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Chipmaker AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) has unveiled a range of innovative AI solutions spanning from data centers to personal computers. The AMD Instinct MI300 Series features data center AI accelerators, while the ROCm 6 open software stack introduces new features supporting Large Language Models (LLMs). Additionally, the Ryzen 8040 Series processors come equipped with Ryzen AI capabilities.
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Digital Assets: Hackers Attack Cybersecurity Firm FireEye And Electronics Giant FoxConn
A Mexican office of Foxconn Technology Co Ltd (TPE: 2354), the electronics behemoth that makes products for Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) was the victim of a cybersecurity attack on November 29. According to Bleeping Computer, the ransomware attack was mounted on Foxconn’s Mexican branch by the Doppelpaymer gang.
Artificial Intelligence: China’s Huawei And Megvii Tested AI To Pinpoint Uighur Muslims
Chinese tech giant Huawei and Megvii, one of the country’s largest AI companies, have reportedly tested a facial recognition system to track Uighur Muslims, a repressed minority group. On detection, the system also alerts the authorities.
Liquid Alternatives: Franklin Templeton Launches Long/Short Emerging Markets Debt Fund
The Franklin K2 Emso Emerging Markets Ucits fund is launched as a part of FT subsidiary K2’s Luxembourg-based alternative funds’ range. The fund will seek long and short exposures, including through the use of derivatives, to debt securities of sovereign and corporate obligors and currencies in emerging markets.
Venture Capital: Dragos Scores $110M For Cybersecurity Of Industrial Control Systems And Operational Technology
Dragos secures industrial control systems and operational technology (ICS/OT), the command network and systems devices that monitor modern industrial processes against hackers having ulterior commercial and political motives. The startup announced today that investors representing some of the world’s largest corporations had funded its Series C $110 million round.
FinTech: More Heat On Chinese Fintechs From Guo Shuqing
Chinese fintechs should hunker down to face a tougher regulatory environment. Speaking at the Singapore Fintech Festival, Guo said the authorities were concerned about the power wielded by China’s large fintech companies and that “timely and targeted measures to prevent new systemic risks” were on the anvil.
Artificial Intelligence: AI-Controlled Gun Used to Kill Iranian Nuclear Scientist, Claims IRGC
On Sunday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed that artificial intelligence and a satellite were used to control a machine gun that killed Fakhrizadeh on November 27.
Digital Assets: MicroStrategy Borrowing $400M To Bump Up Bitcoin Bet
MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR), the listed business intelligence company that pioneered corporate treasury investing in bitcoin, announced an issue of $400 million aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2025 in a private offering to qualified institutional buyers. The company will invest the net proceeds of the issue in bitcoin, it said on Monday.
Digital Assets: BISON, The Crypto App Of Boerse Stuttgart, Hits Record Volumes
In another sign of the growing adoption of cryptocurrencies, Boerse Stuttgart announced Monday that Bison, its crypto trading app had clocked, year to date, a total trading volume of € 1 billion (over $ 1.2 billion).
It said that active users of the Bison trading app had surged by 180% to 206,000 in the same period. Also, during November, the app scaled daily record trading volumes on several days during the month, even exceeding € 35 million.
Liquid Alternatives: Cerulli Research Expects Higher Demand For Liquid Alternatives In Europe
The need for diversification and the promise of uncorrelated returns will boost demand in Europe for liquid alternatives over the medium term, says new research presented in the latest issue of The Cerulli Edge – Global Edition.
Venture Capital: TechVenture Fund Highland Europe Raises €700M For Fund IV
Highland Europe, the venture investment firm that was spun off from the U.S.-based Highland Capital Partners in 2012, has raised €700 million ($851 million) for its fourth and largest fund in record time.
FinTech: Singapore Grants Digital “Full-Bank” (DFB) Licenses To Grab+Singtel And Sea
In a first for Singapore, it awarded licenses to operate digital full banks in the island nation to Sea Limited (NYSE: SE) and a consortium of Grab and Singtel (SGX: Z74). The two full-license winners, tech-heavy giants all of them, can now offer the whole range of banking services including customers’ banking accounts, deposits, debit and credit cards, and other services to both retail and corporate customers.
Artificial Intelligence: AI Keeps Google’s Loon Balloons On Course In The Stratosphere
Helium-filled balloons launched into the stratosphere by Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) subsidiary, Loon, relay internet signals from an earth station to thousands of subscribers’ devices on the ground. Positioned at a height of about 20 km, these balloons are being kept on course by AI created by Loon and Google AI.
