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Reuters
16-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
AMERICAS US-China trade war goes full throttle
LONDON, April 16 (Reuters) - What matters in U.S. and global markets today By Mike Dolan, opens new tab, Editor-At-Large, Financial Industry and Financial Markets The escalating U.S.-China trade war has expanded and moved beyond tariffs, now hitting everything from chips to planes and pharma. The tensions upended the week's fragile market stability while hitting the dollar again (.DXY), opens new tab and spurring gold to new records. Speaking of gold, in today's column, I explore the rush for the precious metal this year and let you know which country has been dramatically ramping up imports. Now onto the market news. Today's Market Minute * Shares fell in Asia on Wednesday as AI darling Nvidia took a hit from U.S. curbs on chip sales to China, highlighting the damage to come in a tit-for-tat global trade war, while gold hit a record and the safe-haven currencies jumped. * Nvidia did not warn at least some major customers in advance about new U.S. export rules it was told about a week ago requiring it to obtain licenses to sell its China-focused artificial intelligence chip, according to two sources familiar with the matter. * China's first-quarter economic growth outstripped expectations, underpinned by solid consumption and industrial output, but analysts fear momentum could shift sharply lower given the risk posed by U.S. tariffs. * Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bid to transform India into a global factory floor has produced billions of dollars of low-cost iPhones and pharmaceuticals. Now he hopes to add missiles, helicopters and battleships to the shopping carts of foreign governments. * U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status on Tuesday and said the university should apologize, a day after it rejected what it called unlawful demands to overhaul academic programs or lose federal grants. US-China trade war goes full throttle Investors fearful of facing endless more months of trade war-induced uncertainty were given a litany of new concerns overnight, while they also braced for a wave of retail and industrial reports and corporate earnings outlooks on Wednesday. Shares in chip giant Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab plunged 6% in after hours trading on news that the firm is facing a $ 5.5 billion charge related to its most advanced chip available for sale in China. Washington issued new export licensing requirements for both its H20 artificial intelligence chip and AMD's (AMD.O), opens new tab 's MI308 chip. In addition, Trump ordered a probe into potential new tariffs on all U.S. critical minerals imports, on top of reviews into pharmaceutical and chip imports. Emboldened by surprisingly brisk GDP growth numbers for the first quarter, Beijing is continuing to play hardball in the expanding conflict, reportedly ordering airlines to suspend deliveries of Boeing aircraft (BA.N), opens new tab. Hongkong Post said it had suspended goods mail services by sea to the United States and will suspend its air mail postal service for items containing goods from April 27 due to "bullying" U.S. tariffs. And Tesla's (TSLA.O), opens new tab plans to ship components from China for Cybercab and Semi electric trucks in the United States were suspended after the U.S.-China tariff spiral potentially disrupted the electric vehicle firm's plan to start mass production of the much-anticipated models. Wall Street stock index futures , were down again about 1% ahead of Wednesday's bell after closing marginally in the red on Tuesday. Gold, now up 26% for the year so far, topped $3,300 per ounce for the first time. And the dollar suffered a relapse, with the yen and sterling hitting six-month highs. Strengthening in the euro and Canadian dollar was likely held back by expectations of near-term policy easing. The European Central Bank could cut interest rates again as soon as Thursday, and the Bank of Canada is on deck later today. Both meetings were preceded by soft inflation numbers that clear the way for easing. Stocks around the world were in the red again on Wednesday, with European bourses (.STOXXE), opens new tab hit by trade-related chip woes as ASML ( opens new tab fell more than 6% following a warning that tariffs would hit its business this year. Only China's mainland shares (.CSI300), opens new tab were higher. Wall Street now braces for another busy day ahead with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaking in Chicago and retail and industrial numbers for March coming out alongside another sweep of company earnings. U.S. banks were a bright spot on Tuesday as their Q1 updates showed their trading operations benefitted from market turbulence in the first three months. Finally, check out my column today, where I explore the drivers of gold's record run this year, including evidence of China's rapid accumulation of the precious metal as Beijing continues reshaping its foreign reserves. Chart of the day China's first quarter economic growth beat expectations, with a year-on-year GDP rise of 5.4%, matching the prior three months and topping consensus forecasts for a 5.1% expansion. The numbers likely reflect some feverish activity ahead of the U.S. tariff squeeze, with March retail and industrial numbers also beating estimates. The surge in exports last month is expected to tail off sharply in the months ahead. The country's property downturn also remained a drag, with investment in the sector falling 9.9% year-on-year in the first three months and new home prices flat in March. GDP forecasts for the full year anticipate growth slowing to a relatively subdued 4.5%. Today's events to watch * U.S. March retail sales, industrial production, February business/retail inventories, April NAB housing market index, February TIC data on foreign Treasury flows * Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks in Chicago; Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack and Kansas City Fed chief Jeffrey Schmid both speak * Bank of Canada policy decision, press conference from Governor Tiff Macklem * World Trade Organisation releases global trade outlook 2025 * U.S. corporate earnings: US Bancorp, Citizens Financial, Travelers, CSX, Progressive, Abbott Laboratories, Prologis, Kinder Morgan etc * U.S. Treasury sells $13 billion of 20-year bonds * German Chancellor Olaf Scholz meets Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, opens new tab, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias. By Mike Dolan; Editing by Lisa Shumaker Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.
