An investment company owned by the Abu Dhabi government has picked up an 8.1 percent stake in the second-largest maker of computer microprocessors in a move likely to raise concerns among US politicians over the increasing influence of Arab nations on the US economy.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), based in Sunnyvale, California, and listed in New York, sold the stake to help finance the building of a new plant and recent acquisitions as it competes with market leader Intel. Mubadala Development Co, set up in 2002, paid US$622 million for its 49 million new shares.
It is the latest so-called sovereign wealth fund to use the proceeds of the soaring oil price to buy into western companies. Merrill Lynch estimates that the amount of money these vehicles have to invest in shares, government bonds, property and other assets outside their home markets will rise from just under US$2 trillion this year to almost US$8 trillion in 2011.
Earlier this year Mubadala bought a 7.5 percent stake in Carlyle Group, arguably the most influential private equity firm in the US, and also has a stake in Ferrari. Investment funds backed by the government of neighboring Qatar, meanwhile, have bought into the London Stock Exchange and were behind the recent abortive bid for UK supermarket group J. Sainsbury PLC. Dubai International Capital, meanwhile, has stakes in the US hedge fund manager Och-Ziff Capital Management Group, the Indian bank ICICI and the defense firm EADS.
But the increasing influence of funds from Arab nations has raised worries among politicians in Washington, especially when it involves investment in potentially crucial intellectual property in areas such as defense and technology.
Dubai's announcement of a planned investment in the NASDAQ technology market, for instance, drew a response from US President George W. Bush that the deal's "national security implications" would be fully explored before the deal was approved.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
RSS