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Trade Wars
Lawler, Commerce Secretary Visit IBM Research Center In Yorktown Heights
Congressman Mike Lawler (R, NY-17) and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick visited IBM’s Thomas Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights Thursday to tour the facility and learn more about the company’s work in quantum computing, semiconductor research and other emerging technologies. Lawler, who represents New York’s 17th Congressional District, joined Lutnick, IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna and IBM Research Director Jay Gambetta for discussions about U.S. technological competitiveness, domestic manufacturing and the development of quantum computing.
The group toured IBM’s quantum research facilities and received demonstrations of the company’s quantum systems. Discussions also focused on potential applications for the technology, including cybersecurity, health care, advanced manufacturing, scientific research, artificial intelligence, and national defense. The Yorktown research center is one of IBM’s major research facilities and has long been a significant part of the company’s technology development efforts. Lawler said the work being done there demonstrates the importance of continued investment in research and a skilled technology workforce.
Read more at Mid-Hudson News
Ford’s $30,000 Electric Pickup Gets A Name: Fathom
Ford's upcoming small electric pickup truck has a name — and a price. Expected to arrive in 2027, Ford's next EV will be called Fathom (yes, really) and will start at $29,945, including a $1,595 destination charge. Cheers to the company making good on its initial $30K promise. What's in a name? "To bring this product to life, Ford reached a new depth of innovation, allowing the company to fathom possibilities once thought beyond reach," the company said in a press release.
Ford isn't releasing any of the Fathom's specs just yet. Right now, the company confirms the sub-$30K starting price will be for the truck with the standard-range battery, and that all Fathoms will be "BlueCruise-capable," meaning they'll be available with Ford's hands-free driving tech. Ford says the Fathom will have "more passenger volume than a Toyota RAV4" and will use embedded Apple Maps for navigation while still allowing customers to use Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. We also know the truck is expected to be roomier than the midsize Ranger. Preorders for the Fathom will open in early 2027. The first Fathoms will roll off the line at Ford's Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky late next year.
Read more at Edmunds
Lumber Prices Surge Despite Housing Slump
Lumber prices have risen this summer to their highest level in four years, even as home sales slump and renovation spending loses steam, the WSJ’s Ryan Dezember writes. Back in 2022, the price of two-by-fours was falling after a record-setting surge during the Covid-19 pandemic, which set off a suburban building boom and sent stuck-at-home Americans into a do-it-yourself frenzy. This time around, reduced supply rather than booming demand has driven lumber prices higher. Imports are down because of steep duties on Canadian boards and President Trump’s 10% softwood-lumber tariff. Meanwhile, low prices last year prompted sawmill curtailments and closures from British Columbia to northern Florida.
The Random Lengths Framing Lumber Composite price reached $535 per thousand board feet last month, its highest reading since September 2022. The price gauge, which is a weighted average of 15 key framing lumber prices used in construction, declined $3 last week after a bond rout pushed up mortgage rates to their highest level in a year, yet the lumber benchmark remains 23% higher than a year ago.
Read more at the WSJ
Honda’s Q1 Operating Profit Surges Over 117% Year Over Year
Honda Motor Co. reported a massive revenue surge in the first quarter of FY2027, with its operating profit reaching 530.7 billion yen ($3.36 billion), a year-over-year increase of 117% and the highest-ever revenue in a single quarter, the company said in its earnings report on Wednesday. Sales revenue also increased 13.5% YoY to 6 trillion yen ($38.46 billion) on sales of 708,000 vehicles in Q1, a YoY increase of 23,000 units. Vehicle sales in North America rose 4% to 461,000 units in Q1, which also contributed to the revenue jump.
Although it’s a significant recovery from last year, Honda is sticking with its previous guidance that targets sales of 1.7 million vehicles in North America and 2.82 million globally, with revenue of just over 24 trillion yen, which is 11% higher than its previous forecast. The automaker noted, however, that uncertainty surrounding the situation in the Middle East conflicts makes it “necessary to carefully assess risks related to sales volume, material costs and other factors” that could impact its financial forecast. Honda also reported an operating margin of 8.8% in Q1, up from 4.6% last year, as it recovers from EV losses that impacted financial performance over the past year.
Read more at Ward’s Auto
Hadrian Raises $1.4B To Increase Manufacturing Footprint, Workforce
Defense startup Hadrian has raised $1.37 billion in equity financing, bringing the advanced manufacturing company’s valuation to about $7.9 billion, according to a press release Thursday. The series D funding will allow Hadrian to further expand its manufacturing capacity to service the defense, aerospace and industrial systems in the United States. Plans include establishing new factories, building out research and development and adding production capabilities.
