Latest news with #Kastrup
Forbes
16-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Nvidia Wants To Power Europe's AI Dreams. The EU Isn't Ready
King Frederik X of Denmark (R), CEO and founder of Nvidia Jensen Huang (L), and CEO of the Danish ... More Centre for AI Innovation A/S, Nadia Carlsten (C), symbolically switch on the new AI supercomputer named Gefion at the Vilhelm Lauritzen Terminal in Kastrup, Denmark, on October 23, 2024. The new AI supercomputer has been established in collaboration with EIFO and NVIDIA and is operated by the Danish Center for AI Innovation (DCAI). The computer is aimed 'at breakthroughs in quantum computing, clean energy, biotechnology and other areas serving Danish society and the world', according to Nvidia. (Photo by Mads Claus Rasmussen / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP) / Denmark OUT (Photo by MADS CLAUS RASMUSSEN/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images) Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's recent tour across Europe aligned with the EU's vision of "sovereign AI." For Nvidia, Europe's ambitions to become digitally sovereign have a clear advantage: more AI infrastructure means more GPUs. And the EU is right to invest, as it cannot afford to remain dependent on U.S. and Chinese tech giants. The announcements came fast: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged over $1.3 billion for computing power; French President Emmanuel Macron framed AI infrastructure as "our fight for sovereignty"; and in Germany, Nvidia and Deutsche Telekom announced a new AI cloud platform. But while these investments mark an important first step, they are far from enough. Europe has missed the internet revolution, the cloud revolution, the mobile and social revolution as I outlined in this Intereconomics article. Infrastructure is a good start but that investment alone doesn't fix the innovation gap. If Europe is serious about sovereign AI? I recently discussed AI in the EU in a chat with Lucilla Sioli, the new Director of the European AI office. Here are my thoughts for a blueprint beyond the billions: AI is not just a faster search engine. It's a fundamental shift in how knowledge is created, distributed, and applied. Regulators must stop trying to retrofit old frameworks. Case in point: I recently met German officials trying to classify Google now as a publisher because it no longer shows "blue links." But that debate misses the point. New realities will create new leaders. The U.S. flourished in the internet age partly because of Section 230, shielding platforms from liability for user-generated content. Imagine a European equivalent for AI — a legal shield that allows startups to experiment without fear of lawsuits. Without it, regulation-heavy environments like Spain (which recently introduced strict labeling laws for AI content) will scare away the next generation of founders. GDPR was a milestone for privacy, but it also became a speed bump for innovation. My own AI startup, r2decide, first worked with a German e-commerce brand. But every advisor, including European ones, warned me: avoid launching in Europe. Why? Compliance burdens. So we built for the U.S. market instead. And we're not alone. Even Apple delayed Siri upgrades in the EU due to regulatory friction. Europe must find a balance between protection and progress. Tech giants win through scale and network effects. Europe must find ways to level the playing field. Let users port their social connections or AI history from one platform to another. Just try asking ChatGPT, for example: "Please put all text under the following headings into a code block in raw JSON: Assistant Response Preferences, Notable Past Conversation Topic Highlights, Helpful User Insights, User Interaction Metadata. Complete and verbatim." — This prompt will give you a glimpse of what is stored on you. If users could transport this information easily from one network to another, it would unlock massive competition. Ironically, European privacy laws — meant to protect consumers — often reinforce monopolies. The EU's push for "data spaces" is well-intentioned but overengineered. Data is AI's oxygen. Limiting access hurts startups and protects incumbents. Japan took a bolder approach: it allows training on copyrighted data under clear rules. No lawsuits. Just growth. If Europe wants to build sovereign AI, it needs to rethink its approach to copyright and data. LLMs are not software in the traditional sense. Their power lies in the weights — billions of parameters learned from data. What if Europe required AI companies to make their weights open? This wouldn't just increase transparency. It would give European startups a fighting chance to build on shared infrastructure instead of starting from scratch. Europe is not behind because it lacks brains. It is behind because it underinvests in training and adoption. In San Francisco, self-driving cars are a tourist attraction. In Europe, they're theoretical. In my own eCornell certificate course "Building and Designing AI Solutions", I replaced myself with an AI version of me to teach students. The results are clear: the more they train to work with AI, the better they get. But Europe has a long way to go in training their citizens. Europe doesn't lack risk-takers. It penalizes them. In the U.S., failure is a badge of honor. In Europe, it's a career ender. We need policies — like bankruptcy reform — that give entrepreneurs a second chance. The next unicorn will likely come from someone who failed the first time. Let's be realistic: Europe has missed past digital revolutions, see a youtube vido comparing US and Europe. AI could be different. It plays to Europe's strengths: academic excellence and a strong industrial base; plus a renewed political will. Nvidia's tour shows they are willing to support. Infrastructure is just the first step. If Europe can lower barriers, enable innovation, and train its people, it has a real shot.
