Apple CEO Tim Cook Warns Chip Shortage Could Affect Its iPad, Mac Supply

Apple CEO Tim Cook warned that the ongoing global chip shortage could squeeze its supply of M1-powered products, like the new iPad Pro and iMac 2021, later this year.

“The shortages primarily affect ‌iPad‌ and Mac,” Cook told analysts, according to the BBC. “We have a good handle on our demand – but what everybody else is doing, I don’t know.”

Earlier this month, it was reported that Apple delayed its production for the Macbook and iPad, pushing back a portion of its component order for the two products from the first half of the year to the second half.

Cook said the company would do its best to confront these shortages, but added that it would be “very, very difficult” to predict when they would end.

Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC, which makes chips for Apple, warned that the chip shortage might last into 2022, with an easing only happening in 2023. The company is spending an extraordinary US$100 billion (~RM413.8 billion) over the next three years to boost the chip-making capacity of its plants.

Foxconn, which also counts Apple as a client, sees the shortage running well into the second quarter of next year. So there’s at least some agreement on the time frame.

As we’ve noted before, a global chip shortage is currently strangling the supply of everything from cars and smartphones to graphic cards and gaming consoles. Largely caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the shortage has been notably worsened by rising trade and political tensions between the US and China.

Twitter CEO Called Out For Tweeting During US Congressional Hearing

US Congressional hearings are far from being the most exciting thing a tech giant looks forward to, nor do they enjoy the questions that are asked in-session. For Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, the man may have indirectly compounded those uneasy feelings when he sent out a tweet, while still in the middle of his own hearing.

Dorsey’s tweet was picked up by the Democratic New York Representative, Kathleen Rice, who was sitting in on Dorsey’s Congressional hearing on disinformation and extremism. Where a panel of lawmakers dealt hard-hitting questions towards Dorsey – along with the CEOs of Facebook and Alphabet – over whether their social media platforms held any responsibility during the 6 January insurrection that led to deadly riots and storming of the US Capitol.

Dorsey’s tweet was a poll with the subject simply being a “?”, with the choices being Yes or No. While the message itself is cryptic, it’s likely Dorsey venting his frustration with regards to the format of the hearing; US lawmakers typically present either a loaded or unnecessarily complicated question to the subject, but demand that the latter reply with a simple “Yes” or “No” answer.

As you can imagine, Representative Rice was less than amused with Dorsey’s tweet and even brought it up during the five-hour session, asking the CEO which poll answer was leading. Dorsey’s answer was a monotonous “Yes”. At the time of writing, Yes currently leads at 65.4%, while No is at 34.6%. 

Baidu Has Picked CEO And Brand Name For Joint Electric Car Company With Geely

Baidu CEO Robin Li announced that the Chinese search giant had settled on a CEO and brand name for the electric car company it recently formed with Geely. He said this during Baidu’s latest earnings call but didn’t reveal the name of the CEO or the name of the new company.

However, CNBC, citing a source, claimed that the man picked for CEO is Xia Yiping, a co-founder of Mobike – a bicycle-sharing start-up. His LinkedIn profile indicated that he worked for Fiat Chrysler and Ford before co-founding Mobike which was bought over by the Chinese food delivery firm Meituan in 2018. However, Baidu declined to comment when it was contacted by CNBC.

In its electric vehicle venture with Geely, the majority shareholder is Baidu and Li has previously described the company as combining Baidu’s expertise in autonomous driving with Geely’s expertise in the automotive industry. But when the venture was announced, it wasn’t clear if self-driving cars were on its roadmap.

Li put that to rest during the aforementioned earnings call, saying that the company envisioned an “intelligent” vehicle with autonomous driving technology, the South China Morning Post reported. He said the new EV company aimed to launch its first vehicle in about three years.

The electric car initiative is part of Baidu’s big push to diversify away from its core advertising business. Baidu is already looking to enter the chip-making business through a new AI semiconductor company.

Riot Games CEO Hit With Lawsuit Alleging Gender Discrimination, Sexual Harrassment

Nicolo Laurent, Riot Games CEO, seems to have caught himself a nasty case of unbecoming conduct. The man has been slapped with a lawsuit from a former employee, who alleges that Laurent abused his power against her while still working at the studio.

Sharon O’Donnell, the former executive assistant at Riot Games, joined Riot Games back in 2017 and claims in the lawsuit that she was “wrongfully terminated” back in 2020. During her employment, she claims that Laurent made sexual advances towards her.

The lawsuit also tells of one incident where Laurent invited her to travel with him and even work with him at his home, making it very clear that his wife wouldn’t be present. To make matters worse, he even asked her if she could “handle him when they were alone at his house”.

In response to Laurent’s actions, O’Donnell did what any employee would do in such situations and filed a complaint to Riot Games’ HR department. Unfortunately for her, it had an adverse effect for her and was soon asked to leave shortly after.

It should come as no surprise that Riot Games is no stranger to sexual harassment allegations and lawsuits. In 2018, an investigation published by Kotaku revealed the game company’s treatment and workplace culture towards women, which ended with US$10 million (~RM40.6 million) out-of-court settlement between Riot Games and its accusers.

In response to the O’Donnell’s lawsuit, Riot Game issued a statement, stating that Laurent was now being internally investigated, but until a decision has finalised, the League of Legends and Valorant studio is still maintaining a status quo with their everyday task.

