30/10/2025

BIZ & FINANCE THURSDAY | OCT 30, 2025

/thesuntelegram FOLLOW / Malaysian Paper

ON TELEGRAM m RAM

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Nvidia to build AI machines for US Energy Department

Global firms slash jobs amid weak sentiment, AI push NEW YORK: Companies around the globe have ramped up job cuts, with blue-chips from Amazon to Nestle and UPS reining in spending while consumer sentiment dims and AI-focused tech companies start to replace jobs with automation. According to a Reuters tally, American companies have announced more than 25,000 job cuts this month, not including UPS’s 48,000 figure, which dates from the beginning of 2025. In Europe, the total tops 20,000, with Nestlé accounting for the bulk after last week’s 16,000-role reduction. With economy-wide numbers on job cuts not available given the US government is in the middle of its second-longest shutdown in history, investors are paying extra attention to these anecdotal stories of layoffs. That’s even if year-end layoffs are common and many of the eye-catching cuts will be stretched out over a prolonged period. “Investors are asking themselves, what does this mean? And specifically, what’s the overall picture since we can’t see it?” said Adam Sarhan, CEO of 50 Park Investments in New York. Cuts like those at Amazon “tells me the economy is slowing down, not getting stronger. You don’t have mass layoffs when the economy is strong.” Amazon said it would cut up to 14,000 jobs from its corporate workforce, joining Target, Procter & Gamble and others in axing thousands of office roles. Reuters reported on Monday as many as 30,000 Amazon jobs could be eliminated. The reasons for the cuts vary. Some, like Target and Nestle, have new CEOs eager to restructure their operations. Baby-apparel company Carter’s is slashing 15% of office jobs as it struggles with hefty import tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump. What stands out is the focus by companies like Amazon and Target on white-collar roles seen as vulnerable to AI-driven automation, rather than those on shop or factory floors. Some analysts say Amazon’s move could be an early sign of deeper structural shifts as firms push to justify billions spent on AI tools. Target’s cuts affect 8% of its corporate staff but Amazon’s cuts affect just 14,000 positions within its 1.5 million-strong workforce. KPMG’s latest survey of US-based executives released in September shows projected AI investment has jumped 14% since the first quarter to an average of US$130 million (RM546 million) over the next year. And 78% of executives say they are under intense pressure from boards and investors to prove AI is saving money and boosting profits. The occupations most likely to be affected would be where entry level work is replaced with automation, Bank of America economists wrote on Oct 22. So far, however, businesses loaded with white-collar workers such as those in the information, finance, and professional services sector have seen job growth in tandem with increased AI usage, they wrote. “I’m reticent to say it’s AI just yet,“ said Allison Shrivastava, economist with Indeed Hiring Lab in Saratoga Springs, New York, who said the tech sector has been retrenching since a 2022 peak. With the US government shut, data is at a premium. Weekly state jobless figures so far do not show a measurable surge in layoffs, but job growth remains subdued. Payroll provider ADP on Tuesday estimated an increase of 14,250 jobs in the four-week period ended Oct 11. Despite the headlines, economists say the labour market is stuck in a “low-hiring, low-firing phase”, with firms quietly trimming headcount by not replacing vacated roles. If layoffs accelerate, they could further weaken consumer confidence and the broader US economy, already under strain from tariffs and inflation above Federal Reserve targets. Fed officials concerned about the job market worry the “low-hiring, low-firing” environment could slip towards faster layoffs. – Reuters

GYEONGJU: Amazon Web Services will invest at least US$5 billion (RM21 billion) in South Korea by 2031 to build new artificial intelligence (AI) data centres, South Korea’s presidential office said yesterday, leveraging Seoul’s ambition to become an AI hub in Asia. The announcement was made during AWS CEO Matt Garman’s meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit. Amazon is one of seven global firms whose executives attended the group meeting with Lee in Gyeongju, South Korea, and pledged a total of US$9 billion in investments for the next five years, the presidential office said. Amazon’s investment will accelerate the WASHINGTON: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang came to Washington on Tuesday with a message for the Trump administration: the US can win the AI battle if the world, including China’s massive developer base, runs on Nvidia systems. In his address at the first Nvidia developers’ conference held in Washington, Huang walked a fine line between praising President Donald Trump, whose “America First” agenda Huang credited with spurring greater investment in US manufacturing and AI leadership, and risking further antagonism of China. Huang said the artificial intelligence (AI) chip leader will build seven new supercomputers for the US Department of Energy and had US$500 billion (RM2.1 trillion) in bookings for advanced chips, but also lamented that the Chinese government has shut it out of its market. Nvidia is at the core of the global AI rollout, and it is striking deals around the world while also navigating a US China trade war that could determine which country’s technology is most used around the world. Trump is touring Asia ahead of an expected meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping today where China’s use of Nvidia’s chips could be a key issue. “We want America to win this AI race. No doubt about that,” Huang said. “We want the world to be built on American tech stack. Absolutely the case. But we also need to be in China to win their developers. A policy that causes America to lose half of the world’s AI developers is not beneficial long term, it hurts us more.” Huang said his company had not applied for US export licences to send its newest chips to China because of the Chinese position. “They’ve made it very clear that they don’t want Nvidia to be there right now,” he said at a news conference during the company’s GTC developers event. “I hope that will change in the future because I think China is a very important market.” US administrations have swung back and forth on allowing Nvidia’s advanced chips into China, vacillating on whether access would make China more dependent on the US technology or give its military and tech o Huang backs Trump’s tech agenda, touts US$500b in chip deals and calls for the company’s return to China

