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☆ I danced with Project Astra, Google's experimental new AI agent. Here's what happened.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-14 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

After the keynote, journalists were herded over to a demo area for Project Astra. Before we went in, while waiting in line, two members of the Project Astra team from DeepMind walked us through how to use the technology. Google's Gemini model reviewed the phone's live video and said I was wearing casual clothes. He's been at DeepMind for about a decade and we discussed the origins on Project Astra. Beyond chatbotsThis is part of what inspired Project Astra, Wayne said.

Persons: —, We've, Demis Hassabis, DeepMind, Max Cherney, Max, Google's, Gemini, I'd, Gregory Wayne, Captain Cook, He's, he's, Cook, Wayne, SuperEvilMegaCorp Organizations: Service, Google, Project Astra, Business, Reuters, Astra, Tierra del Fuego Locations: Tierra del, Silicon

A smartphone with a displayed Intel logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. The source, who declined to be named because the information was confidential, said Intel had made that decision around July. Intel is also expanding its investment in chip packaging in Malaysia, one of Vietnam's main Southeast Asian rivals. "You cannot take for granted that because Intel has already invested here it will invest more," Chung Seck, partner at law firm Baker & McKenzie Vietnam told Reuters. Asked about the possible investment plan at the time, Intel told Reuters: "Vietnam is an important part of our global manufacturing network, but we have not announced any new investments."

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Joe Biden, Biden's, Tran Luu Quang, chipmakers, Chung Seck, Baker, McKenzie, Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio, Max Cherney, Khanh, Miyoung Kim Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Intel, U.S, Reuters, Vietnam's, White House, Marvell, McKenzie Vietnam, Thomson Locations: Rights HANOI, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, United States, U.S, Hanoi, Europe, Malaysia, San Francisco, Khanh Vu

Microsoft's chief financial officer Amy Hood said on a conference call with analysts that higher-than-expected AI consumption was responsible for a 3 percentage point boost to its cloud business. Alphabet has prioritized snaring AI startups as customers for its cloud division, while Microsoft has relied on its existing relationships to secure larger customers. Azure revenue rose 29%, higher than a 26.2% growth estimate from market research firm Visible Alpha. RBC Capital Markets has previously estimated that Microsoft will clock over $3 billion in revenue from generative AI offerings this fiscal year. Quite surprising to see strong growth reacceleration in the Azure Cloud segment, which is clearly driven by AI-as-a-service related demand," said Global X analyst Tejas Dessai.

Persons: Microsoft's, Bob O'Donnell, Bing, Bard, Amy Hood, Krishna Chintalapalli, capex, Akash Sriram, Anna Tong, Max Cherney, Yuvraj Malik, Greg Bensinger, Stephen Nellis, Sayantani Ghosh, Sonali Paul Organizations: Microsoft, Wall, Microsoft's, TECHnalysis, Parnassus Investments, DAZZLES, Alpha, RBC Capital Markets, Reuters Graphics Microsoft, Tejas Dessai, AWS, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru, Anna, San Francisco

The capability, which Intel showed off during a software developer conference held in Silicon Valley, could let businesses and consumers test ChatGPT-style technologies without sending sensitive data off their own computer. It is made possible by new AI data-crunching features built into Intel's forthcoming "Meteor Lake" laptop chip and from new software tools the company is releasing. Intel said on Tuesday that it was building a new supercomputer that would be used by Stability AI, a startup that makes image-generating software. China's Alibaba Group Holdings (9988.HK) is using its newest central processors to serve up chatbot technology, Intel said. If Intel Chief Gelsinger can make AI "so that anyone can use it, that creates a much bigger market for chips – the chips that he makes," Hutcheson said.

Persons: Arnd, Taylor Swift, Pat Gelsinger, Gelsinger, Sachin Katti, Dan Hutcheson, TechInsights, Hutcheson, Stephen Nellis, Max Cherney, Peter Henderson, Lincoln, Josie Kao Organizations: Intel Corporation, REUTERS, JOSE, Intel, ., Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Nvidia, Stability, Alibaba, Holdings, Meta, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Davos, Switzerland, California, Silicon Valley, HK, San Francisco, San Jose , California

