Author: guardianpub

Samsung Electronics plans to increase chip production capacity at its largest semiconductor plant next year, despite forecasts of an economic slowdown, a South Korean newspaper reported late on Sunday.

The move contrasts with the scaling back of investment by rival chipmakers amid falling demand and a glut of chips.

Analysts have said that Samsung’s persistence with investment plans will likely help it take market share in memory chips and support its share price when demand recovers.

Samsung plans to expand its P3 factory in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, by adding 12-inch wafers capacity for DRAM memory chips, the Seoul Economic Daily reported, citing unnamed industry sources.

It will also expand the plant with additional 4-nanometre chip capacity, which will be made under foundry contracts – that is, according to clients’ designs – the paper said.

P3, which started production of cutting-edge NAND flash memory chips this year, is the company’s largest chip manufacturing facility.

Samsung is planning to add at least 10 extreme ultraviolet machines next year, the newspaper said.

Samsung declined to comment on the report.

In October it said it was not considering intentionally cutting chip production, defying the broader industry’s tendency to scale back output to meet mid- to long-term demand.

“We plan to stand behind our original infrastructure investment plans,” Han Jin-man, executive vice president of memory business at Samsung, said then.

In contrast, memory chip rival Micron Technology Inc said last week it would adjust down its investments in fiscal 2023 to between $7 billion and $7.5 billion, compared with $12 billion in fiscal 2022. It would also be “significantly reducing capex” plans in fiscal 2024, it said.

Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC in October cut its 2022 annual investment budget by at least 10% and struck a more cautious note than usual on upcoming demand.

“The chip industry downturn will add to the difficulties of No. 2 and below chip companies, and have a positive impact on the market control of top companies such as Samsung,” Greg Roh, head of research at Hyundai Motor Securities, said on Monday.

Source: reuters.com

Netflix (NFLX) shares have been on a tear over the last six months of the year.

But investors will have plenty to worry for the company in 2023, according to one Wall Street analyst.

Needham’s Laura Martin argued in a new client note on Thursday the stock will battle several headwinds in the new year including slowing subscriber growth and increased pressure on its key financial metric, average revenue per user, or ARPU.

Shares of Netflix, down about 50% since the start of the year, have climbed more than 65% over the past six months as industry watchers see content improvements decreasing churn in 2023, while investors remain optimistic by the platform’s foray into advertising — despite recent negative headlines surrounding its November debut.

Martin, however, did not seem convinced by the recent rally, arguing in her note: “NFLX’s peak subs may be behind it, because churn is rising for all [over-the-top platforms].”

She added if Netflix does report subscriber growth in 2023, those users will likely come from low-ARPU regions overseas, while subscriber losses will stem from high-ARPU geographies like the U.S. and Canada, which will weigh on revenue growth.

The analyst, who maintained a Hold rating on the stock, lowered her full-year 2023 revenue estimate by 7% to $33.4 billion. She also lowered expectations for adjusted EBITDA to $6.5 billion and GAAP EPS to $9.31, figures that are 15% and 20% below the firm’s latest estimates, respectively.

Will ad tier hurt Netflix revenue?

Recent ad tier struggles also point to downside risks, Martin said, citing a new study by subscription analytics firm Antenna, which showed the streaming giant’s $6.99 ad-supported offering was the least popular tier of its service during the month November.

The ad tier, which officially debuted in U.S. markets on November 3, accounted for just 9% of Netflix sign-ups during the month. About 57% of those ad-supported subscribers re-joined the service or signed up for the first time, while 43% traded down to the cheaper plan, Antenna data revealed.

Antenna’s study comes after Netflix’s stock lost nearly 9% last Thursday, its biggest intraday drop since April, after a report from Digiday said the streaming giant fell short on viewership guarantees it made to advertisers for the ad tier.

Martin warned Netflix’s 2023 bull case hinges on a successful ad-supported rollout, which makes the recent reports especially unfavorable heading into the new year.

Finally, the analyst — who previously argued Netflix’s ad agreement with Microsoft suggests a future acquisition — described today’s combative regulatory environment as a potential 2023 headwind.

Martin pointed to the FTC’s recent antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft (MSFT) and its $69 billion acquisition of “Call of Duty” publisher Activision Blizzard (ATVI), writing the lawsuit “destroys NFLX shareholder value in 2 ways — making it less likely that MSFT bids for NFLX and/or MSFT is distracted from its AdTech commitments for NFLX’s ad-tier during 2023.”

Source: finance.yahoo.com

The Hummer EV is an earthmoving, behemoth of a pickup that is everything most EV buyers are not trying to be – brash, in your face, and intimidating.

But when they hear it’s electric, their ears sort of perk up.

The Hummer EV, in Edition 1 trim as tested, is a fully loaded version of GMC’s top of the pyramid truck. It has 3 motors pumping out 1000 horsepower, features an 800-volt EV platform with massive Ultium battery (212.7 kWh), and has a range of around 350 miles.

The Edition 1 costs a Hummer-size $112,839 as tested, but you do get a lot for the money. Cheaper versions of the Hummer EV will start at around $80,000, GMC (GM) says.

The design

The big, bold exterior design of the Hummer in an exercise in non-restraint. One only need look at the massive light bar in the front with the glowing HUMMER EV printed on it. The truck is also over a foot wider than a Toyota Camry.

