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First Move with Julia Chatterley

Thousands of Migrants Still Stranded in Belarus; China to Welcome Back U.S. Journalists One Day after the Leaders Talk; Shares in EV Makers Continue to Charge. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired November 17, 2021 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[09:00:19]

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, FIRST MOVE: Live from New York, I'm Julia Chatterley. This is FIRST MOVE in here that you need-to-know.

Border blocked. Thousands of migrants still stranded in Belarus.

Presidential press pass. China to welcome back U.S. journalists one day after the leaders talk.

And high voltage valuations. Shares in EV makers continue to charge.

It's Wednesday let's make a move.

A warm welcome once again to first move in a show filled with the latest on futuristic chips, energy supply dips and EV road trips.

Chipmaker Qualcomm, the big U.S. stock market gainer, Tuesday, diversification exultation, I think is how I describe the response to the

firm's plans to expand its focus on smartphones to smart cars, smart cities, and even helping power the Metaverse. Yes, don't worry, we'll

explain. The company's CEO will join us shortly.

And if it's smart to go electric then we certainly have you covered even as electric truck maker, Rivian's roaring valuation rivets our attention,

another player is plugging and charging up. The CEO of Vietnamese car brand, VinFast, is also coming up later on, on the show.

Plus, the Finance Minister of Greece on Europe's triple economic threats -- energy, COVID, and rising prices.

And on that note, data from the Eurozone today showing inflation last month was still way above the European Central Bank's targets. U.K. inflation

meanwhile, is at 10-year highs, too, greatly increasing the likelihood that the Bank of England raises rates in December.

Now on Wall Street, stocks within a hair breadth of records after a supermarket trolley filled with good retail news. Retailers, Lowe's upping

its forecast today. Target also well, on target, too.

In Japan meanwhile, auto exports missing the target falling more than 35 percent year-over-year due to the supply chain crisis. Japanese stocks

suffered as a result. Car giants, Nissan, Honda, and Mitsubishi all weighing on the market there.

Okay, let's get right to the drivers.

Migrants stranded along the border between Belarus and Poland are facing another day of uncertainty. About a thousand people were given bread and

shelter at a processing center in Belarus overnight, but many are still waiting at the razor wire fence with Poland.

CNN's Matthew Chance reports from a migrant holding facility near the border.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We are right in the middle of this processing center that over the course of the past just

12 hours or so since last night after that violence ended.

Belarusian officials and forces have been moving the migrants from that forest camp, bringing them indoors at this location about a mile back from

the border crossing with Poland. It's still, you know, pretty, you know, rudimentary conditions that people are in. But at least we are inside with

some shelter from the increasingly cold weather conditions outside.

You know, people have got mattresses to sleep on. They've got blankets to put over them. They're being given food. Outside, they have been given hot

tea and bread. The Belarusian officials that we've spoken to say, they aim to provide these people with at least one hot meal a day. Still not very

much, but it is better than no hot meals a day.

And you can see, the general atmosphere here, is a lot -- sort of, I wouldn't say happy, but people are a lot more comfortable than they were

outside in the freezing forest camp right up against the razor wire of the Polish border.

The big question is, of course, what is going to happen next to these people? Are they ever going to achieve their, you know, objective of

getting into the European Union? It doesn't look like at the moment. The reaction of the Polish authorities yesterday, spraying the crowds with

water cannon to push them back from any prospect of getting near to the barricades was an indication that the Pols at least, and the European Union

in general, are reluctant to take these people in and we are being told by Belarusian officials that they are waiting for a decision from Germany

about whether there is some kind of humanitarian corridor that could be opened, possibly via Poland, possibly by air straight from here to German.

But that is not confirmed at all. In fact, over the past couple of days, the Germans have made it clear they don't intend to take these people in

either.

[09:05:08]

CHANCE: The alternative, according to Belarusian officials, is that these people will ultimately, ultimately be deported back to their countries of

origin. For the most part, that would be Iraq. The majority of people here are from Iraqi Kurdistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHATTERLEY: Okay, let's move on to restrictions relaxed. The U.S. and China have agreed to ease visa requirements for journalists a day after

virtual talks between President Joe Biden and Xi Jinping. They also agreed to consider holding talks on arms controls. Tensions over Taiwan surfaced

in their discussions on Tuesday and President Biden is making clear, the United States is not changing its policy on Taiwan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I said that they have to decide, hey, Taiwan, not us, and we are not encouraging independence, we're

encouraging that they do exactly what the Taiwan Act requires.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: Ivan Watson joins us on this. Ivan, I want to hone in on what's happened for journalists that are hoping to work in China and have

been working in China, let's be clear. This was not something I believe that was directly discussed between the Presidents, but it does sound like

a token, perhaps towards some form of greater trust.

