FTI Consulting News Bytes – 14th April
Welcome to FTI Consulting News Bytes – a roundup of top tech stories of the week from FTI Consulting’s TMT (Telecom, Media & Technology) team in London.
We start this week’s edition in Germany where Intel is building a €17bn chip plant in a bid to improve both the EU’s and Intel’s footing in in the semiconductor market. The Company is facing pressure from German officials to expand its plans and Intel is willing to, but only if the government provides €10bn in subsidies. In the US, automakers are under pressure as the Environmental Protection Agency is set to release new standards that are aimed at phasing out internal combustion engine or “ICE” vehicles. Meanwhile, the Pentagon are puzzled at how multiple classified documents, which include military assessments on the war in Ukraine and CIA reports on global issues were leaked online. Back over to the EU – Blik, a buzzy fintech based in Poland is looking to “revolutionise” cardless transaction services across the European Union. To close out this week’s edition, we look at the falling price of Lithium which has provided a confidence boost to many climate tech companies in a tough market environment.
This week’s news
No electric feels for ICE vehicles
The Verge has covered the news that the USA’s Environmental Protection Agency is set to announce new tailpipe emission standards, aimed at pressurising the auto industry into phasing out gas powered cars. The new rules would effectively set an emissions limit on the total number of new cars an automaker sells in a year. This limit would essentially ensure that two-thirds of vehicles they sold in the US by 2032 would be EVs, according to a report by The New York Times. It is a bold, ambitious plan that is a strong part of President Biden’s climate goals. The scale of the challenge has likely never been seen in the entire 150-year history of the auto industry, the Verge add. It is perhaps another strong signal that the days of ICE vehicles are numbered.
Minecraft spills military secrets 
The Pentagon is attempting to uncover how multiple classified documents, which include military assessments on the war in Ukraine and CIA reports on global issues, have been leaked online. Forbes outlined the trajectory of events, including the moment when the files were discovered on messaging app Telegram and a Discord server. Elon Musk has since responded to a tweet regarding the Pentagon’s attempts to delete the sensitive documents, “Yeah, you can totally delete things from the Internet – that works perfectly and doesn’t draw attention to whatever you were trying to hide at all.”
From Poland with Love: The Payment Revolution
Polish mobile-payment company, Blik, is looking to expand and “revolutionise” its cardless transaction services across the European Union (EU), according to a Bloomberg article. The company is a joint venture of six Polish banks and MasterCard Inc. and is monetising transfers by taking a percentage of e-commerce transactions, having captured a 70% share of such deals in the domestic market last year. With 13 million monthly users, Blik claims to have more users than any other European peer, including payment apps from Apple and Google. The company’s mobile app generates a six-digit code linked to a mobile phone number, which can be used to pay for goods and services or to transfer money between accounts within seconds.
From Poland with Love: The Payment Revolution
Polish mobile-payment company, Blik, is looking to expand and “revolutionise” its cardless transaction services across the European Union (EU), according to a Bloomberg article. The company is a joint venture of six Polish banks and MasterCard Inc. and is monetising transfers by taking a percentage of e-commerce transactions, having captured a 70% share of such deals in the domestic market last year. With 13 million monthly users, Blik claims to have more users than any other European peer, including payment apps from Apple and Google. The company’s mobile app generates a six-digit code linked to a mobile phone number, which can be used to pay for goods and services or to transfer money between accounts within seconds.
Why the slump of white gold is every car maker’s dream
The price of Lithium, the precious metal powering the electric vehicle (EV) revolution, has fallen more than 30% this year due to a reduced appetite for EVs in China and rare discounts from battery giants. In Europe, there are around 400 venture capital-backed start-ups using or manufacturing lithium-ion batteries, Sifted writes. This price plunge has caused climate tech companies in Europe to breathe “a sigh of relief”. While automakers and their low operational margins are cashing in as a result of these lower prices, if prices continue to fall there’s a risk that producers could be put off increasing their output any further. That being said, analysts have predicted that this dip will be short-lived as the demand for lithium is sure to continue to exceed supply and will ensure prices remain high in the long run.
Top Tweets of the Week
- Adam Tooze, a professor at Columbia: Figures for industrial policy spending (at least in 2019 adjusted for current numbers) give some idea of why China is so far ahead.
- Marc Randolph, co-founder of Netflix: In 2000, at the depth of the dot com crash, Reed Hastings and I tried to sell Netflix to Blockbuster for $50 million dollars. They laughed us out of the room.
- Anna Nicolaou, a journalist at the FT: Universal Music has told streaming services to block AI systems from scraping melodies and lyrics from their copyrighted songs.
Number of the Week
83% – The percentage of victim organizations paid a ransom at least once, rather than enduring further operational disruption and data loss, according to a report by cybersecurity company Extrahop.
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