Original link: https://www.latepost.com/news/dj_detail?id=1427
Cook’s itinerary and Apple’s challenge
Apple CEO Cook’s recent schedule is a bit full.
In the past few days in Japan, he visited Kumamoto Prefecture, an important semiconductor town (TSMC is building a factory here), Sony’s sensor factory and Konami, a famous game developer. Last week, he stood for the relocation ceremony of TSMC’s super factory in Arizona, USA.
Going forward, he visited several European application development companies in October, attended and spoke at the European Data Protection Conference held in Brussels, Belgium; in May, he received visiting Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Thanh at Apple headquarters, promising to consider increasing the number of Vietnamese suppliers , and Vietnamese products used in the apple production line.
The core topics of all these public trips can be summarized as: responding to antitrust and maintaining supply chain security.
According to media reports, in order to meet the EU’s new “Digital Market Act”, Apple plans to allow the iPhone to freely download third-party applications without going through the App Store, which may be implemented in iOS 17 released next year at the earliest.
Apple has long insisted that a “walled garden” is necessary to prevent viruses and malware while protecting users’ privacy. And once users are allowed to bypass the App Store by sideloading (sideloading) to install applications, Apple’s tightly controlled ecosystem will also have loopholes. Bypassing the App Store may have a series of other problems such as accessing Apple’s push system.
In the past few years, Apple has repeatedly fought with anti-monopoly agencies in various European countries, and has been fined billions of euros by the Netherlands, France, Italy and other countries. In the words of EU digital policy chief Margrethe Vestager, Apple actually “prefers to pay fines on a regular basis” rather than abide by the terms of the authorities.
But this time the price was unbearable. According to the latest European regulatory requirements, Apple may face a fine equivalent to 20% of global revenue if it does not comply. According to the latest fiscal year data, it is approximately equal to 80 billion US dollars.
Another challenge is the risk brought by the concentration of the supply chain. Foxconn’s production reduction has caused Apple to encounter serious delivery problems, and the ongoing geopolitical crisis has accelerated the risk of Apple’s diversification of production capacity.
In addition to the visible expansion of investment in India and Vietnam, and locking in the production capacity of TSMC’s U.S. factory, there is also a speculation that Apple will no longer need more “Apple Towns” like Zhengzhou in the future. Scattered “apple villages” instead.
Cook, 62, has been at Apple for more than a decade. He didn’t find a big opportunity like “the next iPhone”, but he raised Apple’s market value from $349 billion when he took over to $3 trillion, making him one of the most profitable companies in the world. He said he would retire when the time was right. In order for Apple to continue hovering high in the future, Cook’s busy journey will continue. (Qiu Hao)
A breakthrough in controllable nuclear fusion, although only lasted for less than 1 second
In 1952, the United States detonated a hydrogen bomb on an island near the equator in the Pacific Ocean and achieved nuclear fusion for the first time. After that, scientists continued to do everything possible to try to control nuclear fusion and use it to generate electricity.
Nuclear fusion is regarded by many people as the “ultimate energy source”. In theory, 1 gram of nuclear fusion fuel releases the energy equivalent to 10 tons of coal, and it does not emit carbon dioxide, and it will not leak hazards like the current nuclear fission power stations. The environment has been radioactive for hundreds of years.
For the next 70 years, nuclear fusion research has made limited progress. Scientists have developed a device for nuclear fusion, but every time controllable nuclear fusion is achieved, the output energy is not as much as the input, so that some people have long ridiculed that “human beings are always 30 years away from controllable nuclear fusion.”
Nuclear fusion research has now made important progress. The U.S. Department of Energy announced on December 13 that Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory achieved a net energy gain in nuclear fusion experiments: the output energy (3.15 MJ) exceeded the input energy (2.05 MJ), maintaining less than 1 second.
- The way Livermore Laboratory achieves nuclear fusion is “inertial confinement”. Use a laser that consumes 300 megajoules to emit 192 laser beams, quickly bombard the peppercorn-sized fuel made of deuterium and tritium, heat it to 3 million degrees Celsius, break the surface of the fuel, and create a higher temperature and high pressure environment. The fusion of hydrogen atoms in deuterium-tritium achieves nuclear fusion.
This is the first time that human beings have used nuclear fusion to achieve a net gain in energy. The previous widely recognized energy record was in 1997. In an experiment of the nuclear fusion device European Joint Torus (JET) funded by European countries, it consumed about 9 kWh of energy and produced 6 kWh of energy. to 1 second.
