- EU fines Apple and Meta €700m in first Digital Markets Act rulings
Apr 23, 2025
The European Union slapped fines worth hundreds of millions of euros on technology firms Apple (AAPL) and Meta (META) on Tuesday, as the first antitrust sanctions from a landmark new law aimed at curbing the power of Big Tech take hold. The fines come under the Digital Markets Act.
Iphone maker Apple was fined €500m ($570m), while Meta incurred a €200m fine.
“Apple and Meta have fallen short,” EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said. “All companies operating in the EU must follow our laws and respect European values.”
The EU's case around Apple revolves around its App Store preventing developers from linking to sites outside of the company's marketplace.
Meanwhile, Meta's Instagram faces the fine for its model of advert-free services on the image-sharing platform.
Read more: Trending tickers: The latest investor updates on Tesla, Intel, Robinhood, Fresnillo and Reckitt Benckiser
These are the first penalties under the Digital Markets Act and are much smaller than other punishments levied under incumbent EU competition laws. The fines come as a drop in the ocean against both company's yearly revenues.
Meta hit back at the fine, saying the EU “is attempting to handicap successful American businesses while allowing Chinese and European companies to operate under different standards.”
Apple accused the bloc of discriminating against the company, adding that it would appeal the fine in EU courts.
Apple was previously fined €1.8bn, as the bloc accused the company of pushing out music streaming rivals on the iPhone.
Both Apple and Meta were trading higher in premarket following the ruling.
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- Apple, Meta Platforms Fined Hundreds of Millions of Euros by EU for Failing to Comply With Regulations
Apr 23, 2025
Apple (AAPL) and Meta Platforms (META) have been ordered to pay fines for violating the Digital Mark
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- The European Union fines Apple 500 million euros and Meta 200 million in separate digital cases
Apr 23, 2025
LONDON (AP) — European Union watchdogs fined Apple and Meta hundreds of millions of euros Wednesday as they stepped up enforcement of the 27-nation bloc’s digital competition rules.
The European Commission imposed a 500 million euro ($571 million) fine on Apple for preventing app makers from pointing users to cheaper options outside its App Store.
The commission, which is the EU’s executive arm, also fined Meta Platforms 200 million euros because it forced Facebook and Instagram users to choose between seeing ads or paying to avoid them.
The punishments were smaller than the blockbuster multibillion-euro fines that the commission has previously slapped on Big Tech companies in antitrustcases.
The decisions were expected to come in March, but officials apparently held off amid an escalating trans-Atlantic trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly complained about regulations from Brussels affecting American companies.
The penalties were issued under the EU’s Digital Markets Act, also known as the DMA. It’s a sweeping rulebook that amounts to a set of do’s and don’ts designed to give consumers and businesses more choice and prevent Big Tech “gatekeepers” from cornering digital markets.
The DMA seeks to ensure “that citizens have full control over when and how their data is used online, and businesses can freely communicate with their own customers,” Henna Virkkunen, the commission’s executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, said in a statement.
“The decisions adopted today find that both Apple and Meta have taken away this free choice from their users and are required to change their behavior,” Virkkunen said.
Apple accused the commission of “unfairly targeting” the iPhone maker, saying it has “spent hundreds of thousands of engineering hours and made dozens of changes to comply with this law.”
Meta Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan said in a statement said the “Commission is attempting to handicap successful American businesses while allowing Chinese and European companies to operate under different standards.”
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- Apple, Meta Fined by EU, Ordered to Comply With Tech Competition Rules
Apr 23, 2025
The move risks ratcheting up tensions with the Trump administration as EU officials pursue trade talks.
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- Qualcomm: Undervalued Leader in AI, IoT, and Automotive
Apr 23, 2025
Qualcomm's Q1 results for fiscal 2025 were actually pretty solidit beat estimatesbut the stock still dropped after hours. I think a lot of that had to do with its lowered guidance and Apple's recent announcement, which could really shake things up for Qualcomm's business going forward. On top of that, the whole market's been all over the place lately thanks to Trump-related volatility, so Qualcomm hasn't been spared. Since the start of the year, shares are down around 11.6%, while the broader NASDAQ has fallen even moreabout 15.5%. Most of that pain, in my view, came from the DeepSeek sell-off, the AI bubble popping back in mid-February 2025, and the whole tariff war heating up again.
Warning! GuruFocus has detected 5 Warning Signs with QCOM.Qualcomm: Undervalued Leader in AI, IoT, and Automotive
QCOM Data by GuruFocus
Now even though the stock's been pretty shaky, I'm still bullish. Qualcomm plays a key role in the wireless world, making chips, software, and services tied to wireless tech. Its importance grew big time when mobile phones were just taking off in the U.S., and now that market is more mature, I think the next big thing is IoT. That space looks like a strong fit for what Qualcomm already does well, and should open up a whole new growth path. What really stands out to me is how Qualcomm has been working to shift away from just handsets and move into other areas like automotive and IoT. Over the long runsay three years or moreI think this push to diversify will pay off and help it outperform the market. Right now, I see Qualcomm trading at what looks like a pretty attractive valuation, with a good bit of upside potential. Plus, it's got a decent dividend that keeps growing, which is a nice bonus while waiting for the stock to re-rate.
