Connect with us

Published

on

U.S. chip export ban is 'great news,' says Chinese tech investor

A partner at a Chinese semiconductor investment fund has welcomed the U.S. government’s ban of certain advanced chip types to be exported to China, describing the move as “great news” which may stimulate a domestic ecosystem.  

Chloe Wang, a partner and vice-president at the Guangzhou-headquartered Yang Cheng Fund, said: “We received the very great news this morning, and I didn’t feel surprised about the U.S. [which] continued to ban the H100 and 800 exports to China,” Wang told CNBC’s East Tech West conference in the Nansha district of Guangzhou, China, on Wednesday.

The U.S. Department of Commerce is set to prevent the sale of some advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China, it announced on Tuesday, over concerns they could be used for military development purposes. This will restrict the export of chipmaker Nvidia‘s A800 and H800 chips, officials said.

Nvidia’s H100 chip, used by AI firms in the U.S., was banned for sale in earlier U.S. government restrictions.

Wang said the fund invests in semiconductor companies, including those in the AI training and autonomous vehicle sectors. One AI chip company Yang Cheng has invested in will launch its initial public offering this year, while a Shanghai-based AI chip firm is valued at more than $3 billion, Wang added, though she didn’t name the firms.

“We believe those kind of upstream chipmakers — they will drive, or they will play the leading role in China, and they will create their own ecosystem,” Wang added. “And maybe we can, not too much rely on the Cuda system,” she said, referencing Nvidia’s AI software.

“I still feel quite confident about the Chinese entrepreneurs as well as the consumer base market,” she added.

A worker holds a circuit board.

Owngarden | Moment | Getty Images

Wang said there are around 1,500 companies in China that are involved in the design of integrated circuits (IC) and a “shortage” of companies in the AI chip training sector, with around 20 start-ups in the space.

China wants to increase its computing power by 50% by 2025, according to a plan by several Chinese ministries announced in October. Doing so is seen as a key way of developing AI, which needs advanced semiconductors to process vast amounts of data.

The U.S. government ban is designed to prevent China’s access to advanced semiconductors “because they could be used for military uses and modernization,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on a call with reporters Tuesday. They’re not intended to hurt Chinese economic growth, U.S. officials added.  

In recent months attention has turned back onto Chinese tech giant Huawei. Its latest smartphone, the Mate 60 Pro, has a chip that appears to support 5G, despite U.S. sanctions that have sought to cut the company off from the technology.

The chip, made by China’s SMIC, has sparked concern in Washington and raised questions about how it was possible. There’s also scrutiny on whether the process being used to make these new chips is efficient enough on a large scale to sustain a Huawei comeback.

CNBC’s Kif Leswing and Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.

Continue Reading

Technology

Intuit shares pop 9% on earnings beat, rosy guidance

Published

on

By

Intuit shares pop 9% on earnings beat, rosy guidance

Intuit CEO: This is the fastest organic growth in over a decade

Shares of Intuit popped about 9% on Friday, a day after the company reported quarterly results that beat analysts’ estimates and issued rosy guidance for the full year.

Intuit, which is best known for its TurboTax and QuickBooks software, said revenue in the fiscal third quarter increased 15% to $7.8 billion. Net income rose 18% to $2.82 billion, or $10.02 per share, from $2.39 billion, or $8.42 per share, a year earlier.

“This is the fastest organic growth that we have had in over a decade,” Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi told CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” on Thursday. “It’s really incredible growth across the platform.”

For its full fiscal year, Intuit said it expects to report revenue of $18.72 billion to $18.76 billion, up from the range of $18.16 billion to $18.35 billion it shared last quarter. Analysts were expecting $18.35 billion, according to LSEG.

“We’re redefining what’s possible with [artificial intelligence] by becoming a one-stop shop of AI-agents and AI-enabled human experts to fuel the success of consumers and small and mid-market businesses,” Goodarzi said in a release Thursday.

Read more CNBC tech news

Goldman Sachs analysts reiterated their buy rating on the stock and raised their price target to $860 from $750 on Thursday. The analysts said Intuit’s execution across its core growth pillars is “reinforcing confidence” in its growth profile over the long term.

The company’s AI roadmap, which includes the introduction of AI agents, will add additional upside, the analysts added.

“In our view, Intuit stands out as a rare asset straddling both consumer and business ecosystems, all while supplemented by AI-prioritization,” the Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in a note.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank also reiterated their buy rating on the stock and raised their price target to $815 from $750.

They said the company’s results were “reassuring” after a rocky two years and that they feel more confident about its ability to grow the consumer business.

“Longer term, we continue to believe Intuit presents a unique investment opportunity and we see its platform approach powering accelerated innovation with leverage, thus enabling sustained mid-teens or better EPS growth,” the analysts wrote in a Friday note.

WATCH: Intuit CEO: This is the fastest organic growth in over a decade

Continue Reading

Technology

Why Trump’s iPhone tariff threat might not be enough to bring production to the U.S.

Published

on

By

Why Trump's iPhone tariff threat might not be enough to bring production to the U.S.

