Adobe stock
The R&D World Index (RDWI) for the week ending June 21, 2024, closed at 3,785.63 for the 25 companies in the RDWI. The Index was up 0.38% (or 14.33 basis points).
Eighteen RDWI members gained value last week from 0.44% (Alibaba) to 3.52% (Cisco). Seven RDWI members lost value the previous week from -0.02% (Volkswagen AG) to -2.35% (Apple).
No Apple AI in Europe
RDW Index member Apple, Cupertino, California, announced last week that it’s not likely to roll out AI features to millions of its customers in Europe in 2024 due to concerns over the European Union’s (EU’s) Digital Markets Act (DMA), which became applicable in May 2023. The DMA’s requirement to have software that works across various operating systems is likely the specific item that would force Apple “to compromise the integrity of its products in ways that risk user privacy and data security.” Apple’s new AI system called Apple Intelligence is among the products the company doesn’t think it will be able to offer to customers in 2024. Apple said it is working with the European Commission to find a common solution. Apple is looking for partners in China to launch its new AI features. One of the companies being evaluated is e-commerce leader and RDW Index member Alibaba Group. RDW Index member Meta Platforms, Menlo Park, California, also said earlier this month that it would hold off on launching Meta AI in Europe after a request from Ireland’s Data Protection Commission to delay training the company’s large language models on Facebook and Instagram.
R&D healthcare news
UMass Memorial Health, Worcester, Massachusetts, announced last week that it has purchased an R&D facility in Holden, Massachusetts for $4.25 million with plans to use the building for support services. The 10-acre site contains a 37,500-ft2 R&D building constructed in 1975. According to UMass, the facility will be used for support services and will not be used for direct patient care.
OpenAI, San Francisco, announced last week that it is teaming with startup Color Health, Burlingame, California, to expand the use of AI in healthcare for cancer screening and treatments. Color Health has developed an AI assistant or copilot using OpenAI’s GPT-4o model. The copilot helps doctors create cancer screening plans as well as pretreatment plans for people who have been diagnosed with cancer. OpenAI and Color Health began work on the copilot in 2023. OpenAI announced in April 2024 a deal with Moderna, the COVID-19 vaccine developer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to speed up business processes and tasks like selecting optimal doses for clinical trials. In May, Sanofi announced that it had entered into a collaboration with OpenAI and the tech-driven pharma firm Formation Bio.
| Company | Ticker | Exchange | 2020 R&D billion$ | 6/14/24 | 6/21/24 | 6/14/24 to 6/21/24 | 1/1/22 to 6/21/24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alphabet/Google | GOOGL | NASDAQ | 27.303 | 178.37 | 180.26 | 1.06% | 24.45% |
| Microsoft | MSFT | NASDAQ | 17.198 | 442.57 | 449.78 | 1.63% | 33.74% |
| Volkswagen | VWAGY | OTC | 17.259 | 11.99 | 13.38 | -0.02% | -58.94% |
| Apple | AAPL | NASDAQ | 18.667 | 212.49 | 207.49 | 2.35% | 16.85% |
| Meta Platforms | META | NASDAQ | 13.874 | 494.78 | 492.96 | -1.86% | 47.10% |
| Intel | INTC | NASDAQ | 14.503 | 30.45 | 31.09 | 2.10% | -29.63% |
| Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | NYSE | 13.75 | 145.54 | 148.75 | 2.21% | -13.05% |
| Roche | RHHBY | OTC | 14.143 | 34.67 | 35.59 | 2.65% | -31.15% |
| Merck | MRK | NYSE | 11.381 | 129.48 | 130.72 | 0.96% | 70.56% |
| Novartis | NVS | NYSE | 9.387 | 105.72 | 105.22 | 0.47% | 20.29% |
| Toyota | TM | NYSE | 10.724 | 197.13 | 193.58 | -1.80% | 4.47% |
| Pfizer | PFE | NYSE | 8.336 | 27.53 | 27.74 | -0.76% | -53.02% |
| Alibaba | BABA | NYSE | 6.006 | 73.35 | 73.67 | 0.44% | -37.98% |
| General Motors | GM | NYSE | 6.727 | 46.77 | 47.72 | 2.03% | -18.61% |
| Honda | HMC | NYSE | 8.806 | 32.04 | 31.37 | -2.09% | 10.26% |
| Ford | F | NYSE | 9.34 | 11.71 | 11.84 | 1.11% | -42.99% |
| AbbVie | ABBV | NYSE | 13.949 | 168.59 | 170.39 | 1.07% | 25.84% |
| Sanofi | SNY | NYSE | 7.75 | 46.25 | 47.21 | 2.8% | -5.77% |
| Cisco | CSCO | NASDAQ | 6.331 | 45.68 | 47.29 | 3.52% | -25.37% |
