09/06/2025

BIZ & FINANCE MONDAY | JUNE 9, 2025

17

Apple under pressure to shine

Chinese vice-premier to meet American delegation in UK BEIJING: Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng will meet a US delegation for talks this week in Britain, Beijing announced amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He will visit the United Kingdom from June 8 to 13 at the invitation of the British government, China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It said He and American representatives will co-chair the first meeting of the China-US economic and trade consultation mechanism. US President Donald Trump had already announced on Friday that a new round of trade talks with China would kick off in London beginning today, after he spoke by phone with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in a bid to end a bitter battle over tariffs. Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer would meet the Chinese team. The discussions will mark the second round of such negotiations between the world’s two biggest economies since Trump launched his trade war shortly after returning to the White House. A first meeting, held in mid-May in Geneva, brought a pause to the US-China trade dispute. But Trump then accused Beijing of not respecting the terms of the de-escalation agreement. On Thursday the Republican president finally discussed the issues with Xi for the first time since the trade tensions soared, assuring that the conversation had been positive. Xi for his part told Trump the two should “correct the course” of bilateral relations, according to remarks quoted by official Chinese media. – AFP CHICAGO: Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures set life-of-contract highs last week, sparked by soaring cash prices as meat packers scrambled to keep their plants operating while cattle supplies remained tight, traders said. CME August live cattle futures settled up 2.050 cents at 218.875 cents per pound after setting a contract high at 219.325 cents. CME August feeder cattle ended up 1 cent at 310.150 cents per pound. Front-month June live cattle futures surged 5% last week to finish at 226.300 cents per pound but remained at a significant discount to cash prices. Cash cattle traded in Kansas as high as US$235 per hundred weight (cwt), traders said, up about US$13 from last week and as high as US$232 per cwt in Texas. “Without a top showing in the cash market, I don’t know where futures stop,” said Doug Houghton, an analyst at Brock Associates. The US cattle herd has shrunk to its smallest in more than 70 years, according to Department of Agriculture data, following several years of drought. – Reuters CME cattle futures stampede higher

SAN FRANCISCO: Pressure is on Apple to show it has not lost its magic despite broken promises to ramp up iPhones with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) as rivals race ahead with the technology. Apple will showcase plans for its coveted devices and the software powering them at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) kicking off today in Silicon Valley. The event comes a year after the tech titan said a suite of AI features it dubbed “Apple Intelligence” was heading for iPhones, including an improvement of its much criticised Siri voice assistant. “Apple advertised a lot of features as if they were going to be available, and it just didn’t happen,” noted Emarketer senior analyst Gadjo Sevilla. Instead, Apple delayed the rollout of the Siri upgrade, with hopes that it will be available in time for the next iPhone release, expected in the fall. “I don’t think there is going to be that much of a celebratory tone at WWDC,” the analyst told AFP. “It could be more of a way for Apple to recover some credibility by showing where they’re headed.” Industry insiders will be watching to see whether Apple addresses the AI stumble or focuses on less splashy announcements, including a rumoured overhaul of its operating systems for its line of devices. “The bottom line is Apple seemed to underestimate the AI shift, then over-promised features, and is now racing to catch up,” Gene Munster and Brian Baker of Deepwater Asset Management wrote in a WWDC preview note. Rumours also include talk that Apple may add GenAI partnerships with Google or Perplexity to an OpenAI alliance announced a year ago. Infusing its lineup with AI is only one of Apple’s challenges. Developers, who build apps and tools to run on the company’s products, may be keen for Apple to loosen its tight control of access to iPhones. “There’s still a lot of strife between Apple and developers,” Sevilla said. “Taking 30% commissions from them and then failing to deliver on promises for new functionality – that’s a double black eye.” A lawsuit by Fortnite

“Apple does need to give an olive branch to the developer community, which has been long-suffering,” Sevilla said. “They can’t seem to thrive within the restrictive guardrails that Apple has been putting up for decades now.” As AI is incorporated into Apple software, the company may need to give developers more ability to sync apps to the platform, said Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi. “Maybe with AI it’s the first time that Apple needs to rethink the open versus closed ecosystem,” Milanesi said. Adding to the WWDC buildup is that the legendary designer behind the iPhone, Jony Ive, has joined with ChatGPT maker OpenAI to create a potential rival device for engaging with AI. “It puts Apple on the defensive because the key designer for your most p o p u l a r product is saying there is o iPhone maker underestimated AI shift, then over-promised features, say analysts

something better than the iPhone,” Sevilla said. While WWDC has typically been a software-focused event, Apple might unveil new hardware to show it is still innovating, the analyst speculated. And while unlikely to come up at WWDC, Apple has to deal with tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump in his trade war with China, a key market for sales growth as well as the place where most iPhones are made. Trump has also threatened to hit Apple with tariffs if iPhone production wasn’t moved to the US, which analysts say is impossible given the costs and capabilities. “The whole idea of having an American-made iPhone is a pipe dream; you’d have to rewrite the rules of global economics,” said Sevilla. One of the things Apple has going for it is that its fans are known for their loyalty and likely to remain faithful regardless of how much time it takes the company to get its AI act together, Milanesi said. “Do people want a smarter Siri? Hell yeah,” Milanesi said. “But if you are in Apple, you’re in Apple and you’ll continue to buy their stuff.” – AFP

maker Epic Games ended with Apple being ordered to allow outside payment systems to be used at the US App Store, but developers may want more, according to the analyst.

An Apple Store employee walking past an illustration of iPhones in Washington. – REUTERSPIC

US investment firm to liquidate China portfolio HONG KONG: US-based investment firm Artisan Partners is liquidating a China-focused investment portfolio by the end of this month, a company spokesperson said on Saturday. Two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters last Friday that the firm was disbanding the Hong Kong-based team responsible for its Greater China strategy. at the end of April, according to the firm’s monthly update. In the same update, Artisan said the China-focused portfolio was in the process of winding down, without giving details.

companies it says work with China’s military. By March 2025, Artisan’s China post-venture strategy posted a net loss of 10.4% since its inception in March 2021. “The largest risks for investing in China will continue to be geopolitics and domestic policy overshoots,” Tiffany Hsiao, the strategy’s portfolio manager, said in a client letter on the firm’s website in April. Outside the US, Artisan also has offices in London, Dublin, Singapore and Sydney, according to its website. – Reuters

sensitive technology sectors in China, such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence and quantum computing. American investors are also restricted from investing in companies that are on the US sanctioned entity list that comprise a growing number of those from China. US onshore investors were not able to buy shares of Chinese battery giant CATL in its US$4.6 billion (RM19.5 billion) Hong Kong listing last month due to the structure of the deal, CATL’s filings showed. CATL was placed on a US Defence Department list in January of Chinese

One said the decision was partly due to concerns about escalating Sino-America trade and geopolitical tensions that have made investments in the world’s second-largest economy riskier. The firm’s China post-venture strategy, a fund that focuses on Chinese small- and mid-cap public and private companies, had US$113 million of assets under management

“This decision comes amid an increasingly uncertain geopolitical environment and a persistently challenging economic and market backdrop, which have put significant pressure on flows across dedicated China strategies,”the spokesperson said. The spokesperson said its Hong Kong office will remain operational, housing investment and trading professionals.

Artisan Partners’ retreat from China-focused investments comes amid the US government’s tightened scrutiny of American investments in China and an ongoing trade war that has clouded the business outlook of many export-heavy companies from China. The US government restricts American investments in certain