Alibaba Cloud Discount

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Alibaba Slashes Cloud Prices

On Monday the tech giant [BABA] announced price cuts averaging 23% for approximately 500 cloud product specifications. The discounts are available to customers in 13 regions, including Japan, Indonesia, the UAE and Germany, with discounts having already been applied in China. The move comes at a time when cloud demand is booming thanks to artificial intelligence (AI).

Uber-backed Lime Bolsters Network

“Our software is already made, our hardware is already developed. We’re not increasing the fixed costs, so profitability grows at a much faster pace,” Wayne Ting, CEO of electric bike and scooter network Lime, told Bloomberg. Backed by ride-hailing giant Uber [UBER] and based in San Francisco, Lime is to spend more than $55m this year on expanding its global fleet.

“Constant Innovations” Behind Chinese Success

The growth of China’s electric vehicle (EV) sector is due not to subsidies but to “constant innovations”, said Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao at a roundtable discussion in Paris with representatives of BYD [1211:HK] and CATL [300750:SZ], among others. Elsewhere, the People's Bank of China has said that it will set up a $69.1bn re-lending program to support innovation in the science and technology sectors.

TSMC Gets a Big Chunk of Cash

Chipmaking heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. [TSM] is to receive some $6.6n in grants and up to $5bn in loans from the US government to help it build facilities in Arizona. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s stock market has received more AI investment than rival South Korea’s; the market-value gap between them has grown as much as $363bn, Bloomberg reported. Lastly, Kyoto-based Towa [6315:T] controls two-thirds of the world market for chip moulding equipment; its share price is nearly five times what it was a year ago.

Ferrari Accelerates EV R+D

Italy’s Ferrari [RACE] has unveiled a new laboratory which will develop lithium battery cells. Led by University of Bologna scientists, the lab will concentrate on analysing solid states, fast charging, thermal charging and cell safety and performance, Bloomberg reported Monday. Ferrari is set to launch its first EV in Q4 2025. Elsewhere, the Tesla share price jumped as much as 5% on Elon Musk’s announcement that a ‘robotaxi’ is to be unveiled in August.