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18/06/2022
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16/05/2022

In and around the shrinking, toxic Salton Sea, there’s enough lithium to meet the United States’ entire projected demand and fuel the electric vehicle revolution. Three companies are working to demonstrate new lithium extraction technologies in the area, and if their tech works at scale, it could produce the greenest lithium that the world has ever seen.

20/04/2022

Are Rich People Fleeing Places With High Taxes?

To balance their budgets during the coronavirus pandemic, states including New Jersey and New York have raised taxes on the wealthy. Conservatives warn that it will cause many of those who left at the onset of the pandemic make those moves permanent since they’re no longer bound to the physical locations of their offices or their children’s schools. But available data from 2020 show that the so-called exodus wasn’t as pronounced as initially projected, and the urban exit that did happen, was to suburbs rather than low tax states.

20/04/2022

Can The U.S. Cement Industry Keep Up With The $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill?

Concrete is the foundation of just about everything. It's used to construct buildings, highways, bridges, roads and more. During the Covid-19 pandemic, concrete fell victim to the same phenomena affecting other essential materials and goods: snarled supply chains and labor shortages. And demand for concrete appears to have only increased after the Senate passed the $1 trillion infrastructure package. Watch the video above to learn more about the cement-concrete supply chain.

Concrete is the foundation of just about everything. It’s used to construct buildings, highways, bridges, roads and more.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, concrete fell victim to the same phenomena impacting other essential materials and goods: snarled supply chains and labor shortages. And demand for concrete — and its essential ingredient, cement — appears to have only increased, after the Senate passed the $1 trillion infrastructure package to upgrade America’s roads, bridges and tunnels.

“In the short-term, we continue to have the supply chain difficulties, particularly in certain markets, and so prices are rising,” Anirban Basu, chief economist for the national construction industry trade association Associated Builders and Contractors, told CNBC. “So right now, apparently, supply is not rising up to meet demand.”

The industry also faces labor shortages of skilled workers and truck drivers. And the recent housing boom means more demand for concrete and cement, putting more pressure on the industry to increase capacity.

On top of all of this, there’s also a push to reduce the amount of carbon emissions that come from the industry. A study published by the National Academy of Sciences in 2019 estimates that global cement production accounts for 8% of global carbon emissions, making it the largest single industrial emitter of carbon dioxide.

20/04/2022

How The North Face Competes With Patagonia

For more than a half-century, The North Face has competed in the space outfitting mountain climbers and skiers. But the outdoor recreation brand is now hoping to become a significant player in the $185 billion streetwear market. In the three months ending September 2021, The North Face had revenue of $883 million, 31% higher than a year earlier. And while interest in outdoor activities like camping has surged, climate change and consumer trends like sustainability have led to a range of challenges and opportunities for the brand.

20/04/2022

How This Roofing Company Is Taking On Tesla’s Solar Roof

GAF Energy is taking on Tesla with the release of its new solar shingles. While the concept of solar shingles that blend in seamlessly with a regular roof has been around for decades, higher costs and lower efficiency and reliability as compared with traditional solar panels have prevented the product from taking off. But GAF Energy is the sister company to GAF, one of the largest roofing manufacturers in the world. And it believes that its deep ties to the roofing industry have allowed it to design a cost-competitive solar roof product that’s ready for the masses.

CLARIFICATION 1/5/22: At 11:02 in the video, there is a comparison made that needs clarification. The video states, “Given the GAF shingle’s dimensions and its 45 watt rating, it would produce, at maximum, 5.96 watts per square foot.” However, because of the way GAF Energy’s shingles overlap on the roof, 56% of each shingle is made up of non-solar material. If you consider the efficiency of only the active solar cells, GAF Energy's shingle produces 14.29 watts per square foot, which the company says would be on par with the efficiency of Tesla’s shingle.

20/04/2022

Is The Steel Bubble About To Pop?

Steel is essential. It's in everything from dishwashers to cars. Since the start of the pandemic, steel prices have spiked 300% over pre-pandemic levels, pricing over $1,900 at one point. Some worry it's a bubble that's about to burst. Watch the video above to learn more about the biggest U.S. steel manufacturers, the impact of steel tariffs, whether the U.S. steel industry can keep up with demand and what happens when that "bubble" pops.

