Observe. Think. Chat. Do. Trade. Repeat…
Zeekr, supported by Geely, experienced a rise in deliveries to 18,015 for August, although this was a decrease from the 20206 deliveries reported in June 2024.
Li Auto, renowned for its range-extender vehicles, saw a decrease in deliveries to 48,122 in August, a drop from the July record of 51,000.
Black Myth: Wukong, an action-adventure game rooted in Chinese mythology, surpassed 10 million units sold just three days following its release on 20th August 2024. A week and a half later, it continued to hold the second spot in revenue rankings in the U.S., and remained the top-selling game worldwide, according to the Steam video game platform where it sells for around $60.
Hero Games co-published the game and was an early investor in its developer Game Science.
The game Black Myth: Wukong is an action RPG rooted in Chinese mythology. The story is based on Journey to the West, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. You shall set out as the Destined One to venture into the challenges and marvels ahead, to uncover the obscured truth beneath the veil of a glorious legend from the past.
This agreement reportedly grants the institute access to significant new AI models from each company before and after their public release.
Recently, several AI developers and researchers have voiced concerns regarding safety and ethics within the growing profit-driven AI industry.
The shares of the conglomerate, headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, have surged over 28% in 2024, outperforming the S&P 500’s 18% increase. This major achievement came just two days before Buffett, often referred to as the ‘Oracle of Omaha,’ was due to celebrate his 94th birthday.
On Wednesday, the company’s shares rose by 0.8% to $696,502.02, surpassing the $1 trillion mark, as reported. The shares soared even further in the subsequent trading session.
The milestone serves as a testament to the firm’s financial robustness and the value of its franchise. It is particularly noteworthy given that Berkshire stands as one of the few remaining conglomerates today.
Buffett, serving as chairman and CEO, assumed command of Berkshire, a floundering textile enterprise, in the 1960s. He revolutionised the firm into a vast conglomerate covering insurance, railroads, retail, manufacturing, and energy sectors, boasting an unparalleled balance sheet and a formidable cash reserve.
Unlike the six other companies in the trillion-dollar club (Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Meta), Berkshire is known for its old-economy focus as the owner of: BNSF Railway, Geico Insurance and Dairy Queen. (Although its sizable Apple position has helped drive recent gains.)
As the artificial intelligence boom continues, Nvidia remains a major beneficiary. Despite a stock price dip, after trading hours, the stock has risen approximately 150% this year. The question remains whether Nvidia can sustain this growth trajectory.
Nvidia said it expects about $32.5 billion in current-quarter revenue, versus $31.7 billion expected by analysts, according to analysis That would be an increase of 80% from a year earlier.
Revenue continues to surge, rising 122% on an annual basis during the quarter, following three straight periods of year-on-year growth in excess of 200%.
Nvidia’s data centre business, which encompasses its AI processors, saw a 154% increase in revenue from the previous year, reaching $26.3 billion and representing 88% of the company’s total sales.
However, not all these sales were from AI chips. Nvidia reported that its networking products contributed $3.7 billion in revenue.
The company primarily serves a select group of cloud service providers and consumer internet firms, including Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, and Tesla. Nvidia’s chips, notably the H100 and H200, are integral to the majority of generative AI applications, like OpenAI‘s ChatGPT.
Nvidia also announced a $50 billion stock buyback.
Nvidia shares dropped close to 5% in after-hours pre-market trade (29th August 2024).
Sustainable Metal Cloud has announced that its immersion cooling technology is 28% less expensive to install compared to other liquid-based cooling methods and can cut energy use by up to 50%.
The surge in artificial intelligence has increased the need for more robust processors and the energy to cool data centres.
This presents an opportunity for Sustainable Metal Cloud, which runs ‘sustainable AI factories’ consisting of HyperCubes located in Singapore and Australia.
These HyperCubes house servers equipped with Nvidia processors immersed in a synthetic oil known as polyalphaolefin, which is more effective at dissipating heat than air. The company claims this technology can reduce energy consumption by as much as 50% when compared to the conventional air-cooling systems found in most data centres.
Additionally, the Singapore-based company states that its immersion cooling technology is more cost-effective to install by 28% than other liquid cooling options. The HyperCubes are modular and can be integrated into any data centre, utilising spaces that are currently unoccupied within existing facilities.
