At its semi-annual GPU Technology Conference (GTC), Nvidia showcased its latest server-class GPU family, called Blackwell, offering a jump in both computing power and bandwidth and, most importantly, a significant increase in integrated memory. As mentioned in our July 2023 article, memory is the main bottleneck in the training of large GenAI models. As data…
Even if data is widely considered as the oil of the 21st century, it has been largely under-monetized until now. As an illustration, OpenAI developed ChatGPT with massive amounts of data, free of charge… But data-rich companies, such as social media, have taken notice and the situation is rapidly evolving with companies including X and Reddit…
While the discussion about the Metaverse has been centered recently around augmented & virtual reality devices thanks to the Apple Vision Pro launch, it shouldn’t be forgotten that the Metaverse is first and foremost a virtual world where we’ll spend in the future much of our online time to socialize, work and have fun. The…
The cybersecurity sector had a rough ride last week as Palo Alto Networks (a portfolio company), one of the industry leaders, announced an underwhelming billings guidance for both the current quarter (only +2-4%, after +16% in CQ4) and the full year (+10-11% vs +16-17% previously). Amid healthy cybersecurity spending, Palo Alto’s figures clearly came as…
The stellar rise of Generative Artificial Intelligence continues to shake up the whole IT industry. At the end of last week, the world’s largest semiconductor foundry, Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) and the world’s second largest memory maker, SK Hynix, announced a new alliance around the development of AI chips. This news, which has gone almost unnoticed,…
We commented last month that video game maker Epic’s legal victory against Google in its antitrust lawsuit was likely to have serious implications for the app store duopoly and for the mobile gaming industry. As both Apple and Google generally charge commissions of as much as 30% to app developers who have few other options,…
After an initial surge driven by consumer curiosity and “better for you” credentials, plant-based meat growth has stalled as consumers’ expectations in terms of taste, texture, price or degree of processing have not been met. Beyond Meat’s revenue have therefore been declining for six straight quarters. Amid this challenging demand environment, the business models of…
UK-based Darktrace kicked off the cybersecurity earnings season with a robust set of figures and a guidance upgrade, giving confidence that the recent rally in security stocks is sustainable as fundamentals improve. In H1 (calendar H2), Darktrace delivered 27% revenue growth, 3% above expectations, with an EBITDA margin above 19% (100-200bps above consensus) and raised…
This morning, the Chinese administration issued new draft rules for online games aiming to limit spending and tackle game addiction. While the document lacks details, the new rules would introduce spending limits (prohibition of high-priced transactions, recharge limits…) and prohibit certain user engagement methods (rewards for daily log-in and first-time/multiple purchases). We believe that the…
Two days ago, AMD unveiled its long-awaited server-class GPU chip called the Instinct MI300X. This chip is positioned to be a direct competitor to the successful H100, Nvidia’s current Generative AI workhorse. As GenAI models keep on growing in size, memory and the way to access it represent one of the key elements of focus…