Kitchener's new tech tool to catch parking infractions
Kitchener has turned to artificial intelligence to help bylaw officers spot parking violations on city streets. CTV's Krista Simpson explains.
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Globe and Mail
an hour ago
- Globe and Mail
Canadian chip company Untether AI winding down operations
Promising Canadian chip startup Untether AI Corp. is winding down after failing to raise money earlier this year, and its engineering employees will be transferred to American company Advanced Micro Devices AMD-T. The arrangement is known as an 'acquihire,' in which one company strikes a deal with another to gain access to talent instead of products or services. Toronto-based Untether designed computer chips for artificial intelligence applications such as autonomous vehicles, robots and drones, and said its products were far more energy efficient than others on the market. But the company pivoted too late to the hardware market for powering generative AI applications, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, according to two sources familiar with the matter, and struggled to compete against the dominance of Nvidia Corp. NVDA-T in the chip market. Economic uncertainty owing to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff agenda contributed to difficulties raising new funds from investors this year, one of the sources said. The Globe and Mail is not identifying the sources because they are not authorized to discuss the matter. Untether said in a statement on its website Thursday that it had entered into a 'strategic agreement' with chipmaker AMD, which is based in California. 'While today marks the end of Untether AI's journey, we are proud of the pioneering research that underpinned our work,' the statement read. The company added it will no longer supply or support its hardware and software products. AMD said in a statement to trade publication CRN that it is acquiring 'a talented team of AI hardware and software engineers' from Untether. One source said the value of the deal would likely be less than US$100-million depending on how many employees agree to join AMD. The source added that Meta Platforms Inc., which is working on custom chips for AI applications, was also in talks with Untether. It is not clear what will happen to Untether's intellectual property, which is not part of the transaction, but the source said it could be sold separately. Neither Untether nor AMD immediately replied to a request for comment. From 2024: Toronto's Untether straps in for growth selling AI chips - but can it avoid getting crushed by Nvidia? Chris Walker, Untether's chief executive, left the company in May, according to his LinkedIn profile. He did not reply to The Globe and Mail. Untether was founded in 2018 and received funding from Intel Capital, Radical Ventures, GM Ventures and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. The company has raised around $150-million. That means given the potential value of the deal, investors are likely not recouping the total amount they invested. However, losses will depend on when investors first put money into Untether. The company's products were built on the research of co-founder and former University of Toronto professor Martin Snelgrove, who pioneered a different computer chip architecture. The dominant approach to chip-making has followed a design laid out by mathematician and physicist John von Neumann in 1945, but that design wastes a lot of energy shuttling data around. Untether cut the distance data must travel by placing memory and processing units side-by-side on the hardware. Untether pursued the self-driving vehicle market and other systems that use a form of AI know as computer vision, which involves detecting and interpreting objects in videos and images. But the AI world changed with the release of ChatGPT in late 2022, as companies became obsessed with generative AI and chatbots. Nvidia became the most valuable publicly traded company in the world as large tech firms scrambled to purchase chips to install inside data centres for training AI models. Untether aimed to compete with Nvidia in the much larger market for powering AI inference, the term for using an AI model after it is built, such as asking a question of ChatGPT. Independent tests gave Untether's products high marks. MLCommons, an industry and academic consortium that benchmarks AI systems, found last year that one of Untether's chips was six times more energy efficient than competing products, and with lower latency, in one testing category. But Untether's push into the market for chips housed in data centres for generative AI may have come too late, especially given Nvidia's scale and reputation. The California-based company is worth close to US$3.5-trillion.
