In today’s top stories, Ryanair has returned to profitability for the first time since the pandemic, bringing in €1.4bn in the fiscal year that ended 31 March. Elsewhere, US memory chip giant Micron poses “serious network security risks” to China’s infrastructure, the country’s regulator has declared, while Nvidia announced that it has worked with the University of Bristol to build a new supercomputer. Magic Leap is in talks to form a multi-year agreement with Meta, and Apple is set to unveil its VR headset. Lastly, Meta has been fined €1.2bn by the EU for breaching its data protection regulations.
China ban chips away at Micron share price
US memory chip giant Micron [MU] poses “serious network security risks” to China’s infrastructure, the country’s regulator has declared. The ban comes just a week after the chipmaker pledged to spend ¥500bn in Japan producing next-generation semiconductors; it is expected to receive ¥200bn in financial support from the Japanese government. Rahm Emanuel, the US ambassador to Japan, told Bloomberg TV that the move has a “component of confronting China’s coercion”. Micron shares fell as much as 7.6% premarket.
Nvidia chip to power new supercomputer
GPU-maker Nvidia [NVDA] announced Monday that it has worked with researchers at the University of Bristol to build a new supercomputer, Isambard 3, that it hopes can help it compete with Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] and Intel [INTC]. Speaking at a press briefing at a supercomputing event in Germany, Ian Buck, Nvidia’s general manager and vice president of accelerated computing, said Isambard 3 delivers “six times more performance and energy efficiency than the university's previous system, Isambard 2”.
Apple’s VR headset set for June launch
Magic Leap is in talks to form a multi-year agreement with Meta [META]. A partnership would signal that Mark Zuckerberg remains keen to build his version of the metaverse, despite plenty of recent media coverage arguing his dream has already died. Apple [AAPL] could yet save the metaverse, however, when it finally unveils its VR headset next month at its in-house trade show, the Worldwide Developers Conference.
Meta fined for EU privacy breach
In other Meta news, the social media giant has been fined €1.2bn by the EU for breaching its data protection regulations. Meta transferred user data from Europe to the US without getting consent. The company is “disappointed to have been singled out when using the same legal mechanism as thousands of other companies looking to provide services in Europe,” said Meta president of global affairs Nick Clegg in a statement.
Ryanair shares take flight on profit rise
Budget airline Ryanair [RYA.IR] has returned to profitability for the first time since the pandemic. Profit for the fiscal year that ended 31 March was €1.4bn versus a €355m loss in fiscal 2022. Fares are currently 10% above pre-Covid levels, according to chief financial officer Neil Sorahan. The company stated that it’s “cautiously optimistic that FY24 revenue will grow sufficiently to cover our €1bn higher fuel bill and still deliver a modest year-on-year profit increase”. The Ryanair share price rose more than 3% on the news.
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