A lot is happening in Asia right now, from pirate attacks on ships to integrating AI into new applications. Dive into our weekly news round-up dedicated to the Asian financial landscape to stay up-to-date with the latest news.
Risks At The Red Sea Might Push Oil Prices Up
The recent violence in the Red Sea has raised many concerns, one of them being the rising prices of oil. After the US and UK’s attack on Houthi militants, the price of crude oil has risen more than 2 per cent. The attack was carried out after some Houthi militants attacked a commercial US ship by missile. On Tuesday, Brent crude was trading above $78 and West Texas crude was just above $73. However, the conflict has only surged the oil prices for now rather than posing a supply threat.
China Can Still Access Nvidia AI Chips From Grey Markets
Although China is banned from the export of Nvidia AI chips from the US, it doesn’t stop the country from acquiring the tech through the grey market. Experts claim that despite the export ban, many small vendors and distributors are reselling and smuggling these chips into the Chinese underground market. According to a non-profit firm in the US, Chinese firms are setting up shell companies in third-world countries to place orders and then redirecting them to China.
Samsung To Build An All AI Chip Factory
The South Korean tech giant has announced that it is working on setting up an all AI chip manufacturing facility which will have no humans working in it. The company has stated that it plans to integrate AI into its semiconductor manufacturing facilities before 2030. This step is taken to perfect the process of manufacturing and reduce the margin or error to the bare minimum. A human-free factory also eliminates the chances and cost of human contamination. Samsung expects that the size of transistors will go down quite significantly in the next decade. According to the company, it can start making 1nm (nanometer) chips by 2029. Every country is fighting to be the global chip supplier, recently India signed a deal with Foxconn to start a manufacturing unit in the country itself.
