• TikTok is making its algorithm optional for users in the European Union to comply with the Digital Services Act.
• It agrees to laws that ban targeted advertisements for 13 to 17 year olds.
  

Next week, a law policing Big Tech in the European Union comes into force, starting the clock on a process expected to force companies like Amazon, Google, Meta, TikTok, and Twitter, among others, to make their platforms more open and interoperable. The Digital Services Act addresses social media’s societal harms by requiring companies to watch over their platforms for illicit content more aggressively or risk billions of dollars in fines.

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To recall, the European Parliament and all EU member states reached a political agreement on the Digital Services Act in late 2022. The legislation had set a timeline for companies under the Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) category to crack down on hate speech, disinformation, and other harmful and illegal material on their platforms. 

 “If the platform or a search engine has more than 45 million users (10% of the population in Europe), the Commission will designate the service as a very large online platform or a very large online search engine. These services will have four months to comply with the obligations of the DSA, which includes carrying out and providing the Commission with their first annual risk assessment,” the Commission stated.

Timeline for Digital Services Act as set by the European Commission.

On April 23, 2023, the European Commission named a list of 19 tech platforms required to comply starting August 25, 2023. The list includes 17 VLOPs and 2 Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSEs).

• Alibaba AliExpress
• Amazon Store
• Apple AppStore
• Booking.com
• Facebook
• Google Play
• Google Maps
• Google Shopping
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest
• Snapchat
• TikTok
• Twitter
• Wikipedia
• YouTube
• Zalando

Meanwhile, the VLOSEs listed included Bing and Google Search. What comes after the designation is that the companies are required to comply, within four months, with the complete set of new obligations under the Digital Services Act. Overall, the new law is also helping make Brussels a trailblazer in the growing global movement to clamp down on tech giants. 

In light of the requirements by the European Commission, TikTok’s owner ByteDance and other large online platforms will be required to police illegal content on their platforms, prohibit certain advertising practises, and share data with authorities. TikTok quickly ensured they were on the good side of the block. 

On August 4, the video-sharing platform released new measures and features for European users to comply with the incoming Digital Services Act.

How will TikTok abide by the EU Digital Services Act?

Before releasing its new guidelines, TikTok agreed to a voluntary “stress test” last month. The result was that EU industry chief Thierry Breton recommended “more work” was needed for the firm to be fully compliant.

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“In the coming weeks, we are introducing an additional reporting option for our European* community that will allow people to report content they believe is illegal, including advertising,” TikTok said in a blog posting.

That means making this as easy as possible, and people can choose from categories such as hate speech, harassment, and financial crimes. “We will provide a guide to help people better understand each category,” TikTok noted. As for content reported as being illegal, it will first be reviewed against the platform’s ‘Community Guidelines’ and removed globally if it violates TikTok’s policies. 

If it does not, TikTok has a new dedicated team of moderators and legal specialists to assess whether it violates the law, and “we will restrict access to the content in that country only,” TikTok added. Under the DSA, it will inform European users about a broader range of content moderation decisions. 

“For example, if we decide a video is ineligible for a recommendation because it contains unverified claims about an election that is still unfolding, we will let users know. We will also share more detail about these decisions, including whether the action was taken by automated technology, and we will explain how both content creators and those who file a report can appeal a decision,” the blog post reads.

TikTok also allows its European users to turn off personalization for their feed to meet the Digital Services Act requirements. “This means a user’s For You and LIVE feeds will instead show popular videos from both the places where they live and around the world, rather than recommending content to them based on their interests.”

When using a non-personalized search, users will see results of popular content from their region and in their preferred language. Their Following and Friends feeds will continue to show creators they follow, but in chronological order rather than based on the viewer’s profile.

One of the most significant changes made to cater to TikTok’s European demographic is how it’ll protect teens’ privacy. Firstly, TikTok said accounts for those under 16 are private by default, and their content cannot be recommended in For You feeds. European users aged 13-17 will no longer see personalized advertising based on their activities on or off TikTok. “People already have control over the ads they can see, and they can toggle personalized ads on or off in their settings,” TikTok concluded.

The post TikTok bends to comply with the EU’s Digital Services Act appeared first on TechHQ.

• Foxconn plans to actively deploy work in crucial components to raise its competitiveness in India.
• Foxconn expects sales to fall in the current quarter and the year overall as expectations of a worsening market for electronics linger. 

There is no doubt that consumers have pulled back since last year after a pandemic-induced shopping spree saw people splurge on devices needed for telework and home study. However, the weakening demand’s end seems far from sight. More and more industry bellwethers are seeing faltering numbers, including Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics maker, actively planning a large-scale expansion in India amidst it all.

The Taiwan-based manufacturer, formerly Hon Hai Precision Industry, is best known for its relationship with Apple. Not too long after the Cupertino, California-based tech giant recorded its longest sales slump in decades, Foxconn also started seeing its sales dwindling. For context, according to Canalys’s latest research, the worldwide smartphone market fell by 10% to 258.2 million units in Q2 2023.

Global smartphone market decline softens as shipments drop 10% in Q2 2023. Source: Canalys

At this point, it is the eighth consecutive quarter of a year-on-year decline in overall smartphone shipments. For Foxconn, that’s significant because consumer electronics, including smartphones and wearable devices, are a major revenue contributor. After reporting a 1% drop in second-quarter net profit, Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics maker, said it anticipates that most of its main business segments will be in contraction for the year. 

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According to the company’s statement, in the second quarter of 2023, revenue totaled NT$1.3045 trillion, down 14% on the year. “Gross profit, at NT$83.6 billion, fell 14% at the same time; operating income was NT$30.9 billion, down 30%; while net profit fell 1% from a year ago to NT$33.0 billion,” Foxconn noted. The company reckons operating performance in the third quarter should warm up and show a trend of on-quarter growth. 

