A lot happened in the tech world last week. From Samsung predicting a profit surge in the second half of 2024 to the EU increasing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to Tesla releasing its second-quarter report, there’s plenty to keep an eye on. So let’s get started.
Samsung reports forecast of sharp profit surge
Samsung Electronics expects its profit to rise 15 times year-on-year for the three months ending June 2024. The surge is due to an AI boom that has boosted the price of advanced chips, boosting the company’s second-quarter forecast. Shares in the South Korean tech giant, the world’s largest maker of memory chips, smartphones and TVs, rose more than 2% during trading hours in Seoul following the announcement.
Moreover, Samsung reported that its profits for the first quarter of this year rose more than tenfold. The company now expects profits to rise to 10.4 trillion won ($7.54 billion, £5.9 billion) this quarter from 670 billion won last year, beating analyst expectations of 8.8 trillion won, according to LSEG SmartEstimate.
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EU raises tariffs on Chinese-made EVs
The European Union has increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles in a bid to protect its own auto industry. The new tariffs on individual manufacturers range from 17.4% to 37.6% on top of the existing 10% tariff on fully electric cars imported from China.
The price hike could make EVs more expensive across the EU, making them less affordable for European consumers. The move would be a major blow to Beijing, which is already engaged in a trade war with the U.S. The EU is the largest overseas market for China’s EV industry, and China is relying on high-tech products to revive its ailing economy.
Tesla releases second quarter report
Tesla shares rose 10% after the company reported second-quarter vehicle production and delivery results that beat analysts’ expectations. The company delivered 443,956 vehicles and produced 410,831 vehicles in the second quarter of 2024, beating the expected 439,000 deliveries, according to FactSet Street Accounts estimates. Deliveries were down 4.8% from 466,140 in the same period last year, but up 14.8% from the first quarter. Tesla shares closed at $231.26 on July 3, but are still down about 7% heading into 2024.
EU regulators have accused Facebook’s parent company, Meta, of failing to comply with the EU’s landmark antitrust rules over its recently launched ad-supported social networking service.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, described the ad-supported subscription option as a “pay or consent” model, meaning users must either pay for ad-free access to Meta’s platform or consent to having their data processed for personalized ads. The service was introduced for Facebook and Instagram in Europe last year.
Amazon hires top AI talent
Amazon is accelerating its development of artificial intelligence technologies by hiring top talent from AI agent startup Adept and licensing the company’s technology.
Rohit Prasad, Amazon’s senior vice president and chief scientist for artificial general intelligence, announced in a memo to employees that the company had hired Adept co-founder and CEO David Luan and “several other highly talented team members” to its AGI team. Luan will lead Amazon’s “AGI Autonomy” division and report to Prasad.