Arm & NVIDIA – The unthinkable pt. V

An IPO of Arm beckons. The risk to NVIDIA’s acquisition of Arm from Softbank continues to increase as the problems with its China unit seem to be getting worse rather than better and now the UK government is investigating on the grounds of national security. The dispute started around 12 months ago when Arm China’s board voted 7-1 to remove...

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Electric Vehicles – Internet Bubble 2.0

Go away and come back another day. While I think that EV’s will take over the entire vehicle industry, the amount of capital chasing this sector has reached absurd levels and the signs of a sharp and devastatingly painful correction are everywhere. Electric vehicles make complete sense because once they begin to scale and the infrastructure is in place, RFM...

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China vs. USA – Pawn to king four.

The Biden administration makes its first clear move on China The Biden administration has made its first move against China in what looks like a warning shot rather than any real attempt to hobble a part of China’s technology industry. The USA has placed Tianjin Phytium IT, Sunway Microelectronics, Shanghai High-Performance IC Design Center and four regional facilities of the...

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Darktrace – Dirty traces

IPO now may not be such a good idea. The spectre of Autonomy hangs over the Darktrace IPO partly due to its relationship with ex-Autonomy executives but also because it has made a mess of its communications. The last thing the LSE needs is another failed IPO as many leading prospective UK technology companies are already questioning the wisdom of...

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Grab – Cash grab

An opportunistic cash grab. Grab is going public in one of the biggest SPAC transactions to date and while its valuation is not at the Tesla / electric vehicle-level of unreality, it does not need the cash and is still at least 2x overvalued based on its fundamentals. This looks very much like a transaction aimed at capitalising on the...

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Ant Group – Crushed by the state.

A very different fate to that of Alibaba.  The censure dealt to Ant Group is the exact opposite of that given to Alibaba (see here) that will destroy its proposition, ensure that it no longer threatens the banking sector and also supplies all of its data to the state. Tencent can expect the same treatment. Some commentators will see this...

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Alibaba – The house wins

This is about Jack, not the house.  Alibaba escapes with a slap on the wrist and Beijing’s further actions demonstrate very clearly that its actions are all about bringing Jack Ma to heel rather than killing the economic powerhouses that he created. The Chinese regulator has fined Alibaba RMB18.2bn ($2.8bn) for market abuses and ordered it to file a report...

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LG – End of an era

LG finally throws in the towel. LG has finally thrown in the towel on smartphones in an admission to what has been patently clear for many years which is that had no chance of creating a stable smartphone business. I have followed LG’s mobile phone efforts for over 17 years and when this business was all about hardware and miniaturization,...

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Autonomous & Electric – On the brakes.

The great reset spreads. The migration towards electric and autonomous is showing signs of strain with crashing valuations and signs of a significant slowdown in progress. This is good news for the OEMs who have been served notice by the technology industry, but which has spectacularly failed to live up to the timetable giving them more time to get their...

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Samsung Q1 21 – Double barrelled.

Semis and smartphones drive results. Samsung reported excellent Q1 21 results as mobile devices and semiconductors look like they have underpinned a substantial recovery compared to Q1 20. However, as usual, this was already broadly known in the domestic market meaning that the shares barely reacted to the good news. Samsung expects Q1 21 revenues / EBIT to be KRW65tn...

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