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Category: China

  • MIL-OSI USA: Gillibrand, Schumer, Blackburn, Fischer, Clarke, Garbarino, Langworthy, and Torres Reintroduce E-bike Safety Bill

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for New York Kirsten Gillibrand

    Today, U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Deb Fischer (R-NE), along with Congressman Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Congressman Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY), and Congressman Nick Langworthy (R-NY), reintroduced the Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act. The bipartisan bill would require the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to publish a final consumer product safety standard for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries used in e-bikes and other micromobility devices to protect against the risk of fires caused by such batteries. The bill is being reintroduced at a time when fires from lithium-ion batteries have become widespread in New York City. The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) reports rechargeable lithium-ion batteries have caused more than 850 fires since 2021, resulting in more than 450 injuries, 34 deaths & damage to hundreds of structures. In 2024, there were 279 e-bike and e-mobility device battery fires in NYC, a dramatic increase from the 44 that occurred in 2020.

    “Far too many innocent lives have been lost in New York City and across the country to fires caused by faulty and improperly manufactured lithium-ion batteries used in e-bikes and other micromobility devices,” said U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. “The Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act is a commonsense solution that brings us one step closer to stopping preventable fires, and I encourage my congressional colleagues to pass this bipartisan bill and create the first-ever mandatory consumer product safety standard for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries used in micromobility devices.”

    “We are in a time where technology is outpacing federal safety action in many ways, moving faster than the measures we need to keep the public safe, and there might be no better example of this dilemma than with the cheap, China-made lithium-ion batteries in e-bikes, e-scooters and other devices,” said U.S. Senator Charles Schumer. “The fires and injuries caused by these batteries have resulted in tremendous loss across New York and federal action is needed to protect consumers and our brave firefighters who are on the front lines of this new paradigm in fire prevention spurred by these unpredictable, and often times, very dangerous batteries—and that’s why we are reintroducing the Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act to create a consumer product safety standard for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.”

    “Battery fires in e-bikes have caused far too many devastating injuries and deaths,” said U.S. Senator Deb Fischer. “We need effective, sensible safety standards for the batteries in motorized devices like e-bikes and e-scooters. Our bipartisan bill will protect people across America from these preventable tragedies.”

    “Since 2021, we’ve seen far too many avoidable deaths and injuries due to unregulated, unsafe lithium-ion batteries in e-bikes, e-scooters, and other mobility devices New Yorkers use to travel throughout the city delivering goods and services, said Rep. Yvette D. Clarke. “I fully support this legislation to improve public safety and ensure safety guidelines and standards to prevent fire risks – protecting our constituents and businesses from injury and loss of life.”

    “Unregulated lithium-ion batteries are one of the leading causes of fatal fires in New York, posing a serious threat to both the public and the firefighters who respond to these emergencies,” said Rep. Andrew Garbarino. “As the use of lithium-ion batteries in devices like e-scooters and e-bikes continues to grow, so do the risks. This legislation is a critical step toward preventing these fires and improving public safety.”

    “The safety of American consumers must always come first. Rechargeable lithium batteries power so many aspects of our daily lives, but without proper standards, they pose serious risks of fires and explosions,” said Rep. Nicholas Langworthy. “This legislation sets clear safety guidelines to protect families, first responders, and businesses from preventable hazards. I am proud to support this commonsense measure to ensure that these products meet rigorous safety standards before they reach the market.”

    “For years, it has been clear that unregulated lithium-ion batteries pose a clear and present threat to the public’s safety, and it’s long past time that we do something about it,” said Rep. Ritchie Torres. “My district specifically is acutely aware of the unmitigated disaster that urban fires pose and the urgent need for stronger safety standards. My colleagues and I fought throughout the last Congress to advance this legislation, and we will continue pushing it toward the finish line in the 119th — no matter the national political scene.”

    “Keeping our country safe from the dangers of lithium-ion batteries is incredibly important, because as we have seen time and time again, they present unique safety risks to the public and to first responders,” said NYC Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker. “We’re grateful to our partners in government for bringing back this legislation we know will save lives. We will continue to beat the drum on safe usage and best practices of these devices to help prevent tragedies in the future.”

    “I thank Senator Gillibrand, Representative Torres, and their allies for their continued leadership and perseverance on the Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act,” said Chief Josh Waldo, President and Chair of the Board, the International Association of Fire Chiefs. “Fire departments across the country face numerous challenges when responding to these preventable incidents. We have gone far too long without any impactful changes to ensure the safety of humans around these devices. As we have seen, further injury and property damage is the result of inaction. It is time for Congress to act together and pass this life-saving legislation.”

    “Lithium-ion batteries, especially those of inferior quality, can be prone to explosion, thermal runaway, and other hazards. As devices powered by these batteries have become more common, so have the risks associated with them. I applaud Senator Gillibrand and Rep. Torres for introducing this bill, which would require lithium-ion batteries powering certain mobility devices to meet quality and safety standards, thereby reducing the fire risk these devices pose,” said Steven W. Hirsch, Chair, National Volunteer Fire Council.

    “Lithium-ion battery fires burn intensely, last longer than most fires, and release toxic fumes, putting fire fighters and the public at risk,” said International Association of Fire Fighters General President Ed Kelly. “The Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act is an important step toward preventing these fires, protecting our communities, and keeping fire fighters safe. The IAFF thanks Senator Gillibrand for her leadership on this critical issue.”

    “Lithium-ion battery safety has rapidly become a top priority for property owners and managers across the country, as we’re on the front lines of making sure that office buildings and other commercial spaces are kept safe,” said Manuel Moreno, Chair and Chief Elected Officer of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International, the professional association representing the commercial real estate sector. “This legislation will help protect the safety of millions of people in the nation’s commercial buildings as well as the safety of first responders who have to confront these intense chemical fires. This legislation will save lives.”

    “We applaud Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Representative Richie Torres, and their Congressional colleagues for taking decisive action to address substandard lithium-ion batteries flooding in from overseas and help ensure that everyone can safely use these devices without fear that they may lack necessary safeguards,” said John Horton, Head of North America Public Policy at DoorDash. “DoorDash will continue to work with all stakeholders to help ensure certified safe lithium-ion batteries are used in our communities, but a safety floor must be put in place to keep unsafe batteries from the marketplace to begin with, and this bill does just that.”

    “Addressing the dangers posed by uncertified lithium-ion batteries is essential to protecting public safety,” said Kara Kelber, Grubhub’s Director of Federal Affairs. “Grubhub applauds Senator Gillibrand, Senator Schumer, Senator Blackburn and Senator Fischer for their continued leadership on this critical issue. The Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act shows a strong, bipartisan commitment to tackling this urgent safety concern and keeping unsafe products from infiltrating our streets and communities. We are eager to see the bill pass and ensure safer micromobility options for communities across the country.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Kaine Leads 37 Senators in Raising Alarm Over Trump Administration Chaos at Critical National Security Agencies

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Virginia Tim Kaine

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led 37 of his colleagues in sending a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressing their deep concern regarding the growing chaos and dysfunction at the U.S. Department of State and the Trump Administration’s illegal attempt to destroy the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). USAID is a critical pillar of U.S. national security strategy, providing lifesaving aid and development support around the world to help ensure stability. Yesterday, personnel at USAID were not permitted to enter the agency’s headquarters, and Elon Musk announced that President Donald Trump agreed to close the agency and move it under the State Department – which Trump has no legal authority to do. The Trump Administration, led by Musk, has also furloughed thousands of senior career civil servants, including two top security officials who denied Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency access to classified documents and systems.

    “…We are deeply concerned by reports of not only growing chaos and dysfunction at the Department of State, but the Administration’s brazen and illegal attempts to destroy the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Mass personnel furloughs of dubious legality and abrupt, blanket stop-work orders without regard to relevant appropriations laws are causing immediate harm to U.S. national security, placing U.S. citizens at risk, disrupting life-saving work and breaking the U.S. government’s contractual obligations to private sector partners,” wrote the senators.

    The senators continued, “The Administration’s failure to consult with Congress prior to taking these steps violates the law and impedes Congress’s constitutional duty to conduct oversight of funding, personnel and the nation’s foreign policy. The Administration’s failure to expend funds appropriated on a bipartisan basis by Congress would violate the Impoundment Control Act.”

    “Foreign assistance is critical to supporting U.S. strategic interests around the world. Foreign assistance protects U.S. national security, advances U.S. values, and ensures the U.S. is the partner of choice for everything from defense procurement to cutting edge scientific research. China, Russia and Iran are already moving rapidly to exploit the vacuum and instability left by the U.S.’s sudden global retreat,” wrote the senators.

    They continued, “Every Administration has the right to review and adjust ongoing assistance programming. However, attempting to arbitrarily turn off core functions of a critical U.S. national security agency, without Congressional consideration or any metric-based review and absent legal authority to do so, is unprecedented and deeply disturbing.”

    The letter is signed by U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Gary Peters (D-MI), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Angus S. King (I-ME), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Tina Smith (D-MN), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Jack Reed (D-RI), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Chris Coons (D-DE), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), and Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA).

    The full text of the letter is available here and below.

    Dear Secretary Rubio:

    The effective administration of U.S. foreign assistance is critical to advancing core U.S. national security priorities, including countering the influence of China, Russia and Iran. As you acknowledged at your confirmation hearing, pushing back on China in particular is a top bipartisan priority. 

    As such, we are deeply concerned by reports of not only growing chaos and dysfunction at the Department of State, but the Administration’s brazen and illegal attempts to destroy the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Mass personnel furloughs of dubious legality and abrupt, blanket stop-work orders without regard to relevant appropriations laws are causing immediate harm to U.S. national security, placing U.S. citizens at risk, disrupting life-saving work and breaking the U.S. government’s contractual obligations to private sector partners.

    The Administration’s failure to consult with Congress prior to taking these steps violates the law and impedes Congress’s constitutional duty to conduct oversight of funding, personnel and the nation’s foreign policy. The Administration’s failure to expend funds appropriated on a bipartisan basis by Congress would violate the Impoundment Control Act.

    Foreign assistance is critical to supporting U.S. strategic interests around the world. Foreign assistance protects U.S. national security, advances U.S. values, and ensures the U.S. is the partner of choice for everything from defense procurement to cutting edge scientific research. China, Russia and Iran are already moving rapidly to exploit the vacuum and instability left by the U.S.’s sudden global retreat.

    Every Administration has the right to review and adjust ongoing assistance programming. However, attempting to arbitrarily turn off core functions of a critical U.S. national security agency, without Congressional consideration or any metric-based review and absent legal authority to do so, is unprecedented and deeply disturbing.

    We request immediate clarification on the following:

    Status of USAID:

    1. Confirmation of your understanding that any effort to abolish USAID or merge USAID into the Department of State absent Congressional consultation and approval is illegal.
    2. Confirmation of your understanding that adversaries such as China, Russia and Iran are quickly moving into the vacuum left by suspended USAID programs. 
    3. The Department of State’s assessment of Mr. Elon Musk’s financial ties to China and the impact of these ties to the decision-making process of Mr. Musk and his employees.
    4. Confirmation that neither you nor any member of your leadership team are taking direction from Mr. Musk with regards to the work of the Department of State or USAID, personnel or financial decisions for either agency, or any other matters relevant to U.S. national security. 
    5. Confirmation of the names and employment status of individuals directed by Mr. Musk to engage with USAID staff, the qualifications of these individuals, and the level of their security clearances – if any.

    Personnel:

    1. Confirmation of your understanding that any unauthorized access by or disclosure of classified information to individuals without appropriate security clearance could be considered a criminal offense.
    2. The legal authority and rationale under which, on January 28, more than 50 senior career civil and foreign service USAID officials were placed on administrative leave. This move was not only unprecedented, but also inconsistent with the Office of Personnel Management’s own guidelines for the use of administrative leave.
    3. The legal authority under which, on January 28, approximately 390 USAID Institutional Support Contractors (ISCs) were given stop-work orders, and clarification of which Administration official directed the implementation of this termination.
    4. Whether any Department of State career civil and foreign service or contractors have been placed on administrative leave or removed from their roles as a result of or relating to the assistance freeze or any directives from the Office of Foreign Assistance.
    5. Clarification of which Administration official directed the implementation of this mass furlough.
    6. Clarification of whether these individuals were directed to be terminated without cause.
    7. Confirmation that personnel will not face retaliation or retribution for performing their duties under the previous Administration’s policy direction.
    8. Under what authorities and by which official’s directive career civil service, foreign service, and Personal Services Contractors (PSC), and those under other hiring authorities have been removed from their roles or limited in their ability to execute their work.
    9. Confirmation that further career civil service, foreign service and USAID contractors will not be removed from their roles without cause or receive stop work orders.
    10. Whether, upon full resumption of legally mandated foreign assistance activities, the Administration intends to re-hire contractors who have been removed from their roles.
    11. Any additional guidance provided to State and USAID staff regarding the foreign assistance freeze, including confirmation of whether direct hires, contractors, or implementing organizations have been directed not to speak publicly about the foreign assistance freeze.
    12. Public identification of the individual currently serving as the Director or Acting Director of the State Department’s Office of Foreign Assistance and as Acting Deputy Administrator of USAID, and the dates upon which this individual was appointed to each position.
    13. Confirmation of your understanding that the State Department’s Director of Foreign Assistance has no authority to issue personnel directives for USAID.

    Resumption of Foreign Assistance:

    1. The specific process and anticipated timeframe for activities to receive exemptions or waivers, as referenced in your January 28, 2025 directive to State and USAID staff.
    2. The mechanisms and metrics established for this waiver process.
    3. The timeline for full resumption of legally mandated foreign assistance activities.
    4. Clarification of what risk assessment or analysis of potential risk to U.S. national security interests were conducted prior to the decision to freeze foreign assistance activities.
    5. Confirmation of the Department of State’s obligation to comply with U.S. contract law and your responsibility as Secretary of State ensure the Department honors its commitments to contracting partners.

    We welcome your urgent attention to these questions. We and our staff stand ready to work with you to ensure U.S. foreign assistance funding continues to be deployed effectively to protect American citizens, at home and abroad.

    Respectfully,

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Op-Ed – Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face – OPED Conor English

    Opinion – by Conor English
     
    5 February 2025 – Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face – Boxer Mike Tyson famously said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face”.  He was simply pointing out in his own unique direct way, that sometimes things don’t go the way you think. There can be unintended consequences. Your opponent can counter punch, so a “plan b” can be useful!
     
    The new USA government has a plan to use tariffs as a way of incentivising other countries to do things that are helpful to the USA. Things like curtail immigrants or drugs travelling over the border, or to shift their manufacturing jobs to America.  The President has described the word “tariffs” as “the most beautiful word in the dictionary” so its clear he likes the idea of using tariffs. It does have some logic. Maybe this plan will work?
     
    So, using emergency powers that enable quick action, rather than long winded trade negotiation processes, this plan is being implemented this week.  First up, 10% tariff on goods from China, and energy products from Canada. Tariffs will be set at 25% for most other goods from Canada and Mexico. If these countries change their drug, migration and manufacturing policies, the USA will look to review the tariff levels.  That’s the new deal.
     
    New Zealand had its own tariffs for many years as was fashionable. But now we seek fair trade, with no tariffs or quotas, or other non-tariff trade barriers in our trading relationships. It matters to us as a small trading country at the bottom of the world. Multilateral co-operation and enforcement frameworks such as the World Trade Organisation are vital.   
     
    America, like many countries, has a long history of using tariffs. An excellent example of how things can end up like a punch in the face, as Mike Tyson would put it, is the passing of what was known as the “Smoot Hawley” Tariff Act on June 17, 1930. This raised tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods, despite a petition signed by 1,028 economists asking President Hoover to veto the legislation. He didn’t. The theory was it would save jobs in America and protect local producers from international competition following the “Black Thursday” share market crash on October 24, 1929.
     
    But it didn’t make things better, it made things worse.
     
    Americas trading partners punched back. They didn’t do nothing. They retaliated, just as Canada and Mexico now have. The world economy and geopolitics has evolved significantly since the great depression and what happened then may not happen now. However, history can perhaps provide some small insight as to how this might play out.
     
    Wikipedia tells us that after the Smoot- Hawley passed – yes – USA imports did decrease by 66% from $4.4 billion  in 1929, to $1.5 billion in 1933. So that must be good for domestic jobs and industries? Well no, because other countries punched back with their own tariffs, as well as sourcing their own imports from other countries rather than America.
     
    As a result, USA exports also decreased 61% from $5.4 billion to $2.1 billion. GNP fell from $103.1 billion in 1929 to $75.8 billion in 1931, bottoming out at $55.6 billion in 1933, a drop of around 50% over four years. 
     
    So rather than create jobs, jobs were lost, and plenty of them. Unemployment was at 8% in 1930 when the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act was passed, but the new law failed to lower it. The unemployment rate jumped to 16% in 1931, and 25% in 1932–33. The factories that produced those export goods couldn’t sell their products, so staff lost their jobs.
     
    Unemployment didn’t fall below early 1930s levels until the massive economic stimulus of World War 2.
     
    As with any economy, there is always more than just one thing happening, but at that time, that is what happened in the USA. So how does this current fast changing situation effect New Zealand?
     
    Unlike 100 years ago, we get impacted very quickly by the transmission of changes in our exchange rate, interest rates, commodity prices, share markets and trade flows. This then flows through our economy.
     
    For example, if inflation goes up in America because of the new tariffs, international interest rates may go up, thus reducing the speed of any reductions on our mortgage rates. Dairy commodity prices might rise, but so too might international oil prices, pushing up our fuel prices and inflation. Our dollar may fall, making it cheaper for tourists to visit, but the cost of servicing our increasing national debt more expensive.  Chinese built EVs may be more available and cheaper here as cars are diverted from the USA market.
     
    There will be all sorts of positive and negative impacts, unintended consequences and unforeseen outcomes. It could be overall positive or overall negative for both America and New Zealand, but we just don’t know. We do know though that it creates more uncertainty, and that’s not helpful to anyone.     
     
    So will it be a punch in the face, as Mike Tyson suggests, or a pat on the back?  Either way, we need to be fleet of foot and have a “Plan B”.
     
    Conor English is a Director of Silvereye – a Wellington based Government relations firm, a former exporter, CEO of Federated Farmers, and Independent Advisor to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. 

