Top Stock Market Highlights of the Week: Amazon, Microsoft and Elon Musk

Welcome to this week’s edition of top stock market highlights.

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)

Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce company, intends to spend US$9 billion to expand its cloud computing infrastructure in Singapore.

This amount will be spent over four years and will double Amazon Web Services (AWS) investment in Singapore.

The expansion will help Amazon to meet growing customer demand for cloud services while accelerating the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI).

AWS has been expanding its footprint outside the US for some time with more investments targeting the Asian market.

The division sells software and data storage for rent from server farms.

If Singapore’s investment is included, Amazon would have announced plans to spend around US$35 billion in countries such as Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Mexico.

AWS is slated to bring in more than US$100 billion in revenue over a year for the first time.

Singapore was the first data centre region that AWS established in Asia and with the increased investment, Amazon estimates that it will support an average of 12,300 equivalent full-time jobs in local Singapore businesses.

In a bid to help small and medium enterprises leverage generative AI, the company will conduct workshops for more than 100 businesses in two years.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)

Still on the topic of AI investments, Microsoft has also thrown its hat into the AI ring.

The software giant plans to invest US$2.2 billion to build digital infrastructure in Malaysia.

This money will also be spent over four years and involves the construction of infrastructure for its cloud computing and AI services.

The news was confirmed by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella during a visit to Kuala Lumpur last week.

In line with its investment, the software company will also provide AI training to 200,000 people in Malaysia while working with the government to boost the country’s cybersecurity capabilities.

This US$2.2 billion investment is the biggest in Microsoft’s 32-year presence in Malaysia and demonstrates the company’s efforts in competing with other cloud giants for dominance.

Nadella has touted AI as a growth engine and has pledged at least US$7 billion to build the company’s services from Japan to India.

As icing on the cake, Microsoft will also train a total of 2.5 million people in AI skills in Southeast Asia by 2025.

During his trip to Southeast Asia, Nadella also announced a US$1.7 billion investment in Indonesia and will also invest in Thailand to help build out AI cloud and digital infrastructure.

With these investments from Amazon and Microsoft, the future is looking bright for many countries in Southeast Asia as this money will not just kickstart new industries within the region but will also create numerous jobs, thus helping to boost the economy.

Elon Musk

Elon Musk has proposed testing out Tesla’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) advanced driver-assistance package in China with the deployment of robotaxis.

The CEO of Tesla mentioned this during a recent visit to China where the idea was welcomed by officials who hope that it can “set a good example”.

However, the authorities stopped short of approving the company’s use of full self-driving (FSD) functions as Tesla still needs to seek approval to collect and transfer data needed to train these driver-assisted features.

FSD was rolled out in 2020 and is Tesla’s most autonomous version of its autopilot software, capable of self-parking, auto lane changing, and traffic navigation.

Tesla intends to launch the robotaxi tests in Shanghai where its largest factory is located.

Despite not discussing the FSD in detail, Musk did score several key wins.

One of these was the endorsement from a top Chinese auto association that said Tesla’s Model 3 and Y cars were compliant with data-security regulations.

The electric vehicle company also inked an agreement with Baidu (HKSE: 9888) to use the latter’s mapping licence for data collection on China’s roads.

These developments should help Tesla to gather sufficient data to eventually gain approval for its FSD function which it can then launch within its robotaxis.

Generative AI could be one of the world’s most disruptive trends thus far. But what is it exactly, and how will it affect your investments? Let our team and a guest investing expert give you the answers in our upcoming webinar. Register here today for insights that can keep you ahead in the market.

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Disclosure: Royston Yang does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned.

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