Nvidia chips do not contain “backdoors” allowing remote access, the US tech giant has said, after Beijing summoned company representatives to discuss “serious security issues”.The California-based company is a world-leading producer of AI semiconductors, and this month became the first company to hit $4 trillion in market value.But it has become entangled in trade tensions between China and the United States, and Washington effectively restricts which chips Nvidia can export to China on national security grounds.”Cybersecurity is critically important to us. Nvidia does not have ‘backdoors’ in our chips that would give anyone a remote way to access or control them,” Nvidia said in a statement Thursday.A key issue has been Chinese access to the “H20” — a less powerful version of Nvidia’s AI processing units that the company developed specifically for export to China.Nvidia said this month it would resume H20 sales to China after Washington pledged to remove licensing curbs that had halted exports.But the tech giant still faces obstacles — US lawmakers have proposed plans to require Nvidia and other manufacturers of advanced AI chips to include built-in location tracking capabilities.Beijing’s top internet regulator said Thursday it had summoned Nvidia representatives to discuss recently discovered “serious security issues” involving the H20.The Cyberspace Administration of China said it had asked Nvidia to “explain the security risks of vulnerabilities and backdoors in its H20 chips sold to China and submit relevant supporting materials”.China is aiming to reduce reliance on foreign tech by promoting Huawei’s domestically developed 910C chip as an alternative to the H20, said Jost Wubbeke of the Sinolytics consultancy.”From that perspective, the US decision to allow renewed exports of the H20 to China could be seen as counterproductive, as it might tempt Chinese hyperscalers to revert to the H20, potentially undermining momentum behind the 910C and other domestic alternatives,” he said.Other hurdles to Nvidia’s operations in China are the sputtering economy, beset by a years-long property sector crisis, and heightened trade headwinds under US President Donald Trump.CEO Jensen Huang said during a visit to Beijing this month that the company remained committed to serving local customers, adding that he had been assured during talks with top Chinese officials that the country was “open and stable”.

Tech giants Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft this week eclipsed earnings expectations, cashing in on artificial intelligence (AI) while navigating economic waters roiled by US tariffs.”Massive results seen by Microsoft and Meta further validate the use cases and unprecedented spending trajectory for the AI Revolution on both the enterprise and consumer fronts,” Wedbush tech analyst Dan Ives said in a note to investors.”We have barely scratched the surface of this 4th Industrial Revolution now playing out around the world led by the Big Tech stalwarts such as Nvidia, Microsoft, Palantir, Meta, Alphabet, and Amazon,” Ives added.Amazon reported a 35 percent jump in quarterly profits as the e-commerce giant said major investments in AI technology are paying off.”Our conviction that AI will change every customer experience is starting to play out,” said Chief Executive Andy Jassy, pointing to the company’s expanded Alexa+ service and new AI shopping agents.But the Seattle-based company’s profit outlook for the current quarter came in lower than hoped for, with investors worried that the cost of AI was weighing on the bottom line.This was despite a stellar second quarter that exceeded analyst expectations, much like it did for its AI-focused rivals Google, Microsoft and Meta, which posted bumper results for the period.Amazon’s net sales climbed 13 percent, signaling that the company was so far surviving impacts of the high-tariff trade policy under US President Donald Trump.Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company’s world-leading cloud computing division, led the charge with sales jumping 17.5 percent to $30.9 billion. Its strong performance reflects surging demand for cloud infrastructure to power AI applications, a trend that has benefited major cloud providers as companies race to adopt generative AI technologies.- $4 trillion club -Shares of Microsoft spiked Thursday following blowout quarterly results, lifting the tech giant into the previously unprecedented $4 trillion club along with Nvidia, another AI standout.The landmark valuation is the latest sign of growing bullishness about an AI investment boom that market watchers believe is still in the early stages — even as companies like Microsoft plan $100 billion or more in annual capital spending to add new capacity.”Cloud and AI is the driving force of business transformation across every industry and sector,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. At the heart of the results was a stunning surge in Azure, the company’s cloud computing platform, which is getting “supercharged” with AI, said Angelo Zino, technology analyst at CFRA Research.Zino attributed “just about all of” Microsoft’s recent climb in valuation to AI.- Superintelligence? -Meta reported robust second-quarter financial results Wednesday, with revenue jumping 22 percent year-over-year as the social media giant continues investing heavily in artificial intelligence.”We’ve had a strong quarter both in terms of our business and community,” said CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “I’m excited to build personal superintelligence for everyone in the world.”Zuckerberg has embarked on a major AI spending spree, poaching top researchers with expensive pay packages from rivals like OpenAI and Apple as he builds a team to pursue what he calls AI superintelligence.Hours before the earnings report, Zuckerberg insisted that the attainment of superintelligence — technology that would theoretically be more powerful than the human brain — is now “in sight.”Meanwhile Apple, which is seen as lagging in the AI race, beat expectations with earnings driven by strong iPhone sales despite US tariffs costing the company $800 million in the recently-ended quarter.Apple expects Trump’s tariffs to cost the iPhone maker $1.1 billion in the current quarter.”The results show that Apple’s iPhone strategy is working to offset the impact of looming challenges with AI development timelines, tariff pressures, and Google’s antitrust issues,” said Emarketer tech analyst Jacob Bourne.Apple chief executive Tim Cook said on an earnings call that taking the most advanced technologies and making them easy to use is “at the heart of our AI strategy.”Cook said Apple has been rolling out Apple Intelligence AI features and is “making good progress on a more personalized Siri.”

