boom

An estimated half a trillion dollars was wiped out from the financial markets this week, as some of the biggest tech companies, including Nvidia, Microsoft, and Palantir Technologies saw a temporary but sizeable drop in their share prices on Tuesday. It may have been just a short-lived correction, but experts warn of mounting signs of a financial market crash, which could cost several times this amount.

With dependence on tech and AI growing, critics argue that betting on these profits is a gamble, stressing that the future remains uncertain.

Singapore’s central bank joined a global chorus of warnings from the IMF, Fed Chair Jerome Powell, and Andrew Bailey about overvalued stocks.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore said on Wednesday that such a trend is fuelled by “optimism in AI’s ability to generate sufficient future returns”, which could trigger sharp corrections in the broader stock market.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley predict a 10–20% decline in equities over the next one to two years, their CEOs told the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit in Hong Kong, CNBC reported.

Experts interviewed by Euronews Business also agree that a sizeable correction could be on the way.

In a worst-case scenario, a market crash could wipe out trillions of dollars from the financial markets.

According to Mathieu Savary, chief European strategist at BCA Research, Big Tech companies, including Nvidia and Alphabet, would cause a $4.4 trillion (€3.8tn) market wipeout if they were to lose just 20% of their stock value.

“If they go down 50%, you’re talking about an $11tr (€9.6tr) haircut,” he said.

AI rally: Bubble or boom?

The US stock market has defied expectations this year. The S&P 500 is up nearly 20% over the past 12 months, despite geopolitical tensions and global trade uncertainty driven by Washington’s tariff policies. Gains have been strongest in tech, buoyed by optimism over future AI profits.

While Big Tech continues to deliver, with multibillion-dollar AI investments and massive infrastructure buildouts now routine, concerns are growing over a slowing US economy, compounded by limited data during the government shutdown. Once fresh figures emerge, they could rattle investors.

AI enthusiasm is most evident in Nvidia’s extraordinary stock gains and soaring valuation. The company is central to the tech revolution as its graphics processing units (GPUs) are essential for AI computing.

Nvidia’s shares have surged over 3,000% since early 2020, recently making it the world’s most valuable public company. Between July and October alone, it gained $1tr (€870bn) in market capitalisation — roughly equal to Switzerland’s annual GDP. Its stock trades at around 45 times projected earnings for the current fiscal year.

Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Much of this growth is backed by real financial progress, and despite the massive nominal increase in value, relative valuations don’t look overstretched.”

Analysts debate whether the current market mirrors the dot-com bubble of 2000. Nathan notes that many tech companies that failed back then never reached profitability, unlike today’s giants, which generate strong revenues and profits, with robust demand for their products.

Ben Barringer, global head of technology research at Quilter Cheviot, added: “With governments investing heavily in AI infrastructure and rate cuts likely on the horizon, the sector has solid foundations. It is an expensive market, but not necessarily a screaming bubble. Momentum is hard to sustain, and not every company will thrive.”

BCA Research sees a bubble forming, though not set to burst immediately. Chief European strategist Mathieu Savary said such bubbles historically peak when firms begin relying on external financing for large projects.

Investments in assets for future growth, or capital expenditures, as a share of operating cash flow, have jumped from 35% to 70% for hyperscalers, according to Savary. Hyperscalers are tech firms such as Microsoft, Google, and Meta that run massive cloud computing networks.

“The share of operating earnings is likely to move above 100% before we hit the peak,” Savary added. This means that they may soon be investing more than they earn from operations.

Recent examples of Big Tech firms turning to external financing for such moves include Meta’s Hyperion project with Blue Owl Capital and Alphabet’s €3 billion bond issue for AI and cloud expansion.

While AI investment growth is hard to sustain, Quilter’s Barringer told Euronews: “If CapEx starts to moderate later this year, markets may start to get nervous.”

Other factors to watch include return on invested capital and rising yields and inflation pressures, which could signal a higher cost of capital and a bubble approaching its end.

“But we’re not there yet,” said Savary.

Further concerns and how to hedge against market turbulence

Even as tech companies ride the AI wave, inflated expectations for future profits may prove difficult to meet.

“The sceptics’ main problem may not be with AI’s potential itself, but with the valuations investors are paying for that potential and the speed at which they expect it to materialise,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

A recent report by BCA reflects the mounting reasons to question the AI narrative, but the technology “remains a potent force”, said the group.

If investor optimism does slow, “a sharp correction in tech could still have ripple effects across broader markets, given the sector’s dominant weight in global indices,” Barringer said. He added that other regions and asset classes, such as bonds and commodities, would be less directly affected and could provide an important balance during a downturn.

According to Emma Wall, chief investment strategist at Hargreaves Lansdown, “investors should use this opportunity to crystallise impressive gains and diversify their portfolios to include a range of sectors, geographies and asset classes — adding resilience to portfolios. The gold price tipping up is screaming a warning again — a siren that this rally will not last.”

WHEN it comes to daytrips, you should ditch the classic Oxford, Cambridge and London for this city in the West Midlands.

You definitely won’t be bored with artist trails, award-winning museums and a huge waterpark with one of the country’s biggest wave pools to explore.

Often dubbed as an ‘underrated’ city, by the likes of TimeOut, Coventry is putting itself on the map, especially when it comes to weekend breaks.

The city is experiencing a huge boost with tourism reaching record levels; last year, it saw a total of 11.8 million visitors – up 3.6 per cent from 2023.

Overnight stays increased by 14 per cent, and day trips made up 88 per cent of all trips to the city.

To be fair, it’s not really a secret that Coventry is making a name for itself as being a great place to explore, two years ago, Coventry made the list of the 100 best cities in Europe.

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And in 2021, Coventry was also honoured with the title of UK City of Culture.

Coventry has a blend of everything from historical sites, like Coventry Cathedral to St Mary’s Guildhall, known for its connection to Mary Queen of Scots.

But there are plenty of modern touches, like its art trail which heads along the canal for five and a half miles where you’ll find over 30 sculptures, mosaics and murals.

At the local theatre, Belgrade, you can watch a show from Friends! The Musical Parody, to talks by the likes of Sandi Toksvig, there are also screenings and family performances.

The Wave in Coventry is an enormous indoor waterpark with one of the biggest wave pools in the country.

Not only that, but it has six water slides, one being The Crestar, which has two giant spheres with lighting effects.

The Cascade is another ride at the waterpark, as is The Torrent, which is arguably the scariest ride because the floor drops from beneath to plunge riders at speed.

The Rapids, which has been described as the “Big Dipper on water”, is the park’s water coaster, where powerful jets hurl riders uphill before dropping them down through tight corners and tunnels.

Another ride is called The Cyclone, which is one of the fastest slides at the waterpark.

There are other attractions at the waterpark too, including The Reef, which is a splash zone.

Standard tickets during peak times are £18.70 (for adults ages 12 and over), for juniors (ages 11 and under) tickets are £14.

As for some of the other top-rated things to do in Coventry, heading to its two museums, one of which was the UK’s best-rated on Tripadvisor.

