Technology

When the coronavirus outbreak in China disrupted global smartphone production in February, Samsung looked set to weather the crisis better than most thanks to its limited exposure there and launches of pricey 5G phones. Its fortunes are reversing.

Shares in sensor producer AMS jumped 22% after the Apple supplier gave an upbeat forecast for the current quarter and the remainder of the year, soothing investors who fear a slump in smartphone demand due to the coronavirus crisis.

Shares in Wirecard slumped again on Wednesday as a prominent short seller demanded the sacking of CEO Markus Braun after a special audit of the German payments company was unable to verify its financial statements.

The social media platform TikTok and the philanthropic Gates Foundation donated $10 million each on Wednesday to the vaccine alliance GAVI to help fund efforts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa.

Facebook Inc ad sales appear to have ticked up since late March, offering investors reason for optimism even as decimated advertising budgets from the coronavirus are expected to weigh heavily on first-quarter earnings, according to data from firms that track online ads.

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Wednesday it expected profit to decline in the current quarter due to a coronavirus-related slump in sales of smartphones and TVs, although the chip business would remain solid.

Sales at GN Store Nord's audio business jumped in the first quarter as demand for headsets and webcams from locked down workers soared, and the Danish company said the boom would continue as it caught up with the order backlog.

South Korea's SK Innovation Co Ltd, a supplier for Volkswagen and Ford Motors, will spend $727 million to build its second electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in the United States, the company said on Tuesday.

Sensor specialist AMS said on Wednesday it expects the impact from the coronavirus in the second quarter to be limited, as it reported first-quarter revenues within the upper half of its own forecast.

When law enforcement agencies want to gather evidence locked inside an iPhone, they often turn to hacking software from the Israeli firm Cellebrite. By manually plugging the software into a suspect’s phone, police can break in and determine where the person has gone and whom he or she has met.

Zoom Video Communications Inc said on Tuesday it has started using Oracle Corp's cloud computing service to help handle the surge in online video call volumes brought on by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Alphabet Inc on Tuesday beat analysts' estimate for quarterly revenue as its Google unit posted double-digit advertising growth despite the economic slowdown from the novel coronavirus.

Uber Technologies Inc's Chief Technology Officer Thuan Pham has resigned, effective May 16, the ride-hailing company said in a regulatory filing https://bit.ly/2SiLDZB on Tuesday.

Alphabet Inc on Tuesday beat analysts' estimate for quarterly revenue as its Google unit experienced a smaller drop-off in advertiser spending than had been anticipated given economic concerns related to the novel coronavirus.

Chile telecoms giant Entel expects strong performance this year in Chile and neighboring Peru as quarantine measures to combat coronavirus increase demand for its services, though it cautioned that a global downturn could have unintended consequences.

Federal appeals court judges asked prosecutors on Tuesday why a lower court could seal a ruling that absolved Facebook from having to wiretap a criminal suspect using one of the company’s encrypted services.

InterDigital Inc, a developer of digital mobile and video technology, said on Tuesday it has entered a worldwide patent licensing agreement with China's Huawei Technologies Ltd, and that the companies have settled all litigation against each other.

Senator Josh Hawley urged the Justice Department on Tuesday to open a criminal probe of Amazon.com Inc, saying the online retailer was building a monopoly using "predatory data practices" on vendors using its platform.

French lawmakers will be allowed to debate and vote on the government's contact-tracing app once the government is confident it can prevent a resurgence of the coronavirus epidemic, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Tuesday.

An independent investigation by auditor KPMG into Wirecard found on Tuesday the German payments company did not provide sufficient documentation to address all allegations of accounting irregularities made by the Financial Times.