00:00 Hi, good afternoon and welcome to CIO Leadership Live. I’m your host, Maryfran Johnson, CEO of Maryfran Johnson Media, and the former editor in chief of CIO magazine. Since November of 2017 this video and audio podcast has been produced by the editors of cio.com and the digital media division of foundry, which is an IDG company. Our growing collection of past interviews all openly available on cio.com and CIOs YouTube channel now includes more than 150in depth conversations with Chief Information technology and digital officers from mid size to large enterprises across every industry joining that esteemed lineup of CIOs is my guest today, Annie Baymiller, who is the Senior Vice President and CIO At Owens Corning. Owens Corning is a $10.4 billion global building and construction materials company based in Toledo, Ohio, and employing 19,000it’s four integrated businesses, roofing, insulation, composites and doors provide products and services across 33 countries, leveraging the company’s 86 year history of material science, manufacturing and market innovation as the CIO for the last two years, Annie is accountable for Global Information Technology with a focus on digital transformation, analytics, cybersecurity, modern enterprise platforms and business partnerships. She reports to CEO Brian Chambers. Before her current role, Annie served as the it vice president for the roofing and insulation businesses globally, and also led Enterprise Project Management Europe, information technology and the market facing digital strategy for the entire company, a 15 year veteran of the company, Annie joined Owens Corning in 2006 as a project manager, leading SAP deployments and serving as the European IT portfolio leader. After taking a three year consulting break where she gained broader business experience in process transformation and organizational strategy. She rejoined the OC in 2016 as IT director, and was later promoted to vice president of it and then onward to CIO. Among her many industry honors, earlier this year, Annie was chosen as the 2024 global CIO of the year in the Ohio Orbee Awards. She also serves on the board of the Owens Corning Foundation, the Susan G komen community board, and as board chairman for tutor smart, an academic tutoring non profit based in Toledo. Annie, thanks so much for joining me today. Welcome. Thank you. Thanks for having me. It is our pleasure. Let’s start out talking about the range and scope of the CIO job today at Owens Corning, tell us about your marching orders coming into the role two years ago. So I think the predecessor story is sets up the stage for the my journey into the company. So my long time mentor and the prior CIO here at OC who probably many know, Steve Zerby, he had positioned the organization in such a great way, I’d say, especially in terms of talents and in terms of our close connection with the business. So as I came into the role two years ago. You know, it was more about shaping it for the future. And so we spent more time in those first few months being more intentional about the longer term IT strategy and what strategic pillars we wanted to put in place that were tied up to the enterprise strategy. And it turned out to be really useful for us, because it allowed us to communicate. It allowed us to align on the investments going forward. It allowed us to make sure that everyone on the team could see as a function where we were headed.And then, obviously it was a way to position our investments against the strategic intent. So kind of an example inside those would be, you know, we have a pillar around driving business growth. We have a pillar around leading digital transformation, modernizing and flexing our core, and then, as you would expect, protecting with cybersecurity. So that was kind of the big fundamental shift. Is really anchoring in on kind of the longer range strategy. And then as we put that in place over the last year and a half now, it’s been building out those building blocks of where do we continue to need to make new investments and using it as a as a shaping tool with the executive committee. Yeah, well, and it does seem like it’s been a very graceful transition from from Steve to you. And of course, we, we knew Steve extremely well at CIO magazine and at CIO.comI we were always chasing after him to be on stage or to speak and, you know, and try to get him to apply for big, important CIO awards, that kind of thing he was. He’s just a very delightful guy. So I hope he’s enjoying himself now in retirement. Lunch with him two weeks ago, and he is so, oh, good, good, good. Well, it’s always such a great story when there’s been a mentorship and a way to do succession planning, because that is something that IT leadership has not always had the luxury to do in the past. So good. Good for the OC that you guys did, I was just gonna say, and not only did we do good, I think, planning, we also had a long transition period, which was really helpful. And so he was sliding out a role as I was getting one step deeper every day, but by the time he was ready to move on to next phase of life, I was feeling like I was more positioned to lead. So the long transition, I think, really helped, from a stability point of view, good, good. Well, that’s got to be a fine balance to strike. You know, you want to, you want to stay around and be as helpful as possible, but then you don’t want to get underfoot. So, so I’m sure it’s, it seems like it’s working out really well. One of the pillars you mentioned, the business pillars, that driving business growth. I love the sound of that, because too often in

