Latest news with #LiamMo
The Star
3 days ago
- Automotive
- The Star
Baidu robotaxi with passenger falls into construction pit in China, raising safety concerns
Reports say the incident occurred on Aug 6 in Chongqing. The female passenger was uninjured and was rescued by local residents using a ladder. -- PHOTOS: SCREENGRAB FROM X VIDEO via The Straits Times/ANN BEIJING (Reuters): An autonomous vehicle operated by Baidu's Apollo Go robotaxi service fell into a deep construction pit while carrying a passenger in southwestern China, according to local media reports. The incident occurred on Wednesday in Chongqing, according to media outlets including the Southern Metropolis Daily and Huashang Newspaper. The female passenger was uninjured and was rescued by local residents using a ladder, the reports said. Videos circulating on Chinese social media showed a white vehicle bearing a Baidu Apollo logo at the bottom of what appeared to be a construction trench. A local shop owner told Huashang Newspaper that the construction site had barriers and warning signs, though it remained unclear how the vehicle bypassed these safety measures. Reuters has been able to verify the location of the social media videos, but has no information on how the car got there. Baidu did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment on Friday. The incident sparked widespread discussion on Chinese social media over the safety of robotaxis. Baidu operates one of China's largest autonomous vehicle fleets and has been conducting commercial robotaxi operations in multiple cities including Wuhan, Beijing, and Chongqing. The company has also recently pushed to expand its robotaxi service to global markets, signing partnerships with U.S. ride-hailing platforms Uber Technologies and Lyft. In May, Chinese rival came under scrutiny after videos of one of its cars on fire on a road in Beijing circulated on social media. The company later said that the car caught fire while being handled by service staff after a system malfunction and that no passengers were on board. Last year, an incident in San Francisco involving a crowd setting fire to an autonomous Waymo robotaxi, which had driven into streets crowded with revellers, sparked a debate about the ability of robotic cars to make judgments. (Reporting by Liam Mo, Tiffany Le and Brenda Goh. Editing by Mark Potter) - Reuters
The Star
5 days ago
- Business
- The Star
Nvidia reiterates its chips have no backdoors, urges US against location verification
FILE PHOTO: NVIDIA logo is seen near computer motherboard in this illustration taken January 8, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/ File Photo BEIJING (Reuters) -Nvidia has published a blog post reiterating that its chips did not have backdoors or kill switches and appealed to U.S. policymakers to forgo such ideas saying it would be a "gift" to hackers and hostile actors. The blog post, which was published on Tuesday in both English and Chinese, comes a week after the Chinese government summoned the U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant to a meeting saying it was concerned by a U.S. proposal for advanced chips sold abroad to be equipped with tracking and positioning functions. The White House and both houses of U.S. Congress have proposed the idea of requiring U.S. chip firms to include location verification technology with their chips to prevent them from being diverted to countries where U.S. export laws ban sales. The separate bills and White House recommendation have not become a formal rule, and no technical requirements have been established. "Embedding backdoors and kill switches into chips would be a gift to hackers and hostile actors. It would undermine global digital infrastructure and fracture trust in U.S. technology," Nvidia said. It had said last week its products have no backdoors that would allow remote access or control. A backdoor refers to a hidden method of bypassing normal authentication or security controls. Nvidia emphasized that "there is no such thing as a 'good' secret backdoor - only dangerous vulnerabilities that need to be eliminated." (Reporting by Liam Mo and Brenda Goh; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
The Star
23-07-2025
- Business
- The Star
Alibaba launches open-source AI coding model, touted as its most advanced to date
BEIJING (Reuters) -Alibaba has launched an open-source artificial intelligence coding model, called Qwen3-Coder, it said in a statement on Wednesday. The model is designed for high-performance software development and touted as its most advanced AI coding model to date. The model excels in agentic AI coding tasks, from generating new codes and managing complex coding workflows, according to the statement. (Reporting by Liam Mo and Brenda Goh; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
Irish Independent
16-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Firms in China rush to buy Nvidia chips as sales set to resumes
Liam Mo, Anne Marie Roantree and Che Pan Chinese firms are scrambling to buy Nvidia's H20 artificial intelligence chips, after the company said it planned to resume sales there following a meeting between its CEO and US president Donald Trump. Nvidia's AI chips have been a key focus of US export controls, designed to keep the most advanced chips out of Chinese hands over national security concerns.
