
Patrick McGee: Tim Cook was never a product visionary and it didn't matter before, now it does

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
TSMC to Phase Out 6-Inch Wafer Business to Improve Efficiency
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) is one of the best high-volume stocks to invest in. On August 12, TSMC announced a 2-year plan to phase out its 6-inch wafer manufacturing business. The company stated that this decision, made after a thorough evaluation of market conditions, is aligned with its long-term business strategy to improve efficiency. TSMC is also continuing to consolidate its 8-inch wafer production capacity. The company has only one 6-inch wafer fabrication plant and four 8-inch fabs in Taiwan, which are used for mature-node chip manufacturing. The production of advanced-node chips for major customers like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) takes place in its 12-inch fabs. A close-up of a complex network of integrated circuits used in logic semiconductors. According to TSMC, this move will not affect its previously announced financial targets. The company is working with its customers to ensure a smooth transition and remains committed to meeting their needs during this period. In July, TSMC projected that its revenue would increase by about 30% for the year. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) is a technology company that manufactures, packages, tests, and sells ICs and other semiconductor devices in Taiwan, China, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Japan, the US, and internationally. While we acknowledge the potential of TSM as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the . READ NEXT: and . Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.


Business Insider
2 hours ago
- Business Insider
Why Morgan Stanley Increased Its Apple (AAPL) iPhone Production Estimate
Investment firm Morgan Stanley (MS) recently increased its estimate for Apple's (AAPL) iPhone production in the September quarter by 8%. Indeed, it is now forecasting 54 million units instead of 50 million for the tech giant. This change is due to stronger-than-expected iPhone sales in the June quarter, which brought inventory levels below normal and opened up more room for restocking. Analysts led by Erik Woodring highlighted that the increased production is focused entirely on the upcoming iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro Max, with each contributing an extra 2 million units. Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. Interestingly, the team at Morgan Stanley is becoming more optimistic about Apple overall. In fact, it believes that many of the same positive trends from last year are still in place, such as longer iPhone upgrade cycles, strong demand buildup, and new product designs in the pipeline. It also notes that the peak risks from tariffs have likely passed. Additionally, Apple hasn't raised prices for its Services segment in two years, which is something the analysts view as an underused strategy that could drive future growth. As a result, they believe that earnings estimates are likely to trend higher, which historically has led to rallies for Apple stock. Looking further ahead, the analysts kept their iPhone 17 production forecast unchanged at 80 to 85 million units for the second half of Calendar Year 2025. This range is slightly below or roughly in line with the 84 million new-model iPhones produced in the second half of 2024. They also noted that iPhone production in the December quarter tends to be more volatile than in the September quarter. Indeed, excluding the COVID years (2020 and 2021), December builds have fluctuated from 35% to 71% higher than the previous quarter. Is Apple a Buy or Sell Right Now? Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on AAPL stock based on 16 Buys, 11 Holds, and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average AAPL price target of $239.18 per share implies 3.5% upside potential.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Steve Jobs' first Silicon Valley boss turned down an offer to buy a third of Apple for $50,000—today, his share would be worth nearly $1 trillion
Atari cofounder Nolan Bushnell turned down his former employee, the late Steve Jobs, when he was offered to buy a third of Apple for $50,000 in the 1970s. With the iPhone titan now standing at $3.1 trillion, the video gaming pioneer missed out on making $1 trillion from his relatively small investment. But he isn't troubling himself with regret, reasoning he might not be as happy—and Apple may not have been as successful—if he accepted the deal. Many people may be kicking themselves for not buying Bitcoin or investing in Nvidia stock sooner—but few will have missed out on a bigger deal than Atari cofounder Nolan Bushnell, the first Silicon Valley boss of the late Steve Jobs. A young Jobs offered the gaming mogul an eye-popping deal: buy a third of Apple for just $50,000. What might come as a shock to many is that Bushnell turned it down. Apple has since grown into a $3.1 billion sensation with over a billion iPhones sitting in people's back pockets, and over 100 million Mac users worldwide—and if Bushnell had taken the deal, his cut would have made him $1 trillion today. But Bushnell isn't crying over the missed opportunity Bushnell first witnessed Jobs' potential as a businessman in the 1970s, when the college dropout joined Atari as a technician and games designer before moving into entrepreneurship. Jobs was an essential engineer 'solving problems in the field' at Atari, Bushnell recalled, but his leadership mentality also meant some tension at the office. The Atari cofounder strategically employed Jobs during nightshifts, knowing that Wozniak would also join and help out on projects like the brick-breaking game 'Breakout.' But Jobs would also barge into his office to tell Bushnell that the other employees weren't good at soldering, offering to instruct them. Bushnell recognized that Jobs was a genius—albiet, a complicated one. 'He was a difficult person,' Bushnell told ABC News in 2015. 'He was very smart. Often he was the smartest person in the room, and he would tell everybody that. It's generally not a good social dynamic.' But years later, the tech pioneer isn't quietly simmering over his choice to reject the offer. 'I could have owned a third of Apple computer for $50,000, and I turned it down,' Bushnell said in the interview. 'I've got a wonderful family, I've got a great wife, my life is wonderful. I'm not sure that if I had been uber, uber, uber rich that I'd have had all of that.' In fact, Bushnell even thinks Apple may not have been so successful if he had taken the deal. And his potential payout may not have soared to that trillion-dollar height. 'I'm still an Apple fan and you know I think that hindsight is 20/20,' he told Tech Radar in 2013, when asked about his decision to say no. 'I can go through a thread very easily which, by me turning Steve down led to me introducing him to Don Valentine, and he introduced him to Mike Markkula who is as responsible for Apple's success as Steve Woz[niak] and Jobs.' He's not the first tech boss to have missed out on billions Bushnell isn't the only one who missed out on critical business opportunities that would launch them into billionaire status—there are even others who blew it on big deals with Apple. Ronald Wayne, the lesser-known third Apple cofounder, was also working at the electronics company Atari when he stepped up as Jobs' friend to help convince Wozniak of formalizing Apple's launch. Wayne even typed up the contract, penning that he would receive a 10% share in the tech company, while Jobs and Wozniak would each be awarded a 45% stake. However, less than two weeks after drafting up the document, Wayne sold his stake for just $800, also reaping $1,500 to forgo any claim to the company. Looking back, it's a massive misstep as his 10% share could now be worth between $75 billion and $300 billion today. His wasted opportunity isn't as stark as Bushnell's—and the decision mainly came from a desire to have financial stability in his life. 'Jobs and Woz didn't have two nickels to rub together,' Wayne told Business Insider in 2017. 'I, on the other hand, had a house, and a car, and a bank account—which meant that I was on the hook if that thing blew up.' YouTube's cofounders, Chad Hurley, Steven Chen and Jawed Karim could also be sitting in a sizable nest egg today if they didn't sell their company so early. The YouTube creators sold their popular video platform to Google for $1.65 billion in fall 2006—each receiving millions of dollars worth of stock. Hurley got company shares worth around $345 million, according to The New York Times, while Chen accepted about $326 million worth. Karim, who left the business early to go back to school, got $64 million of shares. They were ecstatic about the deal in the beginning, but the buyer's remorse would potentially creep up less than 20 years later. Today, YouTube is valued at $550 billion—333 times higher than its market cap from nearly two decades prior, adjusted to inflation. If Hurley and Chen accepted the same stock deal today that they did in 2006, each could have more than $100 billion in their bank accounts. This story was originally featured on Sign in to access your portfolio