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| Google this week reported a steep decline in profits. Social media companies such as Meta said that advertising sales — the heart of their businesses — have rapidly cooled off. And Microsoft, perhaps the tech industry’s most reliable performer, predicted a slowdown through at least the end of the year. |
| 谷歌本周报告利润急剧下降。Meta等社交媒体公司表示，作为业务核心的广告销售已经迅速降温。微软兴许是科技行业表现最可靠的公司，但也预计增长放缓将至少持续到今年年底。 |
| Tech companies led the way for the U.S. economy over the past decade and buoyed the stock market during the worst days of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, amid stubborn inflation and rising interest rates, even the biggest giants of Silicon Valley are signaling that tough days may be ahead. |
| 在过去十年中，科技公司引领着美国经济，并在新冠病毒大流行最糟糕的日子里提振了股市。现在，在顽固的通货膨胀和利率上升的情况下，即使是硅谷最大的巨头都在暗示，艰难的日子可能即将到来。 |
| The companies are navigating the same problems as the rest of the economy. Pumped up by aggressive consumer spending during the pandemic, they invested to keep up with demand. Now, as that spending is slowing, they’re trying to adjust. It hasn’t been easy. |
| 这些公司与经济的其他部分都在解决同一个问题。在大流行期间积极的消费者支出刺激下，它们增加投入以跟上需求。现在，随着消费者支出放缓，它们需要努力适应。但这并非易事。 |
| Amazon, which had 798,000 employees at the beginning of 2020, is reining in expansion of its warehousing operations, mothballing buildings, pulling out of leases and delaying plans to open facilities. The company employed 1.52 million people in the second quarter, almost 100,000 fewer than at the end of March. |
| 亚马逊在2020年初拥有79.8万名员工，目前正在控制其仓储业务的扩张、封存建筑物、退出租约并推迟开设新设施的计划。该公司第二季度雇佣了152万人，比3月底减少了近10万人。 |
| Most companies would love to have the problems of the tech industry’s leaders. Between them, Google and Microsoft made $31.5 billion in profits in their most recent quarter. On Thursday Apple is expected to say that it made more than $20 billion in profits in a quarter that will otherwise be considered a disappointment. |
| 大多数公司都巴不得遇到科技行业领导者的这些问题。谷歌和微软最近一个季度的利润为315亿美元。预计苹果公司将在周四宣布该公司在一个季度内实现了超过200亿美元的利润，除此之外这个季度的表现是令人失望的。 |
| But their sudden slowdown is exposing a weakness. The big tech companies haven’t really found a new, very profitable idea in years. Despite years of investment in new businesses, Google and Meta still rely mostly on ad sales. The iPhone, 15 years after it upended the industry, still drives Apple’s profits. |
| 但他们的突然放缓暴露了一个弱点。多年来，大型科技公司并没有真正找到一个能产生高利润的新点子。尽管多年来一直投资新业务，谷歌和Meta仍然主要依赖广告销售。iPhone在颠覆整个行业15年后仍然是苹果利润增长的推动力。 |
| That has left some of them vulnerable to the disruptive upstarts that they once were. YouTube, which is owned by Google, and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram social media platforms are being upended by the much younger TikTok. Meta said on Wednesday that its profit in the most recent quarter was down more than 50 percent from a year ago. |
| 这使得其中一些公司容易受到突破性技术初创公司的影响，而它们本身就曾是这样的公司。谷歌旗下的YouTube以及Meta的Facebook和Instagram社交媒体平台正在被年轻得多的TikTok颠覆。Meta周三表示，其最近一个季度的利润比一年前下降了50%以上。 |
| The slowdown has been more severe among companies in young markets like crypto and the gig economy but also the more staid chip makers. The value of Bitcoin has plunged by two-thirds this year, dragging a host of start-ups down with it. Uber, the ride-hailing pioneer, has slashed spending as investors have lost their patience with unprofitable businesses. |
