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Saudi Aramco, NVIDIA Collaborate on Quantum Computing 

Aramco's Upstream is embarking on a digital transformation journey aimed at accelerating technological breakthroughs in the quest for energy. (SPA)
Aramco's Upstream is embarking on a digital transformation journey aimed at accelerating technological breakthroughs in the quest for energy. (SPA)
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Saudi Aramco, NVIDIA Collaborate on Quantum Computing 

Aramco's Upstream is embarking on a digital transformation journey aimed at accelerating technological breakthroughs in the quest for energy. (SPA)
Aramco's Upstream is embarking on a digital transformation journey aimed at accelerating technological breakthroughs in the quest for energy. (SPA)

Delivering energy to the world demands extraordinary capabilities, and Saudi Aramco, as a leading global energy powerhouse, takes pride in carrying the beacon of technological innovation to help advance the world's potential.

Aramco's Upstream is embarking on a digital transformation journey aimed at accelerating technological breakthroughs in the quest for energy. Inspired by the transformative Dammam 7 story — Saudi Arabia's first commercial oil well — and its namesake Dammam-7 Supercomputer — Aramco's most powerful supercomputer — the Upstream Digital Center (UDC), the digital arm of Aramco's Upstream segment, is ushering in a new era with quantum computing capabilities.

Using the Dammam-7 Supercomputer accelerated by NVIDIA graphical processing units (GPUs), Aramco has demonstrated one of the largest quantum computing emulators in the region, called Dammam-7Q (DMM7Q), in an ambitious collaborative effort with NVIDIA.

Quantum computing promises to transform how advanced computing can tackle the most complex problems facing a host of industries, including energy. Exploring new reserves requires sophisticated computational techniques, where geoscientists must draw on increasing computing power to process peta-scale seismic data and deliver accurate subsurface images.

Driven by the Upstream Digital Transformation, UDC aims to innovate at the frontier with quantum computing, through collaboration with NVIDIA, delivering innovations to harness the power of the hybrid supercomputers of tomorrow, said UDC Vice President Ashraf Al-Tahini.

In recent work with NVIDIA, Aramco has explored the utilization of an algorithm called the quantum Hadamard edge detection, specifically designed to take advantage of tomorrow’s quantum processors to dramatically enhance details in subsurface images.

The future of supercomputing is hybrid, where various architectures work simultaneously to expand the algorithms and applications that can be tackled by harnessing the power of advanced computing.

Senior Director of CAE, Quantum and CUDA-X at NVIDIA Tim Costa said quantum algorithms offer huge promise, but their development and deployment require coordinating the state of the art in both quantum and conventional supercomputing.

To accelerate quantum computing adoption, Aramco innovators are drawing on the NVIDIA CUDA-Q platform to run GPU-accelerated emulations of future quantum computing hardware, allowing them to develop and assess quantum algorithms that can be used for geosciences.

Furthermore, CUDA-Q has enabled Aramco to explore how actual quantum algorithms will run on hybrid systems that leverage both conventional processors like CPUs and GPUs alongside quantum hardware, simplifying the distribution of computational tasks between these different coprocessors.

Using CUDA-Q, Aramco has been able to emulate up to 30 qubits per GPU, scaling to more qubits utilizing multiple GPUs in the Dammam-7 Supercomputer to detect 3D seismic faults on a full 3D seismic dataset. This success delivered a pioneering quantum-based algorithm, marking a new frontier for upstream computing.

Costa said the collaboration with Aramco demonstrates how transformative applications can be discovered when quantum researchers have the right platform for accessing accelerated computing.

This work marks a collaboration between Aramco and NVIDIA to explore the hybrid quantum-classical supercomputers of tomorrow.

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Technology

AMD Predicts Weaker First-Quarter Sales, Shares Plunge on Nvidia Comparisons

An AMD logo and a computer motherboard appear in this illustration created on August 25, 2025. (Reuters)
An AMD logo and a computer motherboard appear in this illustration created on August 25, 2025. (Reuters)
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AMD Predicts Weaker First-Quarter Sales, Shares Plunge on Nvidia Comparisons

An AMD logo and a computer motherboard appear in this illustration created on August 25, 2025. (Reuters)
An AMD logo and a computer motherboard appear in this illustration created on August 25, 2025. (Reuters)

Advanced Micro Devices on Tuesday forecast a slight decline in quarterly revenue, raising concerns about whether it ​can effectively challenge Nvidia in the booming AI market and sending its shares tumbling 8% in after-hours trade.