This museum in question is The Coventry Music Museum, which earlier this year was the top-rated on Tripadvisor – and it’s the number one thing to do in Coventry.

Found on Walsgrave Road in Coventry, the museum has an art gallery, music records archive and an interactive media studio telling the history of local music.

The museum is also home to the entire output of 2 Tone Records – a record label that opened in Coventry in 1979. They signed the likes of the Selector, Madness and The Beat.

Entry fees are £6 for adults and £3 for concessions – make sure to bring notes and change as it’s cash only.

Another popular museum is the Coventry Transport Museum, which houses the largest publicly owned collection of British vehicles in the world.

It has interactive galleries, immersive exhibitions, and of course, lots of vehicles to look at from vintage cars to motorbikes.

Entry to the museum is £15pp.

As for where to eat, Coventry has some great finds, VisitEngland recommends trying East Korean barbecue at Jinseon Korean BBQ where you can grill your own food on a charcoal fire at your table.

Another suggestion is Cogs Bar and Kitchen which offer up tasty breakfasts from eggs benedict to American-style pancakes.

FarGo Village is also worth exploring, it’s an industrial space home to coffee shops and even a microbrewery.

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One writer reveals what his stay at the Coombe Abbey Hotel was like…

Read on to hear what one writer made of this historic hotel…

Where is the Coombe Abbey Hotel?

On 500 acres of renowned beauty, this historic hotel is in Coventry situated in Coombe Abbey’s Country Park, just off the M6.

What is it like?

Next time somebody wants to send you to Coventry, stay at this complex, which dates back to 1150 and has links to royalty, the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII and the Gunpowder plot. Enjoy a view of the moat, the lake and the courtyard to the Capability Brown designed gardens, depending on where you are in the hotel.

What is there to do at the hotel?

The corridors and communal rooms are packed with artefacts, art, history and heritage, that are well worth exploring as you wander from bar to room to restaurant, while the scenic lake, gardens and grounds are perfect for a stroll. 

Enjoy one of the many choices of afternoon tea, from Abbot’s Afternoon Tea to Sparkling Afternoon Tea as a post-walk treat. For kids, you can discover Go Ape in the woodlands.

What is there to eat and drink?

Unless you want to drive, you’d better eat here as it’s about a ten-minute walk to the edge of the grounds and some way beyond that to any restaurants. That being said, you really do want to eat here. The ambience is classy, the food is great, and the breakfast really sets you up for the day.

The dinner menu features meaty dishes of beef shin with fondant potato and confit duck leg with spiced braised cabbage, as well as vegan, vegetarian and fish options.

What are the rooms like?

The minimum standard in basic rooms is real quality and comfort, while the decor and design in the feature heritage rooms are charming and characterful. Rooms start from £149 a night based on two sharing.

Plus, the much-mocked UK city that’s set to be huge next year according National Geographic.

And the UK city that has a bad reputation but it’s finally going be huge this year – thanks to big events and top TV show.

“What a horrible story! What a hideous play!” a theater critic for the Daily Telegraph lamented after the London premiere of “Hedda Gabler” in 1891. Victorian audiences were repelled by Henrik Ibsen’s fatally attractive newlywed who appears to have it all — the fancy house, the doting husband — only to be violently bored.

But writer-director Nia DaCosta (“Candyman,” “The Marvels”) and her star Tessa Thompson understand Hedda down to the pretty poison in her molecules. Their rollicking redo, set from dusk to hangover at a drunken bacchanal, is vibrant and viciously alive. With apologies to Ibsen’s ghost, DaCosta’s tweaks have sharpened its rage. I don’t think that long-dead critic would like this “Hedda” any better. I think it’s divine.

Thompson’s Hedda is a clever, status-conscious snot raised to believe that her sole purpose is to be a rich man’s wife. With no hobbies or career and no interest in motherhood, her only creative outlets are squandering money and machinating the success of her milquetoast husband, middlebrow academic George (Tom Bateman), who has such a flimsy hold on his bride that his last name might as well be attached to hers with Scotch tape. (It’s Tesman and it’s pointedly rarely used.) Hedda doesn’t love George. In fact, she seems to think he’s a whiny little worm. But she’s dead-set on securing him a promotion to afford her expensive tastes.

If Hedda had been born a man, she’d be leading armies into battle like her late father, General Gabler, who spawned her out of wedlock. Instead, she takes out her aggression on civilians. Using her charm offensive, Hedda goads naive spouses to cheat, recovering alcoholics to drink and depressives to wander off into the darkness with a revolver. Some of her havoc is calculated, most of it is out of pique that others are living braver, more fulfilling lives. All of it feels like a cat tipping over water glasses just to see them shatter. Like the nasty seductress of “Dangerous Liaisons,” she’s a warning that frustrated women aren’t merely a hazard to themselves — they’re a menace to the society that made them.

Inspired by her antihero, DaCosta manipulates Ibsen to suit her own goals. She’s updated the play’s setting to 1950s England, a similar-in-spirit era in which well-bred women were kept domesticated. (I can’t wait for someone to do a version among the tradwives of Utah.) From there, DaCosta has smartly tightened the narrative, which used to have a key scene at an off-stage bachelor party to which Hedda was pointedly not invited. “What a pity the fair lady can’t be there, invisible,” Ibsen’s Hedda grumbled at being left home while the men got to carouse.

In DaCosta’s version, the whole drama unfolds during a martini and cocaine-fueled rager at Hedda’s mansion, a party she’s throwing to impress George’s potential new boss, Professor Greenwood (Finbar Lynch), who she hears has a bohemian streak. At her own happening on her own turf, Hedda couldn’t be more visibly in command. She rallies the guests to hurl her former classmate, Thea (Imogen Poots), a wretchedly earnest drip, into a nearby lake and gets the whole room grooving to a dance band’s cover of “It’s Oh So Quiet,” the swinging hit that the Icelandic pop singer Björk would popularize a half-century later. It’s a great song pick with manic crescendos — You blow a fuse, zing boom! The devil cuts loose, zing boom! — that capture Hedda’s feverish mood shifts.

We know this evening will go wrong from the film’s opening shot of Hedda facing down two policemen who keep interrupting her explanation of the last 24 hours. “Where should I start?” she says with smothered exasperation. As we cut back to watch the night unfold, a shot of Hedda surveying the crowd from an upstairs landing feels like she’s looking at a game board — Clue, perhaps? — with a weapon stashed in every room. Which threat is most pressing? The pistols she keeps in a leather box, the precarious crystal chandelier or the lake’s deep waters outside?

Thompson is marvelous in the role. Even the way she chomps a cherry off a cocktail toothpick has menace. I first saw her as the lead in “Romeo and Juliet” at a 99-seat theater in Pasadena when she was barely 20 years old (there’s so much talent in our small stage scene), so it’s a nice reminder that the funny and soulful actor of the “Thor” and “Creed” franchises is also a hell of a good classical performer and a worthy star on her own.