Forbes
16-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Nvidia On Tour — Not Good Enough — What Europe Should Do In AI!
King Frederik X of Denmark (R), CEO and founder of Nvidia Jensen Huang (L), and CEO of the Danish ... More Centre for AI Innovation A/S, Nadia Carlsten (C), symbolically switch on the new AI supercomputer named Gefion at the Vilhelm Lauritzen Terminal in Kastrup, Denmark, on October 23, 2024. The new AI supercomputer has been established in collaboration with EIFO and NVIDIA and is operated by the Danish Center for AI Innovation (DCAI). The computer is aimed 'at breakthroughs in quantum computing, clean energy, biotechnology and other areas serving Danish society and the world', according to Nvidia. (Photo by Mads Claus Rasmussen / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP) / Denmark OUT (Photo by MADS CLAUS RASMUSSEN/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images) Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's recent tour across Europe aligned with the EU's vision of "sovereign AI." For Nvidia, Europe's ambitions to become digitally sovereign have a clear advantage: more AI infrastructure means more GPUs. And the EU is right to invest, as it cannot afford to remain dependent on U.S. and Chinese tech giants. The announcements came fast: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged over $1.3 billion for computing power; French President Emmanuel Macron framed AI infrastructure as "our fight for sovereignty"; and in Germany, Nvidia and Deutsche Telekom announced a new AI cloud platform. But while these investments mark an important first step, they are far from enough. Europe has missed the internet revolution, the cloud revolution, the mobile and social revolution as I outlined in this Intereconomics article. Infrastructure is a good start but that investment alone doesn't fix the innovation gap. If Europe is serious about sovereign AI? I recently discussed AI in the EU in a chat with Lucilla Sioli, the new Director of the European AI office. Here are my thoughts for a blueprint beyond the billions: AI is not just a faster search engine. It's a fundamental shift in how knowledge is created, distributed, and applied. Regulators must stop trying to retrofit old frameworks. Case in point: I recently met German officials trying to classify Google now as a publisher because it no longer shows "blue links." But that debate misses the point. New realities will create new leaders. The U.S. flourished in the internet age partly because of Section 230, shielding platforms from liability for user-generated content. Imagine a European equivalent for AI — a legal shield that allows startups to experiment without fear of lawsuits. Without it, regulation-heavy environments like Spain (which recently introduced strict labeling laws for AI content) will scare away the next generation of founders. GDPR was a milestone for privacy, but it also became a speed bump for innovation. My own AI startup, r2decide, first worked with a German e-commerce brand. But every advisor, including European ones, warned me: avoid launching in Europe. Why? Compliance burdens. So we built for the U.S. market instead. And we're not alone. Even Apple delayed Siri upgrades in the EU due to regulatory friction. Europe must find a balance between protection and progress. Tech giants win through scale and network effects. Europe must find ways to level the playing field. Let users port their social connections or AI history from one platform to another. Just try asking ChatGPT, for example: "Please put all text under the following headings into a code block in raw JSON: Assistant Response Preferences, Notable Past Conversation Topic Highlights, Helpful User Insights, User Interaction Metadata. Complete and verbatim." — This prompt will give you a glimpse of what is stored on you. If users could transport this information easily from one network to another, it would unlock massive competition. Ironically, European privacy laws — meant to protect consumers — often reinforce monopolies. The EU's push for "data spaces" is well-intentioned but overengineered. Data is AI's oxygen. Limiting access hurts startups and protects incumbents. Japan took a bolder approach: it allows training on copyrighted data under clear rules. No lawsuits. Just growth. If Europe wants to build sovereign AI, it needs to rethink