Amazon Wants to be Everything to Everyone

The logo of Amazon is seen on the door of an Amazon Books retail store in New York City, US, February 14, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
The logo of Amazon is seen on the door of an Amazon Books retail store in New York City, US, February 14, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
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Amazon Wants to be Everything to Everyone

The logo of Amazon is seen on the door of an Amazon Books retail store in New York City, US, February 14, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
The logo of Amazon is seen on the door of an Amazon Books retail store in New York City, US, February 14, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Amazon is bolstering its e-commerce empire while continuing a march deeper into people's lives, from robots to healthcare and entertainment.
Innovations unveiled in recent days by the Seattle-based tech titan included a delivery van computer system to shave time off deliveries by its speed-obsessed logistics network, reported AFP.
Amazon Stores boss Doug Herrington said that the technology enables vans to recognize stops and signal which packages to drop off.
"When we speed up deliveries, customers shop more," Herrington said.
"For 2024, we're going to have the fastest Prime delivery speeds around the world," he added, referring to Amazon's subscription service.
On top of that, according to Herrington, Amazon last year managed to cut 45 cents off the cost per unit shipped, a huge savings when considering the massive volume of sales.
Prime is the 'glue'
Amazon last year recorded profit of more than $30 billion on revenue of $575 billion, powered by its online retail operation and its AWS cloud computing division.
"They have this whole flywheel model with Amazon Prime membership in the middle," said eMarketer analyst Suzy Davidkhanian.
"That's the glue that keeps everything together."
Businesses include retail, advertising, cloud computing and streamed movies and music.
But that very model has the 30-year-old company facing a US government lawsuit, accused of expanding an illegal monopoly and otherwise harming competition.
Amazon makes money from data gathered about consumers, either by targeting ads or through insights into what products they might like, Davidkhanian said.
That was why Amazon paid for expensive rights to stream NFL American football games on Prime Video in a move that promises to help it pinpoint fans of the sport.
Amazon's digital assistant Alexa can order items on command and has been even built into appliances such as washing machines to let them automatically buy supplies like laundry soap as needed.
A 'pocket pharmacy'
Amazon showed off enhancements to its virtual health care service called One Medical.
For $9 a month Prime members are promised anytime access to video consultations with health care professionals, along with record keeping and drug prescriptions.
An Amazon Pharmacy takes advantage of the company's delivery network to get prescriptions to patients quickly, striving for speeds of less than 24 hours for 45 percent of customers by the end of next year.
"We're building a pharmacy in your pocket that offers rapid delivery right to your door," Amazon Pharmacy chief Hannah McClellan said, referring to the option of using a smartphone app.
The healthcare market promises to be lucrative for Amazon, which is "trying to be the platform that has everything for everyone," said analyst Davidkhanian.
Real world wrinkles
Amazon has suffered setbacks when it comes to brick-and-mortar stores but it continues to strive for a winning strategy.
The company next year will open its first "automated micro warehouse" in Pennsylvania, next to a Whole Foods Market organic grocery shop, the chain it bought in 2017.
People will be able to pick up certain items selected online, with orders filled by robots, after shopping next door for fresh produce and groceries.
Meanwhile, Amazon is ramping up use of artificial intelligence at its online store with tools helping sellers describe and illustrate products.
Product labels will change according to the user, displaying terms likely to catch their attention such as "strawberry flavor" for some and "gluten-free" for others.
"The things that Amazon is doing with AI are to make sure that you go from researching something to making the purchase as quickly as possible," Davidkhanian said.
At the logistics center near Nashville, robotic arms deftly placed packages in carts that autonomously made their way to trucks.
Logistics center automation improves safety and frees up workers for more interesting tasks, according to Amazon robotics manager Julie Mitchell.
However, critics cite delivery speed pressure and other factors as making Amazon warehouses more dangerous than the industry average.



Nvidia to Resume Sales of Highly Desired AI Computer Chips to China

President and CEO of Nvidia Corporation Jensen Huang delivers a speech during the Computex 2025 exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP)
President and CEO of Nvidia Corporation Jensen Huang delivers a speech during the Computex 2025 exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP)
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Nvidia to Resume Sales of Highly Desired AI Computer Chips to China

President and CEO of Nvidia Corporation Jensen Huang delivers a speech during the Computex 2025 exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP)
President and CEO of Nvidia Corporation Jensen Huang delivers a speech during the Computex 2025 exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP)

Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang says the technology giant has won approval from the Trump administration to sell its advanced H20 computer chips used to develop artificial intelligence to China.