She wears Hedda’s lovely mask with confidence — red lips, lush cheekbones, cool demeanor — and periodically allows it to slip. Editor Jacob Schulsinger often allows Hedda a tiny hesitation before she charges ahead ruining people’s lives, long enough to know that she’s considering the consequences. “Sometimes I can’t help myself, I just do things all of a sudden on a whim,” she admits to the nosy Judge Brack (Nicholas Pinnock), revealing a sliver of weakness. She’s almost (nearly) asking for help. Yet, the judge just wants to maneuver her into bed. How tedious.

DaCosta boldly layers race and sexuality on top of Ibsen’s tale. She’s gender-swapped Hedda’s ex-lover, Eilert, into a lesbian named Eileen (a swaggering Nina Hoss), a brilliant, openly norm-defying author who is George’s job-seeking competition (and the only person Hedda enjoys kissing). If earlier incarnations of Hedda didn’t dare defy social rules when she was white and straight, being Black and queer adds so much additional peril that the script barely needs to say out loud. The new tension is there in just a few whispers, as when Hedda overhears a guest murmur that their hostess is “duskier than I thought she would be.” Hedda doesn’t acknowledge the slight. That would mean admitting vulnerability. She simply starts destroying the speaker in the very next scene.

What’s wiser? Eileen’s determination to face down the boys and be accepted for her full self or Hedda sneaking around and steering everyone’s fates behind the scenes? They can’t team up — they’re doomed to tear each other to shreds. And as much glee as we get watching Hedda’s rampage, it aches to see these two formidable women reduce each other to hysterics (to use the medical diagnosis of the day).

From our 21st century perspective, they both have a right to be mad and they both might be mentally ill. DaCosta doesn’t offer a verdict, but she plunges us so deeply into Hedda’s headspace that we can hear how certain things set her off. Insults hit her with a knife-like hiss of air; fresh schemes get her charging around to Hildur Guðnadóttir’s tumultuous, percussive score.

Costume designer Lindsay Pugh has done incredible work outfitting the film’s central female roles. Hedda wears bullet-like strands of pearls that choke her neck and a jade-colored gown that seems to molder into a festering, jealous shade of green. When her rival, Poot’s Thea, arrives underdressed, Hedda forces her into a hideous frock with fussy bows and an ungainly skirt. Poots, her nose raw and red, her character kicked when she’s down, gamely looks a fright, trusting that moral fiber will expose Hedda’s ugly insecurities.

But Pugh’s stroke of genius is putting Eileen not in some sort of mannish suit but in a bombshell dress that highlights her curves like a primal goddess. It’s pure feminine power — just like the film itself — and when Eileen struts into a room of her all-male colleagues, that dress exposes how fast the tenor can shift from awe to jeers and how little wiggle room she or any woman has for error.

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With other tech giants sparring over consumer chatbots, IBM (IBM 1.22%) is quietly positioning itself to dominate a different artificial intelligence (AI) battlefield: the enterprise segment.

The centennial tech titan might seem like an unlikely AI winner, but there’s one key factor that could make IBM the surprise star of the artificial intelligence revolution. IBM’s AI solutions are tailor-made for large corporations.

Image source: Getty Images.

IBM’s secret weapon: Enterprise-class AI

The watsonx platform for generative AI services isn’t trying to write your poetry or plan your vacation. Instead, it’s helping Fortune 500 companies deploy AI with strict attention to data security and regulatory requirements. Combined with Red Hat’s OpenShift platform — IBM’s $34 billion acquisition from 2019 that’s now paying proverbial dividends — the company offers something unique: AI that works within existing enterprise infrastructure.

This isn’t just theory. Banks are using IBM’s watsonx to detect fraud while maintaining compliance with financial regulations. Healthcare systems are deploying IBM’s AI to analyze patient data without violating patient privacy regulations.

It’s all done with auditable data flows. Sure, watsonx will hallucinate from time to time, like any other system based on large language models (LLMs). But when it does, you’ll be able to trace the error back to its original inspiration.

Meanwhile, IBM’s consulting arm helps these enterprises make use of AI solutions. This unique focus on support services creates sticky, long-term business relationships.

The big blue numbers tell the story

IBM’s AI-based Automation segment grew 14% year over year in Q2 2025, while Red Hat revenue continues its double-digit revenue expansion. The enterprise AI market is projected to reach $600 billion by 2028, and IBM is uniquely positioned to capture this opportunity.

Unlike consumer AI companies burning cash on compute costs, IBM’s enterprise focus means higher margins and predictable revenue streams. While others chase the next viral chatbot, IBM is selling the picks and shovels of the enterprise AI gold rush — and that’s exactly why it will thrive. Buying IBM stock today should set you up for robust AI-boom gains.

The benchmark S&P 500 has recovered dramatically from a tariff-driven shock in April 2025, and is now trading close to record highs. “Magnificent Seven” stocks, in particular, have been the key driver of this mid-year rally. Increasing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) globally, coupled with strong earnings performance, has been fueling investor confidence for these technology giants.

Semiconductor giant Nvidia continues to be the paragon of this ongoing AI boom. However, another company may soon become a Wall Street darling, as it is helping enable GPUs to work together efficiently in large AI clusters. That company is Arista Networks (ANET -8.77%).

Image source: Getty Images.

While most investors have been focusing on AI chips, networking is also equally important. AI training and inference (real-time deployment) workloads demand enormous clusters of GPUs, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars each. However, without fast, low-latency connections between GPUs, both the training of large AI models and inference at scale suffer from slower performance and higher costs. Arista is well positioned to resolve these challenges.

AI data center catalyst

Arista has established itself as a pure-play Ethernet networking company, delivering hardware and software networking solutions for large-scale AI data centers, as well as for campus and routing networks.

Until recently, Ethernet wasn’t considered strong enough for AI workloads. Instead, Nvidia’s InfiniBand technology was the go-to choice for scale-out back-end AI networks, linking racks of servers and accelerators in massive GPU clusters. Even in scale-up back-end AI networks (within a server rack), Nvidia’s proprietary high-bandwidth interconnect technology NVLink is used to connect GPUs for high-performance and low-latency networking. However, that seems to be changing now.

Ultra Ethernet Consortium (UEC) released its first full specification in June 2025, creating an Ethernet-based system designed for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) at scale. Since then, hyperscalers and enterprises have been migrating away from proprietary InfiniBand to open-source Ethernet. Over time, Arista also expects clients to migrate from NVLink to Ethernet/UALink networking in scale-up back-end networks.

Arista stands to benefit dramatically from this transition, as its Ethernet-based Etherlink portfolio (20-plus products launched since 2024), paired with its Extensible Operating System (EOS) operating system, is being increasingly preferred by data centers for scale-out networking.

The company already accounted for nearly 21.3% of the data center Ethernet switch market at the end of the first quarter 2025. As more AI workloads move to Ethernet, Arista is well-positioned to capture an even bigger share of the global data center AI networking market, estimated to be nearly worth $20 billion in 2025.

