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What are major US tech companies investing in?

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  The Economist analyzed a number of data on the activities of the Big Five: the technology focus of their recently acquired companies, companies in which they received minority stakes, employee profiles on LinkedIn, publications and patents. The article gives an idea of the direction of the phenomenal surge in investment. The five largest US companies - Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft (MAAMA) have invested $280 billion in 2021. This is 9% of the investments of all American companies. Five years ago it was 4%. Research and development The Big Five spent $149 billion on research and development (R&D) in 2021, up 34% since 2019. Product development accounts for a significant portion of this spending. Over the past 12 months, the share of cash flows of MAAMA companies for R&D and capital expenditures amounted to 53% . For comparison: on average, all companies included in the S&P500 index spend 32% on research. One reason for the huge R&D spending is the rea...
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Reasons for the deficit and rising inflation

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  Based on research by Bridgewater Associates . Supply chain problems and rising inflation persist. For investors, inflation is a big risk. Markets view inflation as a temporary phenomenon: " ...inflation will return to central bank targets. Regulators will be able to use loose monetary policy for a long time. " Bridgewater Associates researchers disagree. "Newspaper headlines focus on local supply-side problems (the port in Los Angeles, coal in China, natural gas in Europe, semiconductors around the world, truck drivers in the UK, etc.) and miss a global cause for which there is not yet specific solution. ...current inflation and rising prices are not a pandemic-related supply problem. The supply of virtually everything has reached record levels. The reason is an upward demand shock due to the direct issuance of money to buyers of goods and services. Some inflation drivers are temporary, but the underlying supply/demand imbalance is worsening." Researchers note a s...
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The US is testing robotic patrol dogs at its borders

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  Four-legged machines are being tested as autonomous sentries. The latest addition to the United States frontier force could be robotic dogs. This week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released new details on the testing of four-legged robots at the southern border. The vehicles are being tested in a variety of surveillance-oriented roles, and while DHS hasn't given a timeline for full rollout, they say the tests have been "successful" and work on the vehicles will continue. “The southern frontier can be an inhospitable place for man and beast, which is why a machine can do well there,” said Brenda Long, program manager for research and development at DHS, Directorate of Science and Technology (S&T) in a blog post. “This S&T-led initiative is focused on automated ground observation vehicles, or what we call 'AGSVs'. In essence, the AGSV program is about… robot dogs.” The four-legged machines are made by Ghost Robotics, a company that competes wi...
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Investment potential and risks of technology companies

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The combined market value of the top five technology companies is $9 trillion . Analysts predict further growth. Amazon Amazon best illustrates the current risks and untapped potential of the tech giants. The company's shares have been under pressure since the end of July 2021. At the time, Amazon said that e-commerce growth was slowing down as more people left their homes to shop. Amazon under the gun of regulators and legislators. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is reviewing the company's proposed acquisition of MGM. The big question is, is it worth letting the big get bigger? If the agency tries to block the deal, it will signal a change in the way regulators approach technology consolidation. But don't expect the rejection to move Amazon stock long term. MGM films would be a nice addition to Amazon's Prime Video offering, but they won't affect the company's bottom line. “I believe that Amazon should be rigorously vetted. We should rigorously vet all larg...
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