Samsung Announces $17bn Investment for Texas Semiconductor Manufacturing Facility
On November 23, Samsung Electronics announced the company is investing $17 billion to build a new semiconductor manufacturing facility in Taylor, Texas.
Category: Global News
AI highlights.
NVIDIA Launch Web App for GauGAN2 to Generate Pictures Through Simple Phrases
On November 22, the NVIDIA blog introduced the interactive demo website app to generate photorealistic landscape images in real-time via text description.
Google’s Pet Portraits Will Find Art Doubles for Your Pets
Google recently has launched an adorable new feature for its Arts and Culture app named Pet Portraits that can compare your pet photo to artworks from museums worldwide and find their art doubles.
Meta Teams up With Microsoft to Integrate Work App Workplace and Teams
On November 10, Meta (formerly known as Facebook) announced a partnership with another tech giant Microsoft to integrate its work app Workplace with Microsoft’s work-focused social network and collaboration software Teams.
Self-Driving Truck Startup Kodiak Raises $125 Million in Series B Round
On November 11, self-driving truck startup Kodiak announced that it had raised $125 million in an oversubscribed Series B round for a total of $165 million raised to date.
Clearview AI Ordered to Destroy All Facial Recognition Data Collected From Australia
On November 3, facial recognition company Clearview AI was ordered to destroy all existing images and templates the company collected from Australia and to cease collecting facial images and biometric templates from individuals in Australia.
China Applies to Join Digital Economy Partnership Agreement
On October 30, Chinese President Xi Jinping said China will apply to join the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) as part of his video address a day earlier to the Group of 20 leaders’ summit in Rome, Italy.
ICCV 2021 Best Papers Announced
On October 13, ICCV 2021 announced its Best Paper Awards, honourable mentions, and Best Student Paper.
530 Billion Parameters! Microsoft and NVIDIA Trained the Largest Generative Language Model
On October 11, Microsoft introduced the largest and “the most powerful monolithic transformer language model” trained to date, a 530 billion parameter GPT-3-style generative language model.
China Has Won AI Battle With U.S., Says Ex-Pentagon Software Chief
According to Reuters, the Pentagon’s former software chief Nicolas Chaillan told the Financial Times on Sunday that “We have no competing fighting chance against China in 15 to 20 years. Right now, it’s already a done deal; it is already over, in my opinion.”
Sony Will Launch Edge AI Platform Service for AI Developers
On October 6, Sony Group announced that the company will launch its edge AI platform service Aitrios AI sensing platform in Japan, the U.S. and Europe starting late this year.
DeepMind Introduce AlphaFold-Multimer to Predict Multi-Chain Protein Complexes with Better Accuracy
The London-based AI research firm DeepMind has introduced AlphaFold-Multimer, a model that can predict the structure of multi-chain protein complexes with increased accuracy.
Loup Ventures: FSD to Bring Tesla USD 102 Billion in Profits by 2032; FSD Beta V9.1 to Launch July 30
ording to estimation by Loup Ventures, by 2032, full self-driving (FSD) purchases and subscriptions is expected to bring electric vehicles giant Tesla USD 102 billion in profits.
Quanergy’s 3D LiDAR Selected for First V2X Smart City Deployment in South Korea
On July 20, Quanergy Systems announced its 3D LiDAR solution has been selected to support the development of an Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT) system in Busan, South Korea. The ICT system is a key component of the South Korean government’s strategy to build data driven IoT smart cities. Busan is one of the pilot cities for the initiative.
Chinese AI Giant SenseTime Establishes AI Innovation Center in Singapore
On July 19, SenseTime, China’s leading AI company, announced the launch of the SenseTime International AI Innovation Hub.
Intel Announces Q2 Financial Report, Net Profit of USD 50.61 Beats Expectations, Despite Down 0.9% YoY
On July 21, the chip giant Intel announced its second-quarter financial report. The report shows that Intel’s revenue in the second quarter was USD 19.631 billion, and its net profit was USD 5.061 billion, a decrease of 0.9 percent compared to the same period last year.
Argo AI and Ford to Launch Self-Driving Technologies on Lyft Vehicles By the End of 2021
On July 22, Argo AI, Ford Motors and Lyft joined hands to launch L4-level autonomous driving services in Miami by the end of this year.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez Says Apple to Ramp Up Investment for AI in Spain
On July 23, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez stated that Apple will increase artificial intelligence in Spain, after meeting with company’s CEO Tim Cook during a four day trip to the US west coast.
UT Austin Founds 6G Research Center With Key Wireless Industry Parnters
On July 7, the University of Texas at Austin announced that it has teamed up with major wireless companies to set up a new 6G research center, the 6G@UT. Founding affiliates Samsung, AT&T, NVIDIA, Qualcomm and InterDigital will each fund at least two projects for three years at the center.
Baidu’s Apollo Robotaxi Heads Out for Service Pilots on Guangzhou Streets
On July 17, Baidu rolled out its Apollo Robotaxi in the streets of China’s southern city Guangzhou. Users can access the self-driving taxi service via the Baidu Map and Apollo GO apps, and board the vehicles from 9:30 to 23:00, at 237 stops across the city.
Alibaba Announces the Establishment of Artificial Intelligence Governance Laboratory
On July 13, Alibaba announced the establishment of the Alibaba Artificial Intelligence Governance Laboratory (AAIG, https://s.alibaba.com/cn/aaig). The laboratory will promote sustainable, reliable, credible, and usable AI.
