Proactive Investors -
- FTSE 100 down 53 points at 7,511
- House prices fall for fourth month in a row - Halifax
- Card Factory (LON:CARDC) leaps with trading "materially" ahead
Rising costs of chips could hit use of AI
The soaring cost of powering generative artificial intelligence could stifle its growth, according to Lidiane Jones, the new chief executive of Slack, the messaging business.
As demand for the technology expands exponentially, so too has the need for chips that are powerful enough to run it, known as graphics processing units (GPUs).
This has led to a shortage in supply of these specialised components, which in turn has pushed up costs for customers and is proving a major concern for technology companies.
In an interview with The Times, Jones said she was spending a lot of time thinking about this issue. “Will that limit how much customers will be able to adopt? And how do we ensure that the cost of these capabilities are not so prohibitive that organisations will limit their use?”
She added: “That is something that I think the market will have to watch really carefully because it could slow down the adoption of spending [on generative AI] and how constrained we get across the globe.”
UBS to cut two-thirds of Credit Suisse bankers in Asia - report
UBS is weighing a plan to cut about two-thirds of Credit Suisse's (SIX:CSGN) investment bankers in Asia-Pacific, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter.
The job cuts, aound 200, would be the first in the region following the fored marriage between the two Swiss lenders.
Reuters had earlier reported UBS is letting go of about 80% of Credit Suisse investment bankers in Hong Kong starting this week.
UBS (LON:0R3T) wants to retain more than 100 Credit Suisse investment bankers across Asia, with many of them focusing on markets outside of Hong Kong, Bloomberg said.
Inflexion a possible buyer for Haleon's Nicotinell arm
Haleon’s (LON:HLN) anti-smoking business Nicotinell has attracted the attention of a leading private equity investor, according to reports.
Sky News reported Inflexion, which has backed companies such as Goals Soccer Centres and Mountain Warehouse, is in talks about buying the brand which the FTSE 100 listed firm has earmarked for sale.
The report said Inflexion was one of group of bidders looking at the unit at price substantially less than touted $800 million price tag mooted in a report about the prospective sale last month.
Haleon, which was spun out of GlaxoSmithKline, the pharmaceuticals giant, last year, owns some of the world's leading consumer healthcare products.
Its chief executive, Brian McNamara, wants to sell non-core brands in order to drive a more focused portfolio and pay down debt.
German industrial production slumps in June
Adding to the downbeat mood German industrial production fell 1.5% in June from the previous month, reflecting declines in construction and car manufacturing output, and worse than market expectations od 0.4% drop.
There was a rebound in new orders for German industry, which rose 7% in June from May.
But this was mainly due to a big order for Airbus and surveys are pointing to further declines in demand and output in the third quarter.
Carsten Brzeski at ING warned June’s decline in industrial production may have been enough to keep Germany in recession, which is defined as two straight quarters of economic decline.
He said: “A further drop in German industrial production in June is another illustration of the country’s ongoing stagnation.
“With today’s numbers, the risk has increased that the flash estimate of stagnating GDP growth in the second quarter could still be revised downwards.”
The Dax fell on the news down 58 points at 15,894. Elsewhere in Europe, the CAC 40 is down 30 points at 7,285.