Have Sanctions Actually Helped Huawei?

Have Sanctions Actually Helped Huawei?

Tuesday saw the release of Huawei’s Mate 70 smartphone, featuring HarmonyOS Next, its fully homegrown operating system, which aims to rival Apple’s [AAPL] iOS and Google’s [GOOGL] Android. The launch signals China’s growing technological independence, according to the Financial Times: US sanctions have seemingly had the effect of bolstering Huawei’s innovation drive. Last month, the company reported a 30% rise in sales year-over-year for the first nine months of 2024.

Tim Cook in Beijing

The Apple CEO joined over 20 business leaders in talks with China’s Premier Li Qiang on Monday, Bloomberg reported. Executives from Rio Tinto [RIO], Corning [GLW] and Lenovo [LNVGY], among others, also participated, signaling efforts to stabilize business ties in a shifting global trade landscape. This was the first high-level meeting between foreign companies and a senior official since Donald Trump’s election win. Cook’s third visit to China this year also underscores Apple’s commitment to its key international market. 

Tech Earnings This Week

This week will be curtailed by Thanksgiving and Black Friday, but it will still see a raft of potentially interesting earnings reports from the broader tech sector. After Zoom [ZM] and 3D Systems Corporation [DDD] on Monday, investors will be looking to CrowdStrike [CRWD] on Tuesday to see if it has recovered from the reputational hit associated with the global outage earlier this year; on the same day HP [HPQ], Dell Technologies [DELL], Workday [WDAY], Autodesk [ADSK] and Analog Devices [ADI] all report.

Intel CHIPS Grant Cut

The Biden administration plans to lower Intel’s [INTC] CHIPS Act funding grant from $8.5bn to under $8bn, Seeking Alpha detailed, after the firm failed to meet certain milestones. This adjustment factors in Intel’s $3bn military chip production contract and demand projections for its technology. Initially, Intel’s CHIPS award included some $20bn in grants and loans. This news will be disappointing for investors hoping that Intel can reverse recent losses in market share.

Is Bitcoin’s Trump Rally Stalling?

The cryptocurrency steadied just short of the $100,000 milestone at the start of the week. Its recent rally was fueled by optimism surrounding President-elect Donald Trump’s pro-crypto stance and his nomination of hedge fund executive Scott Bessent for Treasury secretary. The digital asset market has surged $1trn since Trump’s election victory, but concerns are mounting as to whether bitcoin’s momentum is overextended, according to Bloomberg. 

Sony Moves to Challenge Nintendo in Portable Gaming

Sony [SONY] is in developing a new portable gaming console to expand its reach and challenge Nintendo [NTDOY] in the portable gaming market — as well as to steal a march on Microsoft [MSFT], which is working on a similar device, Bloomberg reported. This follows Sony’s PlayStation Portal, released in 2023, which streams PS5 games online but is not a standalone device. The project is still in very early development, however, and may yet be cancelled. 

DELL and IBM: How AI Is Helping Legacy IT Players to Evolve

In the race to artificial intelligence (AI) supremacy, Dell and IBM [IBM] have had to reinvent themselves in order to stay competitive. IBM has been transforming its business through a number of acquisitions, including a $6.4bn deal for HashiCorp [HCP] that is expected to close before the end of the year. Dell, meanwhile, has slowly transitioned to offering enterprise services after years of selling personal computers. OPTO examines how the two legacy players in the enterprise IT industry have turned to AI in order not to get left behind.