| Bristol Myers Squibb | BMY | NYSE | 7.13 | 41.20 | 41.93 | 1.77% | -32.75% |
| AstraZeneca | AZN | NYSE | 6.056 | 79.59 | 78.88 | -0.89% | 35.42% |
| IBM | IBM | NYSE | 5.368 | 169.21 | 172.46 | 1.92% | 29.03% |
| Oracle | ORCL | NYSE | 6.928 | 138.13 | 141.50 | 2.00% | 62.25% |
| Eli Lilly | LLY | NYSE | 8.606 | 878.45 | 883.88 | 0.62% | 219.99% |
| Stellantis | STLA | NYSE | 5.309 | 20.21 | 20.50 | 1.43% | 4.91% |
Israel invests in quantum computing
Quantum Machines, Tel Aviv, Israel, last week announced that it is opening a quantum computing center (IQCC) at Tel Aviv University, which is funded by the Israel Innovation Authority at an investment level of $27 million to help Israel compete in the global effort to develop practical quantum computing capabilities. The company has already enacted the QUA, a standard universal language for quantum computers that allows researchers to write programs for various quantum computers with one unified code.
Samsung readies AI-equipped laptop
Samsung Electronics, Suwon, South Korea, introduced its latest laptop computer last week, the Galaxy Book 4 Edge, which uses a Microsoft operating system. The device has AI features and has encountered problems running some software programs including popular computer games, including “League of Legends” and “Fortnite” While personal computers (PCs) in the past typically used Intel processors, manufacturers have recently started using Qualcomm Snapdragon chips which are optimized to integrate AI functions for generating images and summarizing text without an internet connection. Samsung said it used the fastest, most powerful Snapdragon chips for its PCs. Analysts initially could not determine if the Snapdragon chips were a factor in the current problems. Over 80% of all PCs are expected to have AI-based chips by 2028, Intel stated earlier this month.
R&D World Index Week Ending June 21, 2024 – Sectors
| Category | 6/14/24 | 6/21/24 | 6/14/24 to 6/21/24 | 1/1/22 to 6/21/24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ICT | 1794.41 | 1798.32 | 0.22% | 24.05% |
| Automotive | 319.87 | 317.00 | -0.90% | -7.28% |
| Biopharmaceutical | 1657.02 | 1670.31 | 0.80% | 62.44% |
Industry acquisitions
BP, London, announced last week that it was taking full control of its Brazilian biofuels joint venture, BP Bunge Bioenergia with the acquisition of its partner’s 50% shareholding valued at $1.4 billion. The action is part of BP’s plan to focus on new biofuels projects. BP is looking to simplify its overall biofuels strategies in a more focused manner. U.S. grain trader and oilseed processor Bunge Global, St. Louis, stated that the BP-Brazilian joint venture has been operating well.
Adobe stock
Nvidia gains top spot
Nvidia, Santa Clara, California, became the largest U.S. company last week, unseating Microsoft for the top spot and fueled by the unabated demand for AI-accelerated hardware. In its latest quarter, Nvidia’s revenue rose to $26 billion, triple last year’s. Nvidia’s stock was the best performer in the S&P 500 in 2023 and its current value is more than $3 trillion, less than four months after it reached the $2 trillion mark. Analyst Angelo Zino, an equity analyst at CFRA, says it will be the most important company to our civilization over the next decade as the world becomes more AI-driven. Some analysts note that AI has all the hallmarks of an inflating bubble and will likely keep U.S. stocks rising for the next year and a half. Not all agree with this assessment.
R&D World’s R&D Index is a weekly stock market summary of the top international companies involved in R&D. The top 25 industrial R&D spenders in 2020 were selected based on the latest listings from Schonfeld & Associates’ June 2020 R&D Ratios & Budgets. These 25 companies include pharmaceutical (10 companies), automotive (6 companies), and ICT (9 companies) which invested a cumulative total of nearly 260 billion dollars in R&D in 2019, or approximately 10% of all the R&D spending in the world by government, industries, and academia combined, according to R&D World’s 2021 Global R&D Funding Forecast. The stock prices used in the R&D World Index are tabulated from NASDAQ. NYSE, and OTC common stock prices for the companies selected at the close of stock trading business on the Friday preceding the online publication of the R&D World Index.