The lackluster prediction comes despite an unexpected boost from sales of certain artificial intelligence chips to China, which began in the last quarter after the Trump administration approved a license for orders that AMD received in early 2025.

And without those sales to China which generated $390 million, AMD's data-center segment would have missed estimates for the fourth quarter.

AMD said it expects revenue of about $9.8 billion this quarter, plus or minus $300 million. That's down from $10.27 billion in the fourth-quarter which was up 34% year-on-year and ahead of LSEG ‌estimates for $9.67 billion.

PALES ‌NEXT TO NVIDIA

Though AMD is seen as one of the ‌few ⁠contenders ​that can seriously ‌challenge Nvidia, investors noted the stark contrast between the two companies' performances. AMD expects an adjusted gross margin of 55% this quarter. Nvidia has said it expects adjusted gross margin in the mid-70% range during its fiscal 2027.

"The expectations for large blowout quarters for AI-related hardware companies have skewed what the market is looking for," said Bob O'Donnell, president of TECHnalysis Research.

The forecast for the current first quarter includes $100 million from sales to China, where the situation remains "dynamic," AMD CEO Lisa Su said on a conference call with investors.

The US government ⁠has placed restrictions on the exports of advanced chips to China, but AMD received licenses to sell modified versions of its MI300 series ‌of AI chips there. Its MI308 chip competes with Nvidia's H20 ‍chip in China.

OPENAI SALES

AMD has accelerated its ‍product launches and is moving into selling full AI systems to better compete against Nvidia, which now ‍provides "rack-scale" systems that combine GPUs, CPUs and networking gear.

Last year, it entered into a multi-year deal to supply AI chips to ChatGPT-owner OpenAI, which would bring in tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue and give the startup the option to buy up to roughly 10% of the chipmaker.

Su reiterated on Tuesday that the company ​expects sales of a new flagship AI server to OpenAI and others to rise rapidly in the second half of this year, saying a global memory-chip crunch will not ⁠slow its plans.

"I do not believe that we will be supply-limited in terms of the ramp that we put in place," Su said.

BEYOND OPENAI

As Big Tech and governments across the globe double down on investing in AI hardware, shares in Santa Clara, California-based AMD have doubled since the start of 2025, outperforming a 60% bump in the broader chip index.

But analysts remain concerned that AMD's success remains tied to a handful of customers that rivals such as Nvidia could try to poach. Reuters reported this week that Nvidia made a $20 billion move to hire most of chip startup Groq's founders after OpenAI held chip supply discussions with the startup.

"Growth appears concentrated in large deployments and specific regions, and China shipments are significant enough to influence a quarter," said eMarketer analyst Gadjo Sevilla.

Revenue in AMD's key data-center segment grew 39% to $5.38 billion in the ‌fourth quarter. But excluding sales of the MI308, which is a data-center chip, that revenue would have been $4.99 billion, below estimates of $5.07 billion.

Technology

Switch 2 Sales Boost Nintendo Results but Chip Shortage Looms

This photo taken on November 4, 2025 shows a woman taking photos of a Super Mario figure at the Nintendo Tokyo store in Tokyo. (AFP)
This photo taken on November 4, 2025 shows a woman taking photos of a Super Mario figure at the Nintendo Tokyo store in Tokyo. (AFP)
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Switch 2 Sales Boost Nintendo Results but Chip Shortage Looms

This photo taken on November 4, 2025 shows a woman taking photos of a Super Mario figure at the Nintendo Tokyo store in Tokyo. (AFP)
This photo taken on November 4, 2025 shows a woman taking photos of a Super Mario figure at the Nintendo Tokyo store in Tokyo. (AFP)

The runaway success of the Switch 2 console drove up Nintendo's net profit by more than 50 percent in the nine months to December, the Japanese video game giant said Tuesday.

But a global memory chip shortage, created by frenzied demand for artificial intelligence hardware, could push up manufacturing costs.

