29/01/2026

BIZ & FINANCE THURSDAY | JAN 29, 2026

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ASML posts bumper annual profit, eyes bright AI future

LOS ANGELES: Video sharing app TikTok has made an eleventh-hour deal to avoid a landmark US trial accusing it, along with Meta and YouTube, of addicting young people to social media, lawyers said on Tuesday. The deal was made as jury selection was to begin in a Los Angeles court that could establish a legal precedent on whether social media companies deliberately designed their platforms to addict children. The case being heard in the California state court is being called a “bellwether” proceeding because its outcome could set the tone for a tidal wave of similar litigation across the United States. Amazon ranked itself as one of the top three grocers in the United States. “We believe Amazon’s reallocation of resources towards the Whole Foods and fast delivery experience likely benefits the logistics flywheel,” Baird Equity senior research analyst Colin Sebastian said in a note to investors, reasoning that the grocery business is a large growth opportunity for the company. – AFP Amazon closing Fresh and Go stores in Whole Foods push SAN FRANCISCO: Amazon on Tuesday said it is closing its Go and Fresh real-world stores to focus on its Whole Foods markets and online grocery delivery. Go and Fresh shops doubled as innovation centres for Amazon, which tested systems such as eliminating checkout stations and automatically billing customers for the items they have with them as they leave the store. “Go and Fresh showed what was technologically possible, but not what was viable economically,” said Emarketer senior analyst Zak Stambor. “The bet is that mass-market groceries sell more efficiently through same-day delivery, with Whole Foods as its primary physical retail brand.” Grocery sales at Amazon’s same-day delivery service grew 40-fold in the past year and an option for ultra-fast delivery of fresh food and other items in 30 minutes or less is being tested, according to the company. Amazon will “continue inventing on behalf of customers to develop a mass physical store format that brings customers distinctive selection, value, and convenience”, the e-commerce giant founded by Jeff Bezos said in a blog post. Ideas being explored include a new retail supercentre where people can shop for groceries, household essentials and general merchandise, according to Amazon. Amazon aims to open more than 100 new Whole Foods stores in coming years, with some Go and Fresh shops being converted into Whole Foods outlets. Whole Foods sales have grown 40%, and the number of stores has increased to more than 550 locations, since the chain was bought by Amazon in 2017, the retail titan said. The deal was valued at US$13.7 billion.

“We expect 2026 to be another growth year for ASML’s business,” said Fouquet. ASML also announced an internal organisational shake-up in a bid to speed up working methods that Fouquet said had become “less agile”. The firm expects to cut around 1,700 jobs in the Netherlands and the United States, mostly from leadership roles, Fouquet said. ASML employs around 44,000 staff worldwide. The tech giant is caught in the middle of a US-led effort to curb high-tech exports to China over fears they could be used to bolster the country’s military. Beijing has been infuriated by the export curbs, describing them as “technological terrorism”. In a case unrelated to ASML, the Dutch government briefly seized control of Nexperia, a Chinese-owned company that

makes low-tech semiconductors. That move sparked a major row between Beijing and the West that threatened to cripple car manufacturers that rely on Nexperia chips. In late October, following trade talks between China’s President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump, Beijing agreed to resume exports of Nexperia chips halted over the row. ASML already warned that China sales would “decline significantly” in 2026 compared with “very strong business” in 2024 and 2025. A breakdown of sales showed 33% of sales going to China in 2025, compared to 41% in 2024. China was ASML’s top customer in both years. Longer-term, ASML believes that the rapidly expanding AI market will push up its annual sales to between €44 billion and €60 billion by 2030. Turning to the fourth quarter, ASML sales came in at €9.7 billion. – AFP

o Dutch tech giant plans to cut 1,700 jobs in Netherlands and the US

THE HAGUE: Dutch tech giant ASML, which sells cutting-edge machines to make semiconductor chips, reported a significant gain in annual net profit yesterday and predicted a bright future driven by demand for artificial intelligence. ASML is a critical cog in the global economy, as the semiconductors crafted with its tools power everything from smartphones to missiles. After-tax profit for 2025 came in at €9.6 billion (RM45 billion), compared with €7.6 billion for 2024. CEO Christophe Fouquet said ASML customers were bullish on the medium-term outlook “primarily based on more robust expectations of the sustainability of AI-related demand”.

Fourth quarter net bookings, the figure traders track most closely, came in at €13.2 billion. This compared with €5.4 billion in the third quarter of 2024 and cheered investors, with shares opening around 7% higher on the Dutch market. Total 2025 net sales were a record €32.7 billion. The firm had previously said it did not expect sales to be below the €28.3 billion banked last year. ASML expects net sales in 2026 to be between €34 and €39 billion, it announced in new forecasts. For the first quarter of this year, the firm predicted it would post between €8.2 billion and €8.9 billion in sales.

The ASML headquarters in Veldhoven, Netherlands. – REUTERSPIC

TikTok settles hours before landmark social media addiction trial

is, in and of itself, a very significant victory,” Bergman said. Internet titans have argued that they are shielded by Section 230 of the US Communications Decency Act, which frees them of responsibility for what social media users post. However, this case argues those firms are culpable for business models designed to hold people’s attention and to promote content that winds up harming their mental health. TikTok’s settlement joins Snapchat, which last week confirmed that it made a deal to avoid the trial brought by K.G.M. The terms were not disclosed. – AFP

The trial before judge Carolyn Kuhl is expected to start next week after a jury is selected. “This is the first time that a social media company has ever had to face a jury for harming kids,” Social Media Victims Law Centre founder Matthew Bergman, whose team is involved in more than 1,000 such cases, told AFP. The centre is a legal organisation dedicated to holding social media companies accountable for harms allegedly caused to young people online. “The fact that now K.G.M. and her family get to stand in a courtroom equal to the largest, most powerful and wealthy companies in the world

Instagram at 11, Snapchat at 13, and TikTok at 14, the Californian claims to have developed an addiction to the sites that contributed to her depression, anxiety, body image issues and that stoked suicidal thoughts. Social media firms are accused in hundreds of lawsuits of addicting young users to content that has led to depression, eating disorders, psychiatric hospitalisation and even suicide. Lawyers for the plaintiffs are explicitly borrowing strategies used in the 1990s and 2000s against the tobacco industry, which faced a similar onslaught of lawsuits arguing that companies sold a harmful product.

The remaining defendants in the suit are Alphabet and Meta, the tech titans behind YouTube and Instagram. Meta co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is slated to be called as a witness during the trial. “The parties are pleased to have reached an amicable resolution of this dispute,” the Social Media Victims Law Centre said, noting that the terms of the settlement with TikTok are confidential. The case focuses on allegations that a 19-year-old woman identified by the initials K.G.M. suffered severe mental harm because she was addicted to social media. After joining YouTube at age six,