Benefiting significantly from the artificial intelligence surge, Nvidia’s market cap has increased approximately ninefold since late 2022 – a massive market cap gain.
However, after achieving a peak in June 2024 and momentarily claiming the title of the world’s most valuable public company, Nvidia then experienced close to a 30% decline in value over the subsequent seven weeks, resulting in an approximate $800 billion loss in market capitalisation.
Currently, the stock is experiencing a rally, bringing it within approximately 6% of its all-time peak. The chipmaker surpassed the $3 trillion market cap milestone in early June 2024, aligning with Microsoft and Apple. The question remains whether the company can reclaim and sustain that title.
Investors are closely monitoring Nvidia’s forecast for the October quarter, with the company anticipated to report a growth of approximately 75%. Positive guidance would imply that Nvidia’s affluent clients continue to invest heavily in AI development, whereas a lacklustre forecast might suggest that infrastructure investment is becoming excessive.
Should there be any signs of diminishing demand for AI or if a major cloud customer is reducing spending, it could lead to a notable decline in revenue.
Recall captures screenshots of on-screen activity, enabling users to search for previously seen information. Security experts raised immediate concerns about the potential risks of Windows capturing images automatically without user consent. In response, researchers developed open-source software demonstrating how attackers could easily access personal information.
Microsoft addressed these concerns in June 2024, stating that Recall would be disabled by default and promising security improvements for the feature.
While Microsoft has not provided a specific timeline for a wider release, it has introduced a new category of Windows PCs, termed Copilot+ PCs, which meet the system requirements for Recall. These PCs, produced by various manufacturers, are designed to handle AI workloads, and Microsoft has demonstrated Recall operating on these devices.
*Manufacturers are eager to demonstrate that AI models can run on local PCs, offering an alternative to cloud-based servers from companies like OpenAI. Following this trend, Apple has launched MacBooks capable of running AI models, and Microsoft’s latest Surface Pro is also a Copilot+ PC with local AI capabilities.
The timing of Recall’s broader release could be pivotal, as consumer interest in new computers may spike during the holiday season if Microsoft extends Recall to all compatible devices by that time.
*Is this a move away from AI cloud-based operations to some extent? AI tasks can easily be run in the cloud – why do we need an AI enabled device?
The agreement represents the most recent in a series of deals made by OpenAI with prominent media companies.
The material generated by media organizations is coveted by tech companies for training their AI (Artificial Intelligence) models.
Several media companies, such as the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune, have opposed this practice and have pursued legal measures to safeguard their content.
The financial details of the contract between OpenAI and Condé Nast were not revealed.
Gaming console sales have not met expectations. For example, sales of Sony’s PlayStation 5 have decreased from 3.3 million units in the same period last year to 2.4 million units in the fiscal first quarter of 2024.
The gaming industry experienced a substantial increase during the COVID-19 pandemic due to people staying indoors more often. Yet, with the easing of restrictions, there has been a noticeable change in consumer habits, with a trend towards increased outdoor activities.
Increased interest rates and inflation have diminished discretionary income, leading to a decrease in consumer spending on games.
The industry has faced mass layoffs and other operational challenges, which have impacted growth.
Despite these challenges, there are optimistic projections for 2025 with anticipated major releases like the eagerly awaited successor to Nintendo’s Switch console and Grand Theft Auto (GTA) VI.
Predictions for 2025 suggest that the new Nintendo console and GTA VI will make a significant impact, potentially revitalizing the industry.
The U.S. and China account for around half of consumer spending on games.
The gaming industry as a whole is currently estimated to be worth around $188 billion globally and this is projected to grow in 2025.
Intel is undergoing significant restructuring and cost-cutting to address competitive challenges in the semiconductor industry.
The recent transaction, disclosed on Tuesday 13th August 2024, is believed to have earned Intel approximately $147 million, based on Arm’s average share price between April and June 2024.
This move away from Arm occurs during a challenging financial phase for Intel, as it embarks on what CEO Pat Gelsinger reportedly describes as “the most extensive restructuring of Intel since the memory microprocessor transition four decades ago.”
In early August, Intel announced a cost-reduction plan designed to save $10 billion. This includes the layoff of about 15,000 employees, the elimination of the fiscal fourth-quarter dividend, and a reduction in capital expenditures.
