Turns out this stuff is expensive. Microsoft is moving to add advertising to its Bing GPT-4-powered chat service in a clear indication that large language models (LLMs) are very expensive to create and run which I think is a positive signal for Google. Bing has certainly seen an increase in usage as it now lays claim to 100m daily users...
State oversight is the driver. Shareholder value has little to do with Alibaba’s decision to reorganize and much more to do with providing the state with better visibility and control over the large range of its activities. Following on from the National People’s Congress, Alastair Newton and I have observed a range of reforms and changes being announced that have...
New CEO looks wrong for the job. Lyft’s founders have stepped back from running their company and have appointed a new CEO who, on the surface, appears to be wholly unequipped to deal with the difficult situation in which the company finds itself as well as its large and brutal competitor. Founders John Zimmer and Logan Green are stepping back...
Metaverse now is a risky proposition. It looks like Apple has caved to pressure and is going to press ahead with the launch of a Metaverse device this year and without the guiding hand of Steve Jobs or Jony Ive, this is a risky proposition. I have long been dubious as to whether Apple would launch a Metaverse device before...
Judged guilty before proceedings started. TikTok has been eviscerated by both sides of the house in what was a pretty unfair hearing that looks likely to end in an outright ban of TikTok handing an advantage straight to Meta Platforms and Snap. TikTok CEO Shou Chew testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee where he received a universally hostile...
Chinese tech remains hostage to the economy. Tencent reported mediocre results and said that it was well positioned for an economic recovery but signs of this recovery and action from the state to stimulate a recovery remain frustratingly absent. Q4 2022 revenues / EPS were RMB145bn up 0.5% YoY / RMB10.98 up 19% YoY both of which were broadly in...
Jensen executes perfect timing. With perfect timing, Nvidia has launched some new products and services that would have barely caused a ripple a year ago but in this environment, Nvidia is likely to end up with more demand than it can handle but for how long? Nvidia focused almost exclusively on AI at its 1st GTC of 2023 and launched...
Nvidia: early signals of pick-up. The current AI craze is already bearing fruit for lead supplier Nvidia as it appears to have turned the taps back on at TSMC as every man and his dog rushes to create a chatbot based on some large language model (LLM) or other. Monica Chen of Digitimes (see here) who is based just around...
Yet another black eye for its floundering hardware business. Google has identified 18 zero-day vulnerabilities related to Samsung Exynos modems the four most serious of which would allow a hacker to take over a device simply by knowing its phone number. A range of Samsung devices, Vivo devices, the Pixel 6 and 7 and any device that uses the Exynos...
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.
Autonomous driving – The FOMO signal
When FOMO bails, it is time to consider buying. Ford’s signalling of its intention to exit autonomous driving marks a point of capitulation for the momentum tourists implying that only the serious players are left and that perhaps the time is ripe to buy the distressed assets. Ford has informed the NHTSA (US road safety regulator) that it is not...