FILE PHOTO: Apple CEO Tim Cook escorts U.S. President Donald Trump as he tours Apple’s Mac Pro manufacturing plant with in Austin, Texas, U.S., November 20, 2019.

Tom Brenner | Reuters

The once-solid relationship between President Donald Trump and Apple CEO Tim Cook is breaking down over the idea of a U.S.-made iPhone.

Last week, Trump said he “had a little problem with Tim Cook,” and on Friday, he threatened to slap a 25% tariff on iPhones in a social media post.

Trump is upset with Apple’s plan to source the majority of iPhones sold in the U.S. from its factory partners in India, instead of China. Cook officially confirmed this plan earlier this month during earnings.

Trump wants Apple to build iPhones for the U.S. market in the U.S. and has continued to pressure the company and Cook.

“I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone’s that will be sold in the United  States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday.

Analysts said it would probably make more sense for Apple to eat the cost rather than move production stateside.

“In terms of profitability, it’s way better for Apple to take the hit of a 25% tariff on iPhones sold in the US market than to move iPhone assembly lines back to US,” wrote Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo on X.

UBS analyst David Vogt said that the potential 25% tariffs were a “jarring headline,” but that they would only be a “modest headwind” to Apple’s earnings, dropping annual earnings by 51 cents per share, versus a prior expectation of 34 cents per share under the current tariff landscape.

Experts have long held that a U.S.-made iPhone is impossible at worst and highly expensive at best.

Analysts have said that made in U.S.A. iPhones would be much more expensive, CNBC previously reported, with some estimates ranging between $1,500 to $3,500 to buy one at retail. Labor costs would certainly rise.

But it would also be logistically complicated.

Read more CNBC tech news

Supply chains and factories take years to build out, including installing equipment and staffing up. Parts that Apple imported to the United States for assembly might be subject to tariffs as well.

Apple started manufacturing iPhones in India in 2017 but it was only in recent years that the region was capable of building Apple’s latest devices.

“We believe the concept of Apple producing iPhones in the US is a fairy tale that is not feasible,” wrote Wedbush analyst Dan Ives in a note on Friday.

Other analysts were wary about predicting how Trump’s threat ultimately plays out. Apple might be able to strike a deal with the administration — despite the eroding relationship — or challenge the tariffs in court.

For now, most of Apple’s most important products are exempt from tariffs after Trump gave phones and computers a tariff waiver — even from China — in April, but Apple doesn’t know how the Trump administration’s tariffs will ultimately play out beyond June.

“We’re skeptical,” that the 25% tariff will materialize, wrote Wells Fargo analyst Aaron Rakers.

He wrote that Apple could try to preserve its roughly 41% gross margin on iPhones by raising prices in the U.S. by between $100 or $300 per phone.

It’s unclear how Trump intends to target Apple’s India-made iPhones. Rakers wrote that the administration could put specific tariffs on phone imports from India.

Apple’s operations in India continue to expand.

Foxconn, which assembles iPhones for Apple, is building a new $1.5 billion factory in India that could do some iPhone production, the Financial Times reported Thursday.

Apple declined to comment on Trump’s post.

Continue Reading

Technology

Palantir CEO Alex Karp sells more than $50 million in stock

Published

on

By

Palantir CEO Alex Karp sells more than  million in stock

Palantir co-founder and CEO Alex Karp speaks during the Hill & Valley Forum at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center Auditorium in Washington, D.C., on April 30, 2025.

Brendan Smialowski | Afp | Getty Images

Palantir CEO Alex Karp has sold more than $50 million worth of shares in the artificial intelligence software company, according to securities filings.

The stock transactions occurred on Tuesday and Wednesday between $125.26 and $127.70 per share. Following the stock sales, Karp owned about 6.43 million shares of Palantir stock, worth about $787 million based on Thursday’s closing price.

The sales were connected to a series of automatic share sales to cover required tax withholding obligations tied to vesting restricted stock units, according to filings.

Other top executives at the Denver-based company also unloaded stock.

Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar sold about $21 million worth of Palantir stock, while co-founder and president Stephen Cohen dumped about $43.5 million in shares.

Read more CNBC tech news

Palantir shares have notched fresh highs in recent weeks as the company leapt above Salesforce in market value and into the top 10 most valuable U.S. tech firms.

The digital analytics company has benefited from bets on AI and a surge in government contracts as companies prioritize streamlining and President Donald Trump targets a federal overhaul with the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.

The stock has outperformed its tech peers since the start of 2025, surging nearly 62%, but investors are paying a high multiple on shares.

In its earnings report earlier this month, the company lifted its full-year guidance due to AI adoption, but shares fell on international growth concerns.

“You don’t have to buy our shares,” Karp told CNBC as shares slumped. “We’re happy. We’re going to partner with the world’s best people and we’re going to dominate. You can be along for the ride or you don’t have to be.”

Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO

Palantir CEO: We're bringing revenue growth at much lower costs to regional banks

Continue Reading

Trending