unit

Part of Intel‘s (INTC -2.82%) turnaround strategy, now under CEO Lip-Bu Tan and previously under former CEO Pat Gelsinger, is to exit noncore businesses and refocus on what the company does best. Intel has exited the memory chip business, wound down its Ethernet switch business, abandoned its Bitcoin mining chips, and scuttled a wide variety of smaller business lines. It has also spun off its self-driving unit Mobileye and sold a majority stake in Altera, raising cash in both cases.

Intel likely isn’t done simplifying its operations. Tan has initiated significant layoffs, and a new policy of “no more blank checks” will lead to the company being far more selective about which investments it chooses to make.

Anything outside of PC central processing units (CPUs), server CPUs, and manufacturing could very well get the axe, and even the manufacturing business isn’t safe if it can’t secure external customers.

Last week, Intel signed an unexpected deal with rival Nvidia to produce custom PC and data center CPUs that include Nvidia technology. In the PC business, this means that Intel CPUs with integrated Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs) are on their way. The big question: What does this mean for Intel’s own graphics business?

Image source: Getty Images.

An unclear future

Intel sells CPUs with its own integrated graphics technology, and it also broke into the discrete graphics card market a few years ago with its Arc line of GPUs. The first generation of Intel’s Arc GPUs was plagued with software issues, while the second generation has garnered positive reviews. Intel focused on the mid-range portion of the market, offering a compelling alternative to Nvidia and AMD graphics cards.

Unfortunately for Intel, it hasn’t gained any meaningful share of the discrete graphics card market. In the first quarter, Intel’s GPU unit share rounded down to 0%, according to Jon Peddie Research. Nvidia dominates the market, and PC gamers may still be reluctant to try an Intel GPU due to the history of software issues.

The deal with Nvidia doesn’t cover discrete graphics cards, but partnering with a competitor raises questions about how serious Intel is about staying in the discrete graphics card market. It also raises questions about whether it will continue to invest in its own graphics technology for its CPUs.

Once CPUs with Nvidia graphics start shipping, it’s unclear whether Intel will continue to invest in its in-house graphics. An Intel CPU with Nvidia graphics should be an appealing product, but it could reduce demand for Intel’s non-Nvidia CPUs. Intel could also end up scrapping its discrete graphics card business, given that its main competitor is now a partner.

Not without risks

The deal with Nvidia makes a lot of sense for Intel. The company has lost considerable PC CPU market share to AMD, so upping its graphics performance with Nvidia’s GPUs should help Intel strengthen its position, particularly in the laptop market.

If Intel ends up pulling back on its own graphics technology, that move would reduce costs at the expense of the company becoming dependent on Nvidia, which is buying a $5 billion stake in Intel as part of the deal, so this appears to be a long-term arrangement. Even so, outsourcing graphics entirely could come back to bite Intel down the road.

Despite the deal with Nvidia, Intel may choose to keep plugging away in discrete graphics cards and to keep developing its own graphics technology. But with the company eyeing noncore businesses to dump, graphics could very well be next.

Pow! Bam! Whack!

Sierra Canyon has a defense in high school football that needs comic book treatment.

Call them “The Kaboom Squad.”

At any moment, whether it’s a lineman, linebacker or defensive back delivering the blow, be prepared to be wowed.

With size, quickness and depth, the Trailblazers have shut out opponents for 12 consecutive quarters. The opponents haven’t been bad: JSerra, Oaks Christian and Honolulu Punahou.

Will they go through their 10-game regular-season schedule unscored upon? Absolutely not. But the reason they have three shutouts in lopsided victories is that the second stringers are performing as well as first stringers when coach Jon Ellinghouse clears the bench.

Their 63-0 win over Oaks Christian broadcast on Spectrum only added to the Trailblazers’ reputation.

It’s kaboom time as Sam Amuti of Sierra Canyon High prepares to level a Punahou ballcarrier.

(Craig Weston)

A combination of returnees and transfers gives the Trailblazers a defense with few weaknesses.

Nobody is perfect, and perhaps Downey and star quarterback Oscar Rios will be the first to end the shutout streak on Friday, but this is Sierra Canyon’s best defense since the spring of the 2021 COVID season when the Trailblazers put together 18 consecutive quarters of allowing zero points and gave a scare to St. John Bosco.

