Technology

London, UK 13th May 2022 – IMO have officially announced the launch of their new IMO Q2 Pro with EE following the huge success of the IMO Q2 Plus. This great value smartphone offers 4G speed and boasts a wide range of features and unrivalled value for money.

Downloading your favourite apps & games has never been easier thanks to the IMO Q2 Pro 4G Connectivity. Update your social media in an instant with selfies and capture your experiences with the 5MP rear camera & 2MP front camera. Easy to set up IMO Face Unlock means just a quick glance at the screen unlocks the device for simplicity and speed. Offering 16GB memory you will have plenty of storage for downloads as well as those all-important videos & pictures taken to cherish those special moments.

With an 1800 mAh battery, IMO Q2 Pro gives you up to 15 days impressive standby time. You won’t have to worry about re-charging your phone every day. A great battery gives you peace of mind for those full days out on the go and long calls with loved ones.

Enjoy maximum performance and speed with Google’s Android 11 Go release. This sleek device has built in Wi-Fi, MP3, Bluetooth & FM Radio.

The IMO Q2 Pro provides fantastic value for money. Following the great success of the IMO Q2 Plus this is sure to be a popular device for parents & children alike. For those looking for great value affordable technology, this is the device for you.

Chris Edwards, the Chief Marketing Officer at IMO commented: “Our IMO Q2 Plus device has been a great success since its release in 2019. We ensure that we stay at the forefront of the industry and deliver on customer expectations, which is why we have modified, updated & upgraded this firm favourite to deliver an even better product at an affordable price. We are launching the IMO Q2 Pro with EE initially and I am sure we will be welcoming other stockists onboard in the coming months due to the popular demand. “

For more information on the IMO Q2 Pro, please visit: https://www.imomobile.co.uk/product/imo-q2-pro/

Solvvy Offers Advanced Conversational AI and Automation Capabilities to Accelerate Zoom’s Delivery of Personalized, Effortless Customer Experiences

SAN JOSE, Calif. and BURLINGAME, Calif. — Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM) today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Solvvy, a leading conversational AI and automation platform for customer support. Together, Zoom and Solvvy will offer elevated customer service experiences to a global enterprise base and work quickly to capitalize on new opportunities in contact center and customer support.

The recently launched Zoom Contact Center is the first omnichannel contact center platform optimized for video with a robust suite of channels, such as video, voice, SMS, and webchat, in a single, user-friendly experience. Adding Solvvy’s proprietary technology will broaden Zoom Contact Center’s offering with scalable self-service and conversational AI. With Solvvy, Zoom Contact Center customers will benefit from an automated, integrated, and easy-to-deploy contact center that helps answer end-customers’ questions and solve issues faster, improves the overall customer experience, and drives operational savings.

“The nature of customer experience is transforming fundamentally, as enterprises increasingly need to deliver exceptional, personalized, and effortless customer experiences. Solvvy understands this shift and is the ideal platform to enhance our Zoom Contact Center offering,” said Velchamy Sankarlingam, President of Product and Engineering at Zoom. “Solvvy’s differentiated AI and machine learning technology, deeply talented team, and an easy-to-deploy solution will help accelerate our roadmap to creating a concierge-level experience for customers worldwide. Together, we are excited to help businesses of all sizes improve their customer retention, increase operating efficiency, and set new standards for customer service and satisfaction.”

“Zoom is poised to redefine the contact center category with its unique combination of unified communication and customer experience. We could not be more excited to join forces and further scale our unique conversational AI offering,” said Mahesh Ram, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Solvvy. “Zoom’s Contact Center brings the same level of scalability, simplicity, and respect for the end-user, making Zoom the premier communications platform for businesses worldwide. When combined with our modern tech stack, talented team, and AI expertise, we believe we can fundamentally transform the customer experience. The benefits of Zoom’s deep technical expertise, industry-leading platform, and global reach will further scale the impact we have on our customers and serve new ones.”

Zoom Contact Center was born in the cloud and built for scale to support businesses of all types and sizes. More information about Zoom Contact Center can be found on the Zoom blog.