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI: Enphase Energy Reports Financial Results for the Fourth Quarter of 2024

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    FREMONT, Calif., Feb. 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Enphase Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH), a global energy technology company and the world’s leading supplier of microinverter-based solar and battery systems, announced today financial results for the fourth quarter of 2024, which included the summary below from its President and CEO, Badri Kothandaraman.

    We reported quarterly revenue of $382.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, along with 53.2% for non-GAAP gross margin. We shipped approximately 2.01 million microinverters, or 878.0 megawatts DC, and 152.4 megawatt hours of IQ® Batteries.

    Financial highlights for the fourth quarter of 2024 are listed below:

    • Strong U.S. manufacturing: shipped 1.69 million microinverters and 6.7 megawatt hours of IQ Batteries
    • Quarterly revenue of $382.7 million
    • GAAP gross margin of 51.8%; non-GAAP gross margin of 53.2% with net IRA benefit
    • Non-GAAP gross margin of 39.7%, excluding net IRA benefit of 13.5%
    • GAAP operating income of $54.8 million; non-GAAP operating income of $120.4 million
    • GAAP net income of $62.2 million; non-GAAP net income of $125.9 million
    • GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.45; non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.94
    • Free cash flow of $159.2 million; ending cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and marketable securities of $1.72 billion

    Our revenue and earnings for the fourth quarter of 2024 are provided below, compared with the prior quarter:

    (In thousands, except per share and percentage data)

      GAAP   Non-GAAP
      Q4 2024   Q3 2024   Q4 2023   Q4 2024   Q3 2024   Q4 2023
    Revenue $ 382,713     $ 380,873     $ 302,570     $ 382,713     $ 380,873     $ 302,570  
    Gross margin   51.8 %     46.8 %     48.5 %     53.2 %     48.1 %     50.3 %
    Operating expenses $ 143,489     $ 128,383     $ 156,893     $ 83,322     $ 81,612     $ 86,551  
    Operating income (loss) $ 54,804     $ 49,788     $ (10,231 )   $ 120,434     $ 101,411     $ 65,587  
    Net income $ 62,160     $ 45,762     $ 20,919     $ 125,862     $ 88,402     $ 73,474  
    Basic EPS $ 0.46     $ 0.34     $ 0.15     $ 0.94     $ 0.65     $ 0.54  
    Diluted EPS $ 0.45     $ 0.33     $ 0.15     $ 0.94     $ 0.65     $ 0.54  
                                                   

    Our revenue and earnings for the fiscal year 2024 are provided below, compared with the prior year:

    (In thousands, except per share and percentage data)

      GAAP   Non-GAAP
      FY 2024   FY 2023   FY 2024   FY 2023
    Revenue $ 1,330,383     $ 2,290,786     $ 1,330,383     $ 2,290,786  
    Gross margin   47.3 %     46.2 %     48.9 %     47.1 %
    Operating expenses $ 551,846     $ 612,647     $ 329,227     $ 382,115  
    Operating income $ 77,292     $ 445,741     $ 321,919     $ 697,210  
    Net income $ 102,658     $ 438,936     $ 321,044     $ 613,241  
    Basic EPS $ 0.76     $ 3.22     $ 2.37     $ 4.50  
    Diluted EPS $ 0.75     $ 3.08     $ 2.37     $ 4.41  
                                   

    Total revenue for the fourth quarter of 2024 was $382.7 million, compared to $380.9 million in the third quarter of 2024. Our revenue in the United States for the fourth quarter of 2024 increased approximately 6%, compared to the third quarter. The increase in revenue was due to higher microinverter sales. Our revenue in Europe decreased approximately 25% for the fourth quarter of 2024, compared to the third quarter. The decline in revenue was the result of a further softening in European demand.

    Our non-GAAP gross margin was 53.2% in the fourth quarter of 2024, compared to 48.1% in the third quarter. Our non-GAAP gross margin, excluding net IRA benefit, was 39.7% in the fourth quarter of 2024, compared to 38.9% in the third quarter.

    Our non-GAAP operating expenses were $83.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, compared to $81.6 million in the third quarter. The increase was driven by higher R&D expense on new products. Our non-GAAP operating income was $120.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, compared to $101.4 million in the third quarter.

    We exited the fourth quarter of 2024 with $1.72 billion in cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and marketable securities and generated $167.3 million in cash flow from operations in the fourth quarter. Our capital expenditures were $8.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, compared to $8.5 million in the third quarter of 2024.

    In the fourth quarter of 2024, we repurchased 2,883,438 shares of our common stock at an average price of $69.25 per share for a total of approximately $199.7 million. We also spent approximately $5.0 million by withholding shares to cover taxes for employee stock vesting that reduced the diluted shares by 68,532 shares.

    We shipped 152.4 megawatt hours of IQ Batteries in the fourth quarter of 2024, compared to 172.9 megawatt hours in the third quarter. More than 10,300 installers worldwide are certified to install our IQ Batteries, compared to more than 9,000 installers worldwide in the third quarter of 2024.

    During the fourth quarter of 2024, we shipped approximately 1.69 million microinverters from our contract manufacturing facilities in the United States that we booked for 45X production tax credits. We also expanded our higher domestic content product offerings, and shipped our IQ8HC™ Microinverters, IQ8X™ Microinverters, IQ8P-3P™ Commercial Microinverters, and IQ® Battery 5Ps, all with higher domestic content than previous models and produced at our contract manufacturing facilities in the United States.

    During the fourth quarter of 2024, we made great strides with the IQ® Meter Collar, fourth-generation IQ Battery, and new IQ® Combiner products. We launched the IQ® PowerPack 1500, a 1.5 kWh smart, portable energy system for home, work, and on-the-go use. In Europe, we introduced the IQ® EV Charger 2, a next-generation smart charger that integrates with our solar and battery systems seamlessly or works as a standalone. In January 2025, we began shipping the IQ® Battery 5P™ with FlexPhase to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, delivering reliable backup power for both single- and three-phase installations.

    BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS

    On Jan. 30, 2025, Enphase Energy announced that it is expanding in Southeast Asia by entering the solar markets in Vietnam and Malaysia with IQ8P™ Microinverters.

    On Jan. 27, 2025, Enphase Energy announced integration with Octopus Energy’s smart tariffs in the UK, such as “Intelligent Octopus Flux” (IO Flux), which can help customers save money on electricity bills.

    On Jan. 23, 2025, Enphase Energy announced that its IQ8™ Microinverters for residential and commercial applications, are now in compliance with the Build America, Buy America (BABA) Act.

    On Jan. 13, 2025, Enphase Energy announced shipments of its most powerful and versatile battery yet, the IQ Battery 5P with FlexPhase, for customers in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. With reliable backup power and support for single- and three-phase systems, it offers unmatched flexibility for home energy needs.

    On Jan. 9, 2025, Enphase Energy announced that it is expanding into Latin America with IQ8P Microinverters, bringing solar solutions to Colombia, Panama, and Costa Rica for residential and commercial use. 

    On Jan. 7, 2025, Enphase Energy announced that IQ8 Microinverters were selected for a 2.2 MW solar project at the Belgoprocess radioactive waste facility in Dessel, Belgium. 

    On Dec. 17, 2024, Enphase Energy announced initial shipments of its most powerful home battery to-date, the IQ Battery 5P, for customers in India. 

    On Dec. 5 and Dec. 9, 2024, Enphase Energy announced collaborations with two energy providers in the Netherlands, Frank Energie and NextEnergy, to enable participation in the grid imbalance energy marketplace.

    On Dec. 3, 2024, Enphase Energy announced the launch of Busbar Power Control software that empowers homeowners to install larger solar and battery systems without costly main electrical panel upgrades.

    On Nov. 11, 2024, Enphase Energy announced an AI-powered do-it-yourself (DIY) permitting feature on Solargraf®, to automate the complex solar permitting process for installers in the USA.

    On Nov. 4, 2024, Enphase Energy announced the launch of its most powerful Enphase Energy System to-date, featuring the IQ Battery 5P and IQ8 Microinverters, for customers in Romania.

    FIRST QUARTER 2025 FINANCIAL OUTLOOK

    For the first quarter of 2025, Enphase Energy estimates both GAAP and non-GAAP financial results as follows:

    • Revenue to be within a range of $340.0 million to $380.0 million, which includes shipments of 150 to 170 megawatt hours of IQ Batteries. The first quarter of 2025 financial outlook includes approximately $50.0 million of safe harbor revenue. We define safe harbor revenue as any sales made to customers who plan to install the inventory over more than one year.
    • GAAP gross margin to be within a range of 46.0% to 49.0% with net IRA benefit
    • Non-GAAP gross margin to be within a range of 48.0% to 51.0% with net IRA benefit and 38.0% to 41.0% excluding net IRA benefit. Non-GAAP gross margin excludes stock-based compensation expense and acquisition related amortization
    • Net IRA benefit to be within a range of $36.0 million to $39.0 million based on estimated shipments of 1,200,000 units of U.S. manufactured microinverters
    • GAAP operating expenses to be within a range of $143.0 million to $147.0 million
    • Non-GAAP operating expenses to be within a range of $81.0 million to $85.0 million, excluding $62.0 million estimated for stock-based compensation expense, acquisition related expenses and amortization, restructuring and asset impairment charges

    For 2025, GAAP and non-GAAP annualized effective tax rate with IRA benefit, excluding discrete items, is expected to be within a range of 17.0% to 19.0%.

    Follow Enphase Online

    Use of non-GAAP Financial Measures

    Enphase Energy has presented certain non-GAAP financial measures in this press release. Generally, a non-GAAP financial measure is a numerical measure of a company’s performance, financial position, or cash flows that either exclude or include amounts that are not normally excluded or included in the most directly comparable measure calculated and presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (GAAP). Reconciliation of each non-GAAP financial measure to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure can be found in the accompanying tables to this press release. Non-GAAP financial measures presented by Enphase Energy include non-GAAP gross profit, gross margin, operating expenses, income from operations, net income, net income per share (basic and diluted), net IRA benefit, and free cash flow.

    These non-GAAP financial measures do not reflect a comprehensive system of accounting, differ from GAAP measures with the same captions and may differ from non-GAAP financial measures with the same or similar captions that are used by other companies. In addition, these non-GAAP measures have limitations in that they do not reflect all of the amounts associated with Enphase Energy’s results of operations as determined in accordance with GAAP. As such, these non-GAAP measures should be considered as a supplement to, and not as a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. Enphase Energy uses these non-GAAP financial measures to analyze its operating performance and future prospects, develop internal budgets and financial goals, and to facilitate period-to-period comparisons. Enphase Energy believes that these non-GAAP financial measures reflect an additional way of viewing aspects of its operations that, when viewed with its GAAP results, provide a more complete understanding of factors and trends affecting its business.

    As presented in the “Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” tables below, each of the non-GAAP financial measures excludes one or more of the following items for purposes of calculating non-GAAP financial measures to facilitate an evaluation of Enphase Energy’s current operating performance and a comparison to its past operating performance:

    Stock-based compensation expense. Enphase Energy excludes stock-based compensation expense from its non-GAAP measures primarily because they are non-cash in nature. Moreover, the impact of this expense is significantly affected by Enphase Energy’s stock price at the time of an award over which management has limited to no control.

    Acquisition related expenses and amortization. This item represents expenses incurred related to Enphase Energy’s business acquisitions, which are non-recurring in nature, and amortization of acquired intangible assets, which is a non-cash expense. Acquisition related expenses and amortization of acquired intangible assets are not reflective of Enphase Energy’s ongoing financial performance.

    Restructuring and asset impairment charges. Enphase Energy excludes restructuring and asset impairment charges due to the nature of the expenses being unusual and arising outside the ordinary course of continuing operations. These costs primarily consist of fees paid for cash-based severance costs, accelerated stock-based compensation expense and asset write-downs of property and equipment and acquired intangible assets, and other contract termination costs resulting from restructuring initiatives.

    Non-cash interest expense. This item consists primarily of amortization of debt issuance costs and accretion of debt discount because these expenses do not represent a cash outflow for Enphase Energy except in the period the financing was secured and such amortization expense is not reflective of Enphase Energy’s ongoing financial performance.

    Non-GAAP income tax adjustment. This item represents the amount adjusted to Enphase Energy’s GAAP tax provision or benefit to exclude the income tax effects of GAAP adjustments such as stock-based compensation, amortization of purchased intangibles, and other non-recurring items that are not reflective of Enphase Energy ongoing financial performance.

    Non-GAAP net income per share, diluted. Enphase Energy excludes the dilutive effect of in-the-money portion of convertible senior notes as they are covered by convertible note hedge transactions that reduce potential dilution to our common stock upon conversion of the Notes due 2025, Notes due 2026, and Notes due 2028, and includes the dilutive effect of employee’s stock-based awards and the dilutive effect of warrants. Enphase Energy believes these adjustments provide useful supplemental information to the ongoing financial performance.

    Net IRA benefit. This item represents the advanced manufacturing production tax credit (AMPTC) from the IRA for manufacturing microinverters in the United States, partially offset by the incremental manufacturing cost incurred in the United States relative to manufacturing in Mexico, India, and China. The AMPTC is accounted for by Enphase Energy as an income-based government grants that reduces cost of revenues in the condensed consolidated statements of operations.

    Free cash flow. This item represents net cash flows from operating activities less purchases of property and equipment.

    Conference Call Information

    Enphase Energy will host a conference call for analysts and investors to discuss its fourth quarter 2024 results and first quarter 2025 business outlook today at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time (1:30 p.m. Pacific Time). The call is open to the public by dialing (833) 634-5018. A live webcast of the conference call will also be accessible from the “Investor Relations” section of Enphase Energy’s website at https://investor.enphase.com. Following the webcast, an archived version will be available on the website for approximately one year. In addition, an audio replay of the conference call will be available by calling (877) 344-7529; replay access code 3831590, beginning approximately one hour after the call.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements related to Enphase Energy’s expectations as to its first quarter of 2025 financial outlook, including revenue, shipments of IQ Batteries by megawatt hours, gross margin with net IRA benefit and excluding net IRA benefit, estimated shipments of U.S. manufactured microinverters, operating expenses, and annualized effective tax rate with IRA benefit; its expectations regarding the expected net IRA benefit; its expectations on the timing and introduction of new products and updates to existing products, including the IQ Meter Collar, fourth-generation IQ Battery, and new IQ Combiner products; its expectations regarding higher domestic content product offerings; and the capabilities, advantages, features, and performance of its technology and products. These forward-looking statements are based on Enphase Energy’s current expectations and inherently involve significant risks and uncertainties. Enphase Energy’s actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of certain risks and uncertainties including those risks described in more detail in its most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, and other documents on file with the SEC from time to time and available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Enphase Energy undertakes no duty or obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release as a result of new information, future events or changes in its expectations, except as required by law.

    A copy of this press release can be found on the investor relations page of Enphase Energy’s website at https://investor.enphase.com.

    About Enphase Energy, Inc.

    Enphase Energy, a global energy technology company based in Fremont, CA, is the world’s leading supplier of microinverter-based solar and battery systems that enable people to harness the sun to make, use, save, and sell their own power—and control it all with a smart mobile app. The company revolutionized the solar industry with its microinverter-based technology and builds all-in-one solar, battery, and software solutions. Enphase has shipped approximately 80.0 million microinverters, and approximately 4.7 million Enphase-based systems have been deployed in more than 160 countries. For more information, visit https://enphase.com/.

    ©2025 Enphase Energy, Inc. All rights reserved. Enphase Energy, Enphase, the “e” logo, IQ, IQ8, and certain other marks listed at https://enphase.com/trademark-usage-guidelines   are trademarks or service marks of Enphase Energy, Inc. Other names are for informational purposes and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

    Contact:

    Zach Freedman
    Enphase Energy, Inc.
    Investor Relations
    ir@enphaseenergy.com

    ENPHASE ENERGY, INC.
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
    (In thousands, except per share data)
    (Unaudited)
     
      Three Months Ended Year Ended
      December 31, 
    2024    		   September 30, 
    2024    		   December 31, 
    2023    		   December 31, 
    2024    		   December 31, 
    2023
    Net revenues $ 382,713     $ 380,873     $ 302,570     $ 1,330,383     $ 2,290,786  
    Cost of revenues   184,420       202,702       155,908       701,245       1,232,398  
    Gross profit   198,293       178,171       146,662       629,138       1,058,388  
    Operating expenses:                  
    Research and development   50,390       47,843       55,291       201,315       227,336  
    Sales and marketing   51,799       49,671       53,409       206,552       231,792  
    General and administrative   31,901       30,192       33,379       130,825       137,835  
    Restructuring and asset impairment charges   9,399       677       14,814       13,154       15,684  
    Total operating expenses   143,489       128,383       156,893       551,846       612,647  
    Income (loss) from operations   54,804       49,788       (10,231 )     77,292       445,741  
    Other income, net                  
    Interest income   18,417       19,977       20,493       77,306       69,728  
    Interest expense   (2,252 )     (2,237 )     (2,268 )     (8,905 )     (8,839 )
    Other income (expense), net   (1,270 )     (16,785 )     4,233       (25,534 )     6,509  
    Total other income, net   14,895       955       22,458       42,867       67,398  
    Income before income taxes   69,699       50,743       12,227       120,159       513,139  
    Income tax (provision) benefit   (7,539 )     (4,981 )     8,692       (17,501 )     (74,203 )
    Net income $ 62,160     $ 45,762     $ 20,919     $ 102,658     $ 438,936  
    Net income per share:                  
    Basic $ 0.46     $ 0.34     $ 0.15     $ 0.76     $ 3.22  
    Diluted $ 0.45     $ 0.33     $ 0.15     $ 0.75     $ 3.08  
    Shares used in per share calculation:                  
    Basic   133,815       135,329       136,092       135,167       136,376  
    Diluted   138,128       139,914       139,205       140,004       143,290  
                                           
    ENPHASE ENERGY, INC.
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
    (In thousands)
    (Unaudited)
     
