Welcome to this week’s edition of top stock market highlights.
Singapore Airlines (SGX: C6L) and Salesforce (NYSE: CRM)
Singapore Airlines, or SIA, plans to deliver more personalised service by incorporating Salesforce’s solutions within its customer case management system.
Salesforce will deploy Agentforce, its artificial intelligence (AI) system that uses autonomous agents to perform specific tasks.
These AI agents help to support SIA’s customer service representatives by freeing up their time so that they can provide enhanced and personalised attention in each customer interaction.
Salesforce’s Einstein’s generative AI solution can help to summarise customers’ past interactions to deliver better insights and help these representatives to anticipate needs and personalise solutions, thereby enhancing service efficiency.
SIA will also work with Salesforce to co-develop AI solutions for airlines at Salesforce’s AI Research Hub in Singapore.
Meanwhile, Salesforce has also communicated its intention to invest US$1 billion in Singapore over the next five years.
This move will help accelerate Singapore’s digital transformation and spur higher Agentforce adoption rates.
It will also help the nation to quickly expand its labour force in service and public sector roles.
In line with this strategic goal, Salesforce will collaborate with institutes of higher learning such as Singapore Management University (SMU), Institute of Technical Education (ITE), and Singapore Polytechnic to equip students with AI and customer relationship management (CRM) skills.
This investment will go a long way in boosting Singapore’s aspirations to become a vibrant hub for AI innovation and adoption.
Salesforce has invested in Singapore for nearly two decades and counts prominent companies such as Grab (NASDAQ: GRAB), M1, and Fairprice Group as its customers.
Trump’s tariffs
Trump is at it again with his tariff war.
This time, the President of the USA intends to impose sweeping 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imported into the country.
The intention is to level the playing field for US manufacturing but this move may end up pushing prices up for a broad range of consumer and industrial goods.
These tariffs are also the first to include all countries and sparked an immediate backlash from Canada and Europe.
The European Union (EU) hit back with countermeasures on US goods exports while Canada announced over US$20 billion in retaliatory measures.
Trump’s first term also saw him imposing such tariffs.
However, back then, US production expanded only modestly while costs were sent soaring for car, tool, and machine manufacturers.
Collectively, tariffs shrank these industries’ output by more than US$3 billion in 2021.
Meanwhile, Trump’s tariffs could also result in job losses as US-based aluminium companies may be forced to lay off workers.
Trump has yet to decide how the US will respond to the retaliatory measures announced by both Canada and the EU.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC)
Intel named Mr Tan Lip-Bu as its next CEO, causing its shares to surge more than 10%.
Mr Tan, 65, will assume the top role on 18 March and will also rejoin the board after stepping down in August last year.
He was the former head of Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ: CDNS) and is a Malaysian who grew up in Singapore.
He attended Nanyang University, studying physics, and later went on to graduate from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a masters in nuclear engineering.
Following that, he attained an MBA from the University of San Francisco.
Mr Tan is confident that he can turn Intel around and restore the chipmaker’s fortunes.
The company had dominated the semiconductor space for decades but in recent years has found itself suffering from a loss in market share as the business was hit by manufacturing setbacks.
Intel also saw its earnings plunge sharply, has a debt-heavy balance sheet, and had to slash 15,000 jobs recently.
Mr Tan admitted that turning the business around will not be easy but has signalled that he will continue to turn Intel into a chip foundry.
A chip foundry manufactures products for outside clients, but this endeavour is still in its early stages.
Before his appointment, Intel was approached by suitors such as Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) and Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO) who were mulling whether to acquire all or part of the company.
Mr Tan has his work cut out for him but his track record at Cadence speaks for itself.
During his time as CEO, Cadence more than doubled its revenue, improved its operating margins, and saw its share price soar more than 32 times.
Attention Growth Investors: Our latest report, “The Rise of Titans,” gives you a front-row seat on the 7 most influential US stocks today. If you’re passionate about tech and growth, you can’t go wrong with our research. Downloading this FREE report could be the most strategic move you make this year. Click here to get started now.
Follow us on Facebook and Telegram for the latest investing news and analyses!
Disclosure: Royston Yang does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned.