Amazon To Build a Self-Driving Delivery R&D Center in Finland
On July 8, e-commerce giant Amazon announced its plan to set up a R&D centre in Helsinki, Finland, to develop technologies for its Scout unmanned delivery robot.
Intel to Invest USD 20 Billion Into building Chip Factory Across the EU
Intel plans to invest 20 billion U.S. dollars to build chip factories in a number of EU countries, and is actively lobbying governments, including France and Italy.
Tencent’s 7 Billion Dollar AI Supercomputing Center In the Yangtze River Delta Commence Operation
At the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) held in Shanghai on July 9, Daosheng Tang, the senior vice exectuvie of Tencent and president of the Tencent cloud and smart industry group, said that the company’s Yangtze River AI Supercomputing Center with RMB 45 billion (approx. USD 7 billion) investment will soon commence operation.
China’s Ride-Hailing Giant Didi Removed From App Stores Over Cybersecurity Investigation
On July 4, according to notice mandated by China’s Cyberspace Administration (CAC), ride-hailing giant “Didi Chuxing” app has serious violations of laws and regulations with its collecting and use of users’ personal information.
Shenzhen Rolls Out China’s First General AI Regulation
On June 28, Shenzhen promulgated the draft of Regulations on the Promotion of Artificial Intelligence Industry of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, which seeks to establish an overarching framework for AI, such as the approval framework for market entrance of AI products and services.
South Korea Bets Down One Billion Dollars on Developing L4 Autonomous Driving
According to media reports on June 28, South Korea is investing KRW 1.1 trillion (USD 1 billion) on L4-level self-driving, involving the government’s science, transport and police units. The government task force also announced 53 projects for commercializing L4 and high levels of autonomous driving by 2027.
Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda Personally Invests USD 45 Into Toyota’s Smart City Joint Venture
According to a securities report released on June 24, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda is personally investing USD 45.3 million into Woven Planet Holdings, the smart city unit of his company spearheading autonomous driving research.
Intel CEO: Global Chip Shortage Will Get Relief Before 2023
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger expect the global chip shortage to continue worsen, and the world will have wait for “a healthy supply-demand situation until 2023″.
India Investigates Google’s Abuse of Dominant Position in the Smart TV Market
On June 23, India’s antitrust regulator, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), released the investigation results of tech giant Google’s alleged abuse of the country’s smart TV market via the Android operating system.
Tesla China Recalls More Than 280k Vehicles Over Active Cruise Control Malfunctions
On June 26, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) announced that Tesla Motors (Beijing & Shanghai) are to recall approximately 286,000 vehicles over faulty active cruise control system.
Tencent Quantum Lab and the Department of Physics of Tsinghua University Sign MoU to Explore Material Computing
On June 16, Tencent Quantum Lab and the Department of Physics of Tsinghua University signed an MoU regarding cooperation on functional material databases, machine learning-assisted material computation methods, and material virtual screening cloud platforms.
Crypto Winter in China as Government Bans Bitcoin Mining and Trading
On June 21, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) issued a document stating that it had appointments with major state-owned banks and mobile payment provider Alipay for providing cryptocurrency transaction services.
South Korea’s LG Electronics Rolls Out AI-Powered Digital X-Ray Detector
On June 22, LG Electronics announced the launch of a new “digital x-ray detector” (DXD). The new product is equipped with assisted AI diagnostic functions, which are designed by healthcare AI solutions company VUNO. The product will detect chest X-ray images for abnormal findings and enhance lesion areas with coloring and outline, to help medical professionals accurately identify lung diseases including tuberculosis, pneumonia, and cancer.
China’s Jiangsu Builds the First Driverless Highway with Total Length of 33 Kilometers
On June 18, China completes the building of the self-driving expressway in Jiangsu province, which will be open to traffic at the end of this month.
LVMH and Google Cloud Create Strategic Partnership for AI and Cloud-Based Innovation
On June 16, LVMH and Google Cloud announced a strategic partnership to accelerate innovation and develop new cloud-based artificial intelligence solutions.
General Motors Expands Electric and Autonomous Vehicles Investments to $35 Billion Through 2025
On June 16, General Motors Co. announced it will increase its electric vehicles (EV) and autonomous vehicles (AV) investments from 2020 through 2025 to USD 35 billion, representing a 75 percent increase from its initial commitment announced prior to the pandemic
China’s Ride-hailing Giant Didi Chuxing Submits IPO Prospectus
On June 11, China’s rise-hailing giant Didi Chuxing formally submitted its IPO prospectus to the SEC. In the 12 months ending March 31, 2021, Didi had 493 million global annual active users and 15 million global annual active drivers.
Beijing‘s Hardcore Vlogger Comes Up With Self-driving Bicycles
On April Fool’s Day in 2016, Google secretly uploaded a video of an autonomous bicycle roaming through the busy streets. Two days after the post went viral, Google clarified that it was actually the result of superb video editing. Five years later, Zhi Hui Jun, a vlogger from Beijing with more than 800,000 fans, spent four months (mainly on weekends) making the joke into a reality.
Fukushima and Toyota to Build Future Hydrogen-based Smart City
To meet the goal of carbon neutrality, Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture and conglomerate Toyota announced the plan to build a hydrogen-powered smart city on June 4. A dozen of companies including Asahi Group, Aeon, and Isuzu Motors is to participate in the project as of the announcement date.