iPhone production disruption
“It gets worse at the end of the year”
MS, on the spread of COVID-19
Cloud business resilience
Shares soared 45% this year
Apple has handed over the throne to Microsoft as the world’s most valuable company by market capitalization. The shortage of parts such as semiconductors and the logistics crisis that took over the world are negatively affecting Apple’s iPhone sales.
As of 10:10 a.m. Eastern time on the 29th (local time), Apple’s market cap was $2.44 trillion and Microsoft was $2.45 trillion. Apple stock is down 3.5% during the day, while Microsoft is up 0.6%. It is the first time in about a year that Apple has a smaller market cap than Microsoft. The market cap rankings of the two companies may change again depending on the share price flow during the day.
According to Reuters Microsoft’s stock has surged more than 45% this year as demand for cloud-based services exploded due to the spread of COVID-19. Apple shares rose 15% over the same period.
photo = AP
Growing concerns about ‘parts supply and demand’ for Apple is considered to be the biggest cause of the market cap ranking change. On the 28th, Apple disclosed its revenue of $83.36 billion for the quarter (July-September). It was lower than the consensus (average estimate of securities companies) of $83.85 billion. Key product iPhone sales were $38.87 billion, 6.3% lower than the consensus of $41.51 billion.
Apple CEO Tim Cook explained in a conference call on the same day that “supply restrictions are due to the industry-wide shortage of semiconductors and production disruptions in Southeast Asia, which have been discussed a lot.” Because of the shortage of semiconductors, the iPhone could not be made as much as desired, so sales decreased. Tim Cook explained, “Even in this quarter, there is a particularly shortage of semiconductors made in traditional processes rather than the latest ones.” “We will face more severe supply constraints.”
※The video is a channel specializing in overseas investment of the Korea Economic Daily. Hankyung Global MarketContent posted on .
Silicon Valley = Correspondent Hwang Jung-soo hjs@hankyung.com
ⓒ Hankyung.com, unauthorized reprinting and redistribution prohibited