      December 31,
    2024    		   December 31,
    2023
    ASSETS      
    Current assets:      
    Cash and cash equivalents $ 369,110   $ 288,748
    Restricted cash   95,006     —
    Marketable securities   1,253,480     1,406,286
    Accounts receivable, net   223,749     445,959
    Inventory   165,004     213,595
    Prepaid expenses and other assets   220,735     88,930
    Total current assets   2,327,084     2,443,518
    Property and equipment, net   147,514     168,244
    Operating lease, right of use asset, net   24,617     19,887
    Intangible assets, net   42,398     68,536
    Goodwill   211,571     214,562
    Other assets   180,925     215,895
    Deferred tax assets, net   315,567     252,370
    Total assets $ 3,249,676   $ 3,383,012
    LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY      
    Current liabilities:      
    Accounts payable $ 90,032   $ 116,164
    Accrued liabilities   196,887     261,919
    Deferred revenues, current   237,225     118,300
    Warranty obligations, current   34,656     36,066
    Debt, current   101,291     —
    Total current liabilities   660,091     532,449
    Long-term liabilities:      
    Deferred revenues, non-current   341,982     369,172
    Warranty obligations, non-current   158,233     153,021
    Other liabilities   55,265     51,008
    Debt, non-current   1,201,089     1,293,738
    Total liabilities   2,416,660     2,399,388
    Total stockholders’ equity   833,016     983,624
    Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity $ 3,249,676   $ 3,383,012
               
    ENPHASE ENERGY, INC.
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
    (In thousands)
    (Unaudited)
     
      Three Months Ended   Year Ended
      December 31, 
    2024    		   September 30, 
    2024    		   December 31, 
    2023    		   December 31, 
    2024    		   December 31, 
    2023
    Cash flows from operating activities:                  
    Net income $ 62,160     $ 45,762     $ 20,919     $ 102,658     $ 438,936  
    Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:                  
    Depreciation and amortization   20,665       20,103       20,841       81,389       74,708  
    Net accretion of discount on marketable securities   (7,490 )     (2,904 )     (2,950 )     (8,599 )     (15,561 )
    Provision for doubtful accounts   2,206       2,704       (129 )     6,677       1,153  
    Asset impairment   4,702       17,568       9,700       28,843       10,603  
    Non-cash interest expense   2,188       2,173       2,126       8,650       8,380  
    Net loss (gain) from change in fair value of debt securities   (3,697 )     741       (2,670 )     (1,967 )     (8,078 )
    Stock-based compensation   51,830       45,940       55,222       211,360       212,857  
    Deferred income taxes   (30,675 )     (5,276 )     (5,053 )     (58,319 )     (43,348 )
    Changes in operating assets and liabilities:                  
    Accounts receivable   2,684       49,414       105,771       211,640       (12,478 )
    Inventory   (6,167 )     17,231       (39,481 )     48,591       (63,887 )
    Prepaid expenses and other assets   (16,487 )     (64,149 )     (2,401 )     (134,343 )     (59,777 )
    Accounts payable, accrued and other liabilities   (27,396 )     32,088       (139,277 )     (85,536 )     (22,149 )
    Warranty obligations   8,657       7,053       221       3,802       57,641  
    Deferred revenues   104,112       1,690       12,611       98,847       117,780  
    Net cash provided by operating activities   167,292       170,138       35,450       513,693       696,780  
    Cash flows from investing activities:                  
    Purchases of property and equipment   (8,064 )     (8,533 )     (20,075 )     (33,604 )     (110,401 )
    Purchases of marketable securities   (93,138 )     (319,190 )     (337,757 )     (1,184,649 )     (2,081,431 )
    Maturities and sale of marketable securities   351,843       215,241       433,869       1,346,520       1,840,477  
    Investments in private companies   —       —       —       —       (15,000 )
    Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities   250,641       (112,482 )     76,037       128,267       (366,355 )
    Cash flows from financing activities:                  
    Partial settlement of convertible notes   —       (5 )     —       (7 )     —  
    Repurchase of common stock   (199,666 )     (49,794 )     (99,998 )     (391,364 )     (409,998 )
    Payment of excise tax on net stock repurchases   (2,773 )     —       —       (2,773 )     —  
    Proceeds from issuance of common stock under employee equity plans   4,719       14       12,555       12,688       13,870  
    Payment of withholding taxes related to net share settlement of equity awards   (5,012 )     (6,286 )     (27,546 )     (78,813 )     (120,646 )
    Net cash used in financing activities   (202,732 )     (56,071 )     (114,989 )     (460,269 )     (516,774 )
    Effect of exchange rate changes on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash   (7,410 )     2,638       2,175       (6,323 )     1,853  
    Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash   207,791       4,223       (1,327 )     175,368       (184,496 )
    Cash and cash equivalents—Beginning of period   256,325       252,102       290,075       288,748       473,244  
    Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash—End of period $ 464,116     $ 256,325     $ 288,748     $ 464,116     $ 288,748  
                                           
    ENPHASE ENERGY, INC.
    RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
    (In thousands, except per share data and percentages)
    (Unaudited)
     
      Three Months Ended   Year Ended
      December 31,
    2024    		   September 30,
    2024    		   December 31,
    2023    		   December 31,
    2024    		   December 31,
    2023
    Gross profit (GAAP) $ 198,293     $ 178,171     $ 146,662     $ 629,138     $ 1,058,388  
    Stock-based compensation   3,678       2,948       3,582       14,538       13,357  
    Acquisition related amortization   1,784       1,904       1,894       7,469       7,580  
    Gross profit (Non-GAAP) $ 203,755     $ 183,023     $ 152,138     $ 651,145     $ 1,079,325  
                       
    Gross margin (GAAP)   51.8 %     46.8 %     48.5 %     47.3 %     46.2 %
    Stock-based compensation   0.9       0.8       1.2       1.0       0.6  
    Acquisition related amortization   0.5       0.5       0.6       0.6       0.3  
    Gross margin (Non-GAAP)   53.2 %     48.1 %     50.3 %     48.9 %     47.1 %
                       
    Operating expenses (GAAP) $ 143,489     $ 128,383     $ 156,893     $ 551,846     $ 612,647  
    Stock-based compensation (1)   (47,884 )     (42,992 )     (51,640 )     (196,554 )     (199,500 )
    Acquisition related expenses and amortization   (2,884 )     (3,102 )     (3,888 )     (12,911 )     (15,317 )
    Restructuring and asset impairment charges (1)   (9,399 )     (677 )     (14,814 )     (13,154 )     (15,715 )
    Operating expenses (Non-GAAP) $ 83,322     $ 81,612     $ 86,551     $ 329,227     $ 382,115  
                       
    (1) Includes stock-based compensation as follows:                  
    Research and development $ 20,951     $ 19,790     $ 23,839     $ 85,501     $ 88,367  
    Sales and marketing   15,893       14,237       16,472       65,092       65,703  
    General and administrative   11,041       8,965       11,329       45,962       45,430  
    Restructuring and asset impairment charges   267       —       —       267       —  
    Total $ 48,152     $ 42,992     $ 51,640     $ 196,822     $ 199,500  
                       
    Income (loss) from operations (GAAP) $ 54,804     $ 49,788     $ (10,231 )   $ 77,292     $ 445,741  
    Stock-based compensation   51,563       45,940       55,222       211,093       212,857  
    Acquisition related expenses and amortization   4,668       5,006       5,782       20,380       22,897  
    Restructuring and asset impairment charges   9,399       677       14,814       13,154       15,715  
    Income from operations (Non-GAAP) $ 120,434     $ 101,411     $ 65,587     $ 321,919     $ 697,210  
                       
    Net income (GAAP) $ 62,160     $ 45,762     $ 20,919     $ 102,658     $ 438,936  
    Stock-based compensation   51,563       45,940       55,222       211,093       212,857  
    Acquisition related expenses and amortization   4,668       5,006       5,782       20,380       22,897  
    Restructuring and asset impairment charges   9,399       677       14,814       13,154       15,715  
    Non-cash interest expense   2,188       2,173       2,126       8,650       8,380  
    Non-GAAP income tax adjustment   (4,116 )     (11,156 )     (25,389 )     (34,891 )     (85,544 )
    Net income (Non-GAAP) $ 125,862     $ 88,402     $ 73,474     $ 321,044     $ 613,241  
                       
    Net income per share, basic (GAAP) $ 0.46     $ 0.34     $ 0.15     $ 0.76     $ 3.22  
    Stock-based compensation   0.39       0.34       0.40       1.56       1.56  
    Acquisition related expenses and amortization   0.03       0.04       0.08       0.15       0.17  
    Restructuring and asset impairment charges   0.07       0.01       0.11       0.10       0.12  
    Non-cash interest expense   0.02       0.02       0.02       0.06       0.06  
    Non-GAAP income tax adjustment   (0.03 )     (0.10 )     (0.22 )     (0.26 )     (0.63 )
    Net income per share, basic (Non-GAAP) $ 0.94     $ 0.65     $ 0.54     $ 2.37     $ 4.50  
                       
    Shares used in basic per share calculation GAAP and Non-GAAP   133,815       135,329       136,092       135,167       136,376  
                       
    Net income per share, diluted (GAAP) $ 0.45     $ 0.33     $ 0.15     $ 0.75     $ 3.08  
    Stock-based compensation   0.39       0.33       0.39       1.56       1.57  
    Acquisition related expenses and amortization   0.04       0.04       0.08       0.15       0.16  
    Restructuring and asset impairment charges   0.07       0.01       0.10       0.10       0.11  
    Non-cash interest expense   0.02       0.02       0.01       0.06       0.06  
    Non-GAAP income tax adjustment   (0.03 )     (0.08 )     (0.19 )     (0.26 )     (0.57 )
    Net income per share, diluted (Non-GAAP) (2) $ 0.94     $ 0.65     $ 0.54     $ 2.37     $ 4.41  
                       
    Shares used in diluted per share calculation GAAP   138,128       139,914       139,205       140,004       143,290  
    Shares used in diluted per share calculation Non-GAAP   134,053       135,839       137,187       135,641       139,214  
                       
    Income-based government grants (GAAP) $ 68,040     $ 46,552     $ 32,887     $ 157,538     $ 53,470  
    Incremental cost for manufacturing in U.S.   (16,123 )     (11,396 )     (7,112 )     (38,351 )     (11,603 )
    Net IRA benefit (Non-GAAP) $ 51,917     $ 35,156     $ 25,775     $ 119,187     $ 41,867  
                       
    Net cash provided by operating activities (GAAP) $ 167,292     $ 170,138     $ 35,450     $ 513,693     $ 696,780  
    Purchases of property and equipment   (8,064 )     (8,533 )     (20,075 )     (33,604 )     (110,401 )
    Free cash flow (Non-GAAP) $ 159,228     $ 161,605     $ 15,375     $ 480,089     $ 586,379  
                                           
    (2)  Calculation of non-GAAP diluted net income per share for the year ended December 31, 2023 excludes convertible Notes due 2023 interest expense, net of tax of less than $0.1 million from non-GAAP net income.

    This press release was published by a CLEAR® Verified individual.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Key Tronic Corporation Announces Results For the Second Quarter of Fiscal Year 2025

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash., Feb. 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Key Tronic Corporation (Nasdaq: KTCC), a provider of electronic manufacturing services (EMS), today announced its results for the quarter ended December 28, 2024. These results are in line with the updated guidance provided on January 24, 2025.

    For the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, Key Tronic reported total revenue of $113.9 million, compared to $147.8 million in the same period of fiscal year 2024. The lower than anticipated revenue and earnings for the second quarter of fiscal year 2025 are primarily due to unexpected shortages for specific components managed by a large customer, lower-than-expected production during the holiday season, and reduced demand from certain customers which together lowered revenue by approximately $15 million from initial guidance for the quarter. For the first six months of fiscal year 2025, total revenue was $245.4 million, compared to $298.0 million in the same period of fiscal year 2024.

    Gross margins were 6.8% and operating margins were (1.0)% in the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, compared to 8.0% and 2.7%, respectively, in the same period of fiscal year 2024. The decline in margins for the second quarter of fiscal year 2025 primarily reflects the reduction of revenue. As previously announced, interest expense also included approximately $1.0 million in write-offs of unamortized loan fees related to refinancing the Company’s debt with a new lender.

    The net loss was $(4.9) million or $(0.46) per share for the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, compared to net income of $1.1 million or $0.10 per share for the same period of fiscal year 2024. For the first six months of fiscal year 2025, the net loss was $(3.8) million or $(0.35) per share, compared to net income of $1.4 million or $0.13 per share for the same period of fiscal year 2024.

    The adjusted net loss was $(4.1) million or $(0.38) per share for the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, compared to adjusted net income of $1.1 million or $0.10 per share for the same period of fiscal year 2024. The adjusted net loss was $(2.9) million or $(0.27) per share for first six months of fiscal year 2025, compared to adjusted net income of $1.2 million or $0.11 per share for the same period of fiscal year 2024. See “Non-GAAP Financial Measures,” below for additional information about adjusted net income and adjusted net income per share.

    “As we announced today, we’re planning to significantly increase production capacity in Arkansas and Vietnam in order to continue to benefit from the growing customer demand for rebalancing their contract manufacturing. We believe these initiatives should help mitigate the adverse impact and uncertainties surrounding the recently announced tariffs on goods manufactured in China and Mexico,” said Brett Larsen, President and CEO.

    “We are disappointed with the unexpected decline in revenue in the second quarter of fiscal 2025, however, we expect our revenue and earnings to improve in the third quarter of fiscal year 2025 as strategic initiatives undertaken in previous quarters come to fruition. We’re actively streamlining our international and domestic operations, with further headcount reductions to enhance efficiency, building on similar actions a year ago. We’re also pleased to see our inventory levels being more in line with current revenue levels and expect that these strategic changes will improve our overall profitability in the longer term.”  

    “At the same time, we continued to win new programs, such as aerospace systems and an energy resiliency technology program, which was recently announced. Once fully ramped, the latter program could generate annual revenue for us in excess of $60 million. We also closed on a long-term debt refinancing agreement during the quarter that expands available capital for growth. We believe Key Tronic remains well positioned for increased growth and profitability in coming periods.”

    The financial data presented for the second quarter of fiscal 2025 should be considered preliminary and could be subject to change, as the Company’s independent auditor has not completed their review procedures.

    Business Outlook

    Due to uncertainty in the economic and political environments related to the impact of recently announced potential tariffs, Key Tronic will not be issuing revenue or earnings guidance for the third quarter of fiscal year 2025.

    Conference Call

    Key Tronic will host a conference call to discuss its financial results at 2:00 PM Pacific (5:00 PM Eastern) today. A broadcast of the conference call will be available at www.keytronic.com under “Investor Relations” or by calling 888-394-8218 or +1-313-209-4906 (Access Code: 2254355). The Company will also reference accompanying slides that can be viewed with the webcast at www.keytronic.com under “Investor Relations”. A replay will be available at www.keytronic.com under “Investor Relations”.

    About Key Tronic

    Key Tronic is a leading contract manufacturer offering value-added design and manufacturing services from its facilities in the United States, Mexico, China and Vietnam. The Company provides its customers with full engineering services, materials management, worldwide manufacturing facilities, assembly services, in-house testing, and worldwide distribution. Its customers include some of the world’s leading original equipment manufacturers. For more information about Key Tronic visit: www.keytronic.com 

    Forward-Looking Statements

    Some of the statements in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to those including such words as aims, anticipates, believes, continues, estimates, expects, hopes, intends, plans, predicts, projects, targets, will, or would, similar verbs, or nouns corresponding to such verbs, which may be forward looking. Forward-looking statements also include other passages that are relevant to expected future events, performances, and actions or that can only be fully evaluated by events that will occur in the future. Forward-looking statements in this release include, without limitation, the Company’s statements regarding its expectations with respect to financial conditions and results, including revenue and earnings, cost savings from headcount reduction and the Mexican Peso exchange rate, demand for certain products and the effectiveness of some of its programs, business from customers and programs, and impacts from operational streamlining and efficiencies, including reductions in inventories. There are many factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted or projected in forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: the future of the global economic environment and its impact on our customers and suppliers; the success and timing of our expansion plans; the availability of components from the supply chain; the availability of a healthy workforce; the accuracy of suppliers’ and customers’ forecasts; development and success of customers’ programs and products; timing and effectiveness of ramping of new programs; success of new-product introductions; the risk of legal proceedings or governmental investigations relating to the previously reported financial statement restatements and related material weaknesses, the May 2024 cybersecurity incident and the subject of the internal investigation by the Company’s Audit Committee and related or other unrelated matters; acquisitions or divestitures of operations or facilities; technology advances; changes in pricing policies by the Company, its competitors, customers or suppliers; impact of new governmental legislation and regulation, including tax reform, tariffs and related activities, such trade negotiations and other risks; and other factors, risks, and uncertainties detailed from time to time in the Company’s SEC filings.

    Non-GAAP Financial Measures

    To supplement our consolidated financial statements, which are prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (GAAP), we use certain non-GAAP financial measures, adjusted net income and adjusted net income per share, diluted. We provide these non-GAAP financial measures because we believe they provide greater transparency related to our core operations and represent supplemental information used by management in its financial and operational decision making. We exclude (or include) certain items in our non-GAAP financial measures as we believe the net result is a measure of our core business. We believe this facilitates operating performance comparisons from period to period by eliminating potential differences caused by the existence and timing of certain income and expense items that would not otherwise be apparent on a GAAP basis. Non-GAAP performance measures should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, results prepared in accordance with GAAP. We strongly encourage investors and shareholders to review our financial statements and publicly-filed reports in their entirety and not to rely on any single financial measure. Our non-GAAP financial measures may be different from those reported by other companies. See the table below entitled “Reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures” for reconciliations of adjusted net income to the most directly comparable GAAP measure, which is GAAP net income, and the computation of adjusted net income per share, diluted.

