ASX CEO Exit Signals Turbulent Transition Amid Lawsuit and Regulatory Scrutiny 
OpenAI Secures $110 Billion Funding Round at $840 Billion Valuation Ahead of IPO 
Coupang Reports Q4 Loss After Data Breach, Revenue Misses Estimates 
Stock Market Movers: Dell, Block, Duolingo, Zscaler, CoreWeave, Autodesk, Rocket, MARA 
Anthropic Refuses Pentagon Request to Remove AI Safeguards Amid Defense Contract Dispute 
Lynas Rare Earths Shares Surge 7% After Malaysia Renews Processing Plant Licence for 10 Years 
Asian Stocks Tumble as US-Iran Conflict Escalates and Oil Prices Surge 
Strait of Hormuz Oil and LNG Shipments Disrupted After U.S.-Israel Strikes on Iran 
FAA Plans Flight Reductions at Chicago O’Hare as Airlines Ramp Up Summer Schedules 
Australian Job Advertisements Hit 16-Month High as Labour Market Stays Resilient 
Germany and China Reaffirm Open Trade and Strategic Partnership in Landmark Beijing Visit 
Asian Currencies Slide as US-Israel Strikes on Iran Trigger Oil Surge and Risk-Off Rally 
PBOC Scraps FX Risk Reserves to Curb Rapid Yuan Appreciation 
Strait of Hormuz LNG Crisis Triggers Global Energy Market Shock 
Malta will gain from smart heritage 
Venezuela Oil Exports to Reach $2 Billion Under U.S.-Led Supply Agreement 
Gold Prices Rally in February as Geopolitical Risks and Economic Uncertainty Boost Safe-Haven Demand 
Qualcomm was known to be the leading system on chips (SOC) supplier of the leading smartphone manufacturers in China. In fact, in 2020, around 307 million chips were delivered to Chinese companies, but in a new report, it was stated by a research company that Qualcomm’s shipments have decreased by 48.1% year-on-year.
Qualcomm’s business at risk over its declining market share
As per CNBC, CINNO Research claimed that Qualcomm’s falling market share was because of the sanctions issued by the Trump administration against Huawei, the leading smartphone maker in China. The sanction also extends to other Chinese companies, including Xiaomi, Vivo, and Oppo, so Qualcomm lost millions of orders.
American companies are still prohibited from doing business with Chinese companies, so Qualcomm was left with no choice but to cut business with its big clients, including Huawei. Telcos in China were placed on the U.S. blacklist, which means American firms are banned from dealing with the names on the list.
The sanction imposed on Huawei and other Chinese tech firms proved to be a big blow to Qualcomm since its export plummet and ultimately hurting the business in the process. Its market share in China nosedived to 25.4% in 2020 against 2019’s 37.9%.
Rival chipmaker companies are taking over the biz
Now that it is impossible for Qualcomm to export its chips to China, local phone manufacturers, including Huawei, are looking for options, and they are now turning to MediaTek, a Taiwanese semiconductor company.
As a result, MediaTek is now emerging as the no. 1 chip supplier for major tech firms. It has really benefited from the US sanctions as it started to fill up the demand for chips, a major component of smartphones.
“As far as we know, OPPO, Vivo and Xiaomi and Huawei, the MediaTek share has increased a lot,” CINNO Research relayed to CNBC. “This is not only because of the excellent performance of MediaTek’s mid-end platform, but also it is undeniable that the U.S. has imposed a series of sanctions on Huawei & Hisilicon, forcing major manufacturers to seek more diversified, stable and reliable sources of supply."