Huawei CEO Says Will Never Sell Its Smartphone Business, Welcomes Call From Biden

Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei said the company would never sell off its smartphone business. He also said he would welcome a phone call from U.S President Joe Biden, and expressed hope for better relations under the new U.S administration.

Due to the U.S sanctions, Huawei’s smartphone unit has undergone a drastic decline. The company already sold off its HONOR brand of smartphones, and there was recent talk that its Mate and P lineups would go the same way. But according to AFP, Ren said, “We have decided we absolutely will not sell off our consumer devices, our smartphone business.”

He also praised the iPhone 12 as “the world’s best smartphone”, the South China Morning Post reported. “Since [Huawei] doesn’t have premium handsets any more, Apple’s phones have helped us prove that Huawei’s 5G technology is the best,” he said.

Saying he’d be willing to speak to Biden, Ren made a plain appeal to American self-interest. He said, “If Huawei’s production capacity can be expanded, that would mean more opportunities for U.S. companies to supply too. I believe that’s going to be mutually beneficially. I believe that (the) new administration would bear in mind such business interests as they are about to decide their new policy,” according to another report by CNBC.

Despite those remarks, BBC has pointed out that Ren isn’t confident Huawei would be dropped from the US Department of Commerce blacklist. BBC’s report also noted that he has apparently warned Washington that blocking Huawei and China could lead to “an unexpected outcome,” although all in all, Ren has generally adopted a conciliatory tone in his latest remark regarding the U.S.

Huawei CEO: iPhone 12 is world's best smartphone!

Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei has called for a reset in relations between the US and the Chinese tech giant. Speaking to international media in China for the first time in more than a year, Ren expressed willingness to speak with President Biden and said he hoped for an “open policy” from the new administration.

“I would welcome such phone calls and the message is around joint development and shared success,” Ren said in officially interpreted comments reported by CNBC, AFP, and the South China Morning Post. “The US wants to have economic growth and China wants to have economic growth as well.”

“If Huawei’s production capacity can be expanded, that would mean more opportunities for US companies to supply too,” Ren continued. “I believe that’s going to be mutually beneficial. I believe that (the) new administration would bear in mind such business interests as they are about to decide their new policy. We still hope that we can buy large volumes of American materials, components and equipment so that we can all benefit from China’s growth.”

Living a Google-free life with a Huawei phone
Huawei is currently unable to do business with US companies because the Trump administration placed it on the Department of Commerce’s trade blacklist, citing national security fears. Among other issues, this means Huawei is unable to license Android from Google, severely hampering its smartphone business outside of China.

This prompted Huawei to sell off its Honor subsidiary in order to protect the brand and allow it to keep on producing smartphones, but Ren dismissed rumors that Huawei might do the same for its own smartphone division. “We have decided we absolutely will not sell off our consumer devices, our smartphone business,” he said.

Ren also reportedly called the iPhone 12 “the world’s best smartphone” and said that it helped make the case for Huawei’s 5G networks. “High-end customers in Europe love Apple,” he said. “Since [Huawei] doesn’t have premium handsets any more, Apple’s phones have helped us prove that Huawei’s 5G technology is good.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook Skewers Facebook Over Misinformation And Data Privacy

Two of the world’s biggest names in tech are openly clashing with each other. Apple CEO Tim Cook made veiled but obvious digs at Facebook in a streamed speech about data privacy yesterday. Facebook has publicly lambasted Apple over an upcoming privacy update on the latter’s iOS platform. Cook seems to have escalated the feud by highlighting the social media giant’s complicity in spreading misinformation.

“What are the consequences of prioritizing conspiracy theories and violent incitement simply because of their high rates of engagement? What are the consequences of not just tolerating, but rewarding content that undermines public trust in life-saving vaccinations? What are the consequences of seeing thousands of users join extremist groups, and then perpetuating an algorithm that recommends even more?” Cook said.

He declared, “It is long past time to stop pretending that this approach doesn’t come with a cost — of polarization, of lost trust and, yes, of violence. A social dilemma cannot be allowed to become a social catastrophe.”

As CNET noted, “social dilemma” is likely a reference to The Social Dilemma – a 2020 Netflix documentary that’s critical of social media companies including Facebook.

Cook knowingly stepped on an extremely touchy topic for Facebook – whether the platform is being used to spread extremism and fake news (as its many critics argue). It’s an especially salient question after the deadly US Capitol riots on 6 January – the direct result of conspiracy theories (some pushed by a former US president) alleging that the 2020 US presidential election was rigged.

Facebook arguably may have invited this sort of pushback when it stridently campaigned against Apple’s new privacy changes. The social media firm even bought full-page newspaper ads against Apple, claiming that Apple was giving the shaft to “small businesses.” Clearly, Cook and his team took it to heart.

At the core of the issue is Apple’s new rule requiring that all apps on iOS explicitly obtain a user’s permission before tracking their data. Facebook said the rule would seriously interfere with the way it does advertising. But Apple isn’t budging.

“Technology does not need vast troves of personal data, stitched together across dozens of websites and apps, in order to succeed. Advertising existed and thrived for decades without it. And we’re here today because the path of least resistance is rarely the path of wisdom.

If a business is built on misleading users, on data exploitation, on choices that are no choices at all, then it does not deserve our praise. It deserves reform.” Cook said.

All we can say is, ouch.