Latest news with #MichaelLiedtke
Time of India
10-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
AI kingpin Nvidia crowned as first public company with a $4 trillion valuation
By Michael Liedtke SAN FRANCISCO: Silicon Valley chipmaker Nvidia on Wednesday became the first publicly traded company to surpass a $4 trillion market valuation, putting the latest exclamation point on the investor frenzy surrounding an artificial intelligence boom powered by its industry-leading processors. Although Nvidia's market value dipped back below $4 trillion by the time the stock market closed, reaching the milestone highlighted the upheaval being unleashed by an AI craze that's widely viewed as the biggest tectonic shift in technology since Apple co-founder Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone 18 years ago. Underscoring the changing of the guard, AI bellwether Nvidia is now worth $900 billion more than Apple, which rode the iPhone's success to become the first publicly traded company to valued at $1 trillion, $2 trillion and eventually, $3 trillion. Nvidia's rise as come as Apple has struggled to deliver on its ambitions to infuse the iPhone and other products with more AI with an array of new features that included a more than year-old promise to smarten up its often bumbling virtual assistant Apple acknowledged last month that delivering on its AI vision is going to take until at least next year, leading some industry analysts to wonder if the company will have to acquire an AI start-up to regain momentum. In the meantime, former Apple design guru Jony Ive has joined forces with OpenAI to work on a wearable AI device that could challenge the iPhone while Nvidia has been scrambling to meet the feverish demand for its specialized chips that power the energy-intensive data centers underlying artificial intelligence. And tech giants Microsoft, Amazon, Google parent Alphabet and Facebook parent Meta Platforms are upping the AI ante too, collectively budgeting about $325 billion for investments in the technology this year - with a significant amount of that money likely to flow into Nvidia's coffers. The ravenous appetite for Nvidia's chips are the main reason that the company's stock price increased by 10-fold since early 2023, catapulting its market value from about $400 billion to $4 trillion. After exceeding $4 trillion for the first time early Wednesday, Nvidia's shares backtracked below that threshold at their closing price of $162.88. But most analysts don't expect the price to stay below $163 for long. In a sign of the pervasive optimism surrounding Nvidia, CFRA analyst Angelo Zino on Wednesday issued a research note predicting the stock will climb to $196 within the next year to push the company's market value to $4.8 trillion. Nvidia's rapid rise also has anointed the company's founder and CEO Jensen Huang as "the godfather" of AI, whose dissertations about the technology's direction attract enraptured audiences. Huang's widening fame also has been accompanied by a fattening fortune, now estimated at $142 billion. It looked like Nvidia may have hit a road block in early April when President Donald Trump unveiled sweeping tariffs and triggered widespread selloff in the stock market that hit the tech sector especially hard. At its nadir, Nvidia's stock price slipped below $87. But Nvidia quickly bounced and in late May delivered another stellar quarter, highlighted by an $18.8 billion profit, despite a $4.5 billion hit to account for U.S. government restrictions on the sale of some of its chips to China. The Santa Clara, California, company is scheduled to release its next quarterly report on Aug. 27.
