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BIZ & FINANCE WEDNESDAY | JAN 7, 2026

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AMD ups the ante, shows off AI chips at CES 2026

ranging from outcomes across sports, entertainment, politics and the economy. When a contract priced at a few cents pays out at US$1, traders who have access to non-public information tied to such contracts can rake in massive profits within hours or days. In September, Polymarket secured approval from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission to relaunch its operations in the country, following its US$112 million acquisition of QCEX, a CFTC-licensed derivatives exchange and clearinghouse. The CFTC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it was looking into trades related to Maduro’s capture. – Reuters Hyundai Motor to use humanoid robots in US factory from 2028 LAS VEGAS: Hyundai Motor Group plans to deploy humanoid robots at its US manufacturing plant in Georgia starting in 2028, marking a step towards automating higher-risk and repetitive manufacturing tasks, the South Korean company said. Hyundai unveiled the production version of the Atlas humanoid robot developed by its unit Boston Dynamics, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Monday, adding that it aims to build a factory capable of manufacturing 30,000 robot units annually by 2028. The company did not disclose the cost of the robots, but said in a statement it aims to roll out adoption across all of its manufacturing sites as part of a push into “physical AI.” The robots will initially carry out parts sequencing tasks from 2028, with applications expanding gradually as safety and quality benefits are validated, it said. By 2030, Hyundai said Atlas robots were expected to move into component assembly with a longer-term plan to take on tasks involving heavy loads, repetitive motions and complex operations across production sites. The robots are designed to reduce physical strain on workers by taking on higher-risk and repetitive tasks, laying the groundwork for broader commercial use in industrial settings, it added. At Hyundai Motor’s affiliate Kia Corp, the labour union last year called to establish a body to address potential labour rights issues in preparation for the AI era, as workers raised concerns about expanding automation. Hyundai Motor’s vice-chair Jaehoon Chang said at CES that the company understands concerns about job losses, but people will be needed to maintain and train the robots, and additional personnel will be required. The company expects humanoid robots to become the largest segment of the physical artificial intelligence market (AI), which refers to AI systems embedded in hardware that collect real-world data and make autonomous decisions, spanning areas such as robotics, smart factories and autonomous driving. Some automakers see an overlap between autonomous driving and robotics because similar sensing, perception and decision-making technologies underpin both aspects of the emerging field of embodied AI. Atlas features human-scale hands with tactile sensing and has the ability to lift up to 50kg, according to Hyundai. The robot can operate autonomously and is designed to function in industrial environments ranging from -20 degrees Celsius to 40 degrees Celsius. – Reuters

“Our first commercial humanoid robot will be built in the second half of 2026,” Pucci said. Earlier on Monday, Nvidia showed off its next-generation Vera Rubin platform, which is made up of six separate chips. CEO Jensen Huang said it was in full production. It is expected to debut later this year. In October, AMD signed the deal with ChatGPT maker OpenAI that will add billions of dollars to the company’s annual revenue. The first deployment of AI chips that incorporate AMD’s MI400 series will roll out this year. Nvidia has generated tens of billions of dollars in quarterly revenue from its AI chip sales, a feat that AMD has struggled to achieve thus far. OpenAI is a key customer of AMD and executives at the Santa Clara, California-based company expect the deal to lead to significant additional new sales. Also on Monday, AMD launched its Ryzen AI 400 Series processors for AI PCs, alongside Ryzen AI Max+ chips for advanced local inference and gaming. Intel held a launch event earlier for its Panther Lake chips that it said would be available for order starting yesterday. – Reuters

o Tech firm rolls out fresh products at Las Vegas trade show, stepping up its challenge to Nvidia’s dominance while deepening ties with OpenAI