All the Trailblazers’ positions are filled with talented starters and quality backups. The defensive line starts with Texas commit Richard Wesley, wearing No. 99, the number of Rams great Aaron Donald. The linebackers have a smart, fearless tackler in Ronen Zamorano. The secondary has so many college-bound players that the players’ NIL deals could pay for a trip to Hawaii. Madden Riordan (USC), Havon Finney Jr. (Louisiana State) and Brandon Lockhart (USC) lead the way. And coming soon when the sit-out period ends on Sept. 29 is kicker Carter Sobel, who was a standout at Chaminade and will add to bad field position for opposing offenses.

Sierra Canyon’s Spencer Parham gets emotional for a defense that hasn’t allowed any points in 12 quarters.

(Craig Weston)

Having seen the physicality of St. John Bosco’s offensive and defensive lines last week in a 21-14 win over Baltimore St. Frances, Sierra Canyon (3-0) still needs to keep progressing to be on the same level of the Trinity League powers needed to win a Southern Section Division 1 championship.

The Trailblazers are definitely closing the gap with the Braves and No. 1 Mater Dei. They get a good tune-up for the Division 1 playoffs with a matchup against Orange Lutheran on Sept. 18, a team they lost to last season 33-26.

Chris Rizzo, a former Taft head coach, is the Trailblazers’ defensive coordinator. He wears his baseball cap backward on the sideline with sunglasses and has many options for defensive packages.

Asked if the defense has any weaknesses, Rizzo said, “We have some weaknesses. We’re not perfect by any means. We’ve got some things we have to fix and keep getting better.”

The defense is also helping Sierra Canyon’s offense improve because it’s so difficult to move the ball during practices.

“It makes our guys better,” Ellinghouse said.

Rizzo declined to reveal which unit he thinks is best. “The secondary is pretty star-studded,” he said. “The defensive line is deep. They embrace the grind and play for each other.”

Only time will tell whether this defense is as good as some think. There’s plenty of games ahead to prove if the Trailblazers are truly The Kaboom Squad.

Joshua Karty, Ethan Evans and Alex Ward still have a long way to go.

But the Rams’ kicker, punter/holder and long-snapper, respectively, have shown signs that they could have the collective staying power of former Rams stalwarts Greg Zuerlein, Johnny Hekker and Jake McQuaide.

From 2012 to 2019, Zuerlein kicked, Hekker punted (and occasionally passed) and McQuaide snapped for the Rams under former special teams coordinator John Fassel.

The current specialists can envision a similarly lengthy future together.

“We all work really well with each other,” said Evans, a third-year pro. “We all know exactly what each other’s do’s and don’ts are, what makes each other better.

“So I feel like we all complement each other really well — and I think we could do that for a long time.”

Karty, a 2024 sixth-round draft pick from Stanford, experienced and learned from the highs and lows after making 29 of 34 field-goal attempts and 32 of 36 extra-point attempts during the regular season.

Karty kicked a winning field goal against the San Francisco 49ers, navigated a stretch of misses and inconsistency and then finished by making 17 consecutive attempts during the last five regular-season games and two playoff games.

It was something of “a roller coaster,” said Karty, who aims to pick up where he left off last season.

Karty impressed coach Sean McVay with his ability to bounce back.

“I’m just super impressed with his mental resolve,” McVay said. “I think there was some instances last year where you could just see he just got better and better as the year progressed.

“He’s got a consistent process that he commits to. I don’t think you can take for granted the rapport between him, Ethan and Alex. That’s a big deal as those guys are continuing to grow together.”

Special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn said Karty has a “comfortability” from experience and working with Ward and Evans.

“The confidence that’s built in the offseason together and training camp together,” Blackburn said. “Going through it and having those, knowing that he has the confidence and the complete trust of all his teammates too.”

Evans, a third-year pro, last season averaged 41.5 net yards per punt. He placed 30 of 55 kicks inside the 20-yard line.

Evans said he has a refined daily routine and is not overthinking.

“I used to think, ‘Oh, my drop had to be perfect. My steps have to be this … I have to put the ball there, there, there.’

“Now, it’s just like, wherever Chase tells me to punt it, just punt it. Don’t think about anything. Just go and do it.”

Receiver Xavier Smith held off a challenge from veteran free agent Britain Covey during training camp to retain his role as a punt returner.

Receiver Jordan Whittington, running back Blake Corum and Smith could once again handle kickoff returns.

Undrafted rookie linebacker Shaun Dolac and veteran linebacker Troy Reeder are among other players expected to make an impact on special teams.

