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Artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia on Wednesday announced another quarter of astounding quarterly growth as investors try to decipher whether technology’s latest craze is overblown hyperbole or a springboard into a new era of prosperity and productivity.The results for the November-January period blew past the analyst projections that shape investors’ perceptions, as has been the case since Nvidia’s high-end chips emerged as AI’s best building blocks three years ago.Nvidia’s fiscal fourth-quarter revenue surged 73% from the previous year to $68.1 billion while its profit nearly doubled to roughly $43 billion, or $1.76 per share.“No quarter has had more riding on it than this one,” said Jake Behan, head of capital markets for the investment firm Direxion. “The AI trade needed some positive news and Nvidia’s earnings report brought plenty of it.”The Santa Clara, California, company also provided a forecast exceeding analyst projections while its CEO Jensen Huang reinforced the demand for the company’s chips is still “skyrocketing.” That description feeds into Huang’s thesis that the AI boom is still in the early stages of a buildout that will reshape society. If Nvidia hits its revenue target for the February-April period, it will translate into a 77% increase from last year a sign that the company’s already phenomenal growth rate is still accelerating.“AI is here, AI is not going to go back,” Huang said during a conference call with analysts. “AI is only going to only get better from here.”Despite the stellar results and still-rosy outlook, many investors still evidently are worried about a jarring comedown after a three-year boom that has seen Nvidia’s market value soar from $400 billion at the end of 2022 to nearly $4.8 trillion now. After initially rising 4% in extended trading after the latest quarterly numbers came out, Nvidia’s stock price backtracked and was slightly down following Huang’s upbeat conference call.Nvidia has regularly cleared the bar set by analysts in the past three years, often by a wide margin, but that hasn’t always been enough to satisfy investors who have become increasingly skeptical about whether AI will justify the trillions of dollars that are being spent to develop the technology.After Nvidia delivered a stellar performance that far exceeded analyst forecasts in its last quarterly report, its stock price still fell by 3% during the next day’s trading.The AI fervor has escalated again during the past month as the four companies leading the AI charge Amazon, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet and Facebook parent Meta Platforms collectively made commitments to spend about $650 billion this year ramping up their AI computing power.A significant amount of the money is expected to be earmarked to buy more Nvidia chips required to power their AI factories, just as has been the case for much of the past three years as Nvidia’s annual revenue soared from $27 billion to $216 billion. Analysts expect the chipmaker’s revenue to surpass $330 billion during the company’s next fiscal year, a more than 50% increase from the past year.“We want to take the great opportunity that we have as we’re in the beginning of this new computing era, this new computing platform shift, to put everybody on Nvidia,” Huang said. Michael Liedtke, AP Technology Writer
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There are few things that unite the world like animal videos. There are also few things that are so readily commoditized. Both have occurred in the case of Punch, a baby monkey at the Ichikawa City Zoo in Japan. Punch captured hearts around the world after a viral post showed him hugging a stuffed orangutan toy after being rejected by other monkeys. E-commerce sellers act quickly with monkey merch Now, the young Japanese macaque and his stuffed friend are available as everything from toys on Etsy to adecide for yourself if its AIchildren’s book on Amazon. Theres also an official Punch Monkey store with products like stickers, shirts, and mugs. Some of the merchandise even contains hopeful sayings, like Small, but brave, alongside imagery of the pair. In fact, the original plush orangutan doll is available for $19.99, as its one of the Djungelskog soft toys from Ikea. The Swedish retailer has gone so far as to make an advertisement based on Punch and shared to its social channels. In it, a stuffed monkey holds the orangutan while real monkeys appear in the background. The copy reads, Sometimes, family is who we find along the way. It then refers to the stuffed toy as Punchs comfort orangutan. View this post on Instagram Fast Company has reached out to Ikea for more information on the retailer’s orangutan soft toy sales. We will update this post if we hear back. Meanwhile, a new video appears to show Punch having made some progress with his fellow monkeys. But the young creature has already reached the same status as its fellow infamous animals like Moo Deng, the pygmy hippo.
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Yet another powerful person has stepped down after being named in the Epstein files. Brge Brende, president and CEO of the World Economic Forum (WEF), best known for hosting an annual summit of world leaders in Davos, Switzerland, has stepped down after an internal investigation into his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In a statement released Thursday, Brende announced that after eight years in his role, hed be resigning in the wake of the latest batch of files released from the federal investigation into Epstein. I am grateful for the incredible collaboration with my colleagues, partners, and constituents, and I believe now is the right moment for the Forum to continue its important work without distractions, Brende said. WEF co-chairs André Hoffmann and Larry Fink also released a statement on behalf of the Board of Trustees, thanking Brende for his years of service and respecting his choice to step down. His dedication and leadership have been instrumental during a pivotal period of reforms for the organization, leading to a successful annual meeting in Davos, they said. They also noted that the WEFs investigation into Brende found no additional concerns beyond what has been previously disclosed. Though Brende had previously claimed he was completely unaware of [Epsteins] criminal acts and past in statements to the Norwegian media, the newly released collection of Epstein files tell a different story. Epstein and Brende stayed in contact long after Epstein was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008, with messages between the two continuing through at least mid-2019, just months before Epstein died in jail. In one text exchange, Epstein appears to have sent Brende a letter by his lawyers that was published in the The New York Times, which included the claim, The number of young women involved in the investigation has been vastly exaggerated. Brende replied to the letter with a thumbs-up emoji. Brendes resignation comes less than a year after the last shakeup at the WEF. In April 2025, founder Klaus Schwab stepped down as chair of its board, and a month later in May, the board opened an investigation into Schwab after an anonymous letter accused him of misusing funds and making inappropriate comments toward women. Between the two scandals, the WEFs reputation as a mecca for world leaders has taken a massive hit. In Brendes absence, the WEFs managing director Alois Zwinggi will serve as interim president and CEO. Brende is far from the only executive to step down after appearing in the Epstein files. Since the newest batch of files released on January 30, business leaders including Hollywood agent Casey Wasserman and former general counsel for Goldman Sachs Kathryn Ruemmler have resigned from their positions, while political figures including Britain’s Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, and Peter Mandelson, the countrys ambassador to Washington, have been arrested for their ties to Epstein.
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