16/06/2025

BIZ & FINANCE MONDAY | JUNE 16, 2025

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Google turns internet queries into conversations SAN FRANCISCO: Google last week began letting people turn online searches into conversations, with generative artificial intelligence providing spoken summaries of query results. With Audio Overviews, Gemini AI models quickly sum up query results in conversational style, according to Google. “An audio overview can help you get a lay of the land, offering a convenient, hands-free way to absorb information whether you’re multitasking or simply prefer an audio experience,” Google said in a blog post. “We display helpful web pages right within the audio player on the search results page so you can easily dive in and learn more.” Google is beefing up online search with generative artificial intelligence, embracing AI despite fears for its ad-based business model. CEO Sundar Pichai recently unveiled a new AI mode in Google search. The search engine’s nascent AI mode goes further than AI Overviews which display answers to queries from the tech giant’s generative AI powers above the traditional blue links to websites and ads. Since Google debuted AI Overviews in search slightly more than a year ago, it has grown to more than 1.5 billion users across several countries, according to Pichai. Google’s push into generative AI comes amid intensifying competition with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which has itself incorporated search engine features into its popular chatbot. – AFP MBK plans to sell its Korean supermarket chain Homeplus SEOUL: MBK Partners is seeking to sell its embattled South Korean supermarket chain Homeplus by issuing new shares, to avert liquidation of the retailer, the Northeast Asia-focused private equity firm said. The firm will then cancel shares worth 2.5 trillion Korean won (RM7.77 billion) it currently owns in the company as it hands over control of Homeplus to the new buyer, according to a statement. MBK’s cancellation of its Homeplus shares would translate into a hefty loss on what was Asia’s biggest leverage buyout a decade ago. In March, MBK filed for a court-led restructuring of South Korea’s No. 2 grocery retailer to avoid bankruptcy of the firm, which is still reeling from the fall-out of the Covid-19 pandemic and growing competition from e-commerce rivals. A recent court-commissioned review showed the retailer’s liquidation value was higher than its value as a going concern, MBK said in its statement. In a separate statement last Thursday, Homeplus said the company had a liquidation value of 3.7 trillion won, with 6.8 trillion won of total assets. In 2024, MBK launched a sale process for Homeplus Express, the supermarket business of Homeplus, said the source and a second one with knowledge of the matter. But that process stopped when Homeplus entered court-led restructuring, the first source said. The company led a consortium in 2015 to buy Homeplus from Britain’s Tesco for £4 billion (RM25.9 billion) with co-investments from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment and Singapore state investor Temasek. The consortium provided equity of 3.2 trillion won and funded the deal with 2.8 trillion of debt, MBK said. – Reuters

Workers stand in front of a Riyadh Air Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner before the opening of the 55th International Paris Airshow at Le Bourget Airport. – REUTERSPIC

Boeing trims projection for 20-year jet demand o Company forecasts 43,600 new airliners needed by 2044

Administration capped 737 production at 38 airplanes a month. Boeing has significantly improved production quality in recent months, but the crash of an Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner last Thursday put it back in crisis mode. CEO Kelly Ortberg cancelled his plans to attend the Paris Airshow in order to assist with the crash investigation. Global air travel is projected to increase by more than 40% by 2030, compared to the pre-pandemic high, according to the forecast. During the next 20 years, Boeing expects about 51% of demand for new aircraft to come from growth rather than replacing older airplanes. China and South/Southeast Asia, which includes India, are expected to account for half of that additional capacity, according to the outlook. North America and Eurasia account for more than half of projected deliveries for replacing older aircraft. China makes up an estimated 10% of Boeing’s existing order backlog. The country paused taking delivery of new Boeing aircraft as China and the US clashed over tariffs. However, deliveries are expected to resume this month, Ortberg said in May during an investors conference. – Reuters

NEW YORK: Boeing expects global demand for air travel to increase by more than 40% by 2030, driving the need for thousands of new jetliners in the next few years, according to its 20-year demand forecast for commercial airliners released yesterday ahead of the Paris Airshow. The company expects demand for 43,600 new airliners through 2044. That is essentially the same as last year’s edition, which projected demand for 43,975 new deliveries through 2043. European rival Airbus last week revised up its own 20-year commercial demand forecast by 2% to 43,420 jets, saying the air transport industry was expected to ride out current trade tensions. Boeing’s delivery projection includes nearly 33,300 single-aisle airliners, just over 7,800 widebody jets, 955 factory-built freighters and 1,545 regional jets. Single-aisle jets include the 737 MAX and competitor Airbus’s A320neo family and make up roughly four of every five deliveries now. While Boeing’s deliveries projection is roughly the same, it pared down its 20-year forecast for passenger traffic growth from 4.7% in last year’s outlook to 4.2% this year.

Likewise, it lowered its global economic growth forecast from 2.6% to 2.3%, cargo traffic growth from 4.1% to 3.7% and fleet growth from 3.2% to 3.1%. Despite the lower projection for cargo traffic, Boeing vice-president of vommercial marketing Darren Hulst told reporters in a briefing that trade volatility is not expected to significantly shift long-term demand. “I think we need to point back to the perspective that the last 20, 40, 60 years have given us in terms of the value of air cargo, and the fact that it’s roughly a 4% growth market through all this time,” he said. Since Covid-19, air travel demand has bounced back, but airplane production is only half or even less than what it was before the pandemic, resulting in a shortage of 1,500 to 2,000 airliners, he said. Both Airbus and Boeing have struggled to return aircraft production to pre-pandemic levels. Boeing has been dealing with production safety concerns following a 2024 mid-air blowout of a panel on a nearly new Alaska Airlines 737 MAX. As a result, the US Federal Aviation

Amazon to invest A$20b in Aussie AI infrastructure SYDNEY: Amazon will invest A$20 billion (RM55 billion) from 2025 to 2029 to expand, operate and maintain its data centre infrastructure in Australia, bolstering the nation’s artificial intelligence capabilities, it said in a blog post on Saturday. than 170 megawatts across the three farms, it added. Companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Google have been ramping up data centre investments to secure market share and meet AI workload requirements.

“Amazon Web Services’ A$20 billion investment in data centres in Australia will set us up for the future, boosting our economy and productivity,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a post on social media platform X. “This is a huge vote of confidence in the Australian economy.” Major tech companies worldwide are expanding their infrastructure to support rapidly growing demand for generative AI and cloud computing.

On Monday, Amazon announced plans to invest at least US$20 billion in Pennsylvania to expand data centre infrastructure, adding on to the billions of dollars the technology giant has committed to the expansion of AI. In early June, the company said it will invest US$10 billion in North Carolina and announced plans to invest more than US$5 billion in its new cloud infrastructure in Taiwan. – Reuters

The investment is Amazon’s largest global technology commitment in Australia, with funding directed toward new server capacity and support for generative AI workloads. The company is also investing in three new solar farms in Victoria and Queensland, and will commit to buy a combined capacity of more