Humans are the real risk. The big names in AI are now saying that mitigating the risk of the robots enslaving the human race is as important as dealing with pandemics or nuclear war which I think is either peak hyperbole or a cynical attempt to keep the smaller players out of the nascent AI industry. This statement from the...
Rumblings get louder. A rotten set of results from Xiaomi, cutbacks by Oppo, a weak domestic currency and a massive government debt problem are all pointing in a direction that Chinese officialdom would like to distract us from. Xiaomi reported an 18.9% YoY decline in revenues that it put down to “uncertainty in the global economy” but it is clear...
Nvidia is the enabler of the modern-day gold rush. Nvidia reported stellar results as the intensifying mania around generative AI is driving unprecedented demand for its products which has driven both the share price and valuation into the stratosphere. FQ1 24 revenues / Adj-EPS were $7.2bn / $1.09 way ahead of estimates at $6.53bn / $0.92 and the fun did...
Microsoft will end up having to acquire OpenAI. Microsoft is putting OpenAI’s technology into almost everything it makes creating single source risk that I think can only be resolved by the acquisition of OpenAI where it already owns 49%. It is Microsoft Build time again and this time it was all about how generative AI, ChatGPT and OpenAI’s technology would...
Zoom – Hybrid work. Zoom reported good results as pandemic customers are sticking with the service which allowed the company to raise its estimates resulting in a valuation that is no longer particularly challenging. Revenues for 2023 will now be $4.47bn – $4.49bn and EPS $4.25 – $4.31 up marginally from its previous forecasts. What is remarkable here is that...
China reveals its hand. China has banned Micron’s products from critical infrastructure in a move that clearly demonstrates just how weak its hand is in semiconductors which remains something it is not going to fix any time soon. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has announced that Micron’s products “posed significant risks to China’s critical information infrastructure” and as such,...
So much to fix. The full spin-out of its cloud business failed to direct investors’ attention away from a very dull set of results which show almost no recovery in the Chinese economy and that management has a lot of things to fix to get Alibaba back on track. FQ4 23 revenues / EPS were RMB208bn (up 2% YoY) /...
Tepid resumption of consumption Tencent reported a return to YoY growth in Q1 in a sign that some consumer activity is coming back in China, but the shares did not budge as investors remain unwilling to invest in China given the less-than-spectacular economy and geopolitical events. Q1 2023 revenues / EPS were RMB150bn (up 11% YoY) / RMB2.63 (up 9%...
Regulation should target humans not machines. The recent Congressional hearings greatly increase the prospect of some form of regulation of the AI industry, but this will have to be very carefully crafted to ensure that unintended consequences are minimised and that the USA does not hamstring itself in the technological arms race with China. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, NYU Professor...
Richard is founder, owner of research company, Radio Free Mobile. He has 16 years of experience working in sell side equity research. During his 11 year tenure at Nomura Securities, he focused on the equity coverage of the Global Technology sector.
Apple – Silent takeover
Apple is slowly consuming more of the economy. Ahead of WWDC Apple has released a report it had commissioned to examine the app economy on iOS revealing that while traditional app spending on iOS is broadly flat, usage of iOS to facilitate day-to-day retail spending is still growing extremely quickly. The Analysis Group has produced a report that headlines with...