Nvidia CEO Huang Says Countries Must Build Sovereign AI Infrastructure 

NVIDIA's CEO Jensen Huang attend a session of the World Governments Summit, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, February 12, 2024. (Reuters)
NVIDIA's CEO Jensen Huang attend a session of the World Governments Summit, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, February 12, 2024. (Reuters)
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Nvidia CEO Huang Says Countries Must Build Sovereign AI Infrastructure 

NVIDIA's CEO Jensen Huang attend a session of the World Governments Summit, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, February 12, 2024. (Reuters)
NVIDIA's CEO Jensen Huang attend a session of the World Governments Summit, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, February 12, 2024. (Reuters)

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on Monday that every country needs to have its own artificial intelligence infrastructure in order to take advantage of the economic potential while protecting its own culture.

"You cannot allow that to be done by other people," Huang said at the World Government Summit in Dubai.

Huang, whose firm has catapulted to a $1.73 trillion stock market value due to its dominance of the market for high-end AI chips, said his company is "democratizing" access to AI due to swift efficiency gains in AI computing.

"The rest of it is really up to you to take initiative, activate your industry, build the infrastructure, as fast as you can."

He said that fears about the dangers of AI are overblown, noting that other new technologies and industries such as cars and aviation have been successfully regulated.

"There are some interests to scare people about this new technology, to mystify this technology, to encourage other people to not do anything about that technology and rely on them to do it. And I think that's a mistake."

Following a new round of US restrictions in October imposed on some of its AI chips, Nvidia said in November it was working with customers in China and the Middle East to obtain export licenses for new products that would comply with US rules.

The CEO did not address that issue on Monday.

Nvidia is due to report fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 21.



Global Tech Outage to Cost Air France KLM Close to $11 mln

Air France planes are parked on the tarmac at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, in Roissy, near Paris, Saturday, April 7, 2018. Some 30 percent of Air France flights were cancelled Saturday as strikes over pay rises appear to be intensifying. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Air France planes are parked on the tarmac at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, in Roissy, near Paris, Saturday, April 7, 2018. Some 30 percent of Air France flights were cancelled Saturday as strikes over pay rises appear to be intensifying. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
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Global Tech Outage to Cost Air France KLM Close to $11 mln

Air France planes are parked on the tarmac at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, in Roissy, near Paris, Saturday, April 7, 2018. Some 30 percent of Air France flights were cancelled Saturday as strikes over pay rises appear to be intensifying. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Air France planes are parked on the tarmac at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, in Roissy, near Paris, Saturday, April 7, 2018. Some 30 percent of Air France flights were cancelled Saturday as strikes over pay rises appear to be intensifying. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Air France KLM faces a hit of about 10 million euros ($10.85 million) from last week's global technology outage, finance chief Steven Zaat said on Thursday.

The group is one of the first airlines to disclose a cost linked to the disruption, Reuters reported.

"The expectation is that it will cost us around 10 million (euros)," Zaad said in a press call, adding that KLM and Transavia bore the brunt of the disruptions while Air France was not seriously affected.

A software update by global cybersecurity company CrowdStrike triggered systems problems that grounded flights, forced broadcasters off air and left customers without access to services such as healthcare or banking last Friday.

Delta Air Lines has been the slowest among major US carriers to recover from the outage. The carrier has cancelled more than 6,000 flights since Friday and analysts estimate the hit to its bottom line could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. ($1 = 0.9213 euros)