Strategy in TECH...
According to the latest Chinese customs data, outbound shipments in March increased by 12.4% year-over-year (YoY) far exceeding all previous estimates. In addition to that, first quarter GDP lept 5.4% in China, a huge increase over recent historical moves. It appears that exporters are seeking to beat the newly aggressive U.S. tariff policy by front-loading their needs.
Like being forced to watch a rerun of a movie you never liked in the first place, China is back to closing major cities around the country as a new round of COVID infections has emerged. China continues to maintain a “zero-COVID” policy of government-ordered aggressive measures designed to stamp out any new outbursts of coronavirus infections. But the impact of this policy is disastrous to the local and global economies – threatening to snuff out the recent signs of a recovery in the supply chain.
Fortune just published its latest Global 500 ranking of the top companies in the world – and the results this year are earth-shaking. For the first time ever, since this list was launched in 1990, another country has more companies on the list of top companies than the U.S. And the bad news for the White House is that new #1 is China, the country with which it is currently in the midst of a high stakes trade war.
The Chinese government has targeted artificial intelligence (AI) as a technology they want to dominate globally. They are pouring billions of dollars annually into AI development and directing universities to focus on the technology in all of their fundamental research.
Now, in the first public demonstration of their progress in AI technology, the state-run Xinhua News Agency has introduced and demonstrated a pair of virtual news anchors or avatars based on two known Chinese flesh-and-blood reporters.
In news out of Korea, we learn that Samsung Display is planning to build the world’s largest OLED manufacturing facility in a bid to hold off Chinese competition in the increasingly popular technology. Samsung’s board of directors are expected to meet this month to approve the plans and the investment.
The Nikkei in Tokyo is reporting today that JVC Kenwood has revealed that it expects to achieve ¥13 billion ($158 million) in net profit for fiscal 2015. This rate is more than double its fiscal 2011 level of profit…and an ambitious target.
In a rash of news coming out of Japan, it is clear that manufacturers are still struggling with the global economic slowdown…as well as an electronics industry retrenchment. As painful as it’s been for Japanese manufacturers (often called Japan, Inc.) over the last 12-24 months or so – adding insult to injury, the China market has slowed down dramatically recently. Considering that China was everyone’s favorite “emerging” growth market – this amounts to a swift kick in the pants and is forcing many to revisit their estimates for this fiscal year. Below is a sample of the latest painful announcements to come out of Japan over the last few days.
As the industry is on the verge of rolling out the latest HDTV upgrade – 4K resolution – news comes out of Japan that a coalition of Japanese broadcasters and television equipment manufacturers have collaborated to create the next great standard they call Ultra High Definition Television or UHDTV. Another incremental improvement? Oh no…UHDTV leapfrogs 4K…
The Nikkei Reported today that both Sony Corp. and Sharp Corp. have further reduced their original forecast for fiscal year 2012 flat-panel HDTV sales in the wake of a worldwide slowdown in demand. The move surprised analysts, as both companies had forecast weaker demand as part of their initial 2012 forecast. But, as we’ve been reporting for months, sales of flat-panel TVs in Japan’s domestic market have fallen off a cliff as previous government rebate programs meant to encourage consumers to switch to a new digital TV system, as well as to more energy-efficient TVs and appliances, came to an end. Now, manufacturers are experiencing slack demand around the world, including a slowdown in the market they had been counting on to provide substantial growth – China. [Read more…] about After Surprising Analysts with Initial Downgraded 2012 TV Sales Forecast, Sony & Sharp Stun Again with Deeper Cuts
<February 15, 2012> While Wall Street has been oooing and aaahhhhhing over Apple, Inc.’s stock breaching a significant price of $500 per share earlier this week…only to drop below it again in trading today (closing at $497.67)…there has been a slew of significant Apple-related stories in today’s news on several major fronts. We offer below a summary of these significant stories from today’s press: [Read more…] about The Apple Report – Ripe or Rotten?