One of the best-known leaders in the decades-long struggle for US farm laborer rights, Dolores Huerta may be 95 years old but she is busier than ever.With the administration of US President Donald Trump ramping up immigration raids targeting farmworkers, the veteran activist — who co-founded the country’s largest agricultural union more than 60 years ago — is a galvanizing figure for those seeking to fight back.”People are reaching out because they want to do something,” she told AFP during an interview at the headquarters of her Dolores Huerta Foundation in Bakersfield, an agricultural nexus in California’s Central Valley.Born in New Mexico and raised in California, Huerta took the reins of the US farmworker movement in the 1960s along with the late activist Cesar Chavez.They created what is now United Farm Workers, launching an unprecedented fight for the rights of marginalized laborers who toil in the fields that feed America every day.At the time, Huerta was raising seven children — she later had four more — while going through a divorce.Finding the time to organize and mobilize workers remains as crucial as ever today, she said.”We’ve got to be a lot more active, because what’s happening right now is so huge. I liken it to what was happening in Germany before Hitler took power,” Huerta said. She argues that it is essential to prepare the electorate to vote in the 2026 midterms, which could reshape the US Congress. Both its chambers currently have Republican majorities.”This is the only way that this can be solved,” she said.- ‘Si se puede’ slogan -Much has changed since her time as a young union leader, but one thing that has never gone away is racism, Huerta said.”I believe that that illness of racism is what has really contaminated our political system,” said Huerta.”Trump is actually playing out that racism when he is again putting immigrants, and mostly people of color, into the detention centers” with “inhumane conditions,” she said.Many have been sent to countries with which they have no connection, Huerta noted, such as the 252 Venezuelans who were sent to a notorious El Salvador prison, before eventually being repatriated to their homeland as part of a political deal.For Huerta, the Republican-led crackdown is “absolutely atrocious… our people have been caught off guard.”Huerta believes that the swell of Latino support for Trump that aided his victory in November was driven by religious interests.Church leaders and lobbyists who are influential with Hispanic communities used issues like abortion and LGBTQ+ rights to “intimidate” Hispanic communities, who traditionally favor Democrats, into voting Republican, she said.But Huerta — whose famous “Si se puede” slogan was mirrored by Barack Obama’s “Yes, we can” rallying cry in 2008 — believes Trump’s promise to carry out the largest deportation operation in US history could yet backfire.In various sectors ranging from agriculture to hospitality and services, employers are realizing how much they need hard-working immigrants, she said.- ‘Fear’ -The risks have sharply risen for many in her community since Trump came to power, but for Huerta personally, activism has long had perilous consequences.When she was 58, Huerta was arrested and brutally beaten by police at a San Francisco protest.Her commitment to the union movement also meant she was an absent mother — and even today, she spends more time on her work than with her many children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.Huerta has often been the only woman in male-dominated spaces, and is renowned by many for her ability to face down corporate power.In February, her foundation helped drive an ongoing boycott against the retail giant Target over its decision to end pro-diversity programs following Trump’s election.”Trump instilled fear in all these corporations,” she said.Using tactics like boycotts to influence billionaire business owners who can “pull Trump’s strings,” she said, “we finally are able to move them in the right direction.””They need to start speaking up and stop these dangerous policies of Trump.”