Globe and Mail
4 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
The Smartest Growth Stock to Buy With $10 Right Now
Buying and holding onto solid companies with disruptive potential can be a winning, long-term strategy for investors. Their potential to grow at a faster pace than their peers sets the stage for impressive stock market gains. SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN) is one such company. Its artificial intelligence (AI) voice solutions are changing how clients handle food ordering, e-commerce, customer service, healthcare, and other functions. Each share of SoundHound is trading below $10 as of this writing, so if you have $10 to spare, here's why you should tap into this promising growth stock. SoundHound is winning market share in a fast-growing industry SoundHound offers multiple voice AI products, allowing customers to build custom solutions for their businesses. The company's AI agents can speak, think, and act autonomously while interacting with customers, whether it's in the drive-thru lane of a restaurant or on a company's customer service line. Importantly, SoundHound is not just winning over new customers but also gaining more business from existing ones. In its first-quarter report, management detailed new integrations of its voice AI solutions across multiple industries, and it also announced expanded partnerships with existing clients. What's more, the company's Autonomics AI operations platform was named a leader in its segment by technology research and advisory firm ISG Research. The strength of SoundHound's offerings explains why the company has been able to quickly expand its customer base. Best of all, the market in which SoundHound operates is still in its early stages. Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz estimates the voice AI market increased 25% last year to $5.4 billion. SoundHound's 2024 revenue growth of 85% is a clear sign the company is outpacing the market overall. And for 2025, Andreessen Horowitz is expecting a 61% spike in the voice AI market to $8.7 billion. Meanwhile, SoundHound is guiding for full-year revenue to double at the midpoint of its guidance range of $157 million to $177 million. The stock has terrific long-term growth potential Based on the above projections, SoundHound could end 2025 with a 2% market share, and the voice AI opportunity will continue to expand with one estimate calling for 32% compound annual growth through 2032, when it will be a $40 billion annual market. If SoundHound's market share jumps to 10% of that 2032 forecast, its annual revenue would reach $4 billion. This level of growth is likely in the ballpark of what investors expect for this AI stock, which explains its expensive valuation. SoundHound is trading at 35 times trailing revenue as of this writing. Following its recent slide, SoundHound can still be a solid pick for growth-hungry investors with a long-term mindset. However, anyone buying into the stock must be prepared to look past near-term volatility and give the company time to capitalize on its huge market opportunity. Should you invest $1,000 in SoundHound AI right now? Before you buy stock in SoundHound AI, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and SoundHound AI wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $668,538!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $869,841!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is789% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to172%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025
Globe and Mail
4 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
The Nasdaq Bounces Back: 2 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks Worth Buying Right Now
Technology stocks are surging once again, especially artificial intelligence stocks. But don't think it's too late to buy in. The two AI stocks below have a very bright future. Despite their upfront premiums, rapid and sustained growth rates could deliver huge gains for patient shareholders. This is still the No. 1 artificial intelligence stock Every AI investor should own Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA). Nvidia's business model and savvy strategy have placed it at the center of the AI revolution, a position it will likely retain for many years to come. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue » At the core of Nvidia's business model is its hardware for graphics processing units (GPUs). These GPUs power data centers around the world, which in turn power the training and execution of nearly every AI model. With a 90% market share for data center GPUs, it's safe to say that Nvidia dominates the market for GPUs related to AI applications. The market simply can't get enough of Nvidia's components. Just take a look at Nvidia's gross profits and customer demand. Nvidia currently enjoys industry-leading gross margins of around 70%. GPU makers like Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), meanwhile, have gross profit margins of around 30%. Nvidia's new Blackwell architecture quickly sold out for 12 months following its release. NVDA Revenue Growth Estimate for Current Fiscal Year data by YCharts Nvidia stock isn't cheap with a price-to-sales ratio of 23. However, the AI market is expected to grow by more than 30% per year through 2033. Due to its high profitability, shares trade at just 45 times trailing earnings and just 33 times forward earnings. That's still a premium price. But the upfront premium should be more than justified over a long holding period. There's huge growth potential for this GPU stock Compared to Nvidia, Intel has many flaws. The company made several ill-advised acquisitions over the past decade, and it failed to properly invest in both the hardware and software needs of the AI industry. The result is a stagnating business with relatively low levels of profitability. The trade-off for investors, however, is a rock-bottom valuation. If Intel can figure out how to turn things around in the long term, patient investors could make boatloads of money. Let's break down the current situation in a little more detail. While Nvidia has a roughly 90% market share for data center GPUs, most estimates peg Intel with somewhere around a 1% market share. Ouch. But here's the thing: Intel shares trade at just 1.6 times sales compared to Nvidia's premium valuation of 23 times sales. Intel's discounted valuation is warranted. It's less profitable, is posting significantly lower sales growth figures, and doesn't have a visible pathway to competing head-to-head with Nvidia over the next few years. But if you're willing to look far beyond the next few years, it's reasonable to expect Intel to make up some of the gap between itself and Nvidia. Right now, Nvidia certainly has an edge on GPU performance. But its biggest competitive advantage is arguably its CUDA software platform, which locks developers into its hardware-software ecosystem. Eventually, however, the AI market will grow large enough to accommodate several niches. Intel could compete in segments of the AI industry that Nvidia ignores due to its small size. Intel could also compete aggressively on price, especially since Nvidia's chips are priced at a premium and frequently face supply shortages. All in all, Intel faces a difficult road ahead. But with a rock-bottom valuation and minimal expectations, very patient investors can secure an attractive price for a speculative bet with plenty of risk, but also arguably more upside potential than Nvidia. Should you invest $1,000 in Nvidia right now? Before you buy stock in Nvidia, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Nvidia wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $674,395!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $858,011!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is997% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to172%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025 Ryan Vanzo has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Intel and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: short August 2025 $24 calls on Intel. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
