Consumer Electronics

Intel woes provide timely lesson for Samsung

8 Jan 2021

The South Korean giant will end 2020 with a 26% rise in quarterly operating profit, thanks largely to its chip dominance. Its U.S. peer, by contrast, has fallen behind rivals and faces calls to break up. The prolonged leadership vacuum at Samsung risks a similar gradual decline.

LG missteps into chaebol-challenge spotlight

16 Dec 2020

A pushy investor is unhappy with a spinoff plan by the South Korean empire’s $12 bln holding company. The carve-up’s financial benefits are hard to identify. That brings unwanted attention to a pioneer in corporate restructuring just as the country angles for stricter measures.

Chinese Icarus escapes Ingram Micro unsinged

10 Dec 2020

HNA aggressively acquired overseas assets between 2015 and 2017, including hotels and even a stake in Deutsche Bank. The $7 bln purchase of the U.S. electronics distributor epitomized the binge, now being unwound. A sale at a higher price shows stable businesses retain value.

Samsung chairman bequeaths a tainted empire

25 Oct 2020

Lee Kun-hee, who transformed a noodle business into a smartphone and chipmaking colossus, has died at 78. The second-generation leader's mark on Korea Inc will endure, as do scandals that follow the family. Their challenge is to clean up the messy parts of his $355 bln legacy.

Xiaomi is next Apple of China’s eye

27 Aug 2020

The $65 bln smartphone maker has exploited Washington's attacks on Huawei to take overseas market share. Its suite of gadgets look similar to the Cupertino giant's, and Xiaomi has maintained a bland political profile at home and abroad. That’s about to pay off.

Asia chip windfall preludes tech’s next challenge

29 Jul 2020

Shares of TSMC and Samsung have leapt on hopes Intel may outsource production. It could enlarge the contract-chipmaking market they dominate by 20%. Still, the $209 bln Intel's woes highlight the high costs of making advanced semiconductors. Finding buyers may get harder.

Chip champ jumps into Shanghai-Hong Kong value gap

17 Jul 2020

Dual-listed SMIC's mainland shares debuted at four times the price of its Hong Kong equivalent. Other peers trade at similarly ridiculous premiums. Mainland traders still struggle with valuing companies, while Beijing’s incomplete reforms keep the markets out of sync.

Chinese IPO gives vaping a second, deep puff

7 Jul 2020

Smoore International has been valued at $9 bln in a Hong Kong listing after pricing its shares at the top of a range. The issue defies a global backlash against the battery-powered devices. At 19 times forward earnings, investors have helped to prop up a smoking hot valuation.

Camera sale puts Olympus value into clearer view

24 Jun 2020

The $25 bln Japanese company is offloading its historic but unprofitable imaging division 18 months after pushy investor ValueAct prompted a shakeup. A new focus on medical equipment has helped send Olympus shares soaring. The question now is whether expectations are too rosy.

Corona Capital: Instacart stocks up

11 Jun 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Grocery-delivery firm and lockdown beneficiary Instacart tops up on capital while the getting is good.

Xiaomi making the most of the crisis

21 May 2020

Rolling out a 5G model during China's lockdown paid off for the online-savvy handset maker. First-quarter sales increased 14% from a year earlier, to $7 bln. Serious setbacks for rival Huawei and virus-powered interest in home gadgets should help sustain the impressive growth.

TSMC’s U.S. reshoring initiative looks wafer-thin

15 May 2020

The Taiwanese chipmaker unveiled plans for a $12 bln factory in Arizona. It will produce a tiny fraction of what Asian plants do with a small workforce and investment spread over nine years. It only goes to show just how hard it will be to move high-tech manufacturing to America.

Samsung defies corporate governance logic

14 Feb 2020

The South Korean tech titan’s chairman has quit just months after heir Jay Y. Lee left the board. Even with yet another leadership crisis, Samsung stock trades at a record high and its valuation keeps soaring. As questions about growth mount, shareholders may regret the optimism.

Sony on the road to reclaiming its electronic mojo

4 Feb 2020

Quarterly operating profit fell 20%, to $2.8 bln, but exceeded expectations. Its image sensors used in iPhones helped and boss Kenichiro Yoshida is now eyeing autonomous cars. Wise investment could put the inventor of the Walkman and Trinitron TV back in the tech driver’s seat.

Consumer wallets are top risk to chip titan TSMC

14 Jan 2020

A heady valuation multiple for Taiwan's $295 bln supplier to Apple, Huawei and others reflects its relentless march on rivals. Rising retail prices for ever-fancier smartphones, though, may curb demand. That’s possibly the biggest risk for the tech supply chain’s sturdiest player.

Apple needs CEO charm more than Facebook

30 Oct 2019

Tim Cook has Washington and even Beijing on side, while Mark Zuckerberg can barely speak without annoying someone in power – and Facebook is blocked in China. Yet since D.C. pressure ratcheted up a year ago, Zuckerberg’s stock has performed better. Diplomacy only goes so far.

Tesla’s China strategy is upside-down

25 Oct 2019

Elon Musk says his Shanghai factory is almost ready, after third-quarter profit surprised on the upside. It will produce more affordable designs, aiming for some 150,000 Model 3 units a year. But China’s mass market is soft. Musk risks overpromising and underdelivering again.

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 dims hopes of a Samsung memory chip rebound

31 Jul 2019

Shares of the $260 bln tech giant slid after the company warned of poor visibility into the impact of Tokyo's export curbs. South Korea’s escalating dispute with its neighbour threatens supply chains. It now throws into doubt Samsung's confidence that chip prices will recover.

Sony reaps accidental rewards from unruly sprawl

30 Jul 2019

Sales of chips offset falling video-game revenue at the Japanese group, pushing its quarterly operating profit up 18%. Even so, there's little strategic value keeping the two divisions together. Sony's music and movies arms, though, make for a better kind of conglomerate.