Leading lights of the tech industry met in Lisbon yesterday for the Web Summit, the sector’s first big event since the US election, with Donald Trump’s victory expected to be a key theme of their discussions.
The tech industry is holding its breath to see what Trump’s second term will bring when he takes over in January, especially as Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) and Tesla Inc chief executive officer Elon Musk is expected to have a huge influence on the next US government.
During Trump’s last term from 2017 to 2021, big tech firms were often at odds with the president, particularly given his crackdown on immigration and ramping up the trade war with China.
Photo: Patricia De Melo Moreira
The Web Summit runs until tomorrow with some 3,000 start-ups pitching their products to 1,000 investors, and 70,000 visitors taking part in events and debates, according to the organizers.
Thousands poured through the doors on the first full day of the event, delegates from countries and local governments manning pavilions with splashy slogans and sleek logos, flanked by banks of stands devoted to start-ups.
Among yesterday’s high-profile speakers was Cristiano Amon, boss of chip giant Qualcomm Inc, who played down the impact of Trump’s election.
"We’ve done well globally regardless of the administration," he said in a press conference, adding that his firm also was managing to thrive in China despite the current trade war with the United States.
Ukraine, whose future depends on Western support to push back against the Russian invasion, brought 24 start-ups to the event.
"Times are very challenging," said Yana Hulak from the Ukrainian Startup Fund when asked about the ongoing war and the changes in leadership in Washington.
"The country’s priorities are in the military sector. We are trying to showcase civilian technology," she told AFP.
"We’ve got start-ups here covering sectors from education to insurance."
The event kicked off on Monday night with singer Pharrell Williams bringing star power to the proceedings.
Organizers were keen to move on from last year’s edition when a string of big firms pulled out after Web Summit chief executive Paddy Cosgrave wrote social media posts accusing Israel of war crimes in Gaza.
Cosgrave stepped down but has since returned to his post. He made no reference to the controversy in his opening speech on Monday, saying simply: "It’s good to be back."
Cosgrave stressed that the Web Summit is focused on the start-up ecosystem first and foremost. But big tech firms have returned to the gathering this year with Meta Platforms Inc, Google and others all represented.
Kuo Zhang (張闊), president of Alibaba.com (阿里巴巴國際站), took to the stage to outline the features of a new artificial intelligence-powered search engine called Accio, named after a spell in the Harry Potter series.
Microsoft Corp president Brad Smith was also on hand to extol the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI).
His firm has ploughed billions into the tech and he told the audience AI was "the next great general purpose technology."
On the other side of the debate, prominent AI critic Max Tegmark, president of the Future of Life Institute, told the event on Monday that humanity could be on the path to oblivion.
He was especially critical of the competition between nations to build ever more powerful AI.
"It’s not an arms race between the US and China, it’s a suicide race," he said.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
RSS