Demand for Indonesian government bonds fell to the lowest in more than a year after an equity meltdown spurred by index provider MSCI Inc.’s concerns about the country’s investability. The government sold 36 trillion rupiah ($2.1 billion) of debt in Tuesday’s auction, higher than the indicative target, according to the Ministry of Finance’s debt management office. The bid-to-target ratio dropped t...
Demand for Indonesian government bonds fell to the lowest in more than a year after an equity meltdown spurred by index provider MSCI Inc.’s concerns about the country’s investability. The government sold 36 trillion rupiah ($2.1 billion) of debt in Tuesday’s auction, higher than the indicative target, according to the Ministry of Finance’s debt management office. The bid-to-target ratio dropped to 2.32, the lowest in a year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. MSCI’s warning about transparency in equity holdings last week caused stocks to suffer their steepest drop since the Asian Financial Crisis. Foreign investors sold a net $202 million of Indonesian bonds on Wednesday and Thursday, before officials rushed to announce market-reform plans , helping to calm the market and bring back bond inflows . Indonesian bonds had already been suffering from rising concerns about domestic fiscal discipline, a weakening rupiah and the central bank’s independence after the appointment of President Prabowo Subianto’s nephew as a deputy governor. Yields on 10-year debt have risen around 25 basis points so far this year, to about 6.31%. Indonesian Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa defended his government’s economic track record, in an interview at a business forum in Jakarta on Tuesday, and said the government will stick with a rule limiting fiscal deficits to a maximum 3% of gross domestic product. “Assurance from the finance minister that the deficit cap will be maintained, and that a repeat of the 2021 burden sharing was unlikely, should help cap yields,” said Radhika Rao , senior economist at DBS Bank Ltd.
Amin Vahdat, Google’s chief technologist for AI infrastructure, described rapid progress in the company’s Gemini model family and outlined the infrastructure challenges and opportunities that come with scaling modern AI systems. Speaking in an onstage conversation, Vahdat emphasized the importance of Alphabet NASDAQ: GOOG operating “full stack,” from custom silicon through data centers and softwar...
Amin Vahdat, Google’s chief technologist for AI infrastructure, described rapid progress in the company’s Gemini model family and outlined the infrastructure challenges and opportunities that come with scaling modern AI systems. Speaking in an onstage conversation, Vahdat emphasized the importance of Alphabet NASDAQ: GOOG operating “full stack,” from custom silicon through data centers and software, and said the pace of AI improvement is being matched by growing demand that quickly consumes efficiency gains. Get Alphabet alerts: Sign Up Gemini momentum and an “early innings” view of the AI race Vahdat said Gemini 3 has performed at “state-of-the-art across essentially all the benchmarks,” and framed Google’s AI progress as the product of a multi-year push. He noted that Gemini 1 was released “two-ish years ago” and said the company has been on a “three-plus-year journey.” Despite the progress, Vahdat characterized the competitive landscape as still nascent, calling the broader AI race “inning one.” He also credited the broader market environment, saying that models across the industry—citing Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini—are improving quickly and that competition is “making everyone better.” Full-stack co-design: TPUs, models, and product needs Asked about Google’s advantage as a full-stack company, Vahdat said the key differentiator is cross-functional collaboration rather than any single technology component. While he highlighted Google’s pride in its TPUs, distributed systems, data center architecture, and power delivery, he said the “secret weapon” is the company’s ability to work together across layers to solve end customer problems. Vahdat said TPUs are “not designed in isolation,” describing a co-design approach that includes DeepMind and input from product use cases such as Search, Ads, YouTube, and Cloud. He added that he works closely with DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, with the two speaking regularly and their teams “engag[ing] deeply.” He also stressed the i...
The Chinese government will help underpin the nationwide boom in large-scale batteries by expanding its subsidies for energy storage. Beijing has for the first time instructed provinces to include batteries in a payment program that’s designed to ensure reliable electricity supplies and enhance the green transition, according to a notice from economic planners late last week. The move could boost ...
The Chinese government will help underpin the nationwide boom in large-scale batteries by expanding its subsidies for energy storage. Beijing has for the first time instructed provinces to include batteries in a payment program that’s designed to ensure reliable electricity supplies and enhance the green transition, according to a notice from economic planners late last week. The move could boost revenues and unlock even more growth in an industry already marked as a key driver of economic development. The new payments will provide “missing money” for struggling grid projects, said Ian Yao, a senior manager focusing on electricity markets at consultancy The Lantau Group . “It’s definitely a positive signal,” he said. “If you invest in battery storage, you can get a payment based on your capacity, so you don’t need to always worry about whether you get dispatched.” China’s rapid adoption of renewable energy requires a flexible power source to smooth out fluctuations in wind and solar generation. China’s old policy, formulated in 2023 after a spate of severe blackouts, rewarded the country’s vast fleet of coal-fired power plants for maintaining readiness to meet peak electricity demand. The first phase of the new policy will allow batteries, and other energy storage options like pumped hydro, to benefit alongside coal from the subsidies. A second stage is envisaged that opens up the market to competition, with payments based on “reliability rather than installed capacity,” BloombergNEF said in a note. Leveling the playing field is likely to put coal under competitive pressure, and could favor the smaller, though fast-growing battery sector. By establishing a comprehensive compensation system for energy storage projects, the sector is officially entering a new phase of development that will be led by the market, Chen Haisheng, director general of the China Energy Storage Alliance , said at a briefing on Tuesday. Local versions of the policy have already had an impact. ...
China's market regulator on Wednesday said it has unconditionally approved the establishment of a joint venture by battery manufacturer CATL and state-owned automaker Chery. The regulator did not disclose details of the venture.
China's market regulator on Wednesday said it has unconditionally approved the establishment of a joint venture by battery manufacturer CATL and state-owned automaker Chery. The regulator did not disclose details of the venture.