“However, considering many external variables, in response to uncertainties such as global monetary tightening, geopolitical tensions, and inflation, the full-year outlook is now expected to decline from previous flattish expectations slightly,” Foxconn admitted. 

As the South China Morning Post writer puts it, Foxconn’s results underscore expectations of a worsening market for global electronics as consumers and corporations hold off on spending during an economic downturn. To top it off, the company’s revenue could be affected by muted iPhone growth in 2023, according to Steven Tseng, analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.

As it is, based on a report by Bloomberg, Apple is asking suppliers to produce about 85 million units of the iPhone 15 this year, roughly in line with the year before. The aim is to hold shipments steady despite tumult in the global economy and a projected decline in the overall smartphone market. 

Foxconn in India

Over the last two years, Foxconn has had a renewed push into India, where it first invested 15 years ago. Today, India accounts for US$10 billion of Foxconn’s annual revenue, according to a presentation reviewed by the Financial Times. That makes up 4.6% of the company’s US$216 billion 2022 revenue, more than double the 2% registered in 2021.  

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Exactly what’s going on with Foxconn in India?

So far, according to the internal presentation, Foxconn currently has nine campuses in India with 36 factories. Its operations are mainly concentrated in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, producing smartphones, feature phones with fewer functions than smartphones, television sets, and set-top boxes for customers including Sony, Xiaomi, and Apple.

Foxconn Chairman and CEO Young Liu (L) greets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during SemiconIndia 2023, at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar on July 28, 2023. (Photo by SAM PANTHAKY / AFP)

In recent months the group has broken ground for a factory near Hyderabad, the capital of Telangana state, that government officials said would make smart headphones. It has also acquired land near the airport in the Karnataka capital Bengaluru for an iPhone plant. According to the internal Foxconn presentation, another site near Hyderabad and two more in Karnataka are in the planning stage.

Liu also told investors in the recent earnings call that the company expected to invest “several billion dollars” in India and to start making critical components for consumer electronics and some electric vehicle components next year in Karnataka, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu, its largest existing iPhone assembly hub.   

Liu also pointed out that since Foxconn entered India in 2005, its revenue, number of employees, and investment scale have grown exponentially. At present, it is mainly engaged in the ICT final assembly business. In the future, he said Foxconn would actively deploy work in key components to raise its competitiveness in India.

“In addition to existing operations in the Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu states, Hon Hai will also deploy in Karnataka, Telangana, and other states. Hon Hai will plan to establish industrial parks and optimize the business environment regarding infrastructure, policies, and laws through close cooperation with central and local governments,” Foxconn said in the earnings statement.

Outside of India, Liu said Foxconn will continue to implement the build-operate-localize (BOL) strategy in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia, to assist local partners in improving the supply chain and enhancing indigenous competitiveness. In terms of China, he said the country accounts for 75% of Foxconn’s global operations, up from 70% before the pandemic.

However, experts believe that Foxconn will never return to the days when it manufactured almost the entire supply of a hit product in one location.

The post Weakening demand hits Foxconn, but expansion plans in India wait for no one appeared first on TechHQ.

• A draft ruling includes directives not to use facial recognition technology to disrupt social order, endanger national security, or infringe on the rights of individuals and organizations.
• CAC also noted that facial recognition tech must be used only when non-biometric measures won’t do.
• The draft ruling is open for comment until September 7.

Over the last decade, we have witnessed the rise of surveillance states worldwide, yet, to date, no country is more surveilled than China. Under President Xi Jinping, the Chinese government has expanded domestic surveillance, putting the Eastern powerhouse at the forefront of global facial recognition technology for years. 

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Dubbed the “global capital of surveillance,” China also saw the rise of a new generation of companies that make sophisticated technology at ever-lower prices. What’s worse is that Chinese companies were operating with less scrutiny and regard for corporate social responsibility than similar companies in other countries.

Go ahead – Jaywalk, we dare ya…

Today, the Chinese facial recognition system logs nearly every citizen, with a vast network of cameras nationwide. Every move in cities around China is being captured digitally. Not only is facial recognition software used to access office buildings, but it has also been used to snare criminals and even shame jaywalkers at busy intersections. 

Surveillance at Tiananmen Square Monument. Source: Shutterstock

The scope of the data collected by Chinese authorities became more apparent when the database of SenseNets Technology, a Shenzhen-based biometrics provider, was leaked in 2019, exposing the personal information of millions of people for months.

According to security researcher Victor Gevers, who found the database, SenseNets collected nearly 6.7 million GPS coordinates in one database. Within just 24 hours, SenseNets has data taken from cameras positioned around hotels, parks, tourism spots, and mosques, logging details on people as young as nine days old. 

The location data was matched to names — many of which were Uighur — as well as ID numbers, home addresses, photos, and employers, according to Gevers, who said he also discovered a large number of organizations were connecting to the database, including police stations, hotels, and various companies. Simply put, the database leak showed how pervasive China’s surveillance tools are.

China is finally drawing the line with facial recognition.

To put into context how heavy surveillance is in China, it is essential to know that the country has over 700 million surveillance cameras, according to online data. That means there is one lens for every two citizens. But now, China wants to create some boundaries and limit the use of facial recognition technology, finally.

On August 8, via the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), China released draft regulations to govern its facial recognition technology, including prohibitions on its use to analyze race or ethnicity. The purpose is to “regulate the application of face recognition technology, protect people’s rights to personal information and other personal and property rights, and maintain social order and public safety” as outlined by a smattering of data security, personal information, and network laws.

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The news may come as a shock for many around the world, because China is notoriously known for its heavy surveillance nationwide. The draft rules, which are open for comments until September 7, include some vague directives not to use face recognition technology to disrupt social order, endanger national security, or infringe on the rights of individuals and organizations.