Diversifying Beyond Smartphones
Although Qualcomm still earns most of its revenue from the smartphone market, I'm encouraged to see the company shift its focus toward AI-inferencing chips for edge computing, IoT, and automotive use casesareas that are growing quickly. Year-on-year, Qualcomm has cut handset revenue as a share of total sales from about 80% down to 75%, and I expect this trend to continue. This diversification should comfort investors since the main headwinds right now are threats to handset revenues. Qualcomm's view that the best place to do AI inferencing is on-device rather than in some distant cloud makes sense to me. Devices aren't always online, on-device inferencing preserves privacy, and it's more secure than sending data back and forth to the cloud.
Edge Computing: The Next Frontier
Edge computing brings storage and processing power closer to end users and devices, which matters for applications that need real-time responses. Qualcomm is already rolling out its QCT Industrial IoT product line for edge cases. On March 3rd, the company unveiled its latest X85 modem, integrating a new 5G AI processor. CEO Cristiano Amon believes the X85 could outpace Apple's in-house modem when it comes to high-performance connectivity for hybrid and agentic AI tasks. Qualcomm pegs the total edge-computing TAM at $900 billion by 2030an estimate I find realistic given forecasts from STL Partners (48% CAGR through 2030) and Grand View Research (36.9% CAGR through 2030). Recent results back this up: QCT IoT revenue jumped 36% YoY to $1.55 billion, and I'm confident they can sustain those growth rates given the market dynamics.
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Automotive Growth Engine
Another major growth driver for Qualcomm is its push into the automotive sector, where AI is also booming. Global Market Insights projects the automotive AI market will grow at a 42% CAGR from $4.8 billion in 2024 to $186.4 billion by 2034plenty of room for Qualcomm to expand. QCT automotive revenue, though under $3.3 billion on a TTM basis, rose 61% YoY to $961 million. Importantly, Qualcomm has landed and expanded in infotainment and autonomy, securing a nearly $50 billion pipeline with major automakers. Their auto-stack is set to commercialize next year, which should translate into substantial revenue. Management targets the Auto segment to grow from $3 billion to $8 billion annually by FY '29, and they see the combined QCT IoT plus Auto segments reaching $22 billion by FY '29over half of FY '24 revenues. CEO Amon believes generative AI use cases could push this even higher.
Apple Modem Loss: A Manageable Headwind
Bloomberg reports that Apple will begin phasing out Qualcomm's modem chips this year with the iPhone SE and fully switch to its own modems by 2027. Any meaningful hit to Qualcomm's top line likely won't show up until late FY 2025 or early FY 2026. I view this as a medium-term headwind rather than a death blow, since Qualcomm has had two years to prepare and has proactively diversified. Moreover, the global smartphone market is still expected to grow at a 7.2% CAGR from $527.5 billion in 2024 to $1.14 trillion by 2034, which should offset some loss of Apple revenue. Qualcomm's guidance has already excluded future Apple modem revenues outside existing agreements, and frankly, I expect this shift to look like an opportunity in hindsight.Qualcomm: Undervalued Leader in AI, IoT, and Automotive
[Author's workings]
Growth Outlook and Revenue Expectations
When I look at the big picture, I think Qualcomm's top line has solid upside in the near term. I expect total revenue to grow around 15% in FY25, which I feel is quite realistic, especially when you consider the company has already grown revenue at a 13.72% CAGR over the past five yearsup from $23.53B in 2020 to $38.96B in 2024. From FY26 onward though, I expect the pace to slow down a bit. The new X85 modem and demand from AI inference should help, but the loss of Apple's modem business will act as a drag on overall growth. Still, I think Qualcomm can more than make up for Apple's pullout over time through its edge computing, IoT, and automotive divisions. With the autonomous autostack expected to go commercial by FY26, I believe these areas will become key growth engines. Qualcomm expects its Auto revenue to hit $8B by FY29, and IoT to reach $14B in that same year. Even assuming Apple disappears as a customer, I think the company can still manage about 2.5% annual revenue growth over the next five years. So yeah, growth may cool off a bit after FY25, but I'm optimistic that Qualcomm can keep things moving in the right direction.
