Washington’s embargo and Nvidia’s technological advances push China further behind in AI infrastructure, analysts and industry experts say.
Although Beijing continues to pour 344 billion yuan into promoting autonomy, limited GPU availability, access to advanced chip manufacturing technology and an underdeveloped software ecosystem make it difficult to rely on solutions. domestic AI solutions.
China’s leading chip manufacturing companies are all on the US trade blacklist.
Google and Microsoft announced mass layoffs
On June 3, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to CNBC that it will lay off personnel in the Mixed Reality department. Despite the impact on the division responsible for HoloLens 2 augmented reality glasses, the company will continue to sell the device. It’s unclear whether the Windows maker plans to produce HoloLens 3.
According to CNBC sources, more than 1,000 people, including personnel in the Mixed Reality department, will be laid off in this cutback.
Meanwhile, according to Business Insider, Microsoft also cut hundreds of employees in the Azure cloud department.
Another technology “giant” that also announced staff cuts on the same day as Microsoft was Google. At least 100 people from several teams in Google’s cloud division will leave.
According to CNBC sources, Google informed employees last week about this and the eliminated positions include sales, consulting, operations, and engineering.
FBI assists ransomware victims
The FBI urges victims of LockBit ransomware attacks to speak out after revealing it collected more than 7,000 decryption keys to recover encrypted data for free.
At the 2024 Boston Conference on Cyber Security on June 5, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Cyber Division Bryan Vorndran announced this information.
He said the FBI has more than 7,000 decryption keys and can help victims get their data back and get back online.
The call came after law enforcement took down LockBit’s infrastructure in February 2024 in an international campaign called “Operation Cronos”. At that time, police seized 34 servers containing more than 2,500 decryption keys, which helped create a free LockBit 3.0 Black Ransomware decryptor.
After analyzing seized data, the UK National Crime Agency and the US Department of Justice estimated that the LockBit gang and its affiliates had raked in up to $1 billion in ransom after 7,000 attacks targeting organizations. worldwide from June 2022 to February 2024.
However, despite law enforcement efforts to shut down their operations, LockBit remained active and has since moved to new servers and dark web domains.