The bruising, bold look starts at the front, which is unmistakable Hummer, hearkening back to the old H1 and H2 of years past. The hulking front end with nearly flat windshield—with three windshield wipers—flows back to the full-size four door cab, and features buttress-like C-pillars that form the upper part of the truck bed.

Our tester continued the out of this word look with two massive 35-inch off-road tires in the pickup bed, capped off with GMC’s MultiPro tailgate that can fold in several stages, with one part incorporating a KICKER audio system and speakers for outdoor tunes.

Inside the Hummer is all business – lots of right angles and hard edges, nothing rounded or curved to speak off. A prominent floating touchscreen display houses GMC’s infotainment system, which uses a Hummer specific graphical background design, mimicking the surface of the moon. There are other moon references in the vehicle, from the floor mats to the speaker covers, echoing what the GMC Hummer team dubbed their moonshot vehicle.

The drive

Hummer almost the size of a medium-duty commercial vehicle.—on New York City streets was agita inducing.

The nearly 10,000-pound Hummer was somewhat nimble; its EV powertrain made accelerating and stopping with its regenerative braking system a smooth affair. Air suspension ate up potholes when encountered, and the vast array of cameras helped with visibility.

Sure there were a couple scary moments when trying to weave through heavy traffic, or the all to common squeezing around a double-parked car on an NYC side street. But the Hummer includes rear-wheel steer to reduce its turning radius, and a party trick known as “crabwalk,” to maneuver when confines are tight, like on an off-road trail. (I actually used crabwalk to parallel park on a narrow city street.)

But out of the city is where the Hummer shined. Sitting high up like a full-size pickup, the Hummer offers a commanding view of the road. With 1000 horsepower on tap, zooming past smaller cars and weaving around traffic felt like we were breaking the laws of physics.

Yes – it’s a capable truck, and we didn’t even have the chance to take if off road and use those 35-inch tires to good use. But the hummer is more than its physical presence. It’s GM’s way of showing what’s possible with EVs, and showing a skeptical public that an EV can be the biggest, baddest thing on the road.

“Hummer bordered on an evil brand when GM finally retired it,” my co-pilot Newman said about the brand’s once reviled history. “Environmentalists despised it because it was so needlessly obnoxious, and it got single-digit mpg. It had to be the most inefficient vehicle there was when it stopped production in 2010.”

But with the Hummer being all electric, those legacy issues are now gone. “It still might be inefficient, but there are no greenhouse gasses coming out the back,” Newman added. “They’re taking a sin brand and turning it into a virtuous brand.”

And that might be GM’s real moonshot. Taking the Hummer brand out of the dustbin of history, and making it king of the hill across all of GM’s truck offerings – electric or not.

Source: finance.yahoo.com

Apple (AAPL) –  were active in pre-market trading Tuesday following a price target cut from analysts at JPMorgan and a muted holiday sales outlook.

JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee clipped $10 from his Apple price target, taking it to $190 per share, while maintaining an ‘overweight’ rating on the stock heading into the final days of the trading year.

Chatterjee cautioned, however, that supply chain challenges, linked to the ongoing Covid disruption in China, would take some 4 million from the tech giant’s December iPhone sales, which he now pegs at around 70 million.

Last month, Bloomberg reported that Apple could see a 6 million shortfall in iPhone production from disruptions at its key China manufacturing plant, affecting mostly its high-end iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max devices.

“We continue to see the supply shortfall continuing through year-end and impacting the typical seasonal uptick in iPhone volumes seen in Dec-Q. Thus, we are moderating our iPhone 14 Pro / Pro Max shipment forecast again in the Dec-Q,” Chatterjee said.

“We again expect the impact to estimates for FY23 overall to be more modest as we anticipate part of the shipment shortfall in the Dec-Q to be made up in the Mar-Q with supply constraints easing up in the lower production months and only a modest impact to demand given the historical precedent for Apple consumers to wait through a delay,” he added.

Apple shares were marked 0.17% higher in pre-market trading to indicate an opening bell price of $85.93 each.

Apple’s key China manufacturing hub, based in the north east city of Zhengzhou, saw violent protests in November as staff demonstrated against pay and working conditions in the 200,000-person plant run by Taiwan’s Foxconn.

Hundreds of workers were filmed in protest outside the plant, known as ‘iPhone City’, with some smashing windows and tearing down barricades, amid accusations of delayed bonus payments and dangerous working conditions linked to an earlier Covid outbreak.

The protests came shortly after Apple cautioned that Covid restrictions at the 200,000-person plant would curtail shipments of its higher-end iPhones heading into the holiday season in most of its global markets.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said in October that iPhone demand has remained healthy, but noted that supply constraints for both the 14 Pro and the 14 Pro Max continued to persist heading into the key holiday season, even prior to the added restrictions at Zhengzhou.

iPhone revenues, in fact, were an important component of Apple’s better-than-expected September quarter earnings, with sales rising 9.6% from last year to $42.62 billion.

Overall revenues, however, rose 2% from last year to an all-time high of $90.15 billion, helping Apple to a Street-beating fourth quarter earnings tally of $1.29 per share.

Source: thestreet.com