Time of India
01-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Judge allows antitrust lawsuit against Apple to proceed
By Michael Liedtke A federal judge on Monday rebuffed Apple 's request to throw out a U.S. government lawsuit alleging the technology trendsetter has built a maze of illegal barriers to protect the iPhone from competition and fatten its profit margins. The 33-page opinion from U.S. District Judge Xavier Neals in New Jersey will enable an antitrust lawsuit that the U.S. Justice Department filed against Apple 15 months ago to proceed. Neals has set a timetable that could see the case come to trial in 2027. Apple has sought to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing the Justice Department had distorted the contours of the smartphone market and made a series of other misinterpretations that warranted the case be thrown out. But Neals decided there is enough evidence to support the Justice Department's market definitions and concluded the case's key allegations merited further examination at trial. The case seeks to pierce the digital fortress that Apple Inc., based in Cupertino, California, has built around the iPhone, iPad and other products to create a so-called "walled garden" allowing its hardware and software to mesh seamlessly for users. The Justice Department alleges that walled garden has mostly turned into a shield against competition, creating market conditions that enable it to charge higher prices and stifle innovation. The lawsuit "sets forth several allegations of technological barricades that constitute anticompetitive conduct ," Neals wrote in his opinion. The judge also concluded the Justice Department had pointed toward enough areas of troubling conduct that raised the "dangerous possibility" that Apple has turned the iPhone into an illegal monopoly. In a Monday statement, Apple reiterated its position that the Justice Department's case "is wrong on the facts and the law, and we will continue to vigorously fight it in court." The antitrust lawsuit isn't the only legal headache threatening to undercut its profits, which totaled $94 billion on sales of $295 billion in its fiscal year ending last September. Another federal judge in April issued a civil contempt order banning Apple from collecting any fees from in-app transactions on the iPhone that are funneled through other options besides its once-exclusive payment processing system that charged commissions ranging from 15% to 30%. Apple also could lose a more than $20 billion annual payment that it gets for making Google the default search tool on the iPhone and other products as part of another antitrust case brought by the Justice Department. A federal judge in Washington D.C. is considering whether to ban the deals with Apple as part of a shake-up being proposed to address Google's illegal monopoly in searc h. Neals' decision to allow the Justice Department's antitrust case to proceed came on the same day that Apple was hit with a lawsuit by app maker Proton amplifying the accusations of wrongful conduct by the company. The lawsuit, which will seek to be certified as a class action presenting thousands of developers who have made iPhone apps, is asking for punitive damages against Apple, as well as a court order to dismantle its walled garden.
Time of India
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Fortnite video game returns to iPhone app store in US, ending exile imposed by Apple
By Michael Liedtke The popular video game Fortnite has returned to the iPhone app store in the U.S., ending a prolonged exile that was triggered by a legal showdown over the lucrative fees that Apple had been collecting for years through a payment system that it has been forced to change. Fortnite hailed its app's long-awaited restoration to the iPhone and iPad in a Tuesday pos t, marking the first time it will be available on those devices since it was ousted in 2020 for trying to avoid the 15% to 30% commissions that Apple collects on in-app transactions. The video game featuring a virtual fight on a digital island is coming back to the iPhone just a few days after its parent company, Epic Games , filed a motion asking a federal judge to order its return as part of a civil contempt of court finding issued against Apple late last month. In a brief statement filed in court late Tuesday, Apple said the dispute that had been keeping Fortnite off its iOS software for the iPhone had been resolved. The Cupertino, California, company didn't immediately respond to a request for further comment. The legal wrangling is all part of a bitter feud that is still boiling. Epic filed a lawsuit alleging Apple had turned its app store into an illegal monopoly - a claim that it lost under a 2021 ruling made by a federal judge after a month-long trial. Although she decided Apple wasn't breaking antitrust laws, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ordered the company to loosen control over in-app payments and allow links to other options that might offer lower prices. After exhausting an appeal that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, Apple last year introduced a new system that opened the door for links to alternative payment options while still imposing a 27% commission on in-app transactions executed outside its own system. Epic fired back by alleging Apple was thumbing its nose at the legal system, reviving another round of court hearings that lasted nearly a year before Gonzalez Rogers delivered her stinging rebuke that included a ban on collecting any kind of commission on alternative payment options. That appeared to clear the way for Fortnite's return to the iPhone and iPad, but Epic last week said the video game was still being blocked by Apple. After Apple contended that keeping Fortnite was still permissible while it pursues an appeal of Gonzalez Rogers' contempt ruling, Epic forced the issue by asking the judge for another order that would make clear the video game should be allowed back on the iPhone and iPad. Gonzalez Rogers on Monday asked why Apple was still blocking Fortnite without an order from the appeals court authorizing that action. She scheduled a May 27 hearing in Oakland, California, to hear Epic's latest motion while noting "Apple is fully capable of resolving this issue without further briefing or a hearing."