| 加密货币和零工经济等年轻市场的公司放缓尤为严重，但在较稳定的芯片制造商中也是如此。比特币的价值今年已经暴跌了三分之二，拖累了许多初创企业。由于投资者对缺乏盈利的业务失去了耐心，打车服务先驱优步已经削减了开支。 |
| Semiconductor companies are cutting spending on factories and machinery as sales of PCs, smartphones and appliances slow. Texas Instruments told financial analysts on Tuesday that the contagion is spreading to sales for things like heating controls and factory robots. Covid-related lockdowns in China and the growing threat of trade and technology restrictions have made things worse. |
| 由于个人电脑、智能手机和家用电器的销售放缓，半导体公司正在削减工厂和机械上的支出。得州仪器周二告诉金融分析师，这种具有传染性的趋势正在蔓延到温控和工厂机器人等产品的销售上。中国与新冠病毒相关的封锁措施以及贸易和技术限制日益严重的威胁使情况变得更糟。 |
| “We’re in for a dark winter,” said Brent Thill, a technology analyst with the investment firm Jefferies. “From small to big to large — no one is immune.” |
| “我们将迎来一个黑暗的冬季，”投资公司杰富瑞集团的技术分析师布伦特·希尔说。“从小公司到大一点的公司再到大型公司——没有人能幸免。” |
| Google and Microsoft assured investors this week that they would slow hiring and monitor rising energy and supply chain costs. Apple has said it plans to be more deliberate about how it expands its work force as the economy struggles. |
| 谷歌和微软本周向投资者保证，他们将放缓招聘并监控不断上涨的能源和供应链成本。苹果曾表示，它计划在经济不景气的情况下更加慎重地考虑如何扩大员工队伍。 |
| Other companies are embarking on new strategies. Netflix, weakened by slowing subscription growth, hopes to revive its business next month with the release of a lower-priced service that is subsidized by ads. |
| 其他公司正在着手实施新战略。因订阅增长放缓而疲软的网飞希望在下个月通过推出由广告补贴的低价服务来重振业务。 |
| Meta is pouring billions into the construction of a so-called metaverse, which it hopes will be tech’s next big thing. But that investment is costing the company a lot of money. Meta said its Reality Labs division, which is responsible for the virtual reality and augmented reality efforts that are central to the metaverse, had lost $3.7 billion compared with $2.6 billion a year earlier. |
| Meta正在投入数十亿美元建设所谓的元宇宙，寄望于成为科技界的下一个热点。但这项投资让公司花销不菲。Meta表示，其负责虚拟现实和增强现实工作的Reality Labs部门损失了37亿美元，而一年前这一数字为26亿美元，该部门是元宇宙的核心。 |
| “Look I get that a lot of people might disagree with this investment,” Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, said on a call with financial analysts on Wednesday. “But from what I can tell, I think this is going to be a very important thing and I think it would be a mistake for us to not focus on any of these areas, which I think are going to be fundamentally important to the future.” |
| “是的，我知道很多人可能不同意这项投资，”Meta首席执行官马克·扎克伯格周三在与金融分析师的电话会议上表示。“但据我所知，我认为这将是一件非常重要的事情，并且我认为，这些领域如果都不去关注，将是错误的，我认为这将对未来至关重要。” |
| For nearly three years, tech companies ballooned as businesses sent workers home and schools shifted classes online. The fallout from Covid-19 played to the industry’s strengths. |
| 在近三年的时间里，随着企业让员工居家，学校将课程转移到网上，科技公司迅速发展。新冠疫情的影响令该行业的优势得到发挥。 |
| Employees and students splurged on smartphones and computers. Businesses supported remote work by purchasing cloud storage and videoconferencing software. And people stuck at home resorted to online shopping, which forced small businesses to pour money into digital ads in hopes of snagging potential customers. |
