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Trade Wars
Micron Breaks Ground On Massive Chipmaking Plant That Could Transform Central NY
At the edge of a 1,400-acre tract of swamp, forest and former farmland just north of Syracuse, Micron Technology and public officials across the political spectrum broke ground this morning on what’s being called the largest private development in New York state history. For Micron, riding a wave of record profits and bolstered by $25 billion in taxpayer subsidies, it marked the first ceremonial step to building its largest memory chip plant.
Micron says it plans to build four chipmaking factories in Clay by 2041 to churn out billions of tiny computer chips used in cars, cell phones, appliances and, increasingly, data centers and artificial intelligence. Late last year, Micron announced that the Clay fabrication plants, or fabs, would be delayed by two to three years. The first is now set to start production in 2030; the second, in 2033.
Read more at Syracuse.com
Underwater Car Trade-Ins Are On The Rise — And Drivers Owe A Record Amount, Edmunds Finds
As consumers contend with higher auto payments, new data from car website Edmunds suggests they may be falling into a cycle of negative equity — where their outstanding auto loan balances are higher than the value of their cars. In the fourth quarter of 2025, 29.3% of trade-ins toward new car purchases were “underwater,” or had negative equity, according to Edmunds. That is the highest share since the first quarter of 2021, when 31.9% of trade-ins had negative equity, according to the data. The average amount owed on trade-ins with negative equity rose to $7,214 — an all-time high, according to Edmunds. More than one-quarter of trade-ins had more than $10,000 in negative equity — also a record high.
Drivers trading in a car with negative equity typically need to come up with cash to pay that balance, or roll the debt into their new loan. Experts say cars that are underwater trade-ins today were likely purchased when pandemic-era chip shortages made it more likely that consumers were paying above the manufacturer’s suggested retail price, or MSRP. Meanwhile, a shortage of lease options at that time may have prompted consumers to purchase new cars instead, and face high loan balances if they opt to trade them in. Today’s car buyers are more likely to get deals closer to MSRP.
Read more at CNBC
TSMC Delivers Another Record Quarter As Profit Jumps 35% Fueled By Robust AI Chip Demand
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company on Thursday reported a 35% increase in fourth-quarter profit, beating estimates and hitting a fresh record as demand for artificial intelligence chips remained strong. Revenue was 1.046 trillion new Taiwan dollars ($33.73 billion), vs. NT$1.034 trillion expected, and net income was NT$505.74 billion, vs. NT$478.37 billion expected. The world’s largest contract chipmaker has now posted year-over-year profit growth for eight consecutive quarters. Meanwhile, TSMC’s revenue in the December quarter rose by 20.5% from a year ago to surpass NT$1 trillion, also beating forecasts.
In an earnings call, TSMC executives guided revenue for the current quarter to hit between $34.6 billion and $35.8 billion, up 4% sequentially, or up 38% year-over-year at the midpoint. “We expect our business to be supported by continued strong demand for our leading edge process technologies,” said TSMC’s Chief Financial Officer Wendell Huang during an earnings call, adding that the company’s profit margins have been increasing. With TSMC further leaning into its advanced products, it said that its capital expenditure was expected to reach between $52 billion and $56 billion in 2026, as compared to $40.9 billion in 2025.
Read more at CNBC
GE, Lockheed Test New Hypersonic Engine
GE Aerospace and Lockheed Martin have completed testing a series of engine tests to demonstrate the viability of a liquid-fueled, rotating detonation ramjet for use in hypersonic missiles. A “ramjet” is a type of jet engine that draws in air, using only the forward motion of the aircraft to compress it for combustion. The ramjet being tested incorporates GE Aerospace’s rotating detonation combustion system and a Lockheed Martin’s tactical inlet that promotes high-speed airflow to the combustor. This system generates high thrust for super- and hypersonic speeds, to engage high-value or time-sensitive targets, with a smaller and lighter engine that boosts range.
Hypersonic weapons are an area of significant focus for U.S. defense planners and developers. Hypersonic flight - which is five times the speed of sound, or higher - is considered to be a U.S. defense priority, but the developers still must overcome significant physical limits to successful designs, including very high-temperatures and air pressures. "Following two years of internal investment, this demonstration is a testament to the power of collaboration, innovation and joint commitment to get affordable capability into the hands of warfighters at the speed of relevance,” according to Randy Crites, vice president and general manager at Lockheed Martin Advanced Programs.
Read more at American Machinist
Novo Nordisk's Wegovy Pill Makes Encouraging Start
Novo Nordisk's Wegovy weight-loss pill has made an encouraging start after its launch this month, analysts said on Friday citing early U.S. prescription data, with investors watching closely its battle with U.S. rival Eli Lilly. The U.S. prescription data only covers four days, but gives a glimpse into the performance of the first such pill to hit the weight-loss market as drugmakers shift towards cash-pay consumer models. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to make a decision on Lilly's experimental pill by April.
The Danish company, under a new CEO who took over last year, is betting on the pill version of its blockbuster Wegovy treatment to help attract new consumers as the drugmaker looks to regain ground on Lilly after profit warnings and slowing growth weighed on its shares last year. "Early signs are positive and we are encouraged by feedback from our collaborators," Novo said in a statement, though it added it was too early to speak about trends for the daily pill.