             
    CONTACTS:   Tony Voorhees   Michael Newman
        Chief Financial Officer   Investor Relations
        Key Tronic Corporation   StreetConnect
        (509)-927-5345   (206) 729-3625
             

    KEY TRONIC CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES
    CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
    (In thousands, except per share amounts)
    (Unaudited)

      Three Months Ended   Six Months Ended
      December 28, 2024   December 30, 2023   December 28, 2024   December 30, 2023
    Net sales $ 113,853     $ 147,847     $ 245,411     $ 297,959  
    Cost of sales   106,147       136,084       224,402       275,334  
    Gross profit   7,706       11,763       21,009       22,625  
    Research, development and engineering expenses   2,320       1,758       4,609       3,999  
    Selling, general and administrative expenses   6,507       6,057       13,077       11,841  
    Gain on insurance proceeds, net of losses   —       —       —       (431 )
    Total operating expenses   8,827       7,815       17,686       15,409  
    Operating income (loss)   (1,121 )     3,948       3,323       7,216  
    Interest expense, net   3,904       2,961       7,167       5,972  
    Income (loss) before income taxes   (5,025 )     987       (3,844 )     1,244  
    Income tax benefit   (111 )     (97 )     (54 )     (175 )
    Net income (loss) $ (4,914 )   $ 1,084     $ (3,790 )   $ 1,419  
    Net income (loss) per share — Basic $ (0.46 )   $ 0.10     $ (0.35 )   $ 0.13  
    Weighted average shares outstanding — Basic   10,762       10,762       10,762       10,762  
    Net income (loss) per share — Diluted $ (0.46 )   $ 0.10     $ (0.35 )   $ 0.13  
    Weighted average shares outstanding — Diluted   10,762       10,889       10,762       10,889  
                                   

    KEY TRONIC CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES
    CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
    (In thousands)
    (Unaudited)

        December 28, 2024   June 29, 2024
    ASSETS        
    Current assets:        
    Cash and cash equivalents   $ 4,244     $ 4,752  
    Trade receivables, net of credit losses of $2,931 and $2,918     113,132       132,559  
    Contract assets     18,892       21,250  
    Inventories, net     100,709       105,099  
    Other, net of credit losses of $1,496 and $1,679     24,159       24,739  
    Total current assets     261,136       288,399  
    Property, plant and equipment, net     27,123       28,806  
    Operating lease right-of-use assets, net     13,829       15,416  
    Other assets:        
    Deferred income tax asset     19,287       17,376  
    Other     6,454       5,346  
    Total other assets     25,741       22,722  
    Total assets   $ 327,829     $ 355,343  
    LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY        
    Current liabilities:        
    Accounts payable   $ 63,585     $ 79,394  
    Accrued compensation and vacation     6,218       6,510  
    Current portion of long-term debt     5,063       3,123  
    Other     18,904       15,149  
    Total current liabilities     93,770       104,176  
    Long-term liabilities:        
    Long-term debt, net     106,020       116,383  
    Operating lease liabilities     8,429       10,312  
    Deferred income tax liability     9       263  
    Other long-term obligations     114       219  
    Total long-term liabilities     114,572       127,177  
    Total liabilities     208,342       231,353  
    Shareholders’ equity:        
    Common stock, no par value—shares authorized 25,000; issued and outstanding 10,762 and 10,762 shares, respectively     47,367       47,284  
    Retained earnings     73,131       76,921  
    Accumulated other comprehensive loss     (1,011 )     (215 )
    Total shareholders’ equity     119,487       123,990  
    Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity   $ 327,829     $ 355,343  
             

    KEY TRONIC CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES
    Reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures
    (In thousands, except per share amounts)
    (Unaudited)

      Three Months Ended   Six Months Ended
      December 28, 2024   December 30, 2023   December 28, 2024   December 30, 2023
    GAAP net income (loss) $ (4,914 )   $ 1,084     $ (3,790 )   $ 1,419  
    Gain on insurance proceeds (net of losses)   —       —       —       (431 )
    Stock-based compensation expense   16       53       83       112  
    Write-off of unamortized loan fees   1,012       —       1,012       —  
    Income tax effect of non-GAAP adjustments (1)   (206 )     (11 )     (219 )     64  
    Adjusted net income (loss): $ (4,092 )   $ 1,126     $ (2,914 )   $ 1,164  
                   
    Adjusted net income (loss) per share — non-GAAP Diluted $ (0.38 )   $ 0.10     $ (0.27 )   $ 0.11  
    Weighted average shares outstanding — Diluted   10,762       10,889       10,762       10,889  
                   
    (1) Income tax effects are calculated using an effective tax rate of 20%, which approximates the statutory GAAP tax rate for the presented periods.        

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Key Tronic Corporation Plans to Expand Operations in Arkansas and Vietnam

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash., Feb. 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Key Tronic Corporation (Nasdaq KTCC), a world class provider of manufacturing and design engineering services, today announced that it plans to significantly increase production capacity in Arkansas and Vietnam in order to continue to benefit from the growing customer demand for rebalancing their contract manufacturing. This expansion is also expected to help mitigate the adverse impact and uncertainties surrounding the recently announced tariffs on goods manufactured in China and Mexico.

    In Arkansas, the Company has signed a new lease to significantly increase the size of its current manufacturing footprint by June 2025. In Vietnam, Key Tronic has ample space in its current facility and plans to double its manufacturing capacity by September 2025 with a significant investment in capital equipment.

    “Our customers are very excited about our plans to increase our production capacity capabilities in the US and in Vietnam,” said Brett Larsen, President and CEO of Key Tronic Corporation. “These initiatives reflect the longstanding trend to nearshore production away from China, and may also help address the potential adverse impact of tariff increases. Our US-based production provides customers with outstanding flexibility, engineering support, and ease of communications, and our Vietnam-based production offers the high-quality, low-cost choice that was associated with China in the past. In the coming months, we’ll have more to say about these expansions.”

    About Key Tronic

    Key Tronic is a leading design engineering and contract manufacturer offering value-added design and manufacturing services from its facilities in the United States, Mexico, China and Vietnam. Key Tronic provides its customers full engineering services, materials management, worldwide manufacturing facilities, assembly services, in-house testing, and worldwide distribution. Its customers include some of the world’s leading original equipment manufacturers. For more information about Key Tronic visit: www.keytronic.com.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    Some of the statements in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including Key Tronic’s opportunities and its partnership, the potential success of Key Tronic and the customer, and related revenues. Forward-looking statements include all passages containing verbs such as aims, anticipates, believes, estimates, expects, hopes, intends, plans, predicts, projects or targets or nouns corresponding to such verbs.  Forward-looking statements also include other passages that are primarily relevant to expected future events or revenue or that can only be fully evaluated by events that will occur in the future.  There are many factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted or projected in forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: the success and timing of our expansion plans; the success and timing of ramping; availability and timing and receipt of critical parts or components; demand from customers and sales channels; the future of the global economic environment and its impact on our customers and suppliers; the availability of a healthy workforce; the accuracy of suppliers’ and customers’ forecasts; development and success of customers’ programs and products; success of new-product introductions; the risk of legal proceedings or governmental investigations relating to the previously reported financial statement restatements and related material weaknesses, the May 2024 cybersecurity incident and the subject of the internal investigation by the Company’s Audit Committee and related or other unrelated matters; acquisitions or divestitures of operations or facilities; technology advances; changes in pricing policies by the Company, its competitors, customers or suppliers; impact of new governmental legislation and regulation, including tax reform, tariffs and related activities, such trade negotiations and other risks; and other factors, risks, and uncertainties detailed from time to time in the Company’s SEC filings.

             
    CONTACTS:   Anthony G. Voorhees   Michael Newman
        Chief Financial Officer   Investor Relations
        Key Tronic Corporation   StreetConnect
        (509) 927-5345   (206) 729-3625
             

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Security: From Milton to the Navy: Hospital Corpsman Xihang Cong’s Journey of Service and Success

    Source: United States Navy (Medical)

    U.S. Navy Story by Cmdr. Lauren McKinley

    Gulfport, Miss. – Hospital Corpsman Second Class Xihang Cong, a naturalized American citizen, continues to work every day in the Navy Reserve to achieve the phenomenal success she could only dream about as a teenager who settled in Milton, Florida with her mother and step-father.

    Cong is a 2021 graduate of Pace High School, who enlisted in the United States Navy under a Training and Administration of the Reserves (TAR) contract, providing full-time support to the Navy Reserve. She currently serves as the Assistant Leading Petty Officer of Navy Reserve Center (NRC) Gulfport’s medical department. She is responsible for the medical and dental readiness of the 300 Selected Reserve Sailors assigned to 15 reserve units who drill in Gulfport.

    Originally born and raised in Jilin, China by her grandparents, she credits her success to the value of a strong work ethic instilled at a young age by her native culture, which was uniquely blended with an American sense of independence, self-sufficiency, and persistence when she immigrated as a young woman.

    Reflecting on her adolescence, Cong discussed her challenges in assimilating, “My mom and my stepdad had no idea how to counsel me on how to fit into my new school or what steps to take to pursue a new career. I had to rely on myself, but I listened to and observed others and learned a lot from my peers and teachers at school.”

    Petty Officer Cong settled in Milton, Florida because her stepfather, a veteran of the British Royal Navy, works as a defense contractor servicing the maintenance requirements of the aviation squadrons in Naval Air Station Whiting Field. She was inspired to participate in the Pace High School Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) and her JROTC unit competed in and won multiple drill competitions in the Gulf Coast. Discipline was instilled in her from a young age, later inspiring her to enlist as a hospital corpsman with aspirations to earn her Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She currently attends Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College where she is earning her associates degree.

    Her educational background serves her well in the fast-paced and chaotic environment of a typical drill weekend at NRC Gulfport. Gulfport is the homeport of the Atlantic Seabees, including the Seventh Naval Construction Regiment and Naval Construction Battalions Fourteen and Two Seven. Reserve Seabees comprise approximately one third of the Navy Reserve Center’s constituency, and Cong leads her department in ensuring all Sailors in these units maintain individual medical readiness as a prerequisite for mobilization readiness to remote locations world-wide.

    Since her accession in 2022, she has planned four Reserve Health Readiness Program events and Navy medical provider support for over 30 drill weekends to ensure her Sailors have access to medical care at all times. She and her team have successfully screened over 50 individual augmentees for mobilization and her department has earned phenomenal marks in two consecutive mass activation exercises.

    Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore, chief of the Navy Reserve and commander, Navy Reserve Force, highlights the importance of posturing the Reserve Force for warfighting, “Our Sailors, operational units, and readiness units of action are our weapons system. We are prepared for the mission, ready to fight and win decisively on Day One. Our Training and Administration of the Reserves (TAR) community will ensure our Navy Reserve Activities (NRA)…are able to mobilize the entire Force within 30 days. NRA leaders will maintain 80% warfighting readiness across the Force.”

    To that end, Cong’s diligent efforts and leadership have led Navy Reserve Center Gulfport to achieve an astounding 96% Total Force medical readiness for consecutive years. Cong learned very quickly in this fast-paced environment and discussed her proudest accomplishment as having achieved the rank of petty officer second class in less than three years of service. As a newly minted second class petty officer, Cong believes in the power of mentorship and has now embraced her role in training both active and reserve component junior Sailors.

    Cong still remembers her hometown after her meteoric rise, attributing her success to the welcoming atmosphere at her high school and JROTC unit. Specifically, she wants to recognize her English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher, Mrs. Colvin Kirti, for counseling her on how to achieve her goals by breaking them down into smaller and achievable action steps.

    Having served her career dedicated to the readiness of her reserve Sailors, Petty Officer Cong discussed her thoughts on the Navy Reserve’s Strategic Advantage, “The reserve Sailors are only here for two days of the month. We [the staff] have to track and be ready to administer exams and vaccinations. It is our responsibility to help them out because they have full time (civilian) jobs.”

    Cong’s story is the embodiment of the American dream. She is an excellent example of a citizen Sailor who has a passion for serving her new country while balancing the demands of off-duty education to further accelerate her career. Now seeing her new proteges excelling and emulating her work ethic, she is proud to give back to the country and the Navy who has given so much to her. She concluded, “It is an honor.”

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump’s tariff gambit: As allies prepare to strike back, a costly trade war looms

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Bedassa Tadesse, Professor of Economics, University of Minnesota Duluth

    On Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a plan to slap steep tariffs on imports from key American trading partners – 25% on goods from Mexico and Canada and 10% on imports from China. His stated reason? To curb illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

    Both Mexico and Canada managed to buy some time. After urgent phone calls with Trump on Feb. 3, their leaders each secured a one-month reprieve. But Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum and Canada’s Justin Trudeau also made it clear to their U.S. counterpart: If these tariffs go through, they’ll hit back with their own trade restrictions. The world is watching the opening moves of what could become another costly trade war.

    As a professor of economics, I can explain why this poses significant risks to the U.S. economy and American consumers. Economic theory suggests that tariffs distort market efficiency, raising production costs while limiting consumer choice and increasing prices.

    Who really pays for tariffs?

    While politicians often frame tariffs as a way to punish other countries, they actually hit domestic consumers and businesses hardest. Whether they’re facing higher grocery bills or disruptions in manufacturing, Americans will feel the strain.

    When tariffs are imposed, companies must either absorb the additional costs – cutting into profits and potentially threatening jobs – or pass these costs to consumers through higher prices. Small businesses operating on thin profit margins are particularly vulnerable, as many lack the resources to quickly switch suppliers.

    Tariffs trigger costly retaliation

    Worse yet, such measures commonly set off a cycle of retaliation. During past trade disputes involving the U.S., affected nations have responded with counter-tariffs on American products, including textiles, steel and agricultural goods. Such retaliatory efforts have led to sharp declines in U.S. exports.

    During the first Trump administration, for example, China imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural exports. As a result, the U.S. farmers lost billions of dollars, and the U.S. spent billions in government aid to offset those losses. China has already issued new tariffs on imports of U.S. goods and export controls on some of its exports to the U.S. to retaliate for Trump’s current move.

    History also shows that trade wars are self-defeating. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which imposed tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods, prompted swift retaliation from trading partners and contributed to deepening the Great Depression.

    Modern trade wars have other consequences

    Modern trade wars hit closer to home than most Americans realize. The recent tariff threat against Colombia reveals why. In 2023, Colombian farmers supplied US$1.14 billion worth of fresh-cut flowers to U.S. florists. In a near-crisis that lasted a weekend, Trump threatened to slap steep tariffs on the South American nation, right when flower shops across America were stocking up for one of their busiest seasons: Valentine’s Day.

    The same tariffs would have hit Colombian coffee too, affecting everything from neighborhood cafes to grocery store prices. This shows how modern trade disputes can instantly disrupt the everyday purchases Americans make.

    Other key trading partners, including the European Union, have also come into the crosshairs. On Jan. 30, 2025, the president issued a stark warning to Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – the so-called BRICS nations – threatening 100% tariffs if they continued efforts to reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar as their reserve currency.

    These threats can do more than alienate strategic partners; they risk accelerating dedollarization – pushing nations to develop alternative financial systems that weaken U.S. influence in global trade.

    A more effective approach

    Beyond causing immediate economic pain, constant tariff threats risk damaging America’s credibility as a reliable trading partner. The U.S. helped establish the rules-based international trading system, but regular tariff threats erode global trust and push trading partners to seek alternatives to the U.S. market.

    The reality is clear: No country in the modern era has successfully used tariffs to grow its economy or improve the well-being of its people. The countries that are most dependent on tariff revenues for their national budgets are among the world’s poorest and least developed economies.

    I believe the path to maintaining America’s economic leadership lies in embracing a smarter, more strategic trade policy – one that builds alliances instead of breaking them. A strategy that prioritizes negotiation, fosters innovation and enhances competitiveness – and that doesn’t rely on protectionist tactics more often used by developing nations – would strengthen cooperation and stability, ensuring long-term economic prosperity.

    Bedassa Tadesse does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Trump’s tariff gambit: As allies prepare to strike back, a costly trade war looms – https://theconversation.com/trumps-tariff-gambit-as-allies-prepare-to-strike-back-a-costly-trade-war-looms-248980

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump’s opening tariff salvo will hurt US consumers − following through on Canada, Mexico threats will increase the price pain

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Jason Reed, Associate Teaching Professor of Finance, University of Notre Dame

    If U.S. voters reelected Donald Trump hoping for relief from higher prices, his recent threats to impose tariffs on America’s three largest trade partners might make them think again.

    On Saturday, Feb. 1, Trump announced 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on China, which he said would take effect on Tuesday, Feb. 4. While markets braced for the news to some degree, they still saw a steep premarket sell-off on Monday, Feb. 3, followed by morning volatility.

    While Canada and Mexico negotiated monthlong reprieves on Monday, the new tariffs on China went into effect as expected Tuesday, Feb. 4. And while the ultimate shape of Trump’s tariff policy remains to be seen, the president warned that American consumers could feel “some pain” as a result.

    Given my training as an economist and finance professor, I think Trump could be right on that score. In fact, if the tariffs go into effect, they could spell disaster for the Federal Reserve’s inflation reduction efforts.

    From grocery stores to homes

    U.S. consumers might be surprised to find out that almost every economic sector could be affected by this opening salvo of tariffs, should they go ahead in March. Imports from Mexico and Canada reached close to US$1 trillion in 2024, almost double the amount the U.S. imports from China.

    The U.S. is particularly reliant on Mexico for fresh fruits and vegetables, and on Canada for lumber. So if the tariffs go into effect, Americans who have been waiting for home prices to ease may have to continue waiting, as tariffs on lumber and other building materials could worsen the affordable-housing crunch. And let’s not even talk about avocado prices.

    Meanwhile, the 10% tariffs on Chinese goods will likely boost the price of electronics, and China has already imposed retaliatory measures. Trump has also proposed 25% tariffs on Taiwan and its semiconductor industry, in an attempt to push Taiwanese companies to invest more in U.S. manufacturing. If that tariff were to go into effect, prices for U.S. consumers would be even higher.

    A tax by any other name …

    Tariffs are an import tax. They’re passed through the supply chain in the form of higher prices and are eventually paid by consumers. Traditionally, governments have used tariffs as a fiscal tool to encourage businesses and consumers to move away from foreign-made products and support domestic businesses instead.

    In theory, new tariffs could encourage foreign businesses to invest in the U.S. and make more stuff on American soil. Unfortunately, domestic manufacturing has seen a systemic decline since the 1980s, resulting in lower prices for consumers but severely limiting U.S.-produced products. In the short term, at least, import taxes on Canadian, Mexican and Chinese products would ultimately be paid by U.S. consumers.

    Although this round of tariff threats may seem arbitrary to some, the Trump administration says it considers tariffs deeply intertwined with national security concerns. Stephen Miran, Trump’s pick to chair the president’s Council of Economic Advisers, has laid out a path for Trump’s tariff plan, which he says is aimed at putting American industry on fairer ground against the rest of the world.