Customer base

Management is guiding for AI networking revenue to exceed $1.5 billion in 2025. That includes about $750 million from back-end AI networks alone, a dramatic improvement from absolutely nothing in 2022.

A major chunk of this $750 million revenue target is firmly supported by two hyperscaler clients, Microsoft and Meta Platforms, which have deployed 100,000 GPUs in distributed AI clusters. Each of these clients is expected to account for at least 10% of Arista’s revenues in fiscal 2025. The third hyperscaler client is also close to that scale, while the fourth hyperscaler client is on the way. With its sticky hyperscaler customer base, Arista enjoys significant near-term revenue visibility.

Arista is also expanding its customer base beyond hyperscalers. The company now caters to 25 to 30 enterprises and Neocloud customers (new generation of cloud providers) actively deploying AI clusters. While individually smaller than the big four hyperscaler clients, they are helping offset the slowness in ramp-up of the fourth hyperscaler customer and the loss of the fifth sovereign AI customer. The diversified revenue base has also helped reduce Arista’s overreliance on a smaller client base.

Other markets

Besides AI networking, Arista is also strengthening its position in enterprise campus and wide-area network (WAN) segments. The VeoCloud purchase gives Arista an AI-ready WAN portfolio that helps customers connect branch sites securely, while managing traffic flows more efficiently for AI workloads. Arista now expects its campus switching business to add $750 million to $800 million in revenues in fiscal 2025.

What about the valuation?

Arista shares trade at 47.4 times forward earnings, which is not cheap. Additionally, the company also faces competition from technology giants such as Nvidia and Broadcom, as well as from hyperscalers exploring in-house options in the networking space.

But Arista can still see its share price grow despite the high valuation multiples. The company’s software offerings, comprising EOS operating system and CloudVision network management and automation platform built atop EOS, helps improve networking performance. Since GPUs use high amounts of power, the networking software plays a critical role in reducing the overall GPU usage. Arista’s Ethernet also works across different accelerators, giving customers more flexibility.

The data center industry is gradually moving from a network connection speed of 400 gigabits per second of data to 800 gigabits per second of data. With its Ethernet-based networking products, robust software stack, and long-term customer relations, the company can capitalize on this opportunity. Hence, Arista can emerge as a major winner in the AI networking boom in the coming years.

US chipmaker reports revenue of $46.74bn for second quarter, defying fears that AI may be overhyped.

Chip giant Nvidia has set a new sales record, a sign that demand for artificial intelligence remains strong despite fearsthe technology may be overhyped.

Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company, on Wednesday reported revenue of $46.74bn for the three months that ended in July, a rise of 56 percent year-on-year.

Profit for the quarter was $26.42bn, a yearly rise of 59 percent.

Nvidia’s latest earnings report had been hotly anticipated as the tech giant is widely seen as a barometer of the AI boom, which has lifted the US stock market from all-time high to all-time high.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said that production of Blackwell Ultra, Nvidia’s latest platform using its most advanced chips, was ramping up “at full speed” and demand for the company’s products was “extraordinary”.

“The AI race is on, and Blackwell is the platform at its centre,” Jensen said.

Looking ahead, the Santa Clara, California-based tech giant predicted revenue of $54bn, plus or minus 2 percent, for the July-September quarter, which would be slightly above market expectations.

Despite the robust results, Nvidia’s stock price fell more than 3 percent in after-hours trading, an indication of the sky-high expectations attached to the chipmaker, which is valued at more than $4.4 trillion.

Nvidia’s sales notably did not include any shipments to China, whose market is subject to US government export controls intended to blunt Beijing’s ability to develop AI.

US President Donald Trump’s administration earlier this month lifted a ban on sales of Nvidia’s H20 chip, which was designed specifically for the Chinese market, following concerted lobbying by Huang.

As part of its agreement with the Trump administration, Nvidia agreed to pay the US government 15 percent of revenues from chip sales in China.

The lifting of the ban on the H20 raises the possibility that Nvidia could have potentially enormous untapped sales potential in the world’s second-largest economy, though its prospects have been complicated by a recent directive by Beijing urging local firms against doing business with the company.

“Just imagine what will happen to this stock if the China business even comes half back to life,” The Kobeissi Letter, a newsletter following capital markets, said.

“Jensen Huang will undoubtedly be working overtime on the China situation. The AI Revolution is in full swing.”

Fuelled by explosive demand for its AI, Nvidia’s revenue has grown at breakneck speed over the past two years.

The company posted triple-digit revenue growth for five straight quarters between mid-2023 and 2024.

Since the start of 2023, the price of Nvidia shares has multiplied more than 11 times over, with the stock up more than 30 percent so far this year.

The firm’s stellar performance, underpinned by multibillion-dollar AI investments by tech giants including Microsoft, Meta and Amazon, has stoked discussion about whether AI could be in a bubble.

In an interview with The Verge earlier this month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who oversaw the release of the groundbreaking AI model ChatGPT, said he believed that investors were “overexcited” about the technology.

U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command (AMC) on Monday released the findings of investigations into three mishaps involving the troubled KC-46A Pegasus aerial refueling tanker that cost the service nearly $23 million. The incidents all involved nozzle binding, a situation in which the tanker’s refueling boom nozzle gets stuck or binds with the receiving aircraft’s receptacle. 

Two of the incidents occurred in 2022 and a third in 2024. A fourth mishap took place July 8, 2025 and is still being investigated, AMC stated. There were no fatalities, injuries, or civilian property damage in any of these mishaps.

The first of these nozzle binding mishaps took place on Oct. 15, 2022. A KC-46A Pegasus assigned to the 305th Air Mobility Wing and operated by the 2nd Air Refueling Squadron, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey and an F-15E Strike Eagle assigned to the 4th Fighter Wing and operated by the 335th Fighting Squadron, Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina, were conducting routine air refueling operations. 

“During the mishap, a nozzle binding accident occurred during a breakaway which resulted in the air-refueling boom (ARB) striking the tail section of the KC-46A,” AMC said in a statement.

The Accident Investigation Board (AIB) found that a “preponderance of the evidence” showed one cause for the mishap. 

“Due to a limitation of the Air Refueling Boom (ARB) control system,” the KC-46 boom operator “inadvertently placed a radial force on the ARB that caused the nozzle to become bound in the receiver’s receptacle,” according to the AIB. “As a result, the bound forces exceeded the structural limitations of the ARB and caused a rapid upward movement of the ARB when released, striking the tail cone” of the Pegasus.

In addition, two other factors “substantially contributed” to this incident.

The Pegasus pilot failed to notify either the plane’s boom operator or the Strike Eagle’s pilot about an “engine power reduction” on the refueler. 

“This action, combined with the known ARB stiffness limitation and the resulting high engine power setting on [the F-15E], resulted in “a rapid forward movement” of that jet relative to the Pegasus.

