McDonald's plans to 'double down' on AI investment by 2027, executive says
The fast-food giant, which entered India in 1996, operates hundreds of restaurants across the country and recently set up a global office in the southern city of Hyderabad, with an aim to make it the largest outside the United States.
"We're still in the early stages, so it's hard to pin down the exact investment," McDonald's head of Global Business Services operations, Deshant Kaila, said in an interview on the sidelines of an event in Hyderabad.
McDonald's is using AI to verify orders at 400 restaurants to pre-empt errors before handing them over to customers, and expects to roll this out to 40,000 locations globally by 2027, Durga Prakash, head of technology (global offices), said.
The fast-food giant is also using AI tools to forecast sales, decide on pricing and assess product performance and is building a personalised app, which would work across countries, according to Kaila.
He said the India push will centre on building its AI team, but added that spending will lean more toward technology and tools, not headcount.
The company is in talks to set up a global office in Poland, just like the ones in India and Mexico, according to Durga Prakash.
Earlier this year, the southern Indian state of Telangana said that McDonald's would launch a global capability center, employing 2,000 people in Hyderabad.
India's global capability centers, once low-cost outsourcing hubs for global corporations, have evolved to support their parent organisations in domains ranging from operations and finance to research and development.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNA
14 minutes ago
- CNA
Apollo buys Stream Data Centers in bet on AI infrastructure boom
NEW YORK : Apollo agreed to buy a majority interest in Stream Data Centers (SDC), the alternative asset manager said on Wednesday, in a bet on rising demand for digital infrastructure fueled by artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Big Tech companies and outside investors are pouring money into data centers as demand for computing power soars. The physical sites for computing machines and other hardware could require spending of up to $6.7 trillion worldwide by 2030, consultancy McKinsey estimates. SDC builds, leases, manages and operates huge campuses. It has delivered more than 20 to date and has a pipeline of projects with "multi-gigawatt" capacity, Apollo said in a statement. Apollo is betting that so-called hyperscalers - large cloud service providers like Amazon, Microsoft and Google - will continue to rely on outside developers to find the land they need to build data centers, get regulatory approvals for it, and secure sources to cover their vast power needs. "Part of the strategic value of Stream is that we think we can scale them up, and make the company important to each one of the hyperscalers," Trevor Mills, a partner at Apollo, told Reuters. Those large companies "are always going to have needs and different demand pockets where they're going to need to work with a developer," Mills said. Meta recently raised the lower end of its annual capital spending forecast by $2 billion to $66 billion–$72 billion, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg pledging to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in AI data centers. Microsoft expects to spend more than $30 billion in its fiscal first quarter alone — a pace that would put annual outlays near $120 billion — while Alphabet has lifted its 2024 capex target to about $85 billion and signaled further increases next year to meet surging AI demand. Apollo said the deal allowed it to "potentially deploy billions of dollars into next-generation digital infrastructure", but did not disclose the financial terms. The firm's president Jim Zelter said on Tuesday data centers would require $1.5 trillion in external financing, and $800 billion of this could come from private credit, where Apollo is a market leader. The International Energy Agency forecasts electricity demand for data centers worldwide will more than double by 2030, surpassing the amount that the entire country of Japan consumes today. Other asset managers, including Blackstone, KKR and BlackRock, have committed billions of dollars to the sector. Blackstone spent $10 billion to take data center operator QTS private in 2021.
