Elon Musk starting an AI venture – reports; SpaceX Super Heavy rocket test as early as today
Elon Musk, once a large backer of OpenAI, is planning to launch an artificial intelligence startup of his own, CNBC reports, citing an article in the Financial Times from Friday last that is behind a paywall. The company is called X.ai, according to the Wall Street Journal, which also reported the news, citing a filing in the US state of Nevada. Musk is listed as a director of the new company, according to the journal. Also in this brief, Vivo plans to expand smartphone manufacturing in India, and PC sales are headed for a slump in the country. Notes: Elon Musk, once a large backer of OpenAI, is planning to launch an artificial intelligence startup of his own, CNBC reports, citing an article in the Financial Times from Friday last that is behind a paywall. The company is called X.ai, according to the Wall Street Journal, which also reported the news, citing a filing in the US state of Nevada. Musk is listed as a director of the new company, according to the journal. Musk, the world’s richest person — and CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter — has been building a team of researchers and engineers and has been in conversation with multiple investors, according to the report. He has also reportedly been recruiting from other top AI companies, including Google’s parent Alphabet’s DeepMind, according to CNBC. Musk has secured thousands of Nvidia GPU processors, according to the report. Such chips are an integral part of the computing power needed to build and train what are called large language models, which underpin AI like GPT. Musk said he was acquiring the processors for his companies in a Twitter Spaces interview with the BBC last week. Meanwhile, at his rocket company SpaceX, Musk tweeted on Friday that the first flight test of the company’s fully integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket could be as early as today from a base in Texas after the US Federal Aviation Administration gave the all clear for the test. Vivo, the third largest smartphone seller in India, is going to set up an additional manufacturing unit in the country as part of its expansion plan, also aiming to step up export plans, The Hindu reports. Yogendra Sriramula, Head of Brand Strategy at Vivo India, said the company has already invested ₹2,400 crore and an additional ₹1,100 crore will be invested this year in expanding its manufacturing in India, according to The Hindu. Overall, Vivo is planning an investment of ₹7,500 crore. Computer shipments in India are headed for a slump, and the demand surge after the Covid pandemic is well and truly over, Mint reports, citing analysts at well-known market researchers. Data from Gartner shows Indian shipments of laptops and desktops are expected to drop 13.4 percent this calendar year to 12.4 million units from 14.4 million last year. Even though the second half of the year should be better for PC companies, the sales growth seen in the last two years is unlikely to be repeated anytime soon, according to analysts. Navkendar Singh, associate vice president at IDC India also said PC shipments in India are set to decline this year, according to Mint. A February report from IDC showed total shipments of desktops, notebooks, and workstations in India grew by only 0.3 percent year-on-year in 2022, including a 28.5 percent drop in Q4 2022.