By Dawood Fakhir ( January 8, 2025, 3:42 PM GMT) — Car chips maker NXP Semiconductors NV has agreed to acquire Austrian automotive technology company TTTech Auto in an all-cash transaction for $625 million to strengthen its automotive business, in a deal guided by Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP…. Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Eureka, a household cleaning pioneer with over a century of history, has unveiled its Eureka J15 Max Ultra robotic vacuum. While such robotic vacuums are plentiful now, this one has cool features like being able to detect and adapt to transparent liquids. It’s another example of a 115-year-old company showing up at CES 2025 with new technology. It also introduces an anti-tangle mechanism that can cut it free when it gets caught on carpet tangles. It has an extendable side brush and mop for accessing the tightest corners, enhanced obstacle-crossing capabilities to glide smoothly over thresholds, and a powerful 22,000 Pa suction system for cleaning performance. My family had a Eureka vacuum when I was growing up. But it wasn’t autonomous. Eureka’s ScrubExtend feature. The Eureka J15 Max Ultra has a self-cleaning base station and the FlexiRazor technology, which effortlessly cuts through tangles to minimize maintenance. Pet owners have also been wowed by the series’ pet-friendly design, featuring the ability to avoid pet waste and allow remote video interaction with pets (with user permission), ensuring a stress-free cleaning experience for both pets and owners. IntelliView AI 2.0 – transparent liquid stain detection Eureka’s IntelliView AI 2.0 Eureka’s proprietary IntelliView AI technology, first introduced with the earlier J15 Pro Ultra, provides a more intelligent way to manage wet messes. When encountering wet messes, it commands the robot to automatically rotate its body, prioritize mop cleaning, and lift the roller brush to prevent liquid from entering the dustbin. However, transparent liquids could still be missed due to the influence of ambient light on the robot’s vision sensors. The Eureka J15 Max Ultra overcomes this limitation with the groundbreaking IntelliView AI 2.0, an advanced system that integrates an infrared vision system and an FHD vision sensor. This combination allows the vacuum to generate two types of views in real-time: high-definition images of the objects and their surface structures that are largely unaffected by ambient light or lighting variations. These images are processed by powerful AI algorithms trained to identify subtle differences in surface reflections and texture, enabling the robot to detect liquids clearly, even transparent ones. Enhanced side brushes – extendable and anti-tangle tech Eureka robotic vacuum’s DragonClaw Side Brush. To tackle even the tightest corners and smallest nooks, the Eureka J15 Max Ultra features an advanced dual extension system. This system combines the widely acclaimed ScrubExtend mop extension technology from the J15 Pro Ultra with the newly introduced SweepExtend. Together, these innovations enable the mop and side brush to automatically extend when detecting corners and edges, ensuring thorough cleaning coverage, even in the most hard-to-reach spaces. Eureka takes anti-tangle innovation a step further with the introduction of the DragonClaw Side Brush. Unlike traditional side brushes with equilateral triangle bristles prone to tangling, the DragonClaw features a cutting-edge V-shaped design. This design leverages centrifugal force during rotation to actively untangle hair, offering unparalleled anti-tangle performance and ease of maintenance. Enhanced obstacle-crossing and suction power Eureka’s robotic vacuum can cross obstacles. With enhanced power and agility, the Eureka J15 Max Ultra sets a new standard in performance. Delivering an impressive 22,000 Pa of suction power—a 35% increase over its predecessor—it ensures deep and thorough cleaning. Equipped with advanced ObstaCross Technology, the robot effortlessly navigates standard thresholds up to 1.18 inches and handles complex double-layer thresholds up to 1.57 inches*, allowing it to seamlessly transition across diverse floor types and obstacles with ease. Availability and pricing The Eureka J15 Max Ultra is expected to be available in June 2025, priced at $1,300. The initial sales wave will kick off in the United States, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. In addition, Eureka also introduced the J15 Ultra, an entry-level model in the Eureka J15 Series, featuring 19,000 Pa suction power, FlexiRazor Technology, ScrubExtend, and the All-in-One Base Station. The J15 Ultra is set to launch in March 2025 at a price of $800. For more information, please visit Eureka’s official website at . Founded in 1909 in Detroit, Michigan, Eureka offers a full line of vacuum cleaners, including uprights, canisters, sticks, handhelds, cordless, and robot vacuum cleaners. source

