Apple has slashed orders for the Vision Pro. The U.S. Senate passed a bill to force the divestment of TikTok's U.S. business. Huawei's intelligent vehicle solution launched a new brand, Qiankun. The FTC prohibits employers from using non-compete contracts to prevent job hopping. Great Wall Motor, Luxshare Precision, Goertek, JCET, UMC, Eni, Kering, Texas Instruments, Visa, Boeing, and Facebook announced their results. Kuo expects Apple to cut orders for the Vision Pro to 400,000 to 450,000 units this year, well below the consensus market estimate of 700,000 to 800,000 units. Although Apple's brand-new product had good sales in the U.S. market in the early days and was considered a success, more than two months after its launch, the market's enthusiasm for the Vision Pro seems to have faded significantly. Apple's slash ahead of bringing the brand-new product to more markets means that demand in the U.S. has fallen sharply more than previously expected.
Amazon and Microsoft's investments in AI startups will come under more scrutiny from UK antitrust regulators, once again showing how global regulators are trying to adapt to the impact of global tech giants on this market. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said on Wednesday it was seeking advice from market participants to determine whether the $4 billion partnership between Amazon and artificial intelligence company Anthropic threatened competition in the UK. The CMA also said it is considering Microsoft's partnerships with Mistral and Inflection AI.
Google will not be able to achieve its goal of changing the way ads are advertised on the dominant Chrome browser by the end of the year, and the company's years of efforts to improve consumer privacy on the Internet have been frustrated. Google said on Tuesday that it would not be able to remove third-party cookies on the original schedule due to "ongoing challenges in coordinating disparate feedback from industry, regulators and developers." Advertisers have been eagerly awaiting this change, as almost two-thirds of internet traffic flows through Chrome, making it an important gateway to reach consumers.
Oracle has unveiled plans to relocate its headquarters again, this time to Nashville, Tennessee, to be closer to companies in the healthcare industry. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said in an interview hosted live on Tuesday by Oracle Health that the enterprise software company is moving its massive campus to the southern city, where "it will eventually become our global headquarters."
South Korean semiconductor giant SK Hynix plans to build an advanced memory chip factory in Cheongju, South Korea, to cope with the rapid growth of demand for semiconductors in the development of global AI. The company will start construction of the new plant at the end of April and is expected to be completed by November 2025. The total investment in the construction and equipment of the new plant will exceed 20 trillion won (about 14.6 billion U.S. dollars). As a leader in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, SK hynix is working hard to maintain its advantage.
The U.S. Senate passed a package of foreign aid bills that force the Chinese parent company to divest TikTok's U.S. business. TikTok issued a statement on the signing of the ban, saying: "This unconstitutional law is a TikTok ban, and we will challenge it in court." We believe that facts and law are clearly on our side and that we will win in the end. ”
On April 24, Huawei announced the launch of its new Qiankun brand, and released 10 new products, including Qiankun Intelligent Driving, Qiankun Car Cloud, Qiankun Vehicle Control, and Hongmeng Cockpit. Jin Yuzhi, CEO of Huawei's Intelligent Vehicle Solution BU, said that Huawei's Qiankun will start the first year of large-scale commercial use of intelligent driving. There will be seven OEMs with multiple brands that will adopt the Dry Solution. Including Dongfeng's Lantu and Mengshi, Changan's Deep Blue and AVATAR, GAC's Trumpchi, BAIC's Jihu and Xiangjie, Celis's Wenjie, Chery's Zhijie, and JAC.
The International Energy Agency's (IEA) optimistic forecasts show "strong growth" in EV sales this year, with battery EVs and hybrid models likely to account for a fifth of global car sales, running counter to automakers' concerns about consumer interest in EVs. In its annual outlook report, the IEA said that despite "challenges in some markets", "the share of electric vehicles on the road is expected to continue to climb rapidly" in the coming years.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Tuesday banned employers from using non-compete contracts to prevent most workers from joining rival companies, a policy goal that workers welcomed but is about to face court challenges from business groups. The measure, which passed by a vote of 3 to 2, marks the first time in more than 50 years that FTC officials have issued a rule that requires changes in the way businesses compete across the economy. The commission has historically operated like a law enforcement agency, investigating and prosecuting the actions or transactions of companies that are deemed to be in violation of the law.
