American multinational technology company Google logo seen at Googleplex, the corporate headquarters complex of Google and its parent company Alphabet Inc.
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SINGAPORE — Singapore has “very high” potential as a global AI hub — thanks in part to an environment that fosters innovation, a Google Cloud executive told CNBC.
“In order for AI to really deliver on its potential, you need really good public and private partnerships,” Caroline Yap, managing director, global AI business and applied engineering at Google Cloud, told CNBC.
Yap was speaking on the sidelines of Explore AI summit in January, a meeting hosted by Google Cloud and the Singapore government to recognize the top generative AI solutions from organizations that took part in the “AI Trailblazers” initiative.
The initiative was first announced in July by Singapore’s Ministry of Communications and Information, Digital Industry Singapore, Smart Nation and Digital Government Office, and Google Cloud.
“… when you do have good public and private partnerships, you can really start to not just improve the public sector use cases like citizen services, but you can also foster an environment for innovation,” said Yap.
As part of the AI trailblazers initiative, two sandboxes were set up to provide as many as 100 organizations in the city-state with access to Google Cloud’s high-performance graphical processing units, Vertex AI platform, pre-trained generative AI models, and low-code developer tools. That enables to build and test their own generative AI solutions in a controlled and dedicated cloud-based environment.
At the same time, it also benefits Singaporeans as a whole, “either as consumers of these technologies or being in the economy as it grows for these types of innovation,” said Yap.
On whether other governments are as open and collaborative as Singapore, Yap told CNBC, “some are, some aren’t.” She did not elaborate on which countries they were.
“In many ways, Singapore already possesses the right foundations needed to flourish as a global AI hub,” said Kenddrick Chan, senior policy analyst at Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
“The government has launched various AI initiatives, supported local research on AI and engages private sector tech companies in consultative dialogues in its policymaking process.”
The Center for Security and Emerging Technology said Singapore’s star “continues to rise as an AI hub” presenting significant opportunities for international collaboration. The center is a think tank within Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service.
“Initiatives such as fast-tracking patent approval, incentivizing private investment, and addressing talent shortfalls are making the country a rapidly growing global AI hub,” CSET said in a March report.
“There is also thinking at the national level about the ethics and governance issues of AI. All of this helps position Singapore as a key player in the global AI landscape,” said Chan.
He added there are “some challenges ahead” for Singapore such as fierce competition for top AI talent from other hubs.
AI craze
Interest in AI exploded when OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT — which has the ability to generate humanlike responses to users’ prompts — took the world by storm in November 2022.
During the Explore AI summit on Jan. 29, Singapore’s Minister for Communications and Information said partnerships are “yet another important aspect of good governance.”
“We partner for inclusion. Inclusion means making sure that people not only have access to the tools, but they are provided with opportunities to grow the skills that will enable them to use these tools well,” said Josephine Teo.
Singapore has been making efforts to promote the responsible use of AI.
The country rolled out AI Verify in May 2022 – the world’s first AI governance testing framework and software toolkit for companies – that enables users to conduct technical tests on their AI models and record process checks.
Companies such as Google, Meta, Microsoft and Singapore Airlines have already tested the AI Verify tool or provided feedback.
Lisa Su, chair and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices Inc., during the AMD Advancing AI event in San Jose, California, on Dec. 6, 2023.
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Advanced Micro Devices shares fell 7% on Wednesday after the chipmaker under-delivered on Wall Street’s estimates for its important data center business.
Shares traded at a 52-week low and were on pace for their worst session since October.
AMD reported better-than-expected results on the top and bottom lines, but it also reported data center sales of $3.86 billion. That reflected 69% growth from a year ago but fell short of the $4.14 billion in sales expected by analysts polled by LSEG.
The key unit, responsible for selling advanced chips for data centers, has benefited in recent years from growing demand for its graphics processing units, as megacap technology companies race to develop advanced artificial intelligence tools.
