars to build a factory with an annual output of 500 million doses of vaccines. However, in the face of declining sales of Covid vaccines, Moderna decided to suspend the purchase of land parcels in Kenya's Tatu City Economic Zone. The lack of new orders, as well as the cancellation of previous orders, has resulted in the company incurring losses and write-downs of more than $1 billion since 2022.
Nescafe officially announced a new brand image, integrating all sub-brands into the parent brand "Nescafe", opening a new chapter in the Chinese market with a unified image. The upgraded "Nescafe" brand name is larger and more eye-catching, supplemented by the iconic Nescafe symbol to enhance the brand's recognition in the Chinese consumer market. From March to June this year, Nescafe successively rebranded the packaging of its entire family of products, and launched it with a more concise and youthful image.
According to the latest data, in the first quarter of this year, L'Oreal, Bottega Veneta, Gucci, Apple, Loewe, Starbucks and other internationally renowned brands came to Shanghai for the first time, debut, exhibition and store, and set up 450 new first stores of various types, with a record high in scale and quality. At present, Shanghai ranks second in the world in terms of global retailer concentration, with a coverage rate of 98% of first-tier international brands, and more than 200 new products are released in Shanghai fashion every Monday and two seasons, ranking first in the country in terms of the number of time-honored Chinese brands. From May 2018 to December 2023, more than 4,500 international and domestic brands held their first launch activities in Shanghai, introducing 5,840 first stores (2.8 stores per day), and more than 80 first stores above the Asian level.
Financial Reporting Information
TSMC said that the company's revenue growth in the first quarter of 2024 exceeded any quarter since 2022, on the back of a surge in demand for microchips driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. TSMC's first-quarter revenue increased 16.5% year-on-year to NT$592.64 billion (about US$18.54 billion). TSMC achieved revenue of NT$195.21 billion in March this year, an increase of 34.3% compared to March 2023 and the largest monthly increase since November 2022.
BSH reported revenues of €14.8 billion in fiscal 2023, down 7 percent compared to the previous year and almost at the same level as the previous year after adjusting for currency effects. BSH revenue declined by 11.3 percent in North America (USA/Canada), 10.5 percent in Greater China and 6.3 percent in Europe. In the Emerging Markets Area, which includes Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, revenue decreased slightly by 2.2%.
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