Architect Simon Ha was trying to squeeze an apartment building onto a 6,400-square foot lot in Hollywood.

The city of Los Angeles requires two stairways for such buildings, which limited the configurations Ha could use. After racking his brain, he finally came up with a solution.

“It was like designing a Swiss watch,” he said of the 2023 project.

Now, the L.A. City Council is on the brink of allowing just one stairway for buildings of up to six stories, making it easier and cheaper to build on smaller lots — but raising concerns about escape routes in a fire or earthquake.

Councilmember Nithya Raman, who introduced the single stairway proposal with Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, said she wants to speed up development to address the city’s housing crisis and to encourage the construction of apartments big enough for families. And she believes safety needn’t be sacrificed.

“We’re trying to say, ‘How can we build more safely — and build more overall?’” Raman said in an interview.

Los Angeles Councilmember Nithya Raman.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Until recently, New York, Seattle and Honolulu were among the few American cities that allowed single stairways in buildings of up to six stories. Since 2022, amid a nationwide affordable housing crunch, at least 16 cities and states have proposed or enacted single stairway regulations, according to a Pew Charitable Trusts study released in February.

The double stairway rule, in place in California since 1981, makes it harder to build apartments with more than two bedrooms, urban planners and architects said.

Apartments typically have to be laid out along a long hallway, with windows on only one side of each unit, resulting in less light and ventilation, said Stephen Smith, who is executive director of the Center for Building in North America and one of the single stairway’s biggest advocates.

“For small lots in particular, the second stairway can eat up a huge amount of the building’s footprint,” he said.

A single stair layout without a long hallway could mean more room for larger units

Based on design by Simon Ha

Gabrielle LaMarr LeMee LOS ANGELES TIMES

Under state law, L.A. can reduce the number of stairways it requires, as long as it implements other restrictions, such as high-end sprinkler systems. Raman and Yaroslavsky’s proposal for single stairway buildings would limit the number of units per floor to four.

But proponents of double stairways say they are a key safety measure, giving residents two options for fleeing a fire, along with a separate route for firefighters.

Frank Lima, a Los Angeles firefighter and general secretary-treasurer of the International Assn. of Fire Fighters, or IAFF, said the stairways are a life-and-death issue.

“[A single stairway] forces building occupants to go down a stairwell while firefighters go up a stairwell,” Lima said. “That delays fire attack, delays people getting out of a building — when seconds count.”

“When you try to cut corners to save money or make more units, it shouldn’t be at the price of children that die,” Lima said.

The IAFF, which represents firefighters and emergency medical technicians across the U.S. and Canada, has strongly opposed single stairway proposals — “I’d rather call it ‘only one way out,’” Lima said.

On Aug. 20, the City Council voted 13 to 1 to request that city staffers draft a single stairway ordinance.

In a memo to the council, City Planning Director Vincent Bertoni wrote that the single stairway proposal could make a “substantial contribution” to the city’s housing supply.

“The result is that family-sized units — a much needed segment of Los Angeles’ housing stock — are not being produced at the scale required to meet existing and projected needs,” he wrote of the double stairway requirement.

About 14% of rental units in the city are three or more bedrooms, according to the Planning Department.

Zachary Pitts, the Los Angeles director of YIMBY Action, which advocates for more affordable housing, said he had a hard time finding a three-bedroom apartment in downtown Los Angeles.

There were plenty of studios, one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms, but places big enough for his family of four cost a small fortune.

“We ended up buying a single-family home, since a mortgage was lower than the prices we were being quoted,” Pitts said.

Ha, the architect, said that ditching the double stairway requirement could enable developers to produce “East Coast-style” townhouses like those in New York — a contrast to the “podium-style” buildings now going up in L.A., which generally take up a half or whole block.

Ha has designed buildings from San Francisco to San Diego, though most of his work is in Los Angeles, where he is the architect of many micro-apartment complexes, which contain only studios.

Small parcels of 7,500 square feet or less, where a single stairway would make apartments easier to build, often sit empty for long periods, creating “missing teeth” in the city’s layout, Ha said.

Simon Ha stands inside one of two stairways at the Hollywood Premiere Apartments. Architects such as Ha are in support of single stairway reform that would make it easier and cheaper to develop on small lots.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

The Los Angeles Fire Department declined to comment on the single stairway proposal, saying it is under review by the city fire marshal. The councilmembers behind the proposal say the department has been consulted every step of the way.

