Industry news

Ant Group to close institutional order books from the Hong Kong collection as they reach record-setting dual IPO due to high demand.

The $17.2 billion Hong Kong institutional book has closed early due to the high demand. The book became oversubscribed one hour after it launched. 

The Ant Group operate Alipay and is an affiliate of Alibaba E-commerce Group.

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Facebook is launching into cloud-based gaming in order to position themselves in the gaming industry. 

Facebook website and Android app users will be able to play games without having to download them from app stores. 

Previously, Facebook has offered simple mini games through the app. Now they expect to offer more sophistication, free to play games such as puzzles and racing games. 

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SAP, a software company has announced that they are going to transfer to Cloud Computing as they desert potential medium-term profit targets.

Their move comes as demand has increased for could services in the pandemic.

Many are cautious about this move as business may take longer to recover under the current climate. There are also concerns that they will lose out to more innovative competitors. This uncertainty pushed shares down by nearly 20%.

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Oracle are setting up two new cloud datacentres in London and Wales for disaster recovery purposes. This comes as they recently announced their commitment to expand their global datacenter presence. 

The setup is billed by Oracle as dual-region government cloud, allowing them to have two separate sites that are connected with Oracles network. This is already in place and being used by public sector firms.

This move is aimed to reflect their commitment to the UK government.

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Huawei are experiencing a slowdown in revenue in the third quarter as the US enforce new restrictions.

New regulation by the US has meant that companies have to obtain licenses in order to sell tech made by Huawei. 

Currently, Intel is the only firm known to have a license. 

This comes as Huawei releases their new smartphone which could be its last as they are experiencing shortages in sourcing chips required to manufacture goods.

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UK outsourcing contracts across Europe and the EMEA have increased by 60% in the third quarter of 2020 in comparison with 2019 according to the ISG index. 

ISG said that the UK and Ireland pharmaceuticals, tech and utilities sectors are continuing to invest in developing innovation such as AI, cloud and other digital capabilities.

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The cyber security firm McAfee has priced its shares in the lower half of its initial public offering despite the strong market for new software companies. 

Public investors agreed to buy shares at $20 each which will deliver $620m in proceeds of which they plan to use to get out of debt. 

The shares are in a “Up-C” format which is meant to provide tax benefits for insiders.

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Google is being trailed by the US Department of Justice for supressing competition in the internet search in Antitrust Case.  

The US Department of Justice view Googles position as a “monopoly gatekeeper for the internet.” If no action is taken to reduce their monopoly power, then we could lose innovation in the future.

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MEPs have published ways that the EU can regulate artificial intelligence in order to boost innovation, ethical standards and trust in technology. By enforcing new regulation they hope to become global leaders for AI in the future. 

Potential legislation includes a future oriented civil liability framework and an effective intellectual property rights system. 

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Verizon has signed a contract with Microsoft and Nokia to target more business consumers. They are aiming to provide more efficient automated factory floors. This will help to cut costs and speed up the production process by using private 5G networks.

By using a private 5G network they hope to minimise disruption and withhold a constant speed throughout the production process. 

Microsoft’s cloud computing firm, Azure will also use Verizon’s 5G to operate.

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