Weak mobile demand during a global economic slowdown has caused Arm's revenue to stagnate. The future growth driver is to expand market share in the Windows PC market," said Ryuta Makino, a research analyst at Gabelli Funds. ARM China has a history of late payments and presents "significant risks" to Arm's business, the company's IPO filing said. Arm said in the filing that it was owed $386.9 million by Arm China as of the end of March. Arm's chief financial officer has told investors during the marketing of the IPO that the company was not concerned about being paid back.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Rene Haas, Ryuta Makino, Arm, Echo Wang, Svea, Bayliss, Max Cherney, Greg Roumeliotis, Richard Chang Organizations: REUTERS, Arm Holdings, stagnate, Vision Fund, Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp, Inc, Apple, Windows, Gabelli, Sales, ARM, Arm, Svea Herbst, Thomson Locations: China, United States, Arm China, ARM China, New York, San Francisco

The difficulty of this achievement also shows the resilience of the country’s chip technological ability," TechInsights analyst Dan Hutcheson said. EUV refers to extreme ultraviolet lithography and is used to make 7 nm or more advanced chips. LIMITED ACHIEVEMENTThe most advanced chip SMIC had previously been known for making was 14nm, as it was barred by Washington in late 2020 from obtaining an EUV machine from Dutch firm ASML (ASML.AS). But TechInsights last year said it believed SMIC had managed to produce 7 nm chips by tweaking simpler DUV machines it could still purchase freely from ASML. Jefferies analysts reckon Huawei is preparing to ship ten million units of the Mate 60 Pro, though it may struggle to support that quantity with China-made 7 nm chips.

Persons: Gina Raimondo's, chipmaker SMIC, Dan Hutcheson, EUV, Jefferies, TechInsights, SMIC, Tilly Zhang, Dragonomics, Zhang, Doug Fuller, David Kirton, Max Cherney, Brenda Goh, Miyoung Kim, Nick Zieminski Organizations: FRANCISCO, Huawei Technologies, U.S, Huawei, U.S . Commerce, Kirin, HK, U.S . Commerce Department's, of Industry, Security, China, U.S . Department of Commerce, China's State Council, Reuters, Copenhagen Business School, Thomson Locations: SHENZHEN, China, California, Washington, Ottawa, U.S, China's, Netherlands

☆ Has Huawei overcome U.S. sanctions by developing its own 5G chip?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A staff member introduces the new Huawei Mate 60 smartphone to customers at the Huawei flagship store in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China August 30, 2023. The U.S. and some European countries have called Huawei a security risk, which the company denies. IS THE MATE PRO 60 A 5G PHONE? Huawei has kept mum, only saying that the smartphone is the "most powerful Mate model ever". Several Huawei staff said the phone's launch had taken them by surprise, with its official release initially scheduled for Sept. 12.

Persons: David Kirton, Dan Hutcheson, Hutcheson, Gina Raimondo, Nicole Peng, Mo Yelin, Max Cherney, Robert Birsel Organizations: Huawei, REUTERS, Rights, Huawei Technologies, U.S, Apple, Samsung, Reuters, China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International, HK, Global Times, . Commerce, ., Thomson Locations: Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, Rights SHENZHEN, U.S, Kirin, SMIC, Weibo, Mo, Beijing, San Francisco

The U.S. Commerce Department, which normally administers new licensing requirements on exports, did not immediately return a request for comment. Last September AMD said it had received new license requirements that would halt exports of its MI250 artificial-intelligence chips to China. Nvidia, AMD and Intel (INTC.O) have since then all disclosed plans to create less powerful AI chips that can be exported to the Chinese market. Nvidia this week did not specify which countries in the Middle East were affected. About 13.9% of sales came from all other countries combined, and Nvidia does not provide a revenue breakout from the Middle East.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Biden, Jasper Ward, Ismail Shakil, Stephen Nellis, Max Cherney, Abinaya, Chris Sanders, Nick Zieminski, Matthew Lewis, Lincoln Organizations: NVIDIA, REUTERS, Nvidia, Devices, AMD, U.S, U.S . Commerce Department, Intel, USG, ., Thomson Locations: U.S, China, United States, Taiwan, Japan, Netherlands, Washington, Ottawa, San Francisco, Bengaluru

The logo of Nvidia Corporation is seen during the annual Computex computer exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan May 30, 2017. Nvidia's stock price, though, has more than tripled this year and was set to hit an all-time high after Wednesday's results. The company has a near-monopoly on the computing systems used to power services like ChatGPT, OpenAI's blockbuster generative AI chatbot. Huang declined to comment on whether the AI boom will last past next year. The company said the biggest sales driver this quarter was its HGX system, which is an entire computer built around Nvidia's chip.

