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Ryan Petersen, chief executive officer of Flexport, participates in a panel discussion during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., on Wednesday, May 4, 2022.

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Global supply chain woes have eased ahead of the holiday season, according to Flexport founder and co-CEO Ryan Petersen.

Ports are less congested, and the cost of shipping goods has fallen significantly this year, Petersen said. The price of shipping a container from Asia to the U.S. is down about 80%. 

“That’s really happy news for any company that’s sourcing overseas and ultimately for consumers buying those goods,” he told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin.

The global supply chain was pummeled with high costs, lengthy delays, crowded ports and shipping container shortages during the coronavirus pandemic. The Drewry composite World Container Index — a key benchmark for container prices — reached record-high prices of over $10,000 during the height of the pandemic, up from pre-pandemic rates of $1,420.

Flexport helps its customers navigate supply chain challenges by providing them with more visibility and data-driven control over their inventories while they are in transit. The company topped this year’s CNBC Disruptor 50 list

The falling costs of shipping reflect declining demand for goods and shipping containers, Petersen said. As people readjust to their post-lockdown lifestyles, they are spending more on experiences such as travel and restaurants. 

“They only have so much money to spend,” he said. “They’re spending less on goods, there’s less goods being shipped, and there’s less demand, so some of the backlogs have eased.”

But despite the improvements to the supply chain, Petersen is not convinced the industry has learned much from the challenges of the pandemic. He said the industry is cyclical, and where it was experiencing shortages in many cases, it is now experiencing abundance. 

“They ordered a lot of ships; now we probably have too many ships,” he said. “There have been times in 2016 when there was excess capacity, and we’re right back there when we thought we would never be there.”

For goods to go from a purchase order to a customer’s door, they often have to travel by trucks, ships and planes, and Petersen said it can be difficult for companies to maintain visibility over that whole flow. 

Many ocean carriers are buying trucking and warehouse companies to try to maintain control over the process, but Petersen said Flexport works to provide the necessary data and tools to these companies so they don’t need to own the expensive assets. 

Petersen said shipping and logistics companies need to understand data flows above all else in order to prevent future crises from happening. 

“Our belief at Flexport is it’s better to take a technology-first approach.”

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World’s largest chipmaker TSMC says it has discovered potential trade secret leaks

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World's largest chipmaker TSMC says it has discovered potential trade secret leaks

TSMC workers walk down a hallway in a chipmaking fab in Taiwan. The company is building three such plants in Arizona.

TSMC

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said on Tuesday that it had detected “unauthorized activities” that lead to the discovery of potential trade secret leaks.

The world’s biggest semiconductor manufacturer told CNBC that it has taken “strict” disciplinary action against the personnel involved and that it has also launched legal proceedings.

“TSMC maintains a zero-tolerance policy toward any actions that compromise the protection of trade secrets or harm the company’s interests,” the company said.

“Such violations are dealt with strictly and pursued to the fullest extent of the law. We remain committed to safeguarding our core competitiveness and the shared interests of all our employees.”

Semiconductors have grown in strategic importance in recent years as they have become the key pillar in the boom in artificial intelligence models and applications. Rising geopolitical tensions has put the spotlight on the competitive technological advantages of major firms in the chip supply chain like TSMC and other leaders across the board.

TSMC, headquartered in Taiwan, dominates the market for the manufacturing of the world’s most advanced chips and counts major tech giants including Apple and Nvidia as clients.

As the case is now under judicial review, TSMC is unable to provide further information, the firm said.

TSMC identified the issue early due to its “comprehensive and robust monitoring mechanisms,” the company said, adding that it carried out swift internal investigations.

Nikkei Asia, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter, reported on Tuesday that several former employees of TSMC are suspected of attempting to obtain critical proprietary information on 2-nanometer chip development and production while they were still working at the company.

Production of the 2-nanometer chip is among the leading edge manufacturing processes in the semiconductor industry currently. TSMC said it did not have any additional information to share when asked by CNBC about the Nikkei report.

As the world’s leading chipmaker, TSMC has a treasure trove of intellectual property. By its own account, the company has previously said it has more than 200,000 trade secrets recorded in its internal system.

It is not the first time that TSMC has been the target for potential theft. In 2018, a Taiwanese court indicted a former employee for copying trade secretes related to the 28-nanometer fabrication process, with intent to transfer them to a semiconductor company in mainland China.

In 2023, ASML, which makes machines that are required to manufacture the most advanced chips, said that it discovered that a former employee in China had misappropriated data related to its proprietary technology.

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Hims & Hers stock falls 10% on revenue miss

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Hims & Hers stock falls 10% on revenue miss

The Hers app arranged on a smartphone in New York, US, on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. 

Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Shares of Hims & Hers Health fell 9% in extended trading on Monday after the telehealth company reported second-quarter results that missed Wall Street’s expectations for revenue.

Here’s how the company did based on average analysts’ estimates compiled by LSEG:

  • Earnings per share: 17 cents adjusted vs. 15 cents
  • Revenue: $544.8 million vs. $552 million

Revenue at Hims & Hers increased 73% in the second quarter from $315.6 million during the same period last year, according to a release. Hims & Hers reported a net income of $42.5 million, or 17 cents per share, compared to $13.3 million, or 6 cents per share, during the same period a year earlier.

For its third quarter, Hims & Hers said it expected to report revenue between $570 million to $590 million, while analysts were expecting $583 million. The company said its adjusted EBITDA for the quarter will be between the range of $60 million to $70 million. Analysts polled by StreetAccount were expecting $77.1 million.

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Hims & Hers has faced controversy in recent months over its continued sale of compounded GLP-1s, which are cheaper, unapproved versions of the blockbuster diabetes and weight loss drugs. Compounded drugs can be mass produced when brand-name treatments are in shortage, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced in February that ongoing supply issues had been resolved.

Some telehealth companies, including Hims & Hers, have continued to offer the compounded medications. It’s legal for patients to access personalized doses of the knockoffs in unique cases, like if they are allergic to an ingredient in a branded product, for instance. Hims & Hers has said consumers may still be able to access personalized doses through its site if clinically applicable. 

In June, Hims & Hers shares tumbled more than 30% after a short-lived collaboration with Novo Nordisk fell apart. The drugmaker said Hims & Hers “failed to adhere to the law which prohibits mass sales of compounded drugs” under the “false guise” of personalization.

Hims & Hers reported adjusted EBITDA of $82 million for its second quarter, up from $39.3 million last year and above the $73 million expected by StreetAccount.

Hims & Hers will host its quarterly call with investors at 5 p.m. ET.

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YTD chart of Hims & Hers Health.

–CNBC’s Annika Kim Constantino contributed to this report

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Palantir tops $1 billion in revenue for the first time, boosts guidance

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Palantir tops  billion in revenue for the first time, boosts guidance

Palantir reports $1 billion in revenue for the first time

Palantir topped Wall Street’s estimates Monday, surpassing $1 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time, and hiking its full-year guidance.

Shares rallied more than 5%.

Here’s how the company did versus LSEG estimates:

  • Earnings per share: 16 cents adj. vs. 14 cents expected
  • Revenue: $1.00 billion vs. $940 million expected

The artificial intelligence software provider’s revenues grew 48% during the period. Analysts hadn’t expected the $1 billion revenue benchmark from the Denver-based company until the fourth quarter of this year.

“The growth rate of our business has accelerated radically, after years of investment on our part and derision by some,” wrote CEO Alex Karp in a letter to shareholders. “The skeptics are admittedly fewer now, having been defanged and bent into a kind of submission.”

The software analytics company also boosted its full-year outlook guidance. For the full year, Palantir now expects revenues to range between $4.142 billion and $4.150 billion, up from prior guidance of $3.89 billion to $3.90 billion.

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For the third quarter, Palantir forecast revenues between $1.083 billion and $1.087 billion, beating an analyst estimate of $983 million. Palantir also lifted its operating income and full-year free cash flow guidance.

Palantir’s U.S. revenues jumped 68% from a year ago to $733 million, while U.S. commercial revenues nearly doubled from a year ago to $306 million.

The software analytics company has seen a boost from President Donald Trump‘s government efficiency campaign, which included layoffs and contract cuts. Palantir’s U.S. government revenues jumped 53% from the year-ago period to $426 million.

“It has been a steep and upward climb — an ascent that is a reflection of the remarkable confluence of the arrival of language models, the chips necessary to power them, and our software infrastructure,” Karp wrote in a letter to shareholders.

During the quarter, Palantir said it closed 66 deals of at least $5 million and 42 deals totaling at least $10 million. Total value of its contracts grew 140% from last year to $2.27 billion.

Net income rose 144% to about $326.7 million, or 13 cents a share, from about $134.1 million, or 6 cents per share a year ago.

Palantir shares have more than doubled this year as investors bet on the company’s AI tools and contract agreements with governments.

Its market value has accelerated past $379 billion and into the list of top 20 most valuable U.S companies, surpassing SalesforceIBM and Cisco to join the top 10 U.S. tech companies by market cap. Shares hit a new high Monday.

At its size, buying the stock requires investors to pay hefty multiples.

Shares currently trade 276 times forward earnings, according to FactSet. Tesla is the only other top 20 with a triple-digit ratio at 177.

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Palantir one-day stock chart.

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