Talk to us about what's going on and what you make of it.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, you have the world's two largest economies and their relationships have basically

cratered over the last year or two. You've just had this virtual Summit between the two heads of state, and this is the first example of something

concrete that may or may not have come out of a dialogue, let's put it that way, and that is that the tit-for-tat moves in 2020 between the Trump

administration in Beijing, where Chinese and U.S. journalists had their visas cut to 90 days, and they were no longer multi entry, but single

entry, we now have this announcement first coming from the Chinese side, that visas will be extended to one year and that journalists will be able

to apply for those visas and get multi-entry visas.

So in 2020, the Trump administration, it basically deemed a lot of Chinese state media organizations that had presences in the U.S. as essentially

foreign diplomatic missions and severely restricted their operations. China expelled journalists from "The New York Times," from "The Washington Post,"

from "The Wall Street Journal." If this follows through, theoretically, both sides would be able to get more journalists in each other's countries.

Chinese state media saying at least 20 Chinese journalists have had their visa applications denied by the U.S. since 2018. Look at what the CEO of

"The Wall Street Journal" had to say in a statement to CNN writing: "We're encouraged by the reported direction of these negotiations and continue to

believe that independent accurate reporting from within China serves our readers and serves China itself."

And this severe restrictions on the visas had affected U.S. journalists working for CNN in China. They couldn't leave the country and travel home

to see their families. Pretty severe stuff.

A U.S. State Department official telling CNN that they see this -- Washington -- as progress, but as initial steps. A big question now, I'd

say Julia, could there be other potential developments? Another example of the tit-for-tat deterioration of relations in 2020, both the U.S. and China

closed consulates in Houston and in Chengdu. That would be certainly a much bigger deal.

And just a final note, when it does come to press freedoms, it's still a big issue here. For example, here in Hong Kong, an Australian journalist, a

correspondent for "The Economist," just had her visa renewal application rejected by the Hong Kong government. It's still tough for foreign

journalists to work in Mainland China and increasingly here in Hong Kong.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, so we watch for additional steps and hope to see them. Ivan, great to have you with us. Thank you for your context.

Ivan Watson there.

Okay, let's move on, a purely positive charge. EV stocks meeting zero resistance as they power their way to sky high valuations. Electric truck

maker, Rivian, now up 120 percent from its IPO a week ago, making it the world's third most valuable carmaker. It is worth more than VW. Meanwhile,

smaller rival, Lucid, now has a higher valuation than Ford.

Paul La Monica joins me now.

Wow, we should bring that screen up again, because that I think, brings it home. Ford, $78 billion, GM $91 billion. Tesla is a trillion dollars. I've

got my own numbers here. Rivian, $148 billion.

I think Tesla proved at least initially, that you don't need profits for these kinds of valuations. Rivian is proving at least in the short term

that you don't need revenues either, Paul.

[09:10:12]

PAUL LA MONICA, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: It really is starting to get bubbalicious again, if you ask me, Julia, and I'm someone who lived through

the late nineties dot-com boom and bust and covered it, and I remembered how a lot of companies were trying to ride the coattails of Amazon and

everyone wanted to be an e-commerce juggernaut, and not a lot of them wound up surviving.

Now to be fair to Rivian, which does have impressive backing from the likes of Amazon and Ford, this is a real company that plans to have a product on

the market that could very well be one that a lot of consumers will buy, but the valuations at this point, investors are looking so far ahead into

the future to try and extrapolate what the revenue and profits might be decades down the road. It just seems way too premature for a company like

Rivian to deserve this type of valuation.

Lucid, you can argue, it's a little less frothy, but that's not saying much. But at least Lucid already has something on the market that just won

Motor Trend Car of the Year as well. So Lucid, there are revenues coming in, no profits, of course. But I think investors just have to be careful

here.

This doesn't mean that electric cars aren't the future, it just means that the valuations right now are absurd.

