Custom 5G Chip In Development
Intel Corp (INTC.O) said that it will work with Swedish telecommunications gear maker Ericsson (ERICb.ST) yesterday to make a custom chip for Ericsson’s 5G networking gear, using the most advanced manufacturing technology Intel has disclosed.
Twitter In The Crosshairs Of Multiple IPO Breach
Billionaire Elon Musk’s decision to rebrand Twitter as X could be complicated legally: companies including Meta (META.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O) already have intellectual property rights to the same letter. X is so widely used and cited in trademarks that it is an easy candidate for legal challenges.
UPS And Union Averts Strike With More Pay
UPS (UPS.N) and its Teamsters union have signed a tentative contract deal for about 340,000 U.S. workers at the parcel delivery firm, one week ahead of a threatened strike that could have cost the economy billions and disrupted a quarter of the nation’s package shipments.
Today’s News
The optimism for artificial intelligence (A.I.) remains at large as big tech companies are gearing up for another industry boom. Tech experts are deeming the next big surge as the A.I. big bang, where we would witness more groundbreaking applications and implementations.
Big tech is a “torchbearer” for the A.I. stock boom, says Dan Ives, managing director at the U.S. financial company Wedbush Securities, who predicts that spending on such ventures could reach as much as USD 800 billion over the next decade.
“Heading into the second half of 2023, we see a much broader tech rally ahead as investors further digest the ramifications of the A.I. spending wave on the horizon and what this means for the software, chip, hardware and tech ecosystem over the next year,” he says.
Other tech-related news include:
Microsoft Charges Ahead To Meet A.I. Demands
Microsoft (MSFT.O) laid out an aggressive spending plan yesterday to meet the demands for its new A.I. services after surpassing Wall Street estimates for the fiscal fourth-quarter revenue and profit.
Costs rose sharply as Microsoft built new data centers to support AI, and Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said on a conference call with analysts the company’s capital expenditures would continue rising each quarter throughout fiscal 2024.
Shares fell about 4% in after-hours trade.
Spend Money To Make Money With A.I.
A.I. is expected to pay off big for tech giants including Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Alphabet (GOOGL.O) someday. But expect deeper investments before gains trickle to the bottom line, the companies claimed yesterday.
Microsoft said costs rose sharply as it built new data centers to support A.I. and that capital expenditures will continue to rise as it buys chips from the likes of Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) to power those data centers. Microsoft is bearing A.I. costs in two ways, an analysts said: to power its own products such as its forthcoming USD 30-a-month Copilot A.I. assistant and to serve companies wanting to use its Azure cloud computing services to create other A.I. products.
Alphabet Shares Gain On Revenue
Google parent Alphabet Inc. reported second-quarter revenue that exceeded analysts’ expectations, boosted by advertising on the company’s flagship search business, which is withstanding new competition from A.I. chatbots.
Alphabet’s sales, excluding partner payouts, were USD 62 billion in the quarter, the company said yesterday in a statement. Analysts had projected USD 60.2 billion, according to a Bloomberg report. Meanwhile, search advertising performed well, generating USD 42.6 billion, compared with analysts’ average estimate of USD 42.2 billion.
