This acquisition is becoming increasingly problematic. NVIDIA’s acquisition of Arm is becoming increasingly problematic with in-depth investigations being launched by both the UK and the EU competition authorities and the US looks certain to follow. This combined with the problem in China (see here) could make it so painful to complete this acquisition, that SoftBank ends up returning Arm to...
Amazon Game Studios is suffering from a culture clash. Amazon is having a torrid time trying to make a name in the video game market highlighting how Amazon’s corporate culture can be ruinous for creative industries, meaning that it should probably stick to providing tools for making games (AWS) rather than the games themselves. Amazon’s game division was formed in...
Good results from the pandemic drive a pull forward of digitisation. Google Q4 2020 – The big pull forward Google’s advertising machine roared back to life in Q4 2020 with great results highlighting an acceleration of the trend to digital rather than signalling an overall economic recovery. Q4 2020 revenues-Ex TAC / EPS were $56.9bn / $22.30 handsomely beating estimates...
More about infrastructure than digital vehicle services. Ford has struck a far-reaching deal with Google that encompasses far more than just the software and services in the vehicle cockpit which I think Ford will tinker with and may never deploy. Ford and Google have agreed to a 6-year co-operation that commences now but the effects of which will not be...
For once not too much is being demanded. Kuaishou is no ByteDance but this has forced it to pivot into other areas where there is little competition and where the long-term rewards could be significantly greater. The valuation being asked at IPO of $60bn which is not too demanding meaning that as long as the market holds its current valuation,...
The pilgrims are still far away from the holy land. Much is being made for the potential for the Galaxy Watch 4 and the Apple Watch 7 to measure blood glucose but their inability to conquer the easier task of blood pressure highlights just how hard these goals are to reach. The realistic outlook is that these devices will provide...
The pandemic is in the driving seat. The pandemic trade is back with homeworking and homeschooling driving the results of both Microsoft and AMD, but this may grind to a halt in calendar Q2 as the summer banishes the virus for 6 months or so. Microsoft FQ2 2021 – Perfect storm. Microsoft has been the best exposed of all the...
Tesla is barking up the wrong tree. The biggest disagreement in the autonomous automobile industry has heated up once again with Waymo’s CEO once again dissing Tesla’s camera-only approach to autonomous driving. RFM has conducted extensive analysis in this area and has concluded that while Tesla’s approach is the right approach, it has a greatly inflated opinion of its capability...
This is Intel’s make or break moment. Intel’s determination to return to manufacturing supremacy is existential because if Geisinger fails, the vultures will break-up the company and sell off the pieces sending another American titan to the graveyard to rub shoulders with Motorola. The market’s reaction is indicative of just how short-term obsessed it is as there is absolutely no...
Intel vs. M1 – The empire strikes back
Intel throws down the gauntlet. Intel has put up a comparison of its latest chip against the M1 that it says tells a very different story but the tests are clearly skewed in Intel’s favour and don’t match real-world testing. However, this is a good sign that Intel intends to slug it out with Apple and remains committed to regaining...