CHATTERLEY: And that's such a great distinction because when the bulls talk about Tesla, and that is in a league of its own with this kind of

valuation, when we're talking about a trillion dollars, they always say it has to be valued like a technology company, not a car company.

But as we see more and more of the traditional car makers transition to electric cars and smarter cars, I think that distinction is blurred.

Yes, you're punchy with your comments here, Paul, and I can't disagree. Musk -- Elon Musk tweeted actually about Rivian, and he said: "The true

test will be whether it can achieve high production, and breakeven cash flow." And Elon Musk knows a lot about the challenges in achieving that.

And for that, we're just going to have to wait and see, but I just wonder whether you think some part of the rally that we're seeing, given all the

pressure that we've seen and we've been talking about in recent days on Tesla share prices, retail investors diversifying into some of the other

carmakers, because obviously, there is pressure on Tesla share price with Elon Musk selling so many shares.

LA MONICA: Yes, that is a fantastic point, Julia. You obviously have Tesla's stock, having this amazing run, it is cooling off a little bit

partly because of Musk selling some of his stock, and I think also that, you know, when you look at Rivian and Lucid, who are the CEOs of Rivian and

Lucid? The average investor probably doesn't know who they are.

And in this perspective, it might actually be a good thing, because guess what? The CEOs of Rivian and Lucid aren't on Twitter attacking Bernie

Sanders and other senators, which you know, in hindsight, might not have been the smartest PR move for Elon Musk. Sure, it wins him more fans from

the Musk faithful, but it might turn off a lot of people who are wondering, do I really want to be investing in a company where a CEO is that much of a

loose cannon on social media? Not so sure.

CHATTERLEY: It's worked for him so far, Paul, worked for him. It's worked for him so far.

LA MONICA: It's true.

CHATTERLEY: Prepare to take the other side of that train. Paul La Monica, thank you so much for that. We do have some fun.

All right, also looking to join the electric charge on Wall Street is Vietnam's VinFast. The EV maker said to be considering a U.S. IPO. It is

unveiling plans to break into the U.S. market today and we will be speaking to VinFast CEO later on in the show. Ever increasing competition.

Okay, let me bring you up to speed now with some of the other stories making headlines around the world.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for a pair of suicide bombings in Uganda's capital. At least three people were killed in Tuesday's attacks and 36

wounded. Authorities say they've stepped up security in the capital and arrested 81 suspects.

Ireland is one of the latest E.U. countries to re-impose COVID-19 restrictions as new infections sweep across the continent. Starting

Thursday, there will be a midnight curfew on all bars, restaurants, and nightclubs. And people are being urged to work from home. Belgium is also

expected to announce new COVID-19 restrictions.

Day 2 of jury deliberations in the Kyle Rittenhouse homicide trial will get underway later in Wisconsin. The jury requested more copies of the Judge's

instructions yesterday. Rittenhouse is facing five felony charges for fatally shooting two people and wounding another during unrest last year in

Kenosha, Wisconsin.

And still to come here on FIRST MOVE, power play. As we mentioned, Vietnam's EV maker, VinFast meets its U.S. debut with two new cars and a

brand new Los Angeles HQ.

But first, recovery and restrictions. The Greek Finance Minister joins FIRST MOVE as Athens unveils new rules for unvaccinated people. That's

next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. The Wall Street bulls hoping for some Wednesday wonderfulness, a quiet premarket, but a modest move higher

would put the S&P 500 at fresh record highs. End of the year optimism in full swing, but Goldman CEO, David Solomon now warning the quote "greed"

has far outpaced fear. History, of course proves we can be greedier. That was my quote, not his by the way.

Meanwhile, all of us a little bit greedy for some Holiday cheer. New York City says the public will be allowed back into Times Square for New Year's

Eve festivities this year, if you have proof of vaccination, but disappointment in Germany, the Munich Christmas Market has just been

cancelled due to rising COVID cases there.

Greece is seeing its highest number of new COVID cases since the pandemic began. To fight the surge, the government is re-imposing some restrictions

targeting the unvaccinated. There is positive news though, too. The European Commission is almost doubling its growth forecast for Greece after

unexpectedly strong tourism season this year.

We're now joined by the Greek Finance Minister, Christos Staikouras from Athens. Finance Minister, great to have you on the show. Thank you for

joining us and for your time today. Let's talk about the good news and the upgraded growth forecast. What's driving that? And what does that mean

critically for jobs and employment?

