According to CIEL, Aargee Staffing is an information technology (IT) staffing company….reports Asian Lite News
Human resources (HR) solutions provider CIEL Group on Monday announced acquisition of staffing company Aargee Staffing Services Private Ltd.
According to CIEL, Aargee Staffing is an information technology (IT) staffing company.
This strategic acquisition, the fourth in the last one year, signifies another stride in CIEL’s pursuit of growth objectives and its IPO plans, it said, adding that this acquisition will help CIEL further enhance its professional staffing service.
“The integration of Aargee Staffing with CIEL Group marks a significant step towards fortifying our Tech Staffing Services to the market and further our IPO (initial public offering) plans,” CIEL Group Executive Chairperson, K.Pandiarajan, said.
Earlier Pandiarajan said CIEL HR Services Private Ltd will be raising about Rs 200 crore as pre-IPO funding out of which Rs 150 crore will be used for acquisitions and the balance will be for marketing, strengthening the digital assets, working capital, scaling up the company and others.
The campus is part of the company’s $400 million investment in India over the next five years, announced at ‘Semicon India 2023’….reports Asian Lite News
The unveiling of chip-maker AMD’s largest global design centre in India, that plans to host approximately 3,000 engineers in coming years, is a testament to the confidence global companies have in India, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Tuesday.
The 500,000-square-foot campus in Bengaluru is focused on the design and development of semiconductor technology including 3D stacking, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and more.
“India’s semiconductor programme launched under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi lays strong emphasis on supporting the design and talent ecosystem for semiconductors,” he said.
“AMD setting up its largest design centre in Bengaluru is a testament to the confidence global companies have in India,” the minister said.
The campus is part of the company’s $400 million investment in India over the next five years, announced at ‘Semicon India 2023’.
The campus will serve as a centre of excellence for the development of leadership products across high-performance CPUs for the data centre and PCs, data centre and gaming GPUs, and adaptive SoCs and FPGAs for embedded devices.
“This new design centre will help propel technology and product development across the AMD portfolio, fueling the next generation of high performance, adaptive and AI computing solutions for our customers around the world,” said Mark Papermaster, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, AMD.
The space features modern R&D labs spread over 60,000-square-feet and a large demo centre for visitors to experience AMD products and solutions.
“The India design centre started with a handful of employees in 2004. Today, 25 per cent of AMD’s global workforce is located in India and they support the development of AMD leadership products for data centre, gaming, PC and embedded customers,” said Jaya Jagadish, India Country Head, AMD.
Europe’s technological trajectory is bleak, lacking optimism for future influence. Over 15 years, R&D investments in European tech have sharply declined, with the share relative to global tech R&D diminishing steadily, writes Cristina Vanberghen
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is defining a new international order. Cyberspace is reshaping the geopolitical map and the global balance of power. Europe, coming late to the game, is struggling to achieve strategic sovereignty in an interconnected world characterised by growing competition and conflicts between States. Do not think that cyberspace is an abstract concept. It has a very solid architecture composed of infrastructure (submarine and terrestrial cable, satellites, data centers etc), a software infrastructure (information systems and programs, languages and protocols allowing data transfer and communication between the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and a cognitive infrastructure, which includes massive exchange of data, content, exchanges of information beyond classic “humint”.
Cyberspace is the fifth dimension: an emerging geopolitical space which complements land, sea, air and space, a dimension undergoing rapid militarization and in consequence deepening the divide between distinct ideological blocs at the international level. In this conundrum, the use and misuse of data – transparency, invisibility, manipulation, deletion – has become a new form of geopolitical power, and increasingly a weapon of war. The use of data is shifting the gravitational center of geopolitical power.
This geopolitical reordering is taking place not only between states but also between technological giants and States. The Westphalian confidence in the nation state is being eroded by the dominance of these giants which are oblivious to national borders, and which develop technology too quickly for states to understand, let alone regulate. What we are starting to experience is practically an invisible war characterized by data theft, manipulation or suppression, where the chaotic nature of cyberspace leads to a mobilization of nationalism, and where cyberweapons – now part of the military arsenal of countries such as China, Israel, Iran, South Korea, the United States and Russia – increases the unpredictability of political decision-making power. The absence of common standards means undefined risks, leading to a level of international disorder with new borders across which the free flow of information cannot be guaranteed. There is a risk of fragmentation of networks based on the same protocols as the Internet but where the information that circulates is now confined to what government or the big tech companies allow you to see.
Whither Europe in this international landscape?
The new instruments for geopolitical dominance in today’s world are AI, 5 or 6G, quantum, semiconductors, biotechnology, and green energy. Technology investment is increasingly based on the need to encounter Chinese investment. In August 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Chips and Science Act granting 280 billion US$ to the American Tech industry, with 52.7 billion US$ being devoted to semiconductors.
Europe is hardly following suit. European technological trends do not reflect a very optimistic view of its technological influence and power in the future. With regard to R&D invested specifically in Tech, the share of European countries’ investments, relative to total global R&D in Tech, has been declining rapidly for 15 years. Germany went from 8% to 2%; France from 6% to 2%. The European Union invests five times less in private R&D in Tech than the United States. Starting from ground zero 20 years ago, China has now greatly overtaken Europe and may catch up with the US.
The question we face is whether given this virtual arms race, each country will continue to develop its own AI ecosystem with its own (barely visible) borders, or whether mankind can create a globally shared AI space anchored in common rules and assumptions. The jury is out.
In the beginning, the World Wide Web was supposed to be an open Internet. But the recent trend has been centrifugal. There are many illustrations of this point: from Russian efforts to build its own Internet network to Open AI threatening to withdraw from Europe; from Meta withdrawing its social networks from Europe due to controversies over user data, to Google building an independent technical infrastructure.
This fragmentation advances through a diversity of methods, ranging from content blocking to corporate official declarations.
But could the tide be turning? With the war in Ukraine we have seen a rapid acceleration of use of AI, along with growing competition from the private sector, and this is now triggering more calls for international regulation of AI. And of course, any adherence to a globally accepted regulatory and technological model entails adherence to a specific set of values and interests.
Faced with this anarchic cyberspace, instead of increasing non-interoperability, it will be better to set up a basis for an Internationalized Domain Name (IDN), encompassing also the Arabic, Cyrillic, Hindi, and Chinese languages, and avoiding linguistic silos. Otherwise, we run the clear risk of undermining the globality of the Internet by a sum of national closed networks.
And how can we ensure a fair technological revolution? If in the beginning military research was at the origin of technological revolution, we are now seeing that emerging and disruptive technologies (EDTs), not to mention with dual-use technologies including artificial intelligence, quantum technology or biotechnology are mainly being developed by Big Tech, and sometimes by start-ups. It is the private sector that is generating military innovation. To the point that private companies are becoming both the instruments and the targets of war. The provision by Elon Musk of Starlink to the Ukrainian army is the most recent illustration of this situation. This makes it almost compulsory for governments to work in lockstep with the private sector, at the risk of missing the next technological revolution.
The AI war
At the center of AI war is the fight for standardization, which allows a technological ecosystem to operate according to common, interoperable standards. The government or economic operator that writes the rules of the game will automatically influence the balance of power and gain a competitive economic advantage. In a globalized world, we need however not continued fragmentation or an AI arms race but a new international Pact. Not however a Gentlemen’s Pact based on goodwill because goodwill simply does not exist in our eclectic, multipolar international (dis)order. We need a regulatory AI pact that, instead of increasing polarization in a difficult context characterized by a race for strategic autonomy, war, pandemics, climate change and other economic crises, reflects a common humanity and equal partnerships. Such an approach will lead to joint investment in green technology and biotechnologies with no need of national cyberspace borders.
EU AI Act
Now the emergence of ChatGPT has posed a challenge for EU policymakers in defining how such advanced Artificial Intelligence should be addressed within the framework of the EU’s AI regulation.
An example of a foundation model is ChatGPT developed by OpenAI which has been widely used as a foundation for a variety of natural language processing tasks, including text completion, translation, summarization, and more. It serves as a starting point for building more specialized models tailored to specific applications. According to the EU AI Act, these foundations models must adhere to transparency obligations, providing technical documentation and respecting copyright laws related to data mining activities. But we shall take into consideration that the regulatory choices surrounding advanced artificial intelligence, exemplified by the treatment of models like ChatGPT under the EU’s AI regulation, carry significant geopolitical implications.
The EU’s regulatory stance on this aspect will shape its position in the global race for technological leadership. A balance must be struck between fostering innovation and ensuring ethical, transparent, and accountable use of AI. It is this regulatory framework that will influence how attractive the EU becomes for AI research, development, and investment.
Stricter regulations on high-impact foundational models may impact the competitiveness of EU-based companies in the global AI market. It could either spur innovation by pushing companies to develop more responsible and secure AI technologies or potentially hinder competitiveness if the regulatory burden is perceived as too restrictive.
At international level the EU’s regulatory choices would influence the development of international standards for AI. If the EU adopts a robust and widely accepted regulatory framework, it may encourage other regions and countries to follow suit, fostering global cooperation in addressing the challenges associated with advanced AI technologies.
The treatment of AI models under the regulation can have implications for data governance and privacy standards. Regulations addressing data usage, transparency, and protection are critical not only for AI development but also for safeguarding individuals’ privacy and rights.
The EU’s AI regulations would have impact its relationships with other countries, particularly those with differing regulatory approaches. The alignment or divergence in AI regulations could become a factor in trade negotiations and geopolitical alliances.
Last but least, the regulatory decisions will reflect the EU’s pursuit of strategic technological autonomy. By establishing control over the development and deployment of advanced AI, the EU intends to reinforce its strategic autonomy and reduce dependence on non-European technologies, ensuring that its values and standards are embedded in AI systems used within its borders.
The EU AI Act can influence to the ongoing global dialogue on AI governance. It may influence discussions in international forums, where countries are working to develop shared principles for the responsible use of AI.
The EU’s regulatory choices regarding advanced AI models like ChatGPT are intertwined with broader geopolitical dynamics, influencing technological leadership, international standards, data governance, and global cooperation in the AI domain.
We have noticed that a few days before the discussion on the final format of EU AI Act, the OECD made an adjustment to its definition of AI, in anticipation of the European Union’s AI regulation demonstrate a commitment to keeping pace with the evolving landscape of AI technologies.
The revised definition of AI by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) appears to be a significant step in aligning global perspectives on artificial intelligence. The updated definition, designed to embrace technological progress and eliminate human-centric limitations, demonstrates a dedication to staying abreast of AI’s rapid evolution.
G7
At international level, we can notice that the G7 also reached urgent Agreement on AI Code of Conduct! In a significant development, the G7 member countries have unanimously approved a groundbreaking AI Code of Conduct. This marks a critical milestone as the principles laid out by the G7 pertain to advanced AI systems, encompassing foundational models and generative AI, with a central focus on enhancing the safety and trustworthiness of this transformative technology.
In my view, it is imperative to closely monitor the implementation of these principles and explore the specific measures that will be essential to their realization. The success of this Code of Conduct greatly depends on its effective implementation. These principles are established to guide behavior, ensure compliance, and safeguard against potential risks. Specifically, we require institutions with the authority and resources to enforce the rules and hold violators accountable. This may involve inspections, audits, fines, and other enforcement mechanisms but also educating about these principles, their implications, and how to comply with them is essential. It will be essential to ensure regular monitoring of compliance and reporting mechanisms that can provide insights into the effectiveness of the regulations. Data collection and analysis are crucial for making informed decisions and adjustments. Periodic reviews and updates are necessary to keep pace with developments. Effective implementation often necessitates collaboration among governments, regulatory bodies, industry stakeholders, and the public. Transparent communication about these principles is crucial to build trust and ensure that citizens understand the rules.
As the AI landscape evolves, it becomes increasingly vital for regulators and policymakers to remain attuned to the latest developments in this dynamic field. Active engagement with AI experts and a readiness to adapt regulatory frameworks are prerequisites for ensuring that AI technologies are harnessed to their full potential while effectively mitigating potential risks. An adaptable and ongoing regulatory approach is paramount in the pursuit of maximizing the benefits of AI and effectively addressing the challenges it presents.
Some brief conclusions
First, the ideological differences between countries on whether and how to regulate AI will have broader geopolitical consequences for managing AI and information technology in the years to come. Control over strategic resources, such as data, software, and hardware has become important for all nations. This is demonstrated by discussions over international data transfers, resources linked to cloud computing, the use of open-source software, and so on.
Secondly, the strategic competition for control of cyberspace and AI seems at least for now to increase fragmentation, mistrust, and geopolitical competition, and as such poses enormous challenges to the goal of establishing an agreed approach to Artificial Intelligence based on respect for human rights.
Thirdly, despite this, there is a glimmer of light emerging. To some extent values are evolving into an ideological approach that aims to ensure a human rights-centered approach to the role and use of AI. Put differently, an alliance is gingerly forming around a human rights-oriented view of socio-technical governance, embraced, and encouraged by like-minded democratic nations: Europe, the USA, Japan, India. These regions have an opportunity to set the direction through greater coordination in developing evaluation and measurement tools that contribute to credible AI regulation, risk management, and privacy-enhancing technologies. Both the EU AI Act and the US Algorithmic Accountability Act of 2022 or US Act for example, require organizations to perform impact assessments of their AI systems before and after deployment, including providing more detailed descriptions on data, algorithmic behavior, and forms of oversight. India is taking the first steps in the same direction.
The three regions are starting to understand the need to avoid the fragmentation of technological ecosystems, and that securing AI alignment at the international level is likely to be the major challenge of our century.
Fourthly, undoubtedly, AI will continue to revolutionize society in the coming decades. However, it remains uncertain whether the world’s countries can agree on how technology should be implemented for the greatest possible societal benefit or what should be the relationship between governments and Big Tech.
Finally, no matter how AI governance will be finally designed, the way in which it is done must be understandable to the average citizen, to businesses, and practising policy makers and regulators today confronted with a plethora of initiatives at all levels. Al regulations and standards need to be in line with our reality. Taking AI to the next level means increasing the digital prowess of global citizens, fixing the rules for the market power of tech giants, and understanding that transparency is part of the responsible governance of AI.
The governance of AI of tomorrow will be defined by the art of finding bridges today! If AI research and development remain unregulated, ensuring adherence to ethical standards becomes a challenging task. Relying solely on guidelines may not be sufficient, as guidelines lack enforceability. To prevent AI research from posing significant risks to safety and security, there’s a need to consider more robust measures beyond general guidance.
One potential solution is to establish a framework that combines guidelines with certain prescriptive rules. These rules could set clear boundaries and standards for the development and deployment of AI systems. They might address specific ethical considerations, safety protocols, and security measures, providing a more structured approach to ensure responsible AI practices.
However, a major obstacle lies in the potential chaos resulting from uncoordinated regulations across different countries. This lack of harmonization can create challenges for developers, impede international collaboration, and limit the overall benefits of AI research and development. To address this issue, a global entity like the United Nations could play a significant role in coordinating efforts and establishing a cohesive international framework.
A unified approach to AI regulation under the auspices of the UN could help mitigate the competition in regulation or self-regulation among different nations. Such collaboration would enable the development of common standards that respect cultural differences but provide a foundational framework for ethical and responsible AI. This approach would not only foster global cooperation but also streamline processes for developers, ensuring they can navigate regulations more seamlessly across borders.
In conclusion, a combination of guidelines, prescriptive rules, and international collaboration, potentially spearheaded by a global entity like the United Nations, could contribute to a more cohesive and effective regulatory framework for AI research and development, addressing ethical concerns, safety risks, and fostering international collaboration.
(Cristina Vanberghen is a professor at EUI Florence. She has been a senior expert at the EU commission and worked at the Stanford Center for Internet. Views expressed are personal and exclusive to India Narrative)
The Indian space economy is currently valued at around Rs 6,700 crore ($8.4 billion) with a 2 per cent share in the global space economy….reports Asian Lite News
The friendly government policies and timely investments have given a much-needed boost to startups in the aerospace sector compared to other countries and the country is ripe for tremendous growth in the space industry over the next decade, a top AWS executive has said.
The Indian space economy is currently valued at around Rs 6,700 crore ($8.4 billion) with a 2 per cent share in the global space economy.
As per estimates by the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), the country’s space economy is poised to reach Rs 35,200 crore ($44 billion) by 2033 with nearly 8 per cent of the global share.
Clint Crosier, Director, Aerospace and Satellite, AWS, told IANS during the sidelines of the ‘AWS re: Invent 2023’ conference here that he is very bullish on India and is witnessing a faster rate of space startups being created in the country over the last year.
“We have seen dozens and dozens of new space startups being established in India. This is because of the new government policies and investments, and the goal to increase by 4 times the amount of its share of the global space industry,” Crosier emphasised.
In September, AWS signed a strategic MoU with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and IN-SPACe to support space-tech innovations through cloud computing. This collaboration will give space startups, research institutes and students access to cutting edge cloud technologies that accelerate the development of new solutions in the space sector.
“We look forward to helping customers in India build space-tech solutions to make life on Earth better,” Shalini Kapoor, Director and Chief Technologist, Public Sector, AWS India and South Asia, had said.
The three-way collaboration follows the recent approval of the Indian Space Policy, 2023 which provides a strategic roadmap for the growth and development of India’s space programme and ambitions.
Crosier said that the company is working from the smallest startups all the way up to the government organisations to help them improve their capabilities in the space sector.
“We’re supporting and working with a company called SatSure in India, which is using space-based data, and geospatial analytics to help with climate management decisions within the government in the country,” he told IANS.
SatSure is able to process those volumes of data, and turn large data into real-time, knowledge and insights by operating at the scope and speed of high performance compute and artificial intelligence and machine learning on AWS cloud.
With at least 140 registered space-tech startups, India stands to transform the planet’s connection to the final frontier.
According to a latest report by The New York Times, startups in India have ambitious plans for capitalising on the burgeoning demand of small satellites in low-earth orbits.
The startups like Skyroot Aerospace, Dhruva Space and Pixxel are among a cluster of startups that have been actively and closely working with the ISRO. The government has opened up the space sector for private players.
In June during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the US, the White House said that Modi and American President Joe Biden “called for enhanced commercial collaboration between the US and Indian private sectors in the entire value chain of the space economy”.
Crosier was recently in India and saw a great momentum going on in the spacetech sector.
“We continue to sit down with the Indian startups. We continue to meet with them and understand their problems, looking at Cloud-based tools and capabilities and figure out where Ccloud can solve some of their problems,” he noted.
The unit was “created to explore new business opportunities beyond its existing operations,..reports Asian Lite News
Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest maker of memory chips and smartphones, said on Monday it has established a unit tasked with exploring new business opportunities, as part of the electronics giant’s annual reshuffle of its top-level executives.
The unit, called the “Future Business Planning Division,” will be led by longtime Samsung executive Jun Young-hyun, currently vice chairman of Samsung SDI Co., a display unit of Samsung Group, the company said in a statement.
The annual reshuffle saw two co-CEOs of Samsung Electronics — Han Jong-hee and Kyung Kye-hyun — retain their posts, in an apparent move to stabilize the company’s leadership, about a year after Chairman Lee Jae-yong took the helm, reports Yonhap news agency.
The unit was “created to explore new business opportunities beyond its existing operations,” Samsung Electronics said in the statement.
Under the reshuffle, two vice presidents were also promoted.
Yong Seok-woo, who has served in various capacities at the company’s display division, was promoted to a president and will be in charge of the display division.
Kim Won-kyong, a former diplomat who joined Samsung Electronics in 2012, was promoted to a president and will head the company’s division on global public affairs.
Samsung’s latest reshuffle was smaller in scope compared with past ones. Last year, a total of seven executives were promoted to president, including Lee Young-hee, the company’s first-ever female president.
The latest reshuffle is also seen as a sign that Samsung is moving to tap more younger talents for top-level executive positions, with Yong becoming the first-ever company president born in the 1970s.
The reshuffle came as a prolonged global economic downturn and a struggling semiconductor industry have cast a cloud over Samsung Electronics’ quarterly performance.
In the first and second quarters of this year, Samsung Electronics posted 640.2 billion won ($491 million) and 668.5 billion won in operating profit, respectively, marking the lowest quarterly earnings since the first quarter of 2009.
Tech Mahindra on Monday announced it has collaborated with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to build a sports cloud platform…reports Asian Lite News
The offering focuses on building next-generation digital capabilities for sports organisations and delivering immersive and personalised experiences to sporting enthusiasts worldwide.
Tech Mahindra on Monday announced it has collaborated with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to build a sports cloud platform.
The offering focuses on building next-generation digital capabilities for sports organisations and delivering immersive and personalised experiences to sporting enthusiasts worldwide.
“By building Sports Cloud on AWS, we aim to build a personalised, fan-focused community that transcends physical sports,” Jagdish Mitra, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Growth, Tech Mahindra, said in a statement.
“The platform is positioned to disrupt the sports tech industry by providing opportunities for sports organisations and franchises worldwide to create a delightful fan engagement experience that is built on content and community, leading to commerce,” he added.
Both companies will collaborate to offer a comprehensive digital platform to sports organisations, offering use cases related to content and community engagement, customer data management and audience segmentation, and sports analytics, while delivering immersive stadium-to-home fan experiences by leveraging augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/ VR), and metaverse gamification.
“Our collaboration with Tech Mahindra will enable leading sports organisations to take the fan experience to the next level by creating immersive experiences and providing data-driven insights,” said Samira Bakhtiar, General Manager, Media, Entertainment & Sports, AWS.
The platform will use AWS native services, and specialist AWS services such as AWS Elemental MediaLive for delivering 24/7 linear channels and live events at scale; AWS Elemental MediaConvert for transcoding content for broadcast and multi-screen delivery; Amazon Kinesis Data Streams for storing and ingesting various streaming data in real-time at any scale, etc.
Tech Mahindra will also leverage Amazon SageMaker — a fully managed ML service from AWS that enables developers and data scientists to build, train, and deploy ML models for any use — to power AR/VR video and image analytics and enable fans to experience virtual stadium tours, live events, shopping, and access footage from sporting events.
Nvidia’s revenue was $18.12 billion in the third quarter of this year, with a profit of $10.42 billion…reports Asian Lite News
Graphics chip giant Nvidia has become the most profitable semiconductor firm in the third quarter (Q3) of this year, surpassing Intel, Samsung, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).
Taipei-based financial analyst Dan Nystedt compiled financial results from Intel, Nvidia, Samsung Semiconductor, and TSMC for all quarters since Q1 2021, and the figures showed that Nvidia has surpassed all others to become the world’s most profitable chip company.
“Nvidia swooped in and took the third quarter chip industry revenue crown, beating out TSMC, Intel and Samsung as the generative AI trend continues to strengthen,” Nystedt posted on X.
“Nvidia could win second place in full-year chip revenue in 2023, beating Intel and Samsung, while TSMC remains on track to take the title,” he added.
The news was first reported by SamMobile.
Nvidia’s revenue was $18.12 billion in the third quarter of this year, with a profit of $10.42 billion, a 206 per cent (year-over-year) increase, with AI chips for data centres accounting for the majority of the profit.
In comparison, TSMC, the world’s largest contract chip manufacturer, generated $17.28 billion in revenue and $7.21 billion in profit. Intel’s revenue for the third quarter of 2023 was $14.16 billion, but it lost $8 million.
Samsung Semiconductor, Samsung’s chip designing and manufacturing arm, had revenue of $12.52 billion but losses of $2.86 billion.
To accelerate its customers’ journeys, TCS has invested in foundation training of over 100,000 employees on generative AI….reports Asian Lite News
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Monday said it has launched new generative AI practice in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to help customers harness the full potential of generative AI and transform their operations.
To accelerate its customers’ journeys, TCS has invested in foundation training of over 100,000 employees on generative AI. It is now focused on deepening their expertise further, including certification of over 25,000 employees on the AWS generative AI services.
“Drawing from all the investments we have made in building deep capabilities in generative AI, our strong partnership with AWS, and contextual knowledge of our customers’ businesses, we help them take a comprehensive approach to realize the true potential of generative AI to drive their growth and transformation,” said Krishna Mohan, Deputy Head, TCS AI.Cloud unit.
