VIDEO - Technology Update August 2018

August revolved around two key stories in the tech sector — the first one being Elon Musk’s tweet to take Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) private and the second being the launch of the Galaxy Note 9.

In the case of Tesla, Musk initially said he would take Tesla private at a premium price of $420, which would translate it to a record $72 billion deal. However, later in the month Musk abandoned those plans.

Samsung (KRX:005930) launched its Note 9, an evolution of last year’s Note, on August 24. One of the key stories that came from the event was the launch of the Fortnite game on Android. Unlike most apps, the game bypasses Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) PlayStore, which means that Mountain View stands to lose US$50 million on platform fees.

Looking at cleantech, two reports emerged in early August that suggested contrasting forecasts for solar energy production in India and the US.

A report from Crisil suggested that India might not reach its ambitious solar energy target of 100 GW by 2022. The report comes on the heels of India cancelling several solar energy contracts worth over 3 GW due to high tariff prices set by developers.ƒ

However, all is not lost for investors as Crisil, a research firm, said that India’s solar capacity could touch 78 to 80 GW by 2023.

Meanwhile, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) released a report which suggested that solar generation in the US might increase in 2019. The EIA expects that solar power generation would increase 12 percent from 2018 levels.

In 3D Printing, Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS) was in the news throughout most of the month. On August 1, the company announced its second quarter results, reporting revenue of US$170.2 million compared to US$170 million in 2017 for the same time period.

Later in the month, Stratasys announced the release of a US$70,000 printer, an additive manufacturing system meant for carbon-fiber-filled Nylon 12 material. The company said that it previously offered such capabilities on high end printers worth over US$200,000 or more.

Lastly, in the fintech space Vancouver based Mogo Finance Technology (TSX:MOGO)announced that it expanded into new regions across Canada, broadening its reach to 20 million Canadians. The company currently serves over 650,000 members. With the latest expansion, Mogo is present in eight provinces across Canada in some capacity.

Watch the video above for more on what happened during the month of August.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Bala Yogesh hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.