CHRISTOS STAIKOURAS, GREEK FINANCE MINISTER: As well, I would like to thank you, Julia for the invitation. Indeed, we have very positive results

and forecasts for the Greek economy, not only coming from the European Commission, but also from more foreigners and institutions and this will be

confirmed on Friday when we will submit the budget.

It seems that we'll have a strong and sustainable growth rate for the period 2021 to 2023, unemployment has been reduced to 13 percent according

to what was published today. Disposable income has been increased.

What derives the growth rate? Mainly investments and extraversion exports. According to the European Commission, we will have a significant increase

of exports and investments by around eight percent and 15 percent, respectively in 2022 when the European average will be five percent and

zero percent, respectively, for 2022.

[09:20:13]

CHATTERLEY: I mean, this is all good news. The wild card, of course, for Greece but for many other nations, and we discuss this on a daily basis is

rising COVID cases. And I mentioned some of the restrictions that the government is already having to put into place. How restrictive and how

concerned are you for small businesses that have already spent many months over the past year and a half in challenging conditions? Are there more

measures that you can take perhaps to help them?

STAIKOURAS: We have taken a lot of measures more than -- more than 53 billion euros in the last couple of years in order to create a safety net,

above households enterprises, and we succeeded. According to what I presented before, and I said with you, indeed, we have a couple of crises

at the moment to face, the challenges.

One challenge has to do with the health crisis, but take into account the new measures that we have imposed, it seems that we have a significant

increase in the vaccination rate in the last couple of weeks, either with a first dose or with a third dose.

And the second challenge we have to face has to do with inflation. We have low inflation rates compared with the European average, but it is still

very high. So, we take one of the measures and permanent measures in order to enhance even more disposable income and to avoid credit balances in the

real economy.

CHATTERLEY: And small businesses are saying, look, can you please help us more with perhaps tax breaks? With rent control? If you have to impose

further restrictions from here, will you at least contemplate perhaps looking at additional one-off measures? As you said, there are many issues

that you're dealing with here -- inflation, COVID, rising energy prices, all sorts of things -- will you contemplate more measures, if they're

needed?

STAIKOURAS: It depends on the fiscal space we will have.

CHATTERLEY: Right.

STAIKOURAS: But effectively, of how they work and how they provide, the real economy has been helped a lot previously, even the last three months,

it would continue to help the private sector and we will continue to do that by wonderful measures if it is needed. But at the same time, as I said

with you before, we have to take one of the measures in order to tackle the energy crisis. And in this case, you can see that in the last couple of

weeks, we had some state subsidies for all low voltage consumers.

We have a fund of the special consumption tax for the agricultural sector. We have a heating allowance, which has been enhanced. So with that,

simultaneously, we tackle all these crises by taking into account the cash reserves we have, but at the same time, fiscal considerations.

CHATTERLEY: You've also said to the E.U. that there should be a fund to help not just Greece, but all other countries and this is something that

Greece itself has been pushing, a fund to help people manage the higher energy costs. What has the feedback been from Europe?

STAIKOURAS: We are discussing it collectively at the European level with the Ministers of Energy. Indeed, we had a joint statement with the Minister

of Finance from France, from Spain, from -- if I remember well, from Czech Republic and from Romania -- in order to ask for collective actions, either

by creating a common approach at the European level, either by having an intuition of what's going on in the gas market, either regarding the

wholesale electricity market, at the same time, achieving an energy independence by investing in the diversification of our energy supply.

While discussing this issue collectively with other Ministers, not only Finance Ministers, but also Minister of the Energy sector.

CHATTERLEY: I think one of the other challenges that Greece understands well is the economic cost there, the human cost of the migrant crisis, and

Greece has been on the front lines for many years, and I think understands this best.

Can I ask what you make of the situation right now with the migrant crisis on the Polish-Belarus border and whether you think the E.U. can do more to

help? Whether Greece can afford financially, perhaps to do more to help?

STAIKOURAS: With these borders, you know, very well, also the European Union, Eastern borders due to the geopolitical position and geopolitical

tensions, Greece is familiar with dealing with this sensitive crisis and sensitive issue. We have reinforced our actions, along with our European

counterparts to tackle the immigration crisis in the most human and constructive way, always following the path of the European under national

law, and we will continue to do that.

