Money‚ Semiconductors

China tech giants dig pricey trench for AI war

20 Mar 2025

Tencent tripled capex to $11 bln in 2024 and vowed to increase spending this year to develop models and chatbots. Rival Alibaba pledged $50 bln to AI over the next three years. Yet business models are hazy and competition is fierce. Returns will be a long time coming.

Why China may struggle to unlock the power of AI

25 Feb 2025

Its fortunes as a great power will be shaped in part by the technology. Yet translating wins by innovators like DeepSeek and others into wider gains for the $18 trln economy will be challenged not just by the United States but also by Beijing’s own desire to maintain control.

For TSMC, Trump can make an Intel deal appeal

17 Feb 2025

Taiwan's $840 bln chipmaker might take a stake in its ailing rival's factories at the behest of the US. Such a deal makes no financial sense. But with the president threatening tariffs and more, it may be a small price to pay for the Asian giant to protect its top market.

DeepSeek offers no new answers to China’s AI bind

28 Jan 2025

The startup's low-cost model showcases the innovation prowess of the country. Yet it also spotlights how US curbs on high-end chips hold back the People's Republic in the tech race. For Beijing, the smartest way forward is to keep pouring money into its semiconductor industry.

TSMC teases an alternative reality for AI

17 Jan 2025

The $870 bln chipmaker logged a record quarterly profit and kept its rosy forecasts. Trouble is, most of the assumptions underpinning them may be obsolete once Donald Trump becomes president in a few days. With more trade and tech wars looming, TSMC investors may be too sanguine.

Warnings and worries haunt best-read views of 2024

31 Dec 2024

This year our readers fretted about imploding stocks, regulatory shocks and Washington’s new status quo, even as the S&P 500 Index hit record highs. Incoming President Donald Trump, Tesla boss Elon Musk, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and Britain’s royal family all added to the drama.

Nvidia probe lets China have cake and eat it

10 Dec 2024

Beijing has started an antitrust investigation into the $3.4 trln firm. Coming after more US tech curbs on the country, the motive seems political. But Nvidia's AI chip dominance means monopoly concerns can't be dismissed. And the decision may resonate with regulators elsewhere.

Bain’s Japan chip IPO is a tough sell

3 Dec 2024

The US private equity firm will list Kioxia six years after leading the memory unit's $18 bln carve-out from Toshiba. The roughly $5 bln equity valuation means poor returns for sellers. And convincing new investors to look past Kioxia's crippling debt pile will be a slog.

Intel’s independent streak will come to an end

2 Dec 2024

Boss Pat Gelsinger is exiting the once-revolutionary chipmaker as it struggles to find a place in the future. It missed chances with Apple, Nvidia and OpenAI while its gross margin halved to 32%. A management shakeup portends a strategic one, which probably leads to a new owner.

Nvidia’s next move is to hit the road

22 Nov 2024

The $3.5 trln chipmaker gleans only 1% of sales from carmakers. Yet the unit grew 72% in the third quarter, a similar pace to rival Qualcomm. Stuffing silicon into cars could be a $140 bln market by 2028 and a crucial diversifier from relying on a few colossal data center buyers.

Gulf states wedge AI efforts between superpowers

21 Nov 2024

The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are building home-grown silicon smarts and forging links with the likes of Microsoft. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists discuss how the region is muscling its way into a technology arms race between China and the US.

Nvidia’s growing cash hoard points to M&A

18 Nov 2024

The chip designer could have $175 bln on hand in two years, surpassing even Apple’s giant pile of liquidity. Combined with a more deal-friendly US president, it opens up acquisitions. Founder Jensen Huang’s broad ambition means optics, healthcare and robotics are possible.

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.

Nvidia drives path Tesla would find familiar

29 Aug 2024

Like Elon Musk’s carmaker at its peak, the $3 trln chip giant has a huge lead in a transforming industry, dented only by production glitches. Unlike Tesla, Nvidia’s valuation by some measures looks fairly sane. The bigger it gets, the higher the stakes of even small hiccups.

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.

A South Korean EV reversal would inspire copycats

27 Jun 2024

Splitting out electric-car related assets was a popular ploy for firms like Renault and Geely to charge up valuations. But now conglomerate SK might go the other way by merging its loss-making battery business with another unit. As EV demand slows, similar reversals may follow.

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.

China cashes in banking chips for tech drive

28 May 2024

Beijing's latest $48 bln semiconductor fund is its third and largest. Unlike earlier efforts, which have relied on cash-strapped local governments, the fund counts major lenders like ICBC as investors. It marks a new and riskier phase of China's tech self-sufficiency ambitions.

Microsoft’s G42 deal puts UAE in America’s AI tent

16 Apr 2024

The $3 trln software giant is paying $1.5 bln for a minority stake in Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence group G42. Microsoft gets years of cloud storage business. But it also implies an end to the Gulf state’s effort to be a neutral AI counterparty to China and the US.

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.