Electronic chip war on the front of artificial intelligence

OpenAI, the startup that built ChatGBT, has been at the forefront with its main investor, Microsoft Group, since the generative AI program's massive success, attracting millions of users due to its ability to Production of all kinds of texts on demand in the spoken language.

However, “the only entity that achieves financial profits is Nvidia,” noted Alan Priestley, an analyst at Gartner, a technology research company. Although “Microsoft” has integrated generative artificial intelligence into a number of its online services, “it has not yet figured out how to generate additional revenue from it,” according to the expert.

The production of the vast majority of semiconductors used in training artificial intelligence models in the world depends on two companies, “Nvidia” of California for design and “TSMC” of Taiwan for manufacturing.

NVIDIA is famous for its graphics processors (GPU), which especially allow the use of high-definition video games or video conferencing.

However, these chips, which are capable of processing large amounts of data, have recently enabled the emergence of the latest generation of artificial intelligence, which all technology companies are seeking to adopt, while some governments view it as a matter of national security.

"Urgent"

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang noted during a meeting with analysts last February that "the capabilities and versatility of generative AI make companies feel that developing and implementing a strategy in this area is urgent."

As for the independent analyst, Jack Gold, he saw a “great appetite” for these chips, adding, “I do not know whether Nvidia is really able to provide them,” according to what she confirmed.

Not all institutions have the financial capabilities to obtain these technologies. The expert explained that “the cost of the powerful machines needed to train generative AI programs can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars,” not to mention that they consume a great deal of energy.

There was a delay in the production of “Intel”, which is the first American company to design and manufacture semiconductors.

"Intel has rested too long on its laurels," independent analyst Jack Gold told AFP. He added that it “is trying to produce chips that enable it to compete with Nvidia, but this field is new for it, as it has not manufactured graphics processing units for at least ten years.”

The California-based group nonetheless produces lower-end AI chips that are essential in many computer equipment, especially in the cloud computing field.

"We're working to make artificial intelligence accessible to everyone," Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger told analysts Thursday. He expected the transfer of some artificial intelligence capabilities from servers to computers, and in this field the company has “advantages that it can use.”

The tech giants are also working on producing their own chips. In this context, the specialized “The Information” website reported that “Microsoft” has been seeking since 2019 to design a chip called “Athena”, which is supposed to ensure financial savings. The group did not confirm this information in connection with it.

And Jack Gold saw that "competition is intensifying in this system."

“God forbid,”

US President Joe Biden considered last September that the manufacturing of these evolving chips is a matter of “national security,” especially in the face of Chinese ambitions.

He was speaking during the inauguration of a semiconductor factory in the state of Ohio (eastern United States), and stressed on that day the importance of a law passed on his initiative, according to which appropriations amounting to $52 billion were allocated to revive semiconductor production.

Europe has allocated similar funds to encourage this sector as well. Intel has invested heavily in production and research on both continents.

Through this, Western countries seek to provide job opportunities, but more importantly to ensure the availability of these electronic components used in smart phones, cars, refrigerators, advanced weapons, and so on.

"If China attacks Taiwan, God forbid, and TSMC stops production, the global supply of chips will drop by up to 80 percent," Jack Gold said.

But diversifying sources will take time. "Building a new, specialized factory takes between three and four years," the analyst explained.

Keen to remain a leader in the latest generation of chips synonymous with development in the field of artificial intelligence, the United States has also taken measures to restrict China's access to key semiconductor manufacturing technologies. (AFP)

Intel, the chip industry, is witnessing a decline in sales and losses of billions of dollars

LOS ANGELES: Chip giant Intel ended last quarter with another drop in sales and losses in the billions, with no end in sight to the revenue slump.

Intel reported a quarterly loss of $2.8 billion, compared to a net profit of $8.1 billion a year earlier. Intel said after the US stock market closed on Thursday that revenue fell 36 percent year-on-year to $11.7 billion.

The leading manufacturer of processor chips is suffering as the computer market slows down after a boom during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Data center and AI revenues fell again: the division's sales fell 39% to $3.7 billion. For the current quarter, Intel expects revenue between $11.5 and $12.5 billion.

Intel shares initially rose 4% in after-hours trading as analysts expected worse numbers. Shortly thereafter, the share value fell by 1.5% from its closing price. (dpa)

Artificial intelligence race fever rages between Google and Microsoft

Mountain View (United States): After years of " Google " dominance in the field of avant-garde information technology, its competitor " Microsoft ", which is already ahead of it in cloud technology, has succeeded in overshadowing it by establishing itself as a leader in the field of generative artificial intelligence.

And the two giant American technology groups announced, on Tuesday, their revenue and profits, which exceeded expectations in light of the current economic crisis.

The volume of sales of the Alphabet Group, which owns Google, in the first quarter of this year amounted to about $70 billion, including $15 billion in net profit.