More breakthroughs are needed to use nuclear fusion to generate electricity. The current progress is in the laboratory research stage, and there is still a long way to go to generate electricity. A 20-year nuclear fusion researcher told us that if you want to use nuclear fusion to generate electricity, the output energy must be at least 5 times the input energy. The ultra-large nuclear fusion device ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), which is currently under construction, aims to achieve a 10-fold energy gain and is expected to be put into operation in 2035.
Both the European Combined Ring and ITER use “magnetic confinement” to achieve nuclear fusion, and the fuel is heated into a plasma by microwaves in a vacuum ring channel similar to a “doughnut”. Each direction of the annular channel is wrapped by magnetic coils of different shapes. After the coil is energized, a magnetic field is formed, which compresses the plasma at 100 million degrees Celsius to a certain density, turns it into a high-speed spiral, and realizes nuclear fusion.
The earth’s energy problems have become increasingly prominent, coupled with some technological breakthroughs, in recent years more and more start-up companies and private capital have entered the field of nuclear fusion, most of which promise to realize commercial nuclear fusion power generation in the 2030s. Most of them are in the early stage now, and they are still building devices, testing whether the solution is feasible, and then trying to achieve positive energy gains. (He Qianming)
Moderna’s Cancer Vaccine Shows Light to Melanoma Patients
On December 13, American pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Merck announced that a mid-stage trial showed that the combination therapy of Moderna’s mRNA-based cancer vaccine and Merck’s key immune drug Keytruda reduced the risk of recurrence or death by about 44% compared with Keytruda alone.
This vaccine uses mRNA technology to deliver the genetic code fragments of the patient’s tumor to other cells in the body, and uses the patient’s own immune system to fight against cancer cells. It is a “personalized vaccine” customized for the mutation characteristics of each patient’s tumor. It is mainly used for postoperative injection of melanoma patients to prevent cancer recurrence, not to prevent cancer.
The trial data came from 157 patients after cancer surgery, who were randomly divided into two groups, one group was treated with Keytruda monotherapy alone, and the other group was injected with 9 doses of the vaccine and 200mg Keytruda drug combination therapy every 3 weeks for a duration of 1 year.
Moderna expects to conduct a larger Phase 3 clinical trial next year. They also plan to expand the therapy to other such cancers such as lung, bladder, breast, and others.
Melanoma is a type of malignant tumor derived from melanocytes. It is called “the king of cancers” because of its high mortality rate, high metastasis rate and difficult treatment. The incidence of melanoma has been increasing significantly, with nearly 100,000 new cases and approximately 7,650 deaths from melanoma in the United States this year, according to the American Cancer Society.
Analysts at Jefferies expect the vaccine to generate about $1 billion in annual sales for melanoma patients. If it proves effective against other cancers, such as lung cancer, the vaccine could generate $5 billion in annual sales. If a vaccine is available, Moderna and Merck will share costs and profits. (intern Zeng Xing)
China begins vaccination with second booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine
According to the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council, people who have received 3 doses of inactivated vaccine or 2 doses of CanSino-type virus vector vaccine (that is, completed basic immunization and one booster immunization) can make an appointment for the second dose if certain conditions are met. Boost immunity.
- Carry out the second dose of booster immunization in people at high risk of infection, people over 60 years old, people with serious underlying diseases and people with low immunity.
- The time interval between the second dose of booster immunization and the first dose of booster immunization is more than 6 months.
- Click here to view the full text of the joint prevention and control mechanism notice.
According to the report of the National Health and Medical Commission and our calculations, as of December 13, the full vaccination rate of the new crown vaccine among the elderly over 60 years old nationwide was 86.6%, and the booster vaccination rate was about 69.7%. The data for the group of people over 80 years old are 66.4% and 42.3% respectively.
New developments related to the epidemic also include:
- The National Health and Medical Commission stopped publishing data on asymptomatic infections on December 14, because “many asymptomatic infections no longer participate in nucleic acid testing and do not need to go to medical institutions for medical treatment. It is difficult to accurately grasp the actual number of asymptomatic infections.”
- The State Council’s joint prevention and control “special class for rectification of overweight problems at all levels” was renamed “optimization and adjustment special class immediately after receiving complaints”, and the working mechanism and complaint channels remained unchanged. Public message boards.
- Nanjing has identified an antigen supply guarantee enterprise with a price limit of 4 yuan. At present, many e-commerce platforms are selling antigens at a unit price of 8 yuan.
- JD.com announced the reinforcement of more than 1,000 courier delivery personnel in Beijing; Shentong said that the total number of employees in Beijing is about 4,700, and 3,500 are on the front line. (Gong Fangyi)
OTHER NEWS
Arm suspends exports of advanced chip designs to China.
