Roman Didkivskyi The Bank of Japan’s December minutes showed that board members supported further rate hikes, provided economic forecasts remain on track, while still maintaining a supportive economic stance. Despite global trade tensions, including the impact of U.S. tariffs on manufacturing profits, policymakers noted that the domestic economy's foundations—jobs, wages, and investment—remain lar...
Roman Didkivskyi The Bank of Japan’s December minutes showed that board members supported further rate hikes, provided economic forecasts remain on track, while still maintaining a supportive economic stance. Despite global trade tensions, including the impact of U.S. tariffs on manufacturing profits, policymakers noted that the domestic economy's foundations—jobs, wages, and investment—remain largely unshaken. Exports and industrial output were stable, and private consumption was strong due to income and employment increases, despite some pressure from rising prices. Most members expect core CPI to dip below the 2% target during the first half of fiscal 2026, primarily due to easing food costs and government price-control measures. While the board raised the policy rate to 0.75% (the highest since 1995), they emphasized that financial conditions remain highly accommodative, as real interest rates are still "deeply negative. Most members stressed policies should be decided on a meeting-by-meeting basis, without a preset pace, based on careful assessment of economic, price, and financial trends. Separate reports state that the New York Federal Reserve conducted a rate check on dollar/yen with market dealers on Friday, while Japanese officials signaled close coordination with the US on currency policy and potential market action. Traders also remain cautious about the risk of unilateral intervention from Tokyo, although Bank of Japan data indicated that authorities have not officially stepped into the market so far. The Nikkei 225 Index fell 0.8% to slip below the 53,000 mark, while the broader Topix Index dropped 1% to 3,528 on Wednesday, reversing gains from the previous session . The Japanese yen traded around 152.5 per dollar on Wednesday, holding near three-month highs. More on Japan's economy: The Yen Carry Trade: Fears Are Blown Out Of Proportion When Bonds Break Equities: Japan's Debt, America's Refinancing Wall And Why Gold Becomes The Only Rational Hedge DXJ...
ozgurdonmaz Apple ( AAPL ) CEO Tim Cook said he is “heartbroken by the events in Minneapolis” and has privately raised his concerns with President Trump, according to a memo to employees, following the killing of a man by federal agents over the weekend. “This is a time for de-escalation,” Cook wrote in the internal message viewed by The Wall Street Journal. “I believe America is strongest when we...
ozgurdonmaz Apple ( AAPL ) CEO Tim Cook said he is “heartbroken by the events in Minneapolis” and has privately raised his concerns with President Trump, according to a memo to employees, following the killing of a man by federal agents over the weekend. “This is a time for de-escalation,” Cook wrote in the internal message viewed by The Wall Street Journal. “I believe America is strongest when we live up to our highest ideals, when we treat everyone with dignity and respect no matter who they are or where they’re from, and when we embrace our shared humanity.” He added that he has shared those views with Trump. “I had a good conversation with the president this week when I shared my views, and I appreciate his openness to engaging on issues that matter to us all,” Cook wrote. The message Tuesday afternoon to Apple’s ( AAPL ) workforce comes as Cook came under criticism for attending a black-tie event at the White House on Saturday, hours after the killing of Alex Pretti, a nurse, in Minneapolis, which has further inflamed emotions. OpenAI ( OPENAI ) CEO Sam Altman has told employees in an internal Slack message—obtained by the New York Times—that— that what is transpiring with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, colloquially known as ICE, has “gone too far.” Dear readers: We recognize that politics often intersects with the financial news of the day, so we invite you to click here to join the separate political discussion. More on Apple Apple: Rolling Over Into Key Earnings Apple: One Strong Quarter Away From A Reality Check Apple: I Love The Valuation, But Not The Product Technology Path Apple plans to avoid iPhone price hikes due to memory dearth, but gross margins might take hit: TF Reincubate sues Apple over alleged camera tech theft, antitrust violations - Reuters
Congatec conga-TCRP1 is a COM Express 3.1 Type 6 Compact module powered by the newly announced AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P100 Series processors, which feature AMD’s latest Zen 5 architecture, RDNA 3.5 graphics, and an XDNA 2 NPU for 59 TOPS of combined AI performance, including up to 50 TOPS from the NPU. The module supports up to 96 GB of DDR5-5600 memory and is available in 4-core and 6-core variant...
