Digital business models Archives | Page 417 of 571

AI chip production begins at TSMC’s Arizona facility

Nvidia has announced a major initiative to produce AI supercomputers in the US in collaboration with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and several other partners.

The effort aims to create up to US$500 billion worth of AI infrastructure products domestically over the next four years, marking a significant shift in Nvidia’s manufacturing strategy.

Alongside TSMC, other key contributors include Taiwanese firms Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. and Wistron Corp., both known for producing AI servers. US-based Amkor Technology and Taiwan’s Siliconware Precision Industries will also provide advanced packaging and testing services.

Nvidia’s Blackwell AI chips have already begun production at TSMC’s Arizona facility, with large-scale operations planned in Texas through partnerships with Hon Hai in Houston and Wistron in Dallas.

The move could impact Taiwan’s economy, as many Nvidia components are currently produced there. Taiwan’s Economic Affairs Minister declined to comment specifically on the project but assured that the government will monitor overseas investments by Taiwanese firms.

Nvidia said the initiative would help meet surging AI demand while strengthening semiconductor supply chains and increasing resilience amid shifting global trade policies, including new US tariffs on Taiwanese exports.

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South Korea’s $23B chip industry boost in response to global trade war

South Korea announced a $23 billion support package for its semiconductor industry, increasing from last year’s $19 billion to protect giants like Samsung and SK Hynix from US tariff uncertainties and China’s growing competition.

The plan allocates 20 trillion won in financial aid, up from 17 trillion, to drive innovation and production, addressing a 31.8% drop in chip exports to China due to US trade restrictions.

The package responds to US policies under President Trump, including export curbs on high-bandwidth chips to China, which have disrupted global demand.

At the same time, Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok will negotiate with the US to mitigate potential national security probes on chip trade.

South Korea’s strategy aims to safeguard a critical economic sector that powers everything from smartphones to AI, especially as its auto industry faces US tariff challenges.

Analysts view this as a preemptive effort to shield the chip industry from escalating global trade tensions.

Why does it matter?

For South Koreans, the semiconductor sector is a national lifeline, tied to jobs and economic stability, with the government betting big to preserve its global tech dominance. As China’s tech ambitions grow and US policies remain unpredictable, Seoul’s $23 billion investment speaks out about the cost of staying competitive in a tech-driven world.

Nvidia hit by the new US export rules

Nvidia is facing fresh US export restrictions on its H20 AI chips, dealing a blow to the company’s operations in China.

In a filing on Tuesday, Nvidia revealed it now needs a licence to export these chips indefinitely, after the US government cited concerns they could be used in a Chinese supercomputer.

The company expects a $5.5 billion charge linked to the controls in its first fiscal quarter of 2026, which ends on 27 April. Shares dropped around 6% in after-hours trading.

The H20 is currently the most advanced AI chip Nvidia can sell to China under existing regulations.

Last week, reports suggested CEO Jensen Huang might have temporarily eased tensions during a dinner at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, by promising investments in US-based AI data centres instead of opposing the rules directly.

Just a day before the filing, Nvidia announced plans to manufacture some chips in the US over the next four years, though the specifics were left vague.

Calls for tighter controls had been building, especially after it emerged that China’s DeepSeek used the H20 to train its R1 model, a system that surprised the US AI sector earlier this year.

Government officials had pushed for action, saying the chip’s capabilities posed a strategic risk. Nvidia declined to comment on the new restrictions.

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OpenAI updates safety rules amid AI race

OpenAI has updated its Preparedness Framework, the internal system used to assess AI model safety and determine necessary safeguards during development.

The company now says it may adjust its safety standards if a rival AI lab releases a ‘high-risk’ system without similar protections, a move that reflects growing competitive pressure in the AI industry.

Instead of outright dismissing such flexibility, OpenAI insists that any changes would be made cautiously and with public transparency.

Critics argue OpenAI is already lowering its standards for the sake of faster deployment. Twelve former employees recently supported a legal case against the company, warning that a planned corporate restructure might encourage further shortcuts.

OpenAI denies these claims, but reports suggest compressed safety testing timelines and increasing reliance on automated evaluations instead of human-led reviews. According to sources, some safety checks are also run on earlier versions of models, not the final ones released to users.

The refreshed framework also changes how OpenAI defines and manages risk. Models are now classified as having either ‘high’ or ‘critical’ capability, the former referring to systems that could amplify harm, the latter to those introducing entirely new risks.

Instead of deploying models first and assessing risk later, OpenAI says it will apply safeguards during both development and release, particularly for models capable of evading shutdown, hiding their abilities, or self-replicating.

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Hertz customer data stolen in vendor cyberattack

Hertz has disclosed a significant data breach involving sensitive customer information, including credit card and driver’s licence details, following a cyberattack on one of its service providers.

The breach stemmed from vulnerabilities in the Cleo Communications file transfer platform, exploited in October and December 2024.

Hertz confirmed the unauthorised access on 10 February, with further investigations revealing a range of exposed data, including names, birth dates, contact details, and in some cases, Social Security and passport numbers.

While the company has not confirmed how many individuals were affected, notifications have been issued in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and across the EU.

Hertz stressed that no misuse of customer data has been identified so far, and that the breach has been reported to law enforcement and regulators. Cleo has since patched the exploited vulnerabilities.