[09:25:27]

STAIKOURAS: This case, the immigration case, is also something that we have raised regarding the fiscal rules that we started to discuss at the

European level. We know that we exclude this cost from the expansion we are going to face in the following years regarding the fiscal rules, the

targets, and the requirements needed and agreed in the future.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, this is such a crucial point. We are coming off the back of COP 26. I know your debt levels, your deficit levels coming out of

COVID. Never mind the financial crisis. If you want to be able to invest in renewable technologies in infrastructure of the future, there needs to be

more fiscal room to allow for spending whether it's this or anything else. That, I know is another part of the discussions that you're having in the

E.U. Do you think it's possible to get debt relief in order to be able to make productive spending on essentials like this to future proof your

economy?

STAIKOURAS: We raise two issues. If we will have the fiscal space, and if we will have the money in order to invest in resources. Indeed, one week

ago, we started discussing the fiscal rules at the European level, at the Euro Group and the grouping level. It was a very productive, fruitful

discussion. And our position is that the new rules should take into account the experience we have from the recent crisis, but also from the European

debt crisis.

The new European fiscal rules should be common and credible, it should be appropriate and effective. It should be simple and functional. It should be

up-to-date and dynamic. In order to find the resources and invest in order to achieve that climate change, we have two choices.

We have, first of all, the national recovery and resilience plan, where 38 percent of the whole envelope is targeted towards the climate. And the same

time, we are going to issue a new bond, a green bond in the second semester of 2022, and at the moment, we are planning to build a solid portfolio of

eligible projects to be financed to a sustainable or green bond.

These are the two sources, the two main sources in order to find money and invest on the green transition. At the same time, we expect that going

forward in 2020, to do the discussions for the fiscal rules, we will manage to exclude these investments in the European priorities from the expenses

that will be calculated in the fiscal rules.

CHATTERLEY: Do you think the Germans will agree?

STAIKOURAS: We will discuss it.

CHATTERLEY: Work in progress.

STAIKOURAS: We just started. We just started.

CHATTERLEY: We know. This time --

STAIKOURAS: We have it here. We will need to discuss this.

CHATTERLEY: Sir, great to chat with you. Come back and talk to us about this because we need all funds to invest in green bonds, and this will

start some kind of revolution -- financial revolution to achieve this.

The Greek Finance Minister there, Christos Staikouras, great to have you on the show, sir. Thank you.

STAIKOURAS: Thank you very much.

CHATTERLEY: The market open is next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:32:02]

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. That was the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange and we are hovering near record highs on the S&P.

The question is, what is the catalyst that pushes us higher from here? The European Central Bank today pointing out some of the challenges warning of

what it calls exuberance in housing, junk bonds, and crypto assets.

Big moves in the meantime in retail stocks in early trade. Lowe's rallying after beating on the top and bottom lines and raising its forecast, too.

Target, the giant retailer, their two numbers also strong, but investors concerned about the company's focus on keeping prices low. Target is so far

not passing on those higher prices that it is feeling from suppliers to consumers. The question is that crush margin.

Earnings season not over yet, gaming chip giant, NVIDIA reporting after the closing bell. Its prospects rising on hopes for the Metaverse. Shares up

more than 130 percent so far this year.

And tied to that smart cities, intelligent cars, and once again, the Metaverse. Qualcomm, the world's biggest maker of smartphone chips used its

investors' data, I think to address, perhaps some misconceptions. Nearly 40 percent of its sales are actually made outside of the handset business,

focused on future technologies for customers like Walmart, Amazon, BMW, and GM.

The stock surged eight percent yesterday hitting a record high. It's gained 40 percent in just the past month alone. And joining us now, President and

CEO of Qualcomm, Cristiano Amon.

Cristiano, fantastic to have you on the show. I read your whole investor presentation yesterday, and one of the phrases that stood out to me was:

"We're enabling a world where everyone and everything is intelligently connected." And I think that cuts to the heart of the technology you

provide, not just in terms of the handset technology, but how it is applicable to many other technologies and technologies of the future.

CRISTIANO AMON, CEO, QUALCOMM: You've got it. Good to be here talking to you. This is exciting time for Qualcomm. We design technologies such as 5G

that go beyond the phone and connect everything to the Cloud a hundred percent of the time, and that's really materializing incredible

opportunities we see happening for Qualcomm, where there is really demand for technology across virtually every industry.

