Reuters (June 24)
“The AI boom has led to the biggest upswing ever, as demand for memory created a huge bottleneck.” Micron Technologies, now worth $1.3 trillion, has benefited handsomely from this “as the company’s ballooning gross margin shows,” but the rise “is straining tech giants and investor credulity alike.” It won’t last forever. “Boom and bust cycles are built on human greed. It’s very hard to resist the urge to keep boosting production when times are good. Historical patterns suggest the memory shortage will likely end suddenly and hard.”
Tags: AI boom, Ballooning, Boom, Bottleneck, Bust, Credulity, Demand, Gross margin, Human greed, Investor, Memory, Micron, Production, Tech giants, Upswing
Fortune (April 27)
“The Iran conflict has confirmed a transformation in the economics of warfare toward cheap, mass-produced weapons, forcing a wholesale rethinking of military procurement.” Iran’s strategy “is the opposite of the West’s model of precision lethality.” It deliberately embraces mass losses because “even the most advanced defenses can be overwhelmed with sufficient volume” and “cost asymmetry” places tremendous burden on the enemy. In this case, “cost asymmetry is worsened by severe production and supply-chain constraints.” The U.S. has burned through 50% of its THAAD interceptors, with the next delivery of THAAD interceptors not expected until April 2027.
Tags: Cheap, Conflict, Cost asymmetry, Economics, Iran, Mass losses, Mass-produced, Military procurement, Precision lethality, Production, Rethinking, Supply-chain constraints, THAAD interceptors, Transformation, U.S., Volume, Warfare, Weapons
The Week (December 24)
“The economic slump has affected several iconic American brands.” Brown-Forman, the company that owns Jack Daniel’s, Old Forester and Woodford Reserve is “laying off about 650 employees, or 12% of its workforce, in the face of declining demand.” Other brands have fallen into receivership. “But Jim Beam has taken perhaps the most extreme move by announcing it would halt production at the plant’s main distillery in Clermont, Kentucky, for an entire year.”
Tags: Brands, Brown-Forman, Declining demand, Distillery, Economic slump, Employees, Halt, Iconic, Jack Daniel’s, Production, Receivership, U.S., Workforce
BBC (October 11)
“Asahi, the maker of Japan’s best-selling beer, was forced to halt production at most of its 30 factories in the country at the end of last month after being hit by a cyber-attack.” The brewer’s facilities in Japan have partially reopened although “its computer systems are still down.” The attack marked “the latest in a series of cyber-attacks… that have hit major firms around the world.” Recent Japanese victims include a container terminal in Nagoya and Japan Airlines. The nation may be particularly vulnerable. “While Japan’s image around the world may be of a technologically advanced nation, some experts have warned it does not have enough cybersecurity professionals and has low rates of digital literacy when it comes to business software.”
Tags: 30 factories, Asahi, Beer, Computer systems, Container terminal, Cyber-attack, Digital literacy, JAL, Japan, Nagoya, Production, Professionals, Reopened, Software, Vulnerable
Bloomberg (October 2)
“The European Union plans to hike tariffs on steel imports to 50% and cut by nearly a half the volume of steel that’s allowed in before that higher rate is imposed.” In recent years, “European steel imports have risen as production has fallen.” This move is designed to “align the bloc’s rate with the US, which has sought to push back against overcapacity from China.”
Tags: Align, EU, Imports, Overcapacity, Production, Steel, Tariffs, U.S.
Reuters (September 4)
“China’s automotive industry must seem like an unstoppable force to outsiders.” Nevertheless, “scores of their carmakers are heading for a crash.” They remain challenged by “a vicious price war that has lasted more than two years,” with Chinese policymakers expect an “involution” or “frantic, self-destructive struggle.” Government officials are struggling to bring the price war to an end, but their measures have not addressed overcapacity. Sales of passenger vehicles stood at 27.6 million in 2024, while “production capacity hit 55.6 million units, more than 50% higher than a decade ago.”
Tags: Automotive industry, Carmakers, China, Frantic, Government, Involution, Officials, Overcapacity, Passenger vehicles, Policymakers, Price war, Production, Self-destructive, Struggle
Investment Week (July 11)
The UK was the “fastest growing G7 economy in Q1 2025, but this memory now seems distant. “Industry professionals have reacted with disappointment to the latest monthly UK GDP figures for May, which showed the economy contracted by 0.1%,” following on top of April’s 0.3% decline. Production output tumbled, “falling by 0.9% after an unchanged fall of 0.6% in April, while the construction sector dipped by 0.6% in May from a 0.8% growth the month before.”
Tags: April, Construction, Contracted, Decline, Disappointment, Fastest-growing, G7 economy, GDP, May, Output, Production, Q1 2025, Tumbled, UK
Wall Street Journal (June 3)
“As exports of rare-earth magnets have virtually ground to a halt, carmakers face hard decisions about whether they can continue to keep some plants operating.” Major U.S. automakers are considering work arounds like “producing electric motors in Chinese factories or shipping made-in-America motors to China to have magnets installed.” If they do “end up shifting some production to China, it would amount to a remarkable outcome from a trade war initiated by President Trump with the intention of bringing manufacturing back to the U.S.”
Tags: Automakers, Carmakers, China, Decisions, Electric motors, Exports, Factories, Halt, Manufacturing, Plants, Production, Rare-earth magnets, Trade war, Trump, U.S.
Washington Post (May 14)
Plastic production is estimated to create roughly 5% “of all greenhouse gas emissions… more than all shipping or the entire airline industry.” But that estimate only “accounts for gases released when companies drill for oil and gas, transport it to refineries, turn it into plastic and mold it into products.” It ignores factors such as “how microplastics in the ocean and soil disrupt the natural cycles that pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and cool the planet.” Though “scientists have long known that making plastic warms the planet,” plastic may ultimately “be heating the Earth even more than we realized.”
Tags: 5%, Airline industry, Atmosphere, CO2, Disrupt, Drill, Gas, GHG emissions, Microplastics, Mold, Natural cycles, Ocean, Oil, Plastic, Production, Products, Refineries, Scientists, Shipping, Soil, Transport
Bloomberg (April 5)
“The plunge in oil prices over the past two days following the twin shocks of President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the surprise boost in production from OPEC+ has altered the global energy landscape with stunning speed.” The market is frantically “tossing aside expectations for 2025” as Brent crude “tumbled 13% through Thursday and Friday to just over $66 a barrel, casting new doubts on Trump’s quest to aggressively boost US fossil fuel output and achieve ‘energy dominance.’”
Tags: $66, 2025, Altered, Brent, Doubts, Energy landscape, Expectations, Fossil fuel, Market, Oil prices, OPEC, Output, Plunge, Production, Stunning, Surprise, Trump’s tariffs, Tumbled, Twin shocks, U.S.