In addition, “due to a limitation of the automated boom control system, the ARB entered an uncontrollable state during its upward motion toward the aircraft tail, disabling the boom control laws which could have slowed the rate at which the ARB struck the tail cone, substantially contributing to the mishap,” according to Col. Chad Cisewski, who led this AIB.

The estimated damages to the aircraft were $8,307,257.93, according to AMC.

Less than a month later, on Nov. 7 2022, there was another nozzle binding incident while a KC-46A Pegasus assigned to the 305th Air Mobility Wing and operated by the 2nd Air Refueling Squadron was refueling a F-22A Raptor assigned to the 94th Fighter Squadron, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia. The flight was in support of a joint-force training exercise from Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida.

“During the second air refueling attempt of the sortie, the KC-46A experienced a nozzle binding event during a breakaway with the F-22A, which resulted in damage to the ARB nozzle,” AMC said in its statement. “The bound forces exceeded the structural limitations of the ARB nozzle, damaging the nozzle beyond repair.”

The AIB determined “by a preponderance of the evidence, one cause for this mishap,” the report stated. The boom operator “made manual control inputs to the ARB which caused a radial force to be applied to the ARB nozzle, causing it to become bound inside the receiver’s air refueling receptacle.”

As a result, “the bound forces exceeded the structural limitations of the ARB nozzle, damaging the nozzle beyond repair.”

Two other factors “substantially contributed to the mishap,” according to the AIB. The first was “the failure” of the Raptor’s pilot “to account for the KC-46A Stiff Boom characteristics, causing a rapid forward movement” of the fighter relative to the refueler. The stiff boom probem is a long-standing issue, which you can read more about here.

In addition, the boom operator was “unable to verify that the ARB nozzle was clear of [the Raptor’s] air refueling receptacle prior to making ARB control inputs, substantially contributing to the mishap.”

The mishap caused an estimated $103,295.12 in damages, AMC noted.

A third nozzle binding incident took place Aug. 21, 2024, when a KC-46A Pegasus assigned to the 22nd Air Refueling Wing and operated by the 931st Air Refueling Wing was refueling an F-15E assigned to the 366th Fighter Wing in support Operation Nobel Eagle, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) aerospace warning, control, and defense missions in North America. The aircraft were helping to enforce a temporary flight restriction related to a presidential visit. Then-President Joe Biden was reportedly vacationing in Santa Ynez, California at the time. The tanker and one of the fighters were forced to make emergency landings — the F-15E twice having to abort those recoveries before finally touching down at an alternative location. You can read more about that in our initial report here and listen to the audio below.

During the fourth air refueling attempt of the sortie, “the KC-46A experienced nozzle binding of the boom in the F-15E receptacle,” AMC explained. “Upon release, the boom rapidly flew upward, striking the bottom aft portion of the KC-46A, and violently oscillated left and right.”

The boom striking the aircraft and “ensuing forceful oscillations resulted in critical failure of the boom shaft structure, portions of which detached from the KC-46A in flight,” the command continued. “The KC-46A crew declared an in-flight emergency and returned to Travis AFB. Emergency response personnel met the crew upon arrival.”

The boom fell in an open field about 13 miles northeast of Santa Maria, California, with no injuries or fatalities reported, the AIB explained.

The AIB found, “by a preponderance of the evidence, that the cause of the mishap was the [boom operator’s] control inputs to the air refueling flight control system, resulting in an excessive fly-up rate of the boom, which struck the aircraft empennage and caused a critical failure of the boom shaft structure,” according to the report.

There were four other factors that “substantially contributed to the mishap,” the AIB board president ruled. 

• Excessive closure rate and instability of the Strike Eagle.
• The boom operator’s “attempted contact outside the standard [aerial refueling] envelope for the F-15E.
• The F-15E pilot’s “failure to recognize and initiate immediate breakaway procedures, which further delayed positive separation from the KC-46A,” and
• The boom operator’s “lack of knowledge on boom flight control logic and its effects on the boom flight control surfaces prevented the [boom operator] from recognizing the influence of Flight Control Stick (FCS) inputs and programmed boom limit functions during operations, especially during nozzle binding situations.”

The estimated damages to the aircraft were $14,381,303, according to AMC.

The Air Force did not release details about the July 9, 2025 incident. However, at the time, 2nd Lt. Samantha Bostick, Deputy Chief of Public Affairs for the 22nd Air Refueling Wing at McConnell Air Force Base, told us what happened.

“A KC-46A Pegasus from McConnell Air Force Base declared an In-flight Emergency July 8, while operating over the eastern United States, refueling F-22s,” she said. “The crew had to make the decision to land at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., and has landed safely there. The aircraft will remain there for the time being.”

You can listen below as the crew of the KC-46, callsign FELL 81 and serial number 17-46033, alerts the U.S. Navy’s Fleet Area Control and Surveillance Facility at Virginia Capes (FACSFAC VACAPES) about losing the boom. FACSFAC VACAPES is better known by its callsign, Giant Killer, and helps monitor for threats and otherwise manage the airspace off the east coast of the United States.

In general, KC-46s are no stranger to issues with their booms. The boom and the control system for it have been a source of serious and persistent technical issues for the Pegasus fleet for years now. A fix for the KC-46’s particularly troublesome remote vision system (RVS), which boom operators in the tanker’s main cabin use to perform their work, is now unlikely to be finished before summer 2027, roughly three years behind schedule, according to Defense News.

The nozzle binding issue is clearly a problem in many respects, not just in terms of the dangers posed by booms breaking away or impacting the receiver or the tanker’s airframe, but it also poses a real danger to those on the ground. Beyond that, the reliability of any type during critical missions is always a concern, as such a mishap could curtail a high-priority mission or the risk of it occurring requires extra increasingly precious tankers being assigned to those operations as a contingency. What we don’t know is how common this is in comparison to the KC-135 or the recently retired KC-10. Hopefully, we can get more clarity in this regard now that the findings of these mishaps are published.

We will update you when we find out more.

Contact the author: [email protected]

Felix Baumgartner’s fatal paragliding crash was preceded by large boom as it spun to the ground, according to witnesses.

Beachgoers knew something was wrong when they heard a loud boom ring out as a paraglider spun out of control, before killing its only occupant, extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner, when it crashed next to a swimming pool near the Adriatic Sea.

A 30-year-old mother watched the deadly descent unfold Thursday afternoon from nearby with her two young children, who were entranced by the constant traffic of paragliders above the beach town of Porto Sant’Elipido in central Italy’s Marche region.

“Everything was normal, then it started to spin like a top,’’ Mirella Ivanov said on Friday. “It went down and we heard a roar. In fact, I turned around because I thought it crashed on the rocks. Then I saw two lifeguards running, people who were running toward” the crash site.

When she saw people trying to revive the occupant, she hustled her two children away.

The city’s mayor confirmed the death of 56-year-old Baumgartner, who was renowned as the first skydiver to fall faster than the speed of sound. The cause of the paragliding accident was under investigation. Police did not return calls asking for comment.

