On a webcast, Ericsson (ERIC -3%) says that for now it’s not seeing an impact from the coronavirus on its first-quarter results.
The company doesn’t see a “material impact now,” Networks head Fredrik Jejdling says, “but we are closely monitoring this, and if there should be a different message we will go out with that as soon as that happens.”
The Nanjing factory is up and running and the company has 161 of 170 critical suppliers working with them and a “fairly distributed supply chain,” Jejdling says.
Apple bull sees April rebound for suppliers
Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives says the best-case scenario for Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) supply chain is returning to full capacity in April due to the coronavirus outbreak.
An April return wouldn’t impact the fall release of the 5G iPhone models, says Ives.
The analyst sees the base case as the supply chain hitting full capacity in late April or early May, delaying the fall iPhone launch by “a few weeks at the most.”
Ives says the worst-case scenario has suppliers hitting capacity in late May or June, pushing out the new iPhones by at least three months.
Ives maintains an Outperform rating and $400 target on Apple. The company has a Bullish average Sell Side rating.
Apple shares are down 4% pre-market to $300.50.
SoftBank leads $265M rounds for two startups
SoftBank (OTCPK:SFTBF,OTCPK:SFTBY) led a $165M funding round in Karius, a startup that uses AI to identify infectious diseases, at an over $700M valuation.
SoftBank’s investment came through capital raised for its second Vision Fund.
Karius says the funding will help expand its clinical research and commercial outreach.
Karius’ microbial DNA test is in use at more than 100 U.S. hospitals.
SoftBank also invested $100M in AI company Behavox, which offers a “behavioral operating system” monitoring employees in financial workplaces for wrongdoing.
Behavox says SoftBank started using its platform before the investment.
The Behavox deal was first rumored last week.
Intel debuts base station chips
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) announces the 10nm Atom P9500, its first 5G integrated-chip platform for use in wireless base stations.
The Atom P9500 deployment will start this year. Intel says that Ericsson and ZTE will use the platform in their base stations.
Intel hopes to become a market leader in base station chips with a 40% share by 2021, a year earlier than previously planned.
Intel’s push comes as it exits areas where it has lost dominance like smartphone chips and as the U.S. seeks to build up its 5G without Huawei.
Uber piloting vehicle ads
Uber (NYSE:UBER) is partnering with ad-tech company Adomni to put rooftop ads on vehicles in Atlanta, Dallas, and Phoenix.
In the pilot program, Uber will offer drivers $300 to install the ad display and $100 per week that they drive more than 20 hours.
When the full program rolls out, drivers will be paid based on how many hours they drive.
The displays will start showing up on April 1 and will fall under the new business unit Uber OOH Powered by Adomni.
The new ad push could help Uber towards its goal of achieving profitability by the end of this year.
Related: Rival Lyft recently acquired Halo Cars, a startup that lets drivers run ads on top of vehicles.
