(April 12, Global, TMT2024) Today's highlights: Apple is brewing a major upgrade, its market value has skyrocketed by 100 billion US dollars, Huawei has released its first Pangu large model notebook, ByteDance has started a new round of option buybacks, Robin Li said that the open source of large models is of little significance, AI expert Anda Ng has joined Amazon's board of directors, "Sister Wood" has taken a stake in OpenAI, and the waiting time for Nvidia chip delivery has been greatly reduced.
Apple is brewing a major upgrade, and its market value has skyrocketed by $100 billion
On April 11, local time, at the close of the U.S. stock market, Apple rose 4.33% to $175.04, with a market value of $2.7 trillion, an increase of $112.1 billion in a single day. Previously, Mark Gurman broke the news that in order to boost the sluggish computer business, Apple is preparing to completely revamp the entire Mac product line, and the new Mac will be equipped with an M4 chip with artificial intelligence functions. The production of the M4 chip is nearing completion and there will be at least three versions. Apple plans to gradually release Macs with M4 chips starting at the end of this year and continuing until the beginning of next year.
Apple will allow the use of second-hand parts for repairs
Apple has announced improvements to its existing repair process. Starting this fall, select iPhone models will support customers and independent repairers using used Apple parts for repairs. The new process will protect the privacy and security of iPhone users, while providing consumers with more choice, extending the life of products and parts, and minimizing the environmental impact of repairs.
Users find the Apple VR headset to be uneye-friendly
Some Apple Vision Pro users have found that the virtual reality (VR) headset is not very eye-friendly after all, with some experiencing dark circles, headaches, and neck pain. Several early users of Apple's mixed reality headset, the Apple Vision Pro, said that the inappropriate fit has been a "pain point", but they still love the new device. Vision Pro will be launched in the Chinese market later this year, and AutoNavi announced that it has launched the Vision Pro version.
Huawei released the first Pangu large-scale notebook
On April 11, at the Huawei HarmonyOS Ecosystem Spring Communication Conference, Yu Chengdong, Executive Director of Huawei and CEO of Device BG, announced that the smart experience of the new Huawei MateBook X Pro has been upgraded again, applying Huawei's Pangu large model for the first time, and being equipped with Huawei's AI space function for the first time, users can directly access rich AI applications with one click, select 100+ agents, and create a one-stop AI capability aggregation portal. The price of the product starts at 11199 yuan.
Huawei released the HarmonyOS 4.2 100-machine upgrade plan
Huawei released the HarmonyOS 4.2 100-device upgrade plan, which supports the upgrade of more than 180 devices, covering mobile phones, tablets, watches, earphones, smart screens and other devices. Huawei Pocket 2, Mate60 series, P60 series and other devices are the first to start the public beta. Huawei announced that more than 4,000 applications have joined the HarmonyOS ecosystem, a 20-fold increase in two months. HarmonyOS NEXT will be available in beta in June.
ByteDance started a new round of option buybacks
ByteDance's first round of option buybacks in 2024 has begun. During the repurchase period, the repurchase price for current employees was $170.81 per share, and the repurchase price for departing employees was $145.19 per share. The buyback price is up from $160 per share for current employees in the buyback program in the second half of last year. ByteDance launched a buyback program for U.S. employees last month.
Robin Li said that the open source of large models is of little significance
Baidu CEO Robin Li said in an internal speech that the closed-source model will continue to lead in terms of capabilities, rather than leading temporarily. The open source model is not a situation where everyone gathers firewood and the flame is high. This is very different from traditional open source software, such as Linux, Android, etc. Robin Li said, "Closed source has a real business model, it can make money, and it can gather computing power and talents to make money, and closed source has advantages in cost, as long as it is the same ability, the inference cost of the closed source model must be lower, and the response speed must be faster." ”
AI expert Andrew Ng joins Amazon's board of directors
Amazon has announced that Andrew Ng, a well-known AI expert, will join its board of directors, an appointment effective April 9, 2024. Andrew Ng is the founder of Deep Learning.ai and co-founder of Coursera, an online education platform. As the founder and head of Google's Brain Deep Learning program, Ng drove Google's research in the field of artificial intelligence. He also served as Chief Scientist at Baidu.
"木头姐"入股OpenAI
Cathie Wood's Ark Investment Management recently announced that it has a stake in OpenAI, the "darling of Silicon Valley." The Ark Venture Fund has invested in OpenAI since April 10, 2024, and OpenAI is at the forefront of the AI explosion. So far, OpenAI has raised huge sums of money, most of it from Microsoft, which has invested $13 billion. OpenAI has notified some of its former employees to allow them to sell their shares in the company, according to people familiar with the matter.
