Technology

ASML’s sunny AI destination has a cloudy roadmap

15 Nov 2024

The $270 bln semiconductor equipment maker has stuck to its 2030 sales guidance, thanks to growing data centre needs. But chipmakers’ strife, politics, and weak smartphone demand remain near-term headaches. Investors may like ASML’s destination, but the route there looks bumpy.

Investors ignore the law of long-term averages

14 Nov 2024

US stocks are trading at 38 times cyclically adjusted earnings, near the most expensive level ever on that measure. For more than two decades, equities have defied predictions that valuations return to the historical mean. Yet conditions which enabled juicy returns are fading.

Gulf’s AI strategy is built on more than sand

13 Nov 2024

The UAE and Saudi are raising $200 bln for artificial intelligence. A reliance on imported chips means AI superpower status akin to China or the US is unlikely. But even if the region can’t build a ChatGPT-killer, it can carve out a niche to make the exercise worthwhile.

Saudi’s Davos is no longer such a desert

1 Nov 2024

Around 8,000 CEOs and financiers flocked to the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, twice the number at its inception in 2017. Western bosses were keener to talk about artificial intelligence than investing in the kingdom. But Saudi’s progress suggests that may yet change.

Siemens AI deal is baby step to higher share price

31 Oct 2024

The German trains-to-robot maker is buying simulation group Altair for $10 bln. The rich transaction will take years to pay off. But Siemens’ fast-growing software unit gains scale. Shareholders may give Siemens a higher valuation if CEO Roland Busch opts for a bigger breakup.

Samsung’s diminishing tech edge is in full glare

31 Oct 2024

The South Korean giant has lost over $100 bln of market value this year as it falls behind rivals in making chips used for AI. The company may be paying the price for one giant distraction: Boss Jay Y. Lee's never-ending legal troubles. Shareholders are voting with their feet.

Philips’ China misery renews case for bold surgery

28 Oct 2024

The $25 bln Dutch medical group’s shares fell up to 17% after it said it would barely grow this year. Weak demand in its key Chinese market means any recovery is far off. The weak outlook makes it harder to justify keeping its sprawling consumer and healthcare divisions together.

Why data centres are a bottleneck for the AI boom

15 Oct 2024

Artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT depend on chips and energy. But a $1 trln rush to build data centres faces constraints on planning and power. In this episode of The Big View podcast, Morgan Laughlin of asset manager PGIM explains the virtual frenzy’s physical limits.

What Masayoshi Son can teach us about investing

11 Oct 2024

The Japanese tech tycoon backed future giants like China’s Alibaba as well as spectacular flops like office-sharing startup WeWork. A new biography likens him to a high-stakes gambler. But Son’s chequered career also reveals some of the skills of a successful venture capitalist.

Hey team: Weaker hiring means back to the office

8 Oct 2024

About 100 mln people in North America and Europe now work remotely at least some days. More CEOs, like Amazon’s Andy Jassy, want to end the practice altogether. The tension is upsetting staff and spurring defections, but a rise in joblessness would shift power back to employers.

Decoding the puzzle of SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son

8 Oct 2024

The Japanese tycoon shaped global technology while building and losing vast fortunes. How does he keep going? In the first episode of Breakingviews’ new podcast, The Big View, former FT editor Lionel Barber discusses what he uncovered in his biography of Son, ‘Gambling Man’.

Ireland spins global tax mess into $28 bln of gold

8 Oct 2024

Dublin expects a 2024 budget surplus worth 8% of gross national income, thanks to the presence of US companies lured by low levies. It’s evidence that profit shifting lives on despite a landmark OECD deal. The good news for Ireland is that there’s little chance of that changing.

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.

AI is a black hole of bits, chips and power

26 Sep 2024

OpenAI’s ChatGPT kicked off a race to develop ever-more-sophisticated artificial intelligence. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingvews columnists dissect the vast amount of data-crunching bots and power required to feed it, investments that could cost trillions of dollars.

Murdoch’s UK property bid may yet get even sweeter

23 Sep 2024

Rightmove is mulling an improved $8.1 bln offer from Australia’s REA Group, owned by the media tycoon. A chunky premium and other UK refuseniks’ share price slumps are reasons for the listing portal’s board to say yes. But the buyer’s latest bid implies an ability to pay more.

23andMe deal should never be cloned

20 Sep 2024

The genetic-test firm’s entire board, save founder Anne Wojcicki, resigned in frustration with her stalled takeover bid. The offer is perhaps the least-worst detail. The once $6 bln company should never have gone public and super-voting stock primed it for a governance implosion.

Amazon’s office mandate reflects deeper banality

20 Sep 2024

Boss Andy Jassy is ending remote work to inspire more inventiveness. Even before the pandemic, the tech goliath was rethinking staff locations and seating design. Reverting to assigned desks every day in a new era of employment says a lot about how stagnant its ideas have become.

Chip halt flags EU’s also-ran status – and Intel’s

20 Sep 2024

The troubled US chipmaker has paused a 30 bln euros semiconductor factory in Germany. Weak demand is hampering Europe’s hopes to close the semiconductor gap between itself and the US. But another leg of the problem is that Intel itself lags rivals like Nvidia and TSMC.

BlackRock’s $30 bln AI fund is Big Tech’s backstop

18 Sep 2024

The asset manager will team with Microsoft to invest in AI infrastructure. It’s a way to bolster tech firms’ capacity to keep up with the $1 trln needed for data centers alone, akin to governments tapping private funds to build roads. Thing is, that assumes AI is just as crucial.

Joe Biden’s climate law is too valuable to repeal

18 Sep 2024

The outgoing president’s Inflation Reduction Act has spurred $500 bln in green investments in two years. Regardless of who replaces him, politicians, companies and utilities will want to protect lucrative tax credits. A Donald Trump victory might bend the law, but not break it.