AI adoption is on the rise in Singapore, with 52% of workers in the country using the technology in their jobs, according to Slack's new Workforce Index. Primeimages | E+ | Getty Images Singapore has inked separate agreements with Google and OpenAI to strengthen its position as a global artificial intelligence hub and accelerate AI deployment across public services, healthcare, education and enter...
AI adoption is on the rise in Singapore, with 52% of workers in the country using the technology in their jobs, according to Slack's new Workforce Index. Primeimages | E+ | Getty Images Singapore has inked separate agreements with Google and OpenAI to strengthen its position as a global artificial intelligence hub and accelerate AI deployment across public services, healthcare, education and enterprise. The agreements, announced on Wednesday, include a new National AI Partnership with Google and the first memorandum of understanding between Singapore and OpenAI, which will see it set up an AI lab in the city. Under the partnership, OpenAI will commit more than 300 million Singapore dollars ($234 million) to strengthen Singapore's AI ecosystem, according to a joint statement released by the ChatGPT-maker and the Ministry of Digital Development and Information. While Google's announcement didn't include an investment commitment, the company said the main focus would be on solving societal challenges, building an AI-ready workforce, driving enterprise innovation and creating a secure AI ecosystem. The companies announced the news alongside Singapore's ATxSummit, a flagship technology conference taking place in the city with a heavy focus on AI deployment this year. The city-state has been trying to carve out a niche in the global AI race, positioning itself as a neutral and talent-rich platform for developing, testing and deploying AI solutions. Google and OpenAI's deals also build on Singapore's broader national AI strategy, which includes an investment commitment of more than 1 billion Singapore dollars to strengthen public AI research capabilities over five years from 2025 to 2030. Singapore has attracted major commitments from global AI players, including Amazon 's AWS and Microsoft , in addition to frontline model developers such as Google DeepMind and OpenAI. Frontline deployment The establishment of the "OpenAI Singapore Applied AI Lab" — the first such lab esta...
Pacific Investment Management Co. is seeing an opportunity in Japan’s 30-year sovereign bonds at a time when concerns over inflation and government spending have pushed those yields to record highs. Marc Seidner , chief investment officer of non-traditional strategies, said Japan’s yield curve has become “too steep” relative to other developed markets, creating attractive value in longer-dated deb...
Pacific Investment Management Co. is seeing an opportunity in Japan’s 30-year sovereign bonds at a time when concerns over inflation and government spending have pushed those yields to record highs. Marc Seidner , chief investment officer of non-traditional strategies, said Japan’s yield curve has become “too steep” relative to other developed markets, creating attractive value in longer-dated debt. The firm has bullish positions on 30-year bonds while taking bearish bets on the 10-year note on expectation that the gap between the two will narrow. “There is an excess risk premia that is attractive on an absolute basis and relative to many, many other markets,” Seidner said in an interview in Singapore. Japan’s yield curve is the steepest in developed markets, reflecting investor concerns that the Bank of Japan has been too slow to raise interest rates as well as growing unease over the country’s long-term fiscal spending. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi added to those worries this week by calling for an extra budget to cushion the impact of higher commodity prices. The gap between Japan’s 10- and 30-year bond yields currently stands at around 130 basis points, down from as high as 171 basis points in September, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That’s still wider than 52 basis points in the US and 67 basis points in the UK. Seidner said the spread between Japan’s 10-year and 30-year yields has already started to narrow. “It has normalized to a degree. It still is one of the steeper yield curves in the world, which is why we’d continue to hold,” he said. What Bloomberg Strategists Say... “With Japan’s economic growth beating estimates, it suggests there is more pain ahead for JGBs” Mark Cranfield , Markets Live Strategist Markets have debated what could drive further compression in Japan’s yield curve, with factors including additional BOJ rate hikes, easing fiscal concerns and improving investor sentiment seen as catalysts. It’s “probably a little of all of the above,”...
In this article BABA Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT An Alibaba logo is displayed at the company's booth at China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in Beijing, China, Sept. 10, 2025. Maxim Shemetov | Reuters CHONGQING, China — Alibaba announced Wednesday its new artificial intelligence chip would be three times as powerful as its predecessor, as rival Nvidia struggl...
