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SK Hynix operating profit jumps 158% on AI-driven boom

  • Anticipatory stockpiling of smartphone and PC chips in anticipation of potential US tariffs has further contributed to the company’s recent success
  • Company anticipates continued strong demand from server chip spending by major technology firms seeking to exploit the early opportunities within the AI market.

SK Hynix, a prominent South Korean semiconductor manufacturer and a critical supplier of High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) processors to Nvidia, has demonstrated remarkable resilience in the face of escalating geopolitical tensions and potential trade barriers.

The company’s recent financial performance, highlighted by a substantial increase in quarterly profit and a bullish outlook on future demand, underscores its strategic positioning within the rapidly expanding artificial intelligence (AI) market.

While navigating potential disruptions from US tariffs and export controls, SK Hynix appears poised to capitalise on the insatiable demand for its specialised memory solutions.

The surge in SK Hynix’s financial performance, with a 158 per cent jump in operating profit to 7.4 trillion won in the first quarter, is directly attributable to the explosive growth of the AI sector. This growth fuels the demand for HBM chips, essential components in AI-driven systems.

As a leading supplier to Nvidia, SK Hynix is uniquely positioned to benefit from this trend. Furthermore, anticipatory stockpiling of smartphone and PC chips in anticipation of potential US tariffs has further contributed to the company’s recent success.

However, this success unfolds against a backdrop of increasing geopolitical complexities. The US government’s investigation into semiconductor imports, citing national security concerns stemming from over-reliance on foreign production, casts a shadow over the industry.

Strategic supply chain

Similarly, tighter US export controls on chips destined for China, a measure already impacting Nvidia, pose a potential threat to SK Hynix. Despite these challenges, the company remains optimistic, stating that its HBM sales plans to key customers remain unchanged and aligned with pre-existing contracts.

This confidence stems from SK Hynix’s strategic supply chain and geographical diversification. While US customers account for a significant portion of its revenue, the company ships the majority of its products to non-US countries.

This mitigates the immediate impact of US tariffs, as its key clients, such as Apple and Nvidia, manufacture their products in China, India, Mexico, and Taiwan. Furthermore, the company anticipates continued strong demand from server chip spending by major technology firms seeking to exploit the early opportunities within the AI market.

Finally, SK Hynix anticipates continued market growth facilitated by factors such as the evolution of AI-enabled features in new smartphones, driving demand for high-performance mobile DRAM.

Moreover, the emergence of low-cost AI models developed by Chinese companies like DeepSeek is projected to lower entry barriers and intensify competition within the AI industry, ultimately boosting the need for high-density memory chips.

EU, first under digital rules, fines Apple and Meta with €700m

  • Commission alleges that Apple has hindered app developers from informing users of cheaper purchasing options outside the App Store while Meta is penalised for compelling users to choose between personalised advertising and a paid, ad-free experience.
  • Digital Markets Act aims to prevent large tech “gatekeepers” from dominating digital markets and restricting consumer choice.

The European Union has levied substantial fines against tech giants Apple and Meta, signaling a decisive escalation in the enforcement of its Digital Markets Act (DMA).

These fines, amounting to 500 million euros for Apple and 200 million euros for Meta, represent a significant step in the EU’s ongoing efforts to regulate the digital marketplace and ensure fair competition.

The Commission alleges that Apple has hindered app developers from informing users of cheaper purchasing options outside the App Store, while Meta is penalised for compelling users to choose between personalized advertising and a paid, ad-free experience.

These actions, while smaller than some previous antitrust penalties imposed by the EU, underscore the Commission’s commitment to implementing the DMA. This legislation aims to prevent large tech “gatekeepers” from dominating digital markets and restricting consumer choice.

Reshaping the digital landscape

Henna Virkkunen, the Commission’s executive vice president for tech sovereignty, emphasised the DMA’s goal of granting citizens full control over their data usage and enabling businesses to freely communicate with their customers.

The EU asserts that both Apple and Meta have infringed upon this freedom, necessitating behavioural changes.

Unsurprisingly, both companies have indicated their intention to appeal the decisions. Apple contends that the Commission is unfairly targeting the company and constantly shifting the goalposts despite its compliance efforts.

Meta echoed similar concerns, arguing that the Commission is unfairly disadvantaging American businesses while applying different standards to Chinese and European companies. These accusations are likely to further exacerbate the existing tensions between the EU and major US tech companies.