The Covid-19 pandemic threw supply chains into chaos, and steel — an essential metal used in everything from dishwashers to cars — was not immune to these disruptions.

“Steel is certainly one of those examples of shortages, higher prices, and growing frustration among customers,” Associated Builders and Contractors chief economist Anirban Basu told CNBC.

Demand for steel dropped at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, but then it quickly skyrocketed. At one point, steel prices were 300% above their pre-pandemic levels at more than $1,900 per ton. Before the pandemic, steel priced between $500 per ton and $800 per ton.

Steel’s high price tag hasn’t really dropped all that much, and some worry it’s a bubble that’s about to burst.

“They have turned into a bubble. So, they go higher because they go higher,” CRU Group analyst Josh Spoores told CNBC about steel prices.

Steel is a key material in infrastructure projects, making the Biden administration’s plan to inject billions into U.S. infrastructure a huge boon to manufacturers.

“We estimate that for every $100 billion of new investment in infrastructure, that’s going to mean 5 million tons of additional steel demand,” American Iron and Steel Institute CEO Kevin Dempsey said.

Globally, steel demand in 2021 is expected to increase by 3.8% over 2020, according to the World Steel Association.

20/04/2022

Why The U.S. Is Falling Behind In Arctic Shipping

Arctic sea lanes might be ice-free in the summertime by 2035, according to scientists. That could mean faster global shipping times, and Russia and China are already taking the lead on their side of the frozen North. So why aren't the U.S. and Canada doing more?

Watch the video above to find out more about the opportunities and perils of increased Arctic shipping in what could be the world's next big economic zone.
Sick of shipping delays? There might be a faster way to ship supplies around the world in the not too distant future.
With melting sea ice in the Arctic, Russia and China are expanding their shipping infrastructure over the Eurasian continent. Last year’s Suez Canal incident, when a ship got stuck and blocked global traffic for several days, was seen as just the argument to entice businesses to explore using Arctic shipping routes.
“Many Russian officials are very quick to jump on the fact that Arctic sea routes are potentially much more useful for avoiding the kind of bottlenecks that one would see in either Panama or Suez Canal,” said Marc Lanteigne, associate professor of political science at the Arctic University of Norway.
China claims using the Northern Sea Route would shave almost 20 days off the shipping time now spent traveling through the Suez Canal.
But Arctic transit is no small feat and is still highly unpredictable. Captain Kenneth Boda took the U.S. Coast Guard cutter HEALY through the Arctic over Alaska and Canada this past summer.
“It can be extremely brutally cold in the Arctic and then you can have a beautiful sunny day,” he told CNBC from his captain’s quarters on the ship. The HEALY is one of two specialty ships known as icebreakers that the U.S. has to traverse the ice-clogged waters.
However, scientists are predicting that by 2035 Arctic sea lanes might be ice-free in the summertime.
While that could be good news for shippers, it is a real threat to the Native Arctic communities. Dalee Sambo Dorough, the international chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, told CNBC, “The idea that it can be traveled across in a smooth and relatively safe fashion, because there’s no ice, is very scary.”
Two of the largest shippers in the world, MSC and Maersk, told CNBC they’ve decided not to ship in the Arctic. MSC cited both environmental degradation and unpredictability issues, among other considerations.
Others, though, argue global environmental conditions could improve, with reduced carbon emissions from shorter transits.
“It’s really a question of saving shipping cost-saving time versus that lack of predictability,” Gabriella Gricius from the North American and Arctic Defense and Security Netwo

20/04/2022

Why Traffic Is So Bad In Los Angeles

Los Angeles consistently ranks among the most traffic-clogged cities in America. The county has been trying to reduce its traffic for decades and nothing has worked. Many researchers and economists suggest charging people for using the road in a system called congestion pricing.

20/04/2022

How There Could Finally Be A Cure For Diabetes

Over the past 20 years, significant advancements in stem cell research and therapies have been one of the most promising methods of creating new insulin making cells needed to cure type 1 diabetes.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a biotech company, recently began a clinical trial where it plans to treat 17 participants who have type 1 diabetes with new stem cell derived insulin making cells. The first patient in the trial has had positive results.

Other companies around the world including ViaCyte and CRISPR, as well as Novo Nordisk, one of the biggest insulin manufacturers in the world, are also working on curing the disease. CNBC explores why finding a cure for diabetes is so hard and just how close Vertex and other companies are to solving this problem.

