Month: September 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris will advocate for the continued domestic ownership of U.S. Steel Corp during a campaign rally with President Joe Biden, according to media reports.

The rally follows a White House meeting discussing a hostage situation and ceasefire in Gaza. As the post-Labor Day period marks a critical phase leading up to the Nov. 5 election, Harris is expected to intensify voter engagement efforts, particularly in key battleground states.

Harris, who leads the Democratic ticket after Biden’s withdrawal post-debate in June, plans to express her support for steel workers during her Labor Day speech in Pittsburgh.

A campaign aide told Reuters that Harris will emphasize the importance of U.S. Steel remaining under domestic control and will reaffirm her dedication to American steel workers.

This stance is in alignment with former President Biden’s earlier comments from March, where he insisted that U.S. Steel Corp, which is currently under a $14.9 billion acquisition agreement with Japan’s Nippon Steel, should stay an American-owned company.

The United Steelworkers union has expressed strong opposition to this deal, citing concerns over job security and adherence to existing contract terms.

Nippon Steel, for its part, has committed to upholding the union contract until its expiration in 2026 and has promised to avoid layoffs for the duration of the current agreement.

The Japanese firm has also recently increased its investment commitments to $2.7 billion for the modernization of U.S. Steel’s aging facilities in Gary, Indiana, and near Pittsburgh, in an effort to alleviate fears of potential mill closures.

Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA)’s Chief Executive Jensen Huang is pushing the company’s strategy to become a comprehensive provider of data center components, including software, networking technology, and design services, aiming to cement its position as a leader in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, according to the Wall Street Journal.

This push comes amid a recent earnings report that saw Nvidia surpass Wall Street expectations and came shortly after competitor Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) disclosed its near $5 billion acquisition of ZT Systems, a data-center design and manufacturing firm.

Nvidia is leveraging its dominance in the AI-chip market, where it holds over 80% market share, to offer a more integrated suite of products and services for what Huang refers to as “AI factories.”

These are the data centers that develop and run AI tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Huang’s vision is to transform Nvidia from merely a hardware supplier to a one-stop shop for all crucial data center elements, according to the WSJ.

The company’s strategy involves capitalizing on its proprietary software, CUDA, which has been a cornerstone of its success for 17 years. CUDA allows developers to harness the power of Nvidia’s GPUs for computing tasks.

Moreover, Nvidia is investing in InfiniBand, a high-speed networking protocol that is widely used in AI training. Nvidia acquired Mellanox (NASDAQ:MLNX) Technologies, the leading equipment maker for InfiniBand, five years ago for close to $7 billion.

Nvidia is also venturing into AI-optimized Ethernet services, which are expected to generate significant revenue within the next year, according to Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress.

This service is part of Nvidia’s broader range of data center products, including central processors and networking chips designed to operate cohesively. The company is tailoring its offerings to meet the specific needs of various industries, such as healthcare and robotics, by providing specialized software and hardware setups.