Alphabet

Samsung reports chip profits after a year of losses, as AI boom drives fourfold surge in overall income

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Samsung Electronics topped analyst earnings estimates after its semiconductor division returned to profitability, as companies like Microsoft and Alphabet led a surge in spending on artificial intelligence (AI) services. The world’s largest memory chip maker reported net income of 6.62 trillion won (US$4.8 billion) in the March quarter, versus the average analyst projection for 5.63 … Read more

Google consolidates teams with aim to create AI products faster

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Alphabet Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai announced changes to Google’s workplace teams structure, saying the moves will help the company develop artificial intelligence products and services faster and more efficiently. In a note to employees, also published Thursday in a blog post, Pichai said the models, research and responsible AI teams would be consolidated under … Read more

Google fires 28 employees who protested its cloud contract with Israeli government

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Google said on Thursday it has terminated 28 employees after some staff participated in protests against the company’s cloud contract with the Israeli government. The Alphabet unit said a small number of protesting employees entered and disrupted work at a few unspecified office locations. “Physically impeding other employees’ work and preventing them from accessing our facilities … Read more

Meta debuts new AI chip, aiming to decrease reliance on Nvidia

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Meta Platforms is deploying a new home-grown chip to help power its artificial intelligence (AI) services, aiming to decrease its reliance on semiconductors from Nvidia and other outside companies. The chip, announced Wednesday, is the latest version of the Meta Training and Inference Accelerator, or MTIA, which helps rank and recommend content across Facebook and … Read more

Apple plans to overhaul entire Mac line with AI-focused M4 chips

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Apple, aiming to boost sluggish computer sales, is preparing to overhaul its entire Mac line with a new family of in-house processors designed to highlight artificial intelligence (AI). The company, which released its first Macs with M3 chips five months ago, is already nearing production of the next generation – the M4 processor – according … Read more

TikTok owner ByteDance denies report of profit surge in 2023, prepares to launch Instagram rival

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ByteDance, the owner of short video app TikTok and its Chinese version Douyin, has denied a news report saying the company’s profits jumped 60 per cent last year, as it plans two new apps – one to rival Instagram and another targeting European users – amid political headwinds against TikTok in the United States. Bloomberg … Read more

The European Commission probe against Apple, Meta and Google for non-compliance with fair market provisions | Explained

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The story so far: In a comprehensive slew of measures to ensure “contestable and fair markets in the digital sector” in line with the provisions of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the European Commission on March 25 initiated ‘non-compliance investigations’ against Apple, Meta and Google’s parent Alphabet. It will also investigate Amazon’s ranking practices on … Read more

Amazon invests US$2.75 billion more in OpenAI rival Anthropic to boost generative AI efforts

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Amazon.com says it is investing an additional US$2.75 billion in Anthropic, completing a deal it made last year to back the artificial intelligence (AI) start-up and expand a partnership between the companies. The infusion brings Amazon’s total investment in Anthropic, a well-regarded builder of AI tools able to generate text and analysis, to US$4 billion, … Read more

Apple set to unveil AI strategy at June 10 worldwide developers conference

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The iPhone maker announced the timing on Tuesday, saying the event will run through June 14. Though Apple did not say what it plans to unveil – in usual fashion – people familiar with the matter have said that the presentation will focus heavily on AI. Continuing an approach used since the beginning of the … Read more

Apple, Google, Meta targeted in EU’s first Digital Markets Act probes

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Apple, Alphabet’s Google and Meta Platforms will be investigated for potential breaches of the EU’s new Digital Markets Act (DMA), European antitrust regulators said on Monday, potentially leading to hefty fines for the companies. The European Union law, effective from March 7, aims to challenge the power of the tech giants by making it easier … Read more