Time of India
15-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Chinese firms scramble to buy Nvidia AI chips as it plans to resume sales
By Liam Mo, Anne Marie Roantree and Che Pan BEIJING/HONG KONG: Chinese firms are scrambling to buy Nvidia H20 artificial intelligence chips, two sources told Reuters, as the company said it plans to resume sales to the mainland days after its CEO met U.S. President Donald Trump. Nvidia's AI chips have been a key focus of U.S. export controls designed to keep the most advanced chips out of Chinese hands over national security concerns. The U.S.-listed company has said the restrictions would cut its revenue by $15 billion. The world's most valuable firm is filing applications with the U.S. government to resume sales to China of the H20 graphics processing unit (GPU), and expects to get the licences soon, Nvidia said in a statement. "The U.S. government has assured Nvidia that licenses will be granted, and Nvidia hopes to start deliveries soon," said the company, whose chief executive, Jensen Huang, is in Beijing. Chinese companies have scrambled to place orders for the chips, which Nvidia would then need to send to the U.S. government for approval, the sources familiar with the matter said. They added that internet giants ByteDance and Tencent are in the process of submitting applications. Central to the process is a "whitelist" established by Nvidia that allows Chinese companies to register for potential purchases, one of the sources said. ByteDance and Tencent did not respond to a request for comment. Nvidia did not respond to a request for comment regarding the "whitelist". Nvidia, which has criticised the export restrictions the Trump administration imposed in April that stopped it from selling its H20 chip in China, also said it has introduced a new model tailored to meet regulatory rules in the Chinese market. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The U.S. government has expressed concern that the Chinese military could use AI chips to develop weapons. Huang is scheduled to hold a media briefing in Beijing on Wednesday when he attends a supply chain expo. The Nvidia CEO also visited China in April and stressed the importance of the Chinese market. "The Chinese market is massive, dynamic, and highly innovative, and it's also home to many AI researchers," Huang told Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Tuesday. "Therefore, it is indeed crucial for American companies to establish roots in the Chinese market." Nvidia's Frankfurt-listed shares jumped 3.2%. The news on China chips also lifted cloud computing and 5G communications stocks. SUPPLY CHAIN Nvidia has faced increased competition from Chinese tech giant Huawei and other makers of GPUs - the chips used to train artificial intelligence. But Chinese companies, including big tech firms, still crave Nvidia chips due to the company's computing platform known as CUDA. Huang's visit is being closely watched in both China and the United States, where a bipartisan pair of senators last week sent a letter to the CEO asking him to abstain from meeting companies that are working with military or intelligence bodies. The senators also asked Huang to refrain from meeting with entities named on the United States' restricted export list. The move to resume sales of the H20 chips comes amid easing tensions between Washington and Beijing, with China relaxing controls on rare earth exports and the United States allowing chip design software services to restart in China. "The uncertainties between the U.S. and China remain high and despite a pause in H20's ban, Chinese companies will continue to diversify their options to better protect their supply chain integrity," said He Hui, research director of semiconductors at Omdia. The H20 chip was developed specifically for the Chinese market after U.S. export restrictions were imposed on national security grounds in late 2023. The AI chip was Nvidia's most powerful legally available product in China until it was effectively banned by Washington in April. The H20 ban forced Nvidia to write off $5.5 billion in inventories, and Huang told the Stratechery podcast earlier this year that the company also had to walk away from $15 billion in sales. Nvidia also announced the development of a new AI chip designed specifically for China, called the RTX Pro GPU. The company described the model as "fully compliant" with U.S. export controls and suitable for digital twin AI applications in sectors such as smart factories and logistics. In May, Reuters reported Nvidia was preparing to launch a new AI chip, based on the RTX Pro 6000D, in China at a significantly lower price point than the H20. The graphics processing unit would be part of Nvidia's latest generation Blackwell-architecture AI processors and was expected to be priced well below the H20 due to its weaker specifications and simpler manufacturing requirements, sources said. China generated $17 billion in revenue for Nvidia in the fiscal year ending January 26, accounting for 13% of the company's total sales, based on its latest annual report. Huang has consistently highlighted China as a critical market for Nvidia's growth.