Following the close of the transaction, Zoom will incorporate and expand Solvvy’s capabilities across its Zoom Contact Center platform. Solvvy Founding CEO Mahesh Ram and Co-Founder & CTO Justin Betteridge will be instrumental in driving the combined Advanced Conversational AI and Automation product vision and innovation strategy.

The transaction is expected to close in Q2 FY2023. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

• CyberArk Aligns with World-Class Investors Including Venrock, YL Ventures, Team8 Capital and Merlin Ventures to Fund Cybersecurity Start-Ups with Disruptive Technologies
• CyberArk Announces Joint Investments in Dig Security, Enso Security and Zero Networks

NEWTON, Mass. & PETACH TIKVA, Israel – May 12, 2022 — CyberArk (NASDAQ: CYBR), the global leader in Identity Security, today announced the launch of CyberArk Ventures – a $30 million global investment fund designed to empower the next generation of disruptors solving complex security challenges with innovative technology. CyberArk has initially aligned with four Venture Capital investors: Venrock, YL Ventures, Team8 Capital and Merlin Ventures. CyberArk Ventures also announced today that it has completed initial investments in three cybersecurity start-ups:

• Dig Security: Provides real-time threat detection solutions for data assets hosted in public clouds
• Enso Security: Application Security Posture Management
• Zero Networks: A leading provider of identity-based microsegmentation

As the complexity of enterprise IT environments expands and the threat of cyber attacks increase, the focus on protecting endpoints, networks, applications and data – wherever they reside – from unauthorised and/or unintended access has become more important than ever.

“We’re seeking innovative security start-ups that are solving difficult problems for their customers,” said Udi Mokady, founder, chairman and CEO, CyberArk. “Our first three investments are the trifecta – network security, application security and data security. CyberArk Ventures is a natural evolution of our business strategy – giving CyberArk an exciting opportunity to support the next wave of cybersecurity innovators and nurture an expanded ecosystem of trail blazers.”

In addition to funding, CyberArk Ventures provides portfolio companies with go-to-market support, access to CyberArk technology and CyberArk Labs research, engagement with CyberArk leadership, and networking opportunities with prospective partners and customers. CyberArk Ventures also offers nascent companies guidance and feedback to improve their product design in hopes of making the product enterprise-ready, while introducing them to valuable channel and design partners.

Supporting quotes:

“We take great pride in helping entrepreneurs tackle hard problems,” said Todd Graham, vice president, Venrock. “Venrock brings with it years of real-world experience and a passion to help build some of the world’s most disruptive, successful companies. And CyberArk’s engagement, network, passion and experience will give these start-ups an advantage in the market.”

“As singular cybersecurity investors ourselves, our collaborative relationship with CyberArk comes naturally,” said Ofer Schreiber, partner at YL Ventures. “We both have extensive experience with guiding cybersecurity innovators with go-to-market in their start-up journey and helping them grow into tomorrow’s global industry leaders, much like CyberArk did as a cybersecurity trailblazer.”

“Too often, entrepreneurs face limited reach to end customers and lack access to resources and specialized talent. These are challenges that capital alone can’t solve,” said Liran Grinberg, co-founder and managing partner, Team8. “Our relationship with CyberArk will help support technology companies for predictable, long-term success. Working with CyberArk on both product and go-to-market puts companies on the fast track to become category leaders.”

“Merlin’s work with CyberArk began as a channel partner, so we have confidence that this relationship with CyberArk Ventures will be a strong fit,” said Seth Spergel, managing partner at Merlin Ventures. “As security subject matter experts, we understand how enterprise sales work and how to execute successful go-to-market strategies that create value for start-ups looking to rapidly penetrate and scale in the U.S. market.”

For more information on CyberArk Ventures, please visit https://www.cyberark.com/cyberark-ventures.

The joint solution will combine the agility of FlashBlade’s Object Store with the Snowflake Data Cloud to give customers greater control of their data, in-cloud or on-premises  

Mountain View, Calif. and No-Headquarters/BOZEMAN, Mont. – May 11, 2022 — Pure Storage (NYSE: PSTG), the IT pioneer that delivers the world’s most advanced data storage technology and services, and Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW), the Data Cloud company, today announced a partnership to develop a solution that increases data accessibility for global customers with on-premises data. 

