Also: Chinese chips, Ukrainian grain, and gas again.
Good morning.
Some useful reading before your weekend begins:
On Supply Chains: The CEO of VF says it is too early to say the supply chain crisis is over. And the Commerce Secretary conjures up a “scary” supply chain scenario.
On the Great Resignation: There’s no sign it’s slowing down, with 40% of U.S. workers still “considering” quitting their jobs.
On China: How China’s tech crackdown is causing one big venture investor—Sequoia China—to take a new approach.
And since it’s Friday, some feedback. RD had this to say about the attacks on ESG, in response to Thursday’s newsletter:
“The attacks from the left and right on ESG and stakeholder capitalism often have credibility because some of the companies most vocal on these issues are saying one thing while doing another (e.g. sales and marketing embraces a diverse audience while government relations supports legislators working to restrict the rights of the same group). I believe this is due, in part, to a lack of understanding and alignment across companies struggling to build a culture of ESG. You and Fortune could also help here, guiding executives through the process of creating policy AND the corporate culture to ensure it is embraced by the entire organization.”
Good point. Other news below.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
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Chinese chips
The U.S. may be wielding sanctions in a bid to slow the rise of the Chinese chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., but it seems SMIC recently made a major technological leap. The company is reportedly now shipping chips for Bitcoin mining that use a 7-nanometer manufacturing process (a reference to generations of manufacturing technology.) Taiwan’s TSMC and South Korea’s Samsung are a generation ahead, but still, it appears SMIC is doing just fine. Bloomberg
Ukrainian grain
Ukraine, Russia and the U.N. are expected to today sign a deal that will allow the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea. That’s according to officials from the U.N. and Turkey, which has helped to broker the deal. (Bonus read: Turkey’s President Erdogan left Russia’s President Putin waiting awkwardly for nearly a minute before a meeting this week, in what seemed to be an episode of “sweet payback.”) Wall Street Journal
Gas again
The European Commission wants all European countries to cut their natural-gas use by 15% ahead of an expected winter supply crunch (Russian gas flows to Germany may be back, but they’re still heavily curbed.) But Spain and Portugal hate the idea, other countries aren’t so sure…and Hungary just sent its foreign minister to Moscow to beg for more gas. Financial Times
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