In this article BABA Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT An Alibaba logo is displayed at the company's booth at China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in Beijing, China, Sept. 10, 2025. Maxim Shemetov | Reuters CHONGQING, China — Alibaba announced Wednesday its new artificial intelligence chip would be three times as powerful as its predecessor, as rival Nvidia struggles to get its advanced chips into China. The Zhenwu M890 delivers three times the performance of the current Zhenwu 810E, Alibaba said, adding that the new processor has 144 GB GPU memory and interchip bandwidth of 800 GB per second. Alibaba said it had already delivered 560,000 Zhenwu units to more than 400 customers across 20 industries. The e-commerce giant also revealed its next generation large language model, Qwen3.7-Max, would soon be released. In early April, Alibaba and China Telecom said they were launching a data center in southern China powered by the e-commerce giant's own chips, as the country ramps up its focus on homegrown AI infrastructure. — CNBC's Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
OpenAI Inc. is setting up an AI lab in Singapore through a multiyear partnership with the local government, part of a broader effort to support the city-state’s artificial intelligence ambitions. The ChatGPT maker agreed to spend more than S$300 million ($234 million) to establish its first so-called applied AI lab outside the US, it said in a statement Wednesday. The effort will expand its Singap...
OpenAI Inc. is setting up an AI lab in Singapore through a multiyear partnership with the local government, part of a broader effort to support the city-state’s artificial intelligence ambitions. The ChatGPT maker agreed to spend more than S$300 million ($234 million) to establish its first so-called applied AI lab outside the US, it said in a statement Wednesday. The effort will expand its Singapore-based technical team to more than 200 roles over the next few years. OpenAI established its Singapore office in 2024 . The AI firm backed by Microsoft Corp. and Nvidia Corp. is striking partnerships with governments across the planet, part of a bid to stay ahead of rivals such as Anthropic PBC and Alphabet Inc. ’s Google. The new lab will support Singapore’s implementation of AI in areas such as public service, finance, health care and digital infrastructure, while working with the island nation’s startups. Singapore has made AI a strategic priority, with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong ’s administration focused on training citizens and reinforcing social safety nets while urging Singaporeans to adapt to faster changes in the job market. Read More: Singapore PM Warns of AI Disruptions, Vows to Support Workers The country earlier announced a pact to explore collaboration with Google DeepMind in areas such as health care and research. The partnership will encompass work on “triadic care” — the idea that AI tools are used to assist patients throughout their treatment while doctors remain in charge. Nvidia is also setting up a new AI research lab in the city-state to collaborate with university researchers, industry partners and government agencies, the country’s Infocomm Media Development Authority said in a statement. “Singapore’s domestic market may not warrant so much attention. What makes us compelling is the global networks that we are connected to and our track record for trusted technology adoption,” Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo said a...
is transportation editor with 10+ years of experience who covers EVs, public transportation, and aviation. His work has appeared in The New York Daily News and City & State. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. The era of ultra-high performance Mercedes EVs is here. The German automaker finally revealed its new super sedan, the AMG GT 4-door coupe...
is transportation editor with 10+ years of experience who covers EVs, public transportation, and aviation. His work has appeared in The New York Daily News and City & State. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. The era of ultra-high performance Mercedes EVs is here. The German automaker finally revealed its new super sedan, the AMG GT 4-door coupe, with technology borrowed from the automaker’s XX concept that last year made history by driving 24,901 miles in under 8 days at Nardò Ring in southern Italy. With the production model, Mercedes rethought its approach to motors and batteries in the hopes of delivering a high performance vehicle that could go toe-to-toe with even some hypercars. The new AMG GT utilizes three axial flux motors developed by Mercedes subsidiary YASA, delivering up to 1,153 horsepower and 1,475 lb-ft of torque. Mercedes claims to be the first to use these types of motors, which thanks to their thin disc shape weigh just a fraction of a traditional radial motor while still delivering massive horsepower. The high-performance battery, meanwhile, utilizes tall, ultra-slim cylindrical cells that are only 1 inch in diameter, allowing heat to escape from the core to the outside surface almost immediately. In addition, Mercedes developed a special, high-tech oil that is non-conductive so as not to cause an electrical short. The oil flows directly around every single individual cell for direct cooling. Inspired by Formula 1, this system provides 20 kW of cooling power, or about four times more cooling capacity than a standard EQS battery. You can drag race it over and over again, and it theoretically won’t overheat. The AMG GT 4-door coupe is built on an 800-volt architecture capable of handling ultra-fast charging up to 600 kW. That plus the innovative cooling system enables charging from 10-80 percent in just 11 minutes, Mercedes says. The nickel-cobalt-manganese-aluminum cathode, combined with an ano...
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday revealed previously undisclosed details about his new bunker-like White House ballroom, saying it would have a drone base on the roof and a military hospital as part of a six-storey subterranean complex. Amid the bang and clang of construction, Trump took a group of reporters on a tour of the project to try to bolster his argument that the US Congress shoul...