Congatec conga-TCRP1 is a COM Express 3.1 Type 6 Compact module powered by the newly announced AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P100 Series processors, which feature AMD’s latest Zen 5 architecture, RDNA 3.5 graphics, and an XDNA 2 NPU for 59 TOPS of combined AI performance, including up to 50 TOPS from the NPU. The module supports up to 96 GB of DDR5-5600 memory and is available in 4-core and 6-core variants with a configurable 15 W to 54 W TDP, allowing both passive and active cooling designs. It supports up to four independent displays, offers PCIe Gen4 and PEG x4 expansion, and includes 2.5 GbE, USB 3.2 Gen 2, and USB 2.0 ports, along with SATA or optional onboard NVMe storage options. Additional features include TPM 2.0, UEFI firmware, and hardware monitoring. The module is available in both commercial and industrial variants with operating temperatures down to -40 °C, which makes it suitable for compact industrial, embedded, and edge AI systems. Congatec conga-TCRP1 specifications: AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P100 Series SoCs (one of the other) AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P132 – 6-core/ 12-thread Zen 5 processor up to 4.5 GHz, 6MB L2 and 8MB L3 Cache, 4x RDNA3.5 graphics @ 2800 MHz; TDP: 28W/54W turbo; NPU:50 TOPS (59 Combined) AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P121 – 4-core/ 8-thread Zen 5 processor up to 4.4 GHz, 4MB L2 and 8MB L3 Cache, 2x RDNA3.5 graphics @ 2700 MHz; TDP: 28W/54W turbo; NPU: 30 TOPS Industrial variants (P132i/P121i) available with -40°C to +85°C support System Memory – 2x SODIMM sockets for up to 96GB DDR5-5600 MT/s (ECC supported); note: 128GB DDR5 likely supported too, although not advertised. Storage Optional onboard BGA NVMe SSD (up to 512 GB) 32 MB SPI flash (Embedded BIOS) Networking – Onboard Intel i226 2.5GbE Ethernet controller 2x 220-pin standard board-to-board connectors Storage – 2x SATA III (6Gb/s) ports (shared with NVMe option) Display 3x DDI (DisplayPort 1.4a / HDMI 2.1) LVDS (dual channel) or eDP 1.4c (Via NXP PTN3460 eDP to LVDS bridge on the module) Up to...
AMSTERDAM, Jan 28 (Reuters) - ASML has become Europe's most valuable company thanks to its dominance in making lithography systems, huge "chip printing" machines that cost $250 million each and are indispensable to firms driving the AI boom. Here is a closer look at the technology behind the Dutch company's rise. WHAT IS DRIVING DEMAND FOR ASML'S PRINTERS ASML holds a monopoly on the extreme ult...
AMSTERDAM, Jan 28 (Reuters) - ASML has become Europe's most valuable company thanks to its dominance in making lithography systems, huge "chip printing" machines that cost $250 million each and are indispensable to firms driving the AI boom. Here is a closer look at the technology behind the Dutch company's rise. WHAT IS DRIVING DEMAND FOR ASML'S PRINTERS ASML holds a monopoly on the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) machines applied in the manufacturing of the most advanced semiconductors, though rivals in China and the U.S. are trying to develop alternatives. Rapid advances in AI and a global build-out of data centres has boosted demand for such chips, making supplying Nvidia's manufacturer TSMC and other makers of AI chips ASML's number one business. THE TECHNOLOGY: HUGE MACHINES WORKING AT NANOSCALE The machines, the size of a school bus and weighing 150 tons, use a complex system of lasers, mirrors and magnets to write microscopic circuitry onto silicon wafers needed in chip production. They map out layers of circuitry by shining patterns of light onto silicon wafers, each containing maybe a hundred AI chips, with unparalleled precision. The EUV wavelength is 13 nanometers. By comparison a human hair is between 80,000 and 100,000 nanometers thick. The machines offered "patterning precision, scalability and energy efficiency" that advanced chip manufacturing and AI chips in particular depended on, according Luc Van den Hove, CEO of the Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre in Belgium, which collaborated with ASML to develop the technology. LASERS AND MIRRORS To generate the EUV light, droplets of tin are blasted at a rate of 50,000 times per second with some of the most powerful lasers ever built, manufactured by German industrial firm Trumpf. A system of mirrors made by German optical systems maker Zeiss, with surfaces smoother than those used in space telescopes and kept in a vacuum, guides the light into the heart of the machine. The table holding the wa...
