It’s a wrap: News this week (Jan 6 — Jan 12)

There have been multiple developments this week on the tech front. From acquisitions of the week to third quarter financial results of Indian tech giants, this is the list of the most important developments for a quick catch-up:

Week of M&As

This week we saw a number of acquisitions in the enterprise tech space. On Thursday, Infosys announced its Q3FY24 financial results, along with its decision to acquire InSemi, a Bengaluru-based semiconductor design and embedded services provider for ₹280 crore.  

Global consultancy company Accenture, which also has a huge presence in India, announced as many as three acquisitions in this week alone. It includes digital transformation services provider Navisite; management consultancy Vocatus; digital product company Work & Co. This week, Accenture also completed the acquisition of supply chain managed services provider OnProcess Technology.

Another major global player HPE, the US-based IT firm, is in talks to acquire Juniper Networks, a network gear maker, for approximately $13 billion. This move is aimed at enhancing HPE's artificial intelligence (AI) offerings, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal on Monday. 

US-based software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform Zendesk, on Tuesday, announced its definitive agreement to acquire Klaus, a quality management platform powered by artificial intelligence (AI). By integrating Klaus into its platform, Zendesk aims to enable its customers to provide consistent and high-quality service across all channels, including both human and digital agents (bots). 

IT services companies announce Q3FY24 results

India's two largest IT services firms, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys, reported muted growth and profit on Thursday, signalling the global trend that IT companies are facing weak demand in their key markets due to macroeconomic slowdown. TCS reported a net profit of ₹11,058 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2023, which was only a 2% increase from ₹10,846 crore in the same quarter the previous year. Net profit was down 2.5% compared to the previous quarter. Meanwhile, Infosys reported a 7.3% year-on-year (YoY) decrease in net profit at ₹6,106 crore in the third quarter of FY24. 

For Wipro, gross revenue reached ₹222.1 billion ($2.7 billion), a decrease of 1.4% QoQ. The company offered a sequential guidance of -1.5% to +0.5% in constant currency terms. HCLTech, which along with Wipro which announced its result on Friday, reported a revenue of ₹28,466 crore, up 6.7% QoQ.

Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet 2024

Chennai Trade Centre witnessed a gathering of global leaders and company executives on Sunday for the Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet 2024, where plans for substantial investments in the state were unveiled. US chipmaker announced an investment of ₹177.27 crore for new design centre; Pegatron, a consumer electronics manufacturer and Apple’s supplier said it will invest ₹1,000 crore; Vietnamese EV manufacturer VinFast Auto announced a manufacturing unit in the state with $2 billion investment. 

Hyundai announced an additional ₹6,180 crore investment in Tamil Nadu, complementing the ₹20,000 crore invested in EV manufacturing previous year. The company will establish a 'Hydrogen Valley Innovation Hub' with an investment of ₹180 crore, in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology-Madras. 

CES 2024

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2024 has kicked off in Las Vegas, continuing its tradition of impressing the world with innovation and technology. This year's event not only displayed the latest advancements but also provided a glimpse into the future of technology.  

CES 2024 covered everything from AI applications to futuristic mobility solutions, showcasing the remarkable capabilities of modern technology. For enterprises, the focus is on chips and AI.  Some of the major announcements include showcases like Nvidia’s RTX 40 Super series graphics cards, AMD’s Ryzen 8000G series, Intel’s 14th Gen mobile and desktop processors, among others.