Persons: Tyrone Siu, Huang, Jensen Huang, quashing, Kinngai Chan, Chan, Dylan Patel, SemiAnalysis, Patel, We're, Stephen Nellis, Max Cherney, Chavi Mehta, Sonali Paul Organizations: Nvidia Corporation, REUTERS, Nvidia, Reuters, Microsoft, Summit, Thomson Locations: Taipei, Taiwan, OpenAI, San Francisco

Arm is hoping for a valuation of up to $70 billion in the IPO, which will launch on the Nasdaq next month. Arm and its owner SoftBank Group (9984.T) have set aside 10% of the shares to be sold in the IPO for its clients, the sources said. Its close relationship with Arm has helped it design chips that curbed its reliance on Intel as a supplier. Many technology companies that seek to make their own chips using Arm's designs turn to TSMC for its low-cost manufacturing. None of these companies' investments in Arm's IPO are certain.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Jack Gold, SoftBank, Apple spokespeople, Jay Lee, Masayoshi Son, Son, TSMC, Dylan Patel, Milana Vinn, Stephen Nellis, Max Cherney, Greg Roumeliotis, Matthew Lewis Organizations: REUTERS, FRANCISCO, Arm Holdings, Apple, Intel, Nvidia, Microsoft, Samsung Electronics, Reuters, Nasdaq, Gold Associates, SoftBank, Devices Inc, APPLE, SAMSUNG, Samsung, MICROSOFT, Devices, Vision Fund, Thomson Locations: Switzerland, Japan, New York, San Francisco

Arm's stock market launch is expected to bring back to life a lackluster IPO market, which has over the last year seen several high-profile startups postpone their listing plans due to market volatility. Arm said that more than 50% of its royalty revenue for the most recent fiscal year came from smartphones and consumer electronics. The company, whose chip technology powers most smartphones including iPhones, did not reveal the number of shares it is planning to sell and the valuation it will seek. Arm makes money from upfront licensing fees for technology and then a royalty paid on each chip sold by Arm's customers. Arm's chip designs dominate the smartphone industry, but they are also used in laptops made by Apple (AAPL.O) and some Windows machines.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, SoftBank, Arm, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Manya Saini, Jaiveer, Stephen Nellis, Max Cherney, Echo Wang, Anirban Sen, Stephen Coates Organizations: REUTERS, Arm Holdings, Research, Reuters, Vision Fund, SECOND, Acorn Computers, Apple Inc, Apple Computer, VLSI Technology, London Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, Nvidia Corp, Apple, Nvidia, U.S, Barclays Plc, JPMorgan, Mizuho Financial Group, underwriters, Thomson Locations: U.S, Saudi, China, Arm China, Bengaluru, San Francisco, New York

Tower Semiconductor is seen on smartphone in front of displayed Intel logo in this illustration taken, February 15, 2022. Last year, DuPont De Nemours Inc (DD.N) scrapped its $5.2 billion deal to buy electronics materials maker Rogers Corp (ROG.N) after delays in securing approval from Chinese regulators. But Gelsinger also said Intel was investing in its foundry business, which makes chips for other companies, irrespective of the Tower deal. Investors had given up hope on the Tower deal as a result. It has committed to trimming $3 billion in costs this year, with an aim of saving between $8 billion and $10 billion by the end of 2025.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Pat Gelsinger, Gelsinger, Benjamin Netanyahu, Anirban Sen, Max Cherney, Jamie Freed Organizations: Semiconductor, REUTERS, Intel Corp, chipmaker, Intel, State Administration, Market, DuPont De Nemours Inc, Rogers Corp, Investors, Nasdaq, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Thomson Locations: China, United States, Taiwan, Israel, New York, San Francisco

The order is aimed at preventing American capital and expertise from helping China develop technologies that could support its military modernization and undermine U.S. national security. China said on Thursday it is "gravely concerned" about the order and that it reserves the right to take measures. The White House said Biden consulted allies on the plan and incorporated feedback from Group of Seven nations. "Today the United States is taking a strategic first step to ensure American investment does not go to fund Chinese military advancement." Last year, total U.S.-based venture-capital investment in China plummeted to $9.7 billion from $32.9 billion in 2021, according to PitchBook data.