Pure Storage FlashBlade is a dynamic, high performance unified file and object platform purpose-built for modern analytics, offering real-time response for data with cloud-like agility. Once available, Pure and Snowflake customers will be able to analyse multiple data sources on Pure Storage FlashBlade with the Snowflake Data Cloud, while keeping their data local. This will enable enterprises to work with data directly stored on FlashBlade object storage using Snowflake in the cloud — eliminating the need to create separate copies of data shared with other tools or workflows.  

“Our collaboration with Snowflake to increase data accessibility allows us to truly meet customers where they are in their journey to the cloud, driving every organisation to become a data-driven business to reach faster outcomes,” said Rob Lee, Chief Technology Officer, Pure Storage. “Pure continues to strengthen its leadership in delivering advanced data storage technology and services across the industry. Our joint solution with Snowflake reaffirms our commitment to simplifying how organisations interact with data to extract the most value and drive meaningful business outcomes.” 

“Snowflake and Pure Storage’s partnership will allow organisations to gain more value from their on-premises data while leveraging Snowflake’s analytical and governance capabilities,” said Christian Kleinerman, Snowflake senior vice president of product. “Our joint solution will help organisations mobilise the world’s data by eliminating silos, further bringing data together to unlock more value and deeper insights for customers.” 

This solution will go into public preview by the second half of 2022. 

 

Learn more: 

• Pure and Snowflake Hybrid Cloud Solution 

 

Forward-looking statements  

This post contains express and implied forwarding-looking statements, including statements regarding Snowflake’s and Pure’s (i) business strategy, (ii) products, services, and technology offerings, including those that are under development, (iii) market growth, trends, and competitive considerations, and (iv) integration, interoperability, and availability with and on third-party platforms. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including those described under the heading “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in the Annual Reports on Form 10-K and the Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q that Snowflake and Pure file with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. In light of these risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. As a result, you should not rely on any forwarding-looking statements as predictions of future events.  

About Pure Storage 

Pure Storage (NYSE: PSTG) gives technologists their time back. Pure delivers a modern data experience that empowers organisations to run their operations as a true, automated, storage as-a-service model seamlessly across multiple clouds. Pure helps customers put data to use while reducing the complexity and expense of managing the infrastructure behind it. And with a certified customer satisfaction score in the top one percent of B2B companies, Pure’s ever-expanding list of customers are among the happiest in the world. For more information, visit www.purestorage.com. 

AlgoSec’s latest product release provides application-based risk analysis and enhanced support for cloud platforms

RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J., May 3, 2022 – AlgoSec, the application connectivity and security policy company, announced today the release of its latest product version A32.20.  

AlgoSec’s A32.20 provides a powerful solution for organizations to manage security in their hybrid and multi-cloud estate. With A32.20, organizations obtain granular application visibility and discovery, allowing them to identify and analyze risk in their multicloud environment, including AWS, GCP and Azure.  

The key benefits that AlgoSec A32.20 delivers to IT, network and security experts include: 

• Application-based risk analysis in the Cloud

Enables SecOps teams to shift focus of risk analysis and remediation efforts to specific business applications beyond risk categories.  

• PAN Prisma access support

As an early availability, A32.20 supports Prisma Access visibility for remote networks and service connections, a true industry leading technology of this kind.  

• GCP risk support

 A32.20 provides advanced capabilities to support discovery of GCP related risks across the hybrid network estate and multiple public clouds

• Extended support of NSX in AWS

As an early availability, A32.20 offers extended cloud support for NSX running on AWS in addition to the existing on-premise support.  

“With this release, A32.20 offers new powerful cloud coverage, including PAN Prisma access. This gives customers the ability to deploy apps in the cloud and on-premise faster than ever before”, said Eran Shiff, Vice President of Product at AlgoSec. “A32.20 provides a comprehensive solution for organizations to secure application connectivity, reduce risk and ensure continuous compliance while undergoing digital transformation.” 

