Computer Hardware

HP’s fire-with-fire defense does it no favors

20 Feb 2020

The printer maker adopted a poison pill to stop bidder Xerox from digging in further. Aggressive bids justify robust responses. But HP would gain more credibility by laying out its valuation argument clearly for shareholders before putting up prohibitively defensive measures.

TSMC sits uncomfortably on U.S.-China tech fence

19 Feb 2020

The $280 bln Taiwanese company has benefitted from being everyone’s friendly chipmaker. Now the White House is mulling curbs targeting TSMC’s business with China’s Huawei. The financial hit looks manageable, but rising political pressure to pick sides will be a bigger threat.

Higher Xerox bid sharpens contrast for HP board

10 Feb 2020

Pushing up the offer to $35 billion removes a big excuse for its larger rival refusing to negotiate. Xerox is even closer to the debt-fueled limit of what it can afford. But the 9% bump makes the price more interesting for HP’s owners. The company's directors need to open up.

Will IBM be the next Microsoft or Nokia?

31 Jan 2020

Arvind Krishna is to succeed Virginia Rometty as CEO. Investors won’t miss her: Big Blue’s value almost halved on her watch. Attempts to make struggling tech firms shine again can fall flat, as Nokia can attest. But Microsoft’s rise under Satya Nadella may give Krishna hope.

Lenovo founder’s M&A manual is missing an update

19 Dec 2019

Liu Chuanzhi will retire as head of Legend Holdings, the $8 bln PC-maker’s parent. His 2005 purchase of an IBM unit was one of the best examples of a Chinese firm building a global brand through foreign deals. That playbook looks more like an exception to today’s hostile rule.

Microsoft acts the grown-up on tech rules

23 Oct 2019

Satya Nadella’s firm has built a constructive reputation in D.C. and Brussels, unlike Facebook, Google and others. It helps that it lacks a social network. Microsoft has also learned from past watchdog tussles. Less mature peers could do worse than copy its understated approach.

U.S. tech implosion is opportunity for European VC

21 Oct 2019

WeWork and Uber were hugely overvalued in private markets. In Europe, funding is scarcer and startup valuations seem less extreme. If the bloc’s venture capitalists can defy stagnant, fragmented economies, returns may beat U.S. peers, finally earning them serious money to manage.

Huawei’s China strength hides rising vulnerability

17 Oct 2019

Stronger smartphone sales at home helped revenue jump a surprising 24% year-on-year in the nine months to September. But the telecoms hardware giant has yet to feel the full impact of U.S. restrictions, set to resume next month. Slowing Chinese consumption is as big a worry.

Samsung’s smoother outlook papers over deep cracks

4 Oct 2019

Quarterly guidance from the world's top chipmaker next week may raise hopes of a recovery. The cheer is unlikely to last, though, given trade tensions and a slowing economy in China. Worse, a leadership vacuum leaves $263 bln Samsung vulnerable to falling behind new technologies.

Japan-Korea spat returns chip price error message

25 Jul 2019

Earnings at semiconductor giant SK Hynix plunged 88%, weighed down by a worldwide glut. Yet shares rose on hopes that Tokyo's export curbs to South Korea will depress supply and lift prices. The risks of weaker demand and supply chain ruptures suggest the rally looks premature.

Gamer favourite Razer’s next level demands focus

23 Jul 2019

The Hong Kong-listed maker of pro-keyboards wants to widen its appeal beyond gamers. It already sells phones, and is dabbling in payments. Distractions can be costly, though, and Razer's main business is doing fine. Doubling down on e-sports instead might help it turn a profit.

Apple’s march from China is long and inevitable

19 Jun 2019

The idea of the iPhone maker shifting 30% of production elsewhere may concentrate minds as the U.S. and China square up in trade talks. Such a move would take years. Detroit and London show economic clusters rarely implode. But they can erode, and the process is hard to stop.

Review: Why an AI apocalypse could happen

14 Jun 2019

Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking have warned that superintelligent machines could destroy humanity. In "The AI Does Not Hate You", journalist Tom Chivers offers a terrifying primer on why they should be taken seriously. Governments and companies, though, still need convincing.

Samsung reaps benefits of U.S.-China tech war

21 May 2019

Restrictions on Huawei’s use of American chips and software will make it harder to sell telecom gear outside the PRC. And Apple products could be vulnerable to a backlash in China. That leaves openings for the Korean group to sell network equipment as well as more smartphones.

Viewsroom: Apple versus Alphabet

2 May 2019

Both Silicon Valley giants are looking for the next big thing after a slowdown in their main product – iPhone sales at Apple and online ads at Alphabet. Lower expectations mean Tim Cook’s outfit has more time to act. Plus: Activist Dan Loeb puts Sony back under the microscope.

Apple’s old age beats Google’s adolescence

30 Apr 2019

The iPhone maker reported a 5 pct drop in revenue as consumers pocket its marquee product longer. Boss Tim Cook’s handouts to investors provide a nice cushion as he searches for the next big thing. Alphabet’s Google has higher expectations and less room for missing the mark.

Apple tea leaves suggest worrying shift on M&A

4 Apr 2019

The $920 bln firm has reduced stock buybacks, its merger specialist now reports to CEO Tim Cook, and its services push needs more oomph. That all suggests bigger deals are coming. Yet one Apple virtue has been avoiding large takeovers that distract from making compelling gadgets.

Apple Card puts customer first, Goldman second

26 Mar 2019

The remarkable thing about the iPhone maker’s new status symbol isn’t its titanium sheen, the cash back or promises to protect user data. It’s that partner Goldman Sachs has eschewed many features that make the credit card business so lucrative for issuers. That’s no bad thing.

Apple stretches to take on Netflix, Amex, Disney

25 Mar 2019

It unveiled a dizzying array of new services aimed at disrupting sectors like media and finance. They range from the confusing to the mildly innovative. The $880 bln tech giant’s launches used to strike fear, but this time boss Tim Cook is paving a trail of mediocrity, not havoc.

Nvidia chip deal big on vision and price

11 Mar 2019

The $94 bln graphics-chip company’s $6.9 bln acquisition of Mellanox, which makes hardware for data centers, is a bet that data will grow rapidly, and chip speeds only slowly. That view looks solid. But the price, pumped up by competing bids, presupposes a lot of success.