    In the long term, it’s unclear whether Trump’s threatened trade war will bring domestic manufacturing back to the U.S. and start a new industrial renaissance. In the meantime, American consumers will likely be stuck holding the bag.

    Jason Reed does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Trump’s opening tariff salvo will hurt US consumers − following through on Canada, Mexico threats will increase the price pain – https://theconversation.com/trumps-opening-tariff-salvo-will-hurt-us-consumers-following-through-on-canada-mexico-threats-will-increase-the-price-pain-248991

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Ministry of Coal Issued Vesting Orders for 7 Coal Mines Under Commercial Coal Mine Auctions

    Source: Government of India (2)

    Posted On: 04 FEB 2025 9:49PM by PIB Delhi

    The Nominated Authority, Ministry of Coal has issued the Vesting Orders for 7 Coal Mines under commercial coal mine auctions today. The Coal Mine Development and Production Agreements (CMDPA) for these mines were signed on December 05,2024.  

    The mines for which vesting orders has been signed are Gawa (East), Gare Palma IV/5, Marwatola South, New Patrapara South, Sarai East (South), Bartap(Revised) and Kerendari BC North Coal Mines. 5 mines are partially explored coal mines, and 2 mines are fully explored coal mines. The PRC(Peak Rated Capacity) of these coal mines are ~ 13.10 MTPA and is having ~3,308 MT of Geological Reserves. These mines are expected to generate an Annual Revenue of ~Rs. 1,327 crores calculated on the basis of PRC and will attract Capital Investment of ~Rs. 1,965 crores. It will provide employment to ~17,500 people both directly and indirectly.

    With the vesting of these coal mines, vesting/ allocation orders have been issued for 107 coal mines under commercial coal mine auction with cumulative PRC of ~246.60 MTPA. This will result in generating Annual Revenue of ~Rs. 34,000 crores and will generate employment for ~3,33,000 people both directly and indirectly.

    *****

    Shuhaib T

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    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Statement by Raksha Mantri on India-China Border and Patrolling Restoration

    Source: Government of India (2)

    Posted On: 04 FEB 2025 5:17PM by PIB Delhi

    Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh on February 04, 2025 issued a tweet regarding certain remarks made in Parliament by Shri Rahul Gandhi about the statement of the Chief of the Army Staff on the situation along the India-China border.

    Shri Rajnath Singh stated that the Army Chief’s observations pertained to the temporary disturbance of traditional patrolling patterns by both sides along the border. He further emphasised that these patrolling practices have now been restored to their traditional pattern following the recent disengagement efforts. These details were previously shared in Parliament.

    The Raksha Mantri also clarified that the words attributed to the Army Chief in the parliamentary debate were never stated by him at any time. He underscored the importance of accuracy and responsible discourse on matters concerning national security.

    Shri Rajnath Singh reiterated that with respect to territorial issues, it is well documented that 38,000 sq. km of Indian territory in Aksai Chin has been under Chinese control since the 1962 conflict. Furthermore, 5,180 sq. km of territory was ceded by Pakistan to China in 1963. These historical facts remain an integral part of India’s territorial discourse.

    ****** 

    VK/SR/KB

    (Release ID: 2099676) Visitor Counter : 17

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: OpenAI says DeepSeek ‘inappropriately’ copied ChatGPT – but it’s facing copyright claims too

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lea Frermann, Senior Lecturer in Natural Language Processing, The University of Melbourne, The University of Melbourne

    TA Design/Shutterstock

    Until a few weeks ago, few people in the Western world had heard of a small Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company known as DeepSeek. But on January 20, it captured global attention when it released a new AI model called R1.

    R1 is a “reasoning” model, meaning it works through tasks step by step and details its working process to a user. It is a more advanced version of DeepSeek’s V3 model, which was released in December. DeepSeek’s new offering is almost as powerful as rival company OpenAI’s most advanced AI model o1, but at a fraction of the cost.

    Within days, DeepSeek’s app surpassed ChatGPT in new downloads and set stock prices of tech companies in the United States tumbling. It also led OpenAI to claim that its Chinese rival had effectively pilfered some of the crown jewels from OpenAI’s models to build its own.

    In a statement to the New York Times, the company said:

    We are aware of and reviewing indications that DeepSeek may have inappropriately distilled our models, and will share information as we know more. We take aggressive, proactive countermeasures to protect our technology and will continue working closely with the US government to protect the most capable models being built here.

    The Conversation approached DeepSeek for comment, but it did not respond.

    But even if DeepSeek copied – or, in scientific parlance, “distilled” – at least some of ChatGPT to build R1, it’s worth remembering that OpenAI also stands accused of disrespecting intellectual property while developing its models.

    What is distillation?

    Model distillation is a common machine learning technique in which a smaller “student model” is trained on predictions of a larger and more complex “teacher model”.

    When completed, the student may be nearly as good as the teacher but will represent the teacher’s knowledge more effectively and compactly.

    To do so, it is not necessary to access the inner workings of the teacher. All one needs to pull off this trick is to ask the teacher model enough questions to train the student.

    This is what OpenAI claims DeepSeek has done: queried OpenAI’s o1 at a massive scale and used the observed outputs to train DeepSeek’s own, more efficient models.

    A fraction of the resources

    DeepSeek claims that both the training and usage of R1 required only a fraction of the resources needed to develop their competitors’ best models.

    There are reasons to be sceptical of some of the company’s marketing hype – for example, a new independent report suggests the hardware spend on R1 was as high as US$500 million. But even so, DeepSeek was still built very quickly and efficiently compared with rival models.

    This might be because DeepSeek distilled OpenAI’s output. However, there is currently no method to prove this conclusively. One method that is in the early stages of development is watermarking AI outputs. This adds invisible patterns to the outputs, similar to those applied to copyrighted images. There are various ways to do this in theory, but none is effective or efficient enough to have made it into practice.

    There are other reasons that help explain DeepSeek’s success, such as the company’s deep and challenging technical work.

    The technical advances made by DeepSeek included taking advantage of less powerful but cheaper AI chips (also called graphical processing units, or GPUs).

    DeepSeek had no choice but to adapt after the US has banned firms from exporting the most powerful AI chips to China.

    While Western AI companies can buy these powerful units, the export ban forced Chinese companies to innovate to make the best use of cheaper alternatives.

    The US has banned the export of the most powerful computer chips to China.
    Nor Gal/Shutterstock

    A series of lawsuits

    OpenAI’s terms of use explicitly state nobody may use its AI models to develop competing products. However, its own models are trained on massive datasets scraped from the web. These datasets contained a substantial amount of copyrighted material, which OpenAI says it is entitled to use on the basis of “fair use”:

    Training AI models using publicly available internet materials is fair use, as supported by long-standing and widely accepted precedents. We view this principle as fair to creators, necessary for innovators, and critical for US competitiveness.

    This argument will be tested in court. Newspapers, musicians, authors and other creatives have filed a series of lawsuits against OpenAI on the grounds of copyright infringement.

    Of course, this is quite distinct to what OpenAI accuses DeepSeek of doing. Nevertheless OpenAI isn’t attracting much sympathy for its claim that DeepSeek illegitimately harvested its model output.

    The war of words and lawsuits is an artefact of how the rapid advance of AI has outpaced the development of clear legal rules for the industry. And while these recent events might reduce the power of AI incumbents, much hinges on the outcome of the various ongoing legal disputes.

    Shaking up the global conversation

    DeepSeek has shown it is possible to develop state-of-the-art models cheaply and efficiently. Whether they can compete with OpenAI on a level playing field remains to be seen.

    Over the weekend, OpenAI attempted to demonstrate its supremacy by publicly releasing its most advanced consumer model, o3-mini.

    OpenAI claims this model substantially outperforms even its own previous market-leading version, o1, and is the “most cost-efficient model in our reasoning series”.

    These developments herald an era of increased choice for consumers, with a diversity of AI models on the market. This is good news for users: competitive pressures will make models cheaper to use.

    And the benefits extend further.

    Training and using these models places a massive strain on global energy consumption. As these models become more ubiquitous, we all benefit from improvements to their efficiency.

    DeepSeek’s rise certainly marks new territory for building models more cheaply and efficiently. Perhaps it will also shake up the global conversation on how AI companies should collect and use their training data.

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. OpenAI says DeepSeek ‘inappropriately’ copied ChatGPT – but it’s facing copyright claims too – https://theconversation.com/openai-says-deepseek-inappropriately-copied-chatgpt-but-its-facing-copyright-claims-too-248863

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: USAid shutdown isn’t just a humanitarian issue – it’s a threat to American interests

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Natasha Lindstaedt, Professor in the Department of Government, University of Essex

    The website for the United States Agency for International Development (USAid), the world’s biggest aid donor, has gone dark.

    Donald Trump’s new administration plans to place the autonomous agency under the control of the state department. The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has now declared himself as head of the agency to “align” it with Trump’s priorities.

    Several days ago, on January 26, Rubio said: “Every dollar we spend, every programme we fund, and every policy we pursue must be justified with the answer to three simple questions: Does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?”

    But the decision to freeze USAid, which is part of Trump’s policy to put “America first”, places everyone at risk. Organisations that provide vital care for vulnerable people around the world are being forced to halt operations. The boss of one such organisation said: “People will die.”

    Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a close adviser to Trump, is playing an active role in the destruction of USAid. He has claimed – without providing any evidence – that the agency is “beyond repair”. “It needs to die,” Musk wrote on X.

    Musk, who leads the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), is gearing to cut trillions of dollars from the US budget. However, by seeing cuts to USAid as a solution, Trump and Musk are catering to an audience that has a fundamental misunderstanding about US foreign aid more generally.

    Surveys demonstrate that Americans believe 25% of the federal budget is spent on foreign aid. In reality, the US gives about 0.2% of its gross national product (GNP), the total value of goods and services produced by a country, to foreign aid – or less than 1% of its federal budget. This is far below the UN target of 0.7% of GNP.

    But, despite this, USAid provided 42% of all humanitarian aid globally in 2024. This included about US$72 billion (£58 billion) in aid in a wide range of areas, from helping people access clean water, sanitation, healthcare and energy, to providing disaster relief, shelter and food.

    USAid also delivered programmes aimed at supporting democracy, civil society, economic development and landmine clearance in war zones, as well as working to prevent organised crime, terrorism and conflict. The gutting of USAid will have a profound impact on human security.

    The Trump administration has granted a waiver for the continuation of “life-saving humanitarian assistance”. This includes a programme that helps 20 million people living with HIV/Aids access anti-retroviral drugs. But there are questions about the future of US Aids organisation, the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar).

    To date, over 43 million people worldwide have died from Aids. But one of the biggest success stories of the George W. Bush administration was its launch of Pepfar in 2003. The World Health Organization says that Pepfar, working in partnership with USAid, has saved 26 million lives.

    Pepfar employs more than 250,000 doctors, nurses and other staff across 55 countries. One of the functions that USAid performs is ordering and procuring the drugs used by Pepfar to keep the millions infected with HIV alive. It remains to be seen whether federal payments to USAid’s locally run partner organisations will be stopped.

    We are, in any case, likely to see an uptick in other infectious diseases. USAid had been working to prevent current outbreaks of mpox and Marburg virus from spreading beyond Africa. It is not clear what the future is for these programmes.

    And USAid’s work with malaria, a disease that kills about 450,000 children under the age of five each year, is facing uncertainty. From 2000 to 2021, USAid’s work helped to prevent 7.6 million deaths from malaria. Also in doubt is USAid’s work to develop and implement the malaria vaccine, which was considered a gamechanger for combating the disease.

    At the same time, USAid responds to an average of 65 natural disasters each year. In 2024 alone, it responded to 84 separate crises across 66 different countries. The government is letting go all of the staff important for implementing these types of programmes.

    Dozens of senior USAid officials have been placed on leave, while contractors working on the agency’s programmes have been furloughed. Up to 3,000 aid workers in Washington DC could reportedly be laid off this week.

    What Trump’s team misunderstand is that the work of USAid is also vital for preserving American interests. China, which has poured more than US$1 trillion of assistance into infrastructure projects in Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America since 2013, will now be given an opportunity to exert more influence around the world. The void in US aid is a gift for China in the battle for soft power.

    White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, lists some of what she calls the ‘insane priorities’ that USAid has been spending money on.

    Global aid sector in disarray

    Foreign aid relies on certainty and transparency about the future of aid programmes. But the Trump administration has offered little clarity while US foreign aid programmes are all being reviewed. One aid organisation referred to the situation as an “absolute dumpster fire” due to the uncertainty.

    There have already been reports of total confusion in health clinics previously supported by USAid, which were shut down without warning. Africa will probably be the region most negatively affected. Local workers in healthcare-related projects on the continent will lose their jobs, while nurses, doctors and healthcare workers across clinics will be unable to continue their vital work.

    The Democrats have claimed that Trump does not have the legal authority to eradicate a congressionally funded independent agency. They have said court challenges are already in motion and have pledged to try to block approval of Trump’s state department nominations until the shutdown is reversed.

    Trump did try to cut US foreign aid during his first term, but Congress refused. He then tried – and ultimately failed – to freeze the flow of aid appropriated by Congress. This time, Trump is not bothering to play by the rules.

    Natasha Lindstaedt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. USAid shutdown isn’t just a humanitarian issue – it’s a threat to American interests – https://theconversation.com/usaid-shutdown-isnt-just-a-humanitarian-issue-its-a-threat-to-american-interests-248939

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The UK would be lucky to avoid US tariffs – but a global trade war would hurt everyone

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Renaud Foucart, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster University

    Below the Sky/Shutterstock

    The first weeks of the Donald Trump’s administration have been marked by a flurry of announcements and U-turns on US trade policy.

    One of the first decrees centred on Trump’s favourite word: tariffs. He announced that US consumers and businesses would be taxed an extra 25% when they bought Canadian or Mexican products. (Canadian oil got off more lightly, with a 10% tariff.)

    But because this is Donald Trump we’re talking about, it later emerged that none of this was actually happening, for now. It might be next month, or later, or maybe not at all.

    However, US residents definitely face an additional 10% on the cost of products from China. There is also a plan for a 100% tax on semiconductors from Taiwan.

    And President Trump announced new import taxes will “definitely happen” on products from the European Union. If these do ever come to pass, it’s possible there may be a better deal for the UK.

    The reason for the possible Great British exemption from new US import taxes is that the stated goal of these taxes is to reduce the US trade deficit. This deficit refers to the fact that the US buys much more from the rest of the world than the rest of the world buys from it.

    And, depending on how we measure the financial flows coming in and out of tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands, the UK is one of the few countries in a position to make the case that it actually has a trade deficit with the US (the UK buys more from the US than the US buys from it).

    What about consumers?

    Being able to avoid new US tariffs would be very good news for the UK. If the US imposed import taxes on UK products and services, it would be bad for their consumers, who end up paying more. But it would also be bad for UK industry. Moreover, the UK would likely retaliate and tax US products, ultimately hurting British consumers as well.

    In theory, the UK miraculously escaping new US import taxes might even mean it indirectly benefits from a trade war between the US and the EU. If the UK can sell and buy more cheaply to both sides while they tax each other, it becomes more competitive. The UK would also get its imports more cheaply, and international businesses may want to establish subsidiaries in the UK.

    It is interesting to imagine a world in which a medium-sized, free trade supporting country like the UK ends up the winner of a global commercial war between its two most important trading partners.

    Things are not that simple however. Research shows that a major impact of tariffs is changes in global supply chains.

    As the UK has learned the hard way with Brexit, modern supply chains are increasingly interconnected. British exports are typically made with components from the European continent, which are themselves made with Chinese inputs.

    Additional costs anywhere in the chain result in more expensive products. Moreover, it is not clear that UK products made with EU and Chinese components would be exempt from US import tax.

    Disruption to supply chains could force up the cost of UK exports.
    Peter Titmuss/Shutterstock

    This is a global problem. For every final product a UK consumer ends up buying, there are many firms trying to source the best possible components and materials to make it with. If the US levies a 100% tax on chips and semiconductors from Taiwan, this means that products from the US tech industry will become more expensive for UK firms to use. This is even more pertinent given that China has retaliated to the new 10% US tax on its products by limiting the export of metals the US uses to produce its own chips.

    In this way it is easy to underestimate how sensitive supply chains are to small shocks, and what the butterfly effect of a trade war between two other countries might be on products bought and sold in the UK. So, while the UK would definitely be better off not being subject to US taxes, the main focus should be on helping to avoid global trade wars.

    How to do this is not clear, because no one seems to understand what Trump really wants from his tariffs. One theory is that he wants to pass for a madman and bully other countries into committing to buy more US-manufactured products.

    Or, in the case of Europe, to increase military spending by buying more US military equipment. In that case, tariffs would be short-lived and the impact limited. It will simply increase the incentives for international firms not to depend too much on the US.

    Or perhaps Trump really has no idea what he is doing, seemingly pursuing the two opposing goals of keeping domestic prices low while attempting to reduce its trade imbalance with ever-increasing import taxes. In that case, the consequences for consumers all over the world would be very bad. This is in part because of the effect on supply chains, but also because when the US economy is in bad shape the entire world suffers.

    Renaud Foucart does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. The UK would be lucky to avoid US tariffs – but a global trade war would hurt everyone – https://theconversation.com/the-uk-would-be-lucky-to-avoid-us-tariffs-but-a-global-trade-war-would-hurt-everyone-248963

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Putting DeepSeek to the test: how its performance compares against other AI tools

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Simon Thorne, Senior Lecturer in Computing and ​Information Systems, Cardiff Metropolitan University

    Mojahid Mottakin / Shutterstock

    China’s new DeepSeek Large Language Model (LLM) has disrupted the US-dominated market, offering a relatively high-performance chatbot model at significantly lower cost.

    The reduced cost of development and lower subscription prices compared with US AI tools contributed to American chip maker Nvidia losing US$600 billion (£480 billion) in market value over one day. Nvidia makes the computer chips used to train the majority of LLMs, the underlying technology used in ChatGPT and other AI chatbots. DeepSeek uses cheaper Nvidia H800 chips over the more expensive state-of-the-art versions.

    ChatGPT developer OpenAI reportedly spent somewhere between US$100 million and US$1 billion on the development of a very recent version of its product called o1. In contrast, DeepSeek accomplished its training in just two months at a cost of US$5.6 million using a series of clever innovations.

