Xiaomi’s love of low margins makes an EV viable. Xiaomi can succeed where Apple failed because its hardware is already very unprofitable meaning that adding an EV into the product mix will not dilute profitability as it would have done for Apple. When Xiaomi is in favour, it is often feted as the “Apple of China” but there is one...
2024 starts with a predictable bang. Samsung reported results that beat expectations confirming that the boom in demand for AI is affecting more than just Nvidia, while a modest recovery in smartphones is likely to have added some icing to the cake. Q1 2023 revenues / operating profit will be around KRW71tn / KRW6.6tn which is broadly in line with...
Gen AI is clearly very expensive to operate. Google is toying with the idea of putting new features of its flagship search service behind a paywall which indicates that the cost to deploy these features is so high, that advertising cannot support them. Since ChatGPT first appeared, there has been constant concern that generative AI would undermine Google’s position in...
EVs have run out of well-heeled early adopters. While the long-term proposition of electrical vehicles remains unchanged, the realities of delivering on that proposition are really starting to tell as Tesla (and the others) have run out of well-heeled consumers willing to pay big money to be beta testers. This has been apparent for some time but was brought into...
Pressure is mounting to generate revenue. The early signs of pressure are appearing in the AI industry which looks like a precursor to price erosion which RFM has predicted will be the pin that bursts the AI bubble. Roughly $50bn has been ploughed into an industry that has generated around $3bn in revenues, but as of today, most participants remain...
RFM is taking a short break for the Easter holiday and will return on the 2nd April.
Money grows on trees until it doesn’t. Capital continues to pour into the AI sector with very little attention being paid to company fundamentals in a sure sign that when the music stops there will not be many chairs available. The latest sign of this reckless abandonment is the fact that Cohere is able to raise money at a valuation...
Almost anything will be an improvement. The scene is set for WWDC to be the launchpad for Apple’s ambitions in AI and given its history in this area, almost anything will represent a significant improvement. To be fair to Apple, its products already use AI but it’s the sort of AI that runs in the background which makes the user...
Lucid likely to be the survivor. The combination of economic pressure on consumers and brutal competition from China makes it very clear that the EV shakeout will continue, and I think that Lucid will be the last man standing but only as a private company. A series of factors including cost, charging and immaturity is causing demand for EVs to...
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.
China vs. USA – Insurance Policy
Higher costs are a necessary insurance policy. The announcement of $11.6bn in government assistance for TSMC is not really new news but it does further highlight that higher-priced chips made in the USA are probably a worthwhile insurance policy. The US has announced a preliminary deal with TSMC such that it will receive $6.6bn in grants and $5bn in...