Reuters
01-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Cerebras Systems, Ranovus win $45 million US military deal to speed up chip connections
SAN FRANCISCO, April 1 (Reuters) - Cerebras Systems, a Silicon Valley-based AI chip company, and Canadian chip startup Ranovus said on Tuesday that they had been awarded a $45 million contract from the U.S. military to speed up connections between computing chips. Cerebras, which aims to challenge Nvidia in the AI chip race, has already filed for an initial public offering. Unlike most competitors whose chips are a bit larger than a U.S. postage stamp, Cerebras makes chips the size of a dinner plate. It is betting its roughly foot-wide chip can outperform Nvidia's cluster of smaller chips. The contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will focus on connecting Cerebras chips together with networking technology from Ranovus, an Ottawa, Ontario-based firm with backing from the Canadian government. Ranovus uses light, rather than electrical signals, to transfer information between chips more quickly and using less power. The challenge of integrating these optical connections directly with computing chips has kicked of a funding frenzy as startups seek different ways to solve the problem. Cerebras and Ranovus would not provide details on how they plan to tackle this, but said DARPA was looking for computing systems capable of simulating complex battlefields in real time. "We want to do something that's 150 times faster and uses three watts instead of 30," Cerebras CEO Andrew Feldman told Reuters on Monday. "That's why we brought the idea to DARPA. They have a reputation for providing funding for extremely difficult, extremely transformative projects." Ranovus has produced demonstration chips with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O), opens new tab and Taiwan's MediaTek ( opens new tab, but said the collaboration with Cerebras will involve new technology that it has not yet shown. "What we plan to do together is something very different," Ranovus CEO Hamid Arabzadeh told Reuters. "There are new things that we have developed in the past year that we're going to bring into this project, which we haven't publicly announced."
Express Tribune
26-03-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
US adds 80 firms including from Pakistan to export blacklist
Listen to article The United States has added 80 companies from various countries, including Pakistan, to its export blacklist. The US added six subsidiaries of Inspur Group, China's leading cloud computing and big data service provider, and dozens of other Chinese entities to its export restriction list on Tuesday. The Inspur units were listed for contributing to the development of supercomputers for the Chinese military, the Commerce Department said in a posting. Five of the subsidiaries are based in China and one in Taiwan. Inspur Group itself was placed on the list in 2023. The Inspur units are among about 80 companies and institutes added to the export control list on Tuesday. Over 50 are based in China. Others are in Taiwan, Iran, Pakistan, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. The listings are intended to restrict China's ability to develop high-performance computing capabilities, quantum technologies and advanced AI, and impede China's development of its hypersonic weapons program. "We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives," said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. China's foreign ministry, in response to an enquiry on Wednesday, condemned the US move and said the country will take necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises. The Chinese embassy in Washington said on Tuesday it firmly opposed "these acts taken by the US and demand that it immediately stop using military-related issues as pretexts to politicize, instrumentalize and weaponize trade and tech issues." The Inspur Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The US also seeks to disrupt Iran's procurement of drones and related defense items and to prevent development of its ballistic missile program and unsafeguarded nuclear activities. The government adds companies to the Commerce Department's Entity List for national security or foreign policy concerns. Companies cannot sell goods to those listed without applying for and obtaining licenses, which are likely to be denied. Commerce official Jeffrey Kessler said the administration aims to prevent "US technologies and goods from being misused for high performance computing, hypersonic missiles, military aircraft training, and UAVs (drones) that threaten our national security." When Inspur Group was placed on the list in 2023, executives from AMD (AMD.O), opens new tab and Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab were questioned about their dealings with the company. At the time, chip industry insiders and their advisers said firms were trying to assess whether they had to halt supplying Inspur's subsidiaries. Reuters could not immediately determine whether the US companies continued to do business with the subsidiaries. Nvidia declined to comment, and AMD did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Chinese firms Nettrix Information Industry Co, Suma Technology Co and Suma-USI Electronics are among the other companies added to the list. The US said they were added for helping develop Chinese exascale supercomputers, which can process vast amounts of data at very high speeds and conduct large-scale simulations. The companies have also provided manufacturing capabilities to Sugon, also known as Dawning Information Industry Co ( opens new tab, a computer server manufacturer added to the Entity List in 2019 for building supercomputers used by the military, the Commerce Department said. The companies could not immediately be reached for comment. Other companies were added to the list for acquiring US origin items to advance China's quantum technology capabilities, and for selling products to companies that supply other listed parties, including Huawei, the tech conglomerate viewed as at the center of China's AI ambitions.
