1. Apple’s market value evaporated by 744 billion yuan overnight

According to CCTV News, data released by the U.S. Department of Commerce on December 15, local time, showed that U.S. retail sales fell by 0.6% month-on-month in November. The data sparked fears of an economic recession, and subsequently all three major U.S. stock indexes fell sharply.

As of the close of trading on December 16, Eastern Time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 764.13 points, a drop of 2.25%; the Nasdaq fell 360.36 points, a drop of 3.23%; and the S&P 500 fell 2.48%. Nonferrous metals and semiconductor equipment fell the most, with Ultra-Colin Semiconductor falling more than 5%, ASML and Lam Research falling more than 4%; among large technology stocks, Apple, Google, Qualcomm, and Nvidia all fell more than 4%, and Amazon and Microsoft fell more than 3%. Among them, the technology giant Apple closed at $136.5 per share, down 4.69%, with a market value of $2.2 trillion. The market value evaporated by about $106.7 billion (about 744 billion yuan) overnight.

According to media reports such as Phoenix.com and other media, according to analysis, the main reason for Apple's stock price plummet this time is because the official plan will allow users to download applications from third-party channels in 2024, and will no longer force users to download from the App Store. Prior to this, Apple only allowed users to download apps from the App Store, saying that this move could "effectively protect users' machine security." However, due to the new EU regulations, Apple faces the risk of discontinuing sales and has to open third-party sideloading. As a result, it will lose nearly 10 billion US dollars in "Apple tax" every year.

In addition, in the early morning of December 15, the Federal Open Market Committee announced that it would raise the federal funds rate by 50 basis points to 4.25%~4.50%, in line with market expectations. This is the seventh consecutive rate hike by the Federal Reserve this year. It is also the first time that the rate hike has been reduced to 50 basis points after four consecutive 75 basis point rate hikes. Counting this 50 basis points, the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates by a cumulative 4.25% in this round of interest rate hikes. The interest rate range of 4.25% to 4.50% has once again set a new high since the global financial crisis in 2008.

2. Toshiba’s acquisition negotiations are ongoing, and it says its goal is to reach an agreement with potential partners as soon as possible

DoNews reported on December 16 that Japan's Toshiba, which is reportedly negotiating an acquisition, said in a letter to shareholders on Friday that its goal is to reach an agreement with potential partners as soon as possible. Toshiba Board Chairman Akihiro Watanabe and Toshiba Strategic Options Special Committee Chairman Jerry Black added in the letter that there is no guarantee that the two parties will reach a deal. The letter said Toshiba "plans to accept binding and sincere proposals and will do its best to reach an agreement as soon as possible after necessary negotiations."

Sources said Toshiba's preferred bidder, Japan Industrial Partners (JIP), is close to obtaining acquisition financing from banks. The deal is expected to value the industrial conglomerate at about 2.2 trillion yen.

3. China's first native chiplet technology standard released

Fast Technology reported on December 16 that at the "Second China Interconnect Technology and Industry Conference" held today, the first group standard "Technical Requirements for Chiplet Interface Bus" jointly developed by relevant Chinese integrated circuit companies and experts was officially approved and released by the China Electronics Industry Standardization Association of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. In May 2021, the China Computer Interconnect Technology Alliance established the chiplet standard, namely "Technical Requirements for Chiplet Interface Bus", in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Fourth Institute of Electronics of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and multiple domestic chip manufacturers cooperated to carry out standard formulation work.

It is reported that the "Technical Requirements for Small Chip Interface Bus" describes the technical requirements for small chip interface bus in application scenarios such as CPU, GPU, artificial intelligence chip, network processor and network switching chip, including an overall overview, interface requirements, link layer, adaptability Layering, physical layer and packaging requirements, etc.

4. It is reported that OPPO will invest 10 billion yuan in OnePlus in the next three years.

According to Jiemian News on December 16, according to people at OPPO’s internal management level, OPPO decided within the company to invest 10 billion in its sub-brand OnePlus.

“Most of these 10 billion funds will be used for OnePlus’ product research and development. In addition, all OPPO’s next resources will be greatly tilted towards OnePlus, including OPPO’s basic research and development, supply chain, and channels. , leading technologies in research institutes and R&D departments, etc.”

OnePlus is a brand founded by OPPO Vice President Liu Zuohu in 2013. After becoming popular among geek circles in Silicon Valley in the United States and Bangalore, India, it became popular overseas. OnePlus mobile phones occupy part of the high-end foreign market mainly through online channels, which is relatively rare among Chinese mobile phone companies. After flying solo for 8 years, OnePlus officially returned to OPPO in 2021 and became a sub-brand of OPPO. According to previous reports, OnePlus and OPPO are changing their previous separate models after merging and sharing technical architecture and R&D resources.

5. Sony plans to invest billions of dollars to build a new factory in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, to increase smartphone sensor production.

Nikkei News reported on December 15 that Sony Group Corporation is considering establishing a new factory in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, to produce smartphone image sensors. The company plans to break ground on the plant as soon as 2024 and start production as early as 2025, the report said, adding that the company expects the cost to reach billions of dollars.

Strategy Analytics' previously released "Smartphone Image Sensor Market Share 2022 Q2: Demand Continues to Weaken" pointed out that the total revenue of the global smartphone image sensor market in the first half of this year was US$6.4 billion, and shipments fell 11% year-on-year. It is said that Sony Semiconductor Solutions topped the list with a 44% revenue share, followed by Samsung System LSI and OMNIVISION. Sony, Samsung and OMNIVISION account for nearly 83% of the global smartphone image sensor market revenue share.