20/04/2022

Electric Boats

Everything is going electric, including boats. General Motors recently invested $150 million in one start-up, Pure Watercraft, to build an electric pontoon boat. And several others are working to bring their own battery-powered offerings to market. Could boating be the next industry to go electric after cars?

20/04/2022

Why U.S. Roads And Highways Are So Bad

The roads, highways and bridges across the country are funded, owned and maintained by a complex cluster of different government agencies at the local, state and federal levels. Roads and highways are vital to economic growth and play a key role in American culture. But more than 30% of Americans say the roads in their area are in need of urgent repair.

20/04/2022

Why The World Relies On ASML For Machines That Print Chips

In a Dutch factory, there’s a revolutionary chipmaking machine the whole world has come to rely on. It takes months to assemble, and only one company in the world knows how: Advanced Semiconductor Materials Lithography.

CNBC got an exclusive tour inside ASML’s cleanrooms to see how these $200 million EUV systems print minuscule designs on advanced microchips using exploding molten tin, the flattest surface in the world, and light so narrow it’s absorbed by air.

Once ASML is done building and testing an EUV lithography machine, it’s so big that it needs to be disassembled and loaded on 20 trucks or three 747s for shipment. Only five customers can afford EUV machines, the biggest being TSMC, Samsung and Intel - and ASML export controls keep ASML from sending any to China.

Here’s a rare, inside look at how nearly 800 suppliers come together to create the technology required to print every advanced chip powering the digital world, from data centers to iPhones.

20/04/2022

Inside Intel’s Bold $26 Billion U.S. Plan To Regain Chip Dominance

For decades, Intel was the leading maker of the world’s most advanced chips. Intel’s history is interwoven with that of Silicon Valley, credited with the invention of RAM and microprocessors, the building blocks of modern computing. Now Intel has fallen behind. But its new CEO, Pat Gelsinger, has a bold plan to catch up to Samsung and TSMC by 2025, by building new chip fabrication plants in the U.S., Europe and Israel totaling more than $44 billion. CNBC got an exclusive tour at the fab expansion outside Portland, Oregon, that’s set to open early next year.

The world’s smallest and most-efficient chips are usually referred to as 5 nanometer, a nomenclature that once referred to the width of transistors on the chip. They power cutting-edge data processing and the latest generation of Apple iPhones. TSMC and Samsung make all of these 5-nanometer chips at fabs in Asia.

“They took their eye off the ball,” said Stacy Rasgon, an analyst at Bernstein. “Once you fall off the treadmill, it’s really really difficult to get back on. It’s a very dynamic and fast-moving industry.”

In 1990, 37% of the world’s semiconductors were made in the U.S., according to industry association Semi. Last year, U.S. market share was down to 12%, according to the association. The government is hoping to change that with the CHIPS Act, which includes a proposed $52 billion in subsidies for chip companies like Intel that commit to manufacturing in the U.S.

“It also starts building up that base within the United States, so that the United States can become more self-sufficient,” said Ann Kelleher, Intel’s senior vice president of technology development .

TSMC is responsible for 92% of the world’s 5-nanometer chips, according to research group Capital Economics. This leaves the global chip supply vulnerable to natural disasters like earthquakes and the region’s current drought. There’s also the escalating geopolitical tension between China and Taiwan, as well as the U.S.-China trade war.

“Every aspect of defense, intelligence, government operations is becoming more digital,” Gelsinger said. “And we want to rely on foreign technology for those critical aspects of our defense and national security? I don’t think so.”

The next steps in Intel’s playbook include a chip so efficient that the company didn’t measure it in nanometers but with an even smaller unit of measurement called the angstrom. Intel said the 18a, which is in development for 2025, will accelerate the company past its competitors.

“We will be the world’s largest integrated design and manufacturer of silicon for the long term,” Gelsinger said.

“It’s a tall order and it is not my expectation that he will hit that,” Susquehanna’s Rolland said. “But if he could hit that timetable, it would put them back, in my opinion, on par with TSM head to head.”

20/04/2022

How JP Morgan Chase Became The Largest Bank In The US

From the railroad and steel consolidations brokered by John Pierpont Morgan on Wall Street more than a century ago, to banking consolidation, the financial crisis and Jamie Dimon's leadership, J.P. Morgan Chase has been at the center of finance for more than a century. Here's the story of how the country's largest bank got to where it is today.