Huang speaks about Nvidia Omniverse as he delivers his keynote address during the Nvidia GPU Technology Conference at Walter E. Washington Convention Centre on Oct 28. – AFPPIX

part of SK Group’s investments to build the country’s biggest data centre in the southeastern city of Ulsan. It has also announced investments in other countries, including Japan, Australia and Singapore. Earlier this month, South Korea’s presidential office said OpenAI planned to set up joint ventures with Samsung and SK to build two data centres, a Korean-style Stargate, with an initial capacity of 20 megawatts. OpenAI said South Korea has one of the largest numbers of paying ChatGPT subscribers, second only to the US. OpenAI also signed initial deals to source memory chips for its data centres from Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. – Reuters and Nokia will target the AI communications market. Nvidia will invest US$1 billion for a 2.9% stake in Nokia and it also introduced a new product line called Arc, designed to work with telecommunications equipment. Huang said Nvidia will work with Nokia to improve the power efficiency of the company’s base stations for 6G, the next generation of wireless data technology. “We’re going to take this new technology and we’ll be able to upgrade millions of base stations around the world,” Huang said. Nvidia also announced a partnership with Palantir Technologies, a company that works closely with the US government, to improve logistics for companies. Nvidia announced a new self-driving car technology platform called Hyperion. Huang said that Nvidia is partnering with Uber to create a network of robotaxis. “These announcements all show Nvidia’s ability to extend its reach beyond its core data centre customers,” said Gil Luria, an analyst at D.A. Davidson. “While these projects pale in comparison to the capex by the hyperscalers such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Meta, they could create new markets for Nvidia down the line.” Trump in his second term at first restricted exports of Nvidia’s AI chips designed for the China market before reversing course in July. Huang has argued that Nvidia needs access to some US$50 billion in potential sales from the Chinese market to fund US-based research and development to maintain his company’s edge. – Reuters

growth of an ecosystem for the AI industry in South Korea, as the country aims to become one of the world’s top three AI leaders, Lee said at the meeting with Garman. “At AWS, we’ve invested and committed to investment of an additional US$40 billion across 14 non-US Apec countries and economies between now and 2028,“ Garman said. “And, that US$40 billion actually drives an additional US$45 billion in US GDP and downstream benefit, benefiting all of the Apec economy,“ he said at a business event on the sidelines of the summit. AWS plans to build the new data centres on the outskirts of Seoul. AWS unveiled in June a US$4 billion investment plan in South Korea as Blake Anderson, an associate portfolio manager at Carson Group, estimated that one of the supercomputers, dubbed “Solstice,” could alone feature Nvidia chips worth about US$3 billion to US$4 billion. However, since federal customers are likely to receive discounts, the pricing could vary from the US$30,000 to US$40,000 price tag Blackwell chips tend to carry, Anderson added. Nvidia declined to comment on the size of the Energy Department deals, and the Energy Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Among the deals Huang discussed, Nvidia companies a competitive boost. Huang praised Trump while announcing new products and deals. These included network technology that will let Nvidia AI chips work with quantum computers, a telecom deal with Finland’s Nokia and self-driving car technology with Uber and Stellantis. The supercomputers Nvidia is building for the Energy Department will in part help the US maintain and develop its nuclear weapons arsenal. The supercomputers will also be used to research alternative energy sources such as nuclear fusion. The largest of the supercomputers for the Department of Energy will be built with Oracle and contain 100,000 of Nvidia’s Blackwell chips. “Putting the weight of the nation behind pro-energy growth completely changed the game,“ Huang said. “If this didn’t happen, we could have been in a bad situation, and I want to thank President Trump for that.” Nvidia shares closed 5% higher at US$201.03 on Tuesday.

Amazon unit to invest US$5b in South Korea