Japan's Mitsui & Co. will participate in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The total investment is $7 billion, and the production scale is about 10 million tons per year. Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and Mitsui & Co. participated with 60% and 10% respectively. Mitsui & Co. is expected to invest tens of billions of yen. In addition, oil majors such as British Shell, BP and TotalEnergies are also expected to invest. The construction of the plant will be contracted by JGC Holdings of Japan and Technip Energy of France. The total investment is expected to be around USD 7 billion, including design, material procurement and construction costs.
U.S. defense contractor L3Harris Technologies said it would cut 5% of its workforce this year as part of cost-saving measures. At the end of last year, the company had about 50,000 employees. This means that the layoffs will involve about 2,500 employees. L3Harris was formed in 2019 by the merger of L3 Technologies and Harris Corp, and its customers include the Pentagon, aircraft manufacturer Boeing, and defense and aerospace giant RTX.
Chinese bubble tea maker Sichuan Baicha Baidao Industrial Co Ltd plunged on the first day of its Hong Kong IPO, the city's biggest IPO deal of the year. The fast-expanding Chinese milk tea chain closed at HK$12.80 on its first day of trading on Tuesday, 27% below the IPO's offering price of HK$17.50. Chabaidao raised HK$2.46 billion in the offering, which will be used to develop automated and intelligent tools for warehousing and distribution.
According to the 2024 China Hotel Industry Development Report, by the end of 2023, there will be about 90,600 hotel chains in mainland China, an increase of 28% from 71,000 in 2022. In terms of the number of chain rooms, the hotel chain rate increased from 38.75% last year to 40.95%, of which the chain rate of mid-range and luxury hotels exceeded 55%. The report also shows that as of December 31, 2023, the total number of accommodation facilities in mainland China is about 610,000, of which about 320,000 are hotel facilities, and the total number of hotel rooms is about 16.5 million, of which about 6.76 million are chain rooms.
Financial Reporting Information
Great Wall Motor announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2024. The quarterly operating income was 42.86 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 47.6%, and the net profit was 3.228 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1752.55%.
Luxshare Precision announced its results for the first quarter of 2024. The operating income was 52.468 billion yuan, up 4.93% year-on-year, and the net profit attributable to the parent company was 2.471 billion yuan, up 22.45% year-on-year.
Goertek announced its first quarter report for 2024. The operating income was 19.312 billion yuan, the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 380 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 257.47%, and the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company after deducting non-recurring gains and losses was 275 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1722.92%.
JCET announced its first quarter report for 2024. In the quarter, the company achieved operating income of RMB6.84 billion, a year-on-year increase of 16.8%, achieving year-on-year revenue growth for two consecutive quarters, and net profit of RMB130 million in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 21.7%.
UMC announces first-quarter 2024 results. Quarterly revenue was $1.71 billion, down 0.8% year-over-year, and net income was $327 million, down 35.4% year-over-year. Wafer shipments increased 4.5% sequentially to 810,000 units.
Italian energy giant Eni released its results for the first quarter of 2024. Total revenue for the quarter was 23,169 million euros, compared to 27,378 million euros in the prior-year quarter. Operating profit for the quarter was 2.67 billion euros, compared to 2.513 billion euros in the prior-year quarter. Net profit attributable to shareholders for the quarter was 1,211 million euros, compared to 2,388 million euros in the prior-year quarter.
According to the results released by the French luxury goods group Kering for the first quarter of 2024, the group's sales fell by 10% year-on-year to 4.5 billion euros. The first-quarter performance "deteriorated significantly" due to declining sales at its top brand Gucci.
Semiconductor company Texas Instruments (TI) announced financial results for the first quarter of 2024. Quarterly revenue was $3.66 billion, down 16.4% year-over-year and the lowest since 2020. Net profit was $1.11 billion, down 35% year-on-year. Revenues declined across all markets, with industrial revenues down more than single digits and communications equipment revenues down 25 percent.
Visa announced results for the second quarter of fiscal 2024. Quarterly net revenue was $8.8 billion, up 10% year-over-year. Quarterly net income was $4.7 billion, up 10% year-over-year.
Boeing announced its results for the first quarter of 2024. Quarterly revenue was $16.569 billion, compared with $17.921 billion in the same period last year, down 8% year-on-year. Net loss for the quarter was $355 million, compared to a net loss of $425 million in the year-ago quarter.
Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2024. Quarterly revenue was $36.455 billion, compared to $28.645 billion in the same period last year, up 27% year-on-year. The quarterly net profit was US$12.369 billion, compared with US$5.709 billion in the same period last year, up 117% year-on-year. Advertising revenue in the fiscal first quarter was $35.64 billion, up 27% year-over-year.
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