Author: GT

Ant Group is relying on Chinese-made semiconductors to train artificial intelligence models to reduce costs and lessen dependence on restricted US technology, according to people familiar with the matter. The Alibaba-owned company has used chips from domestic suppliers, including those tied to its parent, Alibaba, and Huawei Technologies to train large language models using the Mixture of Experts (MoE) method. The results were reportedly comparable to those produced with Nvidia’s H800 chips, sources claim. While Ant continues to use Nvidia chips for some of its AI development, one sources said the company is turning increasingly to alternatives from AMD and…

A pump jack operates near a gas turbine power plant in the Permian Basin oil field outside of Odessa, Texas, U.S. February 18, 2025. Eli Hartman | ReutersU.S. oil prices have dropped to their lowest level since 2021 this week, sparked in part by concerns that the massive tariffs announced by the United States will hurt economic growth.Futures for U.S. West Texas intermediate crude fell 7% on Friday, bringing the price per barrel to $62.28. At one point, it fell below the $62 level. The latest slide comes after a 6.6% decline on Thursday.Stock Chart IconStock chart iconWest Texas intermediate crude…

Pedestrians walk by an advertisement for Klarna.Daniel Harvey Gonzalez | In Pictures via Getty ImagesKlarna and StubHub are delaying plans to go public after President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff announcement sent shockwaves through U.S. markets.The companies put their long-awaited debuts on pause because of market turbulence, according to a source familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the discussions are confidential. Neither company has a timeline for when it will pursue an offering, the person said.Goldman Sachs, which is leading the Klarna IPO, declined to comment. Representatives from StubHub didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.Both…

Since IPOs slowed to trickle a few years ago, limited partners who invest in venture capital funds have had one giant problem: a dearth of liquidity. Lack of cash returns has been especially troublesome for wealthy individuals or their small family offices — who manage the assets of the wealthy — that made substantial investments in VC funds. Having funds locked up in venture capital was a big issue for entrepreneur Mike Hurst. After selling Exactuals (a payments startup he founded) to City National Bank in 2018, he invested a good portion of the proceeds from the exit into tech…

The total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (DeFi) has experienced a significant decline, falling over 30% since its peak in December 2022. Currently, the TVL stands at approximately $94.49 billion, down from a high of $137 billion recorded on Dec. 17. This decline is attributed to a challenging macroeconomic environment and the still-maturing nature of the DeFi ecosystem. Recent data from DefiLlama indicates that DeFi’s TVL recently reached a low of $88 billion, reflecting a broader downturn in the crypto market. Analysts point to various factors contributing to this drop, including reduced user confidence and a decrease in active…

Chris Wright, chief executive officer of Liberty Energy Inc. and US energy secretary nominee for US President-elect Donald Trump, arrives for a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesLiberty Energy lost around $600 million in market value in just two days, as the oilfield services company founded by President Donald Trump’s Energy Secretary Chris Wright comes under heavy selling pressure.The stock has shed 30% since Wednesday’s close and was last trading 13.8% lower as of 11:00 a.m. ET. The sharp decline marks one of the…

IT asset management (ITAM) software has become essential for businesses to efficiently track, manage, and optimize their hardware, software, and cloud resources. As we approach 2025, the landscape of ITAM tools continues to evolve, offering more advanced features and capabilities. These solutions help organizations reduce costs, enhance security, ensure compliance, and streamline IT operations. From cloud-based platforms to AI-powered analytics, modern ITAM tools provide real-time visibility into asset lifecycles, automate routine tasks, and offer valuable insights for decision-making. They integrate seamlessly with other IT systems, such as service management and endpoint security solutions, to create a comprehensive IT management ecosystem.…

Djamo is one of several digital banking startups targeting Africa’s underbanked. But unlike many that focus on large markets like Nigeria, Egypt, or South Africa, Djamo has carved out a niche in Francophone West Africa, specifically the Ivory Coast and, more recently, Senegal. It now serves over 1 million customers across both countries. The Y Combinator-backed fintech just raised $17 million to expand its product suite for these retail customers and the thousands of small businesses it has onboarded in the last two years. The equity round, the largest ever for an Ivorian startup, surpasses Djamo’s $14 million Series A…

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The $1 million March Madness wager between a pro gambler and an artificial-intelligence site will be decided by the winner of the Duke-Houston game in the Final Four.The Vegas bookies project the gambler, who picked 5 1/2-point favorite Duke, should win.The AI platform 4C Predictions, which picked Houston, says that’s why its smarter than them.The bottom line: both pro gambler Sean Perry and the 4C’s AI program have done very well over the first 60 games of the tournament. Perry has missed only 13 picks. AI has missed only 10. They both picked all the Final…

XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) and Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) are proven cryptocurrencies that aren’t going to go to zero. In the long term, they’re more likely to be more valuable than they are today. And they might even be better bets than some assets that people widely consider fairly safe. So even conservative investors should consider buying and holding them, at least in a modest proportion like a total allocation of about $3,000 between both. Here’s the argument for why these coins can be right at home in a lower-risk portfolio. Bitcoin and XRP are valuable for different reasons, and the differences…