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| As Congress set to pass $483 billion relief biill |
4/23/2020 |
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Most of the funding, $331 billion, would go to boost a small-business payroll loan program that ran out of money last week. There would be $100 billion for health care, with $75 billion to hospitals and $25 billion to boost testing for the virus, a key step in building the confidence required to reopen state economies. There is $60 billion for a small-business loans and grants.
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| Virgin Orbit set to launche satellites from airlines |
4/23/2020 |
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Virgin sees these the ability to launch satellites from the air, via a reusable 747 from Branson’s Virgin Atlantic fleet, as easier, less expensive, and more resilient to weather conditions than ground-based launches.
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| furlough to furlough 17,000 current employees. |
4/22/2020 |
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The furloughs began on Monday and are expected to continue through June 21 of this year. During that time, furloughed employees will not receive salaries, but will continue to receive health care benefits. Coca-Cola Consolidated said the company will pay 100 percent of premiums applicable to impacted employees
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| Georgia would allow some small business to reoen on Friday |
4/22/2020 |
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Georgia's timetable, one of the most aggressive in the nation, would allow gyms, hair salons, bowling alleys and tattoo parlors to reopen as long as owners follow strict social-distancing and hygiene requirements. Elective medical procedures would also resume. By Monday, movie theaters may resume selling tickets, and restaurants limited to takeout orders could return to limited dine-in service.
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| A French court orders Amazon to suspend non-essential sales to protect employees |
4/16/2020 |
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The ruling requires Amazon to evaluate health risks at all its facilities around France and negotiate new safety measures with worker representatives. Amazon must suspend its non-essential trade within 24 hours or face 1 million euros ($1.1 million) in fines per day. Sales of food, medicine and hygiene supplies are still allowed.
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| Imagination CEO resignation to signify China control of foreign HiTech company |
4/15/2020 |
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This is surprising given the events of last week, when British government intervention put the brakes on an emergency board meeting at which four new directors representing China Reform Holdings, the owners of Imagination Technologies, were to be appointed [China Reform is the limited partner of Canyon Bridge, who bought out Imagination in 2017].
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| Amazon to return shipping “non-essential” items this week |
4/15/2020 |
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Amazon spokesperson saying the company will begin to accept more products in its warehouses this week that are outside of the e-commerce giant’s definition of “essentials”. In March, Amazon told its seller members that it was temporarily prioritizing stocking and shipping medical supplies, household products and other essential categories to meet demand for them amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
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| IMF predicts global economy to shrink 3% |
4/15/2020 |
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The IMF said Tuesday that it expects the global economy to shrink 3% this year — far worse than its 0.1% dip in the Great Recession year of 2009 — before rebounding in 2021 with 5.8% growth. It acknowledges, though, that prospects for a rebound next year are clouded by uncertainty.
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| Government placed ventilator contract up to $1.4 billion |
4/15/2020 |
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>In total, combined with contracts with General Motors and Philips rated under the DPA earlier this week, HHS has finalized contracts to supply 6,190 ventilators for the Strategic National Stockpile by May 8 and 29,510 by June 1. The seven new ventilator contracts announced by HHS this month will provide a total of 137,431 ventilators by the end of 2020.
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| JEDEC is close to publish DDR5 memory standard |
4/14/2020 |
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Suddenly, 3200 Mhz memory isn't enough. And with data sets for AI and machine learning grower ever larger, memory was becoming a real bottleneck. DDR5 will address that. DDR5 will start at 3200 MHz and scale all the way up to 8400 MHz as time goes on.
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| Taiwan-based IC design houses are caution about their sales in the third quarter, |
4/13/2020 |
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Most Taiwan-based IC design houses have posted impressive revenue results for March, and are expected to see the momentum carry on through the first half of the second quarter, said the sources. However, the visibility of customer orders remains weak for the second half of the second quarter, which may drag down the fabless chipmakers' revenues during the period, the sources indicated.
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| U.S. unemployment rate in April could hit 15% |
4/13/2020 |
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A staggering 16.8 million Americans have been thrown onto the unemployment rolls in just three weeks, underscoring the terrifying speed with which the coronavirus outbreak has brought world economies to their knees.
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| Global pack to atabilize oil prices to take shape |
4/13/2020 |
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More countries, including the United States, were discussing Friday their own cuts in what would be an unprecedented global pact to stabilize the market. The agreement between OPEC and partner countries aims to cut 10 million barrels per day until July, then 8 million barrels per day through the end of the year, and 6 million a day for 16 months beginning in 2021.
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| Automobile showroom traffic quickly returned in Wuhan, China |
4/13/2020 |
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And as some auto showrooms ramped back up in mid March, what many guessed would be a tepid return is turning out to be much more pronounced. According to Automotive News, after sales near zero in February, some Wuhan dealerships say their daily sales are already back up to pre-pandemic levels.
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| Bridgestone Americas to resume production on April 13 |
4/10/2020 |
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Bridgestone Bandag's retread rubber manufacturing plants in North America resumed operations the week of March 29, due to demand by essential service providers. Firestone Industrial Products and Firestone Building Products manufacturing facilities on April 13.
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| European Airbus cut production by one third |
4/10/2020 |
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The company said it delivered 122 planes in the first quarter, but 60 remain undelivered. It delivered only 36 in March, down from 55 in February, as airlines asked to suspend orders while facing huge costs related to a near-total shutdown of air travel.
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