The internet regulator noted that the “Face Recognition Technology Application Safety Management Regulations (Draft for comment) is drafted according to existing laws and regulations such as the Network Security Law, Data Security Law, and the Personal Information Protection Law.”

The draft of the newest ruling says that “If there are non-biometric verification technologies for achieving a similar purpose or business requirements, those non-biometric verification methods should be preferred” (in Chinese, translated by Tech Wire Asia). Individual consent, however, isn’t required for certain administrative situations. Should facial recognition be used, the proposed rules encourage the use of national systems.

Image collection and personal identification equipment should be installed in public places to maintain public safety, the draft rules said, noting that clear signage is required. The draft also states that building managers will not need to use facial recognition to monitor entries and exits on the property – they must provide alternative measures of verifying a personal identity for those who want it.

Kids using face identification before entering a turnstile gate. Source: Shutterstock

It also can’t be leaned into for “major personal interests” such as social assistance and real estate disposal. For that, manual verification of personal identity must be used, with facial recognition used only as an auxiliary means of verifying personal identity. Should there be a collection of images for internal management, it can only be done for a reasonably-sized area, the draft reads.

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Businesses like hotels, banks, airports, and more should refrain from deploying facial recognition to verify personal identity. If the individual links their identity to the image, they should be informed verbally or in writing and provide consent. 

Collecting images is also prohibited in private spaces like hotel rooms, public bathrooms, and changing rooms. Lastly, all entities in China currently using the technology in a public space, or those with more than 10,000 facial recognition records stored, must register with their local internet regulator within 30 working days.

The post China changing its stance on facial recognition appeared first on TechHQ.

• The US President is escalating the tech trade war with China with a new executive order that’ll come into effect next year.
• The order declares a national emergency, directing the Treasury Department to establish a program to oversee a new instrument to review outbound investments in national critical sectors.
• The President continues to treat China as an active danger, and penalize it as such.

The United States is still dealing with the unintended consequences of the first export controls imposed against China last October. It was the most far-reaching action taken by the Biden Administration, eventually leading to the escalation of the US-China trade war – so much so that China has not shied away from responding to the US measures that have followed.

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The US and China briefly turned down the heat on their relationship when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing recently, partly to improve communication between the two countries. “President Biden and I do not see the relationship between the US and China through the frame of great-power conflict,” Yellen said at the end of her trip.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks during a press conference at the Beijing American Center of the US Embassy in Beijing on July 9, 2023. (Photo by Pedro PARDO / AFP)

Unfortunately, the reality is far from the harmony the official meetings were trying to paint: the US and China are still engaged in a great-power struggle, actively competing for global supremacy. This week, the US intensified its trade war with China by announcing a new investment screening mechanism. This time, however, China isn’t the sole target. Its special administrative regions, such as Hong Kong and Macau, were included too.

The three countries were noted as the only points of concern in what Biden dubbed the ’emergency declaration.’ For context, the President declared the latest move as “a national emergency to deal with the threat of advancement by countries of concern in sensitive technologies and products critical to the military, intelligence, surveillance, or cyber-enabled capabilities of such countries.”

All about the latest executive order in the US-China trade war

On August 9, this week, Biden signed an executive order to narrowly prohibit certain US investments in sensitive technology in China and require government notification of funding in other tech sectors. Ironically, the announcement came on the first anniversary of Biden signing the Chips and Science Act into law.

But the order didn’t come as a surprise – it was long-anticipated. This time, it is intended to curb US venture capital and private equity investments in Chinese companies covering semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and specific artificial intelligence (AI) systems.

In a letter to Congress, Biden declared a national emergency to deal with the threat of advancement by countries like China “in sensitive technologies and products critical to the military, intelligence, surveillance, or cyber-enabled capabilities.” Therefore, the order also called for the creation of an outbound investment review mechanism.

The move is being made mainly because the export controls unveiled last October by the US “don’t include investments abroad that can help foreign adversaries or countries of concern to fuel indigenous development of national security technologies,” an administration official said, according to the South China Morning Post. 

“By adding outbound investment screening to our suite of national security tools, we’re enhancing US capabilities to safeguard our national security,” the official added. However, unlike most past orders or bans, the latest move also seeks to blunt China’s ability to use US investments in its technology companies to upgrade its military, while preserving broader levels of trade that are vital for both nations’ economies.

The US is being cautious this time

This time, administration officials, including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, have said the US seeks to keep the scope of the new investment restrictions as narrow as possible to limit the damage to the bilateral relationship. The US wants to avoid worsening the trade war with China.

Secretary of State Blinken sought to de-escalate the US China trade war on his rcent visit. Source: Leah Millis/Pool/AFP.

“You don’t want the cutline to be so broad that you deny American companies revenue and China can get the products elsewhere, or China gets products from other countries, so what we’re trying to do is be narrowly defined [and] work with our allies on these choke point technologies,” Raimondo said last month.

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Unfortunately, China did not perceive the move as positively as the US did.

Following the announcement, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington said that China is “very disappointed” by the move. In a statement, Liu Pengyu said the curbs would “seriously undermine the interests of Chinese and American companies and investors” and added: “China will closely follow the situation and firmly safeguard our rights and interests.”

Meanwhile, China’s commerce ministry in Beijing accused the US of disrupting global industry and supply chains. The executive order “seriously deviates from the market economy and fair competition principles the US has always promoted, and affects companies’ normal operation decisions,” a spokesperson said.

The order is expected to be implemented next year, according to someone who was briefed on the issue, after multiple rounds of public comment, including an initial 45-day comment period. Emily Benson of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a bipartisan policy research organization, said the move by the US signals a seismic broadening of the US trade, investment, and technology toolkit that reflects a gap in existing government authorities. 

“This begs an obvious question about why the US lacks authority to review outbound investments in countries of concern for certain end uses that pose national security threats,” she noted. In other words, Benson believes there is a conspicuous missing piece in the ability of the US government to ensure that US capital—both funding and know-how—is not used to advance foreign military capabilities. 