About AlgoSec 

AlgoSec, a global cybersecurity leader, empowers organizations to secure application connectivity by automating connectivity flows and security policy, anywhere. The AlgoSec platform enables the world’s most complex organizations to gain visibility, reduce risk and process changes at zero-touch across the hybrid network.  

AlgoSec’s patented application-centric view of the hybrid network enables business owners, application owners, and information security professionals to talk the same language, so organizations can deliver business applications faster while achieving a heightened security posture. Over 1,800 of the world’s leading organizations trust AlgoSec to help secure their most critical workloads across public cloud, private cloud, containers, and on-premises networks, while taking advantage of almost two decades of leadership in Network Security Policy Management. See what securely accelerating your digital transformation, move-to-cloud, infrastructure modernization, or micro-segmentation initiatives looks like at www.algosec.com 

FortiGate serves as the foundation of the industry’s most comprehensive converged platform, powered by custom ASICs, integrated AI-powered security services, and FortiOS everywhere

London, 4th May, 2022

John Maddison, EVP of Products and CMO at Fortinet

“FortiGate is more than just the most deployed network firewall in the world. It’s one of the top SD-WAN solutions on the market, a powerful LAN Edge controller and 5G controller, and delivers the industry’s only universal ZTNA enforcement. Most importantly, it’s the foundation of the only true converged networking and security platform available today. This convergence is over 20 years in the making and made possible by custom ASICs, integrated security services, and FortiOS, a single organically developed operating system shared across the Fortinet Security Fabric that is consistent whether on-premises or in the cloud.” 

News Summary

Fortinet® (NASDAQ: FTNT), a global leader in broad, integrated, and automated cybersecurity solutions, today announced a suite of new FortiGate appliances that features ASIC-based performance acceleration and integrated AI-powered FortiGuard Security Services to support campus, branch, and hybrid data centre environments. The new FortiGate 600F, FortiGate 3700F, and FortiGate 70F each feature Security Compute Ratings that offer better performance than competitive offerings. This means organisations that choose FortiGate realise better ROI, more scale to protect against advanced threats, and realise better user experience with a converged networking and security platform.

Consistent Networking and Security Convergence is Key

In today’s era of hybrid IT, the network is more important than ever to connect users, applications, physical locations, and multi-cloud environments. And as digital acceleration further drives the distribution of workers, devices, and data, the digital attack surface continues to expand. The ability of an organisation to converge networking and security consistently across its physical and cloud locations will determine its success in securing the rapid expansion of these new edges.

FortiGate Network Firewalls serve as the foundation of the industry’s most comprehensive converged networking and security platform powered by FortiOS everywhere to deliver advanced security that is seamlessly integrated with modern networking capabilities such as SD-WAN, universal ZTNA, LAN edge controllers, and support for 5G. And because FortiOS has been organically developed with both networking and security in mind, this convergence is available and consistent across all form factors, including appliances, virtual machines for multi-cloud deployments, containers, and SaaS. This makes FortiGate powered by FortiOS everywhere a powerful enabler of network modernisation with security integrated across all parts of the network.

New FortiGate Network Firewalls Deliver Converged Networking and Security to Branch, Campus, and Hybrid Data Centre Environments

FortiGate 600F Supports Today’s Dynamic Campus

• The new FortiGate 600F series delivers a converged networking and security solution for campus edge deployments to support a Zero Trust Edge strategy. As enterprises balance their return to the office and support a hybrid workforce, rich media services such as video and application access must be included to support new growth initiatives in a hybrid IT model. To power today’s new, highly dynamic campus, Fortinet is bringing data-centre-class capabilities to its mid-range line, including support for an average of seven times more connections per second than comparable industry offerings. These innovations are powered by Fortinet’s purpose-built Network Processor 7 (NP7) ASIC and include built-in 25GbE interfaces to stop the lateral movement of threats. FortiGate 600F also offers 7Gbps of SSL inspection with AI-powered security services enabled to eliminate network blind spots.

