OCTOBERASIA BUSINESS OUTLOOK8Petronas, Malaysia's state energy business, launched the country's first commercial private 5G network for enterprise usage on Oct 6, claiming that it will improve internal operations and "induce industry-wide change." Petroliam Nasional Berhad, or Petronas, announced in a statement that the private 5G network has been successfully implemented at its Regasification Terminal Sungai Udang in Melaka state.Deputy Prime Minister Fadillah Yusof said the Petronas network's debut will pave the way for a "dynamic partnership" between the government and the private sector.National Petroleum Limited, or Petronas, is a Malaysian oil conglomerate with operations in over 100 countries. It was established in 1974 as a legal entity under the Malaysian Companies Act and reports to the company's Board of Directors. The group is involved in a wide range of petroleum activities, from upstream oil and gas exploration and production to downstream oil refining; marketing and distribution of petroleum products; trading; gas processing and liquefaction; gas transmission pipeline network operations; liquefied natural gas marketing; petrochemical manufacturing and marketing; shipping; automotive engineering; and property investment.Petronas is a significant source of money for the Malaysian government, contributing for more than 15% of total revenue from 2015 to 2020. The corporation's headquarters are the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. According to people familiar with the company's plans, OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is considering developing its own artificial intelligence chips and has gone as far as evaluating a potential acquisition target, in recent internal discussions described to Reuters, the company has not yet decided whether to proceed. According to people familiar with the matter, it has been discussing various solutions to the shortage of expensive AI chips on which OpenAI relies since at least last year. These options include developing its own AI chip, collaborating more closely with other chipmakers such as Nvidia, and diversifying its suppliers beyond Nvidia.CEO Sam Altman has made the acquisition of more AI chips a top priority for the company. He has publicly complained about the scarcity of graphics processing units, a market dominated by Nvidia, which controls more than 80 per cent of the global market for the chips best suited to run AI applications.Altman attributes the effort to two major concerns: a shortage of the advanced processors that power OpenAI's software and the "eye-watering" costs associated with running the hardware required to power its efforts and products. Since 2020, OpenAI has been developing generative artificial intelligence technologies on a massive supercomputer built by Microsoft, one of its most significant backers, that employs 10,000 Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs). NEWSROOMPETRONAS LAUNCHES PRIVATE 5G NETWORKOPENAI EXPLORING MAKING AI CHIPS INHOUSE
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