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“The August 9 executive order thus stands up the scaffolding for a system to close this gap,” she summarized. The takeaway, for now, is that the latest order creates an opportunity for the administration to articulate even more clearly to skeptics that these investments pose a national security risk, thus meriting a new review regime.

If there’s a script for non-confrontation with China, can President Biden stick to it?

This considers the hard lessons the US government has learned after the October 7 export controls, including that allies and companies need to be more adequately briefed on the underlying national security justifications for the controls. 

The post US-China trade war: New executive order, same old mistakes? appeared first on TechHQ.

• In 2022, the App Store ecosystem by Apple in Japan helped developers generate billings and sales totaling US$46 billion.
• Between 2020 and 2022, revenue accrued by small developers increased by 32%.
• As of last year, Apple held a roughly 49% share of the Japanese smartphone market in unit terms.

When Apple Inc. stablished its first unit in Japan in 1983, it faced many barriers despite having a big slice of the computer market in the rest of the world with a line of easy-to-use computers. Apple’s market share was near nil in Japan for the first few years. But as the decade passed, Japan suddenly became Apple’s fastest-growing market.

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So much so that Apple even started snatching market share from Japanese companies. For context, in 1991, according to an archived article by The New York Times, Japanese computer manufacturers suffered an unprecedented 29% decline in domestic shipments between October and December. Meanwhile, Apple saw its unit sales jump more than 40%.

Japanese youths inspect the iMac DV from US computer maker Apple Computer Inc,. at a department store in Tokyo 16 October 1999. AFP PHOTO/Toru YAMANAKA (Photo by TORU YAMANAKA / AFP)

Considering Japan has been a notoriously difficult market for foreign companies to crack, Apple’s feat in the land of the rising sun is something to boast about. Distribution in Japan had been entrusted to partners such as Toray before then, and to a Canon unit for a time afterward. 

Then came 2008, when Apple released the first iPhones in Japan. The phones had 3G connectivity – a rare but desirable feature then. 

At that point, the market was saturated with models lacking 3G connectivity, and did not support installing third-party apps. But the Japanese desired more features and functions than users in other markets. Recognizing that, Apple gradually added features and functionalities in subsequent models and iOS software. 

When Apple’s initial carrier partner, Softbank, took over, its popularity skyrocketed even further. The company relied on low prices and aggressive marketing. Masayoshi Son, the CEO, collaborated with his long-time friend Steve Jobs to tailor iPhones to Japanese users’ desires and preferences. Eventually, the iPhone became a must-have item in Japan.

In short, the iPhone was one of the first smartphones widely adopted in Japan. The ‘iPhone for Everyone’ campaign by Softbank fueled the fire. The appeal of he iPhone was further bolstered by carriers offering more generous subsidies for the phone, making it more affordable for Japanese consumers. 

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the American tech giant in Japan. Eventually, as Japan gradually transitioned into making its own models for the smartphone market, there was increased competition, especially from Samsung, yet Apple continued its dominance. Samsung ranked fourth in Japan, behind Apple, Sony, and Sharp Corp for most of the years since it began offering smartphones, partly because of a Japanese consumer bias that works against many Korean brands.

In fact, the anti-Korean sentiment in Japan was ultimately at the heart of Samsung’s failure in the country. 

Apple in Japan 40 years later

Tim Cook in Japan, December 2022. Source: Twitter

Today, Apple still stands strong in Japan, regardless of the increased competition. While Apple opened its first non-US store in Tokyo in 2003, the tech giant today has ten across the country, including in Fukuoka and Kyoto. When Tim Cook visited Japan last year, he shared that the company had invested more than US$100 billion in its Japanese supply network over the last five years.

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Cook also explained that Apple had boosted its spending on suppliers in Japan by more than 30% since 2019. Japan has also become a critical manufacturing and sales hub for Apple. The country’s market for electronic components grew with the release of the iPhone, and Apple’s supply chain now spans nearly 1,000 companies.

And this week, Japan celebrates 40 years of Apple in the country. So, Apple’s CEO took the chance to announce that the company’s App Store ecosystem in Japan has helped developers generate billings and sales of US$46 billion for 2022 alone. Cook added that revenue accrued by small developers increased 32% between 2020 and 2022. 

It’s not all about the semiconductors…

Apple supports more than one million jobs in Japan through its supply chain and the app economy. As for market share, Apple held a roughly 49% share of the Japanese smartphone market in unit terms in 2022, according to Tokyo’s MM Research Institute. Apple was the top cellphone vendor in the country for the 11th straight year, starting in 2012. It also controls around half of the tablet market and around 60% of smartwatches.

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But headwinds have grown of late, which saw  Apple’s Japan sales fall 11% on the year last quarter and accounted for just 6% of the companywide total. Reports are indicating that the downturn stemmed partly from a weak yen, as well as from new restrictions on discounted smartphone sales.

Nevertheless, Japan remains an Apple stronghold, and it’s reasonable to believe it’ll stay that way for a while.

The post Forty years later, Apple remains undefeated in Japan appeared first on TechHQ.

• Apple is preparing various M3 chip models, as with earlier Mac chip generations.
• The M3 Max chip will be built on a 3nm process, resulting in speed and efficiency improvements compared to the ‌M2‌ Max chip.
• The gradual transition to the M3 chip will likely begin in October this year.

Apple Silicon first burst onto the scene in 2020 with the launch of the M1 chip, which has led to some hugely popular Mac products using the technology ever since. In 2022, when Apple unveiled its M2 chips (the M2 Pro and M2 Max), they gave the MacBook Pro a significant boost. Now reports indicate that the tech giant is testing out its highest-end next-generation laptop processor yet, the M3 Max.

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When launched, Apple dubs M2 Ultra as the largest and most capable chip it has ever created.