FortiGate 3700F Delivers High-Speed Connections Between the Data Centre and Multi-cloud 

• The new FortiGate 3700F secures data centres that are part of hybrid IT networks and are critical to an organisation’s digital acceleration journey. As the industry’s only compact network firewall appliance with multiple 400GbE interfaces, FortiGate 3700F supports high-speed connections between the data centre and multi-clouds to deliver an optimal digital experience for customers no matter where applications are hosted. With low latency at nearly two microseconds, it also supports high-frequency trading. Natively integrated ZTNA enforcement in FortiGate 3700F allows organisations to enact explicit application access to ensure that data and applications remain protected. When combined with our newly introduced in-line sandboxing service, FortiGate 3700F delivers real-time prevention of never-before-seen attacks with minimal impact on operations.

FortiGate 70F Supports WAN Edge Transformation for Branch Offices  

• With FortiGate 70F, Fortinet continues to empower IT leaders to transform their WAN edge with SD-WAN, advanced security, advanced routing, and ZTNA enforcement capabilities in a single appliance that is right-sized for branch offices. FortiGate 70F has been re-engineered to enable alternative part sourcing as part of Fortinet’s strategy to remain resilient in the face of supply chain constraints.

FortiGate and AI-Powered FortiGuard Security Services

These new appliances integrate with all of the recently announced AI-powered FortiGuard Security Services introduced in FortiOS 7.2, including industry-first in-line Sandboxing, Advanced Device Protection for OT and IoT environments, outbreak detection delivering immediate alerts and threat hunting scripts for outbreaks, SOC-as-a-Service providing Tier 1 hunting and automation with options for Tier 2 and Tier 3 support, dedicated IPS, and in-line CASB. All FortiGuard Security Services are powered by trusted machine learning, artificial intelligence, and independent research from FortiGuard Labs, and integrate across the Fortinet Security Fabric to better protect against known and unknown modern attacks across today’s expanded attack surface.

FortiGate 600F vs. Competitors

Below is a comparison of the datasheet performance numbers of the top firewalls on the market against the target performance numbers of the FortiGate 600F series. Security Compute Rating is a benchmark (performance multiplier) that compares FortiGate performance versus the industry average of competing products across various categories that fall within the same price/performance band.

By Paresh Dave

OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s Google has begun entertaining people’s requests to remove search results containing their home addresses, phone numbers and email accounts, the latest shift in its stance between personal privacy and access to information.

The world’s most used internet search tool said on Wednesday that the expansion of its removal policies globally followed growing demand from users and evolving norms about the threat posed by easy access to contact details.

“Research has told us there’s a larger amount of personally identifiable information that users consider as sensitive,” Michelle Chang, global policy lead for Google search, said in an exclusive interview. “They are increasingly unwilling to tolerate this content online.”

Until now, Google would only accept requests to remove webpages that shared contact info alongside some sort of threat or required payment for removal. It also has stripped links to bank account and credit card numbers and medical records.

It received tens of thousands of requests annually in recent years, approving about 13% of them. Chang said she expected the approval rate to grow under the expanded rules, which also allow for removing links to confidential log-in credentials.

Older Google policies enable requesting takedowns of results directing to unwanted pornography and, in Europe, “inaccurate, inadequate, irrelevant or excessive” personal information. Last year, Google began allowing removal of photos of minors.

Chang said in weighing requests under the contact information policy, Google would aim to preserve availability of data in the public interest. It also will not remove information that “appears as part of the public record on the sites of government or official sources.”

The company said it typically processes requests within a few days.

Webpages Google drops can still be accessed through other search engines or directly, and Chang said users are encouraged to contact publishers to address “the root of the issue.”

(Reporting by Paresh Dave; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

By Hyunjoo Jin and Paul Lienert

(Reuters) – As Tesla’s profits and prices grabbed headlines last week, a potentially pivotal development for the global car industry flew largely under the radar.

The U.S. electric pioneer disclosed that nearly half of the vehicles it produced in the first quarter were equipped with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries – a cheaper rival to the nickel-and-cobalt based cells that dominate in the West.

The revelation, eclipsed by the carmaker’s $19 billion revenue and Elon Musk’s Twitter charge, was the first time Tesla had disclosed such specifics about its batteries make-up.