Margins Remain Solid
Margins-wise, I think Qualcomm is running a tight ship. They're already operating at strong profitability levels, so I don't see huge room for improvement, but I also don't see any major downside. Right now, they're pulling in a 55.99% gross profit margin based on $22.79B in gross profit, which is up 4.04% YoY. They also generate around $0.31 in EBITDA for every dollar in revenue, which means $12.59B in EBITDA with a 30.92% margin. That's impressive, and it's backed up by the QTL segment, which has been showing stronger pricing power and better operating leverage lately. Looking ahead, I think there's potential for a little margin lift in the near termmaybe over the next year or twoas Apple's lower-margin modem business gets replaced by higher-margin segments like Auto and IoT. In the longer term (say, 68 years), I could see a more noticeable improvement. But overall, even if margins don't move much, they're already at pretty strong levels, and that helps reinforce my confidence in the business.
Trump Trade War Risks
In Qualcomm's case, the main risk from Trump's tariffs comes indirectly through its heavy exposure to Asia. About 62.5% of QCOM's revenue comes from China, and 75% from Asia overall, because most of its sales still come from handsets made by companies like Xiaomi, Huawei, Motorola, and Samsung. While the tariffs don't hit Qualcomm directly, they could hurt the manufacturers it supplies, who then sell phones worldwide. As Qualcomm's automotive business grows, it's worth noting that China accounts for over a third of global auto production, so Qualcomm's car revenues could also feel the pinch. Right now, I take some comfort in the fact that there's no immediate direct impact, and I tend to see these tariff threats more as political negotiation tactics than long-term economic policyeven if you might disagree politically.
Relative Valuation
Apple's decision to build its own modem, worries about an AI indigestion phase, and trade-war jitters have pushed QCOM's share price down, making it look cheap today. Its 3-year forward P/E sits at just 11.2x, compared to an average of about 17.5x for peers like Texas Instruments, Broadcom, and Analog Devices. I see that cheap valuation reflecting Apple's lost business and near-term revenue volatility. But over the long haul, I expect handset revenue from other playersespecially Samsungplus growing automotive and IoT sales will smooth out swings and drive multiples higher. If Qualcomm's forward P/E re-rates to around 14x (still conservative versus peers), we'd be looking at a target near $170about 25% upside from here.Qualcomm: Undervalued Leader in AI, IoT, and Automotive
[Author's Workings]
DCF Analysis
Even a conservative DCF supports upside. I assumed EPS grows at a 6% CAGR over the next five years (a mix of revenue gains and share buybacks), then 3% in perpetuity, with revenues rising from $43 billion in Year 1 to $54 billion in Year 5. I also modeled a modest margin expansion from 33% to 35% and used a 10% discount rate. Under these assumptions, the DCF yields a target of $167about a 19% gainreinforcing my thesis that Qualcomm offers an attractive risk/reward at today's prices.
Final Thoughts
In my view, Qualcomm remains a Buyits stock is still undervalued, and mid-single-digit growth seems quite realistic even with Apple exiting. We're seeing AI move from giant data?center training on broad LLMs to specialized SLMs and edge inference on phones, cars, robots, and moreand Qualcomm is perfectly positioned for that shift. I'm braced for a longer-term bear market driven by tariffs and recession fears, but I fully expect Qualcomm to be trading higher in 1015 years. Given the pullbacks we'll see along the way, I think now is a smart time to dollar?cost average into a position. When you consider how well Qualcomm fits into the coming Exponential Age, it's clear to me the shares are a Strong Buy.
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
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- Tech Earnings Arrive With Lots of Uncertainty. Here Are the 3 Most Important Things to Watch.
Apr 23, 2025
Many of tech’s biggest companies—from Alphabet and Meta Platforms to Amazon and Apple—will report their quarterly results in the coming days.
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- Sector Update: Tech Stocks Higher in Late Afternoon Trading
Apr 22, 2025
Tech stocks were rising late Tuesday afternoon, with the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) ad
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- Apple Rebuilds Siri Team With Vision Pro Veterans After Project Setbacks
Apr 22, 2025
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is overhauling the team behind Siri, with new engineering head Mike Rockwell bringing in fresh leadership from the Vision Pro group, Bloomberg reported.
Rockwell, who took over Siri's engineering in a recent executive shuffle, is replacing several key leaders and reorganizing teams that focus on speech, system performance, and user experience. The goal is to revive Siri's capabilities, which have lagged behind rivals like Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Assistant and OpenAI's ChatGPT.
Among the incoming talent is Ranjit Desai, a veteran of the Vision Pro effort, now tasked with leading major parts of Siri's engineering, including its platform and systems teams. Olivier Gutknecht, another Vision Pro executive, will oversee Siri's user experience. Nate Begeman and Tom Duffy, both long-serving Apple engineers, are also joining to strengthen Siri's foundational architecture.
Stuart Bowers, who previously managed data and model training, is expanding his role, while longtime Siri leader David Winarsky will lead a new voice and speech group.
Rockwell still leads the visionOS platform and reports to Apple's hardware chief John Ternus. The restructuring follows recent setbacks in Siri's development and marks a shift in strategy as Apple aims to catch up in the voice assistant space.