    But just how well does DeepSeek’s AI chatbot, R1, compare with other, similar AI tools on performance?

    DeepSeek claims its models perform comparably to OpenAI’s offerings, even exceeding the o1 model in certain benchmark tests. However, benchmarks that use Massive Multitask Language Understanding (MMLU) tests evaluate knowledge across multiple subjects using multiple choice questions. Many LLMs are trained and optimised for such tests, making them unreliable as true indicators of real-world performance.

    An alternative methodology for the objective evaluation of LLMs uses a set of tests developed by researchers at Cardiff Metropolitan, Bristol and Cardiff universities – known collectively as the Knowledge Observation Group (KOG). These tests probe LLMs’ ability to mimic human language and knowledge through questions that require implicit human understanding to answer. The core tests are kept secret, to avoid LLM companies training their models for these tests.

    KOG deployed public tests inspired by work by Colin Fraser, a data scientist at Meta, to evaluate DeepSeek against other LLMs. The following results were observed:

    The tests used to produce this table are “adversarial” in nature. In other words, they are designed to be “hard” and to test LLMs in way that are not sympathetic to how they are designed. This means the performance of these models in this test is likely to be different to their performance in mainstream benchmarking tests.

    DeepSeek scored 5.5 out of 6, outperforming OpenAI’s o1 – its advanced reasoning (known as “chain-of-thought”) model – as well as ChatGPT-4o, the free version of ChatGPT. But Deepseek was marginally outperformed by Anthropic’s ClaudeAI and OpenAI’s o1 mini, both of which scored a perfect 6/6. It’s interesting that o1 underperformed against its “smaller” counterpart, o1 mini.

    DeepThink R1 – a chain-of-thought AI tool made by DeepSeek – underperformed in comparison to DeepSeek with a score of 3.5.

    This result shows how competitive DeepSeek’s chatbot already is, beating OpenAI’s flagship models. It is likely to spur further development for DeepSeek, which now has a strong foundation to build upon. However, the Chinese tech company does have one serious problem the other LLMs do not: censorship.

    Censorship challenges

    Despite its strong performance and popularity, DeepSeek has faced criticism over its responses to politically sensitive topics in China. For instance, prompts related to Tiananmen Square, Taiwan, Uyghur Muslims and democratic movements are met with the response: “Sorry, that is beyond my current scope.”

    But this issue is not necessarily unique to DeepSeek, and the potential for political influence and censorship in LLMs more generally is a growing concern. The announcement of Donald Trump’s US$500 billion Stargate LLM project, involving OpenAI, Nvidia, Oracle, Microsoft, and Arm, also raises fears of political influence.

    Additionally, Meta’s recent decision to abandon fact-checking on Facebook and Instagram suggests an increasing trend toward populism over truthfulness.

    DeepSeek’s arrival has caused serious disruption to the LLM market. US companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic will be forced to innovate their products to maintain relevance and match its performance and cost.

    DeepSeek’s success is already challenging the status quo, demonstrating that high-performance LLM models can be developed without billion-dollar budgets. It also highlights the risks of LLM censorship, the spread of misinformation, and why independent evaluations matter.

    As LLMs become more deeply embedded in global politics and business, transparency and accountability will be essential to ensure that the future of LLMs is safe, useful and trustworthy.

    Simon Thorne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Putting DeepSeek to the test: how its performance compares against other AI tools – https://theconversation.com/putting-deepseek-to-the-test-how-its-performance-compares-against-other-ai-tools-248368

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Senators Marshall, Cassidy Lead Reintroduction of Legislation to Combat Illegal Fentanyl

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Kansas Roger Marshall

    Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Roger Marshall, M.D., and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) introduced the Halt All Lethal Trafficking (HALT) of Fentanyl Act. This legislation makes permanent the temporary classification of fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Drug overdoses, largely driven by fentanyl, are the leading cause of death among young adults 18 to 45 years old. Synthetic opioids like fentanyl account for 66 percent of the total U.S. overdose deaths. The drug’s Schedule I classification is set to expire on March 31, 2025. 
    “Just last year, an estimated 359 Kansans were murdered through fentanyl poisoning – that’s a Kansan lost every single day,” Senator Marshall said. “We cannot allow fentanyl’s drug Schedule I classification to expire, and we must ensure law enforcement has the tools necessary to combat the overdose epidemic in our country. Lives depend on it.”
    “The Biden administration’s open border was an invitation to drug cartels smuggling Chinese fentanyl into the U.S., fueling the U.S. overdose epidemic,” Dr. Cassidy said. “Law enforcement must have the tools necessary to combat this trend. We cannot let this Schedule I classification lapse.”
    “Today, roughly 150 Americans will die from fentanyl poisoning. Cartels fuel this crisis by marketing their poison as legitimate prescription pills. They also avoid regulation by chemically altering the drugs to create powerful fentanyl knock-offs,” Senator Grassley said. “Congress closed that loophole by temporarily classifying fentanyl related substances under Schedule 1. The HALT Fentanyl Act would make permanent fentanyl related substances’ Schedule 1 classification and ensure law enforcement has the tools they need to combat these deadly drugs.”
    “We’re losing more than 100,000 Americans each year to illicit fentanyl overdoses. I refuse to accept this reality, and that’s why I’m working to deliver tools law enforcement personnel need to keep deadly fentanyl off our streets and out of our communities,” Senator Heinrich said. “Permanently scheduling fentanyl and its analogues will help federal and local law enforcement crack down on illegal trafficking and allow prosecutors to build stronger, longer-term criminal cases. Our HALT Fentanyl Act will help stop the flow of these deadly drugs into our communities and save lives.”  
    Senators Marshall, Cassidy, Grassley, and Heinrich were joined by U.S. Senators Todd Young (R-IN), Steve Daines (R-MT), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Shelley Moore Capito (R-VW), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Mike Rounds (R-SD), John Kennedy (R-LA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), John Cornyn (R-TX), Angus King (I-ME), and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) in introducing the legislation.
    The legislation also removes barriers that impede the ability of researchers to conduct studies on fentanyl-related substances and allows for exemptions if such research provides evidence that it would be beneficial for specific substances to be classified differently than Schedule I, such as for medical purposes.  
    From August 2021 to August 2022, a record-breaking 107,735 Americans lost their lives to drug overdoses. The surge was primarily fueled by synthetic opioids, including illegal fentanyl, which are largely manufactured in Mexico from raw materials supplied by China. In 2022, there were over 50.6 million fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills seized by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), more than doubling the amount seized in 2021. 
    BACKGROUND
    According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were an estimated 107,543 drug overdose deaths in the U.S. in 2023. This was primarily fueled by synthetic opioids, including illegal fentanyl, which are largely manufactured in Mexico from raw materials supplied by China. In 2022, there were over 50.6 million fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills seized by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), more than doubling the amount seized in 2021. 
    The U.S. House of Representatives passed the HALT Fentanyl Act in March 2023. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: DRC: history is repeating itself in Lubumbashi as the world scrambles for minerals to go green

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Brandon Marc Finn, Research Scientist at the School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan

    Lubumbashi is a city in the mineral-rich Katanga region in the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

    Many people might not have heard of it, but Lubumbashi and its surrounding region have been at the centre of global geopolitics since the start of the 20th century. The area provided immense sources of copper, a metal that helped electrify the planet in the 1900s. It was also the source of all the uranium for the atom bombs used in the second world war.

    The global demand for these minerals came at a great price. Lubumbashi grew as a divided city where housing and labour were spatially and racially segregated. Congolese workers were exploited, abused and taxed as urban and mining strategies were used to reshape society.

    History is repeating itself. Neocolonialism now shapes the extraction of DRC resources.

    Read more: DRC is the world’s largest producer of cobalt – how control by local elites can shape the global battery industry

    Today, the southern DRC produces over 70% of the world’s cobalt. Cobalt is a mineral essential to decarbonisation – a strategy to reduce harmful carbon dioxide emissions. Cobalt is present in batteries in electric vehicles, mobile phones, laptop computers and renewable energy storage systems.

    Like copper and uranium before it, cobalt mining has been linked to widescale exploitation and child labour. Corruption and elite capture remain defining features of mining in the DRC.

    We are academics who research urbanisation, mining and sustainability as well as urban planning and environmental management. Our recent paper addresses the fact that African cities like Lubumbashi are at the heart of events that have shaped the modern world, yet they are woefully neglected in global urban theory (thinking about how cities form and develop) and urban geography.

    Focusing on the global north and neglecting the south leads to major data gaps and contributes to mismatched and outdated urban policy.

    Rock containing cobalt. © Brandon Marc Finn

    We also argue that the human rights abuses and perils of today’s cobalt mining are new forms of old colonial practices. They strip the land and people of resources without proper pay. They offer green minerals to the global north at the cost of lives in the global south.

    Sustainable cities and global decarbonisation are essential if we are to reduce cities’ carbon footprints and decarbonise economies in the face of the climate crisis.

    Lubumbashi’s history, therefore, can offer a fuller understanding of the human and historical costs of minerals that shape cities – and the world.

    A brief history of Lubumbashi

    Lubumbashi was originally called Elisabethville. It was established by colonial Belgium in 1910 precisely to extract copper for global markets. This was done through a company named Union Minière du Haut Katanga (UMHK).

    Concessionary companies made enormous profits in the Congo Free State between 1885 and 1908. The entire country stood under the private ownership of King Leopold II of Belgium. These companies were given the right to extract minerals and rubber through taxes imposed on local people.

    A road being built in the Belgian Free State in 1890. PHAS/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

    The Belgian Compagnie du Katanga (which later founded UMHK) had the task of establishing the physical and economic infrastructure of the region. In exchange for laying the groundwork for the extractive industries, soon to be headquartered in Elisabethville, the company was given a third of all unoccupied land in Katanga. The Belgians established a copper smelter and constructed roads. Temporary headquarters were established to supervise Elisabethville’s expansion.

    One initial method of controlling the local rural people was a “hut tax” that had to be paid to live in Lubumbashi. Later, a “head tax” was introduced to raise funds for colonial management. It forced people into labour as the only means to pay off their newly acquired debt to the colonial state.

    Elisabethville served as the device to assert effective occupation. It also staved off the possibility of British occupation of the territory. The Belgians planned Elisabethville by reproducing the urban forms and racial segregation of Bulawayo’s grid in Southern Rhodesia (part of today’s Zimbabwe) and Johannesburg in South Africa.

    Elisabethville’s early plan. F Grevisse/Institut Royal Colonial Belge

    UMHK dominated the colonial economy as demand for copper increased worldwide. UMHK also stipulated which seeds would be planted where for agriculture. It dissolved local markets and whipped labourers.

    Copper was in such high demand because it is a non-corrosive material that conducts electricity well. It lined telegraph and electrical transmission cables across the globe.

    Copper mining acted as a springboard from which UMHK could spread its influence. It developed railways, cities, labour camps and mining sites throughout Katanga.

    Spatial segregation in Elisabethville. P Vandenbak

    This allowed UMHK access to the extraction of another resource that would shape the global geopolitical landscape: uranium – extracted from the Shinkolobwe mine in Katanga.

    It was the Belgian colonial presence that allowed the US to have access to uranium deposits as they sought to beat Germany in the race to build atomic weapons. All the uranium used in the two nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki came from Katanga.

    This highlights the global significance of, but a neglected focus on, the impacts of mineral supply chains in the global south. Control over Lubumbashi’s minerals cannot be underplayed in this global historical event.

    Katanga seceded from the Congo for three years, 11 days after the country gained independence from Belgium in 1960. The fight to gain control over Katanga’s resources led to the US and Belgian-backed assassination of the first independence leader, Patrice Lumumba. He was intent on reunifying Congo.

    Mobutu Sese Seko became president of Zaire (today’s DRC) after a coup in 1965. He nationalised UMHK a year later. Mobutu served as president for almost 32 years, and his regime was characterised by autocratic corruption and economic exploitation.

    Cobalt and global decarbonisation

    The growth of modern technology relies, at least in part, on the extraction of cobalt in the DRC before it is shipped, mainly to China.

    Cobalt is extracted as a byproduct of copper mining. Artisanal and small-scale mining and child labour remain a salient feature of cobalt extraction in the DRC. These miners receive little to no support and reflect the historical structural marginalisation created in the region.

    Europeans settled in the city centre and locals in camps and informal areas. Junior Kannah/AFP/Getty Images

    Lubumbashi serves as the mining headquarters of the southern DRC, and other cities, like Kolwezi, have grown rapidly in response to the surge in cobalt demand. Spatial and labour-related inequalities from the past are being replicated and expanded on in the present.

    The DRC’s impoverishment continues apace as South African, Kazakh, Swiss and, with increasing influence, Chinese mining companies maintain their practice of exclusionary extraction, social displacement and political corruption.

    Why this matters

    Our research shows the importance of understanding the history of extraction and urban settlement in the region to shed light on new forms of old practices associated with decarbonisation. We see this as a continuing form of colonial power – as neocolonialism.

    Contemporary debates around global inequalities associated with decarbonisation highlight how African populations must endure poor living conditions while the global north transitions to low-carbon technologies. We must find ways to move away from carbon-based economies that do not reproduce colonial inequalities.

    Read more: Patrice Lumumba’s tooth represents plunder, resilience and reparation

    Lubumbashi demonstrates the importance of African cities and resources in understanding critical global developmental and geopolitical issues.

    For decarbonisation to be socially and environmentally just, it must contend with the people, places, and environments on which the future of low-carbon technology is based. Lubumbashi’s history shows how challenging this task will be.

    – DRC: history is repeating itself in Lubumbashi as the world scrambles for minerals to go green
    – https://theconversation.com/drc-history-is-repeating-itself-in-lubumbashi-as-the-world-scrambles-for-minerals-to-go-green-248571

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Global: DRC: history is repeating itself in Lubumbashi as the world scrambles for minerals to go green

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Brandon Marc Finn, Research Scientist at the School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan

    Lubumbashi is a city in the mineral-rich Katanga region in the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

    Many people might not have heard of it, but Lubumbashi and its surrounding region have been at the centre of global geopolitics since the start of the 20th century. The area provided immense sources of copper, a metal that helped electrify the planet in the 1900s. It was also the source of all the uranium for the atom bombs used in the second world war.

    The global demand for these minerals came at a great price. Lubumbashi grew as a divided city where housing and labour were spatially and racially segregated. Congolese workers were exploited, abused and taxed as urban and mining strategies were used to reshape society.

    History is repeating itself. Neocolonialism now shapes the extraction of DRC resources.



    Read more:
    DRC is the world’s largest producer of cobalt – how control by local elites can shape the global battery industry

    Today, the southern DRC produces over 70% of the world’s cobalt. Cobalt is a mineral essential to decarbonisation – a strategy to reduce harmful carbon dioxide emissions. Cobalt is present in batteries in electric vehicles, mobile phones, laptop computers and renewable energy storage systems.

    Like copper and uranium before it, cobalt mining has been linked to widescale exploitation and child labour. Corruption and elite capture remain defining features of mining in the DRC.

    We are academics who research urbanisation, mining and sustainability as well as urban planning and environmental management. Our recent paper addresses the fact that African cities like Lubumbashi are at the heart of events that have shaped the modern world, yet they are woefully neglected in global urban theory (thinking about how cities form and develop) and urban geography.

    Focusing on the global north and neglecting the south leads to major data gaps and contributes to mismatched and outdated urban policy.

    We also argue that the human rights abuses and perils of today’s cobalt mining are new forms of old colonial practices. They strip the land and people of resources without proper pay. They offer green minerals to the global north at the cost of lives in the global south.

    Sustainable cities and global decarbonisation are essential if we are to reduce cities’ carbon footprints and decarbonise economies in the face of the climate crisis.

    Lubumbashi’s history, therefore, can offer a fuller understanding of the human and historical costs of minerals that shape cities – and the world.

    A brief history of Lubumbashi

    Lubumbashi was originally called Elisabethville. It was established by colonial Belgium in 1910 precisely to extract copper for global markets. This was done through a company named Union Minière du Haut Katanga (UMHK).

    Concessionary companies made enormous profits in the Congo Free State between 1885 and 1908. The entire country stood under the private ownership of King Leopold II of Belgium. These companies were given the right to extract minerals and rubber through taxes imposed on local people.

    The Belgian Compagnie du Katanga (which later founded UMHK) had the task of establishing the physical and economic infrastructure of the region. In exchange for laying the groundwork for the extractive industries, soon to be headquartered in Elisabethville, the company was given a third of all unoccupied land in Katanga. The Belgians established a copper smelter and constructed roads. Temporary headquarters were established to supervise Elisabethville’s expansion.

    One initial method of controlling the local rural people was a “hut tax” that had to be paid to live in Lubumbashi. Later, a “head tax” was introduced to raise funds for colonial management. It forced people into labour as the only means to pay off their newly acquired debt to the colonial state.

    Elisabethville served as the device to assert effective occupation. It also staved off the possibility of British occupation of the territory. The Belgians planned Elisabethville by reproducing the urban forms and racial segregation of Bulawayo’s grid in Southern Rhodesia (part of today’s Zimbabwe) and Johannesburg in South Africa.

    UMHK dominated the colonial economy as demand for copper increased worldwide. UMHK also stipulated which seeds would be planted where for agriculture. It dissolved local markets and whipped labourers.

    Copper was in such high demand because it is a non-corrosive material that conducts electricity well. It lined telegraph and electrical transmission cables across the globe.

    Copper mining acted as a springboard from which UMHK could spread its influence. It developed railways, cities, labour camps and mining sites throughout Katanga.

    This allowed UMHK access to the extraction of another resource that would shape the global geopolitical landscape: uranium – extracted from the Shinkolobwe mine in Katanga.

    It was the Belgian colonial presence that allowed the US to have access to uranium deposits as they sought to beat Germany in the race to build atomic weapons. All the uranium used in the two nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki came from Katanga.

    This highlights the global significance of, but a neglected focus on, the impacts of mineral supply chains in the global south. Control over Lubumbashi’s minerals cannot be underplayed in this global historical event.

    Katanga seceded from the Congo for three years, 11 days after the country gained independence from Belgium in 1960. The fight to gain control over Katanga’s resources led to the US and Belgian-backed assassination of the first independence leader, Patrice Lumumba. He was intent on reunifying Congo.