It flashed a strong signal that iron-based cells are finally starting to win global appeal at a time when nickel is blighted by supply concerns due to major producer Russia’s war in Ukraine and cobalt is tainted by reports of dangerous conditions at artisanal mines in Democratic Republic of Congo.

Tesla is not alone in betting that LFP batteries, already popular in China, can make inroads into Western markets.

More than a dozen companies are considering establishing factories for LFP batteries and components in the United States and Europe over the next three years, according to a Reuters review of the electric vehicle (EV) scene and interviews with several players.

See accompanying factbox on the plans:

“I think lithium iron phosphate has a new life,” said Mujeeb Ijaz, founder of U.S. battery startup Our Next Energy which says it is scouting a U.S. production site. “It has a clear and long-term advantage for the electric vehicle industry.”

Ijaz has worked in the field long enough to see a technology that failed to catch on in America a decade ago gather fresh momentum. He was chief technology officer at Michigan-based A123, an early producer of LFP batteries that went bankrupt in 2012 and was acquired by a Chinese company.

He and other LFP advocates cited the relative abundance and cheaper prices of iron as a key factor beginning to outweigh the drawbacks that have held back the adoption of LFP cells globally – they are bigger and heavier, and generally hold less energy than NCM cells, giving them a shorter range.

There is a mountain to climb, though.

LFP chemistry has accounted for just 3% of EV batteries in the United States and Canada in 2022 and 6% in the European Union, with nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) cells accounting for the rest, according to data from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (BMI).

The race is far tighter in China, where LFP commands 44% of the EV market versus NCM’s 56%.

It could be long and tough road for Western LFP cell manufacturers seeking to prosper against rivals from China, which accounts for about 90% of global production.

A shorter-term concern for such companies, according to BMI’s chief data officer Caspar Rawles, is a continued dependence on Chinese suppliers for refined materials.

LFP cells also contain more lithium than NCM rivals, and industry experts raise concerns that iron-based batteries’ historic advantage of being cheaper to produce could be eroded and even erased by rising costs of the metal.

NEVER LEAVE LOS ANGELES?

Tesla has been using LFP in some entry-level, U.S.-made versions of its Model 3 since last year, expanding their use of the technology beyond China, where about two years ago it started using LFP batteries made by Chinese firm CATL, the world’s largest EV battery maker, for some Model 3s.

Yet given the historic dominance of nickel-and-cobalt based batteries in the United States, the scale of Tesla’s usage of LFP cells in the first quarter of 2022 – fitted in roughly 150,000 cars produced – took some analysts and battery specialists by surprise.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

Mitra Chem, co-founded by former Tesla battery supply chain manager Vivas Kumar, is working to build LFP battery materials, initially in California. He said he expected nickel prices would remain volatile because of supply chain dislocations.

“The best insurance policy that automakers have … is to incorporate more iron-based cathodes in their portfolio,” he added.

U.S. electric vehicle startup Fisker, which plans to use LFP batteries in its lower-range SUVs, plans to initially source cells from CATL. But CEO Henrik Fisker said that it was in talks with battery suppliers to source batteries made in the United States, Canada or Mexico from 2024 or 2025.

Local sourcing is important because it is expensive to ship the heavy packs from Asia, especially for low-cost, high-volume vehicles, according to Fisker. It is also not environmentally friendly, added the CEO, who is confident there will be a major place for LFP batteries in the global EV mix.

“(If) I never leave Los Angeles, I never leave San Francisco, I never leave London … I think that’s where LFP comes in really well,” he said of urban-dwelling EV owners who drive shorter distances.

Other premium carmakers are also looking at the chemistry following the outbreak of the Ukraine war, including Volkswagen’s Audi, which hasn’t used LFP batteries before.

“It may well be that we will see LFP in a larger portion of the fleet in the medium term,” Audi CEO Markus Duesmann said in March. “After the war, a new situation will emerge; we will adapt to that and choose battery technologies and specifications accordingly.”

BMW’s chief procurement officer Joachim Post also said recently that the company was examining the merits of LFP. “We’re looking at different technologies to minimize the use of resources and also we’re looking at optimizing chemistry,” he added.