OpenAI opens GPT-4 Turbo to paying users
OpenAI has announced that the new version of GPT-4 Turbo is now available to paid ChatGPT users. Compared to January, the new version improves the ability to write, math, logical reasoning, and coding. OpenAI says that when writing with the new version, the response will be more direct, the verbosity will be reduced, and more conversational language can be used.
Musk xAI seeks to raise up to $4 billion
Musk's AI startup xAI is looking to raise $3 billion to $4 billion, which would value the company at $18 billion, according to the pitch materials sent to investors. The terms and amount of this round are still undetermined and are subject to change. It was previously reported that the company was looking to raise $3 billion.
Nvidia stock price entered correction territory
Nvidia, a popular chip stock, has entered correction territory. Nvidia closed at $853.54 on Tuesday. A close below $855.02 means that the stock has entered correction territory. Entering the correction zone is when the stock price retreats 10%-20% from the bull market high. Previously, Apple's stock price also entered correction territory. Tesla, the other tech stock in the "Big Seven", is in a bear market, that is, 20% below the bull market high. Four other companies are trading near their highs, including Alphabet, Amazon (Amazon.com), Meta Platforms and Microsoft (Microsoft).
The waiting time for Nvidia's chip delivery has been significantly reduced
A TSMC executive said that the waiting time for delivery of the Nvidia H100 has been significantly reduced in the past few months, from the initial 3-4 months to the current 2-3 months (8-12 weeks). Server OEMs also revealed that compared with the situation that it is almost impossible to buy Nvidia H100 in 2023, the current supply bottleneck is gradually easing. Six months ago, the H100 had an 11-month wait time, and most Nvidia customers would have to wait nearly a year to get their AI GPUs.
Google will invest $1 billion to lay submarine fiber optic cables between Japan and the United States
Google Inc. (Google) announced on the 10th that it will invest $1 billion to lay submarine fiber optic cables between Japan and the United States. In addition to the new fiber optic cables connecting Japan with the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam, and between Japan and Hawaii, other fiber optic cables will be extended to expand communication lines between Japan and the United States. Google says the move will improve the reliability of digital communications between the United States and Japan, as well as with Pacific countries. NEC and KDDI will also assist in the construction of the optical cable.
Kakao joins an open-source AI consortium led by IBM and Meta
South Korean internet giant Kakao has joined a global coalition to promote open-source AI research and development, becoming the first Korean corporate member of the alliance. The alliance, led by IBM and Meta, was launched in December last year and currently has about 100 members. The alliance aims to accelerate open innovation in AI technologies to improve the foundational capabilities, security, and trust of AI.
Four Paramount Global directors are expected to leave
Four directors of the Shari Redstone-controlled entertainment company are expected to leave the board soon as Paramount Global discusses a merger with Skydance Media. Former Spotify executive Dawn Ostroff, lawyer and former Sony Entertainment president Nicole Seligman, veteran investment banking executive Frederick Terrell and longtime Redstone lawyer Rob Klieger are all expected to leave the company's board in the coming weeks. At least one of the directors who is leaving the board has raised concerns about a potential deal with Skydance.
Renesas Electronics reopens its Kofu plant in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan
On April 11, Renesas Electronics officially reopened its Kofu plant in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, to meet the surging demand for power semiconductors for electric vehicles and data centers. The plant mainly produced semiconductors for personal computers until it closed in October 2014. After the restart, the plant is expected to double Renesas' production of power semiconductors from next year.
The national supercomputing Internet platform was officially launched
At present, more than 200 service providers of applications, data, models and other services have settled in the National Supercomputer Internet, and provided more than 3,200 products, covering various fields such as scientific computing, industrial simulation, and AI model training. The construction of the National Supercomputer Internet will be officially launched in April 2023.
AI could threaten two-thirds of U.S. jobs
A team of analysts at Goldman Sachs, a well-known investment bank, pointed out in a research report that if generative AI can deliver on its promised capabilities, the labor market could face a huge shock. According to a Goldman Sachs report, about two-thirds of jobs in the U.S. are threatened to some extent by AI automation, and generative AI is likely to replace a quarter of jobs, according to a study of U.S. and European occupation data. Globally, generative AI could "automate" 300 million full-time jobs.