    Mobutu Sese Seko became president of Zaire (today’s DRC) after a coup in 1965. He nationalised UMHK a year later. Mobutu served as president for almost 32 years, and his regime was characterised by autocratic corruption and economic exploitation.

    Cobalt and global decarbonisation

    The growth of modern technology relies, at least in part, on the extraction of cobalt in the DRC before it is shipped, mainly to China.

    Cobalt is extracted as a byproduct of copper mining. Artisanal and small-scale mining and child labour remain a salient feature of cobalt extraction in the DRC. These miners receive little to no support and reflect the historical structural marginalisation created in the region.

    Lubumbashi serves as the mining headquarters of the southern DRC, and other cities, like Kolwezi, have grown rapidly in response to the surge in cobalt demand. Spatial and labour-related inequalities from the past are being replicated and expanded on in the present.

    The DRC’s impoverishment continues apace as South African, Kazakh, Swiss and, with increasing influence, Chinese mining companies maintain their practice of exclusionary extraction, social displacement and political corruption.

    Why this matters

    Our research shows the importance of understanding the history of extraction and urban settlement in the region to shed light on new forms of old practices associated with decarbonisation. We see this as a continuing form of colonial power – as neocolonialism.

    Contemporary debates around global inequalities associated with decarbonisation highlight how African populations must endure poor living conditions while the global north transitions to low-carbon technologies. We must find ways to move away from carbon-based economies that do not reproduce colonial inequalities.



    Read more:
    Patrice Lumumba’s tooth represents plunder, resilience and reparation

    Lubumbashi demonstrates the importance of African cities and resources in understanding critical global developmental and geopolitical issues.

    For decarbonisation to be socially and environmentally just, it must contend with the people, places, and environments on which the future of low-carbon technology is based. Lubumbashi’s history shows how challenging this task will be.

    Brandon Marc Finn has received funding from the University of Michigan and Harvard University to conduct this research.

    Patrick Brandful Cobbinah has received research funding from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. He is a member of the Planning Institute of Australia.

    – ref. DRC: history is repeating itself in Lubumbashi as the world scrambles for minerals to go green – https://theconversation.com/drc-history-is-repeating-itself-in-lubumbashi-as-the-world-scrambles-for-minerals-to-go-green-248571

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICYMI: Senator Coons declares in a new Washington Post op-ed that President Trump’s attacks on USAID are an assault on Americans’ safety and national security

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Delaware Christopher Coons

    WASHINGTON – In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, published an op-ed in the Washington Post discussing the national security consequences of President Donald Trump’s efforts to freeze U.S. foreign assistance funding and halt operations at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). 

    This weekend, reports broke that President Trump plans to sign an executive order drastically reducing USAID’s budget and operations and folding it into the State Department. It’s one of many steps to decapitate our foreign aid apparatus, including freezing nearly all U.S. foreign aid for 90 days on his first day back in office.

    In his op-ed, Senator Coons pointed out that for less than one percent of the federal budget, USAID and foreign aid spending keep Americans abroad and within the 50 states safe. Whether containing dangerous diseases before they can reach this country or preventing security vacuums in which terrorist groups thrive, USAID funds keep Americans safe and our nation secure. Additionally, cutting our foreign aid budget will create a vacuum that will allow China and our adversaries to expand their influence.

    The Washington Post: Trump’s attack on USAID is an assault on Americans’ safety

    Donald Trump ran for president on a promise that he would keep Americans safe. His effort to defund and destroy the U.S. Agency for International Development shows he has a misguided idea of how to do that.

    …

    U.S. foreign assistance makes up 1 percent of our federal budget, and this money isn’t charity. It bolsters our security and advances our values. The reckless steps the Trump administration is taking as part of its isolationist “America First” agenda are, simply put, dangerous for Americans. Our foreign assistance and engagement wins us friends around the world, establishes our leadership and, more important, neutralizes distant threats to the United States well before they put our country at risk.

    …

    U.S. foreign and development assistance carried out by USAID might occur out of the public eye and far from our borders, but it addresses instability and keeps Americans safe. It keeps Americans living overseas safe. It keeps our service members stationed around the world safe. It keeps my constituents in Wilmington safe. As Gen. Jim Mattis, Trump’s first defense secretary, said, if we don’t fund foreign aid, “then I need to buy more bullets.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Seafarer Capital Partners Reveals Key Drivers of Performance in Emerging Markets Value Investing

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    LARKSPUR, Calif., Feb. 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Drawing on fourteen years of fundamental research and investing in global emerging markets, and over eight years of hands-on experience in managing the Seafarer Overseas Value Fund (SIVLX, SFVLX, SFVRX), Seafarer Capital Partners (Seafarer) recently published a white paper providing empirical data and evaluating key opportunity sets found in emerging markets value investing.

    The new white paper, titled “Revisiting the Seven Sources of Value in Emerging Markets,” examines practical lessons the Seafarer Value team has learned in its pursuit of investing in seven distinct sources of value in the emerging markets, which were first identified by Seafarer in 2016. The full paper is available on Seafarer’s website here.

    “Rather than taking a traditional approach focused solely on simplistic valuation multiples, Seafarer’s approach to value investing in emerging markets started with the idea that these markets present a number of distinct underlying sources of value that may give rise to viable investment opportunities,” said Brent Clayton, author of the white paper and co-portfolio manager of the Seafarer Overseas Value Fund. “This paper looks back on our team’s practical experience pursuing these sources of value in emerging markets, including opportunities and risks we have become more attuned to.”

    The white paper reviews all seven sources of value identified at the launch of the Value Fund (read the original 2016 white paper here) and breaks out the impact of each source on the Fund’s performance since inception (see included chart). The commentary also includes a nuanced analysis of these sources of value and provides “emblematic stock” examples to help practically illustrate the sources of value in action.

    The key lessons shared in the white paper, by source of value, include the following:

    • Asset Productivity: Companies that are among the lowest-cost, highest-margin operators within their industries have been able to survive prolonged cyclical downturns. Such business resiliency can render the exact timing of the cycle less important.
    • Structural Shift: Highly-cash generative companies structurally shifting to a lower growth rate provided fruitful opportunities for the strategy, particularly in China in 2016 and Brazil in 2020.
    • Balance Sheet Liquidity: Companies with high levels of cash on their balance sheets have been more prone to be “value traps” than anticipated. While a potential source of latent value, it can also be a sign of poor capital allocation or weak corporate governance.

    The paper provides detailed discussion of lessons learned while pursuing investing in each of the seven sources of value and includes one portfolio holding for each of the sources as an illustration.

    “Finding low-priced stocks in the emerging markets is not difficult. The challenge is finding low-priced businesses with both sustainable competitive advantages and management teams that think carefully about how they steward corporate capital,” said Clayton. “A focused and long-term approach has been critical to realizing value across the seven opportunity sets that this strategy pursues.”

    About the Seafarer Overseas Value Fund
    The Seafarer Overseas Value Fund (tickers: SIVLX, SFVLX, SFVRX) seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation. The Fund invests primarily in the securities of companies located in developing countries. The Fund invests primarily in common and preferred stocks. The Fund’s portfolio is comprised of securities identified through a bottom-up security selection process based on fundamental research. The Fund seeks to produce a minimum long-term rate of return by investing in securities priced at a discount to their intrinsic value.

    About Seafarer Capital Partners
    Seafarer Capital Partners is an investment adviser focused on emerging markets. Seafarer offers investment portfolios that seek to participate in the opportunities afforded by the growth and progress in the developing world. The firm employs a bottom-up, fundamental investment approach. Seafarer’s objective is to provide long-term investment portfolios that offer sustainable growth, reasonable income, suitable diversification and which mitigate volatility. The firm serves as the investment adviser to the Seafarer Overseas Growth and Income Fund and the Seafarer Overseas Value Fund. Founded in 2011, Seafarer is a wholly employee-owned firm located in the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information, please visit www.seafarerfunds.com.

    1 Percentages in the chart are based on the aggregate contribution to total return for portfolio holdings in each primary source of value divided by the aggregate contribution to total return of all portfolio holdings from the inception of the Seafarer Overseas Value Fund on May 31, 2016 through September 30, 2024. They exclude cash and other assets and liabilities held by the Fund. A portfolio holding’s primary source of value is defined as the intended driver of value Seafarer was targeting over the majority of a position’s holding period. Sources: Bloomberg, Seafarer.

    ALPS Distributors, Inc. is the distributor for the Seafarer Funds.

    Investors should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses carefully before making an investment decision. This and other information about the Funds are contained in the Prospectus, which may be obtained by calling (855) 732-9220. Please read the Prospectus carefully before you invest or send money.

    Important Risks:  An investment in the Funds involves risk, including possible loss of principal. International investing involves additional risks, including social and political instability, market and currency volatility, market illiquidity, and reduced regulation. Emerging markets are often more volatile than developed markets, and investing in emerging markets involves greater risks. Fixed income investments are subject to additional risks, including but not limited to interest rate, credit, and inflation risks. Value investments are subject to the risk that their intrinsic value may not be recognized by the broad market. An investment in the Funds should be considered a long-term investment.

    The views and information discussed herein are as of the date of publication, are subject to change, and may not reflect Seafarer’s current views. The views expressed represent an assessment of market conditions at a specific point in time, are opinions only and should not be relied upon as investment advice regarding a particular investment or markets in general. Such information does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell specific securities or investment vehicles. It should not be assumed that any investment will be profitable or will equal the performance of the portfolios or any securities or any sectors mentioned herein. The subject matter contained herein has been derived from several sources believed to be reliable and accurate at the time of compilation. Seafarer does not accept any liability for losses either direct or consequential caused by the use of this information.

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3388df52-1d76-4853-aa15-51bbf250f6dd

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI China: Profile: Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    BEIJING, Feb. 3 — At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov will pay a state visit to China from Tuesday to Friday.

    Japarov, a Kyrgyz ethnic, born in Kyrgyzstan’s Issyk-Kul Oblast on Dec. 6, 1968, graduated from Kyrgyz State Academy of Physical Culture and Sports in 1991 and from Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University in 2006.

    During 1986-1987 and 1989-1995, he served as head of the collective farm “Santash” in the Tup district of the Issyk-Kul Oblast. He served in the army from 1987 to 1989.

    From 1996 to 2000, Japarov held the post of deputy chairman of the farm “Soltonkul” in the Tup district of Issyk-Kul Oblast. Between 2000 and 2005, he successively served as the general director of the “Guzel” fuel company and the “Nur” oil and gas company.

    From 2005 to 2007, he acted as a deputy of the third convocation of the Kyrgyz Parliament. Between 2007 and 2009, he was an advisor to the president. From 2008 to 2009, he was a member of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption. From 2009 to 2010, he worked as head of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption. From 2010 to 2013, he served as a deputy of the fifth convocation of the Kyrgyz Parliament.

    In October 2020, Japarov became the Kyrgyz prime minister and acting president. In January 2021, he was elected as the Kyrgyz president for a six-year term.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Profile: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zarda

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    BEIJING, Feb. 3 — At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Asif Ali Zardari of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan will pay a state visit to China from Tuesday to Saturday.

    Zardari, 70, was elected as a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan in 1990 and as a senator in 1997. He once served as the federal minister for environment and the federal minister for investment.

    Zardari assumed the co-chairperson of the Pakistan People’s Party in 2007, and served as the 11th president of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013.

    He became the 14th president of Pakistan on March 10, 2024.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Harbin venues ready for 9th Asian Winter Games

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    All competition venues are fully equipped and ready to host the 9th Asian Winter Games, scheduled for February 7-14 in Harbin, northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province. All 13 competition venues have been renovated using existing facilities. While ensuring high-quality competitions, the event follows the principles of sustainability, cost-effectiveness and adaptability for post-event use. Yabuli Ski Resort is fully prepared, with all eight snow tracks ready, including alpine skiing and biathlon courses.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Passenger trips increase as Spring Festival holiday comes to end in China

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    Passenger trips increase as Spring Festival holiday comes to end in China

    Updated: February 4, 2025 20:34 Xinhua
    A drone photo taken on Feb. 4, 2025 shows passengers at the waiting hall of Hengyang East Railway Station in Hengyang, central China’s Hunan Province. China witnessed an increase of passenger trips on Tuesday as this year’s Spring Festival holiday is coming to an end. [Photo/Xinhua]
    Passengers are seen at the waiting hall of Hangzhou East Railway Station in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province, Feb. 4, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
    Passengers check in at Daozhou Railway Station in Yongzhou, central China’s Hunan Province, Feb. 4, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
    Passengers prepare to board the train at Handan Railway Station in Handan, north China’s Hebei Province, Feb. 4, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
    A drone photo taken on Feb. 4, 2025 shows vehicles at a toll gate of Hefei-Nanjing expressway in Quanjiao County, Chuzhou City of east China’s Anhui Province. [Photo/Xinhua]
    Passengers are seen at the waiting hall of Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station in Shanghai, east China, Feb. 4, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
    A drone photo taken on Feb. 4, 2025 shows vehicles driving into a ferry at Yantai Port in east China’s Shandong Province. [Photo/Xinhua]
    A police officer offers help at Fuyang West Railway Station in Fuyang City, east China’s Anhui Province, Feb. 4, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Spring Festival boosts travel, consumption as 8-day holiday nears end

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    BEIJING, Feb. 4 — As China wraps up its 8-day Spring Festival holiday celebrating the start of the Year of the Snake, the world’s second-largest economy has witnessed shopping and travel booms ignited by hundreds of millions of Chinese people’s family reunions.

    This year’s holiday, from Jan. 28 to Feb. 4, marks the second consecutive year that people in China have experienced an extended public holiday. People flocked to tourist destinations, enjoyed cultural experiences and indulged in holiday shopping.

    With a string of holiday-targeted domestic blockbusters bringing numerous moviegoers to cinemas across China, the country’s film industry proved to be one of the biggest winners during this Spring Festival consumption spree.

    From Jan. 29 to Feb. 3, the daily box office exceeded 1 billion yuan (nearly 140 million U.S. dollars) for six consecutive days, bringing China’s box office revenue for the 2025 Spring Festival holiday to 8.02 billion yuan, a new record for the same period in the country’s film industry history.

    Meanwhile, according to data from the China Film Administration, China’s total box office in 2025, including real-time presales, has surpassed 10 billion yuan, ranking it first globally.

    Notably, the films on the top of the box office chart were all domestic productions, with “Ne Zha 2,” the animated sequel to the 2019 hit, earning over 3.8 billion yuan.

    “The historic high box office of the Spring Festival holiday reflects the high-quality development in domestic films and highlights the strong recognition of Chinese traditional culture among audiences,” said Rao Shuguang, president of the China Film Critics Association.

    While cinema boomed during the holiday, so did travel and leisure activities across China. Many chose to explore the country’s natural beauty and cultural heritage in person.

    In China’s top ski destination, Altay Prefecture, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the period from Jan. 28 to 31 saw 191,900 visitors, generating 225 million yuan in tourism revenue.

    Skiing has definitely become the most popular activity in Altay during the holiday, with a record number of skiers — over 10,000 — visiting the Jiangjunshan ski resort on Feb. 2, marking a 23 percent increase from the previous year.

    Situated at 45 to 47 degrees north latitude, Altay enjoys 170 to 180 days of snowfall annually. In mountainous areas, snow depths average 1 to 2 meters. The terrain is ideal for skiing due to vertical drops of over 1,000 meters.

    “The resort offers many terrain parks and creative features suitable for all levels, making it a great place for everyone to enjoy and challenge themselves,” said Zhang Zhujun, a snowboarding enthusiast at the resort.

    Far to the south, the picturesque Yangshuo County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, draws large numbers of domestic and international visitors with its unique natural scenery and rich cultural activities. From Jan. 28 to 30, the county welcomed an estimated 410,600 tourists, generating tourism revenue of 589 million yuan.

    Travel booking platforms echoed the overall trend, with data from Fliggy, a leading online travel agency, showing a surge in bookings, especially from cities like Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. International travel orders increased significantly, with international cruise bookings up more than sixfold compared to the previous year.

    Shanghai Airport Group reported that passenger traffic on Sunday hit a new all-time high of 404,000 people, with Pudong Airport seeing 259,000 passengers and Hongqiao Airport 145,000.

    As the holiday drew to a close, airports and transportation hubs in Shanghai braced for the return of travelers, with heightened coordination of metro, bus and taxi services to ensure smooth transportation, said the group.

    On Monday, the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. reported a historic milestone as the country’s railways transported 16.45 million passengers, marking the highest single-day passenger traffic in the history of the Spring Festival travel rush.

    On Tuesday, the last day of the holiday, the national railway system is expected to carry 16.9 million passengers, further highlighting the peak in travel activity as hundreds of millions of people return to their destinations after family reunions.

    Consumption was another standout trend, with an increasing number of people seeking to experience China’s rich heritage, motivated by the inscription of the Spring Festival on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December 2024.

    According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, sales at major retail and catering enterprises across China during the first four days of the holiday increased by 5.4 percent compared to the same period last year.

    Meituan, one of China’s leading e-commerce platforms for services, reported a staggering 300 percent year-on-year increase in online reservations for Chinese Lunar New Year’s Eve dinners. Additionally, group-buying orders for “intangible cultural heritage”-themed packages have surged by over 12 times since January year on year, reflecting growing consumer interest in cultural experiences.

    Experts noted that this holiday season saw a shift in consumer behavior, particularly among younger generations and families. “Young families are increasingly becoming the driving force of consumption, with a trend toward diversified, high-quality and culturally rich experiences,” said Sun Jiashan, an associate researcher from the Central Academy of Culture and Tourism Administration.

    Data from Meituan Travel echoed Sun’s observation that young people increasingly chose to celebrate the Spring Festival in smaller cities, immersing themselves in intangible cultural heritage and historical landmarks.

    The increase in cultural tourism and consumption, from heritage experiences to blockbuster films, indicates a growing demand for traditional and contemporary cultural activities.