As we step into 2025, the APAC region stands at the forefront of a global financial transformation, with digital wallets and real-time payments reshaping the very fabric of commerce. Exploring the state of digital payments across six key APAC markets — Australia, metro China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia — our latest report, The State Of Digital Retail Payments In Asia Pacific, 2024, offers valuable insights and trends that are shaping the industry. We found that: Buy now, pay later (BNPL) has bounced back. Although strict regulations initially damped its growth, BNPL has surged in popularity among Gen Zers and Millennials. Younger consumers are particularly attracted by its flexible repayment terms and lack of interest charges. The BNPL market in APAC still has room for growth. Cryptocurrency and stablecoin usage have increased. The use of crypto for payments increased notably in 2024, especially in high-growth economies such as India and Indonesia. Consumers are becoming more familiar with cryptocurrency and stablecoin, which will lead to increased trust and use in the coming years. Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are still fresh and have room to grow. CBDCs are emerging as a promising digital payment method, with several APAC countries exploring or implementing these initiatives. The introduction of CBDCs represents a significant step toward digital currency adoption, backed by the security and trust associated with central banks. Digital payments are popular in both high-growth and mature economies. This surge in digital payments is largely driven by the convenience that digital payments offer over traditional methods like cash or cards. Consumers also appreciate the ease of transaction tracking and financial management that digital options provide. Cash is resilient despite the booming digital payment landscape. During the pandemic, concerns about hygiene caused cash’s popularity to plummet, with digital payment usage growing significantly, but our more recent findings show that cash remains a popular payment method for both online and offline transactions. Keeping pace with the dynamic changes in the digital payments sector is essential for businesses aiming to succeed. With the landscape continually shifting, a deep understanding of consumer preferences and behaviors across APAC’s varied markets becomes indispensable. This knowledge allows banks, payment services, fintech companies, and merchants to refine their payment solutions to better serve their clientele. Read the full report for deeper insights into APAC’s latest digital payments landscape. Forrester clients can schedule an inquiry or guidance session with me for further details. source

After several years of economic uncertainty and layoffs, salaries paid to US tech talent are once again some of the world’s most competitive. And in at least one significant US jobs category — sales and marketing — there is now pay equity between women and men.  Those are among the findings of an analysis our company conducted of more than 150,000 anonymized employment contracts in more than 100 countries for software engineers, product designers, and sales and marketing professionals. That includes three countries — the US, Canada and the UK — which tend to be the most competitive with one another for top talent.   This good news about the state of American tech talent, innovation and competitiveness comes at a time when that standing has been a source of public concern.  Much of the higher compensation for tech workers is presumably driven by the widely acknowledged skills gap, particularly in AI. For US software engineers, for example, median compensation had dropped below $100,000 during the big waves of tech layoffs in 2022 and 2023. But by the end of the second quarter of 2024, the most recent period in our analysis, it had rebounded to $122,000 — perhaps driven in part by the soaring demand for AI skills.  The US compensation level was second only to Canada, whose much smaller population has fewer tech workers for employers to compete for.     Related:Addressing the Skills Gap to Keep Up with the Evolution of the Cloud Overall, our survey indicates that when it comes to one of the factors that really matter to global talent — compensation — US tech workers are in high demand. And whether it’s companies based in the US or global employers offering remote contracts to Americans, the global business world is willing to pay what it costs to attract and retain that talent.   Here’s a deeper dive into the data:  Software Skills Are in High Demand For the people with the skills for in-demand tasks like writing code or developing AI models and algorithms, the US jobs market has some idiosyncrasies. One is the much higher potential portion of compensation that comes from stock or equity grants.  In positions where equity is part of the package, the median US compensation for a software-and-data engineer is $151,000 a year — the highest anywhere in the world — assuming the typically four-year vesting program pays out. That translates to an additional 35% a year in compensation, beyond salary. Of the countries we looked at, only Germany comes close, with a combined $135,000 in annual pay and equity.  Unfortunately, another characteristic of the US labor market for software engineers and data scientists is a stark gender gap. Women represent only 10.3% of workers in this category, roughly in line with the UK and Germany. And that disparity translates into a compensation gap. The median US compensation for men in software and data is $155,000, compared to $120,000 for women. Similar pay gaps are found in all other countries we surveyed.   Related:UK Launches Antitrust Investigations Targeting Big Tech Tech Product Development and Design  This line of work also has a gender gap, although a slightly narrower one. For jobs that might involve software development and design, or overseeing such activities, women hold 41% of the positions.  