It’s a wrap: News this week (July 8–July 14)

There have been multiple developments on the tech front this week. From FY24 first quarter results to Foxconn-Vedanta joint venture break up, this is the list of the most important developments this week for a quick catch-up:

Q1FY24 IT Earnings 

The first quarter results season for the financial year 2023-24 started this week. Three major information technology (IT) and IT services companies — Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies, and Wipro reported their earnings.

TCS: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), on Wednesday, reported a 16.8% year-on-year (YoY) rise in consolidated net profit to ₹11,074 crore for the June quarter. The IT firm’s consolidated revenue increased 13% YoY

HCLTech: India’s third largest software services exporter, reported on Wednesday a 7.6% rise from a year earlier in fiscal first-quarter net profit at ₹3,534 crore. This week, HCLTech also announced the acquisition plans of automotive engineering services company ASAP Group for € 251.1 million, along with the launch of an AI-based analytics tool called HCLTech Advantage Analytics.

Wipro: Wipro on Thursday reported an 11.9% year-on-year (YoY) rise in consolidated net profit at ₹2,870.1 crore in the quarter ending June 30. Wipro would invest $1 billion in artificial intelligence (AI) over the next three years to advance AI capabilities, the company said in a separate announcement.

Blackberry’s cybersecurity hubs in India

BlackBerry Limited on Thursday announced two new cybersecurity hubs in India, with facilities located in Bengaluru and Noida.

Speaking to TechCircle, Shishir Singh, Executive Vice President and chief technology officer, BlackBerry Cybersecurity, said that the company is adding local expertise to its global software and services teams to prevent cyber-attacks, by teaming up with Cylance AI, in India and Asia Pacific (APAC) region. 

The current strength of the Noida facility is 50 and the company will add around 30 specialised engineers in the location. By the end of 2023, BlackBerry’s Bengaluru cybersecurity hub plans to have more than 100 employees from the current 20, specialising in areas such as generative AI and machine learning (ML), data science and analytics, threat intelligence, networks, unified endpoint management (UEM), cloud and software development.

Chandrayaan-3 launch

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) on Friday successfully deployed Chandrayaan-3, India’s third and latest mission to the moon, in orbit. The mission comes four years after Isro’s second lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2, failed to conduct a soft landing on the moon.

A landmark soft landing attempt at the south pole of the lunar surface is scheduled to be attempted by Chandrayaan-3’s landing module on 23 August, subject to conditions. If executed successfully, India will become the first nation in the world to land at the south pole of the moon.

This week, Isro also announced that it will soon transfer its small satellite launch vehicle (SSLV) to the private sector through bidding.

Fate of Foxconn-Vedanta joint venture

The Taiwan-based contract manufacturer Foxconn on Monday said that it is pulling out from its joint venture (JV) with Vedanta Limited. The JV, known as Vedanta Foxconn Semiconductor Ltd (VFSL), was expected to build a chip manufacturing facility and a display fab, in Gujarat, at an estimated cost of $19.5 billion or ₹1.5 lakh crore.