Despite potential transatlantic trade ramifications, the European Commission maintains a neutral stance. Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier stated that the EU does not prioritise the origin of a company but rather focuses on enforcing its regulations within the Union’s jurisdiction. Whether the company is Chinese, American, or European, the Commission asserts that all entities must adhere to EU rules.

The fines imposed on Apple and Meta demonstrate the EU’s determination to reshape the digital landscape.

While the long-term impact of these decisions remains to be seen, they undoubtedly signal a new era of increased scrutiny and stricter regulation for Big Tech companies operating within the European Union.

The ongoing debate over data privacy, competitive practices, and international trade relations is certain to continue as these companies navigate the implications of the DMA.

IBM’s first-quarter results top market expectations

  • Cancellations and pauses by federal budget cuts amount to approximately $100m.

International Business Machines Corp (IBM) reported first-quarter earnings that surpassed market expectations, offering a counter-narrative to prevailing anxieties surrounding economic volatility fueled by tariffs and federal budget cuts.

The company’s reported sales increase of almost one per cent, reaching $14.5 billion, coupled with a profit of $1.60 per share, exceeded analyst projections and demonstrated the robustness of IBM’s business model in a turbulent economic landscape.

This performance is particularly noteworthy given the prevailing concerns voiced by investors and business leaders regarding the potential ramifications of evolving US government policies, including broad tariffs and reductions in federal spending.

Maintains full-year forecast

The anticipated sales range of $16.4 billion to $16.8 billion for the period ending in June, surpassing the average analyst projection of $16.3 billion, underscores this assurance. Moreover, IBM maintained its full-year forecast of approximately $13.5 billion in free cash flow and at least 5 per cent revenue growth in constant currency.

This forward-looking stability has resonated positively with investors, as evidenced by the company’s stock performance, which has demonstrated resilience amidst a broader market selloff.

While the impact of federal cost cuts on IBM’s government contracts cannot be disregarded, with cancellations and pauses amounting to approximately $100 million in future payments, Chief Financial Officer Jim Kavanaugh emphasised that federal sales constitute less than 5 per cent of the company’s overall revenue. This suggests a degree of diversification that mitigates the potential negative impact of government spending reductions.

Crucially, IBM’s success is rooted in its ongoing transformation from a traditional computer company to a provider of high-growth software and services. Strategic acquisitions, such as the recent takeover of HashiCorp Inc. and the 2023 purchase of Apptio, have significantly expanded the company’s product portfolio and service offerings.

Furthermore, the surge in bookings for AI consulting and software, exceeding $6 billion since mid-2023, highlights the company’s strategic focus on emerging technologies and its ability to capitalise on the growing demand for AI solutions.

While software remains IBM’s fastest-growing segment, the consulting unit’s performance, albeit with a revenue decline, remains significant, contributing substantially to AI-related bookings.

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Saudi surpasses established tech nations in AI research papers

  • Mainland China has emerged as the region with the largest volume of AI papers, demonstrating a remarkable 696 per cent increase over the past decade.
  • East Asian nations, including Japan and South Korea, are also making significant contributions.

The burgeoning field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a crucial indicator of national competitiveness in the 21st century. The recent Global AI Competitiveness Index, a collaborative effort between the International Finance Forum (IFF) and Deep Knowledge Group (DKG), provides valuable insights into the global distribution of AI research and development.

The report’s findings highlight a significant shift in the geopolitical landscape of AI, with Saudi Arabia emerging as a noteworthy contender, ranking 15th globally for AI research publications in 2025. This achievement surpasses established technological powerhouses like the Netherlands, Singapore, Russia, Switzerland, and Sweden, signifying a tangible impact of the Kingdom’s strategic investments and national vision.

The Index’s methodology, which analyses over two million AI-related scientific research papers and AI invention patents, offers a comprehensive evaluation of national performance.

Saudi Arabia’s impressive output of 29,639 AI publications, translating to over 823 publications per million people, underscores its growing prominence as an AI research hub. This surge in publications is not merely a matter of quantity, but also reflects a growing commitment to quality and impact within the academic community.

Central Pillar

Dmitry Kaminskiy, General Partner at Deep Knowledge Group, aptly connects Saudi Arabia’s success to its ambitious Vision 2030 objectives.

“This national strategy emphasises diversification and the development of a knowledge-based economy, with AI positioned as a central pillar. The Index’s findings, therefore, validate the Kingdom’s strategic direction and suggest that its sustained investments in AI infrastructure and talent development are yielding positive results, setting the stage for continued advancements.”

While Saudi Arabia’s rise is notable, the report also reveals the broader global trends in AI research. Mainland China has emerged as the region with the largest volume of AI papers, demonstrating a remarkable 696 per cent increase over the past decade.