And women in those roles have median compensation of $128,000. While a bit closer to the male median of $150,000, it’s still a sizable gap. The same pattern is evident in other countries, although typically at lower pay scales.   Tech’s Silver Lining for Gender Parity Tech sales and marketing is one area where, in the US at least, there is full pay parity between men and women — median compensation of $100,000.   That’s second to the top figure in the UK. But there, the gender disparity is still sizable: $105,000 for men, compared to $92,000 for women. Canada shows a comparable gender gap, at $84,000 for men but only $77,000 for women.    Related:Tracking, Tackling, and Transforming Technical Debt: The New Challenge To AI Why women, who hold 42% of jobs in tech sales and marketing in the US, have been able to achieve pay parity deserves further study. One factor might be that sales performance is easy to quantify — the more a person sells, the better one is rewarded.   But why this parity doesn’t translate to other countries — maybe there’s a cultural component? — would be worth researching.   The Takeaway on Tech Take-Home Pay  Our findings lead to several steps that employers can take to remain competitive and retain the best talent:  Recognize the need for competitive compensation.    If inflation is a factor, ensure your pay scales include bi-annual adjustments or regular cost-of-living increases.  Offer equity, which especially in tech, is widely sought by employees and can ensure longer-term loyalty.   Given the all-too-common gender gap in compensation, position your organization to attract female talent by closing that gap.    For the global business world, the survey indicates that the US has bounced back as a top competitive market for tech talent. And for companies everywhere, the value proposition is clear: The relatively high cost of skilled US tech workers is well worth the price.    source

By Diana Shaw ( January 8, 2025, 3:28 PM EST) — This article is part of a bimonthly column that takes a closer look at Office of Inspector General reports and findings and analyzes their potential implications. This installment analyzes various OIGs’ 2025 work plans and reports to anticipate the issues and industries most likely to end up the focus of OIG oversight work in the year to come…. Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Diffbot, a small Silicon Valley company best known for maintaining one of the world’s largest indexes of web knowledge, announced today the release of a new AI model that promises to address one of the biggest challenges in the field: factual accuracy. The new model, a fine-tuned version of Meta’s LLama 3.3, is the first open-source implementation of a system known as graph retrieval-augmented generation, or GraphRAG. Unlike conventional AI models, which rely solely on vast amounts of preloaded training data, Diffbot’s LLM draws on real-time information from the company’s Knowledge Graph, a constantly updated database containing more than a trillion interconnected facts. “We have a thesis: that eventually general-purpose reasoning will get distilled down into about 1 billion parameters,” said Mike Tung, Diffbot’s founder and CEO, in an interview with VentureBeat. “You don’t actually want the knowledge in the model. You want the model to be good at just using tools so that it can query knowledge externally.” How it works Diffbot’s Knowledge Graph is a sprawling, automated database that has been crawling the public web since 2016. It categorizes web pages into entities such as people, companies, products and articles, extracting structured information using a combination of computer vision and natural language processing. Every four to five days, the Knowledge Graph is refreshed with millions of new facts, ensuring it remains up-to-date. Diffbot’s AI model leverages this resource by querying the graph in real time to retrieve information, rather than relying on static knowledge encoded in its training data. For example, when asked about a recent news event, the model can search the web for the latest updates, extract relevant facts, and cite the original sources. This process is designed to make the system more accurate and transparent than traditional LLMs. “Imagine asking an AI about the weather,” Tung said. “Instead of generating an answer based on outdated training data, our model queries a live weather service and provides a response grounded in real-time information.” How Diffbot’s Knowledge Graph beats traditional AI at finding facts In benchmark tests, Diffbot’s approach appears to be paying off. The company reports its model achieves an 81% accuracy score on FreshQA, a Google-created benchmark for testing real-time factual knowledge, surpassing both ChatGPT and Gemini. It also scored 70.36% on MMLU-Pro, a more difficult version of a standard test of academic knowledge. Perhaps most significantly, Diffbot is making its model fully open-source, allowing companies to run it on their own hardware and customize it for their needs. This addresses growing concerns about data privacy and vendor lock-in with major AI providers. “You can run it locally on your machine,” Tung noted. “There’s no way you can run Google Gemini without sending your data over to Google and shipping it outside of your premises.” Open-source AI could transform how enterprises