“It is a destiny that is very hard to comprehend for a man who has broken all kinds of records, who has been an icon of flight, and who travelled through space,” Mayor Massimiliano Ciarpella told The Associated Press.

Ciarpella said that Baumgartner had been in the area on vacation, and that investigators believed he may have fallen ill during the fatal flight.

Baumgartner’s social media feed features videos of him in recent days flying on a motorised paraglider – known as paramotoring – above seaside towns, and taking off from a nearby airfield surrounded by cornfields.

The Clube de Sole Le Mimose beachside resort where the crash occurred said in a statement that an employee who was “slightly injured” in the accident was in good condition. No guests were injured, and the pool has been reopened.

In 2012, Baumgartner, known as “Fearless Felix,” became the first human to break the sound barrier with only his body. He wore a pressurised suit and jumped from a capsule hoisted more than 24 miles (39 kilometres) above Earth by a giant helium balloon over New Mexico.

The Austrian, who was part of the Red Bull Stratos team, topped out at 843.6 mph (1,357.6km/h) – the equivalent of 1.25 times the speed of sound – during a nine-minute descent. At one point, he went into a potentially dangerous flat spin while still supersonic, spinning for 13 seconds, his crew later said.

In 2012, millions watched YouTube’s livestream as Baumgartner coolly flashed a thumbs-up when he came out of the capsule high above Earth and then activated his parachute as he neared the ground, lifting his arms in victory after he landed.

Baumgartner’s altitude record stood for two years until Google executive Alan Eustace set new marks for the highest free-fall jump and greatest free-fall distance.

Baumgartner, a former Austrian military parachutist, made thousands of jumps from planes, bridges, skyscrapers and famed landmarks, including the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil.

In 2003, he flew across the English Channel in a carbon fibre wing after being dropped from a plane.

In recent years, he performed with The Flying Bulls, an aviation team owned and operated by Red Bull, as a helicopter stunt pilot in shows across Europe.

Red Bull paid Baumgartner tribute in a post Friday, calling him “precise, demanding and critical. With others, but above all toward yourself.”

The statement underlined the research and courage with which Baumgartner confronted “the greatest challenges.”

“No detail was too small, no risk too great, because you were capable of calculating it,’’ Red Bull said.

A ‘rundown’ UK town that locals say has ‘gone downhill’ has been granted planning permission for two major upgrades in what has been described as a ‘huge milestone’

A tiny ‘rundown’ town that has grappled with its reputation for years is slated for a major transformation to the tune of £22.5 million.

Conveniently located between Leeds and Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, Dewsbury boasts a rich historical heritage – visible with its impressive Victorian-era architecture and parish church. While some may consider the region charming and under-appreciated – locals say Dewsbury has rapidly gone downhill.

Branded a ‘ghost town‘ due to its failing high-street and struggling market, residents have even gone as far as warning Brits not to visit. “We have lost all of our independent shops – there are no small independents anymore,” Richard Burns, who has been trading on the town’s market for more than 60 years, told Yorkshire Live.

“If you look at this side of town (by the market), it is basically all takeaways. There’s nothing to draw people into Dewsbury. If you come on a day when the market isn’t open, there’s no one walking around the town.

READ MORE: UK’s ‘most underrated’ seaside town now booming after huge £2m makeover

Talks of regenerating the town have been in the air since 2018, casting doubt on whether they’ll ever come to fruition. However, last week (Tuesday, June 17) Kirklees Council announced planning permission had been granted for two key projects within the Dewsbury Blueprint – a 10-year plan that aims to bolster the attractiveness and accessibility of the town.

This consists of creating a new town park, which will be the largest green space within the centre – and is set to feature a dedicated outdoor area for children to ‘safely play and socialise’. “The approved plans include lots of open green spaces, seating and a substantial, partially enclosed play area, which will benefit from lots of interesting features for children of all ages to engage with and enjoy,” Kirklees Council said.

“The plans also allow for potential water features, which could provide both a relaxing element for those enjoying the park and an interactive feature for the play area. There will also be an opportunity to include more art, with involvement from the local community.”

Dewsbury Market will also get a huge upgrade, with new demountable stalls that will allow for both an outdoor market area and a ‘flexible space to support events’. The indoor market will also be kitted out for a ‘variety’ of different markets and events, while maintaining the building’s ‘beautiful historic structure and character’.

“Now accepted, the plans for Dewsbury Market will create a more varied, day-to-night offering in Dewsbury town centre,” Kirklees Council added. “We aim to continue and improve the traditional market offering, whilst at the same time creating more areas for eating, drinking, socialising and events, giving people as many reasons as possible to visit Dewsbury.”

Councillor Graham Turner, Cabinet Member for Finance & Regeneration, hailed the announcement – stating it is an ‘incredibly exciting time’ for the town. “Once we unveiled our updated plans for Dewsbury Market, the adjoining park was very much the missing piece,” he added.

“These are both aspects of the town we know local people greatly care about, and they have a huge part to play in Dewsbury’s future. This approved planning application marries these two key elements within our Dewsbury Blueprint, and shows how different this part of town is going to look within the next few years – not even taking into account the amount of work we’re doing elsewhere in the town centre.”

Keith Ramsay, Chair of the Dewsbury Neighbourhood Board, also welcomed the planning permission approval, describing it as a ‘huge milestone’ for both Debwsbury Market and the new town park. “These are plans that will truly see Dewsbury town centre brought back to life, supporting the soon-to-reopen arcade and other town centre businesses, and cementing all we’re doing to future-proof Dewsbury’s heritage as a traditional market town – whilst creating a town centre that can thrive for future generations,” he said.

Speaking to the Mirror, Councillor Graham Turner, Cabinet Member for Finance & Regeneration confirmed the estimated costs for both the revamped market and town park is around £22.5 million. “That figure is made up of money from the government’s Towns Fund, which is aimed at regenerating town centres up and down the country, and our own capital funding,” he added.

When asked when the works will commence, Cllr Turner stated: “We’re currently working closely with traders to discuss next steps. We’ll soon be moving forward with procuring a contractor to complete the work, after which we’ll be able to provide a further, more detailed update which includes both costs and timelines.”

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A stunning country located just three hours from the UK seems to have finally been cast into the tourist spotlight – but now the FCDO is warning Brits about ‘ongoing hostilities’

An ‘underrated’ country just three hours from the UK has welcomed a huge tourist influx – but has now been stung with a stark travel warning.

Boasting unspoilt golden sandy beaches, a rich history and some of the best markets in the world, Morocco has long been cast out of the tourist spotlight. For years, the country, located in North Africa, has grappled with its reputation – struggling to prove to Brits that it’s ‘safe’ to visit.

Harrowing events such as the 2011 bombing in Marrakesh, which killed 10 foreigners, have deterred huge numbers of UK holidaymakers from exploring the country’s vast offerings. However, as anti-tourist sentiment sweeps across hotspots like Greece and Spain, it seems Morocco is finally getting the attention it deserves.