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
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- NewsOut Launches Weekly Video Press Release Coverage on Tesla, Amazon, Apple, NVIDIA, and Microsoft
Apr 22, 2025
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK / ACCESS Newswire / April 22, 2025 / NewsOut, the next-generation video-first public relations platform, announced today that it will begin weekly coverage of five of the most influential companies in the global economy: Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). Each company will be featured through curated, anchor-led video news segments distributed across the New to The Street digital broadcast network, including YouTube, LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and Facebook.
The initiative reflects NewsOut's mission to modernize corporate storytelling by combining professional-grade video journalism with guaranteed reach to investors, business leaders, and consumers alike. Leveraging its recent 10-year broadcast and distribution agreement with New to The Street-one of the longest-running financial media brands on Bloomberg and Fox Business-NewsOut ensures these segments are not only seen, but trusted.
"We are thrilled to elevate the conversation around today's most transformative companies," said Shota Bagaturia, CEO of NewsOut. "Tesla, Amazon, Apple, NVIDIA, and Microsoft are shaping the future of innovation, and our goal is to make their key milestones, product developments, and earnings news more engaging and accessible through premium, short-form video content."
Each NewsOut segment will be produced by veteran financial reporters and released weekly, timed around relevant market activity, product launches, earnings reports, or major announcements. Segments will include:
Professionally narrated video summaries On-screen data visualization and graphics Embedded QR codes for investor resources Cross-platform distribution and amplification across New to The Street's 2.4 million+ YouTube subscriber base and social media following exceeding 500,000
By integrating financial intelligence with newsroom-quality storytelling, NewsOut continues to redefine how top-tier companies engage with modern audiences in the attention economy.
About NewsOut
NewsOut is the world's first dedicated video press release platform, transforming traditional PR into visual storytelling built for today's fast-paced, content-driven digital world. Each NewsOut release is produced by experienced media professionals and distributed across premium channels, including broadcast partnerships, social media, and targeted investor platforms. For more information, visit www.youtube.com/@NewtotheStreetTV
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About New to The Street
For over 16 years, New to The Street has been a leader in business media, producing long-form CEO interviews, in-depth company spotlights, and sponsored programming aired weekly on Fox Business and Bloomberg Television. With a digital presence that includes one of the fastest-growing YouTube channels in financial media (2.4M+ subscribers), the platform is trusted by investors, innovators, and entrepreneurs worldwide. Learn more at www.NewToTheStreet.com.
Media Contact:
Monica Brennan
Director of Media Relations, NewsOut
Monica@NewtoTheStreet.com
SOURCE: New To The Street
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
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- Trade deals are key to halting US tech decline, Wedbush’s Ives says
Apr 22, 2025
Investing.com -- Wedbush tech analyst Dan Ives highlighted the urgent need for trade deals to address the challenges facing the US technology sector amid ongoing tariff disputes. The analysts pointed out the significant uncertainty and potential damage to the US and global economies, particularly the US tech industry, which has been thrust into the eye of the storm.
The imposition of tariffs and the subsequent ban on Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA)’s H20 chip in China have led to a blockade from the Chinese market, with Chinese tech giant Huawei set to release its 910C AI GPU chip for mass shipments by early May. This move is seen as a direct consequence of the trade war, which is perceived to be undercutting US tech companies while propelling Chinese tech firms forward.
The tech industry is facing a whirlwind of challenges as the supply chain is disrupted, raising questions about product releases from major companies like Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), as well as the impact on AI deployments and capital expenditure plans in the US, Ives highlighted. The lack of clarity and guidance is expected to lead to a cautious earnings season, as companies are unable to plan effectively without knowing the "rules of the game."
"Does Apple still release its iPhone 17 this September?," Ives asks. "How will Tesla unveil its lower cost vehicle? What will this unprecedented uncertainty do for AI deployments and overall Cap-Ex plans in the US? Many questions..no answers for now."
Wedbush emphasizes the critical nature of progress in trade negotiations, particularly with China, warning that a prolonged period without deals could lead to a loss of confidence in the market and corporations, potentially triggering a pullback in purchases, budgets, hiring, and raising fears of recession or stagflation.
The analysts underscored the importance of the US maintaining its lead in AI and what he calls the fourth Industrial Revolution.
"For the first time in 30 years the US is ahead of China when it comes to AI and this 4th Industrial Revolution...being led by Nvidia, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Palantir (NASDAQ:PLTR), Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), Tesla among others," Ives commented. "However, this self-inflicted tariff and trade war has created an upside down supply chain that is holding US tech stalwarts like Nvidia and Apple back..while handing a growth opportunity on a silver platter to Chinese tech players like Huawei."
The call to action is clear: trade agreements must be reached to prevent further setbacks for US tech leadership.
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