handle sensitive data The release comes at a pivotal moment in AI development. Recent months have seen mounting criticism of large language models’ tendency to “hallucinate” or generate false information, even as companies continue to scale up model sizes. Diffbot’s approach suggests an alternative path forward, one focused on grounding AI systems in verifiable facts rather than attempting to encode all human knowledge in neural networks. “Not everyone’s going after just bigger and bigger models,” Tung said. “You can have a model that has more capability than a big model with kind of a non-intuitive approach like ours.” Industry experts note that Diffbot’s Knowledge Graph-based approach could be particularly valuable for enterprise applications where accuracy and auditability are crucial. The company already provides data services to major firms including Cisco, DuckDuckGo and Snapchat. The model is available immediately through an open-source release on GitHub and can be tested through a public demo at diffy.chat. For organizations wanting to deploy it internally, Diffbot says the smaller 8-billion-parameter version can run on a single Nvidia A100 GPU, while the full 70-billion-parameter version requires two H100 GPUs. Looking ahead, Tung believes the future of AI lies not in ever-larger models, but in better ways of organizing and accessing human knowledge: “Facts get stale. A lot of these facts will be moved out into explicit places where you can actually modify the knowledge and where you can have data provenance.” As the AI industry grapples with challenges around factual accuracy and transparency, Diffbot’s release offers a compelling alternative to the dominant bigger-is-better paradigm. Whether it succeeds in shifting the field’s direction remains to be seen, but it has certainly demonstrated that when it comes to AI, size isn’t everything. source

When you’re involved in a collaborative project, it’s essential to understand the roles and responsibilities of the other project participants in order to avoid miscommunication and unclear accountability. That’s where a RACI chart, also known as a RACI matrix or RACI diagram, comes in to help define key project roles. In this guide, I’ll define the structure of a RACI chart and outline when to use it, how to create one, and why it can be invaluable for your project management needs. 1 monday.com Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Any Company Size Any Company Size Features Agile Development, Analytics / Reports, API, and more 2 Smartsheet Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Any Company Size Any Company Size Features Agile Development, Analytics / Reports, API, and more 3 Accelo Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Small (50-249 Employees), Medium (250-999 Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees) Small, Medium, Large Features Analytics / Reports, API, Billing / Invoicing, and more What is a RACI chart? A RACI chart, or Responsibility Assignment Matrix, is a project management tool for clarifying and documenting each participant’s role in a project task or deliverable. It makes sure that everyone involved knows their specific responsibilities, reduces confusion, and promotes accountability. The four key roles represented by the acronym RACI are: Responsible: The individual(s) who perform the work required to complete the task. They can include team members such as project managers, developers, designers, or analysts. Accountable: The person ultimately answerable for the successful completion of the task. There should only be one accountable person per task. Some examples include project managers, lead engineers, or department heads. Consulted: Subject matter experts whose input is sought during the task. These could be consultants, senior architects, or legal advisors. Informed: Those who need to stay updated on task progress but do not directly contribute to the task itself. Stakeholders, clients, or senior executives typically fall under this category. By clearly defining these roles, a RACI chart removes ambiguity, meaning each team member understands their contributions and stays aligned with the project’s goals. The RACI project management tool is quite handy in complex projects, where overlapping responsibilities and communication challenges can slow down progress. When to use a RACI chart A RACI chart can streamline role clarity and accountability across various types of projects. RACI analysis lays out an essential framework to eliminate confusion and ensure efficient collaboration. It’s particularly useful for planning complex projects with ambiguity in roles, decision-making challenges, and resource allocation contexts. Complex projects: It’s so easy for projects involving multiple departments or teams to create confusion around responsibilities. With a RACI chart, you get a clear definition of each role and establish accountability. This prevents redundant or overlooked tasks. Role ambiguity: A RACI chart provides documentation that can be referenced throughout the project lifecycle so that all roles are properly defined. The RACI matrix clearly distinguishes who is responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed for each task. Decision-making projects: A RACI chart clarifies who is consulted versus who is informed, which helps to avoid unnecessary meetings or emails. This is important for projects that require approvals at certain stages or milestones so that you can keep the timeline on track. Resource distribution: The RACI chart can highlight workload imbalances among team members, allowing managers to redistribute responsibilities as needed. Setting these responsibilities before a project begins prevents bottlenecks down the line. RACI charts are highly effective in settings where role clarity and structured communication channels are critical. Projects without these complexities may be better off considering a more basic role assignment matrix. Example of a RACI chart To illustrate how a RACI diagram can be applied, let’s look at a typical example in a website development project. Task Project Manager Developer Designer Content Writer QA Tester Define project scope A R C I I Design website layout C I R I I Develop website features I R C I I Create content I I C R I Test website I I I I R In this example: Project Manager: Accountable for defining the project scope and consulting during design. Developer: Responsible for defining project scope and feature development. Designer: Responsible for website layout and consulted on the project scope, website features, and content requirements. Content Writer: Responsible for creating website content. QA Tester: Responsible for testing the website so quality assurance is met. Each team member understands their role in each task, minimizing confusion and helping keep the project on schedule. They are also all informed of the progress on all tasks in which they don’t have a direct role since each component of the project relies on the others. To provide a more detailed practical example of a RACI chart, here’s an example of a construction project. This chart breaks down specific roles and tasks so that responsibilities are clearly assigned. A RACI matrix example for a construction project. Image: project-management.com As you can see, the Client is ultimately responsible for both defining needs and approving the final project, while the Project Manager is accountable for all the steps that lead to the completed construction work. The Consultant, Architect, and Contractor each have varying responsibilities along the way, so that each stage has a responsible party defined. This is how a RACI chart guarantees that each participant knows their specific roles and responsibilities and improves the efficiency and effectiveness of project execution. Each role is clearly assigned, which reduces confusion, enhances accountability, and facilitates smooth communication among team members. Best Project Management Software How to make a RACI chart Creating a RACI chart for your project involves several straightforward stages. Here are 4 key steps: Identify all tasks: Start by listing every task required to complete the project. Break down the project into smaller, more manageable tasks so that nothing is overlooked. Be as detailed as possible to capture every aspect of

The Dutch government has reached a deal with Nvidia to supply hardware and expertise for the construction of an AI facility in the Netherlands.  The facility will centre around an AI supercomputer aimed at accelerating research and development, as the country pushes to further digitalise its economy, according to a statement made Thursday.   The Dutch Minister for Economic Affairs Dirk Beljaarts is currently in Silicon Valley, where he is meeting with executives at Nvidia. The world’s second most valuable company, Nvidia is a world leader in graphics processing units (GPUs) for artificial intelligence applications.  “Before a shovel can go into the ground, we need to be sure that the required knowledge and hardware is available,” said Minister Beljaarts. “Today the Netherlands has taken an important step together with Nvidia. This brings the construction of a Dutch AI facility a lot closer.” How Startup Amsterdam Boosts Innovation and Growth at TNW Conference Discover how the City of Amsterdam partnered with TNW to amplify its startup ecosystem, attract global talent, and foster innovation that drives economic impact. The ministry didn’t provide a timeline or specific details for the AI facility. Nvidia declined our request for comment.  The Netherlands, which ranked in the top 10 most digitised countries globally last year, is pushing to position itself as a leader in AI. In January last year, the government ringfenced over €200mn to boost local investment in the technology.  “Asia and the US have taken the lead [in AI] and Europe will have to catch up,” said the former economic affairs minister Micky Adriaansens at the time.  Key priorities of the government’s strategy include fostering AI talent, building infrastructure, ensuring safe applications, and enabling cooperation through entities like the Dutch AI Coalition. Last year, the Benelux nation also embarked on building its own “safer” large language model (LLM), called GPT-NL. To execute its plans, the Netherlands is going to need more computing power to train AI machines. Aside from Nvidia, Beljaarts is also meeting with chipmaker AMD. The Minister is also in California to “strengthen relations” between Dutch and American technology companies more broadly, the government said.   source

By Adam Lidgett ( January 9, 2025, 6:28 PM EST) — A California federal judge has tacked on about $237 million in interest to the $316 million damages verdict SPEX Technologies won after a jury found Western Digital infringed a patent related to hardware encryption technology…. Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source