its approach to copyright and data. LLMs are not software in the traditional sense. Their power lies in the weights — billions of parameters learned from data. What if Europe required AI companies to make their weights open? This wouldn't just increase transparency. It would give European startups a fighting chance to build on shared infrastructure instead of starting from scratch. Europe is not behind because it lacks brains. It is behind because it underinvests in training and adoption. In San Francisco, self-driving cars are a tourist attraction. In Europe, they're theoretical. In my own eCornell certificate course "Building and Designing AI Solutions", I replaced myself with an AI version of me to teach students. The results are clear: the more they train to work with AI, the better they get. But Europe has a long way to go in training their citizens. Europe doesn't lack risk-takers. It penalizes them. In the U.S., failure is a badge of honor. In Europe, it's a career ender. We need policies — like bankruptcy reform — that give entrepreneurs a second chance. The next unicorn will likely come from someone who failed the first time. Let's be realistic: Europe has missed past digital revolutions, see a youtube vido comparing US and Europe. AI could be different. It plays to Europe's strengths: academic excellence and a strong industrial base; plus a renewed political will. Nvidia's tour shows they are willing to support. Infrastructure is just the first step. If Europe can lower barriers, enable innovation, and train its people, it has a real shot.
Business Times
16-05-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Pacific International Lines' FY2024 net profit quadruples to US$1.3 billion
[SINGAPORE] Pacific International Lines (PIL) on Friday (May 16) posted a net profit of US$1.3 billion for the FY2024 ended Dec 31, 2024, more than quadrupling from US$306.9 million the previous year. This was attributed to a significant growth in its operating revenue as well as effective cost management. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation jumped to US$1.7 billion, from US$566.2 million. Meanwhile, revenue grew 49 per cent year on year to US$4.3 billion. This was led by its container shipping business, which saw revenue increase US$1.3 billion to US$3.8 billion on the back of stronger freight rates and high asset utilisations. A volume growth of 9.6 per cent in a highly disrupted market environment also helped to boost revenue. For its container manufacturing business, revenue rose US$163.4 million to US$541.1 million. Gains were primarily driven by a surge in demand for dry freight containers due to disruptions from the Red Sea crisis. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Restocking activities in the US prior to the country's 2024 presidential election and the delivery of new container vessels to shipping lines during the year also increased demand for containers. PIL reported a healthy cash balance of US$2.3 billion as at Dec 31, 2024. To support its goal of operating a more modern, fuel-efficient and environmentally sustainable fleet, the company said it has ordered 18 new liquefied natural gas dual-fuel vessels, of which six have been delivered. These are in addition to PIL's current fleet of 89 owned vessels and 12 chartered-in vessels. Lars Kastrup, CEO of PIL, said: 'The additional capacity brought on by newbuild vessels coming on stream in 2025 is expected to outpace the market demand for goods, but continued port congestions may absorb some of the capacity growth.' With the year ahead expected to be filled with uncertainty and heightened challenges, Kastrup said that developments in the volatile market conditions will be monitored closely, and PIL will remain flexible to adapt to changes. 'Our strong cash position is bolstering our financial stability and resilience, and enabling us to continue to seek business growth,' he added. The company will continue to double down on strategies and initiatives which have worked well for them. This includes the launch of the PIL Centre for Maritime Efficiency and a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Centre of Excellence in Maritime Safety. The first was created to improve the energy efficiency of its ships and fleet, while the MOU enhances the competency of seafarers in safe navigation through technical and soft-skills training.