CHATTERLEY: Can you explain in more detail? I mean, I think -- and you had some of these stats in your presentation, the fact that we're seeing Cloud

growth, people utilizing the Cloud and storing data on the Cloud at 35 percent a year.

And if you believe we're going to continue to see such strong growth and a lot of the data that is being created is actually outside of that, we are

going to have to find smart, intelligent ways of connecting that data, accessing the Cloud, and utilizing that data, and that again, cuts to the

core of what you're doing, whether it's working with some of the biggest car makers in the world on smart cars, whether it's making businesses

operate in a more intelligent way, robotics -- you have a finger in all of these pies.

[09:35:03]

AMON: You know, that's a great -- I think that's a great way to describe it and that slide was showing the presentation, it is one of the key

foundations of what is happening to the company.

You know, we all believe that the Cloud will continue to grow and we have exponential growth projection from the Cloud. You see some of the highest

valuation companies in the world today in the Cloud, and let's assume that you're going to have all of this data going to the Cloud, for that to

happen, you need to connect those billions of devices out there, make them intelligent, scalar, efficient, intelligent, advanced processing, and

that's our job.

We are the company at the edge, and that's why when we talk about what is happening with Qualcomm, we have always been the company defining the pace

of innovation as mobile -- in mobile. But now, we have to connected intelligent edge, which includes the automotive, the consumer IoT, the

enterprise IoT, the network -- the new and the future of the networking, and that's all driving data that goes to the Cloud.

So if you believe the growth of the Cloud, you've got to believe the growth of Qualcomm.

CHATTERLEY: It's interesting, because I think one of the challenges and when I addressed the idea that I think you tackled some misconceptions of

the breakdown of the revenue generation of the business that 40 percent is outside of handsets, I think you also pleased investors by saying, look,

we're going to be really conservative on our relationship with Apple, too.

We anticipate only providing around 20 percent of smartphones with chips by 2023 and everyone was like, wow. You can diversify your business away from

them that quickly. Project forward, if you can for me, two, three, five years, what percent of the overall revenues of the company are outside of

handsets?

AMON: Look, today, when we finished this last earnings call, we finished our fiscal year, we indicated that about 40 percent of the revenues of the

company was outside handsets, and here's a couple of data points, I can give it to you.

One of the most remarkable things that is happening with the company and is really proving that this diversification is really working. In mobile, we

are just at the beginning of the 5G transition. So mobile is really growing very, very fast for two reasons. The 5G migration and the fact that there

were changes in the OEM landscape, the great opportunities for us to grow faster than the market within Android. Android is the fastest growing

segment in mobile.

But even if you put up those two tail winds that we have for the mobile business, the non-handset business is growing at 1.6 times mobile much

faster, and why we didn't disclose the percentage of revenue, we give investors a good insight by showing they used to know Qualcomm as the

company that is in the mobile market, great market, fully penetrated grow single digit, but now we have a 7X expansion in the addressable market. Our

addressable market went to $700 billion within the next decade as we have all of those opportunities.

CHATTERLEY: Which business is more profitable?

AMON: The way investors is started to understand the Qualcomm business model, we talked repeatedly during the presentation that we have one

technology roadmap. We just have one technology roadmap that is the most relevant roadmap for what is happening in the edge.

As we gain scale, every one of those business is accretive to margins as compared to mobile. So automotive and IoT, they have much higher energy

power, because it's just leveraged the roadmap and it is accretive to margins.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, so if you're pivoting your business to what is growing fastest and enables you to make most money, then investors like it, and I

think that's the purpose of the share reaction was suggesting.

I have to talk to you about the Metaverse. I think when I mention this on my show, a lot of our viewers eyes glaze over and go, "What on earth is

this? And what will this mean to be in the future?"

So Cristiano, this is your moment because I know you're and have been working with Facebook in particular working on their project for Meta and

the Metaverse. What do we need to understand about what this is going to mean for us in the future?

AMON: All right, this is very clear to us, and we have been investing in the foundation technologies for virtual reality and augmented reality for a

long time. We were talking about XR and VR and AR when the Metaverse was unpopular, and the reality is, the Metaverse is going to manifest itself in

different versions.