CNA
an hour ago
- CNA
Trump orders extra 25% tariff on Indian goods, straining trade ties further
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (Aug 6) ordered an additional 25 per cent tariff on goods from India for its purchases of Russian oil, in a move that threatens to severely disrupt bilateral trade and marks the sharpest downturn in ties since his return to office. The tariff, set to take effect in three weeks, comes on top of a separate 25 per cent duty entering into force on Thursday, according to the text of the executive order released by the White House. The order also threatens potential penalties on other countries deemed to be "directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil". Exemptions remain for items targeted by separate sector-specific duties such as steel and aluminium, and categories that could be hit, like pharmaceuticals. The White House said the move was "necessary and appropriate". INDIA HITS BACK India's foreign ministry said the decision was "extremely unfortunate" and that New Delhi will take all actions necessary to protect its national interests. "Our imports are based on market factors and done with the overall objective of ensuring the energy security of 1.4 billion people of India," it said in a statement. "It is therefore extremely unfortunate that the US should choose to impose additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest." Trump has been ramping up pressure on India after signalling fresh sanctions on Moscow if it did not make progress by Friday towards a peace deal with Kyiv, as Russia's invasion of its neighbour drags on. India's national security adviser was in Moscow on Wednesday, media in New Delhi reported, coinciding with a visit by US envoy Steve Witkoff. India's foreign ministry earlier said US pressure to stop it from buying Russian oil was "unjustified and unreasonable" and that it would protect its interests. ECONOMIC FALLOUT FOR INDIA Analysts say the new tariffs, which could push Indian export duties to as high as 50 per cent, will impact sectors such as textiles, footwear, gems and jewellery. India exported nearly US$87 billion worth of goods to the US in 2024. 'This is a severe setback. Nearly 55 per cent of our shipments to the US will be affected,' said S.C. Ralhan, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations. Indian exporters now face a 30 to 35 per cent disadvantage compared with competitors in Vietnam, Bangladesh and Japan, economists warn. The move follows five rounds of stalled trade talks, derailed by disagreements over US access to Indian agriculture and dairy markets, and New Delhi's refusal to cut Russian oil imports, which hit a record US$52 billion last year. The timing of the tariffs, effective 21 days after Aug 7, suggests Washington may still be open to negotiation, according to Indian officials. 'We still have a window,' a senior official said, adding that phased cuts in Russian oil imports could be part of a compromise. NO RETALIATION PLANNED India has not announced any retaliatory tariffs or plans for a high-level visit to Washington. Instead, the government is considering domestic relief for exporters, including loan guarantees and interest subsidies. A sharp drop in shipments to the US could drag India's GDP growth below 6 per cent this year, down from the central bank's 6.5 per cent forecast, said Sakshi Gupta of HDFC Bank. Markets responded with caution, the Indian rupee weakened in offshore forwards trade, and equity futures fell modestly. 'Unless there's swift clarity or a breakthrough, a near-term knee-jerk market reaction is inevitable,' said Mayuresh Joshi, head of equity research at Willian O' Neil. CHINA EXEMPT, FOR NOW Trump's move could reshape India's economic ambitions. Many American companies have seen India as an alternative to Chinese manufacturing, which Trump had hoped to diminish through the use of tariffs. Even though China also buys oil from Russia, Beijing was not subject to the additional tariffs in the order signed by the Republican president. The US and China are currently in negotiations on trade, with Washington imposing a 30 per cent tariff on Chinese goods and facing a 10 per cent retaliatory tax from Beijing on American products. Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is preparing for his first visit to China in over seven years, raising speculation about a potential shift in New Delhi's strategic alignments.
CNA
3 hours ago
- CNA
Google commits $1 billion for AI training at US universities
SAN FRANCISCO :Alphabet's Google on Wednesday announced a three-year, $1 billion commitment to provide artificial intelligence training and tools to U.S. higher education institutions and nonprofits. More than 100 universities have signed on to the initiative so far, including some of the nation's largest public university systems such as Texas A&M and the University of North Carolina. Participating schools may receive cash funding and resources, such as cloud computing credits towards AI training for students as well as research on AI-related topics. The billion-dollar figure also includes the value of paid AI tools, such as an advanced version of the Gemini chatbot, which Google will give to college students for free. Google hopes to expand the program to every accredited nonprofit college in the U.S. and is discussing similar plans in other countries, Senior Vice President James Manyika said in an interview. He declined to specify how much Google is earmarking in direct funds to external institutions relative to footing its own cloud and subscription bills. The announcement comes as rivals like OpenAI, Anthropic and Amazon have made similar pushes around AI in education as the technology pervades society. Microsoft in July pledged $4 billion to bolster AI in education globally. By evangelizing their products to students, tech firms further stand to win business deals once those users enter the workforce. A growing body of research has mapped concerns around AI's role in education, from enabling cheating to eroding critical thinking, prompting some schools to consider bans. Manyika said Google had not faced resistance from administrators since it began to plot its education initiative earlier this year, but "many more questions" about AI-related concerns remain. "We're hoping to learn together with these institutions about how best to use these tools," he said, adding that the insights could help shape future product decisions.
