Artificial Intelligence – Lifecycle of a bubble pt. II

Bubble valuations but real use cases.  As more and more models are released by companies, start-ups and open source, the harder they will have to work to attract users meaning falling prices which is what I think will burst the bubble. With valuations in nosebleed territory and governments falling over themselves to be involved in AI, there is very little...

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Apple FQ4 23 – More of same

Incremental improvements and growth.  Apple reported reasonable results but concerns around its business in China and an accounting abnormality took their toll on the share price which fell by 3.6% in after-hours trading. Revenues / EPS were $89.5bn / $1.46 just ahead of estimates at $89.3bn / $1.39 but that was where the good news stopped. iPhone and Services were...

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Qualcomm FQ4 23 – The Turn

Qualcomm signals the worst is over.   Qualcomm reported good results signalling that the worst is over leaving a flat short-term outlook and a longer term that is full of opportunity. FQ4 revenues / Adj-EPS were $8.64bn / $2.02 which was still meaningfully down YoY but crucially, better than expectations which were for $8.51bn / $1.92. This marginal beat of...

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Autonomous Autos – Cruise control

Cruise is mostly punished for bad behaviour. Although there was most certainly a technology failure, Cruise is off the roads mostly because the California DMV thinks that it failed to fully disclose data around an incident involving a pedestrian in a move that will delay the journey to autonomous driving yet again. Cruise has had its licence to operate in...

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Apple – Chugging along.

M3 does not wipe the floor with Elite X. Apple launched its next series of M-chips but even though they will all be made on the new 3nm TSMC process, the degree of improvement over M2 is lower than I was expecting keeping Elite X very much in the game. Apple held a short event where it launched its M3...

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Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit – The Gauntlet

Qualcomm throws down the gauntlet to both Apple and Intel. Qualcomm is mounting a bold challenge to both Apple and Intel in PCs with the launch of the Snapdragon X Elite but no matter how good the chip is, everything will depend on how well it runs the Windows ecosystem. Qualcomm held its Snapdragon Summit last week and given the...

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Intel and Amazon – Game of numbers.

Good numbers but both have problems. Both Intel and Amazon reported good results, but both have some fundamental problems that are hurting current performance and will take some time to be fixed. Intel Q3 23 – Risk imbalance Intel reported good results as the PC market came back to life to some degree, but the risks that Intel is increasingly...

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Meta Platforms Q3 23 – Bad habits

Meta may be returning to its bad habits. Meta Platforms delivered another set of excellent results but wiped out enthusiasm by guiding weakly for Q4 2023 and raising spending expectations for 2024. Q3 2023 revenues / EPS were $34.2bn / $4.39 nicely ahead of consensus of $33.6bn / $3.64 where profits were driven by a 23% increase in revenues and...

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Google & Microsoft – Scroogled again

Microsoft is really getting under Google’s skin. Microsoft continues to leverage OpenAI to get under Google’s skin and this quarter one can see some impact of this in the numbers. Microsoft FQ1 24 – AI Brand power Microsoft reported excellent results where its cloud business reaccelerated revenue growth and the rest of its business remained very robust even in the...

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USA vs. China – Head scratcher

Taiwanese politics and Apple. Long-term collaborator and colleague Alastair Newton from Alavan Independent joins Radio Free Mobile in authoring today’s commentary concerning China, Foxconn, Taiwan and Apple. China has launched an investigation into Foxconn which employs over 1m people in China which we think is either another warning shot at Apple or a message regarding the Taiwanese election next year....

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