Persons: Joe Biden, Elizabeth Frantz, Biden's, Biden, Chuck Schumer, Marco Rubio, Emily Benson, David Shepardson, Andrea Shalal, Stephen Nellis, Max Cherney, Krystal Hu, Karen Freifeld, Idrees Ali, Liz Lee, Lincoln, Jonathan Oatis, Cynthia Osterman, Michael Perry Organizations: White, REUTERS, Wednesday, U.S, Treasury, Biden, Chinese Commerce Ministry, Seven, Democratic, Republicans, REPUBLICAN, The Semiconductor Industry Association, Center for Strategic, International Studies, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S, WASHINGTON, China, U.S, Japan, Netherlands, United States, Washington, Beijing

The order is aimed at preventing American capital and expertise from helping China develop technologies that could support its military modernization and undermine U.S. national security. The White House said Biden consulted allies on the plan and incorporated feedback from Group of Seven nations. "Today the United States is taking a strategic first step to ensure American investment does not go to fund Chinese military advancement." Last year, total U.S.-based venture-capital investment in China plummeted to $9.7 billion from $32.9 billion in 2021, according to PitchBook data. The restrictions will hurt both Chinese and American businesses, interfere with normal cooperation and reduce investor confidence in the U.S., he said.

Persons: Joe Biden, Elizabeth Frantz, Biden, Chuck Schumer, Marco Rubio, Emily Benson, David Shepardson, Andrea Shalal, Stephen Nellis, Max Cherney, Krystal Hu, Karen Freifeld, Idrees Ali, Lincoln, Jonathan Oatis, Cynthia Osterman Organizations: White, REUTERS, Wednesday, U.S, Treasury, Biden, Seven, Democratic, Republicans, REPUBLICAN, The Semiconductor Industry Association, Center for Strategic, International Studies, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S, WASHINGTON, China, U.S, Japan, Netherlands, United States, Washington

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationAug 2 (Reuters) - Qualcomm (QCOM.O) forecast fourth-quarter sales below market expectations on Wednesday and said it would likely cut jobs as consumer spending on gadgets like smartphones remained stubbornly weak amid slowing global economic growth. The company estimated fourth-quarter revenue of $8.1 billion to $8.9 billion, while analysts polled by Refinitiv expected $8.70 billion. Qualcomm forecast a fourth-quarter adjusted earnings range with a midpoint of $1.90, in line with analysts' consensus estimate of $1.91 per share according to Refinitiv data. It forecast adjusted fourth-quarter earnings per share of $1.80 and $2, compared to estimates of $1.91. The automotive sector was a bright spot as Qualcomm seeks to diversify beyond smartphone chips.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Akash Palkhiwala, Palkhiwala, Refinitiv, Cristiano Amon, MediaTek, Apple, Bob Bruggeworth, NXP, Amon, Kinngai Chan, Chavi Mehta, Cherney, Stephen Nellis, Arun Koyyur, Richard Chang Organizations: Qualcomm, REUTERS, Huawei, Philadelphia, Semiconductor, SOX, Apple, Summit, U.S, Thomson Locations: San Diego , California, China, U.S, Bengaluru, San Francisco

July 25 (Reuters) - Artificial intelligence is expected to pay off big for tech giants including Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Alphabet (GOOGL.O) someday. Microsoft is bearing AI costs in two ways, analysts said: to power its own products such as its forthcoming $30-a-month Copilot AI assistant, and to serve companies wanting to use its Azure cloud computing services to create AI products. "They're buying a bunch of H100s," said Ben Bajarin, chief executive and principal analyst of Creative Strategies, referring to Nvidia's flagship chips for AI. Microsoft may be "aggressively buying Nvidia chips, given Microsoft does not have its own silicon as an alternative," said Atlantic Equities analyst James Cordwell. "The message on inflection point was the same," from Microsoft and Google, said Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, "but the difference was Microsoft investors wanted to see more."

Persons: Ben Bajarin, Ruth Porat, Scott Kessler, James Cordwell, Porat, Gene Munster, Stephen Nellis, Akash Sriram, Anna Tong, Max Cherney, Yuvraj Malik, Greg Bensinger, Sayantani Ghosh, Richard Chang Organizations: Microsoft, Nvidia Corp, Creative, Google, Deepwater Asset Management, Thomson Locations: Atlantic, San Francisco, Bengaluru, New York

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