Category: Semafor

The European heatwave is benefiting Chinese air-conditioning makers and e-commerce platforms. On Alibaba’s international retail site, a Midea AC model that debuted this month is completely sold out in Germany, Italy saw a 100% month-on-month jump in sales of cooling appliances and sun-protection apparel, and a French politician ordered Chinese-made ...

The quest to build “sovereign” technology systems is increasingly animating European politics — not because of China, but the US. “The sharp edge of the tech discussion here is actually aimed at the US,” Jacob Kirkegaard, at the Brussels think tank Bruegel, said, remarks echoed by several executives and analysts ...

Liz’s view “Content is king,” Sumner Redstone said as technological shifts upended the media industry in the 1980s. That was the principle ho-hum distributors followed as they joined up with the creative engines of their industries, hoping to capture their glitz, IP, and stock-price multiples. Now, the pendulum is swinging ...

Honeywell Aerospace CEO Jim Currier, whose aerospace and defense spinoff began trading on its own Monday, offered another eulogy for the conglomerate model. The sector-spanning corporate empire is “outdated,” Currier told Semafor, reflecting on a past generation of investors that were less sophisticated, had fewer tools like ETFs and prediction ...

China’s crackdown on offshore securities trading hit one of the biggest US trading firms to the tune of $70 million — and shows that (alleged) insider trading hasn’t moved to prediction markets. Susquehanna Investment Group sued 100 unnamed defendants who it says placed suspicious trades before Beijing last month targeted ...

Confusion reigned over whether the US and Iran will hold talks in Doha. Washington said they would meet; Tehran said its representatives would only see Qatari mediators. Iran insists vessels pass through its waters in the Strait of Hormuz as it seeks to maintain the control over the strait it ...

XRG, the international investment arm of Abu Dhabi oil company ADNOC, has agreed to take a 32% stake in three upstream blocks in Argentina that will supply gas to the country’s first LNG export terminal — adding to the growing list of overseas LNG deals by Gulf energy majors. XRG, ...

The AI buildout is reshaping the global economy. Memory chip demand has already pushed consumer electronics prices up, and RAM prices are expected to increase a further 40-50% in the coming quarter. The three biggest memorymakers have seen profits and market caps surge, while shares in tech’s “Magnificent Seven” — ...

China’s manufacturing activity expanded more than expected, cementing the country’s two-track economy with domestic demand still in the doldrums. The relatively upbeat purchasing managers’ index reading for this month was largely driven by the global AI investment boom and the broader export sector, but other industries in the world’s second-biggest ...

Taiwan raided the local offices of US IT firm Super Micro over allegations that it helped smuggle Nvidia chips into China, underscoring the geopolitical importance of the world’s most advanced semiconductors. Washington has banned the export of cutting-edge chips to China, citing fears that they could give the Asian giant ...