Afternoon Coffee: Uber Reports Big Losses but Foresees Momentum, Apple in Talks with Chinese Chipmaker

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Battered ridesharing provider Uber lost an eye-popping $4.5 billion last year, TechCrunch reports. But that’s not a big concern, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said, as the company could be profitable if it wanted to, “but you would sacrifice growth and sacrifice innovation.” Revenue last year hit $7.5 billion, doubling compared with last year.

Apple Supplier Talks

China’s chipmaking sector may soon get a boost from a high-profile client: Apple. As Nikkei Asian Review reports, the maker of the iPhone is in talks with state-backed Yangtze Memory Technologies to buy NAND flash chips. Thez deal would mark Apple’s first purchase from a Chinese memory chipmaker.

Trade Spat Grows

The U.S. Department of Commerce will start collecting duties on cast iron soil pipe fittings, Reuters reports, continuing the back-and-forth penalties the two countries are placing on each other. The Commerce department said it “preliminarily found that Chinese exporters have sold the fittings in the United States at 68.37% to 109.95% less than fair value and that in 2016 imports of the fittings from China were valued at an estimated $8.6 million.”

Inflation Figures

And finally, an economic update: Inflation figures hit 2.1% in January, stronger than the consensus forecast of 1.9% expected, according to the Financial Times. That has sparked a selloff in the bond market, as investors fear the U.S. economy has begun to show signs that it is overheating.