Computer Hardware

Taiwan’s silicon shield wants for reinforcement

7 Nov 2024

Taipei’s exports to the US are surging thanks to chip giant TSMC, but Donald Trump's threatened tariffs would undermine those. How far the president-elect would go to protect the island from Beijing, especially if trade weakens, is unclear. It's time to boost spending on defence.

AI’s next feat will be its descent from the cloud

2 Oct 2024

Tech giants hoping to spend $1 trln on data centres are struggling to secure power supplies and space. That bolsters the case for smaller artificial intelligence models that can run on devices, not a remote platform. Phone and laptop makers from Apple to Lenovo stand to benefit.

Google is a monopoly, long live Google

5 Aug 2024

Alphabet’s search giant illegally wields its might over rivals, a US judge has ruled. The decision also carefully stays within classic antitrust boundaries. Given how tricky disentangling the $2 trln company’s technology would be, a market-shaking penalty will be hard to impose.

Trump lays bare TSMC’s inherent vulnerabilities

17 Jul 2024

The presidential candidate complained Taiwan took America's chip business and is taking subsidies. He wants it to pay for US defence too. For now, the high exposure of the island's $840 bln semiconductor giant to both Washington and Beijing is a dampener on its AI fortunes.

Tiny Singapore’s chip hub retains a big punch

21 Jun 2024

NXP and Vanguard's new $8 bln factory in the country follows recent investments from GlobalFoundries and others. Singapore has an impressive edge in the semiconductor industry despite high costs and a shortage of space. Its neighbour Malaysia will soon test that advantage.

Bain could be third time lucky in Japan

2 May 2024

It's pushing an IPO of Kioxia again after talks to merge the chipmaker collapsed last year. A deal would help pare a $6 bln company loan. Timing is on the sellers' side; demand for chips and Japanese stocks is robust. Rival buyout firms will cheer a successful selldown too.

TSMC’s most complex engineering task is itself

3 Apr 2024

The $625 bln chipmaker has built a monopoly in advanced semiconductors by staying in Taiwan. Now it’s expanding abroad, spurred by subsidies and US-China tensions. Despite higher costs, it can generate decent returns. The bigger challenge will be keeping its technological edge.

AI’s power surge short-circuits longer-term plans

1 Apr 2024

Data centers account for 2.5% of the US grid, and machine learning is supercharging growth. Where and how to build megaplexes consuming as much electricity as a small nuclear plant are the immediate problems, but they’re solvable. Calculating future demand is the real conundrum.

Apple antitrust case is surprisingly simple

21 Mar 2024

The US legal swipe at the $2.7 trln iPhone maker is all about choice. Users choose its devices, but not always the services on them. That shows up in small ways, like payments or how to install apps. In a new cloud-dominated world, returning choice to users will matter much more.

Alphabet and Apple have cause to circle AI wagons

18 Mar 2024

The $2.7 trln iPhone-maker is in talks to license Alphabet’s artificial intelligence models, according to Bloomberg. Apple has underinvested, but Google search’s pride of place on its devices is also at risk. A deal would help both defend their turf, if regulators don’t kill it.

Biden’s subsidies are working a little too well

15 Mar 2024

The US president’s incentives for chips and clean energy have provoked a competitive scramble and raised the cost of building factories – which cuts the handouts’ real value to recipients like Intel. The risk is that investment zeal sets the scene for future gluts.

China’s new tastes will spit out more than Apple

6 Mar 2024

The iPhone maker is losing share in the People’s Republic to domestic champion Huawei. American companies in the giant market face both weakening demand and a move to homegrown brands. Chinese consumers’ shifting attitudes suggest the woes will worsen.

ASML is underplaying its strengths

24 Jan 2024

The semiconductor giant kept its 2024 outlook reined in despite hefty quarterly earnings. US and Dutch export controls that affect chipmaking tools have begun to dip into China sales. But a hefty orders backlog and rising chip demand should help the $330 bln group fly higher.

Capital Calls: Microsoft’s Russian hacker

22 Jan 2024

Concise views on global finance: The $3 trln tech firm disclosed that a nation-state hack accessed leaders’ email, saying it showed the need for potentially “disruptive” measures. It’s a worrying acknowledgement of the still-vague costs of geopolitical tensions for tech giants.

HPE’s Juniper deal magnifies power of competition

10 Jan 2024

Buying the networking-gear maker for $14 bln is designed to cash in on AI growth. Despite riding the internet boom, however, Juniper has generated less than half the return of the S&P 500 Index since its IPO 24 years ago. It’s a timely lesson on how robust rivalries erode profit.

Blockchain’s rebirth will pass United States by

19 Dec 2023

Regulators are cracking down on digital asset firms while Congress dithers over passing rules to govern them. Financial hubs like London, faster to set guidelines, will capture the value created not just by crypto, but by potentially powerful distributed ledger technology.

SpaceX beats Tesla in business model bakeoff

7 Dec 2023

Elon Musk’s rocket company is seeking a $175 billion valuation, just one-quarter as much as his electric-vehicle firm Tesla. Yet viewed from space, based on some old-school measures of competitiveness, it’s the smaller firm that has the more solid foundations.

Broadcom deal tempts a treacherously tasty trade

6 Nov 2023

The chipmaker’s $82 bln acquisition of VMware hangs by a Chinese thread. This lingering doubt has created a quirky anomaly on whether a small slug of shares winds up being bought for cash or stock, or not at all. There’s 25% upside to grab, but only for the bravest arbitrageurs.

Apple’s cash insures against exuberance

3 Nov 2023

The $2.8 trln iPhone maker’s valuation is rich even as growth slows, antitrust worries cloud its services business and trade wars threaten China sales. While investors seem as confident as ever, the company’s balance sheet suggests boss Tim Cook is exercising some caution.

Intel’s latest breakup is a test for more to come

4 Oct 2023

The semiconductor giant will hive off more of its empire with IPO plans for its programmable chip unit. Weak markets dinged its last spinoff, but this separation can flout strong profit to highlight $18 bln of hidden value. It’s a dry run for a bigger split down the road.