SoftBank/AI: strong Arm narrative exploits market’s machine longing
Artificial intelligence has boosted entire tech sector but Masayoshi Son is overstating chip designer’s credentials
Artificial intelligence
Telecoms face mounting pressure to consolidate
Vodafone’s plan to merge its UK arm with Three will test whether regulatory mood has softened
Mergers & Acquisitions
CBDCs invite risk of global financial fragmentation
Central bank digital currencies are set to buck the trend of innovation driving cross-border integration
Central banks
Soaring costs threaten offshore wind farm projects
Projects locked into low electricity prices are becoming unviable as sector is hit by cost inflation and high interest rates
Renewable energy
The new commodity superpowers
In the first part of a series, countries that produce the metals central to the energy transition want to rewrite the rules of mineral extraction
Electric vehicles, Batteries
Altice’s Drahi addresses criminal probe into The Barefoot Billionaire
Plus, discount season comes to private equity and the architect of the US liquefied natural gas industry says he faces homelessness
Mergers & Acquisitions
CD&R eclipses $20bn target for latest flagship fund
US buyout firm raises ‘hard cap’ to $23.5bn as it becomes latest big investor to defy fundraising slump
Mergers & Acquisitions
Wet weather damps UK consumer spending
Retail sales growth lags behind inflation rate with a rise of 1.5% in July
UK retail sales
UK ministers accused of inaction over ‘buy now, pay later’ lenders
Labour calls for a crackdown on ‘bad actors’ as interest-free products rise in popularity
Financial & markets regulation
FirstFT: Meta axes protein-folding team in pivot to commercial AI
Also in today’s newsletter, German chancellor pressed to send cruise missiles to Ukraine and Beijing’s red tape thwarts Big Tech’s EV dreams
Social Media, Artificial intelligence