    “This trend has also raised higher demands for the supply of cultural and tourism products and services, prompting the introduction of new business models and formats that better align with contemporary cultural consumption patterns,” said Sun, highlighting the potential of China’s consumer market and the economy’s internal driving forces.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI: STMicroelectronics and HighTec EDV-Systeme collaborate for safer software-defined vehicles

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    STMicroelectronics and HighTec EDV-Systeme collaborate for safer software-defined vehicles

    Where safety meets safety: ST’s Stellar MCUs certified to the highest level of risk management, ISO 26262 ASIL D, are now supported with the same safety level by HighTec’s Rust compiler

    Geneva, Switzerland and Saarbrücken, Germany, February 4, 2025 – STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, and HighTec EDV-Systeme GmbH are advancing automotive functional safety with a complete solution that will accelerate the development of safety-critical systems to make software-defined vehicles safer and more affordable.

    The solution supports the Rust programming language and combines HighTec’s Rust compiler, qualified to ISO 26262 ASIL D, with ST’s Stellar, the first 28nm microcontrollers certified to the same safety standard. Rust is gaining significant momentum in the automotive industry for its strong safety and reliability features.

    “Software-defined principles are transforming vehicle design, and ownership experiences, replacing traditional hardwired electronic control units (ECUs) with programmable systems,” explained Davide Santo, Automotive Microcontroller Business Unit Director, STMicroelectronics. “This is the future for vehicles with any type of powertrain, letting automakers easily differentiate their product ranges and dynamically update vehicle features. The collaboration with our longstanding partner HighTec, ensures that automotive manufacturers can leverage the power of Rust while meeting the highest safety standards in the industry.”

    “Here at HighTec, our engineers created the industry’s first software compiler to support Rust, the modern safety-ready programming language, and achieve qualification to the highest level of the automotive functional-safety standard, ISO 26262 ASIL D,” said Mario Cupelli, CTO at HighTec EDV-Systeme. “On the other hand, ST’s Stellar automotive microcontrollers are the first 28nm components certified according to ISO 26262 ASIL D. This makes them a natural fit with our compiler, enabling customers to have a complete solution where safety is assured seamlessly across compiler, hardware, and software.”

    As automakers face intense pressure to shorten development cycles and meet evolving safety standards, this collaboration provides a robust and powerful safety compliant solution for automotive software development. The integration of the ASIL D qualified Rust compiler into the Stellar MCU family accelerates the development of safety-critical systems, reducing time-to-market while maintaining strict compliance with automotive safety requirements.

    Rust’s safety, performance, and reliability have made it an emerging choice for automotive mission-critical systems, poised to shape the future of the automotive industry. With HighTec’s Rust compiler support for Stellar products, ST is offering to its automotive customers an integrated, richly featured, and efficient toolchain that accelerates development cycles while ensuring compliance with ISO 26262.

    ST and HighTec are sharing a vision of creating innovative solutions that meet the highest safety standards in the automotive industry. The close cooperation ensures that developers can now integrate Rust along with their valuable C/C++ code base into their safety-critical projects with Stellar and accelerate the development of safety-critical systems, reducing time-to-market while maintaining strict compliance with automotive safety and security requirements.

    Further technical information:
    Rust contains provisions to protect the safety of memory, process threads, and data types. This ensures superior resilience appropriate for critical automotive systems, while Rust’s runtime efficiency is comparable to C/C++ in execution time and memory usage. These characteristics significantly lower costs in software development and maintenance, shorten development cycles, and increase safety and security.

    HighTec’s C/C++ and Rust automotive grade compiler allows Rust’s safety benefits to be integrated alongside legacy C/C++ code to build safe and secure automotive applications for the next-generation of software-defined vehicles.

    ST’s Stellar automotive MCUs are built on Arm® Cortex®-R52+ cores and a robust safety-focused hardware architecture. They are the first 28nm MCUs to achieve an ISO 26262 ASIL D certification, attained through an accredited assessor early in 2024. Additionally, they adhere to ISO 21434 cybersecurity standards and comply with UN155 requirements, which ensure meeting the latest safety and security standards. The Stellar MCUs offer exceptional performance, scalability, and integration for next-generation automotive vehicles, electrification, and safety-critical systems.

    The HighTec Rust compiler complements the already established HighTec C/C++ compiler suite. Both are qualified according to the highest safety level ISO 26262 ASIL D and enable automotive software developers to take full advantage of the high reliability and performance features of ST’s Stellar MCUs. The overall toolchain is built on the modern LLVM open-source technology and allows a hybrid development of Rust code along with C/C++, enabling the transition to modern software architectures. ST’s Stellar MCUs now benefit from HighTec’s Rust compiler, allowing a seamless development of safety-critical applications.

    For more information about HighTec’s ISO 26262 ASIL D qualified Rust and C/C++ compiler for ST’s Stellar automotive MCUs, please visit www.hightec-rt.com/rust

    About STMicroelectronics
    At ST, we are over 50,000 creators and makers of semiconductor technologies mastering the semiconductor supply chain with state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities. An integrated device manufacturer, we work with more than 200,000 customers and thousands of partners to design and build products, solutions, and ecosystems that address their challenges and opportunities, and the need to support a more sustainable world. Our technologies enable smarter mobility, more efficient power and energy management, and the wide-scale deployment of cloud-connected autonomous things. We are committed to achieving our goal to become carbon neutral on scope 1 and 2 and partially scope 3 by 2027. Further information can be found at www.st.com.

    INVESTOR RELATIONS
    Jérôme Ramel
    EVP Corporate Development & Integrated External Communication
    Tel: +41.22.929.59.20
    jerome.ramel@st.com

    MEDIA RELATIONS
    Alexis Breton
    Corporate External Communications
    Tel: +33.6.59.16.79.08
    alexis.breton@st.com

    About HighTec EDV Systeme GmbH
    HighTec EDV-Systeme GmbH, Saarbruecken/Germany, is the world’s largest commercial provider of compilers using innovative open-source technologies and offers ISO 26262 ASIL D certified tools for embedded software development, the real-time operating system PXROS-HR, and a wide range of design-in services.
    HighTec’s ASIL D qualified C/C++ compiler for leading multicore microcontrollers in the automotive and industrial sectors such as Arm®, TriCore™/AURIX™/TRAVEO™ families, RISC-V, Power Architecture (PowerPC) and GTM architectures are continuously adapted and optimized to new architectures in close cooperation with the silicon partners.
    In addition to the multi-architecture compiler, HighTec offers PXROS-HR, a safety-certified multicore RTOS for applications with safety and multicore requirements. PXROS-HR guarantees robustness, safety, high performance, and data security in real-time environments. PXROS-HR is certified according to ISO 26262 ASIL D / IEC 61508 SIL 3 and is complemented for ASIL D development by a Tool Qualification Kit as a basis for the certification of customer applications.
    Complementing this portfolio, HighTec offers development, training and consulting services.
    Founded in 1982, HighTec is a privately held global company with offices in Germany, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Hungary and China. For more information about HighTec EDV-Systeme GmbH, visit www.hightec-rt.com.

    Company Contact
    HighTec EDV-Systeme GmbH
    Europaallee 19
    66113 Saarbrücken/Germany
    Tel.: +49 681 92613-16
    Email: info@hightec-rt.com

    Press Contact Agency:
    Catherine Schneider
    Mexperts AG
    Tel.: +49 8143 59744-27
    Email: catherine.schneider@mexperts.de

    Attachments

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How the ‘year of the wood snake’ could play out for China’s economy

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Karen Jackson, Reader in Economics, University of Westminster

    Rimma Bondarenko/Shutterstock

    Chinese people around the world have just celebrated lunar new year, which this year has run from January 28 to February 4. It is the biggest festival of the year in China, signalling the start of spring, and this is the year of the wood snake. According to Chinese astrology, the characteristics of the snake – renewal, potential, opportunity and wisdom – will affect the year ahead.

    As we start the new lunar year, it feels like a good time to look ahead to look at the prospects for the Chinese economy through the prism of these characteristics.

    Renewal of traditional economic drivers

    China dominates global manufacturing – its manufacturing production is as large as the next seven largest competitors combined. This has earned China the title of the world’s manufacturing superpower – but it has come at a cost. The latest data shows that China is among the top 20 most polluted countries across the world.

    Therefore, it’s likely that over the next 12 months, there will be a continued drive towards the renewal, or upgrading, of traditional industrial sectors that have historically driven growth in China but are also heavy polluters.

    This is part of a broader push by China to improve its climate footprint and reduce emissions. These are goals outlined in the national climate action plan, referred to by the Paris climate agreement as the nationally determined contributions.

    Potential for a surge into AI

    China has identified the potential for adopting AI, robotics and 3D printing in transforming its manufacturing base. Meanwhile, the country’s next generation AI development plan sets out clear objectives to make AI the main driver of Chinese economic change and industrial development. Expect to see more progress towards this goal in 2025.

    China’s machine-learning sector has experienced considerable growth, and is predicted to grow by an average of 34.8% a year over the next five years. While the US is the major competitor and commands the largest market size, the recent release of the R1 chatbot by DeepSeek has created a stir.

    DeepSeek claims to have developed its latest R1 model at a cost of around US$6 million (£4.8 million), which is considerably less than its US competitors such as Open AI’s ChatGPT-4, which is reported to have cost more than US$100 million. It’s an indication of the strength of innovation which underlines the potential growth of China’s AI sector, and is likely to help narrow the gap with the US.

    Opportunities for foreign investment

    In addition to upgrading traditional industries, we can expect to see opportunities around new areas of growth in advanced technology sectors such as fintech and green tech. China will continue shifting its focus to industries in which its firms can add lots of value, such as in technology-related manufacturing.

    Major investment is needed to fund these industries and two major changes have occurred in recent months, recognising that this cannot come only from domestic sources.

    First, the changes to China’s A-share market, which went into effect in December 2024, will make it easier for a wider range of overseas investors to enter. For example, smaller amounts of capital are required, and foreign capital can now come from unlisted companies.

    Second, in November 2024, China opened up its manufacturing sector to foreign capital by removing all access restrictions.

    Over the next year, we can expect to see these changes increase the amount of foreign capital in China, and help realise these new areas of growth.

    The wisdom of opening up

    China continues to see the wisdom of opening its economy in terms of investment – and therefore that it is critically important to remain well-connected to the rest of the world.

    The geopolitical tensions with the US are a challenge: the US president, Donald Trump, has said he will impose tariffs of 10% on imports from China. But on a more positive note, breaking protocol last month, Chinese vice-president Han Zheng was invited to, and attended, Trump’s inauguration ceremony.

    It’s an indication of the current US administration’s view of the importance of America’s relationship with China.

    The year ahead is also likely to bring opportunities for the UK to continue its efforts to reset its relationship with China. During the recent visit to Beijing by the chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, there was a discussion of a “stable and balanced UK-China relationship”.

    Few expect, or desire, a return to the “golden era” rhetoric of the likes of former UK chancellor George Osborne, who in a speech at the Shanghai Stock Exchange in September 2015 called for Britain and China to work together to ensure mutual prosperity: “Let’s stick together to make Britain China’s best partner in the west. Let’s stick together and create a golden decade for both of our countries.”

    However, greater dialogue with China may be possible, while at the same time carefully managing the UK’s relationship with the new US administration.

    China watchers will be keeping their eyes peeled for other economic developments over the year ahead – for example, the progress of Chinese fiscal reforms and their impact on local and regional finances and income distribution. Also, there is the matter of the real estate market. After significant falls in housing sales and investment during 2024, house prices are showing signs of stabilising.

    China’s economy will face challenges in the year ahead. But there are also some clear opportunities for this manufacturing giant, particularly in the tech sector as it starts to narrow the gap with the US.

    Karen Jackson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. How the ‘year of the wood snake’ could play out for China’s economy – https://theconversation.com/how-the-year-of-the-wood-snake-could-play-out-for-chinas-economy-248779

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: The admissions campaign for international applicants continues at HSE

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: State University Higher School of Economics – State University Higher School of Economics –

    The number of applications has almost doubled: to date, more than 2,600 applications have been submitted for undergraduate programs, and more than 2,400 for master’s programs. Such increased interest from foreign applicants in studying at the HSE confirms the status of HSE as one of the most sought-after Russian universities abroad.

    Who most often chooses HSE

    The leading countries in terms of the number of applications submitted for undergraduate programs are Pakistan, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, Ghana and Moldova. The countries that most frequently apply for graduate programs are Ghana, India, Nigeria, Gambia, Pakistan, Ethiopia, China, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Cameroon.

    “HSE University sees one of its tasks as the active promotion of Russian education in the international arena. And the growing interest among applicants from Asian and African countries, from the CIS countries only confirms HSE’s reputation as a leading research university with the competencies of the future not only in Russia but also abroad. Moreover, both in full-time and online forms,” noted Victoria Panova, Vice-Rector of HSE University. – After all, in a rather difficult time, HSE, along with 10 world universities, entered the number of leaders in distance education according to the rating of THE Online Learning Rankings 2024 magazine. A wide range of programs in the socio-economic and humanitarian areas, in the creative sphere, brilliant teachers from almost 50 countries of the world, a high level of support for international students and modern infrastructure of HSE – all this meets international standards, and the cost of education is often lower than in Western universities. Applicants and their parents evaluate the advantages and opportunities that HSE provides during and after their studies, and choose us.”

    What opportunities does the university offer to international applicants?

    One of the key advantages for international applicants to HSE remains the opportunity to choose the admission format. The university offers two options: a competition for budget (quota) places under the state scholarship of the Government of the Russian Federation, which covers up to 100% of the cost of education, and admission on a commercial basis.

    Foreign applicants can receive a Russian Government scholarship (quota) based on the results of international Olympiads (applicants to a bachelor’s degree) and based on the results of selection events (minimum scores for Master’s degree And bachelor’s degree).

    Additionally, applicants to undergraduate programs may re-credit results of international and national examinations, which makes the admission process even more flexible.

    Preparing for Study: What to Do If You Don’t Know Russian

    HSE offers to master the Russian language in The Center for the Preparation of Foreign Students, choosing to study for one year. Applicants to the bachelor’s degree program can take specialized entrance examinations and apply for a budget (quota) place with an additional year of preparation and Russian language training. A similar option is possible for future master’s degree students: upon successful completion of the portfolio competition, they can also receive a budget place with a year of training.

    HSE – accessible, convenient, understandable

    Website for international applicants has been translated into seven languages, including Chinese, Spanish, Arabic and Hindi, allowing candidates to easily find the information they need and navigate the admissions process. In addition, international applicants are contacted on social media and during webinars, answering the most pressing questions about education, visas, life in Russia and even whether there are places with halal food.

    “We strive to attract only the best. We work with talented schoolchildren and applicants on an ongoing basis,” says Alexander Deyev, Director of Talent Abroad. “HSE ensures simplicity and accessibility of the entire process — from online application submission to the start of studies. We understand that entering a university, especially in a foreign country, is an important step that can be associated with many difficulties, especially for international students. Therefore, every year we do everything possible to make the application and document preparation process as clear as possible. Online consultations, personal support at all stages of admission, preparation for arrival in Russia — all this allows our applicants to feel confident and calm, to know that they will always be supported and helped to solve any problem that arises.”

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: 1 more detainee returns to HK

    Source: Hong Kong Information Services

    The Security Bureau today said that a Hong Kong resident who was recently rescued after being detained in Myanmar where she was forced to work illegally, has departed Thailand for Hong Kong this afternoon with the bureau’s dedicated task force.

    The task force met the Hong Kong resident concerned in Bangkok this morning, following the confirmation of her rescue in Myanmar and safe arrival in Thailand, and was delighted to find that she was in good mental and physical condition.

    She expressed gratitude for the task force’s active co-ordination and liaison with relevant units of the Thai authorities as well as for the assistance of different parties that enabled her to return home to reunite with her family as soon as possible.

    The bureau thanked the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; the Chinese Embassy in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; the Chinese Embassy in the Kingdom of Thailand; the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Chiang Mai; the Consulate-General of Myanmar in Hong Kong; the Royal Thai Consulate-General, Hong Kong; and the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office in Bangkok.

    The task force is actively following up on the remaining nine requests for assistance involving Hong Kong residents who have yet to return.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Albanese government bans DeepSeek from official devices on security grounds

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

    The Albanese government is banning DeepSeek – the Chinese artificial intelligence model – from all government systems and devices on national security grounds.

    It says this is in line with the actions of a number of other countries and is based on “risk and threat information” from security and intelligence agencies.

    The Chinese platform TikTok is already banned from government systems and devices.

    Under the decision, announced by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, government bodies must immediately remove all DeepSeek products, applications and services from systems and mobile devices. No new installations are allowed.

    But politicians can still have DeepSeek on their personal non-government devices. This presently happens with TikTok – for example opposition leader Peter Dutton has a TikTok account.

    While the direction only applies to official systems and devices, the government is also urging all Australians to inform themselves about how their data can be used online and to carefully review a company’s privacy policy on how customer data is managed.

    Burke said: “The Albanese government is taking swift and decisive action to protect Australia’s national security and national interest.

    “AI is is a technology full of potential and opportunity, but the government will not hesitate to act when our agencies identify a national security risk.

    “Our approach is country-agnostic and focused on the risk to the Australian government and our assets.‘

    The NSW Department of Customer Service acted late last month to ban DeepSeek from official devices and systems.

    The department told Cyber Daily it had “taken a precautionary approach to restrict corporate access to DeepSeek AI, consistent with the approach taken for many new and emerging applications, systems and services”.

    Commenting on the NSW department’s decision Dana Mckay, Senior Lecturer in Innovative Interactive Technologies at RMIT, said: “The reason Chinese-made and-owned tools are being banned is that the data they collect is available to the Chinese government not just when a crime has been committed, but also for economic or social reasons.

    “DeepSeek even collects keystroke patterns, which can be used to identify individuals, potentially allowing them to match in-work searches with leisure time searches, potentially leading to national security risks,” she said.

    “It is fair to ask whether DeepSeek is more dangerous to Australian national security than, say, OpenAI which collects similar data: the difference is that OpenAI will only give data to government to comply with relevant laws, and this typically means where a crime may have been committed.

    “Whether governments should be concerned about the level of data collected by commercial companies, such as OpenAI and Google, is still a significant question, but one that is separate to the national security concerns raised by China’s data sovereignty laws.”

    Among those banning Deepseek are the Pentagon, the United States Navy, NASA, Italy and Taiwan.

    Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Albanese government bans DeepSeek from official devices on security grounds – https://theconversation.com/albanese-government-bans-deepseek-from-official-devices-on-security-grounds-249022

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –