Good morning. And hello from the balmy climes of Dana Point, California, where Fortune’s inaugural Workplace Innovation Summit has gathered top HR and adjacent execs to talk about the future of—what else?—work.
I will of course be conducting some of those conversations myself alongside a star roster of Fortune editors. Today, catch me talking about how to prepare the workforce for AI with leaders from Indeed, OpenAI, McKinsey, Microsoft, and Glassdoor; tomorrow, I’ll be focused on the opposite—how to turn AI into your greatest employee, with leaders from Phenom and Salesforce.
To paraphrase Mikey from The Bear, we’re gonna let it rip. Peep the agenda and watch the livestream here. Today’s tech news below. —AN
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AI chips are the new ‘coin of the realm,’ BofA says
AI chips have become so important globally they are like a form of currency in geopolitical talks on trade, according to analysts at Bank of America.
The observation comes as recent mega-deals point to continued demand for AI computing power.
In a recent note, BofA estimated that AI infrastructure projects between Nvidia and AMD and Humain, a subsidiary of the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, would come out to $3 billion to $5 billion invested annually, or $15 billion to $20 billion over a multi-year period.
Such “sovereign AI” deals could represent more than $50 billion annually in the overall $450 billion to $500 billion global AI infrastructure market opportunity globally, BofA said.
“Sovereign AI could also help address limited power availability for data centers in [the] US, plus offset headwinds from restrictions on US companies shipping to China,” analysts added.
Though Nvidia and AMD are poised to be the biggest winners from the Saudi project, Broadcom and Marvell Technology will also benefit, as will optical connectivity provider Coherent.
That’s because AI deployment demand from hyperscalers has proven dependable, AI diffusion rules have been relaxed, and the GPU is the new “coin of the realm,” the bank said.
Indeed, market leader Nvidia is seen as a bargaining chip in U.S.-China trade talks as both sides seek to lower barriers while also maintaining their own technological advantages.
Meanwhile, Humain’s deal with Nvidia not only represents the next steps in Trump’s efforts to court Mideast countries, but also elevates Nvidia’s role in global AI development. The thousands of semiconductor chips Humain will receive are Nvidia’s newest and most powerful, introduced only in March. —Jason Ma
Substantial Apple Siri upgrades are ‘still months away’
What should you expect at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June?
No big changes to Siri, according to a new report—and mostly upgrades to existing Apple Intelligence capabilities.
The details come embedded in a lengthy new Bloomberg story that details the missteps Apple made in its AI journey.
That’s not to say WWDC won’t introduce anything new on the AI front. Users should expect modest advancements like an AI-optimized battery management mode and a virtual health coach.
But the Siri upgrades promised almost a year ago remain “months away from shipping,” the report says.
The gap is so significant that Apple is “preparing to separate the Apple Intelligence brand from Siri in its marketing” so as not to drag down its broader efforts.
The stakes are massive. Apple’s AI stumbles put its tech supremacy at risk, a top company executive reportedly acknowledged to colleagues.
And the capabilities of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and its peer AI chatbots, having already begun to erode usage of Google’s search engine, threaten to supplant the (highly lucrative) app as a portal through which people use their devices. —AN
North Korea’s IT scheme functions like an organized crime syndicate
A new report on North Korea’s cyber-crime operations has revealed its inner workings and structure.
The DPRK’s highly lucrative scheme involves trained tech workers who infiltrate American and European businesses by impersonating domestic citizens to illegally obtain remote jobs in IT.
Once employed, the IT workers send almost their entire salaries home to fund the nuclear weapons program of Kim Jong Un’s regime.
This year, North Korea advanced the strategy to a new stage, recruiting 90 top graduates for an AI research center and demanding double their monthly earnings from each worker, according to the report, which was published by the cybersecurity firm DTEX.
According to UN estimates, the IT workers reliably generate $250 million to $600 million per year. Members of a separate group, dubbed North Korean Advanced Persistent Threat, have stolen at least $3 billion in crypto. The teams share intelligence.
The pressure on workers to generate revenues has given rise to side hustles, which are allowed as long as they continue to increase their earnings, according to the report.
“Cyber operatives are not motivated by ideology, but by material necessities: food, shelter, healthcare, and education for their families,” wrote Michael “Barni” Barnhart, an investigator who leads DPRK efforts for DTEX. “Loyalty is not the core driver. Survival is.” —Amanda Gerut
More tech
—Crypto abductions on the rise. Dozens globally over the last year as wallet values rise.
—Chime’s payday squeeze. Losses from lending and transactions have increased, weighing on margins.
—Indian “deep tech” startups struggle. Funding hurdles for upstarts focused on aerospace, robotics, chips, and more.
—Epic v. Apple continues. Epic asks judge to order Apple to approve Fortnite on U.S. App Store.
—Nintendo on Switch 2 pricing criticism: “Any time you make pricing decisions, there's a level of backlash.”
—Nvidia may invest in PsiQuantum. The chipmaker is reportedly in talks to back the quantum computing startup.
—Korean AI textbooks arrive. About 30% of schools have adopted AI-powered digital textbooks.
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