The news came in a company blog post late Monday, which stated that the US government had "assured" Nvidia that licenses would be granted — and that the company "hopes to start deliveries soon." Shares of the California-based chipmaker were up over 4% by midday Tuesday.

Huang also spoke about the coup on China’s state-run CGTN television network, in remarks shown on X.

"Today, I'm announcing that the US government has approved for us filing licenses to start shipping H20s," Huang told reporters in Beijing.

He added that half of the world's AI researchers are in China. "It's so innovative and dynamic here in China that it's really important that American companies are able to compete and serve the market here," he said.

Huang recently met with President Donald Trump and other US policymakers and is in Beijing this week to attend a supply chain conference and speak with Chinese officials. The broadcast showed Huang meeting with Ren Hongbin, the head of the China Council for Promotion of International Trade, host of the China International Supply Chain Expo, which Huang was attending. Nvidia is an exhibitor.

Nvidia has profited enormously from the rapid adoption of AI, becoming the first company to have its market value surpass $4 trillion last week. However, the trade rivalry between the US and China has been weighing heavily on the industry.

Here's what we know.

What is Nvidia's H20 chip? The H20 graphics processing unit, or GPU, is an advanced AI chip — a type of device used to build and update a range of AI systems. But it's less powerful than Nvidia's top semiconductors today.

That's because the H20 chip was developed to specifically comply with US restrictions for exports of AI chips to China. Nvidia's most advanced chips, which carry more computing power, are off-limits to the Chinese market.

Washington has been tightening controls on exports of advanced technology to China for years, citing concerns that know-how meant for civilian use could be deployed for military purposes. And in January, before Trump began his second term in office, President Joe Biden's administration launched a new framework for exporting advanced computer chips used to develop AI in an attempt to balance national security concerns about the technology with the economic interests of producers and other countries.

Restrictions on sales of advanced chips to China have been central to the AI race between the world's two largest economic powers, but such controls are also controversial.

Proponents argue that these restrictions are necessary to slow China down enough to allow US companies to keep their lead. Meanwhile, opponents say the export controls have loopholes and could still spur innovation. The emergence of China’s DeepSeek AI chatbot in January particularly renewed concerns over how China might use advanced chips to help develop its own AI capabilities.

What's happened since Trump took office? In April, the White House announced that it would restrict sales of Nvidia’s H20 chips to China — as well as MI308 chips from rival chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices with the Trump administration again citing national security.

At the time, Nvidia said these tighter export controls would cost the company an extra $5.5 billion and Huang and other technology leaders have been lobbying Trump to reverse the restrictions since. They've argued that such limits hinder US competition in a sector in one of the world’s largest markets for technology, and have also warned that US export controls could end up pushing other countries toward China’s AI technology.

Monday's announcement from Nvidia signals that its lobbying efforts paid off. White House AI and crypto adviser David Sacks told Bloomberg on Tuesday that allowing Nvidia to restart Chinese sales of its H20 chip would help the US better compete abroad, particularly with Chinese chipmaker Huawei Technologies.

Meanwhile, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC on Tuesday that the renewed sale of H20 chips in China was linked to a trade agreement made between the two countries on rare earth magnets and maintained that the administration was also reversing course from April's restrictions because the US still doesn't sell China "our best stuff."

Still, calls for restrictions on advanced chip exports to China have persisted among US lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

Just last week, Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Jim Banks wrote a letter to Huang noting that the hardware powering advanced AI "is of immense strategic importance" and again warned that this kind of technology could be used to accelerate Beijing’s effort to modernize its military if exported freely. US lawmakers have also proposed that chips subject to export controls should be tracked, to ensure they don’t end up in the wrong places.

Beyond export controls, California-based Nvidia — like other tech giants today — has been caught in the crosshairs of Trump’s tariff wars abroad, particularly amid America's tit-for-tat levies with China. But Beijing and Washington recently agreed to pull back some non-tariff restrictions. China says it’s approving permits for rare earth magnets to be exported to the US, while Washington has lifted curbs on chip design software and jet engines.

Nvidia and its CEO have also garnered Trump’s favor in recent months. In April, the company announced that it would be producing its AI chips in the US for the first time, starting with more than one million square feet of manufacturing space to build and test its specialized Blackwell chips in Arizona and AI supercomputers in Texas.

Trump was quick to applaud Nvidia's move. He introduced Huang as a "smart cookie" who was helping bring jobs to the US at an "Investing in America" event held at the White House later that month.

Similar to Nvidia, AMD is now also poised to restart Chinese sales of its MI308 chips. The California-based company said in a statement that the Commerce Department was moving forward with license applications for these exports to China, and that it plans to resume shipments as those licenses are approved.