Everyone needs a supercomputer now

Hey, this is Vlad in Hong Kong. Nvidia chief Jensen Huang went on a tour of Asia this month, enjoying a hero’s welcome while setting up his [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hey, this is Vlad in Hong Kong. Nvidia chief Jensen Huang went on a tour of Asia this month, enjoying a hero’s welcome while setting up his next big AI sales pitch. But first... Three things you need to know today: • Microsoft forms “historic” [labor alliance on AI]( • Chinese memory maker Changxin is seeking funds [at $19.5 billion value]( • Apple will reward [musicians who adopt new format]( Got your supercomputer yet? Nvidia Corp. and its co-founder CEO would be forgiven for taking a victory lap after a year when its share price tripled and the world developed an overwhelming hunger for its best-in-class AI accelerators. But that’s not Jensen’s way. The always-effervescent, leather-clad leader met with the prime ministers of Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam, talking up each country’s potential to participate in the artificial intelligence revolution. He didn’t need to remind them to use Nvidia hardware, as they all eagerly welcomed his visit and, if anything, were the ones trying to entice him. He had a sales pitch, all the same. “Demand for Nvidia AI supercomputers is significant. The world's largest internet and cloud service providers started the first wave of demand.  The next waves are here, with countries building sovereign AI infrastructures,” Huang said in Japan. What he and Nvidia are looking to do is build out the proposition beyond the mere tool of the world’s best AI chip and into a more systematic AI development product. Whether called an AI supercomputer (which would typically be an assemblage of several pricey Nvidia AI parts clustered together) or, as Huang has taken to describing it lately, an AI factory, the pitch this month has been that every country needs to have one. Nvidia’s vision of an AI factory is, to quote the company, “an accelerated computing infrastructure for transforming data into intelligence.” And in human language, in the specific context of talking to government leaders: those who have the AI chips will figure out faster how to best use the new technology than those on the sidelines. He chose his visits strategically: Japan is keen to reclaim its semiconductor leadership and is investing billions into the effort. Singapore has set a target of [tripling]( its AI practitioners. Shares in Malaysian utility firm YTL Power International Bhd. rocketed to an [all-time high]( after its announcement of a partnership with Nvidia to build a $4.3 billion AI data center in the country. And Huang reserved his biggest compliment for Vietnam, saying it could prove to be [a second home]( for his company, according to local media reports. Beside being major potential customers for Nvidia, these nations also have the potential to bolster its supply chain. Huang has repeatedly said Nvidia seeks resilience and will do business with as many (reliable!) suppliers as it can. He told me back in June at the Computex trade show that Nvidia is assessing Intel Corp. as a potential maker of its AI chips and his company still has a relationship with Samsung Electronics Co., beyond mainstay Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. that currently gets all those lucrative high-end orders. Huang’s tour sketched out a vision for mutually beneficial collaboration between governments and business: they need his products to keep pace in the AI race and he needs a few things from them. I’d have been glad to listen in on the conversations with those prime ministers and what exactly each side was asking for. As things stand, until Nvidia gets credible competition from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. or elsewhere, Huang has the upper hand in any negotiations, even with leaders of major economies. And he’s making the most of it. —[Vlad Savov](mailto:vsavov5@bloomberg.net) The big story The Android empire took a major hit Monday after a federal court jury found Google Play willfully wields [monopoly power]( through anticompetitive conduct. One to watch [Watch the Bloomberg Technology TV analysis]( of Microsoft’s OpenAI regulatory landscape. Get fully charged Wendy’s is expanding the use of [automated drive-thru technology]( at its restaurants. BlackBerry canceled a spinoff of its internet of things division and [named a new CEO](. That infamous Huawei phone keeps yielding [tech wins]( for China. AT&T’s $14 billion network overhaul is a big win for [flexible wireless technology](. Mistral, a French OpenAI rival, [raised €385 million]( from investors. More from Bloomberg Get Bloomberg Tech weeklies in your inbox: - [Cyber Bulletin]( for coverage of the shadow world of hackers and cyber-espionage - [Game On]( for reporting on the video game business - [Power On]( for Apple scoops, consumer tech news and more - [Screentime]( for a front-row seat to the collision of Hollywood and Silicon Valley - [Soundbite]( for reporting on podcasting, the music industry and audio trends - [Q&AI]( for answers to all your questions about AI Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Tech Daily newsletter. 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