The U.S. is reviewing Alibaba's cloud business; ASML's 2022 sales guidance is lower than expected

The U.S. is reviewing Alibaba's cloud business

Reuters reported on January 18 local time that while the US government strengthened the control of Chinese technology companies and US companies, according to three people familiar with the matter, the Biden administration is reviewing the cloud business of e-commerce giant Alibaba to determine whether it poses a risk to US national security.

The sources said the investigation focused on how the company stores U.S. customer data, including personal information and intellectual property, and whether the Chinese government has access to that data. U.S. regulators may ultimately choose to force the company to take steps to reduce the risk posed by its cloud business, or simply ban americans at home and abroad from using the service.

One of the sources and a former Trump administration official said the Commerce Department during the Trump administration had expressed concern about Alibaba's cloud business, but the Biden administration launched a formal review after taking office.

According to research firm Gartner, Alibaba's cloud business in the U.S. is small, with annual revenue estimated at less than $50 million. But if regulators ultimately decide to block a deal between U.S. businesses and Alibaba Cloud, it would hurt the profits of one of the company's most promising businesses and take a toll on the company's overall reputation.

Microsoft intends to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion

On the evening of January 18, Microsoft corporation issued a statement saying that it would buy Activision Blizzard in full cash for $95 per share, including Activision Blizzard's net cash, with a transaction value of $68.7 billion.

Microsoft said that after the transaction is completed, Microsoft will become the third-highest-grossing gaming company in the world, after Tencent and Sony. Planned acquisitions include notable works by Activision Blizzard and subsidiary King, such as the Warcraft series, Diablo, Overwatch, Call of Duty and Candy Crush Saga.

The statement said that Bobby Kotick will continue to serve as CEO of Activision Blizzard, and after the completion of the transaction, the Activision Blizzard business will report to Microsoft Game CEO Phil Spencer. According to U.S. media such as Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal, this will be the largest acquisition in Microsoft's history.

Shanghai has increased its special financial support for major IC projects

According to the Shanghai Municipal Government issued the "Several Policies to Promote the High-quality Development of the Integrated Circuit Industry and Software Industry in Shanghai in the New Era" issued on January 19, it is proposed to increase special financial support.

For major projects of integrated circuit equipment and materials that have made major breakthroughs in independent research and development and achieved actual sales, the support ratio is 30% of the new investment in the project, and the amount of support is not higher than 100 million yuan in principle; for major projects such as EDA, basic software, industrial software, and information security software, the new investment in the project can be relaxed to no less than 50 million yuan, the support ratio is 30% of the new investment in the project, and the amount of support is not higher than 100 million yuan in principle For qualified design enterprises to carry out tape-out services that are conducive to promoting the application of the city's integrated circuit line width less than 28 nanometers (inclusive) process production lines, the relevant tape-out fees are included in the new investment of the project, and 30% of the support is given to the tape-out fee, and the amount of support is not higher than 100 million yuan in principle.

Tsinghua Unigroup's net profit last year or increased by 136%-160% year-on-year

On the evening of January 18, Unigroup Issued an announcement that it expects the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies in 2021 to be 1.9 billion yuan to 2.1 billion yuan, an increase of 136% to 160% year-on-year, and a profit of 806 million yuan in the same period last year.

In addition, Unigroup Guowei expects net profit after deducting non-recurring gains and losses to be 1.7 billion yuan to 1.9 billion yuan in 2021, an increase of 144% to 173% year-on-year, and a profit of 696 million yuan in the same period last year.

Winbond Electric's new 12-inch plant equipment moved in

According to the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily reported on January 19, niche DRAM and flash memory chip maker Winbond Electric said that its kaohsiung new 12-inch fab has started the equipment move in, planned to start production in September, is expected to initially produce 3,500 wafers per month, by December will gradually expand to 10,000 pieces.

After the first phase of production, the monthly production capacity will be increased by 14,000 pieces, which will increase the company's total production capacity to 38,000 pieces per month. Winbond electric previously revealed that the new kaohsiung plant will use its second-generation 25nm process technology (25S) to produce niche DRAM.

Apple became the 2021 mobile phone sales champion

On January 19, the latest report released by data research institute Canalys showed that thanks to the success of the iPhone 13, Apple's mobile phones accounted for 22% of global smartphone shipments in 2021, ranking first in the global smartphone market, followed by Samsung with a market share of 20%.

In addition, Xiaomi ranked third with 12%, OPPO ranked fourth with 9%, and Vivo ranked in the top five with 8% Canalys noted in the report that Apple won 22% of global smartphone shipments at the end of 2021. The last time Apple occupied the first place was back in the fourth quarter of 2020.

ASML's 2022 sales guidance is lower than expected

On the 19th local time, ASML's official website announced that it is expected that net sales in 2022 will increase by 20% year-on-year to 20 billion euros, lower than the market expectation of 22.12 billion euros, including the impact of the Berlin plant fire. At the same time, Intel ordered the TWINSCAN EXE: 5200 for the first time, marking another step towards the marketization of EUV 0.55 NA (High-NA).

ASML also announced its results for the first quarter of 2022, the fourth quarter of 2021 and the full year of the financial report. Among them, net sales in the first quarter of 2022 were revised down to between 3.3 billion and 3.5 billion euros due to the large number of rapid shipments, and sales of about 2 billion euros are expected to be excluded from this figure and will be confirmed after the official completion of customer acceptance tests in subsequent quarters.

Chuan Huawei officially entered the private equity

According to the news of Finance on January 19, the information of the China Foundation Association shows that Hubble Technology Venture Capital Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Hubble Technology) completed the registration of private fund managers on January 14 this year, and the institutional types are private equity and venture capital fund managers. After completing the filing of the private fund manager, a private fund product will be established in the future to raise funds for individual and institutional qualified investors to carry out equity venture capital investment.

Carding noted that since its establishment, Hubble Technology has successively invested in Suzhou Yutai Chetong Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., Qinghong Electronics, Changzhou Fuene, Suzhou Dongwei Semiconductor Co., Ltd., Hangzhou New Consensus, Onry Microelectronics, Tianfu Energy, Siruipu and so on. It is noteworthy that Tianyue Advanced, the "first share of silicon carbide", landed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board on January 12, with a market value of more than 38 billion yuan. Up to now, Hubble Technology has won 5 IPOs, and the profit of 110 million yuan invested in Tianyue Advanced has exceeded 20 times.