Curiosity@Intelsense

 

Multidisciplinary learning is one of the best ways to improve our investment acumen. Here is a summary of some of the best learnings of the week.

China and the US are at the forefront of the new cold war. History teaches us that there is armed conflict when one superpower tries to challenge another existing superpower. This is known as the Thucydides Trap. This time around the conflict could potentially be around technology and commerce. In 2008 China spent a third as much as America did on R&D and about half as much as Europe, after adjusting for differences in the cost of living. By 2014 it had surpassed Europe. By 2020 its spending was 85% of America’s.   The fruits of this investment are becoming apparent: in August a Japanese research institute calculated that China now produces more of the world’s most highly cited academic research than America does. Since 2015 more patents have been issued in China than in America. China’s output of a basket of sophisticated goods including information technology, pharmaceuticals and electronics is expected to surpass America’s this year, according to a report published by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, an American think-tank. “China has become a serious competitor in the foundational technologies of the 21st century,” concluded another report last year from the Belfer Centre at Harvard University.   From war to an emerging new trend in commerce. Social commerce, or the act of buying through and after being influenced by social media, is silently growing. Already enormously popular in markets such as China, social commerce remains a small but rapidly growing segment in the United States. In 2021, $37 billion in goods and services were purchased through social-commerce channels.   By 2025, that figure is expected to swell to nearly $80 billion, or 5% of total US e-commerce. Globally, the social-commerce market is expected to grow to more than $2 trillion by 2025.

Sales Growth of Social Commerce in the US

I was interviewed by the Business Today channel and shared some thoughts on the market. The interview was geared more towards the real estate sector. Here is the link to the interview.

Realty Remains Firm In Trade, Analysing Anarock Report On Housing Sales In Top 7 Cities

Thought of the Week:

“The secret to doing good research is always to be a little underemployed. You waste years by not being able to waste hours.” – Amos Tversky This is a very important thought. Time management gurus will tell you to timebox your calendar and pack your schedule, accounting for every hour of your day. But if you are always doing something, when are you thinking? When are you letting your mind wander to make connections between the ideas that may be swirling just beneath the surface of your conscious mind? It is important to have a little slack in your schedule. Just be slightly underemployed.

Audio/Video of the Week: ASML's Secret: An exclusive view from inside the global semiconductor giant

In the Netherlands stands one of the world’s biggest drivers of technological progress: ASML. It supplies machines that make chips on a scale of just a few nanometers. And the world is crying out for chips. ASML makes the most advanced machine in the world; the lithography machine to make computer chips. And with chips as a strategic asset, ASML and its machine are at the center of the world geo-political stage. What is ASML’s secret, and who are the people who build this wondrous machine? This is a wonderful documentary on ASML and how the semiconductor industry is shaping up in the age of geopolitical conflicts.

ASML's Secret: An exclusive view from inside the global semiconductor giant | VPRO Documentary

Intelsense Insights:

Quiver smallcase continued its stellar performance last month. It was up 7.15% in the last month in a turbulent market. To subscribe to Quiver: https://intelsense.smallcase.com/smallcase/INSMO_0005 Min investment is 5 lakhs. The fees are 2% per year. 1/12th of the total fees is deducted every month. So, for a corpus of 5 lakhs, the monthly fees would be around Rs 830-850 (depending on the exact capital value during the month).

Quiver performance (since inception)

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