However, analyst at "Insider Intelligence" Max Wellens noted that "there are not enough reasons for investors to be optimistic" despite these two results exceeding market expectations, noting that the company's advertising activity is "at risk."

And he explained, “The decline in (YouTube) revenues again, and the growth in revenues from the search engine and other sectors only by 2 percent, shows that the core of (Google) work is facing difficulties that it has not seen for a long time.”

The company that draws the most power from digital advertising globally is facing the reality of inflation and rising interest rates, which is driving advertisers out of pocket.

In addition, Google's YouTube platform is witnessing fierce competition from the popular TikTok.

Like Instagram (a Meta subsidiary) and Snapchat, YouTube sought to replicate the short video service that made TikTok popular, launching Shorts.

"The initial data regarding financial allowances for the creators of the videos (shorts) is disappointing," said Evelyn Mitchell of "Insider Intelligence".

"Artificial General Intelligence"

Google, which laid off about 12,000 employees in January (6 percent of its workforce) and scaled back its real estate projects, must at the same time seek to defend its position in the field of artificial intelligence.

Microsoft has achieved a clear advantage in the field of generative artificial intelligence (capable of creating on-demand content in the language of everyday life) since the launch of the American start-up “Open AI” program “Chat GPT” in November, as the group invested heavily in this field.

And “Microsoft” integrated the “GBT” program in its “Bing” search engine, which revived it and allowed it to attract an increasing number of users thanks to artificial intelligence, after it was unable to compete with “Google”.

And the two companies are now competing to announce the addition of generative artificial intelligence functions to their programs, from the word processor “Word” to the “G-Mail” mailbox.

“Most organizations are thinking about how they can use artificial intelligence in their transformation process,” Sundar Pichai said in a conference call with analysts on Tuesday.

Last week, Alphabet brought together the Brain and DeepMind teams to accelerate research in the field of artificial intelligence.

And the head of the new “Google DeepMind” unit, Demis Hassabis, published a tweet in which he wrote: “We thus have an opportunity to build artificial intelligence, and in the long run artificial general intelligence in the service of humanity.”

He was referring to an idea popularized by OpenAI: to create artificial intelligence systems that outperform humans in many cognitive tasks.

Cloud Computing

In this competition for the most advanced technology, Microsoft also enjoys superiority in the field of cloud computing, a sector in which it ranks second in the world after Amazon.

And “Google Cloud”, which specializes in this field, announced operating profits of $ 191 million in the first quarter, which is the first time that the company has achieved a profit.

Max Wellens noted that these numbers “show that management is really working on enhancing the profitability of this business. But (Google Cloud) in practice is still far behind its main competitors, and its growth is slowing.

As for Microsoft's revenue from cloud computing, which relies on external servers but also largely on artificial intelligence, it rose by 22 percent year-on-year, reaching $28.5 billion. These revenues now represent more than half of the company's sales volume.

In total, the company's sales from January to March amounted to $52.8 billion (an increase of 7 percent over one year), and net profit reached $18.3 billion (an increase of 9.4 percent).

Its share value rose by about 9 percent in electronic trading after closing trading.

As for the value of “Alphabet” shares, it rose by 1 percent, after it had increased slightly more following the announcement of a plan to buy back shares worth $ 70 billion.

And it seems that the current quarter will not be any better for the giant company.

The US central bank intends to continue raising interest rates to fight inflation, despite the risks of recession that this measure may cause.

US and European authorities are increasingly regulating major Internet platforms through several steps, from competition law to social networking abuses. (AFP)

Experts give valuable advice to prepare for the test

Berlin: If a student happens to be facing a big exam the next day, but is not completely familiar with the subject that will be tested, he will stay up all night. But will this help him do well in the test?

For most people, says Oliver Brochardt, head of the vocational association for courses, career guidance, guidance and information at universities in the state of Baden-Württemberg.

He added, “I realized through experience that from time to time there are students who can complete what they lack in knowledge during the night before the exam. But they are the exception.” Brochart asserted that if a student did not skim through his books thoroughly or did not attend the lectures, he would have no chance of success even if he studied all night.

He wonders, “How can a student achieve this? Because depending on the material in which the test will be done, there can be series of books full of information that he did not know. Maybe he can consider applying the emergency brake and going back to the start.”

Productivity coach Linda Wolf is more optimistic about getting ready for the test — and even sees some advantages to it: "The student has to focus very hard on the essentials and focus on himself very hard," she says.

In order to illustrate her point, Woolf referred to the so-called Pareto principle, according to which 80% of results come from 20% of causes. And if this is applied to time management, this means that 80% of one's work or study production can be achieved from only 20% of one's effort.

"If one has very limited time left, one can focus on the 20 percent of the source material, the material that contains the most important information," Wolf explained. This could be a good textbook or the 20% of the material that the teacher has focused on and repeated. (dpa)