According to media reports, affected by US chip export controls, chip design company Arm decided to suspend the export of its high-end processor core design Neoverse V series to China. Arm believes that it will not obtain relevant export licenses from the United States and the United Kingdom. Neoverse series designs are mainly used in cloud and edge computing fields, and V series uses high-performance computing, cloud high-performance computing, etc. Alibaba Cloud is its customer.
Morgan Stanley raised China’s 2023 GDP growth forecast to 5.4%.
Morgan Stanley’s forecast a week ago was 5.0%, and the expected increase is based on: 1) the adjustment of epidemic prevention and control policies; 2) China will introduce loose policies to stimulate economic development, and the rebound time will be earlier than expected. A short-term increase in cases, but the impact will be short-lived. Goldman’s forecast contradicts that of the AIIB, which cut its 2023 GDP growth forecast to 4.3 percent from 4.5 percent in September.
The bank that lent Musk the money to buy Twitter may have lost 5% to 20%.
Investment banks such as Morgan Stanley backed $13 billion in mortgages (Twitter stock accounted for $10 billion) in Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. The bank’s plan is to collect interest from Musk, and at the same time make the loan into a new securities product and sell it, and then earn money from related derivatives. But now investors are very cautious and avoid such high-risk investment products, and Twitter’s stock mortgage may also be deducted by 20%. The sources, who were cited by RTRS on the condition of anonymity, also said some banks may only write down 5% to 10% of the guarantee portion of the loan.
Tesla launched the Steam gaming platform.
As part of the “holiday update,” Tesla today provided a Steam beta for Model S and Model X in North America, but only for cars produced in the past two years, because the processor performance needs to keep up. In-vehicle entertainment, such as video games, will become increasingly important as autonomous driving technology advances. Sony also announced earlier that it is partnering with Honda to build an entertainment car around its PS5 game console.
The United States plans to include more than 30 Chinese companies such as Yangtze River Storage in the entity list.
Members of the U.S. Congress have been urging the Biden administration to do so, with an announcement as soon as this week. In October this year, the United States introduced export control measures against China, and 31 Chinese companies including Yangtze River Storage were included in the unaudited list. Apple’s plan to increase Yangtze River Storage as a supplier fell through. Recently, some analysts said that the United States is worried that China’s rapidly expanding production capacity will make China’s chips win by price and continue to expand its advantages in chip manufacturing, so it will introduce more stringent restrictions.
Simmons, the US high-end mattress maker, will file for bankruptcy.
According to media reports, Serta-Simmons plans to file for bankruptcy as soon as January next year. After the reform and opening up, Simmons brand mattresses entered the Chinese market, which led to a bedding revolution. During this period, mattresses were upgraded around springs to replace traditional wooden boards, so the beds became elastic. Therefore, Simmons has become synonymous with mattresses, and the older generation habitually refers to mattresses as Simmons, regardless of the brand. Even so, it now faces the prospect of bankruptcy.
Abbott will withdraw from the infant milk powder market in mainland China.
On December 14, Abbott Milk Powder, which has been in China for 34 years, announced that due to the fierce competition in the Chinese market and changes in consumer demand, it will gradually stop the operation and sales of infant and children’s nutrition products in the Chinese mainland market within one year. The brands involved include Jingzhi, Enmeili, Qinhuo, Xikangbao and Xiaoansu, etc.
Xibei will launch the fast food sub-brand “Jia Guolong Jiuniang Air Mo”.
According to 36 Krypton reports, Xibei, a restaurant chain brand, will launch a fast food sub-brand called “Jia Guolong Jiu Niang Air Mo”, and its product positioning is “Chinese burger”. It plans to open 300 to 500 stores in Beijing next year, and will start attracting investment later this month. The partnership system is adopted, and the first 100 stores will adopt the joint operation model. Xibei and its partners will invest funds at a ratio of 6:4, and dividends will be distributed at a ratio of 4:6.
Binance had a net withdrawal of US$1.9 billion in one day, and Zhao Changpeng said that he welcomes the “stress test”.
The crisis in the cryptocurrency market continues to simmer, as the security of Binance’s assets has been questioned. In the past 24 hours, Binance’s net outflow reached 1.9 billion US dollars. In response, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao issued a response saying that the current situation seems to have stabilized. Yesterday was not the most withdrawn Binance withdrawals, and more were processed when LUNA or FTX crashed. And said it’s a good idea to rotate “stress test withdrawals” at each CEX.
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