READ MORE: Spanish island set to make huge change to beaches in 2026 affecting Brits

As previously reported, The Moroccan Ministry of Tourism recently revealed the country had welcomed a whopping 5.7 million international visitors in the first four months of 2025. This marks a 23 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2024, and sets Morocco up for potentially breaking its tourist record this year.

Tourism Minister Fatim-Zahra Ammor hailed the news, arguing that January-April is ‘traditionally considered slow’ when it comes to tourist footfall. The politician attributed the momentum as a ‘direct result’ of pushing Morocco as a tourist destination while ‘anchoring the sector’s development in a sustainable and resilient manner’.

Many tourists opt to stay in Marrakesh, the country’s fourth-largest city famed for its bustling market vendors, breathtaking architecture, and unique attractions such as Jardin Majorelle, which was previously owned by fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent. In recent years, Agadir has set itself up as the perfect ‘fly and flop’ destination – with a slew of all-inclusive resorts now operating on the country’s stunning coastline.

However, just as tourism is starting to soar – Morocco has been stung with a travel warning from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). While the body does not advise Brits against travelling to the country, it updated its advice on June 13 following the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran.

Under its ‘Safety and Security’ page, the FCDO warns: “Ongoing hostilities in the region and between Israel and Iran could escalate quickly and pose security risks for the wider region. You should monitor local and international media for the latest information, be vigilant, and follow the instructions of local authorities.”

Other warnings include violent crimes against tourists, credit card scams, bogus tourist guides, and marriage fraud. “Protests and demonstrations could occur across the country, particularly in large cities, often without warning,” the FCDO adds.

“These events are typically monitored closely by law enforcement. While authorised protests are generally peaceful, unauthorised ones have sometimes led to clashes between protesters and police. Such gatherings can cause travel disruption in the affected areas. Avoid political gatherings and demonstrations and follow local news and directions from security officials.”

You can read the FCDO’s full travel advice for Morocco here.

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An unfairly dismissed seaside town has witnessed a huge tourist boom after unveiling ambitious plans to regenerate the area thanks to more than £18 million worth of approved investment

A ‘jewel’ in the crown of Britain’s east coast is polishing its reputation thanks to a huge £18.4 million investment.

Situated on the estuary of the Humber in North East Lincolnshire, Cleethorpes has been welcoming holidays since the 19th century, but suffered a bout of under-investment following the Benidorm boom – when Brits ditched the UK coast for cheap package holidays to Spain. Famed for its four miles of golden sandy beach, its 335ft-long pier, and 160-acre nature reserve – this tiny town really does offer something for everyone.

Of course, you’ll also find rows of flashing arcades, award-winning fish and chip shops, and souvenir shops flogging everything from flavoured rock to fridge magnets. But, in recent years – Cleethorpes has been targeted by seaside snobs who have branded the town as ‘run down’.

It’s not the place to be if you’re after iced matcha and tougher-than-wood piece of sourdough, but ambitious plans to transform the town are underway. In 2023, Cleethorpes secured more than £18.4 million of Levelling Up grant monies – spearheading a ‘masterplan’ to improve several key areas.

Pier Gardens, a stretch of public green land that runs along the seafront, is one of the first areas being rejuvenated. Construction, which started this year, will see the area turned into several overlapping zones to create a ‘focal point for recreational activities.

It will feature a huge playground with slides, a water play area, terraced seating, and a performance zone to host small concerts or theatre performances. There will also be a reflection and memorial zone set within ‘naturalistic planting schemes’.

Cleethorpe’s Market Place will also get a makeover, establishing a ‘flexible space for market and pop events to energise the area’. Improvements will be made to lighting in the area to improve safety, while a new green corridor will link St Peters Avenue and the seafront. Restaurants and cafes will be able to let diners eat alfresco, while green infrastructure will mitigate the town’s wind.

Lastly, a new three-storey landmark building is set to be constructed at the former Waves site on the corner of Sea Road and the promenade, featuring state-of-the-art public amenities and changing facilities – as well as commercially lettable space across all floors. Impressive mock-up images show the building’s sleek appearance, which sits opposite the iconic pier.

Even before the levelling-up funds were awarded to the town, Cleethorpes had been revamping itself thanks to other investments. This includes the popular shopping area of Sea View Street, the beach, and the Memorial Gate dedicated to our Armed Forces. This is a big part of Cleethorpe’s image, as the Armed Forces Weekend attracted a whopping 355,000 last year, making it one of the most popular events of its kind in the UK.

Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, Councillor Hayden Dawkins, North East Lincolnshire Council’s Portfolio Holder for Culture, Heritage and the Visitor Economy, said he was delighted with the town’s plans and can’t wait to see its transformation progress. “Cleethorpes is a jewel in the crown of Britain’s East coast,” he added.

“Successful funding bids have supported a variety of great schemes across the length of the resort and that will continue in the coming 18 months as major projects start. This, in turn, has encouraged a growing number of local people and visitors to see Cleethorpes as a destination for day trips and holidays. Major events such as Armed Forces Weekend, really do showcase the resort on a national and even international stage, which is fantastic.”

Cllr Dawkins also hailed Cleethorpe’s ‘cultural activity’ that he says demonstrates how the community is ‘involving itself and enjoying’ its growing success. “We look forward to a very bright future here in Cleethorpes – a place to work, visit, live and enjoy,” he added.

How to get to Cleethorpes

Getting to Cleethorpes will soon get a whole lot easier, after it was announced plans are afoot to bring back direct trains between the seaside town and London King’s Cross for the first time since 1992. As previously reported, rail operator Grand Central is hoping to be given permission from Network Rail to start running the services again.

In a move that is expected to bring in a whopping £30 million in economic growth, the route would connect the English capital with Cleethorpes – stopping off at Doncaster, Scunthorpe, Grimsby, Thorne South, Crowle and Althorpe. Trains running four times a day could start running from as early as December 2026, if the plans are approved. This would slash the three-hour journey ‘significantly’, and remove the need for passengers to change trains.

Until then, those wanting to visit Cleethorpes from the Big Smoke will have to transfer at Doncaster. If you’re flexible with dates, you can grab single adult fares for as little as £32.50. Alternatively, Brits can drive up the M11 and get to Cleethorpes in four hours and 15-minutes in the car.

Staying in Cleethorpes

Cleethorpes has long been a friendly destination for those on a budget, with a vast range of accommodation types. For example, a weekend’s stay (Friday, June 27-29) at the Haven Cleethorpes Beach holiday park will only set you back £195. This is based on a family of four staying in a Saver Caravan.

If you’re wanting something a little more luxurious, check out these charming apartments located right by the sea. Chicly decorated and just a four-minute walk to the beach – a one-bedroom apartment costs £550 on the exact same dates.

*Prices based on Trainline, Haven, and Booking.com listings at the time of writing.

What’s your favourite UK seaside town? Let us know in the comments section below

Anthony Irungu / BBC

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Artificial intelligence, cloud computing and data centres led to a spike in electricity demand between 2020 and 2023.