Raman said she sees “no reduction in fire safety.”

“New fire safety standards in our building code have made it so new buildings are much safer overall,” she said.

Architect Simon Ha shows the two stairways at the Hollywood Premiere Apartments.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

The Pew Charitable Trusts study, co-written and researched by Smith of the Center for Building in North America, found that in New York, the rate of fire deaths in single stairway buildings was the same as in other residential buildings.

“This [double stairway] code originates from when people were cooking with open flames, when there were no sprinklers or fire alarms,” Smith said.

City Councilmember Adrin Nazarian voted yes on the Aug. 20 motion to draft a single stairway ordinance, though he had previously expressed reservations about earthquake safety.

Seattle has single stairways but “less than one-tenth the number of seismic activity we have in our region,” he said during a council meeting.

Councilmember Traci Park was the lone no vote.

“Generally in life, when you have more exits and evacuation routes, things are generally more safe,” she said.

A Ukrainian assault regiment said on Thursday that it is now using donated M-1 Abrams tanks. This would be the second Ukrainian unit to have received the tanks since they first started arriving in the country two years ago.

The 425th Assault Regiment Skala announced the arrival of the tanks on its Facebook page. Until now, the 47th Mechanized Brigade Magura was the only Ukrainian unit operating these tanks. Skala, deployed to the Pokrovsk region of eastern Ukraine, is fighting some of the toughest battles of the war.

All indications are that Skala is operating Abrams tanks donated by Australia, the first batch of which arrived in Ukraine in July. Of the 31 M1s donated by the U.S., at least 22 have been lost, according to the Oryx open source tracking group. The Abrams losses are likely even be higher, because Oryx only accounts for instances where there is visual proof.

As we reported last October, Australia announced it would provide Ukraine with 49 M1s, a significant boost for Kyiv’s armored units, as they continue to face down Russia’s full-scale invasion. Because the tanks were originally sold to Australia by the United States, Washington had to approve the transfer to Ukraine.

The Australian Army was able to give up its M1A1 fleet because it is receiving 75 new M1A2 Abrams, in the highly capable SEPv3 variant. You can read more about Australia’s $2.5-billion M1A2 acquisition here.

The Australian variants provided to Ukraine “slightly differ from the baseline vehicles,” the Ukrainian Militarnyi media outlet reported.

“They have been upgraded to the M1A1 AIM SA version and received a number of regional modifications to meet customer requirements,” the outlet noted. “These vehicles have a new armor package without depleted uranium. The AIM SA electronics package includes a digital fire control system, thermal imaging and communications equipment better than that of the basic M1A1, as well as a satellite navigation system.”

DU armor is classified and tightly export controlled. Export variants are not equipped with it. The U.S.-supplied Abrams had to be reworked to remove the classified DU armor. Australia’s M1s are export configuration without it by default. You can read read more about DU armor in one of our stories here.

In addition, “the gas turbine engines of the Australian tanks have been reconfigured to use diesel fuel instead of JP-8 aviation kerosene,” which is standard for tanks provided by the U.S., Miltarnyi added. “This should simplify logistics for the Ukrainian army, whose armored vehicles are also standardized for diesel.”

It is unknown yet if these tanks have actually made it to the battlefield. Skala’s video announcing the Abrams’ arrival uses archival video from the 47th Brigade, Militarnyi noted.

The utility of tanks on the drone-saturated battlefields of Ukraine has been questionable, given how vulnerable those on both sides of the fight have been, especially to the highly maneuverable first-person view drones. There were even unconfirmed reports that Ukraine temporarily withdrew its Abrams from the fight after losing so many.  You can see one such encounter in the video below.

Still, they have been playing a role in the fight for Pokrovsk, a key Ukrainian logistics hub and part of a defensive belt of towns in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. That’s where Russia has expended large amounts of personnel and equipment to capture small segments of territory.

“Since late last year, [Ukrainian troops] have been receiving deliveries of refurbished German-made Leopard 1A5 tanks,” Radio Free Liberty reported in February. “Soldiers on the front lines say the updated vehicles are highly maneuverable and give them an edge on the battlefield.”

Leopard variants are still in the fight for Pokrovsk.

“A powerful Russian force numbering 100,000 troops is determined to capture Pokrovsk,” Euromaidan Press reported earlier this month. “But the town is heavily defended by drones, artillery, infantry and even a few Leopard 2A4 tanks belonging to the bad-luck 155th Mechanized Brigade.”

