Day: 15 September 2023

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Gatwick cancels flights due to air traffic control staff shortages

'Suckers!'

Flights at Gatwick Airport were cancelled, delayed or diverted at short notice on Thursday 14th September 2023 due to a shortage of air traffic controllers.

Gatwick confirmed some cancellations, while the website FlightRadar24 said hundreds of flights in and out of the airport were delayed.

The National Air Traffic Services (Nats) apologised for its staffing shortages.

Gatwick Airport said it expected a normal service on Friday, 15th September 2023.

The disruption comes just over two weeks after a technical issue at Nats that led to 2,000 flights being cancelled across the UK.

EasyJet expressed frustration at Thursday’s delays and cancellations, while Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary called on Nats’ boss to resign.

Mr O’Leary reportedly said: ‘It is unacceptable that more flights and hundreds of passengers are suffering delays to/from Gatwick Airport due to Nats CEO, Martin Rolfe’s blatant failure to adequately staff UK ATC’.

‘Airlines are paying millions of pounds to Nats each and every year and should not have to see their passengers suffer avoidable delays due to UK ATC staff shortages’.

Update

Gatwick Airport said it was ‘operating as normal’ on Friday after a shortage of air traffic controllers caused disruption to flights overnight on Thursday, 14th September 2023.

'Suckers!'
‘Frequent flyers… suckers!’
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AI pumped technology can surpass human intelligence ‘big time’ – according to SoftBank’s CEO

Arm AI chip

Masayoshi Son says AI to surpass human intelligence and that SoftBank will ‘rule the world’. Oh dear…!

Main points in brief

  • Masayoshi Son reportedly said AI is capable of helping solve the world’s biggest problems and could potentially surpass the intelligence of humans.
  • He said he was a ‘big believer’ in AI and that Arm, a chip design company owned by Softbank, was a ‘core’ beneficiary of the AI revolution.
  • He said AI would supercharge human ability and that Softbank would ‘rule the world’ and win the latest generative-AI race thanks to its heavy investment in startups and its majority stake in Arm.
  • He also acknowledged that AI posed some threats to humanity if mishandled and that society should regulate it to protect humankind.

Masayoshi Son and SoftBank

The 66-year-old founded SoftBank, which still controls about 90% of Arm Holdings after the IPO, back in 1981 after graduating from the University of California, Berkeley. Forbes estimates his net worth at more than $24 billion, making him the world’s 69th richest person.

Son made his early reputation as an investor in Japan’s mobile phone industry, and went on to become one of the first backers of Yahoo as well as Alibaba. Son continues to serve as the chairman of Arm’s board of directors.

AI does pose some threats to humanity if mishandled, Son said, likening its potential misuse to the dangers of speeding, or drinking alcohol while driving a car. But, more positively, AI can also help solve key world problems like diseases or help mitigate or recover from natural disasters, he reportedly said.

‘AI, society should regulate to protect humankind’, Son said. ‘However, it has more merit than the demerits. So, I think I’m a believer. I’m optimistic that AI is going to solve the issues that mankind couldn’t solve in the past‘.

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EU interest rates up again to 4%

Eurozone interest rates

Eurozone interest rates have been hiked again to a record high by the European Central Bank (ECB).

The bank raised its key rate for the 10th time in a row, to 4% from 3.75%, as it warned inflation was expected to remain too high for too long.

The latest increase came after forecasts predicted inflation, which is the rate prices rise at, would be 5.6% on average in 2023. However, the ECB signalled that this latest hike could be the last for now.

‘The council considers that the key ECB interest rates have reached levels that, maintained for a sufficiently long duration, will make a substantial contribution to the timely return of inflation to the target’, the bank reportedly said. The central bank originally expected inflation to be ‘transitory’.

It added that it expected inflation in the 20-nation bloc to fall to around 2.9% next year and 2.2% in 2025.

As in other parts of the world, the eurozone has been hit by rising food and energy prices that have squeezed household budgets and from the Russia/Ukraine war. Central banks have been increasing interest rates in an attempt to tame inflation and slow rising prices.

More expensive to borrow

The theory behind increasing rates is that by making it more expensive for people to borrow money, the ‘consumer’ will then have less excess cash to spend, meaning households will buy fewer things and then price rises will ease. But it is a balancing act as raising rates too aggressively could cause a recession.

Interest rates in the UK are currently higher than in the eurozone at 5.25%, but UK inflation is also higher at 6.8%, and the Bank of England is expected to raise rates again next week.

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NASA ‘UFO’ or Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) report

UFO

Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP)

NASA has recently released a report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), which is another term for UFOs. The report is based on a yearlong study of hundreds of UAP sightings by scientists and data experts. 

In brief

NASA found no evidence that aliens are behind the UAPs, but it also could not rule out the possibility. The report said that some of the objects must have travelled through our solar system to get here.

NASA said that the study of UAPs will require new scientific techniques, including advanced satellites and artificial intelligence. The agency also announced a new director of UAP research to establish a robust database and analysis process.

NASA said that UAPs are important for national security and air safety, as some of them pose potential threats to aircraft and military operations. The agency also said that it will share data and findings with more transparency and collaboration.

NASA said that many UAP sightings can be explained by natural phenomena, human-made objects, or sensor errors, but some remain unexplained and anomalous. The report estimated that only about 2% to 5% of the total database are thought to be truly anomalous.

‘Take me to your leader…’

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Arm juggernaut of an IPO

Arm Holdings

Ultra successful IPO for arm

Investors gobbled up UK microchip designer Arm Holdings at its U.S. debut on the Nasdaq on 14th September 2023, sending its market value soaring to $60 billion (£48.3 billion).

The shares ended the day worth more than $63 each, after climbing by almost 25% from the high end start of $51 per share set by Arm.

The sale was the biggest initial public offering of the year, raising $4.87 billion for owner Softbank Group.

Despite some concerns surrounding the company’s exposure to risks in China and a potential AI slowdown – the shares soared.

British tech

A star of the British technology industry, Arm designs microchips for devices including smartphones and game consoles. It estimates that some 70% of the world’s population uses products that rely on its chips, including nearly all of the world’s smartphones. And with AI nestling in on the horizon, the future potential for Arm is massive.

Arm stock chart 14th September 2023

Arm said it expects the total market for its chip designs to be worth about $250 billion by 2025, including new growth areas such as data centres and cars.

Legacy

Many of Arm’s royalties come from products released decades ago. About half of the company’s royalty revenue of $1.68 billion in 2022, came from products released between 1990 and 2012.

Bright Future

The future looks bright for Arm but the company is trading at more than 25 times its most recent full year of revenue, and at more than 100 times profit.

And that could be where things get tricky for Arm in the not too distant future. Projections for future profits will be interesting, esecially if it’s to keep up with Nvidia for instance.