Just two months ago, Apple unveiled its M2 Ultra, the largest and most capable chip the tech giant had created to date. The system on a chip (SoC) made Apple’s new Mac Studio and Mac Pro the most powerful Mac desktops ever made – yet. In the latest edition of the Power On newsletter on Bloomberg, writer Mark Gurman said that Apple has also begun testing the M3 Max chip, “setting the stage for the release of its most powerful MacBook Pro ever next year.” 

To give an idea of the technological leap in Apple’s upcoming chip collection, it is necessary first to be aware that the M2 Ultra is built using a second-generation 5-nanometer (nm) process. It uses Apple’s groundbreaking UltraFusion technology to connect the die of two M2 Max chips, doubling the performance. 

That means the M2 Ultra consists of 134 billion transistors — 20 billion more than the M1 Ultra. “Its unified memory architecture supports up to a breakthrough 192GB of memory capacity, which is 50% more than the M1 Ultra, and features 800GB/s of memory bandwidth — twice that of M2 Max,” Apple explained in a statement. Furthermore, the M2 Ultra features a more powerful CPU that’s 20% faster than the M1 Ultra, a larger GPU up to 30% faster, and a neural engine up to 40% faster.

The shorter the distance between transistors, the faster the chip.

The upcoming M3 Max chip includes 16 central processing cores and 40 graphics cores, according to test logs from a third-party Mac app developer that Bloomberg News saw. The processor is at the heart of a high-end MacBook Pro laptop — a model codenamed J514 — expected to debut next year.

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“The central processing unit includes 12 high-performance cores, which handle demanding tasks like video editing, and four efficiency cores for less-intensive applications, such as web browsing. Compared with the top-of-the-line version of the current M2 line for laptops, the new chip has four more high-performance CPU cores and at least two additional graphics cores. The MacBook Pro in testing also includes 48 gigabytes of memory,” Gurman wrote in the Bloomberg article.

However, Apple is likely testing multiple variations and core-count options, of which the version shared by Gurman is one. 

Apple in its M3 chip era: M3 Pro, M3 Max

As with earlier Mac chip generations, Apple is preparing various M3 models. According to test logs, the base M3 will have the same configuration as the M2, with eight CPU cores and up to 10 core graphics cores. “An M3 Pro chip will start at 12 CPU and 18 graphics cores. The M3 Max chip is the next level up, and an even higher-end chip — the successor to the M2 Ultra — hasn’t shown up yet in test logs,” Gurman noted in his report.

The 3nm chipe era at Apple coincides with its final freedom from Intel.

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What is certain is that Apple’s transition to M3 chips is its most significant upgrade to the processors since the Apple Silicon lineup debuted in 2020, when the company first began replacing Intel Corp. chips in the Mac. Since launching the M1 that year, Apple has released several variations for laptops like the MacBook Air and high-performance desktops like the Mac Pro. As of June this year, the company has transitioned its entire computer line away from Intel.

But unlike the M1 and M2, the M3 chip will mark the first time Apple is shifting to a 3nm production process for Mac chips, which promises to provide better battery life and substantial performance gains. On that front, the M3 chips should be a significant selling point, Gurman said. Apple will also use a similar technology for the A17 processor launching in the iPhone 15 Pro in September.

The first two Apple Silicon chips for the Mac and recent iPhone models were all fabricated using a 5nm process. The “nanometer” fabrication size for a chip represents the distance between transistors on the chip. The smaller the space, the better the performance and efficiency.

Reports indicate that the transition to the M3 chip will likely begin in October, starting with updates to the company’s entry-level Macs. To recall, Apple has been testing M3-based iMacs, 13-inch MacBook Pros, 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Airs, and Mac Minis — all for release within the next 12 months. Updated versions of the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models will likely come in 2024 with the M3 Pro and M3 Max chips.

The post Here’s everything we know about Apple’s M3 chip models appeared first on TechHQ.

• Apple sales in China grew 8% from the year-earlier period to US$15.76 billion, after slipping last quarter.
• Apple Services segment saw revenue reaching an all-time high.
• Right before the iPhone 15 launch, Apple acknowledged the US smartphone market was in a slump.

The global smartphone industry has been on a downward spiral, with unit sales falling for two straight years. But customers were still buying pricey iPhones, especially in China and India, and Apple had managed to escape the worst of the downturn.

Now though, the world’s most valuable company is finally feeling the brunt, just weeks ahead of its iPhone 15 launch.

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But to say the iPhone maker has been thriving is not entirely true. In fact, Apple has been facing its most prolonged sales slowdown in decades, even in China in some recent quarters. When Apple unveiled its fiscal 2023 third quarter, ending July 1, 2023, it was a third quarter of declining sales. Any additional drop for the current quarter would mark the longest streak of declines in two decades — a startling slowdown for the tech giant.

To make matters worse, the company doesn’t see an end to its decline, at least for the current quarterly period. After reporting on its sluggish iPhone sales on July 3, 2023, sending Apple stock sliding, the company disclosed that “the smartphone market has been in decline for the last couple of quarters in the US.”

But amid all the doom and gloom, there were some bright spots for the tech giant – its revenue growth in China and record iPhone sales in India. In China, where total smartphone industry sales fell 4% during the quarter to their lowest levels since 2014, iPhone sales increased 7%, according to Counterpoint Research. That helped Apple post 8% sales growth in China, bucking the broader trend of malaise buffeting the world’s second-largest economy.

In Apple’s defense, it has done “a really good job with affordability programs worldwide,” according to Luca Maestri, Apple’s chief financial officer, during a call with analysts last week. “The majority of iPhones are sold using some kind of a program, trade-ins, installments, some kind of financing.”

