SoftBank Ups AV Bet; Ericsson Jumps 10%; A More Open AI?

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Ericsson Jumps 10% on AT&T Deal

Sweden’s Ericsson [ERIC] led gains on Europe’s STOXX 600, gaining nearly 10% Tuesday morning. The spike followed news that the telecom secured a $14bn deal with AT&T [T] to roll out ‘open-RAN’ technology. According to Bloomberg, the technology will enable AT&T to choose multiple vendors to supply its wireless infrastructure going forward, rather than being locked into a single relationship. Ericsson rival Nokia [NOK] fell 8% by mid-day in Helsinki.

SoftBank Ups Stake in Autonomous Cars

SoftBank [SFTBY] has acquired a 51% stake in Dublin-based Cubic Telecom, a company that specialises in broadband for connected cars, for approximately €473m — valuing the start-up at over €900m. Bloomberg called the move “a bet on driverless cars”, given that internet connectivity is a key technological requirement for autonomous vehicles. The deal follows investments in AI mapping software firm Mapbox and autonomous truck start-up Stack AV.

E-commerce’s New GoTo Market Template

TikTok-owner ByteDance has reached an agreement to cooperate, rather than compete, with GoTo Group’s [GOTO:JK] e-commerce platform Tokopedia across several areas. According to Bloomberg, the partnership not only has the potential to salvage TikTok Shop’s prospects in Indonesia (after the government ordered that payments and shopping be split), but could provide a template for e-commerce globally. Meanwhile, Indonesia has climbed 14 spots in INSEAD’s Global Talent Competitiveness Index in 2019–2023 compared to the previous five years.

A More Open AI?

The Wall Street Journal reports that Meta [META] is collaborating with IBM [IBM] in establishing the AI Alliance, a collaboration of companies and research institutions pioneering an open-source model of AI development. Elsewhere, Nvidia [NVDA] is creating an AI tech ecosystem in Japan by investing into local start-ups, creating an AI research laboratory and educating the Japanese public about the technology.

Nigerian Fintechs Soar on Payments Pivot

Fintech firms Chams [CHAMS:NL] and Computer Warehouse Group [CWG:NL] are among Nigeria’s top-performing stocks this year. Both companies have seen more than sevenfold gains by creating new mobile payments services that tap into vast demand in Nigeria, reported Bloomberg. “We have changed the business model to be full fintech,” Chams CEO Mayowa Olaniyan told Bloomberg. The company’s stock has gained over 800% year-to-date, making it the frontrunner in Nigeria’s 151-member all-share index.....