At the same time, Intel disclosed quarterly figures that fell short of expectations and provided conservative guidance for the upcoming quarter.
This announcement precipitated the steepest single-day decline in Intel’s stock value in half a century, plummeting 26%.
(Data as per the China Passenger Car Association’s July 2024).
New energy vehicles, comprising solely battery-operated and hybrid-powered cars, represented 51% of China’s new passenger car sales as registered in July 2024 as reported by China Passenger Car Association.
This marks an increase from a 36% market share the same time in 2023, and a rebound from just under one-third in January 2024.
The accuracy of the association’s data has previously faced scrutiny. July’s report revealed that battery-only vehicles had higher sales than hybrids, achieving a 28% market share.
But sales and delivery reports from companies like BYD suggest a growing consumer preference for hybrid vehicles in China which sits in line with the China Passenger Car Association data.
As the largest global automobile market, China has experienced a slowdown in overall economic growth, leading to strong competition and a price war within the new energy vehicle sector.
For over ten years, the Chinese government has ‘supported’ the local new energy vehicle industry with subsidies and beneficial policies. The most recent trade-in initiative aimed at stimulating consumption has particularly encouraged the purchase of new energy vehicles.
The constellation, named “Thousand Sails,” comprises over 15,000 satellites in low-Earth orbit that are anticipated to provide worldwide internet coverage.
China plans to have 648 satellites in orbit by 2025 as part of the first phase of the constellation’s deployment, aiming to establish a global internet network, as reported by state media CCTV.
The satellite system will be in direct competition with Elon Musk’s Starlink.
A U.S. judge has ruled that Google illegally maintained a monopoly in online searches and related advertising. The lawsuit, brought by the Department of Justice, charged Google with controlling around 90% of the online search market.
It was reportedly noted by the judge that Google’s billions of dollars in investments to become the default search engine on smartphones and browsers could be anticompetitive.
The decision, issued on Monday 5th August 2024, could potentially change how tech giants operate.
It was reported that in his extensive 277-page decision, Judge Mehta remarked, “Google has acted as a monopolist and engaged in anticompetitive practices to maintain its monopoly.”
This represents a significant victory for federal antitrust enforcers who have pursued similar cases against other leading technology companies for illegal monopolistic behaviours.
Companies like Meta Platforms, which operate Facebook and WhatsApp, as well as companies like Amazon and Apple., have also faced lawsuits from federal regulators.
The judgment comes after a 10-week trial where it was argued that Google’s substantial payments to remain the primary search engine have impeded the competition’s ability to challenge effectively.
This is a seismic shift in the way search engines and advertising may operate in the future. Already with the advent of AI, search engines look and feel different.
Recently, OpenAI launched ‘SearchGPT’ – and Microsoft have named it a competitor in the world of search engines.
Times are changing.
The new Labour government has withdrawn £1.3bn in funding previously pledged by the Conservatives for technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) initiatives.
This includes £800m allocated for the development of an exascale supercomputer at Edinburgh University and an additional £500m for the AI Research Resource, which provides computing power for AI. These funds were announced less than a year ago.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) stated that although the funds were promised by the former administration, they were not included in its budget. The decision has faced criticism from some within the industry.
Another blow for the UK’s homegrown tech sector.
Both Bitcoin and Ether underwent substantial declines as investors moved away from high-risk assets. This downturn followed the Nasdaq’s worst three-week performance in two years and occurred as the Nikkei 225 reached a low not observed since the Black Monday crash of 1987.
This development follows OpenAI’s announcement of a search engine prototype.
As OpenAI’s exclusive cloud provider, Microsoft leverages OpenAI’s AI models for products aimed at commercial clients and consumers. Microsoft, OpenAI’s largest investor, has reportedly invested some $13 billion in the firm.
Microsoft’s filing lists OpenAI, the entity behind the ChatGPT chatbot, as a competitor in AI solutions, as well as in the realms of search and news advertising. OpenAI recently unveiled a search engine prototype named SearchGPT.
However, recent developments suggest a shift, with both companies encroaching on each other’s domains.
While some opt to directly pay OpenAI for model access, others utilise Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service. Additionally, Microsoft offers the Copilot chatbot as an alternative to ChatGPT, accessible via the Bing search engine and Windows operating systems.