Boston Dynamics' Atlas appears to have an edge over Tesla's Optimus. Over its history, Tesla (TSLA 0.99%) has changed its strategic objectives multiple times. With its EV business now stalling after two straight years of declining unit sales, Tesla has now shifted investor focus to autonomy, namely its emerging robotaxi network and its autonomous humanoid robot, Optimus. From an investor's perspec...
Boston Dynamics' Atlas appears to have an edge over Tesla's Optimus. Over its history, Tesla (TSLA 0.99%) has changed its strategic objectives multiple times. With its EV business now stalling after two straight years of declining unit sales, Tesla has now shifted investor focus to autonomy, namely its emerging robotaxi network and its autonomous humanoid robot, Optimus. From an investor's perspective, that strategy has been a success so far. As of Jan. 27, Tesla stock is trading near all-time highs with a market cap just shy of $1.5 trillion, despite flattish growth and declining profit margins over the last two years. Investors have bought into Musk's pitch about autonomy, and believe Tesla will be the leader of a potentially massive industry made up of self-driving cars and autonomous robots. However, there's another robotics company that was valued at just $1 billion five years ago that is now arguably ahead of Tesla in autonomous robots. That's Boston Dynamics, which is now majority-owned by Hyundai Motor Group. Hyundai acquired an 80% stake in Boston Dynamics from Softbank in June 2021, which valued the robot maker at $1.1 billion. What you should know about Boston Dynamics Boston Dynamics may not be a household name, but you've likely seen videos of its robots, including a quadrupedal, dog-like robot called Spot, which was its first commercial robot to go on sale in 2020, Stretch, a robot designed to automate warehouse tasks like moving boxes, and Atlas, a humanoid robot that was just named best robot at the CES show earlier this month. CNET Group, which assembled a voting panel of more than 40 experts that awarded Atlas "Best Robot," said, "The Atlas was hands-down the best of the humanoid bunch we saw at CES 2026. The prototype version demoed at the show impressed us with its naturalistic walking gait. Meanwhile, the sleek product version is ready to be deployed into Hyundai manufacturing facilities from this year, where it might just be working on your nex...
Key Points Tesla's valuation has soared to nearly $1.5 trillion in part because of CEO Elon Musk's promises for Optimus. Boston Dynamics' Atlas is set to beat Optimus to market and won Best Robot at CES. Hyundai owns 80% of Boston Dynamics and is set to deploy Atlas robots in its factories. 10 stocks we like better than Hyundai Motor › Over its history, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) has changed its strateg...
Key Points Tesla's valuation has soared to nearly $1.5 trillion in part because of CEO Elon Musk's promises for Optimus. Boston Dynamics' Atlas is set to beat Optimus to market and won Best Robot at CES. Hyundai owns 80% of Boston Dynamics and is set to deploy Atlas robots in its factories. 10 stocks we like better than Hyundai Motor › Over its history, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) has changed its strategic objectives multiple times. With its EV business now stalling after two straight years of declining unit sales, Tesla has now shifted investor focus to autonomy, namely its emerging robotaxi network and its autonomous humanoid robot, Optimus. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue » From an investor's perspective, that strategy has been a success so far. As of Jan. 27, Tesla stock is trading near all-time highs with a market cap just shy of $1.5 trillion, despite flattish growth and declining profit margins over the last two years. Investors have bought into Musk's pitch about autonomy, and believe Tesla will be the leader of a potentially massive industry made up of self-driving cars and autonomous robots. However, there's another robotics company that was valued at just $1 billion five years ago that is now arguably ahead of Tesla in autonomous robots. That's Boston Dynamics, which is now majority-owned by Hyundai Motor Group. Hyundai acquired an 80% stake in Boston Dynamics from Softbank in June 2021, which valued the robot maker at $1.1 billion. What you should know about Boston Dynamics Boston Dynamics may not be a household name, but you've likely seen videos of its robots, including a quadrupedal, dog-like robot called Spot, which was its first commercial robot to go on sale in 2020, Stretch, a robot designed to automate warehouse tasks like moving boxes, and Atlas, a humanoid robot that was just named best robot at the CES show earlier this month. CNET Group, which assemb...