Disappointing demand drags down iPhone, iPad sales

Overall, for the recently concluded fiscal third quarter, Apple reported a revenue decline of 1.4% to US$81.8 billion, and according to the tech giant, that includes record-setting service sales. Profit increased by 2% to US$19.88 billion.

Unfortunately, iPhone demand was weaker than predicted. “The environment is challenging,” Daniel Flax, a senior research analyst at Neuberger Berman, said in an interview with Scarlet Fu on Bloomberg Television. 

“Consumers face pressure from general interest rates, higher inflation. There are a lot of cross-currents that Apple, like many other companies, cannot outrun,” Flax added. To put it into context, sales of the iPhone, Apple’s biggest moneymaker, slipped 2.4% to US$39.7 billion in the third quarter. The iPad also suffered a sales decline of 20% last quarter. 

Bright spots in China, India, and Apple Services segment

In a statement, Apple CEO Tim Cook also shared that the company recorded an all-time revenue record in services during the June quarter, driven by over one billion paid subscriptions. Apple’s services revenue business — which includes Apple Music and Apple TV+ — has been an increasingly important revenue driver for Apple. It reached a new all-time high of US$21.2 billion last quarter.

Services revenue was a clear highlight, climbing 8.2% to $21.2 billion. That topped estimates of $20.8 billion. The growth was “driven by over 1 billion paid subscriptions,” Cook said.

Cook also highlighted that Apple saw continued strength in emerging markets “thanks to robust sales of the iPhone.” Apple’s performance in greater China, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the mainland, was another highlight. In a conference call, Maestri said wearables — including the Apple Watch and AirPods — did exceptionally well in the country, with sales rising 2% to $8.28 billion.

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The iPhone also held up in China, serving as “the heart of our results there,” Cook added. Overall, sales in the region grew 8% from the year-earlier period to US$15.76 billion after slipping last quarter. It’s Apple’s third largest sales region, and Cook said he sees “definite acceleration.” iPhone sales in India also grew substantially – in double-digits – to a new high. Apple executives, however, didn’t disclose precise numbers on the Indian acceleration.

The Indian performance also vindicates the company’s renewed focus on a market where the iPhone has long been beyond the reach of many consumers. In recent years, Apple began viewing the fast-expanding country as a massive retail opportunity and a substantial production base for its gadgets in the longer term.

Reports indicated that Cook, who presided over the opening of Apple’s first two Indian retail outlets last month, joined his executives in mentioning India roughly 20 times during the conference call with analysts after unveiling earnings. Though the company did not mention Indian revenue in its earnings statements, reports earlier noted that the iPhone maker posted almost US$6 billion of sales in the country through March.

“It was quite a good quarter for us. India is a fascinating market. It’s a major focus for us. I was just there, and the dynamism in the market, the vibrancy is unbelievable,” Cook told analysts. “Over time, we’ve been expanding our operations there to serve more customers, and three years ago, we launched the Apple Store online, and then… we launched two stores just a few weeks ago, and they’re off to a great start, one in Mumbai and one in Delhi.”

Cook also said India is “at a tipping point.” Apple has recently made inroads into the Indian market through refurbished devices. Data from Counterpoint Research signposts an 11% share for refurbished iPhones in 2022, up from 3% the previous year.

How will the launch of the iPhone 15 play out?

What lies ahead in the holiday quarter for Apple?

The iPhone 15 launch date is less than six weeks away, and Apple has finally acknowledged a hard reality: the US smartphone market is mired in a slump. Experts also brlieve that the sales prospects of the new iPhone will hinge on its features. 

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“Apple will have to work harder to coax shoppers into opening their wallets,” a report by Bloomberg reads. While Apple mostly blamed currency headwinds for its recent painful results, the company also admitted that US shoppers aren’t spending on its products the way they used to. 

So much so that sales in Apple’s home country paled compared to those in China, which Cook called out as a quarter highlight. The company also warned that overall revenue would probably stay in the same range as the past quarter when it fell. In fact, some expect Apple to suffer its fourth straight quarterly sales decrease, something that has not happened since 2001.

Company poised for fourth straight period of declining revenue.

Overall, it will be a challenging backdrop for the iPhone 15, slated to launch on September 22, 2023. The timeline suggests that Apple will get about a week of iPhone 15 sales in its fiscal fourth quarter, which runs through September. But the real test will be the holiday quarter, when its sales period extends from October through December, which is supposed to be the company’s busiest time of year.

The post Apple strives in China and India amid a global smartphone slowdown appeared first on TechHQ.

• Sources indicate that Tesla is looking at potential sites in Southern India and Gujarat for a gigafactory.
• The ambitious plans will include an annual production capacity of approximately half a million EVs.
• However, there are significant challenges for Tesla to overcome.

Tesla’s long-awaited entry into India has gained momentum recently, after CEO Elon Musk met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June. So much so that local media are reporting a possible gigafactory in the country as Tesla representatives have recently met with India’s commerce minister.

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Even Musk expressed his company’s keenness to establish a presence in India “as soon as humanly possible” — an indicator strong enough for the world to know that Tesla would reattempt its entry into the Indian market, this time with better government support. 

Early last year, India turned down a demand by Tesla for tax breaks to import electric cars. The Narendra Modi government wanted the US EV giant to manufacture in India as a precondition to easing duties. Tesla wasn’t happy with the requirement and eventually shelved its Indian debut.

More than a year later, local reports indicated that Tesla would likely begin operations in India with either the Model 3 or Model Y. The news came after Tesla representatives met India’s commerce minister late last month to discuss plans to build a factory to produce what the company has described as “an all-new US$24,000 car.”

Speaking with Reuters, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said that Tesla has expressed an interest in building a factory in India that would produce low-cost electric vehicles (EVs), both for the local market and for export. 

Most recently, sources have told Business Today TV that the EV giant is set on creating a significant export hub in India, with a plan to target the Asian Pacific and African markets. 