Last week, a video emerged on social media of one of those tanks obliterating a building where a Russian sabotage group was holding out.

It is unclear just how many Abrams Skala has received or how far along its troops are in the training process. However, given the tough fight in Pokrovsk, chances are we will soon see video emerging of these hulking armored weapons entering the fray.

Contact the author: [email protected]

As rebuilding ramps up in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles leaders are restricting the building of duplexes on single-family-home lots.

The move follows an executive order issued Wednesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom that allows exemptions for the Palisades and other areas devastated by January’s Palisades and Eaton fires from Senate Bill 9. The landmark 2021 law, passed in response to the state’s housing shortage, lets property owners divide single-family-home lots and build up to four units.

In recent days, Palisades residents have raised alarms about SB 9, worrying that their historically single-family-home community would be transformed by the additional density allowed under the law and become more dangerous in the event of future fires. On Jan. 7, the chaotic evacuation amid the flames led residents to abandon their cars on Sunset Boulevard and escape on foot, forcing bulldozers to clear the road so that emergency responders could enter the area.

No outcry has erupted over the addition of accessory dwelling units in the Palisades, even though they could bring similar increases in building, and have been far more common in permit applications.

Some 4,700 single-family homes were destroyed or severely damaged in the Palisades fire, the majority of which were in the city of Los Angeles.

Newsom’s order applies to the Palisades and parts of Malibu and Altadena — areas that burned and that are designated as “very high fire hazard severity zones” by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. It mandates a weeklong pause on SB 9 projects to allow the city and county of Los Angeles and Malibu to develop restrictions.

In response, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, who alongside City Councilmember Traci Park had urged Newsom to act this week, issued an executive order blocking future SB 9 development in the Palisades.

“I thank Governor Newsom for working with my office to provide some sense of solace for a community working to rebuild,” Bass said in a statement accompanying the order.

Since the fire, the prospect of greater density, including increased affordable housing, has raised tension in the neighborhood. Some of the debates have been mired in misinformation and conspiracy theories falsely asserting that the wealthy community would be rezoned for mass building of low-income apartments.

But residents retain deep scars from January’s tumultuous evacuation and fear that such a situation would be even worse with a larger population, said Larry Vein, founder of wildfire recovery group Pali Strong. They also want the area to return to the predominately single-family-home neighborhood it was, he said.

“The community does not want higher density,” Vein said.

Officials’ push to restrict SB 9 construction stands in stark contrast to their efforts to allow more building on single-family-home lots through different means.

Newsom and Bass each issued earlier executive orders to streamline permitting reviews for accessory dwelling units on single-family-home properties in burn zones.

There are some practical distinctions between the two ways of adding homes. Generally, ADU law permits up to three units on a lot. SB 9 can allow four or potentially more if combined with ADU law. SB 9 units often can be larger than ADUs as well.

Yet the possibility of increased ADU construction has not attracted the same opposition in the community; instead, data indicate that it’s been popular.

The Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety does not specifically track permit requests for ADUs or SB 9 projects among home rebuilds, and could not immediately verify their numbers. However, department rebuilding data analyzed by The Times includes a description of each proposed development that is supposed to note if an additional unit is planned.

As of July 28, 500 homeowners had submitted permitting applications to rebuild in the Palisades, The Times’ analysis of department data found. Of those, 73 — nearly 15% — included at least one ADU, according to project descriptions. Per the descriptions, three intend to use SB 9, but that number is an undercount, said Devin Myrick, the department’s assistant deputy superintendent of building. Myrick said the department was still analyzing its data to come up with the actual number of SB 9 projects.

Property owners have cited ADU construction as a way to return to the Palisades more quickly, with some planning to build an ADU before tackling their primary home. For others, the opportunity for building any additional unit, under ADU law or SB 9, provides a financial benefit that could be used to cover gaps in the cost to rebuild.

Vein said Palisades residents are friendlier to ADUs because their construction may not necessarily lead to a larger population. Many people, he said, would use an ADU to work from home, as a guesthouse or allow members of multigenerational families to have their own space. By contrast, he said, SB 9 duplexes inevitably will add people.

“You’ve just doubled the density,” he said.

Some pro-development organizations are blasting the SB 9 restrictions. Matthew Lewis, a spokesperson for California YIMBY, which advocates for greater home building across the state, said that residents’ evacuation concerns are legitimate but that officials should focus on resolving that issue rather than limiting duplexes.