Shares in the Dutch company ASML soared by around 10% on Wednesday 31st July 2024 following a Reuters report indicating that the firm might be exempt from the broadened export restrictions on chipmaking equipment to China.
Additionally, it was also reported that the U.S. is contemplating an expansion of the foreign direct product rule.
U.S. chip export restrictions to China could exclude allies such as the Netherlands, Japan, South Korea, Israel, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. Taiwan is the home of TSMC, the world’s biggest chip manufacturing plant.
Shares of global semiconductor companies surged on Wednesday 31st July 2024, lifted by positive earnings within the sector and reports suggesting potential easing of U.S. export restrictions to China.
AMD emerged as one of the standout performers, with its shares climbing over 9% in U.S. premarket trading following a robust second-quarter earnings report.
In extended trading on 30th July 2024, the stock experienced a quick decline as attention was drawn to the less-than-expected Azure revenue, despite management’s forecast for growth in the upcoming quarters.
The company’s total revenue saw a 15% increase compared to the previous year.
Despite surpassing earnings and revenue expectations, Microsoft’s shares dropped by up to 7% in extended trading on Tuesday, with investors concentrating on the underwhelming cloud revenue. However, executives offered a positive outlook, anticipating an acceleration in cloud growth during the first half of 2025.
Microsoft’s cloud division holds significant interest for investors, as it competes with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google in the artificial intelligence (AI) work arena. These three tech giants are pouring substantial resources into enhancing AI capabilities, aiming to attract both startups and established companies as generative AI technology swiftly progresses.
For Amazon, AWS has served as a vital profit centre for the past ten years.
Apple is no longer among the top five smartphone vendors in China as local brands take over the market.
Apple’s market share in China has declined, falling to 14% in the second quarter from 15% in the first quarter and 16% 2023.
For the first time in history, domestic vendors have taken over all top five positions in China.
According to reports, incorporating Apple’s Intelligence systems in its products in mainland China will be crucial over the next 12 months, as Chinese brands are rapidly integrating generative AI into their designs.
This is not good news for Apple. The company is facing challenges, notably lagging behind in the AI innovation race, and compounded by a rapidly falling share of the mobile market in China.
The company has announced plans to eventually incorporate the tool, presently in testing with a select user group, into its ChatGPT chatbot.
The introduction of ChatGPT could have significant implications for Google’s search engine dominance. Since ChatGPT’s debut in November 2022, there has been growing concern among Alphabet’s investors that OpenAI may capture a portion of Google’s market share by offering consumers innovative methods to obtain information on the internet.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT was incorporated into Microsoft’s search engine Bing as Copilot and the companies have kept market dominance with this shrewd AI move. Google, on the other hand, has struggled to keep up in the AI race and may now be suffering the effects.
This announcement could have implications for Microsoft’s Copilot as well.
The company saw a 7% year-on-year decrease in automotive revenue for the June 2024 quarter, down to $19.9 billion, and a decline in its ‘adjusted’ earnings margin.
Investors are divided on Tesla’s stock, with some concerned that the core car business is struggling, while others remain optimistic about Musk’s vision for autonomous driving.
Tesla continues to lead in U.S. electric vehicle sales, yet it’s facing declining market share as competitors emerge, partly due to its older range on offer and Elon Musk’s occasional controversial public statements.
Attention has shifted to other aspects of Tesla’s narrative, such as the anticipated introduction of a new mass-market vehicle to refresh its vehicle lineup. Musk reportedly re-affirmed that Tesla plans to launch an ‘affordable’ car in the upcoming year.
The earnings also highlighted his robotaxi vision. Musk shared his ‘expectation’ of a future where Tesla owners could allow their vehicles to operate in an Uber-like ride-hailing environment, with the cars driving autonomously.
And then we have the prospect for the greatly hyped arrival of Tesla’s humanoid robot due in 2025.
As we all know – Musk does much more than EVs.
In a social media update, Elon Musk stated that Tesla will initially employ the robots, with plans to commence production for sale by 2026.
He had earlier anticipated that the robot, named Optimus, would be operational in Tesla factories by this year’s end. Additionally, companies such as Honda Rototics and Boston Dynamics are also advancing their humanoid robot technologies.
“Tesla will have genuinely useful humanoid robots in low production for Tesla internal use next year and, hopefully, high production for other companies in 2026,” Mr Musk posted on his social media platform X.
