Navigating maturing markets
Alibaba, the e-commerce giant, and Tencent, the videogame behemoth, are seeking ways to extend their strong presence in markets roiled by fickle consumer expectations and under competitive pressure. Profits will suffer...
Technology
Tencent's Makeover
An improbable feat but the tight integration of its social network with mass entertainment has a reach which will keep the company in the sights of regulators and central authorities
Amazon goes local
The US tech firms have been putting their trust in a business model guaranteeing identical levels of service across the world but their global offering could be clashing with local expectations, as Amazon's venture in India might suggest
South East Asia - the 'Jewel in the Crown' of another Empire ?
Commerce deserves careful scrutiny as the advance scouting party of a much larger enterprise, the vast infrastructure project staged and controlled by China's Belt and Road Initiative
Apple 2.0
As competition wears down uniqueness and profitability of Apple's flagship products, the company is betting its future on 'Services', a vast archipelago of digital extensions which turns out to be hard to pin down
Pressing Priorities
Smartphone sales are Apple's core business and in a maturing market, the company's potential would be irreversably wounded by share loss on its key developed markets, critically in competitive Europe
Laws of Unintended Consequences
Greens may be too closely indentified with scientific expertise on climate change to fully recognize the unintended consequences of principled policies, which call for compromise and understanding of the trade-offs required to stay on target
Asian Juggernauts
Strengthening their grip on the semi-conductor industry, South Korea and Taiwan are in the lead, China is catching up fast and Japan appears determined to maintain its market share.... all told the countries commit to almost 80% of global equipment capex
Unpacking foundational tech
A small number of specialized semi-conductor equipment manufacturers have a lock on all the most advanced applications in high-tech hardware. The industry is foundational in US-China trade negotiations because China tech cannot do without
Hackers never sleep
'Cybersecurity' cannot be confused any longer with 'protection' of a business against digital assaults, with a whole array of defensive measures... This never was a correct understanding of cybersecurity, or at best a very partial one
Growing security concerns in an interconnected world
There is little doubt the massive Equifax [EFX/NYSE] data breach (publicized in September ’17) generated a wave of potential customer leads and renewed investor interest in the industry
Sweet spot for satellites ?
Sharply reduced launch costs and radical advance in satellite technology open the door for a new era in global communications. Constellations of satellites still need to prove their case but the future is beckoning
Tackling the Chinese offensive
The semi-conductor industry is at the nexus of the most critical issues overshadowing US-China relations, from the protection of intellectual property to fair competition to national security
China's Silicon Hearts
Whoever controls the production of advanced Integrated Circuits commands the terms of trade between nations...With US and Asian semi-conductor majors protective of their Chinese market shares, it is for the US government to confront new reality
The future of energy storage
Associate Professors J. Johnson and J. DeCarolis, North Carolina State University, envision the advent of grid-scale batteries, providing the utilities with flexible energy delivery, if the price per KwH of lithium batteries continues to plummet
Improved lithium-ion battery technology
To charge the battery, the anode loads up lithium ions. Ions travel through the electrolyte to the cathode to generate power With a higher ‘upload’, replacing the graphite anode by a silicon – graphite mix anode, the battery will generate more power
Commercial drones, a Chinese story for now ?
A single company, DJI Innovations, from Shenzhen, came to dominate the world market by bringing innovative drones to market at an incredible rate, supported by an unmatched 1 500 persons strong R&D department