Biographer of J.P. Morgan Jean Strouse, longtime bank analyst Mike Mayo and CNBC banking reporter Hugh Son help tell the story. You’ll learn about how Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton are part of the bank’s history, along with the first ATM, and the company’s position moving forward into the future of digital banking.

Watch the video above to see how the country’s largest bank got to where it is today.

***Clarification*** Since 2004, investors in JPM stock have outperformed the bank stock index by an average of 6% return every year. That's more than 6x the return of the index yearly (13:52)

In February, J.P. Morgan Chase announced it was in growth mode, expanding its branch network to cover 93 percent of the U.S. population by the end of 2022.

The aggressive growth plans will allow it to reach 80 million more consumers, or about one-quarter of the U.S. population, versus its footprint in 2018, the New York-based bank says.

The expansion of physical branches comes amid a consumer shift to mobile and online banking. The average number of teller transactions per customer has plunged 41 percent since 2014, according to J.P. Morgan's presentation at its investor day meeting.

But convenient branch locations are a key consideration for people thinking about switching banks, and most of the firm's growth in deposits has been fueled by people who use branches frequently, the bank said.

20/04/2022

Secretive Giant TSMC’s $100 Billion Plan To Fix The Chip Shortage

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company makes 24% of all the world's chips, and 92% of the most advanced ones found in today's iPhones, fighter jets and supercomputers. Now TSMC is building America's first 5-nanometer fabrication plant, hoping to reverse a decades-long trend of the U.S. losing chip manufacturing to Asia. CNBC got an exclusive tour of the $12 billion fab that will start production in 2024.

As the world grapples with an ongoing chip shortage, a quiet giant among chipmakers has committed to investing $100 billion over three years to ramp up production.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company may not be a household name, but with a market value of over $550 billion, it’s one of the world’s 10 most valuable companies. Now, it’s leveraging its considerable resources to bring the world’s most advanced chip manufacturing back to U.S. soil.

CNBC got an exclusive tour of the $12 billion fabrication plant, or fab, in Phoenix, Arizona, where TSMC will start making 5-nanometer chips in 2024. The company says it will produce 20,000 wafers each month.

“These are parts that are going to be used in lots of different places: CPUs, GPUs, IPUs, etc. They’ll be used in smartphones,” Rick Cassidy told CNBC. Cassidy is TSMC’s chief strategy officer and the president and CEO of TSMC’s project in Arizona.

TSMC makes key components for everything from cellphones to F-35 fighter jets to NASA’s Perseverance Rover mission to Mars. Earlier this month, it announced plans for a new factory in Japan, where it will produce chips with older technologies, for things like household devices and certain car components. TSMC is also Apple’s exclusive provider of the most advanced chips inside every iPhone currently on the market and most Mac computers.

“But they remain sort of in the background, in terms of end markets. So Apple gets all the accolades when a new phone comes out,” said Joanne Itow, managing director of manufacturing at Semico Research.

“We’re low-key. We let our products speak for themselves. Their success brings all the business that we could ever hope for,” Cassidy said.

The U.S. was the birthplace of advanced silicon, but for decades now, it’s been losing market share to Asia, where 79% of the world’s chip production happened in 2020, according to industry association SEMI. It calculated the U.S. was responsible for 12% of worldwide chip manufacturing last year, down from 37% in 1990.

TSMC alone was responsible for 24% of the world’s semiconductor output in 2020, up from 21% in 2019, according to the company. When it comes to the most advanced chips used in the latest iPhones, supercomputers and automotive AI, TSMC is responsible for 92% of production while Samsung is responsible for the other 8%, according to research group Capital Economics.

“It’s become almost a monopoly at the leading edge, and all of those manufacturing operations, for the most part, are out of Taiwan, Hsinchu. That becomes a matter of national importance for the United States, but not only the United States, but the Western world,” said Christopher Rolland, Susquehanna’s senior semiconductor analyst.

Along with cutting edge 3- and 5-nanometer chips, TSMC also makes larger chips for products such as electric toothbrushes and coffeemakers. Cars often use less-advanced 28- to 40-nanometer chips. All types of chips have been impacted by the shortage. Carmakers including GM and Toyota have paused production at some plants. And Apple is likely to slash its 2021 production targets for the iPhone 13, with orders for some models delayed by more than a month.