The deal would have nearly doubled the $12 billion valuation of the startup from its most recent round of funding.
CEO of WIZ Assaf Rappaport told employees the company would pursue an IPO as originally planned.
Wiz was founded in 2020 and has grown rapidly. The company had been targeting an IPO as recently as May 2024. The business hit $100 million in annual recurring revenue after 18 months and reached $350 million last year.
Wiz’s cloud security products offer prevention, active detection and response, a portfolio that’s appealed to large firms and would have helped Google compete with Microsoft, which also sells security software.
One to watch for a potential future IPO.
Early Friday, the company released a flawed update to its Falcon vulnerability-protection software, leading to crashes in PC’s, data centre servers, and networked display screens.
This caused flights to be grounded and medical appointments to be cancelled among numerous other ‘knock-on’ problems world-wide. Microsoft reported that the incident affected 8.5 million Windows devices, which is less than 1% of the global total.
IT staff swiftly acted to repair computers. At the same time, hackers attempted to exploit the turmoil by creating malicious websites that seemed to provide software updates.
See CrowdStrike website for more details about this issue.
Chief security officer Shawn Henry said the incident had been a “gut punch” for the firm, which had previously been one of the most trusted names in the industry.
“We let down the very people we committed to protect, and to say we’re devastated is a huge understatement,“ he reportedly said.
Mr Henry, a former FBI executive assistant director, reportedly said the weekend had been “the most challenging 48 hours” of his 12 years at the company. He promised it would use the incident as an opportunity to “emerge better and stronger than ever”.
“The confidence we built in drips over the years was lost in buckets within hours, and it was a gut punch,” he said in a LinkedIn post, on Monday 22nd July 2024.
“But this pales in comparison to the pain we’ve caused our customers and our partners.”
It has been widely reported that an ‘update‘ by ‘cybersecurity‘ firm CrowdStrike led to a major IT outage on Friday 19th July 2024, impacting businesses around the world. Microsoft systems have been badly affected.
“The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed,” CEO George Kurtz said in a statement on X. But not before untold havoc was caused across the globe.
The comments came after widespread reports of technical issues, with many Microsoft users around the world facing an error screen known as the ‘blue screen of death.’
Elon Musk on X called it the ‘Biggest IT fail ever’.
Reports flooded in all day from around the world of systems and businesses impacted by the issue.
Without going into individual failings, here are some of the areas impacted by this problem.
NHS and GP practices in the UK, airport delays, flight cancellations, SKY TV off air, Microsoft system failures, VISA issues, Sainsbury’s and Morrissons supermarket card payments down, banks hit, Lloyds, Tesco, airlines in U.S., Germany, Canada, Italy, India and around the globe. UK Rail payment systems down and trains cancelled, New York Metro train issues, schools, betting firms hit, finance, pharmacies, payrolls and even the Paris Olympic system too.
I think you get the picture. This is by no means an exhaustive list – but it aptly demonstrates the severity of this failed system update and how interconnected our world has become.
Here’s the full statement from George Kurtz, the CEO of Crowdstrike
“Crowdstrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts.
“Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack.
“The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.
“We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website.
“We further recommend organisations ensure they’re communicating with Crowdstrike representatives through official channels.
“Our team is fully mobilised to ensure the security and stability of Crowdstrike customers.”
CrowdStrike is a cybersecurity firm established in 2011, dedicated to protecting major corporations and their hardware from cyber threats and vulnerabilities.
The company specializes in endpoint security, striving to block malicious software and files from compromising corporate networks via connecting devices like phones and laptops.
Additionally, CrowdStrike focuses on securing the data of businesses that have transitioned from hosting it on-premises to utilizing cloud-based services.
As our world becomes over interconnected and closely Intergrated, should we be concerned about a handful of powerful companies dictating the tech world we live in?
I believe we should be concerned. This was just a routine upgrade and the company let us down.
I used to run my own IT business and upgrades and system improvements were a big part of my then tech life, so I have a pretty good understanding of these issues, especially performing a system upgrade.
Preparation is key. Sometimes things go wrong – the unforeseen. But you must quickly overcome the problem with a ‘backup’ contingency plan.
Others are depending on YOU!
My mantra then and it is still the same now: BACKUP! BACKUP! BACKUP!
You have to get these this right – but CrowdStrike didn’t!
It will happen again!