17/06/2025

BIZ & FINANCE TUESDAY | JUNE 17, 2025

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‘Sovereign AI’ pitch resonates with EU

announced plans to build four “AI gigafactories” at a cost of US$20 billion to lower dependence on US firms. The European Commission has been in touch with Huang and he had told the EU executive that he was going to allocate some chip production to Europe for these factories, an EU official told Reuters. Nvidia’s chips known as Graphics Processing Units or GPUs are crucial for building AI data centres from the US to Japan and India to the Middle East. In Europe, a push for sovereign AI could reshape the tech landscape with domestic cloud providers, AI startups, and chipmakers standing to gain from new government funding and a shift toward in-region data infrastructure. Nvidia also wants to cement demand for its AI chips, ensuring that even as countries seek independence, they still rely on its technology to get there. The push is not without challenges. High electricity costs and rising demand could strain sourcing of electricity for data centres. Data centres account for 3% of EU electricity demand, but their consumption is expected to increase rapidly this decade due to AI. Mistral, which has raised just over US$1 billion, is trying to become a European homegrown champion with a fraction of the money American hyperscalers or large

data-centre operators spend in a month. “Hyperscalers are spending US$10 billion to US$15 billion per quarter in their infrastructure. Who in Europe can afford that exactly?” said Pascal Brier, chief innovation officer at Capgemini, a partner of both Nvidia and Mistral. “It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do anything, but we have to be cognizant about the fact that there will always be a gap.” Mistral has launched several AI models which are used by businesses but companies tend to mix them with models from other companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta Platforms. “Most of the time it’s not Mistral or the rest, it’s Mistral and the rest,” Brier said. – Reuters

o Nvidia’s projects and partnerships highlight Europe’s lack of artificial intelligence infrastructure

PARIS: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been pitching the idea of “sovereign AI” since 2023. Europe is now starting to listen and act. The concept is based on the idea that the language, knowledge, history and culture of each region are different, and every nation needs to develop and own its AI. Last week, the CEO of the artificial intelligence chipmaker toured Europe’s major capitals – London, Paris and Berlin – announcing a slew of projects and partnerships, while highlighting the lack of AI infrastructure in the region. In a place where leaders are increasingly wary of the continent’s dependency on a handful of American tech companies and after drawing ire from the US President Donald Trump, his vision has started to gain traction. “We are going to invest billions in here ... but Europe needs to move into AI quickly,” Huang said last Wednesday in Paris. On Monday of last week, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced £1 billion (RM5.7 billion) in funding to scale up computing power in a global race “to be an AI maker and not an AI taker”.

French President Emmanuel Macron called building AI infrastructure “our fight for sovereignty” at VivaTech, one of the largest global tech conferences. After Nvidia laid out plans to build an AI cloud platform in Germany with Deutsche Telekom, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called it an “important step” for the digital sovereignty and economic future of Europe’s top economy. Europe lags behind both the US and China as its cloud infrastructure is mostly run by Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet’s Google, and it has only a few smaller AI companies such as Mistral to rival the US ones. “There’s no reason why Europe shouldn’t have tech champions,” said 31-year-old Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch, sitting beside Huang at a panel at VivaTech. “This is a gigantic dream.” In France, Mistral has partnered with Nvidia to build a data centre to power the AI needs of European firms with a homegrown alternative. It will use 18,000 of the latest Nvidia AI chips in the first phase, with plans to expand across multiple sites in 2026. In February, the European Union

Cyberattack on Washington Post e-mail accounts

WASHINGTON: The Washington Post is investigating a cyberattack on e-mail accounts of some of its journalists, according to a source familiar with the matter and an internal memo reviewed by Reuters. The memo sent to Post employees by executive editor Matt Murray said the intrusion was discovered on Thursday and the newspaper immediately initiated an investigation. All Post employees had their passwords reset on Friday as a precaution, Murray said in the memo, adding that the intrusion was not thought to have had any impact on any additional Post systems or on customers. The newspaper also forced a credential reset for all Post employees on Friday night. The Wall Street Journal , which first reported the breach, said it was potentially the work of a foreign government. The WSJ report said staffers at the Washington Post were told the intrusions compromised journalists’ Microsoft accounts and could have granted the intruder access to work e-mails. The reporters whose e-mails were targeted included members of the national security and economic policy teams, including some who write about China, the report added. In 2022, News Corp, which publishes the WSJ , was breached by digital intruders. The e-mail accounts and data of an unspecified number of journalists were compromised in that incident. – Reuters Thai Airways to exit debt restructuring programme BANGKOK: Flag carrier Thai Airways International said yesterday it will exit its debt restructuring programme and expects to resume trading its shares on the stock market by early August. Thailand’s national airline went into bankruptcy-protected restructuring in 2020, reducing its workforce by half and trimming its fleet. Since 2023, the airline has made a continuous operating profit every quarter, it said in a statement, a sharp turnaround for the carrier that had been booking losses nearly every year after 2012. The airline has a debt obligation to creditors of around 190 billion baht (RM24.9 billion), according to a court order, of which it has already paid back 94 billion baht and the remaining amount would be paid over the next decade, Thai Airways said. “The company aims to enhance its international aviation potential and push Thailand to become a regional air travel hub,” the statement said. – Reuters

A man working at an artisanal gold mine in the town of El Dorado, Venezuela. – AFPPIC

Mideast conflict boosts safe-haven demand for gold

sometimes countries have to fight it out first. Gold is considered a safe-haven asset during times of geopolitical and economic uncertainty. Investors this week will look forward to a host of central bank monetary policy decisions, with the spotlight on the US Federal Reserve tomorrow. The US central bank is widely anticipated to keep interest rates steady, with markets awaiting signals on potential rate cuts in the months ahead. Elsewhere, spot silver eased 0.1% to US$36.28 per ounce, platinum rose 0.4% to US$1,233.12, while palladium gained 1.4% to US$1,041.85. – Reuters

said Kelvin Wong, a senior market analyst, Asia Pacific at OANDA. “We have a clear break above US$3,400 right now and the short term uptrend is intact. We are seeing resistance level at US$3,500 and with the possibility of breaking new high above the US$3,500 level.” Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on Sunday, killing and wounding civilians and raising concerns of a broader regional conflict, with both militaries urging civilians on the opposing side to take precautions against further strikes. US. President Donald Trump said he hopes Israel and Iran can broker a deal but said

HONG KONG: Gold rose to a near two-month high yesterday, as intensified clashes between Israel and Iran over the weekend stoked fears of a broader regional conflict, pushing investors towards safe-haven assets. Spot gold was little changed at US$3,428.89 an ounce, as of 0508 GMT (1.08pm in Malaysia), after hitting its highest level since April 22 earlier in the session. US gold futures were down 0.1% to US$3,448.10. “It’s the joint political risk premium that’s rising due to the Iran-Israel conflict at this point that has boosted safe-haven demand for gold,”