Read more at Reuters
Amazon Is Buying America’s First New Copper Output – Produced with Bacteria and Acid - in More Than a Decade
Amazon.com is turning to an Arizona mine that last year became the first new source of U.S. copper in more than a decade, to meet its data centers’ ravenous appetite for the industrial metal. The mine was restarted as a proving ground for Rio Tinto’s RIO 0.55%increase; green up pointing triangle new method of unlocking low-grade copper deposits. Rio signed a two-year supply pact with Amazon Web Services, a vote of confidence for its Nuton venture, which uses bacteria and acid to extract copper from ore that was previously uneconomical to process.
The move by Amazon is the latest example of a technology company rushing to secure the power and critical materials necessary to build and operate artificial-intelligence data centers. Rio deployed its bioleaching process in the recent restart of a mine east of Tucson and has partnerships to take the technology to several others in the Americas. The idea is to uncork the low-grade ore left behind at old mines and is key to Rio’s plans to boost output when new discoveries are harder than ever to bring online and copper demand is surging.
Read more at the WSJ
How is Bombardier Growing its North American Manufacturing?
Aviation and aerospace component manufacturer Bombardier is investing US$72m in a new 126,000 sq ft manufacturing centre in Dorval, Canada. The centre has been part-funded by a US$25m repayable loan from Investissement Québec’s ESSOR programme – a deal announced by Canada’s Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, Christine Fréchette. The new centre will complement Bombardier’s existing facilities, with the goal of further increasing production capacity and productivity. Opening is scheduled before the end of 2027.
According to Bombardier, its state-of-the-art centre in Dorval marks a “significant milestone” in its growth strategy. Bombardier says: “The project is part of the company’s long-term strategy to boost productivity as it responds to growing demand for its business aircraft. “This new facility, set to open before the end of 2027, is expected to create skilled job opportunities.” In Quebec, Bombardier creates 10,000 direct jobs and is a direct source for over 31% of aerospace employment.
Read more at Manufacturing Digital
Delta Picks Boeing for New Widebodies
Delta Air Lines has made an estimated $17-billion commitment to update its widebody fleet with up to 60 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. According to Boeing’s announcement, Delta's purchase of 30 787-10 jets – and purchase options for up to 30 more – will pace the carriers airline's expansion and modernization program for trans-Atlantic and South American routes. The delivery schedule for the new aircraft has not been announced. With this booking, Delta now has firm orders for 130 Boeing aircraft, including 100 737 MAX-10 aircraft.
The 787 Dreamliner is a twin-engine, long-range wide-body jet in service since 2011 and offered in three variants, with carrying capacity for 210 to 330 passengers. Boeing has collected a total of 2,325 orders for the 787 series jets, with 1,026 orders still to be filled. The 787-10 is the largest variant of the Dreamliner series, typically arranged to carry 300 to 330 passengers in a two-class layout. Boeing is expanding its 787 assembly complex in North Charleston, S.C., to manage the growing demand for its widebody jets.
Read more at American Machinist
Global Leaders Gather in Switzerland to Ponder the Future of a Messy World
World leaders, corporate executives and figures from civil society are convening in Davos, Switzerland, this week for the World Economic Forum. All eyes are almost certain to be on one high-ranking guest: President Trump, who plans to attend with a large delegation including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Steve Witkoff, the special envoy to the Middle East. Topics of discussion at Davos — according to U.S. and European analysts and former policymakers interviewed ahead of the event — are likely to include Russia’s war with Ukraine; prospects for global trade and markets; the probability of China invading Taiwan; and the risks of a Middle East flare-up caused by the recent uprising in Iran.
Donald Trump will speak at the Forum on Wednesday, as the global community struggles to assess the impact of his action in Venezuela, his hardline stance towards Iran and slow progress toward a peace deal for Ukraine. The World Economic Forum designated this year as “The Spirit of Dialogue,” but the organization itself has warned in its latest Global Risk Report that “rules and institutions that have long underpinned stability are under siege in a new era in which trade, finance and technology are wielded as weapons of influence.”
Read more at The NYT
Regeneron’s Chief Scientist, George Yancopoulos, On Trump’s Drug Pricing Policy, Gene Therapy, And The Problem With AI
George Yancopoulos has been the chief scientist at Regeneron since it was founded in 1988, and was a leading force behind the development of the company’s medicines, including the eye drug Eylea and Dupixent, an antibody originally approved to treat atopic dermatitis but now used for other autoimmune diseases. (Yancopolos points out that it’s cleared for a huge number of conditions.)
STAT sat down with Yancopoulos at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, where he was, as usual, incredibly outspoken. He said that he enjoys the annual meeting, where he thrives on continuous social interaction, conversation, and argument. However, he misses his morning trail runs in the woods in New York, which he said is where he does a lot of his scientific thinking. Below are a few exchanges from their conversation, edited a bit for clarity but substantially for length. Among other things they talked about President Trump’s “most-favored nations” policy on drug pricing and why Regeneron is the only company among 17 to receive presidential letters urging them to lower prices that hasn’t yet struck a deal.
Read more at STAT
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