19/12/2025

BIZ & FINANCE FRIDAY | DEC 19, 2025

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Micron forecasts blowout earnings

minus 20 cents, versus analyst estimates of US$4.78 per share, according to LSEG data. Micron’s chips are fundamental components in everything from data centre servers and personal computers to smartphones and vehicles. But it is also one of only three major suppliers, along with South Korea’s SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, of what are known as high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, essential for training and deploying generative AI models. In a conference call with investors, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said he expects memory markets to remain tight past 2026 and that in the medium term, Micron expects to meet only half to two-thirds of demand from several key customers. Reuters previously reported that

a memory chip crunch is pressuring smartphone makers. In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, Micron’s chief business officer Sumit Sadana declined to specify which customers would not receive the chips they sought. “It is inevitable in this environment that lots of customers across all segments will see an impact on their ability to procure the amount of memory they want to procure. “I don’t know of any customer that is getting 100% of what they want from us – and there are many, many that are getting substantially less than what they feel they need.” Micron executives said the company is negotiating multiyear contracts with key customers and will increase its 2026 capital expenditure plans to US$20 billion

from an earlier US$18 billion estimate. “AI-related demand remains the biggest driver for Micron,” said Summit Insights analyst Kinngai Chan. “It not only drives better margin for the company, but also helps non-AI product margins as it prioritises its supply towards AI-related demand.” The company is seeing strong demand from data centres, fuelled by increased spending by large-scale cloud service providers that offer hardware and cloud capacity as services. Micron has been adjusting its production facilities to focus on demand from AI data centres. Earlier this month, the company said it would dissolve its business of selling memory chips directly to

including enacting new legislation to facilitate the use of stablecoins and dropping key lawsuits against Coinbase and other crypto companies. The industry has said that it was unfairly targeted by US regulators, although financial watchdogs have called for more oversight. In the UK, Coinbase’s aims include promoting stablecoin payments and so-called “tokenised” assets in capital markets, as well as clarity on tax, Shirzad said. – Reuters Diageo to sell Kenyan drinks unit to Asahi LONDON: Diageo, the maker of Guinness beer and Smirnoff vodka, has agreed to sell its Kenyan business to Japan’s Asahi for US$2.3 billion, the struggling British drinks group announced on Wednesday. The deal will see Diageo sell its 65% stake in East African Breweries and its shareholding in spirits business UDVK. “This transaction delivers both significant value for Diageo shareholders and accelerates our commitment to strengthen our balance sheet,”interim chief executive Nik Jhangiani said in a statement. Asahi, Japan’s biggest brewer, said the Kenya and wider East Africa market offered opportunities for “long-term growth driven by population increase and economic expansion”. Diageo has sought to reduce its debt through divestments amid a tough trading environment and after announcing in May that it faces a financial hit from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs onslaught. The company last month gave a profit warning as it cautioned over weaker consumer demand in China and the United States, pressuring its share price which has tumbled this year. New chief executive Dave Lewis is set to take the helm next year, replacing Debra Crew after she resigned in July. – AFP The company projected revenue for the current quarter at US$18.70 billion, plus or minus US$400 million, compared with analysts’ average estimate of US$14.20 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. For the just-ended fiscal first quarter, Micron said it had sales and adjusted profit of US$13.64 billion and US$4.78 per share, compared with analyst estimates of US$12.85 billion and US$3.95 per share. – Reuters consumers via the “Crucial” brand name. “Micron has strategically repositioned its production capacity for the AI sector,” eMarketer analyst Jacob Bourne said in a statement. “As AI demand continues to soar and along with it key components, Micron will be among the winners that can supply those components, which include memory chips.”

SAN Micron Technology forecast second-quarter adjusted profit at nearly double what Wall Street analysts expected on Wednesday, as prices soar for memory chips amid tight supplies and booming demand from artificial intelligence data centers. Shares of the Boise, Idaho-based company were up 7% in extended trading after the forecast. Micron said it expected adjusted profit of US$8.42 per share, plus or FRANCISCO: o Memory chip prices amid tight supplies and booming demand from AI data centres

EU move to ease combustion-engine ban ‘historic mistake’: Spain PM

Motorists drive and queue in their vehicles at a toll station on the A7 motorway between Lyon and Vienne, southeastern France, during a heavy traffic jam. – AFPPIC

MADRID: The European Union’s decision to walk back a 2035 ban on new petrol and diesel cars is a “historic mistake”, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Wednesday. “What was approved yesterday constitutes a historic mistake for Europe, because competitiveness is ensured by sustainability, not by loosening our commitments,” he said

during a climate conference in Madrid. The combustion-engine ban was hailed as a major win in the fight against climate change when adopted in 2023. Spain, France and the Nordic countries warned that ditching the commitment risked slowing the shift to electric vehicles, undermining the EU’s green agenda and deterring investments in electrification.

But carmakers and their backers have lobbied hard over the past year for Brussels to relax the ban, in the face of fierce competition from China and a slower-than-expected shift to electric vehicles. Under proposals decried by environmental groups, carmakers will now have to cut exhaust emissions from new vehicles by 90% from 2021

levels – down from an envisaged 100% – with the remainder “compensated” in various ways. Spain is Europe’s second-largest car producer after Germany. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has hailed the EU’s new proposals, saying “more openness to technology and greater flexibility are the right steps”. – AFP

Coinbase appoints UK ex-finance minister to run advisory council SAN FRANCISCO: US crypto exchange Coinbase has appointed former British finance minister George Osborne to run its internal advisory council, the company said yesterday, as it aims to expand its influence with governments beyond the US. European Union, the company’s chief policy officer Faryar Shirzad told Reuters. of jobs in the private sector. On Tuesday, US AI company OpenAI announced it had hired Osborne to help its overseas data centre expansion. stablecoins and tokenisation are bringing to our financial system,” Osborne said in a written statement.

Osborne, who joined Coinbase as an adviser in January 2024, will “play a much more active role in helping us with policymakers around the world”, Shirzad said. He will be based in London. The former finance minister, who served from 2010 until he stepped down after the 2016 Brexit referendum, has taken on a wide-ranging portfolio

The crypto industry, including Coinbase, collectively donated more than US$245 million to support pro-crypto candidates, including President Donald Trump, in the 2024 US elections, according to Federal Election Commission data. Following Trump’s election, the US government and regulators have taken steps to support crypto,

He is also the chair of the British Museum, a partner at investment bank Robey Warshaw LLP, and the chair of asset manager Lingotto Investment Management. “Chairing the Global Advisory Council will give me more opportunity to learn about the revolution that blockchain,

The crypto industry has become a major lobbying force in the US in recent years. Coinbase now wants to increase its influence on policy-making outside the US, including in Britain and the