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Samsung Electronics on Thursday reported a 32.5% increase in operating profit for the third quarter, driven by rebounding demand for its computer memory chips, which the company expects will continue to grow on the back of artificial intelligence.The South Korean technology giant set a new high in quarterly revenue, which rose nearly 9% to 86 trillion won ($60.4 billion) for the July-September period, fueled by increased sales of semiconductor products and mobile phones.Samsung, which has dual strength in both components and finished products, said it expects the demand driven by AI to further expand market opportunities in coming months. SK Hynix, another major South Korean chipmaker, also reported a record operating profit of 11.4 trillion won ($8 billion) on Wednesday, which it also described as AI-related growth.Samsung’s operating profit of 12.2 trillion won ($8.6 billion) in the last quarter marked a 160% increase from the previous quarter, when it said its semiconductor earnings were weighed down by inventory value adjustments and one-off costs related to technology export restrictions on China.Samsung’s semiconductor division posted 7 trillion in operating profit for the third quarter, with the company reporting strong sales in high bandwidth memory chips, which are used to power AI applications.“The semiconductor market is expected to remain strong, driven by ongoing AI investment momentum,” the company said in a statement. The company said an advanced version of its high-bandwidth memory chips, the HBM3E, is “currently in mass production and being sold to all relevant customers,” while samples of its next-generation product, the HBM4, are being shipped to key clients. Kim Tong-Hyung, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Seven people have been arrested in the investigation of a stunning heist at the Louvre Museum in Paris, but the lavish, stolen jewels that once adorned France’s royals are still missing. In the days after the theft, a handful of experts warned that the artifacts valued at more than $100 million (88 million euros) could be melted or broken into parts. If done successfully, some say those smaller pieces could later go up for sale as part of a new necklace, earrings, or other jewelry, without turning too many heads. You dont even have to put them on a black market, you just put them in a jewelry store, said Erin Thompson, an art crime professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. It could be sold down the street from the Louvre.” Thompson and others say that this has become increasingly common with stolen jeweled and metal goods, noting that it’s a way thieves can try to cover their tracks and make money. It’s not like someone could publicly wear one of France’s stolen Crown Jewels and finding a market to sell the full artifacts would be incredibly difficult after everyone and their sister has seen photos of them over the last week, said Christopher Marinello, a lawyer and founder of Art Recovery International. French prosecutor Laure Beccuau made a plea Wednesday to whoever has the jewels. These jewels are now, of course, unsellable Anyone who buys them would be guilty of concealment of stolen goods, she warned. Theres still time to give them back. The jewels may be hard to monetize By breaking them apart, they will hide their theft, Marinello said, adding that these items could become even more traceless if they’re taken out of France and through jewel cutters and robust supply chains in other countries. Still, such pieces are often sold for a fraction of the value of what was stolen due to their smaller size, but also because melting or breaking down high-profile items removes the historical worth. It isn’t a simple process. The real art in an art heist isnt the stealing, its the selling, explained Robert Wittman, former senior investigator of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s art crime team. Wittman, who has since formed his own private practice, said that the individuals behind such heists are typically better criminals or thieves than they are businessmen. Unlike others, Wittman is skeptical about the thieves successfully monetizing the artifacts they stole from the Louvre which include an emerald necklace and earrings, two crowns, two brooches, a sapphire necklace and a single earring worn by 19th-century royals. He notes the gems may still be identifiable by their clarity, for example, and gold that was refined when the pieces were made hundreds of years ago is not as pure as what’s typically in demand today. Because of what they are, theres really no point destroying them, Wittman said, while pointing to the risks of selling such high-profile stolen goods. Scott Guginsky, executive vice president of the Jewelers Security Alliance, a nonprofit trade association focused on preventing jewelry crime, also notes the age and quality of the artifacts’ diamonds. He suspects they’re probably not graded. Its not something that you can move on the open market. Its nothing that can go through an auction house,” said Guginsky, who used to run the New York Police Departments