Lewis said the proliferation of ADUs in the area’s rebuild shows that it’s not actually the potential for increased building that’s motivating the opposition. Instead, he said community groups and L.A. politicians are using that argument to thwart a law they’ve long disliked because it expressly calls for changes to single-family-home neighborhoods.

“What we’re talking about is a powerful constituency making enough noise to cause a suspension of laws that were duly passed by the state Legislature,” Lewis said. “That’s very concerning.”

Bass believes her backing of ADUs and opposition to SB 9 in the Palisades do not conflict, mayoral spokesperson Zachary Seidl said. SB 9 was not anticipated to be used after a major wildfire, he said, while streamlining ADU permitting assists property owners with reconstruction.

“The mayor with both of these positions is supporting community members in the Palisades rebuild,” Seidl said.

Times staff writer Doug Smith contributed to this report.

Benedict Corpuz has always been a “day one” type of person when it comes to fueling his video game habit.

Beginning in his high school years, the 45-year-old flight attendant from Kent, Wash., has tried to get his hands on new Nintendo systems on the day of their release, whether it was the Nintendo 64 or its less popular successor, the GameCube. The new Nintendo Switch 2 was no different. He lined up at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Federal Way Best Buy in Washington, was allowed in the store at 9:01 p.m. and was back in his car with the coveted item — which he had preordered — by 9:13 p.m.

“It’s a good feeling to be one of the first,” he said. “I just really enjoy playing the games.”

Demand for the roughly $450 handheld device, which officially launched Thursday, was high as eager shoppers like Corpuz waited in line for hours to acquire the newest iteration of the Switch, which launched eight years ago to robust sales. “Let the games begin!” Nintendo of America posted on social media, showcasing photos of excited customers holding up their Switch 2 devices.

By afternoon in Los Angeles, there were reports of the devices selling out at some retailers, a clear indication of the console’s success. Shortages were reported in a number of international markets. The last time a console release generated so much attention was in 2020, when Sony’s PlayStation 5 and Microsoft’s latest Xbox were released during the same month.

“Realistically, it’s going to be sold out for quite a while,” Michael Pachter, a managing director at Wedbush Securities, said of the new Switch. “By January, maybe they’ll get supply and demand in balance.”

The popular device, which introduces several new games including “Mario Kart World,” will provide a boost to the global video game and game services market, which is expected to grow 1% to $201 billion this year, according to estimates from London-based Ampere Analysis. Video games are a massive business in entertainment, with gross revenues far exceeding annual worldwide box office ticket sales for movies, for example.

Console sales alone are projected to hit $16.5 billion this year, up from $13.4 billion in 2024.

Ronald Santa-Cruz, a research manager at Ampere, estimates that Switch 2 will sell 13.6 million units in 2025, and attributes its popularity to a large install base of Switch users ready to upgrade, improved performance and capabilities to support higher fidelity games, and the loyalty of fans to Nintendo’s franchises, which include “Super Mario Bros.” and “The Legend of Zelda.”

The original Switch, which launched in 2017, saw sales soar for Nintendo during the COVID-19 pandemic as people looked for ways to entertain themselves at home. Nintendo said it has sold 152 million units of Nintendo Switch hardware as of March 31.

Before launching the Switch, Nintendo’s future was uncertain. The video game pioneer, based in Kyoto, Japan, had struggled to compete in the intense consoles market against the likes of Sony and Microsoft, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst with advisory services firm Enderle Group. Nintendo’s onetime chief rival, Sega Corp., stopped making and selling consoles in 2001 after a series of failures.

But the Switch heralded a turnaround. Its hybrid design, which allowed for on-the-go playing, broadened its appeal beyond the typical console gamers.

“Back before the Switch, it was really kind of unclear whether Nintendo was going to survive,” Enderle said, adding that the Switch was different enough from the other offerings and portable. “The end result is it allowed them to restore their market opportunity. But without the Switch, I think they would have gone under.”

Nintendo is forecasting that Switch 2 hardware sales will total 15 million units in its fiscal year, with the goal of reaching the sales that the company had with the first Switch in the 10-month period from its launch in March 2017, said Shuntaro Furukawa, president of Nintendo Co. Ltd. in a briefing last month. Furukawa said that the tariff situation in the U.S. and the possibility of a recession did not reduce the company’s forecast.

“Our first goal is to get off to the same start we did with Nintendo Switch, and we are working to strengthen our production capacity so we can respond flexibly to demand,” Furukawa said.

