USA vs. China – PR Game

USA gets revenge for Raimondo’s embarrassment.   The Netherlands turned the screw on semiconductor equipment exports to China just as the US National Security Advisor was meeting with President Xi in what looks like perfect timing to remind China that it is not alone in being able to play the PR game. The government of The Netherlands has a relatively...

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Nvidia FQ2 25 – Full steam ahead

Beat but no real raise. Excellent results and guidance were met with disappointment from the fickle market which wanted to see yet another beat and raise and so while the AI boom remains very much on track, its failure to get even bigger has allowed a sliver of doubt to creep in. FQ2 25 revenues / EPS were $30.0bn /...

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Artificial Intelligence – Silicon Game

Cerebras admits it can’t compete in training. Cerebras’ pivot towards inference is both an indication of where the market is going and an admission that when it comes to training, no one is close to competing against Nvidia. Cerebras Systems is a privately held semiconductor company that designs and sells silicon chips for AI training and inference and is a...

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China vs. USA – Tit for Tat pt. III

The cure for high prices is high prices. The Chinese export restrictions on Gallium and Germanium are tight enough to have triggered significant price rises which will in time incentivise production to resume outside of China both fixing the price problem and demonstrating that the Chinese restrict strategy will have no long-term impact. In July 2023, China restricted the export...

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Artificial Intelligence – Magic Money Tree pt. II

A classic example of too much money. The loss of 60% of its founders just months after being founded and raising $220m despite having no products, looks like a sign that in the rush to invest in AI, red flags are being ignored and due diligence is being skimmed which always ends in problems. The H Company (formerly Holistic) was...

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Peloton & Snowflake – Pandemic Pastimes.

Pandemic darlings tell different stories. Peloton FQ4 24 – The turn Peloton reported revenues that grew YoY dispelling fears of the company being in a death spiral which, combined with finally breaking even on a cash flow basis, gives hope that the ship has finally stopped sinking. The result was a 35% jump in the share price but given how...

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Summer Break – Back Friday August 23rd

RFM has taken the company camel on a tour of Southern France and Northern Italy and will return on August 23rd 2024   

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Tesla FSD – The Mannequin.

A dummy will be launched. The idea that Full Service Driving (FSD) will be a commercial reality in 2025 remains a fantasy but Mr Musk will strengthen the resolve of his fans with the launch of a vehicle that will look like FSD but lack the intelligence to offer FSD in any commercial capacity. In its most recent earnings report,...

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SearchGPT – Non Starter

SearchGPT unlikely to go anywhere. OpenAI’s latest attempt to take on Google is probably more about generating revenue and reducing losses but given Bing’s failure to make a dent in Google, it looks doomed to failure. Google has an enviable position in search with a 90% market share and an advertising business that generates well over $200bn in annual revenues...

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Artificial Intelligence – Apocalypse Now

Zuckerberg undercuts an industry. Meta Platforms has just dropped a bomb on the generative AI industry by offering more than OpenAI does and doing so for free. Combine this with the substantial cash burn going on at many of these startups and one can rapidly see how there is going to be a serious problem. Meta Platforms offering models to...

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