The United Nations’ digital agency says that operational carbon emissions for the world’s top tech companies rose an average of 150 percent between 2020 and 2023 as investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and data centres drove up global electricity demand.

Operational emissions for Amazon grew 182 percent in 2023 against 2020 levels, while emissions for Microsoft grew 155 percent, Facebook and Instagram owner Meta grew 145 percent, and Google parent company Alphabet grew 138 percent over the same period, according to the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

The figures include the emissions directly created by the companies’ operations as well as those from purchased energy consumption. They were included in a new report from ITU assessing the greenhouse gas emissions of the world’s top 200 digital companies between 2020 and 2023.

The UN agency linked the sharp uptick to recent breakthroughs in AI and the demand for digital services like cloud computing.

“Advances in digital innovation – especially AI – are driving up energy consumption and global emissions,” said Doreen Bogdan-Martin, who heads the ITU.

While these innovations mark dramatic technological breakthroughs, left unchecked, emissions from top-emitting AI systems could soon hit 102.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, the agency said.

“Currently, there are no standards or legislative requirements for companies to disclose their AI emissions or energy consumption, which makes understanding the impact of AI on company-level energy use less straightforward,” the report said.

“However, data from company reports show an increasing trend in operational emissions for companies with a high level of AI adoption.”

The AI and cloud computing boom has led to a similar spike in electricity demand from data centres, which help power digital services. Electricity consumption by data centres has grown 12 percent year-on-year since 2017, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Data centres alone consumed 415 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity – or 1.5 percent of global power demand. If the demand for data centres continues to grow at this pace, it will hit 945 TWh by 2030, surpassing Japan’s annual electricity consumption, according to the IEA.

Power-hungry digital companies, meanwhile, consumed an estimated 581 TWh of electricity in 2024, or roughly 2.1 percent of global demand, according to the report, although demand was highly concentrated among top firms.

According to data supplied by 164 out of 200 companies in the report, just 10 generated 51.9 percent of their electricity demand in 2023, the report said. They were China Mobile, Amazon, Samsung Electronics, China Telecom, Alphabet, Microsoft, TSMC, China Unicom, SK Hynix and Meta.

Publicly available emissions data for 166 out of the 200 companies revealed that they emitted 297 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year in 2023, the same as the combined emissions of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.

Taipei, Taiwan – As Taiwan prepares to shut down its last nuclear reactor, soaring energy demand driven by the island’s semiconductor industry is rekindling a heated debate about nuclear power.

Taiwan’s electricity needs are expected to rise by 12-13 percent by 2030, largely driven by the boom in artificial intelligence (AI), according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Environmental group Greenpeace has estimated that the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, will by itself consume as much electricity as roughly one-quarter of the island’s some 23 million people by the same date.

The self-ruled island’s soaring appetite for power complicates Taipei’s pledge to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, which is heavily dependent on raising renewable energy production to about 60-70 percent of the total from about 12 percent at present.

Nuclear power advocates argue that the energy source is the most feasible way for Taiwan to reach its competing industrial and environmental goals.

On Tuesday, Taiwan’s legislature passed an amendment to allow nuclear power plants to apply for licences to extend operations beyond the existing 40-year limit.

The opposition Kuomintang and Taiwan People’s Party passed the bill over the objections of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which came to power in 2016 on a pledge to achieve a “nuclear-free homeland”.

The legal change will not halt Sunday’s planned closure of the last operating reactor – the No 2 reactor at the Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant – though it casts doubt over the island’s longstanding opposition to nuclear power.

The government said after the vote that it had no immediate plans for any future nuclear power projects, though Premier Cho Jung-tai indicated earlier that the government would not oppose the restoration of decommissioned reactors if the amendment passed.

Cho said Taipei was “open” to nuclear power provided safety was ensured and the public reached a consensus on the issue.

Any move to restart the local nuclear industry would, at a minimum, take years.

Taiwan began its civilian nuclear programme in the 1950s with the assistance of technology from the United States.

By 1990, state-owned power firm Taipower operated three plants with the capacity to generate more than one-third of the island’s electricity needs.

‘Renewable energy isn’t stable’

Angelica Oung, a member of the Clean Energy Transition Alliance who supports nuclear power, said Taiwan could generate about 10 percent of its energy requirements from nuclear plants when the DDP came to power nearly a decade ago.

“Energy emissions at the time were lower than now – isn’t that ridiculous?” Oung told Al Jazeera.

“At the time, it was reasonable to launch the anti-nuclear policy as the public was still recovering from the devastating Fukushima nuclear disaster … but now even Japan has now decided to return to nuclear,” Oung said, referring to Tokyo’s plans to generate 20 percent of its power from the energy source by 2040.

“That’s because renewables simply don’t work.”

“The supply of renewable energy isn’t stable … solar energy, for example, needs the use of batteries,” Oung added.

While the 2011 Fukushima disaster helped solidify opposition to nuclear power, Taiwan’s history of anti-nuclear activism stretches back decades earlier.

The DPP was founded just months after the 1986 Chornobyl disaster and included an anti-nuclear clause in its charter.

The following year, the Indigenous Tao people launched protests against Taipower’s policy of dumping nuclear waste on Orchid Island, helping cement the civil anti-nuclear movement.

Nuclear energy attracted further negative scrutiny in the 1990s, when it emerged that about 10,000 people had been exposed to low levels of radiation due to the use of radioactive scrap metals in building materials.

In 2000, Taipei halted construction of a planned fourth nuclear plant amid protests by environmental groups.

A 2021 referendum proposal to restart work on the mothballed project was defeated 52.84 percent to 47.16 percent.

Chia-wei Chao, research director of the Taiwan Climate Action Network, said nuclear power is not the answer to Taiwan’s energy needs.

“Developing nuclear energy in Taiwan often means cutting the budget for boosting renewables, as opposed to other countries,” Chao told Al Jazeera.

Chao said Taiwan’s nuclear plants were built without taking into account the risk of earthquakes and tsunamis, and that establishing a local industry that meets modern standards would be costly and difficult.

“Extension of the current plants and reactors means having to upgrade the infrastructure to meet more updated safety standards and factoring in quake risks. This costs a lot, so nuclear energy doesn’t translate into cheaper electricity,” he said.

Lena Chang, a climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia, said that reviving nuclear energy would not only be costly, but potentially dangerous, too.

“We, Greenpeace, firmly [oppose] restarting nuclear plants or expanding the use of nuclear because nuclear poses an unresolved safety, waste and environmental risk, particularly in Taiwan – a small island that can’t afford a nuclear and environmental disaster,” Chang told Al Jazeera.

Chang said the chip industry should have to contribute to the cost of switching to renewable energy sources.

“They should be responsible for meeting their own green energy demand, instead of leaving all the work to Taipower, as any of the money to build more energy plants and storage facilities ultimately comes from people’s tax money,” she said.

Chao agreed, saying chip giants such as TSMC should lead the push to go green.

“The chipmaking industry is here to stay … Sure, energy supply will be tight in the next three years, but it’s still enough,” he said.