DISCIPLINED, NO SCREW-UPS

Among their advantages, LFP cells tend to pose less of a fire risk than NCM cells, and can be fully charged continually without losing as much performance over the life of the battery.

As the global EV market expands, the chemistry is expected to find its way into more entry-level consumer and commercial vehicles where longer range is not as critical.

Yet the hurdles to widespread LFP cell adoption include finding solutions to improve energy density – thus reducing the size and weight – and grappling with the rising cost of lithium.

Here’s a graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/3uUejfn

Meanwhile, building out and scaling up LFP production in the United States and Europe will take time, underscoring the challenge to Western governments in reducing reliance on China.

American startups face an uphill battle of scaling up to compete with CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd), which is backed by Chinese government subsidies and supplies Tesla, among others, with LFP cells.

“Everything has to be disciplined manufacturing, without any screw-ups,” said Bob Galyen, a former chief technology officer at CATL who now runs a batteries consultancy, Galyen Energy.

He also noted: “A U.S.-based company does not have to worry about the geopolitical issues that China and U.S. have presently.”

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco and Paul Lienert in Detroit; Additional reporting by Christina Amann and Victoria Waldersee in Berlin; Editing by Pravin Char)

By Jane Lanhee Lee, Chavi Mehta and Noel Randewich

(Reuters) – A sharp drop in graphic chip prices could presage an unexpectedly quick ending to a global chip crunch that has crippled manufacturing from smartphones to cars, and the issue will be a central one for companies reporting results this week.

As Intel, Qualcomm and others report, investors will weigh how dampened consumer spending from inflation, China’s COVID lockdown and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine balance out supply chain blockages for microchips.

The trigger is a drop in prices of GPUs, or graphics processing units, which are the brains of gaming machines and are spreading to other uses.

Analysts at Baird recently downgraded GPU maker Nvidia to “neutral” after prices dropped. So far this year, Nvidia stock is down roughly 31% and rival Advanced Micro Devices has fallen about 37% compared with a roughly 22% drop on the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index. Both companies declined to comment.

GPU prices are still being sold at a premium, but a smaller one. Susquehanna analyst Christopher Rolland earlier this month said that the markup over manufacturer suggested retail price or MSRP has fallen to 41% from 77%.

Graphics chips and hardware news site 3DCenter, which tracks graphic chip prices in Europe, reported that the price of AMD’s Radeon RX6000 and Nvidia’s GeForce RTX30, both used for gaming, dropped steadily to less than 20% above MSRP from 80% at the start of the year.

Still, recent Reuters checks found that Nvidia’s GeForce graphics cards remained largely out of stock at retailers like BestBuy and Newegg Commerce.

Baird senior analyst Tristan Gerra told Reuters that if electronic companies that buy chips expect prices to drop further, they will cut fat inventories, further cutting purchases — and pressuring prices.

“It’s a vicious cycle.” Gerra said.

Demand for GPUs may also drop because crypto currency Ethereum is expected to change the way it operates late this summer, reducing the demand for graphics chips that power systems used to mine the cryptocurrency today, analysts say.

There is a debate over whether the lower prices will spread throughout the chip sector.

Softening demand from PC and smartphone markets is also resulting in price drops of other chips such as leading edge processors like CPUs and some memory chips, according to Summit Insights Group analyst Kinngai Chan, who expects the supply of some other chips made on older machines to face over-capacity in the second half of this year.

But Bank of America said the weakness in the gaming or crypto currency mining segments could be balanced by strength in data center demand for graphic chips and has reaffirmed its “buy” rating for Nvidia.

Meanwhile major chip manufacturers, including Intel and TSMC, plan multibillion-dollar expansions.

“Between all the fab investments and then all the bullishness that the shortage wasn’t going to end until 2023, 2024, we said we could see a glut coming,” that extends beyond graphics chips, said TechInsights’ Dan Hutcheson, who has been following chip supply and demand for over 40 years.

(Reporting by Jane Lanhee Lee in Oakland, Calif., Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru, and Noel Randewich; Editing by Peter Henderson and Mark Porter)