20/04/2022

The Future Of Energy Storage Beyond Lithium Ion

CORRECTION : At 12:53 we incorrectly identify the size of the energy storage market. Overall, the energy storage market is predicted to attract $620 billion dollars in investments by 2040.

Over the past decade, prices for solar panels and wind farms have reached all-time lows. However, the price for lithium ion batteries, the leading energy storage technology, has remained too high. So researchers are exploring other alternatives, including flow batteries, thermal batteries, and gravity-based systems.

20/04/2022

How Amazon Beat Supply Chain Chaos With Ships, Containers And Planes

As supply chain chaos causes shipping delays this holiday season, experts say Amazon’s logistics empire and predictive analytics will allow it to avoid the worst of it. Amazon leased long-haul planes to get goods from China to the U.S. faster, and its been making its own containers and chartering private cargo vessels for years. Now retailers like Walmart, Home Depot, Target, IKEA and Costco are trying out the tactic, chartering smaller vessels to bring goods to less congested ports.

20/04/2022

Is Nuclear Fusion The Answer To Unlimited Clean Energy?

Nuclear power has a controversial history, but many energy experts say it has a major role to play in our energy future. Some in the industry are working to make standard fission power safer and cheaper. Others are pursuing the holy grail of energy - nuclear fusion, the process that powers the sun and the stars. If we figure out how to harness that power here on earth, it would be a huge game-changer.

20/04/2022

How Domino's Is Winning The Pizza Wars

Domino's Pizza sales fell a decade ago, but today it's world's biggest pizza company by sales. How did Domino's turn around its fortunes to dominate competitors like Pizza Hut and Papa John's?
For decades, food delivery meant Chinese takeout or Pizza, usually from a local shop or a large chain like Domino's Pizza. That's changed with the rise of food delivery services like Uber Eats, Grubhub, Postmades, and DoorDash. That's bad for Domino's. It might be American's number 1 pie maker, but Domino's Pizza built its business on delivery.

20/04/2022

Can Sea Water Desalination Save The World?

Today, one out of three people don’t have access to safe drinking water. And that’s the result of many things, but one of them is that 96.5% of that water is found in our oceans. It’s saturated with salt, and undrinkable. Most of the freshwater is locked away in glaciers or deep underground. Less than one percent of it is available to us. So why can’t we just take all that seawater, filter out the salt, and have a nearly unlimited supply of clean, drinkable water?

19/04/2022

Inside Corning's Gorilla Glass Factory

Harrodsburg, Kentucky . Get a rare look inside Corning’s oldest glass factory where it makes Gorilla Glass for iPhones and a variety of other devices. The factory runs 24/7 and human hands never touch the glass — only air and robots. Take a look inside to see how it's made.

In the middle of bluegrass and bourbon country in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, is Corning's oldest glass factory. It was built in the 1950s to create lenses for glasses and then in the 1980s it transitioned into making LCD glass panels.

But about six months before the first iPhone was released in 2007, Steve Jobs made a call to the CEO of Corning and asked the company to create glass that could withstand scratches and breakage for a new Apple product. Before that, phones were typically covered in plastic. Corning quickly developed Gorilla Glass, and this factory went through a complete transformation.

The same company that developed the glass for the Edison bulb in 1879, is now making the glass that covers 6 billion smartphones, tablets, screens and wearables worldwide for Apple, Samsung, LG, Sony and Huawei and a variety of other manufacturers.

19/04/2022

Why The US Has No High-Speed Rail ?

China has the world’s fastest and largest high-speed rail network — more than 19,000 miles, the vast majority of which was built in the past decade.

Japan’s bullet trains can reach nearly 200 miles per hour and date to the 1960s. They have moved more than 9 billion people without a single passenger causality. casualty

France began service of the high-speed TGV train in 1981 and the rest of Europe quickly followed.

But the U.S. has no true high-speed trains, aside from sections of Amtrak’s Acela line in the Northeast Corridor. The Acela can reach 150 mph for only 34 miles of its 457-mile span. Its average speed between New York and Boston is about 65 mph.

California’s high-speed rail system is under construction, but whether it will ever get completed as intended is uncertain.

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