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday revealed previously undisclosed details about his new bunker-like White House ballroom, saying it would have a drone base on the roof and a military hospital as part of a six-storey subterranean complex. Amid the bang and clang of construction, Trump took a group of reporters on a tour of the project to try to bolster his argument that the US Congress should allocate US$1 billion to pay for security enhancements to the building. Democrats and some Republicans have balked at the request, calling it extravagant as Americans grapple with spiralling petrol prices and other fallout from Trump’s war on Iran ahead of November midterm elections. Advertisement He repeated that the US$400 million ballroom cost would be covered by donors, including him, and that the work was being done “in strict coordination” with the military and US Secret Service. “This is not going to be paid for by the taxpayer,” Trump said. “This is a gift to the United States of America.” Trump, a billionaire real estate developer, did not hold back in describing previously unknown details about the project, which at 90,000 square feet stands to dwarf the adjacent White House built in the late 18th century. Advertisement Trump has argued the ballroom was needed for large events of 1,000 people, far more capacity than the White House entertainment spaces can accommodate.
Nickbeer/iStock via Getty Images I have recently reviewed some of the popular BDCs in the core direct lending and venture lending space ( OBDC versus ARCC and TRIN versus HTGC ) in the backdrop of rising credit concerns and some redemption pressures earlier in the year. These analyses across different layers of the private credit spectrum attempted to answer the same evolving question - whether pr...
Nickbeer/iStock via Getty Images I have recently reviewed some of the popular BDCs in the core direct lending and venture lending space ( OBDC versus ARCC and TRIN versus HTGC ) in the backdrop of rising credit concerns and some redemption pressures earlier in the year. These analyses across different layers of the private credit spectrum attempted to answer the same evolving question - whether premium quality alone still justifies premium valuations in a slower liquidity and normalization regime. In this article, I explore the relative positioning of two more popular BDCs - Main Street Capital ( MAIN ) and Capital Southwest ( CSWC ) - completing the loop by testing the same framework in perhaps the most psychologically important segment of the BDC world - premium retail favored income franchises operating in the lower middle market segment. My earlier standalone coverage on MAIN and CSWC in January 2026 reflected different expectations, despite both BDCs looking fundamentally healthy. MAIN was rated Hold not because of operational weakness, but because the combination of premium valuations, normalization in distributable income and a historically elevated price-to-NAV multiple appeared likely to cap forward total returns despite continued business quality. CSWC, in contrast, was rated Buy because the market already appeared to be discounting much of the expected earnings normalization from falling rates, while the balance sheet, credit profile, dividend coverage and operating structure remained comparatively resilient. Since the January thesis on both, the relative trade has worked out much as expected. CSWC is up ~7% in total return terms, while MAIN has corrected by ~15% - that is a huge gap in performance validating my relative view. The performance differences, once again (as discussed in my earlier comparative BDC thesis on OBDC versus ARCC and TRIN versus HTGC), highlights that markets are increasingly prioritizing valuation support and realistic earnings exp...
CleanSpark Inc. (NASDAQ:CLSK) is one of the 10 Stocks With Powerful Gains. Shares of CleanSpark rallied for a second day on Tuesday, jumping 9.30 percent to close at $14.69 apiece, as investors took heart from an investment firm’s bullish call for its stock. In a market note, CleanSpark Inc. (NASDAQ:CLSK) received a $24 price target from Bernstein, marking a 63 percent upside potential from its la...
CleanSpark Inc. (NASDAQ:CLSK) is one of the 10 Stocks With Powerful Gains. Shares of CleanSpark rallied for a second day on Tuesday, jumping 9.30 percent to close at $14.69 apiece, as investors took heart from an investment firm’s bullish call for its stock. In a market note, CleanSpark Inc. (NASDAQ:CLSK) received a $24 price target from Bernstein, marking a 63 percent upside potential from its latest closing price. The stock was also rated outperform alongside its peers, namely IREN Ltd., Riot Platforms, and Core Scientific. Photo from CleanSpark According to Bernstein, the coverage reflected its highly optimistic outlook for Bitcoin mining companies, amid Google and Blackstone’s plan to establish a new AI cloud venture. According to the Wall Street Journal, Google and Blackstone are planning to put up a joint AI cloud company, which would see the deployment of Google’s custom chip technology, with Blackstone shelling out $5 billion in equity and retaining a majority stake. Such a move is expected to bolster Bitcoin miners-turned-data centers, with the industry announcing more than $90 billion in AI-related contracts covering 3.7 gigawatts of capacity. In other news, CleanSpark Inc. (NASDAQ:CLSK) announced the results of its earnings performance in the first quarter of the year, expanding its net loss by 172 percent to $378 million from $138.79 million in the same period last year. Revenues declined by 24.9 percent to $136.4 million from $181.7 million year-on-year. While we acknowledge the potential of CLSK as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 33 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and Cathie Wood 2026 Portfolio: 10 Best Stocks to Buy. Disclosure: None. Follow Insider Monkey on Google Ne...