The identity of the attackers remains unknown. However, Cleo was previously targeted in a broader cyber campaign last October, with the Clop ransomware group later claiming responsibility.

The gang published Cleo’s company data online and listed dozens of breached organisations, suggesting the incident was part of a wider, coordinated effort.

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xAI adds collaborative workspace to Grok

Elon Musk’s AI firm xAI has introduced a new feature called Grok Studio, offering users a dedicated space to create and edit documents, code, and simple apps.

Available on Grok.com for both free and paying users, Grok Studio opens content in a separate window, allowing for real-time collaboration between the user and the chatbot instead of relying solely on back-and-forth prompts.

Grok Studio functions much like canvas-style tools from other AI developers. It allows code previews and execution in languages such as Python, C++, and JavaScript. The setup mirrors similar features introduced earlier by OpenAI and Anthropic, instead of offering a radically different experience.

All content appears beside Grok’s chat window, creating a workspace that blends conversation with practical development tools.

Alongside this launch, xAI has also announced integration with Google Drive.

It will allow users to attach files directly to Grok prompts, letting the chatbot work with documents, spreadsheets, and slides from Drive instead of requiring uploads or manual input, making the platform more convenient for everyday tasks and productivity.

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Opera brings AI assistant to Opera Mini on Android

Opera, the Norway-based browser maker, has announced the rollout of its AI assistant, Aria, to Opera Mini users on Android. The move represents a strategic effort to bring advanced AI capabilities to users with low-end devices and limited data access, rather than confining such tools to high-spec platforms.

Aria allows users to access up-to-date information, generate images, and learn about a range of topics using a blend of models from OpenAI and Google.

Since its 2005 launch, Opera Mini has been known for saving data during browsing, and Opera claims that the inclusion of Aria won’t compromise that advantage nor increase the app’s size.

It makes the AI assistant more accessible for users in regions where data efficiency is critical, instead of making them choose between smart features and performance.

Opera has long partnered with telecom providers in Africa to offer free data to Opera Mini users. However, last year, it had to end its programme in Kenya due to regulatory restrictions around ads on browser bookmark tiles.

Despite such challenges, Opera Mini has surpassed a billion downloads on Android and now serves more than 100 million users globally.

Alongside this update, Opera continues testing new AI functions, including features that let users manage tabs using natural language and tools that assist with task completion.

An effort like this reflects the company’s ambition to embed AI more deeply into everyday browsing instead of limiting innovation to its main browser.

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Google Search drops local domain URLs

Google is set to begin redirecting its country-specific search domains, such as google.fr or google.co.uk, to the main global address at google.com.

The company says the move is intended to streamline user experience across different regions, with the update being gradually rolled out over the coming months.

Although users will see google.com in their browser instead of their local version, Google assures that the way Search functions will remain the same.

Some users may be prompted to re-enter their search preferences during the transition, but results will still reflect local relevance.

Since 2017, the platform has delivered the same core Search experience regardless of whether users accessed it through a country-specific address or the global one.

With this standardisation already in place, Google has concluded that separate country domains are no longer necessary.

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Justice Department pushes to curb Google monopoly

Google has pushed back against a US government proposal to break up its business, arguing that such a move would hurt consumers and reduce competition rather than enhance it.

In a court filing ahead of a remedy trial due to begin on 21 April, Google claimed the Justice Department’s plan to divest services like Chrome and Android would force users to adopt less effective alternatives.

The company stressed that consumers overwhelmingly prefer Google’s search engine and that its agreements with browser and device manufacturers do not prevent rivals from competing.

The Justice Department is asking the court to consider structural remedies, including breaking up parts of Google’s business or limiting its default search agreements, to curb what it deems monopolistic behaviour.

The agency originally proposed more aggressive action, such as divesting Google’s AI investments, but later backed down, citing concerns over unintended consequences in the fast-evolving AI sector.

Google has offered alternative remedies, including more flexibility for Android manufacturers to preload or set other search engines as default, without fully removing its own search partnerships.

A 15-day hearing will begin later this month, with both sides set to present evidence and call high-profile witnesses. Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai and Apple’s senior VP of services are among the 20 witnesses listed by the tech giant.

The Justice Department plans to call 19 witnesses, including executives from OpenAI, DuckDuckGo and Microsoft, as it argues for stronger measures to level the playing field in internet search.

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AI firm DeepSeek opens up on model deployment tech

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has announced its intention to share the technology behind its internal inference engine, a move aimed at enhancing collaboration within the open-source AI community.

The company’s inference engine and training framework have played a vital role in accelerating the performance and deployment of its models, including DeepSeek-V3 and R1.

Built on PyTorch, DeepSeek’s training framework is complemented by a modified version of the vLLM inference engine originally developed in the US at UC Berkeley.

While the company will not release the full source code of its engine, it will contribute its design improvements and select components as standalone libraries.

These efforts form part of DeepSeek’s broader open-source initiative, which began earlier this year with the partial release of its AI model code.

Despite this contribution, DeepSeek’s models fall short of the Open Source Initiative’s standards, as the training data and full framework remain restricted.

The company cited limited resources and infrastructure constraints as reasons for not making the engine entirely open-source. Still, the move has been welcomed as a meaningful gesture towards transparency and knowledge-sharing in the AI sector.

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