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Jensen Huang, CEO and founder of Nvidia
(Lillian Suwanrumpha/Getty Images)

Thailand taps Nvidia to build its sovereign AI

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has convinced another country to use his company’s chips to power its “sovereign AI” ambitions. Thailand’s Siam.AI Cloud, a cloud-computing company based in Bangkok, will host the cluster, which will be running the Thai language “OpenThaiGPT” large language model.

Nvidia has been marketing its AI hardware to countries around the world, touting the importance of sovereign nations owning their own domestic AI tools to lessen their dependence on allies and adversaries.

“The data of Thailand… it belongs to the Thai people. It is your natural resource,” Huang said, according to the Bangkok Post.

Siam.AI Cloud announced partnerships with local universities and startups to ensure access to the Nvidia computing cluster, which is powered by the company’s in-demand H100 GPUs.

Nvidia says in its marketing that a country owning its own AI models and computing resources can lead to economic and scientific breakthroughs, but it also allows governments to control what ground truth goes into an AI model.

Amnesty International notes that Thailand has a history of cracking down on peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, and is especially sensitive to any criticism of the Thai monarchy, which can lead to stiff jail time.

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The average price of a new vehicle in the US passed $50,000 for the first time ever in September

The average price of a new vehicle in the US surpassed $50,000 in September, according to Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book.

At $50,080, that’s the highest industry average ever, reflecting the price hikes faced by new car buyers in recent years amid pandemic supply shortages, tariff-induced increases, and the high cost of EV production. The figure marks a 3.6% jump from the same month last year.

“Tariffs have introduced new cost pressure to the business, but the pricing story in September was mostly driven by the healthy mix of EVs and higher-end vehicles pushing the new-vehicle ATP into uncharted territory,” Cox executive analyst Erin Keating said. Passing the $50,000 mark was inevitable, Keating said, especially considering that the country’s bestseller is a Ford truck that “routinely costs north of $65,000.”

Year over year, new vehicle prices rose nearly 6% for GM, while Ford’s climbed 2.5%. Volkswagen new prices were up 12.5%.

As prices climb, so do delinquencies on loans to borrowers with lower credit scores. Recent data from Fitch Ratings shows the portion of subprime US auto loans 60 days or more overdue reached 6.43% in August.

business

Alibaba slides as the e-commerce giant’s cloud arm reportedly plans to slash overseas prices

Alibaba slipped more than 3% Tuesday morning following reports that its cloud unit will cut prices of select Elastic Compute Service products by up to 10.2% in overseas markets including Frankfurt, Tokyo, and Dubai.

The cuts, effective October 30, reflect the company’s push to expand its global footprint. The moves reflect a more targeted regional approach for the company as it seeks to strengthen its footprint in Europe and Asia. Alibaba Cloud made similar price cuts on international cloud products last year.

Competition is hot: Alibaba Cloud sits behind behemoths Amazon, Microsoft, and Google in the global cloud race, coming in fourth worldwide, according to data from Gartner.

business

GM dips after revealing it will take a $1.6 billion Q3 hit due to its EV pullback

A few weeks after the end of the $7,500 federal EV tax credit — and the end of General Motors’ attempt to extend itGM says slowing EV sales will cost it $1.6 billion in its third quarter.

“Following recent US Government policy changes, including the termination of certain consumer tax incentives for EV purchases and the reduction in the stringency of emissions regulations, we expect the adoption rate of EVs to slow. These developments have caused us to reassess our EV capacity and manufacturing footprint,” GM wrote in a Tuesday filing.

As a result, GM said, the company will take a $1.2 billion charge pegged to EV capacity adjustments. An additional $400 million cash hit will come from canceled EV contracts with suppliers. The automaker said it’s “reasonably possible” that it will incur more EV-related charges in the coming quarters.

GM reports its third-quarter earnings next week. In the first half of the year, rival Ford has posted losses to the tune of $2.18 billion related to its EV business.

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