Highlights for this morning: Musk defends H-1B visas, BofA calls for crypto, Samsung showed TriFold

Elon Musk has spoken out against Donald Trump's tougher H-1B work visa rules and trade policies. Samsung unveiled its first multi-fold smartphone Galaxy Z TriFold, preparing for increased competition from Apple. On these and other topics - in our review of key events for the morning of December 2.

Elon Musk said in a podcast with Indian entrepreneur Nikhil Kamat that the U.S. benefits greatly from Indian talent, but acknowledged that the H-1B visa program, designed for highly skilled employees, is often used by companies to hire cheap labor, CNBC reported. Musk stressed that Tesla and his other companies hire foreigners because of staffing shortages, and shutting down the program would be a "very bad idea." Musk also criticized Trump's trade policy, noting that he tried to change the US president's mind but was unsuccessful. According to the businessman, the duties distort the market and contradict the logic of free trade.

Musk also predicted that within 20 years, work for people will become optional, and money as a concept will disappear, giving way to energy as a key value. He reminded that bitcoin is based on energy, which cannot be "printed.

Samsung has unveiled its first multi-fold smartphone, the Galaxy Z TriFold, which will go on sale on December 12 in South Korea and will later hit other markets including the U.S. in the first quarter of 2026. The device folds three times and costs 3.59 million won ($2449). The company is positioning the model as a limited edition pilot before competition intensifies - Apple is expected to enter the foldable smartphone segment in 2026, CNBC noted.

TriFold features three panels, supports three applications simultaneously, has the most powerful battery among Samsung's foldable models, and fast charges up to 50 percent in 30 minutes. According to Samsung, the new product will test the durability of the design and software, as well as collect user data before larger-scale commercialization.

Bank of America has for the first time officially recommended digital asset investments to its wealthy clients, suggesting that 1-4% of the portfolio be allocated to regulated bitcoin-ETFs, Yahoo Finance reports. Bank of America noted that the lower allocation limit is suitable for conservative investors, while the upper limit is suitable for those who are ready for volatility.

BofA's recommendations reflect a general pivot by major financial institutions toward cryptocurrencies, the publication notes. And despite the recent downturn - bitcoin rolled back from a record $126,000 to about $85,000 - Wall Street's interest is intensifying amid the Trump administration's favorable cryptocurrency policies.

Marvell Technology is in the final stages of talks to buy AI chip technology developer Celestial AI, The Information reports. The deal could exceed $5 billion. The official announcement could take place as early as Tuesday. Both companies declined to comment on this information to the publication.

The deal will strengthen Marvell's position in the competition with Broadcom and expand its portfolio amid unprecedented demand for computing power, the publication points out. Celestial AI, backed by a division of AMD and which has raised $515 million in investment, is developing photonic technologies to accelerate data exchange between AI chips and memory - a key area of focus amid growing demand for high-performance systems, The Information notes.

- Japan's broad Topix index rose by 0.13%. Benchmark Nikkei 225 - by 0.1%.

- Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was little changed, while mainland China's CSI 300 Index was down 0.63 percent.

- In South Korea, the Kospi index was up 1.65% and the Kosdaq was up 0.59%.

- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.17 percent.

- Futures on the Nasdaq 100, S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were little changed.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor