AI: Weekend Summary. RTZ #857

1. Nvidia/Intel deal context & implications: Nvidia investing $5 billion in former nemesis Intel has echoes of the Microsoft/Apple deal in 1997 upon Steve Jobs’ return. While the former deal has US/China geopolitical tussles as its driver, the latter was motivated more by Microsoft’s desire to address then US antitrust actions. The deal book-ends market caps of Intel vs Nvidia five years ago of $200 billion Intel, $150 billion Nvidia, vs $120ish billion for Intel and over $4.25 trillion for Nvidia. The strategic implications of the Nvidia/Intel deal may be more theater than substance, but for now it’s a ‘win-win’ for all parties concerned. Notable here is that the deal does not involve any Foundry business for Intel from Nvidia. Thus a critical area of Nvidia reliance on Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) is averted for now. More here.

   

2. AI Infrastructure deals see new peaks: In the meantime, LLM AI companies continued to announce dazzling AI Infrastructure deals, with the Nvidia/OpenAI $100 billion investment being the most recent example. The deal brings two core partners closer together and is a follow-up for OpenAI from its $300 billion deal with Oracle’s OCI for more AI data center infrastructure. For Nvidia, this deal also means multi-gigawatt scale shipments of its next generation Vera Rubin AI GPU AI ‘accelerated computing’ infrastructure, to its high profile customer. Expect more possible ‘Boomerang’ AI deals, continuing the current momentum. More here.

   

3. Oracle’s new AI Cloud Co-CEO: In the meantime, Oracle is moving the management of its Oracle Cloud unit (OCI) to the top levels, appointing co-CEOs of the whole company, promoting 39 year old Clay Magouvrk and 54 year old Mike Sicilia to head the OCI and software businesses respectively. The former’s compensation of over $250 million vs $100 million for the latter, underlines the increasing significance of the AI Cloud infrastructure business for Oracle. The market and investors continue to reward the moves in the current enthusiasm for the multi-year rollout of trillion plus dollar AI infrastructure both in the US and abroad. Notable events at this AI Cloud company mark potential similar moves at ‘Mag 7’ peers . More here.

   

4. AI ‘Workslop’ new word in the Enterprise: A new phrase ‘AI Workslop’ joins ‘AI Slop’, to mark the accelerating AI driven workflows in the office, vs general explosion of AI generated content on social media services like Meta, Google YouTube and more. A new Harvard Business Review study describes low quality AI-generated content like memos, reports, emails etc., ‘clogging up employees’ lives and wasting their time’. The study had a robust methodology, examining AI data both inside and outside the enterprise at the sending and receiving ends of the AI Agents generated workflow. The study points to areas of improvement for both the AI technologies, and further workflow solutions to mitigate the negative aspects of the AI content. And of course pump up the positive aspects of the AI productivity technologies. More here.

   

5. Chinese AI Talent reconsidering the US: New data is suggesting that AI Talent from China is less convinced to stay in the US given the recent immigration, trade and tariff tensions between the US and China. This is notable of course since Chinese AI talent represents a big chunk of the overall AI talent sought by Meta and other AI companies of late. As Nvidia’s Jensen Huang has repeatedly pointed out, China represents half of the world’s current AI Research talent. And of course China is the second largest AI market globally. This worsens the current environment for AI Research talent in the US, suggesting a fundamental shift in the AI talent mix in the US. Recent data has highlighted that nearly 40%of the top-tier AI researchers working in US institutions came from China. The question remains how the US mitigates this issue in the current geopolitical environment. More here.

   

Other AI Readings for weekend:

1. US TikTok deal gets closer. More here.

   

2. World Wide Web Inventor Tim Berners-Lee’s new book “This is for Everyone” has suggestions for data and AI ahead. More here.

   

(Additional Note: For more weekend AI listening, have a new podcast series on AI, from a Gen Z to Boomer perspective. It’s called AI Ramblings. Now 22 weekly Episodes and counting. More with the latest AI Ramblings Episode 22 here, on AI issues of the day. As well as our latest ‘Reads’ and ‘Obsessions’ of the Week. Co-hosted with my Gen Z nephew Neal Makwana):

Up next, the Sunday ‘The Bigger Picture’ tomorrow. Stay tuned.

(NOTE: The discussions here are for information purposes only, and not meant as investment advice at any time. Thanks for joining us here)