You know, you can have a version for consumer and social. You can have a version for the enterprise that points to what Meta is doing, what

Microsoft is doing with the HoloLens. All of those different versions of how we are going to connect physical and digital spaces, and all of those

digital spaces are going to get created in the Cloud, which is the Metaverse, they have one thing in common.

[09:40:18]

AMON: You're going to need a device that you're going to wear, and it's going to be the portal for you to go to the Metaverse or the mixed reality,

and that's what we're doing. There are 50 devices that are now available in the market. They're all powered by Snapdragon XR. So, we're going to be

your ticket to the Metaverse and what is unique about this is we can see a world where we may have our glasses that go alongside our phones and this

opportunity could be as big as phones.

CHATTERLEY: I've got -- I'm having a beam me up Scotty moment with a smartwatch and then I appear somewhere else, at least virtually. It's going

to be exciting to see.

Cristiano, congratulations on the Investor Day and the investor reaction and come back and talk to us soon, please.

Cristiano Amon there, President and CEO of Qualcomm. Great to chat with you.

AMON: Thank you very much. Good seeing you.

CHATTERLEY: Thank you. Vietnamese EV maker, VinFast making its U.S. debut. The CEO takes a pit stop with us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE.

Vietnamese electric vehicle maker, VinFast, has a big American dream. In a bid to break into the U.S. market, it is unveiling two electric SUVs later

today. VinFast has already announced a new headquarters in California and plans to invest over $200 million in its U.S. operations.

VinFast says deliveries will begin by the end of 2022. Joining us now is Michael Lohscheller. He is the CEO of VinFast Global.

Michael, a pleasure to have you on the show. Give us all the details. What do we need to know about these SUVs?

MICHAEL LOHSCHELLER, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, VINFAST GLOBAL: Good morning, Julia. Thanks for having me on your show.

So today, a very big day for VinFast because we have our debut at the LA Motor Show. How do we do that? We unveil our two electric SUV, exciting

design a lot of innovation technology in the car, and of course electric. We come as VinFast only with electric cars to the U.S. because what has

worked in the past is not right for the future, so we go electric only and with this, we really want to open up a new era in terms of smart mobility,

sustainable mobility, and of course we have a lot of technology innovations in the cars.

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CHATTERLEY: What can you tell me about top speed? Charge times? And on the road price? I've seen a room of around $30,000.00. That seems very low to

me. Am I in the right ballpark? Or have I got it completely wrong?

LOHSCHELLER: Well, in terms of pricing, I would say it's a little too early to talk about this, but we are very customer-centric. So what we want

to do is offer a world class, product quality, reasonable prices, and then a really good service, so that we even come to your home. But in terms of

range, just to give you a ballpark, so we have two levels, two different levels of range. So we will be over 500 kilometers, so very exciting. But

in terms of pricing, as I said, we will do that at a later stage.

CHATTERLEY: We'll work on that, Michael. What do you see as your competition in the United States? And why do you see this representing an

opportunity perhaps, as an alternative going to somewhere like China? Huge potentially, the EV market there, but I believe you're not there. Why the

United States and why now?

LOHSCHELLER: Well, first of all, I mean, the U.S. is a very, very important market globally, and we want to compete here. And of course, now,

the time is right, because I mean, automotive industry is changing, and we feel it's a perfect time to come with electric cars and really compete here

in this very important market.

And of course, we also want to make VinFast, a global electric brand, and therefore, we are here today in Los Angeles, but we will also go to Europe.

And it's exciting that we can make VinFast, this young brand, we are only four years old, coming from Vietnam, a global automotive brand.

CHATTERLEY: And obviously, you're part of a much bigger conglomerate than people need to understand, which is Vingroup -- who have appeared on the

show in the past -- does that cushion you financially in some way? Because we've talked about electric cars and the costs required to invest in this

technology and scale up.

I see you're looking to have 60 showrooms in the United States next year, looking at European opportunities as well. Do you need to IPO in the United

States, one, just to get the brand name out there, but also to raise cash? Or do you have the luxury of waiting?

LOHSCHELLER: Well, first of all, as you say, we will build up 60 stores actually here in California, because we want to do the distribution

ourselves. We also looked at a local factory in the United States, because we feel this is right to do the entire value chain here. And with that,

then of course, we have the support of the Vingroup, which I think is important because on the one hand, VinFast is like a startup company, we do

everything extremely fast.

