What's on the News?

• On Thursday, NVIDIA Corporation(NVDA.US) led the trading volume, closing up 0.86% with a trading volume of US$29.122 billion. NVIDIA announced on March 18 that it is establishing a research center in Boston to provide cutting-edge technology to advance quantum computing.
  The NVIDIA Accelerated Quantum Research Center (NVAQC) will integrate leading quantum hardware with AI supercomputers to accelerate quantum supercomputing. The NVAQC aims to address the most challenging problems in quantum computing, from qubit noise to transforming experimental quantum processors into practical devices. Leading quantum computing companies such as Quantinuum, Quantum Machines, and QuEra Computing will collaborate with NVAQC, working closely with researchers from top academic institutions like the Harvard Quantum Initiative (HQI) and MIT’s Engineering Quantum Systems group (EQuS) to advance quantum technology.
• Tesla Motors, Inc.(TSLA.US) ranked second, closing up 0.17% at US$236.26. Tesla announced a recall of nearly all futuristic-designed Cybertruck electric pickups due to the potential detachment of external stainless steel trim during driving, posing a safety hazard. This marks the eighth recall for the model since its launch.
  The recall involves approximately 46,000 vehicles produced between November 13, 2023 (the date of the first Cybertruck production vehicle) and February 27 of this year. According to Tesla's report to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Tuesday, only about 1% of the batch is defective, but the company decided on a comprehensive recall as a precaution.
  The report indicated that as of March 14, Tesla had identified 151 warranty claims potentially related to the trim issue, but emphasized that there were no known collisions or injuries associated with the condition.
• Additionally, Dan Ives, a well-known tech analyst at Wedbush Securities, warned that Tesla is in crisis and that Elon Musk must adjust his strategy. Ives stressed that Musk needs to refocus on Tesla's core business, stating, "Musk urgently needs to change the current course… Tesla's future hangs in the balance," and pointed out that the company is experiencing a "major crisis" that only the founder can resolve.
• Meta Platforms(META.US) ranked third, closing up 0.33%. Meta Platforms announced that starting this week, its Meta AI chatbot will be available in 41 European countries and 21 overseas regions on WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger, though currently limited to text-based chat functionality.
• Apple Inc.(AAPL.US) ranked fourth, closing down 0.53% at US$214.1. Sources revealed that Apple is undergoing a rare executive reshuffle to get its troubled AI business back on track.
  CEO Tim Cook has lost confidence in AI head John Giannandrea's product development capabilities, assigning another executive, Mike Rockwell, the creator of Vision Pro, to take charge. Rockwell will oversee the Siri voice assistant, reporting to software chief Craig Federighi, and Siri will be entirely removed from Giannandrea’s jurisdiction. Apple is expected to announce the personnel changes this week.
  This move highlights Apple's predicament as its AI technology significantly lags behind industry competitors, with little sign of catching up.
• Amazon.com, Inc.(AMZN.US) ranked sixth, closing down 0.30% at US$194.95. Amazon announced that it has begun selling carbon credits to its suppliers, business customers, and other companies to offset carbon emissions. 
  This comes amid intense debate among companies, project developers, and scientists about the extent to which carbon credits should be used to help companies reduce emissions and how to ensure the quality of the credits. 
  The company stated that several companies, including Flickr, real estate consultancy Seneca, and consumer electronics firm Corsair, have already participated in the program.
  Additionally, India’s product certification agency announced on Thursday that inspections of Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart warehouses revealed violations of Indian quality control rules, as both companies' inventory lacked the required standard certificates.
• Broadcom Limited(AVGO.US) ranked eighth, closing down 2.28%. Reports indicated that due to a surge in Broadcom’s HBM orders, SK Hynix plans to introduce equipment at its new M15X plant two months ahead of schedule. The equipment delivery was originally set for December but has been moved up to October.
• Alphabet Inc. Class A(GOOGL.US) ranked tenth, closing down 0.67%. Google’s parent company Alphabet raised its offer to US$32 billion to acquire cloud security startup Wiz. Following the announcement, Goldman Sachs and UBS released reports evaluating the deal.
  Goldman Sachs reiterated its “buy” rating for Alphabet with a target price of US$220. UBS maintained a “neutral” rating with a target price of US$209. Both target prices are above Google’s previous all-time high of US$206.
• PINDUODUO INC.(PDD.US) ranked twelfth, closing up 3.97% at US$130.92. Pinduoduo reported strong fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 results, with Q4 total revenue of CNY110.61 billion, up 24% year-over-year, and non-GAAP net income attributable to Pinduoduo shareholders of CNY29.85 billion, up 17%. For the full year 2024, total revenue was CNY393.836 billion, up 59%, and non-GAAP net income attributable to Pinduoduo shareholders was CNY122.3436 billion, up 80%.
  Pinduoduo Chairman and Co-CEO Lei Chen stated that in 2025, the company will focus on high-quality development strategies, leveraging its digital platform to expand the scale of "new quality supply" and promote the advancement of industrial belts to new quality stages, striving to build a win-win ecosystem for users, merchants, and the platform.
  
• Accenture Plc(ACN.US) ranked fifteenth, closing down 7.26%. Accenture reported second-quarter results, with revenue up 5% year-over-year to US$16.7 billion, slightly above expectations. GAAP EPS rose 7% to US$2.82, slightly above the expected US$2.81.
  Looking ahead, Accenture expects third-quarter revenue to be between US$16.9 billion and US$17.5 billion, with a midpoint of US$17.2 billion, which is in line with market expectations.
  Accenture also warned that Elon Musk's US government spending cuts have begun to impact its revenue. CEO Julie Sweet stated that the new government aims to improve federal government efficiency. In the process, many new procurement actions have slowed, negatively impacting the company's sales and revenue.
• Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Sponsored ADR(BABA.US) ranked sixteenth, closing down 4.39%. Kai-Fu Lee, founder and CEO of Sinovation Ventures, recently stated that the industry revolution sparked by DeepSeek has completely disrupted the AI industry development model, and the Chinese market may ultimately have only three major AI model companies: DeepSeek, Alibaba, and ByteDance, with DeepSeek currently leading the way.
• AppLovin Corporation(APP.US) ranked twentieth, closing up 3.27%.