“We appreciate the positive response from our fans,” Nintendo said in a statement, declining to share launch-day sales numbers.

Nintendo said it supplied its retail partners with “a significant amount of products for launch” and encouraged anyone who didn’t get a Switch 2 during preorder to visit their favorite retailers.

“We’ll work hard to replenish our retail partners with a steady stream of product as we make every effort to meet demand,” Nintendo said.

Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser told CBS News on Thursday that the company has been “delighted with the demand we’ve seen thus far” and that preorders sold out in a “very quick period of time.”

While the Switch is off to a strong start, its future pricing remains uncertain as the Trump administration imposes tariffs. Despite the uncertainty, analysts said that they think demand will remain strong for the device.

May 28 (UPI) — Financial giant Fannie Mae said Wednesday it will launch its AI-powered unit to detect and prevent mortgage fraud in a partnership with AI software company Palantir.

“By integrating this leading AI technology, we will look across millions of datasets to detect patterns that were previously undetectable,” said Fannie Mae’s president and chief executive officer Priscilla Almodovar.

Fannie Mae, which holds more than $4 trillion in U.S. housing market assets, is the nation’s single largest holder of outstanding residential mortgage debt.

The launch of its new artificial intelligence-powered crime detection unit with Palantir seeks to expand Fannie’s ability to sniff out fraud with “leading” scientific and investigative AI-enabled tech.

The Washington-based Fannie Mae says its new capability will prevent and detect fraudulent activity with a “speed and precision” that, according to the company, has “never before” been seen designed to save millions of dollars in future financial losses to fraud in the U.S. housing market.

“This new partnership will combat mortgage fraud, helping to safeguard the U.S. mortgage market for lenders, homebuyers and taxpayers,” Fannie’s Almodovar continued.

Fannie Mae, which likewise owns or guarantees roughly one in four single-family mortgages and about 20% of America’s multifamily mortgages, says Palantir’s technology will provide “expansive” monitoring for anomalous transactions, activities and other digital behaviors.

According to Fannie officials, it will not only detect suspicious activity but ultimately will “trigger investigative action.”

“No one is above the law,” Fannie Mae Chairman William Pulte said in a statement.

Palantir was one of eight major tech firms to sign on to then-President Joe Biden‘s voluntary commitment in 2023 aimed to ensure AI tech is utilized responsibly.

On Wednesday, its top official said the Fannie Mae partnership will set off “a revolution in how we combat mortgage fraud” in the United States.

“We are bringing the fight directly to anyone who attempts to defraud our mortgage system and exploit hardworking Americans,” says Alex Karp, co-founder and CEO of Palantir Technologies.

SEOUL — In South Korea, the Trump administration’s 25% tariff on imported cars has sent local automakers Hyundai and Kia scrambling to protect one of the country’s most valuable exports. But General Motors, which last year shipped 418,782 units from its factories here to American consumers — or 88.5% of its total sales — may be facing a much larger predicament.

Unlike Hyundai and Kia, which control over 90% of the domestic market here, the Detroit-based automaker produces budget SUVs like the Chevrolet Trax or Chevrolet Trailblazer almost exclusively for the U.S. market. The Trax has been South Korea’s most-exported car since 2023.

That business model has made GM, which operates three factories and employs some 11,000 workers in the country, uniquely exposed to Trump’s auto tariffs, resurfacing long-running concerns in the local automobile industry that the company may ultimately pack up and leave.

Until last month’s tariffs, cars sold between the U.S. and South Korea were untaxed under a bilateral free trade agreement. That helped South Korea become the third-largest automobile exporter to the U.S. last year to the tune of $34.7 billion — or around half of its total automobile exports. In contrast, South Korea bought just $2.1 billion worth of cars from the U.S.

Earlier this month, GM executives estimated that the tariffs would cost the company up to $5 billion this year, adding that the company would boost production in its U.S. plants to offset the hit. With additional factories in Mexico and Canada, GM currently imports around half of the cars that it sells in the U.S.

“If the U.S. tariffs remain in place, GM will no longer have any reason to stay in South Korea,” said Lee Ho-guen, an automotive engineering professor at Daeduk University.

“The tariffs may add up to $10,000 to the sticker price on cars shipped to the U.S., while GM sells less than 50,000 units a year in South Korea. There is very little room for them to adjust their strategy.”