SAN FRANCISCO: Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su showed off a number of the company’s AI chips on Monday at the CES trade show in Las Vegas, including its advanced MI455 AI processors, which are components in the data centre server racks that the company is selling to firms like ChatGPT maker OpenAI. Su also unveiled the MI440X, a version of the MI400 series chip designed for on-premise use at businesses. The so-called enterprise version is designed to fit into infrastructure that is not specifically designed for AI clusters. The MI440X is a version of an earlier chip that the US plans to use in a supercomputer. AMD is one of Nvidia’s strongest rivals but has struggled to have as much success. In October, AMD signed a deal with OpenAI that, in addition

to the financial upside, was a major vote of confidence in AMD’s AI chips and software. But it is unlikely to dent Nvidia’s dominance, as the market leader continues to sell every AI chip it can make, analysts said. At the Monday event, OpenAI president Greg Brockman joined Su on stage and said chip advancements were critical to OpenAI’s vast computing needs. Looking to the future needs of companies like OpenAI, Su previewed the MI500 and said it offered 1,000 times the performance of an older version of the processor. The company said the chips would launch in 2027. At the event, Su hosted Daniele Pucci, CEO of Generative Bionics, an Italian AI developer, who unveiled GENE.01, a humanoid robot.

Cathay Pacific: Air China’s HK$1.3b stake sale ‘tactical’ HONG KONG: Cathay Pacific Airways CEO Ronald Lam said yesterday that major shareholder Air China’s decision to sell a 1.61% stake in the Hong Kong flagship carrier was a “tactical” move.

Lam was speaking at an event to mark Cathay Pacific’s 80th anniversary hours after Air China said it would sell 108.1 million shares in the Hong Kong airline for HK$1.32 billion (RM689 million). “I understand this is only tactical. Air China will remain our long-term strategic shareholder. I think that is for sure,“ Lam told reporters. After completing the sale, Air China will hold about a 27.11% stake in Cathay Pacific, though that will rise to 29.98% after the Hong Kong carrier completes a planned buyback of a stake owned by Qatar Airways. Swire Pacific will remain the largest shareholder with a 47.65% stake after the buyback. Air China said in a statement its shareholding in Cathay will be maintained “at an appropriate level” and it remained optimistic about the Hong Kong airline’s prospects.

As part of its 80th anniversary milestone, Cathay Pacific says it will focus on increasing flight frequencies this year rather than rapidly expanding its route network. - UNSPLASH PIX

more than 35% over the past year, were down about 2% yesterday.

“lettuce leaf sandwich” and was introduced in the 1970s and used until the early 1990s.

As part of celebrations to mark eight decades of operations, Lam announced the return of the airline’s iconic green-and-white livery on one of its Airbus A350 passenger jetliners and a Boeing 747 used for cargo. The classic colouring is widely known as the Mystery trader makes over US$400,000 after Maduro’s capture “This will bring back a lot of fond memories among many Hong Kong people who have travelled with us,“ Lam said. The airline does not plan to add too many new destinations this year but will increase the frequency on existing routes, he added. Shares of Cathay Pacific, which have jumped The airline said last month it would appoint Swire Pacific chairman Guy Bradley as its new chair in May, replacing Patrick Healy. Cathay Pacific also said it expected strong second-half financial results, with its 2025 full year earnings set to exceed the HK$9.89 billion profit reported in 2024. – Reuters

NEW YORK: An unknown trader has raked in a profit worth about US$410,000 (RM1.66 million) after betting that Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro would be ousted from his position. The trader’s account on Polymarket built up positions in contracts tied to Maduro’s removal on terms that implied long odds before the weekend raid. Those wagers, which were worth about US$34,000 prior to Maduro’s capture, surged in value after news of the US military operation on the Venezuelan leader emerged, Polymarket data shows. Major stock indexes jumped and oil prices gained earlier on Monday, while energy shares notched big gains after Maduro was captured by

congressman Ritchie Torres said he plans to introduce a bill this week that would bar elected officials, lawmakers and federal employees from placing bets on prediction market platforms where they could potentially access material non-public information. The anonymous account was created last month, with the trader buying up US$96 worth of contracts on Dec 27 that would pay off if the US invaded Venezuela by Jan 31. The trader then made several more similar bets in the following days. Prediction markets like Polymarket offer tradable yes-or-no contracts that allow users to bet on a wide range of real-world events,

the US military during the weekend. The country’s default-hit government bonds surged, buoyed by expectations of a large and complex sovereign debt restructuring. Bonds issued by the government and state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, known as PDVSA, jumped as much as 10 cents on the dollar, or almost 30%, as bullish investors swooped on the developments. The mystery trade is likely to attract scrutiny from US lawmakers who have been pushing for stricter insider trading rules, including a bipartisan effort to potentially ban trading of stocks by lawmakers. After news of the Maduro trades emerged on Monday, Democratic