• Cliff Equity
  • Posts
  • 📈 Amazon’s $4B AI Bet Flies Under Radar

📈 Amazon’s $4B AI Bet Flies Under Radar

Huawei's £1bn Slide: Profits Still Hanging On

September 30, 2024

This is Cliff Equity, the UK’s business newsletter that keeps you informed on what’s important in tech, business and finance in less than 5 minutes

In today’s stories:

  • Amazon’s $4B AI Bet Flies Under Radar

  • Huawei's £1bn Slide: Profits Still Hanging On

  • Raspberry Pi’s Revenue Soars; AI Awaits!

The summary: Amazon’s hefty investment in AI startup Anthropic has dodged CMA scrutiny, highlighting how Big Tech is cleverly playing by the rules while quietly tightening its grip on the AI game.

The details:

  • The CMA has decided that Amazon’s £4 billion investment in AI startup Anthropic doesn’t qualify for investigation—apparently, it’s too small to count!

  • Anthropic, which makes a chatbot similar to ChatGPT, has attracted big-money backers like Amazon and Google, raising an eye-watering £10 billion so far.

  • The CMA is pondering whether Big Tech is using "quasi-mergers" to sneak control over startups, but Amazon and Anthropic have wriggled through a legal loophole this time.

  • Anthropic insists it's still independent, despite its rather crowded board of billionaires from Amazon and Google. How cosy!

Why it matters: Amazon and Google pouring billions into AI startups like Anthropic is like two giants playing chess with the future of technology, but calling it a "strategic partnership" to keep regulators off their backs. The CMA’s inability to investigate hints that our current merger laws might be a bit out of date—after all, startups worth billions clearly aren’t small fry. It’s a peek behind the curtain at how Big Tech is subtly snapping up influence without calling it a full-blown takeover.

The summary: Huawei’s UK arm may have taken a tumble thanks to government restrictions, but they’re determined to stay in the game by focusing on what they can still sell and keeping the profits ticking over!

The details:

  • Huawei’s UK arm has seen its turnover nosedive by more than £1bn since 2019, with 2023 turnover at £229.56m—a 36% drop from the previous year.

  • Profits aren't looking much cheerier—pre-tax profit for 2023 slumped to £11.4m, down from a once-glorious £38m in 2019.

  • Downsizing by design: UK and US restrictions forced Huawei into a “planned downsizing,” and their headcount has shrunk from nearly 900 in 2019 to just 260.

  • Still in the game, just about: Huawei insists they’ll stay profitable in 2024, focusing on products unaffected by government crackdowns—but don’t hold your breath for a revenue rebound!

Why it matters: Huawei’s sharp decline in the UK shows just how much government restrictions can send even the mightiest tech giants into freefall. For a company that once loomed large over Britain’s 5G future, being reduced to a fraction of its former self is a spectacular fall from grace. As Huawei scrambles to stay profitable, the UK telecoms market is left reshuffling its deck—without one of its biggest players.

The summary: Raspberry Pi’s launch of a budget-friendly AI camera and a whopping 61% revenue boost post-IPO prove that British tech is buzzing with innovation and ready to take the AI world by storm!

The details:

  • Raspberry Pi, the UK's beloved budget tech brand, is upping its AI game with a snazzy new AI camera, perfect for visual data processing.

  • Launched Monday, this camera, powered by Sony’s image sensor magic, works seamlessly with Raspberry Pi’s single board computers.

  • After going public in June, Raspberry Pi has enjoyed a revenue surge of 61%, hitting $144m in the first half of the year, despite some cooling customer activity.

  • CEO Eben Upton is excited to see the Raspberry Pi community flex their creative AI muscles with this latest tech marvel!

Why it matters: Raspberry Pi’s AI camera launch gives developers a fresh, budget-friendly tool to dive into AI-powered image processing—no more cobbling together extra kit. Their impressive revenue jump post-IPO shows they’re still the darling of UK tech, even with some customer slow-down. It’s a nudge to the rest of the market that British ingenuity is alive, well, and ready to disrupt the AI scene!