Digital Assets: HAIC I, The New Crypto Fund From A German Private Bank Targets Institutions
German private bank Hauck & Aufhäuser Privatbankiers AG will soon provide investors the opportunity to obtain long-term exposure to leading, large-cap cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, ether, and stellar. The bank’s digital asset-focused investment arm, Hauck & Aufhäuser Innovative Capital (HAIC), obtained a BaFin license as a registered asset manager on September 30. The bank has a tie-up for crypto custody services with Kapilendo AG, also licensed by BaFin. HAIC and Kapilendo are floating the HAIC Digital Asset Fund I in January 2021 with a focus on institutional investors.
FinTech: Stripe’s New ‘Treasury’ Product Offers Bank Accounts To Its Platform Partners
Stripe launches Stripe Treasury in major expansion of financial services offering for platform partners
Alternative Investments/ESG: Fidelity Launches ETF Focused On Sustainable Emerging Market Companies
Joyce Chang, chair of global research at JPMorgan, told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Thursday that stocks in emerging markets “were very under-owned” considering the overall rally in the equity markets. She added that there was scope for “catch-up in 2021 for emerging markets,” and that they could rise as much as 20% in 2021.
Venture Capital: Space Perspective Scores $7M For Its Sub-Orbital Balloon Junkets
Space Perspective is a startup planning to offer high-altitude (read: “edge of space”) trips in Spaceship Neptune, a pressurized capsule suspended from a balloon. It announced Wednesday its raise of $7 million as a seed round led by Prime Movers Lab and Base Ventures.
Artificial Intelligence: A Capgemini Contest Winner Develops AI Tool To Track Sperm Whales
A team called “AI Sensing” won the Capgemini Group’s (EN: CAP) annual Global Data Science Challenge 2020 for developing a solution that analyzes thousands of photos of sperm whales and identifies matches of the individual whales.
The findings help scientists track the whales’ migration routes, protect their natural habitats, and analyze their social structures.
Artificial Intelligence: AI To Help Defend Murder Accused at the Old Bailey
It’s the first known case of artificial intelligence being used in a trial at the venerable Old Bailey, the U.K.’s top criminal court. Defense lawyers for James Watson, who is charged with murdering Rikki Neave, a six-year-old schoolboy in November 1994, are using artificial intelligence to analyze the over 10,000 documents connected with the trial.
Digital Assets: Ultimate Validation? S&P Dow Jones To Launch Crypto Indexes In 2021
S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) and Lukka, the New York City-based crypto-asset software and data company, are partnering to launch S&P DJI-branded and customized indexing and benchmarking solutions for global cryptocurrency assets. Lukka will provide its proprietary crypto asset pricing data.
Venture Capital: Mega-Rounds In Events, E-Commerce, And Self-Driving
Startups across diverse businesses nabbed solid funding immediately after the Thanksgiving weekend. With the Presidential election a distant speck in the rearview mirror, the venture capital industry appears to have got down to business in right earnest, rising COVID numbers notwithstanding. Mega-rounds of $100M+ are par for the course, it seems.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Invest In Decarbonization Solutions Via The New iClima Earth ETF
iClima Earth is a London-based research firm that identifies which companies offer solutions that reduce greenhouse gases by avoiding emissions or by sequestering carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere. iClima has partnered with white-label ETF issuer HANetf to launch an ETF that would invest in such “enablers” of decarbonization.
Fintech: Monzo Scores £60M Funding In Another Down Round
The latest funding round valued Monzo, the U.K. neobank, at £1.2 billion, marginally lower than the £1.25 billion valuation in the June funding, according to TechCrunch. Investors in the current round included new entrants Deliveroo and Stripe investor Novator, Kaiser, and TED Global. Existing investor Goodwater also participated.
Alternative Investments/ESG: TD Asset Management Launches Three New Equity ETFS With ESG Focus
TD Asset Management announced Tuesday the launch of three new ESG Equity ETFs to cater to investors looking for exposure to equity market indexes and companies with an ESG edge. The ETFs have a regional focus and track Canadian, U.S. and International equity indices respectively.
Digital Assets: “The Real Story Is Adoption,” Says Novogratz On Bitcoin
Speaking Tuesday on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Digital, said large investors appeared to be switching their gold holdings to bitcoin, judging from the outflows seen recently in the yellow metal. Meanwhile, the leading cryptocurrency touched an all time high on Tuesday.