Sources indicate that Tesla is looking at potential sites in Southern India and Gujarat. “An initial proposal submitted by the company reveals ambitious plans to construct a gigafactory in India. This state-of-the-art facility is envisaged to have an annual production capacity of approximately half a million EVs,” Business Today said.

Interestingly, following reassurances from Modi himself, Tesla’s expansion will go beyond manufacturing operations. The Business Today report said Tesla aims to establish a comprehensive charging infrastructure throughout the country, addressing one of the critical concerns for the widespread adoption of EVs.

During Modi’s trip to the US in June, Musk shared that he has plans to visit India next year. “We will be able to announce something in the future. It is quite likely there will be a significant investment in India,” Musk said, adding that he had had an excellent conversation with the Prime Minister.

Musk also shared his confidence that Tesla will be in India, and that he had no plans to delay the necessary moves. 

Tesla in India means intensified competition

Given Tesla’s position as a pioneer in the EV market, the US carmaker’s entry into India will intensify the competition in the local battery electric vehicles (BEVs) market, according to GlobalData. To top it off, GlobalData reckons that by setting up a manufacturing facility, Tesla will be able to maintain price parity with other players in the mid-range EV segment.

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“Tesla’s entry is expected to force current EV makers to rethink their vehicle offerings, as it offers a wide range of technologically advanced features in their cars, whereas, in India, those can only be found on high-end models. This will surely change the automotive sector, and we can see changes in technology advancement and added features in new models,” said Sumit Das, Senior Analyst at GlobalData.

Moreover, GlobalData also believes that the recent discovery of the third largest lithium-ion reservoir in Jammu and Kashmir, and Rajasthan states, amplified the necessity of establishing EV manufacturing plants for global OEMs in India. 

Source: Twitter

“Tesla is one of them, and looking at the long-term market attractiveness, setting up a manufacturing facility in India will help the company penetrate the market and leverage the Li-ion reserves,” Gorantala Sravan Kumar, Associate Project Manager at GlobalData, said.

The research firm concluded that foreign players entering the market had changed the face of the Indian market with its vast offerings in terms of features and technology. However, GlobalData believes the impact can only be seen if Tesla can place and market its product in a competitive price segment.

Tesla’s ambitious plan in India will rely on the tax or duty waivers provided. There are even talks that Musk’s hopes to set up an EV factory in India may take another significant setback – and for the same reasons. The Indian Finance Ministry is still not considering providing any tax or duty waivers to Tesla.

According to Reuters, Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra said the finance ministry of India has no plans to grant any duty or tax exemptions to the American automaker.

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Tesla’s entry into the Indian EV market holds great potential for the company and the country. Still, significant challenges, such as charging infrastructure and pricing, need to be dealt with.

The post Tesla restarts talks on India expansion appeared first on TechHQ.

• Gartner finds that Java licensing changes by Oracle are two to five times more expensive for most organizations.
• One in five Java users can expect an Oracle audit in the next three years.
• Eclipse, Azul, and other providers may see increased Java downloads from new Oracle pricing.

Oracle has once again changed licensing rules for its widely-used Java product. On January 23, 2023, the company introduced a new license metric, the SE Universal Subscription, and the controversial new Java pricing plan is based on the customer’s total number of employees, rather than the number of employees using the software.

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What this means for an organization is that regardless of its number of Java users or its server footprint, it must count every employee, contractor, consultant, and agent to determine its Java subscription bill. In short, an organization is potentially on the hook for a massive subscription fee increase that may have minimal benefit to the operation.

Big Red – which acquired Java with its buyout of Sun Microsystems in 2009 – said the new Java SE Universal Subscription is “a simple, low-cost monthly subscription that includes Java SE Licensing and Support for use on desktops, servers or cloud deployments.”

According to Oracle, the pricing starts at US$15 per employee per month for as many as 999 employees and drops as low as US$5.25 per month for 40,000 to 49,999 users. 

Oracle cited an example in which a company with a total employee count of 28,000, including full-time and part-time employees and agents, consultants, and contractors, would be charged US$2.268 million annually.

However, the changes in the Java pricing model present opportunities for Java rivals Eclipse Foundation and Azul. Eclipse Foundation immediately seized on the opportunity to pitch its alternative. “Stumbled across Oracle’s latest Java price list,” tweeted Eclipse Executive Director Mike Milinkovich on January 27. 

“Wow, I had no idea that Java was so expensive! Fortunately, you can download the fully compatible, community-supported, quality-certified Temurin OpenJDK distribution for free!” On the other hand, Azul said that it had seen a massive increase in inquiries about Java licensing since Oracle’s Universal pricing plan debuted. 

“This is a major shock to the Java ecosystem,” Azul CEO Scott Sellers reportedly said. He described Oracle’s plan as one of the few instances he could think of in which pricing was decoupled from the value derived from the software. Azul’s Java pricing, Sellers noted, is based on how many people are using it.

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The changes primarily affect large companies with many employees, but will also significantly impact medium-sized businesses. Although Oracle promises to allow legacy users to renew under their current terms and conditions, the company will likely pressure users to adopt the new Java licensing model over time.

“Welcome to your latest Oracle bill, how would you like to pay today?”

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Gartner had recently estimated that most organizations adapting to the new licensing terms by Oracle for Java should expect the per-employee subscription model to be two to five times more expensive than the legacy model. The global technology firm has spoken to clients since the new model was introduced in January.

Oracle Java SE Universal Subscription Global Price List. Source: Oracle

Having spoken to many clients, Gartner concluded that the steep increase in Oracle licensing costs for most Java users would mean that by 2026, more than 80% of Java applications will be deployed on third-party Java runtimes, up from 65% in 2023. Gartner also warned that Oracle is ready to test whether users comply with Java licensing terms as it sees them. 