organized theft squad. Given the amount of preparation that the thieves likely put into this, Guginsky believes they have a plan for selling the jewels, even if they might first decide to sit on the jewelry and wait out suspicion. I cant see them stealing it without having an idea what they want to do, he said. Theres always a person willing to buy stolen jewelry. No matter what it is, somebody will buy it. Sara Yood, CEO and general counsel of the Jewelers Vigilance Committee, notes most jewelry businesses implement anti-money laundering programs and look out for red flags like unusual orders, repeated purchases, and requests for secrecy. Still, she and others say the age of some jewelsif broken down effectivelycould actually make it harder to track. Newer gemstones, for example, sometimes carry a laser inscription inside that can be evaluated in a lab. But because these are historical pieces, its rather unlikely that it has those identifying features, noted Yood. Experts like Thompson say bigger gems can be recut to a point that they’re unrecognizable. A challenge is finding people who have the skill to do that and don’t ask too many questions but it’s possible, she said. Whether the people behind the heist had those contacts or certain buyers lined up is unknown. But it’s important to also note that the guys who actually enter the museums are usually all hired hands, and theyre almost always caught in these cases, Thompson added. Chances of recovery look dim She and others say that museums have increasingly faced a rash of similar thefts over recent years. Thompson notes that stealing from storage can go undetected for longer: the British Museum in London, which has accused a former curator of stealing artifacts and selling them online, is still trying to recover some of the 2,000 items stolen. Some past thieves have made ransom demands for stolen artwork overall, or wait for a potential no questions asked reward from an insurance company which can amount to about a 10% cut for some insured pieces in Europe, Thompson says. The jewels stolen from the Louvre, however, were not privately insured. Sometimes government offers of a reward for information about a high-profile heist can also quicken the investigation, although the French government has yet to publicize such an incentive. If that changes, or promising leads are uncovered from the evidence left behind at the Louvre, experts like Wittman note it could increase the chances of recovering the artifacts. Still, as more time passes, others feel that the fate of finding the historic jewels looks dim. I think theyre going to catch the criminals, Marinello said. But I dont think theyll find them with the jewels intact. Wyatte Grantham-Philips and R.J. Rico, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
I-P-Go! Shares of Navan, a travel-tech firm based in Silicon Valley, hit the exchanges on Thursday. The company priced its initial public offering at $25 per share, raising roughly $923 million. The $25 per-share price is within the $24$26 range the company zeroed-in on last week, when it also announced it would sell nearly 37 million shares of common stock. The IPO puts Navans valuation at around $9.2 billion. Navan shares will trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker NAVN. Founded in 2015, the company bills itself as an all-in-one business travel, payments, and expense management platform that makes travel easy for frequent travelers, helping customers find flights and hotels, automating expensing, and delivering an intuitive experience travelers love and finance teams rely on. In other words, the company utilizes AI technology to simplify corporate and business travel, aimed at reshaping an industry that has not changed in 30 years, per its SEC filings. Navan is attempting to fly as post-pandemic travel rebounds in a big way. Data from the Global Business Travel Association shows that worldwide business travel spending was expected to reach a record $1.57 trillion by the end of 2025, although that estimate may be blunted by the government shutdown and other factors. Notably, Navan is perhaps the most high-profile IPO over the past month, since the federal government shut down. The SECs filing process has been significantly stalled as the regulator has furloughed 90% of its staff. That put a damper on the overall IPO market, which had rebounded this year: During the third quarter of 2025, EY reports that 65 IPOs raised $15.7 billion, a big increase from the 40 IPOs that raised $8.6 billion during Q3 2024. All told, there have been 176 IPOs year-to-date totaling more than $30 billion, a 20% increase over 2024. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, in a statement on X, noted that MapLight Therapeutics, a relatively small biotech firm, went public earlier this week, and that it was proof that the governments regulatory machinery was still working. With yesterdays listing of MapLight, the IPO market is still open for businesscompanies are going public during the government shutdown using the method Congress originally intended, he wrote.
Category:
E-Commerce
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