TCS’ AWS generative AI practice will help enterprises choose and quickly scale the right solutions for their unique business needs and transform their organisations, using AWS’ services such as Amazon Bedrock.
TCS’ consultants will help clients explore the most impactful use-cases in their business context, experiment collaboratively and co-innovate generative AI-powered solutions, said the company.
“AWS has been focused on making AI accessible to companies of all sizes and across industries, and by deepening the AWS and TCS relationship through the TCS generative AI practice, more customers can easily and quickly leverage and benefit from generative AI,” said Vasi Philomin, Vice President of Generative AI, AWS.
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, the world’s largest hotel franchising company, has extended its strategic partnership with TCS and AWS to manage its digital transformation journey leveraging AWS generative AI services.
Foxconn is the main assembler of Apple iPhones and both companies are keen to move away from China and create alternative supply chains…reports Asian Lite News
Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn plans to invest $1.54 billion in India, as the country doubles down on local manufacturing. In a stock exchange filing, Foxconn said that the investment will help it fulfil “operational needs.”
The company, however, did not provide further details. Foxconn is the main assembler of Apple iPhones and both companies are keen to move away from China and create alternative supply chains.
Foxconn already has an iPhone factory in Tamil Nadu, which employs 40,000 people and has signed an agreement to invest Rs 1,600 crore in a new electronics components unit in the state that will create 6,000 jobs.
The company has also announced that it will be investing an additional Rs 3,300 crore in its manufacturing facility in Telangana. This will take the total investment of the company in the state to more than Rs 4,550 crore.
In September, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the government was “fully committed” to support Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn’s ambitious plans to double its manufacturing capacity in the country.
“Fully committed to support and facilitate,” Vaishnaw said on X in response to Foxconn India representative V Lee’s LinkedIn post to mark Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 73rd birthday in which he said the company was “aiming for another doubling of employment, FDI (foreign direct investment), and business size in India” by this time next year.
Foxconn chairman Young Liu had visited India recently to attend the ‘SemiconIndia 2023’ event hosted for global semiconductor companies that was inaugurated by PM Modi in Gandhinagar.
Speaking at the event, the Foxconn chairman said, “I can feel the determination of the Indian government. I am very optimistic about where it’s headed.”
Lenovo India makes its desk tops, laptops at its 1.4 million units plant here….writes Venkatachari Jagannathan
Personal computer (PC), laptop maker $1.9 billion revenue Lenovo India on Friday launched its desktop with locally sourced motherboard which in turn would give a stronger pitch while bidding for government supplies, said a senior official.
Officials also said the demand for laptops in India has stabilized now after a boom during the Covid-19 period due to the online classes held by schools and colleges.
Lenovo India makes its desk tops, laptops at its 1.4 million units plant here.
According to Saurabh Agrawal, Chief Operating Officer, the production of desktops with Made-in-India motherboards makes the machine compliant with the Indian government’s Preferential Market Access (PMA) policy.
Lenovo India now qualifies for the Class 1 PMA bracket, with over 50 per cent of components being fulfilled through local manufacturing for a select range of products. This will give the company a better weightage while bidding for government tenders for desktops.
With the recent announcement of approval to 27 firms under the PLI 2.0 (Production Linked Incentive) for IT Hardware Scheme, Lenovo India has the additional impetus to increase PC production capability and, thereby contributing to India’s Make in India initiative, the company said. Nearly about 40 per cent of the commercial segment is accounted for by desktops, which is a sizable number and the increasing sales of laptops will not majorly impact the desktop market, said a senior Lenovo official.
According to Agrawal, 70 per cent of the production at Lenovo India’s plant here is accounted for by desktop and the balance by laptops and others.
Officials said the company’s Puducherry plant is working at about 45 per cent capacity.
Last year, the plant produced about 7.4 lakh units and the current year production target is one million units. Every 24 seconds, a product – desktop or laptop- rolls out of the assembly line here.
However, Agrawal declined to comment on the numbers.
Lenovo India gets its mobile phones and tabs manufactured at two contract manufacturing locations.