East Asian nations, including Japan and South Korea, are also making significant contributions, solidifying the region’s role in shaping the future of AI. In terms of AI research density, however, Singapore, Switzerland, the UK, and Australia demonstrate exceptional performance, contributing over 2,000 AI papers per million in population.

The report also sheds light on international collaboration in AI research. Chinese scholars are identified as key partners for researchers from the US, France, and Germany, highlighting China’s influence on the global AI research ecosystem.

Furthermore, an analysis of AI patents in China and the US reveals differing focuses. US companies are primarily concentrated on foundational and intermediate AI technologies, such as processor architecture and machine learning, while China is still striving to catch up in these areas.

Dominating the patent landscape are established technology giants, with IBM currently holding the most AI-related patents globally, followed by Tencent and Samsung.

Samsung’s Q1 performance shows resilience amidst uncertainty

  • While memory chip sales provided crucial support, the foundry business continues to face difficulties, with losses offsetting some of the gains.
  • The inability to secure new customers for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips also presents a potential obstacle to future growth.
  • Analysts predict a potential decline in shipments for the second quarter as buyers, having stocked up in the first, may temporarily reduce their orders.

Samsung Electronics’ preliminary first-quarter earnings for 2024 reveal a company navigating a complex global landscape with surprising resilience.

Despite a marginal 0.15 per cent dip in operating profit, the results, exceeding earlier apprehensions, highlight Samsung’s ability to leverage both opportunities and anxieties within the dynamic technology sector.

The performance, driven by robust memory chip sales and strong smartphone demand, particularly for the Galaxy S25 line, underscores the importance of strategic foresight and adaptability in the face of macroeconomic and geopolitical pressures.

Potential US tariffs

Several factors contributed to Samsung’s relatively positive first quarter. Firstly, the anticipation surrounding potential US tariffs on semiconductors played a significant role. Concerns regarding future pricing and availability spurred customers to stockpile memory chips, providing a tangible boost to Samsung’s sales.

This proactive response to potential trade disruptions highlights the sensitive nature of the global semiconductor market and the reactive strategies of its major players.

Secondly, the success of the Galaxy S25 smartphones, with their enhanced AI capabilities, demonstrably contributed to overall revenue.

The strategic integration of advanced technologies into its flagship products has enabled Samsung to maintain a competitive edge against rivals like Apple and various Chinese manufacturers.

However, the initial success should be viewed with measured optimism. Analysts predict a potential decline in shipments for the second quarter as buyers, having stocked up in the first, may temporarily reduce their orders. Furthermore, challenges remain within Samsung’s chip division.

While memory chip sales provided crucial support, the foundry business continues to face difficulties, with losses offsetting some of the gains. The inability to secure new customers for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips also presents a potential obstacle to future growth.

Top 10 methods for robust Cloud Identity and Access Management

  • Using Cloud Identity and Access Management for Mobile Device Management includes strong safety to support the accessibility of the users.
  • Following these best practices enables organisations to improve control of their identity and access and secure protection and productivity in every increasingly mobile-driven world.
  • As technology continues to evolve and cyber threats become more complex, organisations will have to remain alert and proactive in adopting CIAM strategies so that their operations and their brand will not be at risk.

In the contemporary environment replete with technology, Cloud Identity and Access Management (CIAM) creates an integral line for organisations striving to safeguard sensitive data but at the same time opening it for users to access it through other channels-from mobile devices to online PC gateways.

Mobile Device Management (MDM) is a strong player in providing the right capabilities to manage identity, devices, and access rights.

Here are 10 key methods worth implementing for effective CIAM using MDM strategy:

  1.  Use Strong Authentication Methods:  Strengthening the authentication method by offering multi-factor authentication is a form of security. Biometric reading, one-time codes, and/or security questions are other forms of verification showing that it is less likely for anybody to be an unauthorised intruder.
  2. Use Role-Based Access Control (RBAC):  This manages which permissions are applied to whom and what role they have in the organisation, hence streamlining access rights and granting permissions that employees require without compromising on security.
  3. Review and Update Access Policies Regularly: Constant review and update of access policies would also lead to constant change in policies regarding the business needs and emerging threats. This helps the organisation to be proactive in formulating policy access, which will actually be supporting the purpose of giving the right access to the right users and at the same time lessening their vulnerabilities.
  4. Monitor Device Compliance: Implementing MDM solutions with constant availability for the preservation of device compliance-that is, updating, enabling security conditions, and applying device encryption to have an access-protected environment.
  5. Remote Wipe and Clean: MDM has the flexibility to allow remote wiping of devices, such that when a device is lost or stolen, sensitive data is erased from it, making the information less likely to be breached.
  6. Conduct Regular Training: Regularly educate users on identity and access management’s best practices through training sessions. Awareness venues could further develop skills to recognise phishing attempts and their risky behaviors that compromise security.
  7. Enroll Device Programs: Following a structured process of enrollment into the device ensures that only authorised devices access an organisation. This is to ensure that it verifies the legitimacy of devices before accessing cloud resources.
  8. Centralising Access Management Processes: Centralisation of all CIAM activities allows consistency for different devices and applications in the identity verification and access management processes without complications to supervision, enforcement of policies, and management of access to users.
  9. Use Analytics and Reporting Tools: Track user input through behavioral analytics and report on the use of their device management solution. Anomaly detection can be performed on data for future alerts of potential threats to security.
  10. Encourage Collaboration between IT and Security Team: Encourages collaboration between IT teams and security teams so that CIAM policy initiatives coincide with the overall goals and priorities of the organisation to increase measures of security through mutual efforts.

Cloud-Based Identity and Access Management

Cloud-based Identity Access Management (IAM) solutions have various benefits against traditional methods. First of all, they allow users to administer identities and access rights from any location connected to the Internet. It particularly encourages flexible working so that, for example, hybrid businesses could have employee’s access applications and data securely without needing to work from a static network.

Next, it can offer added savings in terms of scale. In a cloud provision, users and resources can be scaled easily without incurring heavy investment costs in hardware. This implies that the organisation can now adjust very fast to realities introduced by changes in workforce or business model.

Cloud-based IAM systems, by and large, integrate into other software and cloud services, making increased efficiency a promise. Onboarding new employees or renewals of software licenses, for instance, can be accomplished without long-standing, time-consuming systems integration.

Unlike disparate systems that require manual interventions, cloud-based IAM provides a centralised platform for managing user identities across multiple applications and services.

However, even with the obvious benefits, organisations will still have to face challenges in implementing cloud-based IAM. Some of those concerns are around the privacy and compliance of data, especially in regulated industries, and thus require serious planning. They need to also choose a good vendor who provides solid security and support.

Enterprise Cloud Identity and Access Management

Enterprise cloud IAM comes with various noteworthy capabilities. Authentication informs who you are-there will be a need for password policies, multi-factor authentication (MFA), biometrics, etc. Authorisation constitutes how resources are going to be given for a user on identity verification using role-based access control (RBAC) that will help to give access permissions as per the organisational roles.

Auditing and monitoring functionalities usually access patterns and usage will be a great assist for compliance and identifying possible security breaches. What an organisation must learn now that it is migrating to cloud infrastructure is to change how it has been using access management.

The new IAM platforms, sometimes referred to and marketed as Identity as a Service (IDaaS), come with integrated clouds, so they have a central platform to manage identities across several cloud applications with functionalities like SSO and user provisioning, making the user experience very easy and reducing administrative burdens.

Advanced systems incorporate strong Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning capabilities to improve the detection and resolution of threats based on identified anomalies in user behavior.

Multi-Cloud Identity and Access Management

Multi-Cloud Identity and Access Management is an umbrella term that refers to policies, technologies, and so forth, governing user identities and their access to resources across multiple clouds.

Most of the traditional IAM solutions fail when it comes to multi-cloud scenarios as an exclusive result of disparate systems, varying security protocols, and consistent user experience. Thus, one needs to approach integrated IAM-based security and operational efficiency.

Lack of a common identity across different cloud providers is one of the big issues in multi-cloud IAM. This results in organisational friction in silo user identities, which makes managing user access rights quite a tussle and compliance a huge task.

In this case, establishing an identity federation system brings one step closer to a single sign-on (SSO) experience for users to authenticate themselves once and access through that single credential to multiple cloud services.

Another important thing is access control, assigning authorisation for users to actions based on roles. Two conventional strategies applied in multi-cloud environments include Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), which simplifies permission assignment based on user roles, and Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC), which further considers user attributes and contextual factors for more fine-grained permission design.

The policy does always secure all IAM strategies, especially when related to multi-cloud situations. So the organisation should be able to develop very strong authentication mechanisms such as multi-factor ones that could also protect data and resources.

Keeping an eye on users’ activities through their access patterns, auditing them from time to time, can also help organisations in recognising possible breaches within those conditions.