Microsoft, Meta, Tesla & Apple: What this week’s tech earnings tell us about the AI boom January 31, 2025 Microsoft, Meta, Tesla and Apple kicked off the tech earnings season this week, giving us snapshot of how spending on AI is shaping the tech sector. Here’s what we’ve learnt about the AI boom so far. AI spending shapes the tech sector This week started with the rise of Chinese startup DeepSeek causing headwinds on [...]
Apple reports strong revenue despite iPhone sales decline January 31, 2025 While Apple’s iPhone sales dropped last quarter, the tech giant’s services division more than made up for the decline. The company, which reported results after the market closed on Thursday, said sales grew 3.9 per cent year over year to $124.3bn (£100bn) inline with Wall Street expectations. Net income rose 7.1 per cent to $36.3bn, [...]
Samsung misses estimates as chip demand dwindles January 31, 2025 Samsung Electronics missed chip profit estimates in its fourth quarter, falling short of market expectations of 3 trillion won (£1.68bn) as competition heightened and demand plateaued. In Friday’s report, Samsung Electronics announced a 22 per cent year over year increase in net profit for its fourth quarter, reaching 7.754tr won (£4.65bn). However, this represented a [...]
Microsoft and Meta defend AI spend post DeepSeek shock January 30, 2025 Tech giants Microsoft and Meta both addressed and defended their substantial investments in artificial intelligence (AI), despite recent headwinds. Both firms kicked off the earnings season on Wednesday, just days after Chinese startup DeepSeek broke the internet, as well as the market, on Monday. Its recent global traction followed the release of its new AI [...]
Meta pays Trump $25m to settle Facebook lawsuit January 30, 2025 Meta has agreed to pay $25m (£20m) to settle a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump back in 2021 over his banned accounts. The president had sued Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, as well as its owner, Mark Zuckerberg, due to his accounts being suspended on its platforms. Meta had banned his accounts following the [...]
Elon Musk says 2025 will be a ‘pivotal year for Tesla’ despite sales slowdown January 30, 2025 On Wednesday, electric vehicle (EV) giant Tesla reported a significant decline in profit for 2024, with its net income dropping over 70 per cent to $2.3bn (£1.83bn). The firm reported a profit of $2.3bn (£1.84bn) in the last three months of the year. Profit at Elon Musk’s group dropped despite an increase in sales, which [...]
UK’s small businesses underestimating risk of cyber attacks January 30, 2025 Small businesses (SMEs) consider themselves too small to be targeted for data theft, severely exposing themselves to cyber attacks. According to a new Association of Business Insurers (ABI) report, SMEs generally consider themselves too small to be targeted by cyber criminals and, as a result, are not using cyber insurance to help mitigate these risks. The [...]
DeepSeek accused of using OpenAI’s models to train its viral bot January 29, 2025 OpenAI has accused Chinese competitor DeepSeek of using its models to train the competing system, violating its property rights. The ChatGPT maker claimed that its new Chinese competitor employed a technique called ‘distillation’ – when a smaller model learns from its larger counterpart – to develop its new chatbot. Donald Trump’s artificial intelligence adviser, David [...]
Why DeepSeek’s breakthrough could blow up an AI market bubble January 29, 2025 DeepSeek’s new AI model made history on Monday by triggering US markets and wiping billions off leading tech stocks. Yet, its breakthrough may have a positive impact on the AI landscape. The Chinese startup’s new chat-bot, a rival to ChatGPT’s OpenAI, gained traction due to its ability to deliver high performance, at a far lower [...]
Government must improve its cybersecurity, warns UK watchdog January 29, 2025 The government must fix its significant deficiencies as the cyber threat landscape outpaces its current defensive strategies, UK watchdog has warned. According to Wednesday’s report by the National Audit Office (NAO), the UK has a huge shortage of skilled cyber security professionals within its government departments. Gareth Davies, head of NAO, said: “The risk of [...]