| 员工和学生花了大笔钱在智能手机和电脑上。企业通过购买云存储和视频会议软件来支持远程工作。困在家里的人们求助于网上购物，这迫使小企业在数字广告上投入大量资金，希望抓住潜在客户。 |
| It is proving impossible for tech companies to maintain that growth. Smartphone and computer sales are slowing worldwide. Cloud computing spending is being scrutinized by businesses troubled by the slowing economy. Shoppers have returned to stores and started spending their money on travel, concerts and sporting events — the in-person moments they once sacrificed. |
| 事实证明，科技公司不可能保持这种增长。智能手机和电脑的全球销售正在放缓。受经济放缓困扰的企业正在审查云计算方面的支出。购物者已经回到商店，开始把钱花在旅游、音乐会和体育赛事上——这是他们曾经牺牲掉的亲身体验。 |
| Apple is expected to report on Thursday that iPhone sales rose 7 percent for its fiscal year that ended in September, a sharp deceleration from the nearly 40 percent increase it posted last year. Wall Street analysts predict that sales will decline next year as customers in its two biggest markets, the United States and China, struggle with economic slowdowns. |
| 预计苹果将于周四发布报告称，在截至9月的财年中，iPhone的销量增长了7%，与去年近40%的增幅相比大幅放缓。华尔街分析人士预测，随着美国和中国这两个最大市场的消费者努力应对经济放缓，明年的销售额将会下降。 |
| A similar turnabout in computer sales threaten to compound Apple’s woes, as well as drag down its longtime rival, Microsoft. The computer market is deteriorating at its fastest rate in decades. The decline is hobbling Apple’s Mac business and led Microsoft to forecast a roughly 30 percent decline in Windows sales over the final months of this year. |
| 电脑销售的类似转变可能会加剧苹果的困境，并拖累其长期竞争对手微软。计算机市场正以几十年来最快的速度恶化。这种下滑拖累了苹果的Mac业务，也导致微软预计Windows在今年最后几个月的销量将下降约30%。 |
| “There were so many PCs purchased in the last two years that there’s no demand,” said Mikako Kitagawa, a technology analyst with Gartner, a market research firm. “Plus, hiring is frozen, so businesses don’t need new PCs.” |
| “过去两年购买的个人电脑太多了，所以现在根本没有需求，”市场研究公司高德纳的科技分析师北川美佳子（音）说。“另外，招聘被冻结了，所以企业不需要新的个人电脑。” |
| Microsoft has shaken off sluggish computer sales before by leaning into the explosive growth of its cloud computing product, Azure. But that business has begun to soften as cloud customers look to reduce spending. |
| 微软以前曾借助云计算产品Azure的爆炸式增长摆脱电脑销售低迷的影响。但随着云计算客户寻求减少支出，这项业务已经开始疲软。 |
| Microsoft said on Tuesday that Azure sales increased 35 percent, a slowdown from earlier this year. Industry analysts expect Amazon, which reports earnings on Thursday, to also say that growth of its cloud computing business has slowed. |
| 微软周二表示，Azure的销售额增长了35%，较今年早些时候有所放缓。行业分析师预计，将于周四发布财报的亚马逊也会表示，其云计算业务的增长已经放缓。 |
| The industry’s slackening started with a downturn in online advertising sales. The cracks in that business began to form early this year when Apple introduced privacy changes that made it harder for Meta and Snap to target their digital advertising. On Wednesday, Meta warned that it didn’t see any relief on the horizon to the declining ad market. |
| 该行业的疲软始于网络广告销售的低迷。这项业务的问题在今年年初开始形成，当时苹果推出了隐私方面的改革，使Meta和Snap更难找准数字广告的目标。周三，Meta警告称，它没有看到广告市场下滑有任何缓解迹象。 |
| “We’ve still got a ways to go,” said Steve Milunovich, a longtime Wall Street analyst who now consults for technology companies. “This reset is overdue.” |
| “我们还有很长的路要走，”现为科技公司提供咨询服务的华尔街资深分析师史蒂夫·米卢诺维奇说。“这种重置早就应该开始了。” |
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