I mean, if you think about this, within four years, we are here, a global brand, showing electric cars at the LA Auto Show, and Vingroup is

supporting.

To your point in terms of the IPO, this is an option. Obviously, we look at this in terms of funding. But most important for us, Julia, is the unveil

of the two cars and making sure the VinFast brand is young and fresh brand, it has a great start in the United States.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, this is just the beginning. Can you rival Tesla in the United States? Bold call, Michael. What do you think?

LOHSCHELLER: By the way, first of all, what's happening in the market? I mean, a lot of people transition from ICE to EVs. But what is happening,

the EV segments are growing, and this is a potential for VinFast.

We want to go into the segments, which show a lot of growth. That's why we are in the big SUV segments. And of course there is competition out there.

This is great. This will make us better. But we think there is big segment growth in terms of EVs going forward.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, this big segment growth is also a monetization opportunity as well the way that these newly IPO'ed stocks are trading. It

might be worth considering.

Michael, great to chat with you. Good luck with the unveil today and come back and speak to us soon. The moment you have a price and then we'll

discuss, Michael.

LOHSCHELLER: We'll do. Thank you, Julia. Have a great day.

CHATTERLEY: Thank you. You, too.

The CEO of VinFast Global there, thank you.

All right, we're back after this. Stay with us.

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CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. The North and West of Africa have traditionally dominated the continent's oil and gas industry, but while

Nigeria continues to be the major player, its neighbor, Ghana, is edging its way in.

Tullow is key to that effort, founded in 1985, to explore for gas in Senegal. It now has a significant presence throughout the continent.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WISSAM AL MONTHIRY, MANAGING DIRECTOR, GHANA, TULLOW OIL: So Africa's oil and gas business is a really interesting one. And I think it's a story of

opportunity, about 40 to 50 percent of the world's total natural resources actually sit in Africa, and a large portion of that is made up of oil and

gas. Of course, mining and other things occupy some of that space.

But the short story is that Africa has the first step you need in any kind of energy business, which is it has a lot of resources.

We were here as a company in the mid-2000s. We feel quite proud of the fact that there is a company, Tullow, took bet on a basin and a sector in a

country where the oil and gas sector didn't exist, and we are very thankful that that bet materialized into commercial quantities of oil and gas.

TEXT: Can you give us some numbers?

AL MONTHIRY: So we feel that there's somewhere in the range of 2.6 billion barrels of oil remaining in place between Jubilee and 10. On Jubilee, we've

only produced about 15 percent or 16 percent of the oil in place and on 10. It's about eight percent.

Industry standards tell you fields like this, we should be able to produce anywhere near the range of 40 to 50 percent of total recovery. So, there is

a lot more oil to go.

TEXT: What are the opportunities provided by pan-African trade?

AL MONTHIRY: We need goods and services. We certainly don't do anything ourselves, and it is an industry that relies on an effective, efficient,

and low cost supply chain.

And as you look around Africa, as a continent, you can have line of sight to that effective, reliable, low cost and highly talented supply chain when

you take a more continent view. You may look in certain countries and that supply chain won't exist there.

But as you look around the continent, you're able to access that supply chain through other countries in the continent to help develop the

resources within a different country in the continent. And pan-African trade and pan-African trade agreements facilitate that and very much a fuel

for any company to be able to help grow the resource development and benefit the countries in which those resources exist.

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CHATTERLEY: And finally, on FIRST MOVE, Harry Potter fans prepare for Hogwarts heaven.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROFESSOR ALBUS DUMBLEDORE, FICTIONAL CHARACTER, "HARRY POTTER": Mysterious thing, time.

When in doubt, I find retracing my steps to be a wise place to begin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: Where to begin indeed? HBO Max says it will begin streaming "Harry Potter 20th Anniversary Return to Hogwarts" on New Year's Day. The

original cast will be taking part in a special which is billed as a franchise retrospective.

Lots of interviews, cast conversations, and fond looks back at a truly remarkable journey. Seeing that it debuts on New Year's Day, it will be the

perfect tonic for those with a Hufflepuff hangover. Or you just watch all the movies, which is basically what I do every year.

[09:55:00]

And that's it for the show. If you've missed any of our interviews today, they will be on my Twitter and Instagram pages, search for @jchatterleyCNN.

Thanks for joining us. Stay safe. "Connect the World" with Becky Anderson is next.

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