Reuters
12-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Exclusive: TSMC pitched Intel foundry JV to Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom, sources say
SINGAPORE/NEW YORK/TAIPEI, March 12 (Reuters) - TSMC ( opens new tab has pitched U.S. chip designers Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O), opens new tab and Broadcom (AVGO.O), opens new tab about taking stakes in a joint venture that would operate Intel's (INTC.O), opens new tab factories, according to four sources familiar with the matter. Under the proposal, the Taiwanese chipmaking giant would run the operations of Intel's foundry division, which makes chips adapted for the needs of customers, but it would not own more than 50%, the sources said. Qualcomm (QCOM.O), opens new tab has also been pitched by TSMC, according to one of the sources and a separate source. The talks, which are at an early stage, come after U.S. President Donald Trump 's administration requested TSMC, the world's leading contract chipmaker, assist in turning around the troubled U.S. industrial icon, the sources said on condition of anonymity because the talks are not public. The details of the plan for TSMC to take no more than a 50% stake and its overtures to potential partners are being reported for the first time. Any final deal - the value of which is unclear - would need approval from the Trump administration, which does not want Intel or its foundry division to be fully foreign-owned, the sources said. Intel, TSMC, Nvidia, AMD and Qualcomm declined to comment. The White House and Broadcom did not respond to requests for comment. At stake is the future of the U.S. chipmaking giant, whose shares have lost more than half of their value in the last year. Intel reported a 2024 net loss of $18.8 billion, its first since 1986, driven by large impairments. The foundry division's property and plant equipment had a book value of $108 billion as of December 31, according to a company filing. Trump is keen to revive Intel's fortunes, as he seeks to boost American advanced manufacturing, three of the sources said. The sources said TSMC's joint venture pitch was made to potential backers before the Taiwanese chipmaker announced with Trump on March 3 that the company planned to make a fresh $100 billion investment in the United States that involves building five additional chip facilities there in coming years. Talks about the joint venture over Intel's foundry division have since continued, the three sources said, with TSMC looking to have more than one chip designer as a partner. Multiple companies have expressed interest in buying parts of Intel, but two of the four sources said the U.S. company has rejected discussions about selling its chip design house separately from the foundry division. Qualcomm has exited earlier discussions to buy all or part of Intel, according to those people and a separate source. Intel board members have backed a deal and held negotiations with TSMC, while some executives are firmly opposed, according to two sources. Intel's contract manufacturing business, or foundry division, was a crucial part of former CEO Pat Gelsinger's effort to save Intel. Gelsinger was forced out by the board in December, which named two interim co-CEOs who have mothballed its forthcoming AI chip. Any deals between historical rivals TSMC and Intel would face major challenges and be costly and laborious. The two companies currently use vastly different processes, chemicals, and chipmaking tool setups at their factories, according to separate sources at the companies. Intel has previously had manufacturing partnerships with Taiwan's UMC ( opens new tab and Israel's Tower Semiconductor ( opens new tab that could offer a precedent for the two companies to operate together, but it remains unclear how such a partnership would work regarding trade manufacturing secrets. The Taiwanese chipmaker wants potential investors in the joint venture to also be Intel advanced manufacturing customers, according to one of the sources. Reuters reported last week, citing sources, that Nvidia and Broadcom are running manufacturing tests with Intel, using the company's most advanced production techniques, known as 18A. AMD is also evaluating whether Intel's 18A manufacturing process is suitable for it. But 18A has been an area of contention in negotiations between Intel and TSMC, two sources said. During talks in February, Intel executives told TSMC that its advanced 18A manufacturing technology was superior to TSMC's 2-nanometer process, according to those sources.
