Tech, AI and Semiconductor Industry News: Nov Week 3
Tech, AI and Semiconductor Industry News: Nov Week 3
1. Business Moves
i. Vietnam’s FPT to Launch AI Data Centre in Japan
FPT, Vietnam’s leading tech company, FPT announced its intention to open a new data centre in Japan by early 2025 as part of its plans to move into AI. The centre will use Nvidia’s AI technology and will cater to key industries like automotive, manufacturing, retail, and healthcare. FPT is also pursuing collaborations with Japanese giants like Sumitomo and NEC and is exploring joint ventures with telecom companies to broaden its AI footprint. FPT aims to:
- Eventually invest up to US$1 billion in such AI data centres;
- Grow its workforce in Japan to 5,000 by 2025;
- Double its Japan unit revenue to $1 billion by 2027.
Takeaway: FPT’s plans come amidst a growing demand for AI and high-performance computing in Japan. Beyond Japan, the company has plans for data centres in other regions and a US$50 million AI lab partnership with the National University of Singapore.
ii. Indonesia’s GoTo Partners with China’s Tencent, Alibaba for Cloud
GoTo, Indonesia’s leading tech firm, partnered with China’s Tencent and Alibaba to strengthen Indonesia’s cloud infrastructure and build a skilled digital workforce. This agreement, formalised at the Indonesia-China Business Forum with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in attendance, will leverage Tencent and Alibaba’s resources to boost both GoTo’s platform security and Indonesia’s broader digital economy. Key components of the deal include:
- Tencent’s plan to establish a third Internet data centre in Indonesia with a US$500 million investment by 2030.
- Alibaba Cloud’s plan to train 800,000 Indonesians in AI and cloud technology by 2033 and launch a skills centre.
Takeaway: These partnerships will strengthen GoTo’s digital infrastructure while safeguarding data sovereignty and security for users in Indonesia. Currently, other cloud providers operating in Indonesia include Google Cloud, Huawei, and Amazon Web Services. Meanwhile, Microsoft is also building data centres in Indonesia’s Jawa Barat region. The initiatives will likely position Indonesia as a competitive tech hub, potentially accelerating digital transformation across industries in the region.
iii. AI Firms Pivot to Smarter AI to Seek New Growth
AI companies like OpenAI are moving beyond the conventional “bigger is better” approach of scaling models by focusing on more sophisticated, human-like problem-solving techniques to develop advanced language models. This involves techniques such as “test-time compute”, which enable these models to evaluate multiple solutions before selecting the best one in real-time. This, consequently, allows for more efficient allocation of processing power to difficult tasks or performing complex operations that require human-like reasoning and decision-making.
Takeaway: The shift in focus helps overcome challenges of large AI models, which include:
- The considerable cost of running the resource-intensive process, which can amount to tens of millions of dollars.
- The complexity of the systems, which often leads to hardware failures.
- Researchers’ inability to cannot assess a model’s performance until the training process, which can take months, is complete.
- The models’ need for vast amounts of data, most of which that are easily accessible has already been used.
- Power shortages.
Notably, this evolution could disrupt the hardware demand dynamics. While Nvidia has long dominated the market for high-powered training chips, this shift toward inference-based processing may spur greater competition in the hardware industry and challenge Nvidia’s dominance.
iv. US-Sanctioned AI Chip Firm Moore Threads Shifts Closer to Possible IPO
Moore Threads Technology, a Beijing-based AI chip designer founded by a former Nvidia executive, has transitioned to a joint-stock company and raised its capital base to 330 million yuan. The company is gaining attention from both private and government investors.
Takeaway: Moore Threads is positioned as a strategic player amid tightening US restrictions on tech exports, particularly the supply of Nvidia’s top GPUs to China. This move is typically a precursor to an initial public offering (IPO) and its growing backing reflects a broader trend of Chinese companies increasing their self-sufficiency in chip technology, driven by US sanctions.
2. People Moves
ChatGPT: Greg Brockman, co-founder of OpenAI, has returned to the company after a three-month leave of absence. His return comes as he collaborates with CEO Sam Altman to take on a new role focused on addressing major technical challenges at the AI startup. This follows a period of notable departures from OpenAI, including key figures like CTO Mira Murati, co-founder John Schulman, and Ilya Sutskever, who have since started their own AI ventures. Altman, too, returned to OpenAI’s leadership after a brief and contentious exit in 2023.
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