Hadrian operates a “factories as a service” model, providing fully automated manufacturing facilities powered by its artificial intelligence platform, Opus. The financing will also design a new U.S. manufacturing workforce model aimed at mixing humans with autonomous technologies. Hadrian will hire and train operators, engineers and technologists, increasing its labor pool from 700 to 2,000 over the next year, CEO Chris Power said during a media roundtable Tuesday.
Read more at Manufacturing Dive
GlobalFoundries Drives Q2 Revenue To $1.79B, Completes Synopsys Deal
Continued demand for optical networking applications drove growth in the communications infrastructure and data center end market, “producing one of the fastest quarters of year-over-year revenue growth for an end market in our company history,” GlobalFoundries’ CEO Timothy Breen said on a Q2 earnings call Wednesday. In June, the company completed its acquisition of Synopsys’ ARC Processor IP Solutions business for $455 million, which Breen said will help advance GlobalFoundries’ physical AI strategy.
GlobalFoundries also used a $375 million U.S. Department of Commerce award to start a spinoff called Quantum Technology Solutions, which will focus on scaling quantum industry manufacturing capabilities. Quantum Technology Solutions represents “a paradigm shift that will define the next chapter of high-performance computing over the coming decade and beyond” and “enable the quantum industry to move from prototypes to high-volume production,” Global CEO Tim Breen said. He added that the quantum industry is only in its early stages, and he expects quantum-related revenue from manufacturing services to increase towards the end of the decade.
Read more at CNBC
Boeing to Build Extended-Range JDAMs for Air Force
Boeing Defense has a $75-million award from the U.S. Air Force to begin production of the Joint Direct Attack Munition Long Range Payload Delivery Unit, signaling the JDAM LR program’s transition from the development stage into initial production. The JDAM-LR is an updated version to the current JDAM precision-guided weapons, incorporating the established guidance capabilities with foldable wings, a small turbojet engine, and standard aircraft interfaces, resulting in a precision-guided weapon capable of delivering a 500-lbs. payload to targets more than 300 nautical miles away.
Boeing reportedly invested nearly $100 million to develop the JDAM LR prior to the production contract. It recently completed the weapon's first powered flight test off the California coast, and demonstrated its capability for powered flight, military-code GPS navigation, and guidance to the target. The new design will be manufactured by Boeing’s existing JDAM production infrastructure, which is expected to minimize the Pentagon’s procurement costs and expedite supply replenishment.
Read more at American Machinist
Infusd Has Opened Beverage Manufacturing Facility In Geneva New York
Infusd has opened a beverage manufacturing facility in Geneva, New York. The company, which develops formulation technologies and manufactures consumer packaged products, has opened the facility to support commercial-scale production for its partners. The 60,000-square-foot facility integrates production, quality control, and testing under SQF Institute-certified quality systems. Manufacturing is available with USDA Organic, Kosher, Halal, and NSF Certified for Sport certifications.
Infusd has introduced a portfolio of turnkey product concepts spanning functional beverages, gummies, liquid sachets, wellness shots, ready-to-drink beverages, and hydration stick packs. Rather than serving as finished consumer brands, the concepts illustrate how difficult-to-formulate ingredients can now be successfully incorporated into formats preferred by today's consumers. The technology has successfully been applied to a broad range of ingredients including omega-3 fatty acids, fat-soluble vitamins, botanical extracts, adaptogens, mushrooms, phospholipids, minerals, cognitive health ingredients, curcumin, creatine, and numerous specialty bioactives, opening new formulation opportunities across energy, cognition, sleep, hydration, sports nutrition, metabolic health, and healthy aging applications.
Read more at Plant Services
‘Refine, Baby, Refine’ Is the Energy Industry’s New Mantra
The Iran war and Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries have knocked out a big chunk of the world’s fuel-making apparatus, leaving the U.S. oil industry as the world’s last major fuel supplier, contending with a runaway global supply shock that could last well into next year. U.S. refiners have been running their plants at full tilt to meet demand at home and abroad as fuel prices around the world have soared, giving them windfall profits and drawing the ire of Trump. The president ripped into big oil companies this week for wringing too much cash out of American gas pumps.
More than two dozen refineries have shut down around the U.S. since 2000, including a few large ones on the West Coast. Several big refineries have become more massive in recent years, as energy companies built additional units at plants to allow them to make more fuel. The nation’s collective fuel-making capacity is 3% lower than it was at its peak in 2019, according to federal data. The Trump administration in March announced a new refinery project in South Texas, backed by India’s Reliance Industries. If it comes to fruition, the complex would be the first new refinery built in the U.S. since 1977.
Read more at The WSJ
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