Data center revenue grew 94% for the full year to $12.6 billion, with $5 billion of those sales stemming from AMD’s AI-focused Instinct GPUs. The company is the second-largest producer for gaming after Nvidia, which has triumphed as the market leader in AI chips and ballooned in value to a nearly $3 trillion market value.
“We believe this places AMD on a steep long-term growth trajectory, led by the rapid scaling of our data center AI franchise from more than $5 billion of revenue in 2024 to tens of billions of dollars of annual revenue over the coming years,” AMD CEO Lisa Su said on the earnings call with analysts.
Several Wall Street firms trimmed their price targets on shares amid the disappointing data center results and expectations for a weak first half. Citi downgraded shares to neutral from a buy rating, while JPMorgan its target to $130 from $180. Bank of America’s Vivek Arya said the company has yet to “articulate how it can carve an important niche” relative to Nvidia.
Morgan Stanley highlighted AI expectations as the most significant pressure point, saying that “visibility likely needs to improve for the stock to find its footing.”
CEO of Alphabet and Google Sundar Pichai in Warsaw, Poland on March 29, 2022.
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Alphabet shares dropped more than 7% on Wednesday after the search giant fell short of Wall Street’s fourth-quarter revenue expectations and announced big spending plans for its ongoing artificial intelligence buildout.
The stock headed for its worst session in more than a year.
The company topped earnings estimates by 2 cents per share. Revenue came in at $96.47 billion, behind the $96.56 billion expected by LSEG. Alphabet’s revenue grew 12% overall from a year ago, while its YouTube advertising business, search business and services segment slowed year over year.
Alphabet also said it plans to spend $75 billion on capital expenditures as it builds out its AI offerings and races against megacap rivals to build out data centers and new infrastructure. The figure was much higher than the $58.84 billion expected by Wall Street analysts, according to FactSet.
Finance chief Anat Ashkenazi said the higher expenses will help “support the growth of our business across Google Services, Google Cloud and Google DeepMind.” She also said the spending will go toward “technical infrastructure, primarily for servers, followed by data centers and networking.”
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The company expects capital expenditures to range between $16 billion and $18 billion. That was higher than the $14.3 billion estimate from FactSet.
JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth highlighted costs, capex and cloud revenue as the “culprits” for the stock’s post-earnings performance. Bernstein’s Mark Shmulik also noted that this is the third quarter that the stock move connects to Google’s cloud segment.
“If digital ad growth is akin to a long drive competition, then Google would be sitting comfortably here with strong Search and YouTube bombs down the fairway,” Shmulik said.
“But as the game shifts to the AI putting green, there’s little room for error with a slight cloud miss, a whopping CAPEX guide up to $75B for 2025, and lack of actionable operating leverage commentary leaves Google 3- putting for bogey,” he added.
Teladoc Health on Wednesday announced it will acquire the preventative care company Catapult Health in an all-cash deal for $65 million.
Catapult offers an at-home wellness exam that allows members to check their blood pressure, collect a blood sample, log other screening information and meet virtually with a nurse practitioner. Teladoc, a virtual care platform, said the acquisition will help it improve its ability to detect health conditions early.
The company said Catapult will operate within its integrated care segment after the deal closes. At JPMorgan’s health-care conferencein January, Teladoc said it is actively working to grow membership and use of services within its integrated care segment.
“Catapult Health’s capabilities will help advance our strategy in meaningful ways — from giving more members access to convenient and impactful wellness and preventative care, to unlocking greater value for our customers,” Teladoc CEO Chuck Divita said in a statement.
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Catapult generated around $30 million in trailing twelve-month revenue as of the third quarter of 2024, Teladoc said. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of this year.
Teladoc’s acquisition of Catapult comes after a tumultuous period for the company. When Teladoc acquired Livongo in 2020, the companies had a combined enterprise value of $37 billion. The stock has tumbled since then, and Teladoc’s market cap now sits under $2 billion.
In April, Teladoc announced the sudden departure of Jason Gorevic, who joined as CEO in 2009 and steered the company through the Livongo deal and the Covid-19 pandemic. Divita took over as chief executive in June and pledged to position the company for “long-term, sustainable success.”