“One in five Java users can expect an Oracle audit in the next three years,” Gartner said. Nitish Tyagi, the co-author of the new Gartner research note, told The Register that for large organizations, the research analyst expects the increase to be two to five times, depending on the number of employees an organization has. 

“Please remember, Oracle defines employees as part-time, full-time, temporary, agents, contractors as whosoever supports internal business operations has to be licensed as per the new Java Universal SE Subscription model,” he added. To top it off, Gartner also estimated that by 2026, one in five organizations using Java applications will be audited by Oracle, leading to “unbudgeted noncompliance fees.” 

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By the same year, more than 30% of organizations using Java applications won’t comply with their Oracle contracts, Gartner predicts. Added to that, pressure from Oracle on license costs will translate to 80% of Java applications deploying on third-party Java runtimes by 2026 – up from 65% in 2023, Gartner said.

Tyagi noted that clients are moving towards third-party Java runtimes such as Azul, Amazon Coretto, Eclipse Temurin, and IBM Semuru since the heavy pricing model was announced. “Surveys also indicate a decline in Oracle JDK usage and an increase in the use of other Java runtimes,” Tyagi added.

The post What happens after Oracle Java licensing changes? appeared first on TechHQ.

• Micron Technology said the improvements reduce training times of large language models like GPT-4 and beyond while delivering efficient infrastructure use for AI inference.
• The HBM3 Gen2 memory will be made available from 2024 onwards.

In the current era of generative AI, High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) is emerging as the preferred solution for overcoming memory transfer speed restrictions due to the bandwidth limitations of DDR SDRAM in high-speed computation. In fact, since the emergence of ChatGPT and services alike, strong growth in AI server shipments has driven demand for HBM, and Micron Technology is grasping the chance to deliver and win market share from its competitors. 

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For context, findings by TrendForce indicated that the HBM market share is dominated by Korean semiconductor giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, at 90% as of 2022. That puts US memory chip giant Micron Technology some way behind its large competitors, with just a mere 10% market share.

Without mentioning the intention to grab a larger market share, Micron Technology today announced an 8-high 24GB HBM3 Gen2 module. Micron is dubbing it the most advanced in the market, and its newest HBM3 will be able to speed up the development of generative AI.

Micron’s announcement via Twitter

Like all memory, HBM advances performance improvement and power consumption with every iteration. Take generative AI, for instance; that alone holds a tremendous need for much higher HBM. That is why, according to market experts, HBM is a segment of the memory industry that is set to grow by leaps and bounds thanks to the advent of generative AI.

Therefore, to catch up on its major competitors in the segment, Micron Technology decided to tease the industry’s first 8-high 24GB HBM3 Gen2 memory with bandwidth greater than 1.2TB/s and pin speed over 9.2Gb/s for AI accelerators and high-performance computing (HPC). 

In a virtual press briefing on July 27, the company said it has begun sampling the HBM3 Gen2 memory, which, according to Praveen Vaidyanathan, VP and GM of Micron’s Compute Products Group, is up to a 50% improvement over shipping HBM3 solutions. 

LLM focus: 50% higher memory capacity results in faster training compared with current solutions. Source: Micron

“With a 2.5 times performance per watt improvement over previous generations, Micron’s HBM3 Gen2 offering sets new records for the critical AI data center metrics of performance, capacity, and power efficiency,” he added.

Most importantly, these Micron improvements reduce training times of large language models like GPT-4 and beyond, deliver efficient infrastructure use for AI inference, and provide superior total cost of ownership (TCO), Micron said in its statement.

Micron Technology in the age of ChatGPT through HBM3 Gen2 

Because of its costs and complexity, HBM was only a tiny niche market until this year. Research publication Trendforce forecasts HBM demand will soar by 60% this year, with at least another 30% growth forecast for 2024. That being said, Micron decided to develop HBM3 Gen2 with performance-to-power ratio and pin speed improvements critical for managing the extreme power demands of today’s AI data centers. 

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“The improved power efficiency is possible because of Micron advancements such as doubling of the through-silicon vias (TSVs) over competitive HBM3 offerings, thermal impedance reduction through a five-time increase in metal density, and an energy-efficient data path design,” the company’s statement reads.

The Micron HBM3 Gen2 solution also addresses increasing demands in generative AI for multimodal, multi-trillion-parameter AI models. “The training time for large language models is reduced by more than 30%,” Vaidyanathan explained. 

Additionally, he added that Micron’s offering unlocks a significant increase in daily queries, enabling trained models to be used more efficiently. “Micron HBM3 Gen2 memory’s best-in-class performance per watt drives tangible cost savings for modern AI data centers. For an installation of 10 million GPUs, every five watts of power savings per HBM cube is estimated to save operational expenses of up to $550 million over five years,” he shared.

Vaidyanathan also told the media during the virtual press briefing that the foundation of Micron’s HBM solution is its industry-leading 1β (1-beta) DRAM process node, which allows a 24Gb DRAM die to be assembled into an 8-high cube within an industry-standard package dimension. 

Industry’s first >1.2TB/s HBM. Source: Micron

It’s also worth mentioning that Micron will be working on an upgrade – a 12-high stack with 36GB capacity – which will begin sampling in the first quarter of calendar 2024. Vaidyanathan said Micron provides 50% more capacity for a given stack height than existing competitive solutions. 

Micron has developed what it describes as a “breakthrough product” by leveraging its global engineering organization, with design and process development in the United States, memory fabrication in Japan, and advanced packaging in Taiwan. When asked if the products, once ready in early 2024, will be made available for its clients in China, Micron did not respond.

The HBM3 Gen2 product development effort will be through a collaboration between Micron and TSMC. “TSMC has received samples of Micron’s HBM3 Gen2 memory and is working closely with Micron for further evaluation and tests,” Micron noted.

Micron’s HBM roadmap

The post Micron Technology unveils its most advanced HBM yet as Gen AI proliferates appeared first on TechHQ.