Even if the Apple Car is a failure, the supply chain work they have already done will dramatically alter the auto industry. If they deliver a compelling car, the incumbents are in trouble. And what happens if Apple launches with multiple models on day 1?
Apple can use its brand and its software to build a “Luxury” car, and use its supply chain to build that car for less, effectively re-segmenting the industry to maximize profit, not market share.
We are going to explore how Apple can extract and redistribute value in the Autos. First, we look at what Apple is best at.
Qualcomm’s investor day unveiled the company’s new positioning around edge devices, a strategy which allows them to repurpose existing products for a much wider array of customers.
Two Chinese companies – Tencent and Innosilicon – launched chips this month that look to be important steps forward for China’s semis efforts.
Before we get to autonomous vehicles, there is going to be a big market for a special-purpose automotive processors (APU?). That chip is going to look a lot like a mobile app processor, and Qualcomm may be the best positioned to capture the opportunity.
The market for auto semis never quite seems to live up to its growth forecasts. Someday, it will get there, but there are some good reasons why it will take time.
Vodafone is doubling down on its internal software team – we think this model will not work for most other telcos.
Did Aliens Build the Pyramids? – Did Ali really build its own CPU? It looks like they got help from a few outside parties which just shows that designing chips, especially CPUs, is still hard.
Is the Cloud Your Friend? – The big cloud service providers are buying up the world’s communications infrastructure and they are funding those purchases by the enormous profits they make on their core services. Hard to see this trend going on indefinitely
Digits to Dollars 