The Switch 2 became the world's fastest-selling games console after launching to a fan frenzy last summer.

It is the successor to the original Switch, which soared in popularity during the pandemic when games such as "Animal Crossing" struck a chord during long lockdowns.

Both are hybrid devices that can be connected to a TV or used on-the-go.

In April-December, net profit jumped 51.3 percent year-on-year to 358.9 billion yen ($2.3 billion), and revenue nearly doubled on-year to 1.9 trillion yen, Nintendo said.

But the firm kept its annual unit sales target for the Switch 2 steady at 19 million, and also held its full-year net profit forecast of 350 billion yen.

"Nintendo Switch 2 got off to a good start following its launch on June 5 and unit sales continued to grow through the holiday season," the company said.

Nearly 17.4 million Switch 2 devices were sold in the nine-month period, it added.

"Maintaining momentum is certainly a big focus for Nintendo," Krysta Yang of the Nintendo-focused Kit and Krysta Podcast told AFP.

A lack of heavy-hitting first-party new games for the Switch 2 in coming months risks hindering growth, although third-party titles such as "Resident Evil Requiem" should help fill the gap, she said.

Nintendo said Tuesday it planned to release "Mario Tennis Fever" this month and "Pokemon Pokopia" in March.

While the firm is diversifying into hit movies and theme parks, consoles remain the core of its business.

The Switch 1 has now sold 155.37 million units -- overtaking the Nintendo DS console to be its best-selling hardware of all time.

But soaring prices for memory chips, used in gaming consoles as well as phones, laptops and other electronics, will likely be a headwind for the company.

Their prices have been pushed up as chipmakers focus on producing the advanced memory chips in huge demand to power AI data centers.

"Nintendo and other console manufacturers are publicly keeping quiet about the impact of the shortage," gaming industry consultant Serkan Toto told AFP.

But "users can forget the past when consoles always became cheaper in tandem with component costs falling over time", with price hikes potentially on the way in 2026, he said.

Yang said she thought a price increase for the Switch 2 "is not out of the question" but added that Nintendo "would likely exhaust all other options" before doing so.

Technology

Snapchat Blocks 415,000 Underage Accounts in Australia

Snapchat says teens may be skirting a social media ban in Australia (Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV)
Snapchat says teens may be skirting a social media ban in Australia (Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV)
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Snapchat Blocks 415,000 Underage Accounts in Australia

Snapchat says teens may be skirting a social media ban in Australia (Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV)
Snapchat says teens may be skirting a social media ban in Australia (Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV)

Snapchat has blocked 415,000 accounts under Australia's social media ban for under-16s, the company said Monday, but warned some youngsters may be bypassing age verification technology.

The platform urged the Australian authorities to oblige app stores to check users' ages as an "additional safeguard" for the world-first crackdown, AFP said.

Platforms including Snapchat, Meta, TikTok and YouTube must stop underage users from holding accounts under the legislation, which came into effect on December 10.

Companies face fines of Aus$49.5 million (US$34 million) if they fail to take "reasonable steps" to comply.

Australia's eSafety online regulator reported last month that tech giants had already blocked 4.7 million accounts, delivering "significant outcomes".

As of the end of January, Snapchat said it had blocked or disabled 415,000 Snapchat accounts in Australia belonging to under-16s.

"We continue to lock more accounts daily," it said in an online statement.

But the law leaves "significant gaps", Snapchat said, arguing that age estimation technology was only accurate to within two to three years.

"In practice, this means some young people under 16 may be able to bypass protections, potentially leaving them with reduced safeguards, while others over 16 may incorrectly lose access."

Snapchat joined billionaire Mark Zuckerberg's Meta in calling on Australia to require app stores to check users' ages before allowing downloads.

"Creating a centralized verification system at the app-store level would allow for more consistent protection and higher barriers to circumventing the law," Snapchat said.

The platform said it did not believe an outright ban was the right approach.

Snapchat said it understood Australia's objectives and wanted to protect people online, but did not agree its platform should be covered by the social media ban.

"In the case of Snapchat -- which is primarily a messaging app used by young people to stay connected with close friends and family -- we do not believe that cutting teens off from these relationships makes them safer, happier, or otherwise better off," it said.