Cisco faces fallout from a massive data leak exposing critical files, while China accuses the U.S. of cyber espionage amid rising tech tensions. AI governance sparks debate as Europe enforces strict rules, and ASIC sues HSBC for $23M scam failures. Global cyber affairs take center stage this week.
ASIC is suing HSBC Australia over $23M in scam losses, alleging systemic failures in fraud detection and delays in resolving complaints. Meanwhile, Singapore's proposed anti-scam law aims to freeze accounts of scam victims to prevent further losses, sparking debate on privacy and autonomy.
Broadcom joins Nvidia in the $1 trillion club, reshaping the AI chip race with a 51% revenue surge in Q4 2024 and VMware's $69B acquisition. As China invests $25B to boost semiconductor self-reliance, U.S.-China tensions escalate, redefining global innovation and geopolitical power dynamics.
IBM sees a revenue dip as consulting faces slowdowns despite AI growth. Sophos acquires Secureworks for $859M, boosting its threat detection capabilities. Meanwhile, Arm cancels Qualcomm’s chip license, escalating a major legal battle over royalties in the semiconductor space.
IBM fell short of third-quarter revenue expectations, mainly due to struggles in its consulting business, as companies reduced discretionary spending amid economic uncertainty. With businesses focusing on long-term AI-driven consulting projects, IBM saw fewer short-term deals, hurting overall sales. Despite this, its AI-related bookings grew by $1 billion, bringing its AI Book of Business to $3 billion, though this growth has yet to be fully reflected in the consulting division.
CEO Arvind Krishna acknowledged the impact of reduced client spending, stating,
“A pause in discretionary spending is impacting our consulting business,”
during a post-earnings call. IBM’s revenue grew by only 1% to $14.97 billion, missing the forecast of $15.07 billion, while consulting revenue remained stagnant. These challenges led to a 4% drop in IBM’s stock price, despite its impressive year-to-date performance driven by optimism around its AI capabilities.
On the positive side, IBM’s software segment recorded its largest quarterly growth in three years, driven by enterprise investments in cloud infrastructure to support generative AI. This growth helped the company surpass profit expectations, with $2.30 per share compared to the estimated $2.23. However, its infrastructure segment saw a 7% revenue decline as it neared the end of a three-year product cycle.
Sophos, the British cybersecurity firm, announced on October 21, 2024, its acquisition of Secureworks, an Atlanta-based company, in a deal valued at $859 million. The transaction, set to close in early 2025, will strengthen Sophos' cyber security portfolio by integrating Secureworks' Taegis XDR platform, known for its cutting-edge threat detection and response capabilities. This strategic move will enhance Sophos' offerings in areas like identity detection, operational technology security, and vulnerability risk management.
Sophos CEO Joe Levy emphasised the significance of this acquisition, stating,
“Secureworks offers an innovative, market-leading solution with their Taegis XDR platform. Combined with our security solutions and industry leadership in MDR, we will strengthen our collective position in the market.”
The deal reflects a focused effort to expand both companies' market presence and provide greater value to their global customer base, particularly through their partner-centric approaches.
Shareholders of Secureworks, including Dell Technologies, will receive $8.50 per share in cash, a 28% premium on its 90-day average price. This acquisition highlights Sophos' continued mission to deliver comprehensive, intuitive cybersecurity solutions to businesses of all sizes, further bolstering its market position and its fight against cybercrime.
The chip wars are intensifying as Arm, the SoftBank-backed semiconductor giant, takes a decisive step against Qualcomm by cancelling the US chipmaker’s design licence. This bold move, part of an ongoing legal battle over royalty payments, ramps up the stakes ahead of a December trial and threatens Qualcomm's dependency on Arm's architecture, which underpins many of its leading chips. The licence revocation jeopardises billions in revenue and adds fresh volatility to the already competitive semiconductor market.
Qualcomm swiftly hit back, accusing Arm of employing “strong-arm” tactics to increase royalty fees. The US company labelled the cancellation as "completely baseless" and claimed it was designed to disrupt ongoing legal proceedings. The dispute traces back to Qualcomm’s $1.4 billion acquisition of chip design group Nuvia in 2022, a deal that Arm claims involved the unauthorised use of its intellectual property. Qualcomm denies these allegations, but the conflict has cast a spotlight on the complex licensing agreements that govern the chip industry's design architectures.
Both companies are major players in the AI-driven chip market, with their stock prices having surged this year on expectations that generative AI applications will boost hardware demand. However, the clash has already dented their stock performance, with Qualcomm shares falling 3.8% and Arm's shares sliding 6.7%. The legal confrontation, set to go to trial in Delaware on December 16, could reshape the dynamics of chip licensing, making this a critical moment for the semiconductor industry.
Broadcom joins Nvidia in the $1 trillion club, reshaping the AI chip race with a 51% revenue surge in Q4 2024 and VMware's $69B acquisition. As China invests $25B to boost semiconductor self-reliance, U.S.-China tensions escalate, redefining global innovation and geopolitical power dynamics.
Salesforce saw an 8.3% revenue rise to $9.44 billion, driven by its AI tool, Agentforce, while Intel’s CEO Patrick Gelsinger exited with a $10M package amid struggles to reclaim its chip-making dominance. Both companies reflect the pressures of competing in a rapidly evolving AI-driven market.
Nvidia’s stellar week featured $35B in Q3 earnings, a 195% YTD stock surge, and bold AI collaborations in Indonesia. With innovations like Blackwell chips and Sahabat-AI, Nvidia is driving the AI revolution into mid-decade, achieving a $3.6 trillion market cap and redefining global tech leadership.
Tech companies and banks are bringing employees back to the office in 2025 to boost face-to-face collaboration and innovation. While some miss remote work, workplaces are buzzing once more.