Kim Woong-heon, an official in GM Korea’s labor union, said that the union is approaching current rumors of the company’s potential exit with a dose of caution, but added that broader concerns about the company’s long-term commitment remain.

“The cars we’re manufacturing here are on the lowest end of GM’s price range so labor costs will make it impossible to immediately shift production to the U.S.,” he said.

“But we have painful memories of GM shutting down one of its factories in 2018, so we get nervous every time these rumors surface.”

GM Chevrolet automobiles bound for export sit parked at the Port of Incheon in South Korea.

(SeongJoon Cho / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

This isn’t the first time that GM’s prospects in the country have come under question. The company first established itself in South Korea in 2002 by acquiring the bankrupt Daewoo Motor Co. in a government-backed deal that some at the time criticized as “GM taking the cream off Daewoo for almost nothing.”

Struggling to compete with the likes of Hyundai, GM briefly positioned itself as a production base for European and Asian markets until its bankruptcy in 2009.

Amid the global restructuring efforts that followed, concerns that it would close its South Korean operations led the government to once again intervene. In the end, GM stayed after receiving $750 million in financing from the country’s development bank on the condition that it would remain open for at least 10 more years.

But in 2018, the company closed its factory in the city of Gunsan, which had employed around 1,800 workers, and spun off its research and development unit from its manufacturing base — a move that many saw as the company strategically placing one foot out the door.

In February, shortly after President Trump announced the 25% tariffs on foreign-made cars, Paul Jacobson, GM’s chief financial officer, hinted that the company may once again be facing similarly tough decisions:

“If they become permanent, then there’s a whole bunch of different things that you have to think about in terms of, where do you allocate plants, and do you move plants.”

In recent weeks, executives from GM Korea have sought to assuage the rumors that the company’s South Korean operations would be affected.

“We do not intend to respond to rumors about the company’s exit from Korea,” said Gustavo Colossi, GM Korea’s vice president of sales, at a news conference last month. “We plan to move forward with our sales strategies in Korea and continue launching new models in the coming weeks and months, introducing fresh GM offerings to the market.”

The union says the company’s two finished car plants have been running at full capacity, with an additional 21,000 units recently allocated to the factory in Incheon, a city off the country’s western coast — a sign that business will go on as usual for now.

But with GM’s 10-year guarantee set to expire in 2027, Kim, the union official, said that their demands for measures that prove the company’s commitment beyond that have gone unanswered.

These include manufacturing GM’s electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in South Korean factories, as well as making a greater range of its products available for sale in South Korea and other Asian markets.

”If the company intends to continue its operations here, it needs to make its business model more sustainable and not as reliant on imports to the U.S.,” Kim said.

“That will be our core demand at this year’s wage and collective bargaining negotiations.”

GM’s immediate prospects in the country will depend on the ongoing tariff talks between U.S. and South Korean officials that began last month with the goal of producing a deal by July 8.

Although South Korean trade minister Ahn Duk-geun has stressed that cars are “the most important part of the U.S.-South Korea trade relationship,” few expect that Seoul will be able to finesse the sort of deal given to the U.K., which last week secured a 10% rate on the first 100,000 vehicles shipped to the U.S. each year.

Unlike South Korea, which posted a $66-billion trade surplus with the U.S. last year, the U.K. buys more from the U.S. than it sells. And many of the cars that it does sell to the U.S. are luxury vehicles such as the Rolls-Royce, which Trump has differentiated from the “monster car companies” that make “millions of cars.”

“At some point after the next two years, I believe it’s highly likely GM will leave and keep only their research and development unit here, or at least significantly cut back on their production,” Lee, the automotive professor, said.

In the southeastern port city of Changwon, home to the smaller of GM’s two finished car plants, local officials have been reluctant to give air to what they describe as premature fearmongering.

But Woo Choon-ae, a 62-year-old real estate agent whose clients also include GM workers and their families, can’t help but worry.

She says that the company’s exit would be devastating to the city, which, like many rural areas, has already been under strain from population decline.

GM employs 2,800 workers in the region, but accounts for thousands more jobs at its suppliers. The Changwon factory, which manufactures the Trax, represented around 15% of the city’s total exports last year.

“People work for GM because it offers stable employment until retirement age. If they close the factory here, all of these workers will leave to find work in other cities, which will be a critical blow to the housing market,” she said.

“Homes are how people save money in South Korea. But if people’s savings are suddenly halved, who’s going to be spending money on things like dining out?”