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IBM says small language models to democratize AI for businesses

RAWPIXEL-FREEPIK

PHILIPPINE BUSINESSES can benefit from cheaper and less resource-intensive small language models (SLMs) of artificial intelligence (AI), according to an IBM Philippines top official.

“We should have SLMs, which use a smaller compute capacity, which become consumable and more affordable as far as users are concerned for the business,” IBM Philippines President and Technology Leader Aileen Judan-Jiao told a news briefing on Tuesday.

Unlike large language models — AI systems that can understand and generate human language by processing massive amounts of text data like Open AI’s Chat GPT-3 and GPT-4 — SLMs are smaller and trained on data for a specific domain.

AI is helping companies work smarter, not harder, as they apply the technology more widely from customer service to HR to code modernization.

IBM said companies can use AI to improve efficiency and lower costs. One of the popular uses of AI is chatbots and digital assistants for customer service. By using machine learning algorithms, AI can understand what customers are saying and their tone.

Medical institutions use AI automation to provide data analysis, diagnosis and treatment. Chatbots also lessen human intervention in healthcare appointments and shorten diagnosis time.

In retail, AI gathers information to better understand customers and their preferences during online shopping, while generative AI (GenAI) can help plan marketing campaigns.

IBM touts its watsonx.ai as open source, pre-trained foundation models that make AI and automation easier. These models are flexible and reusable and can be applied to just about any domain or industry task, according to its website.

With a foundation model that uses a neural network called a “transformer” and leverages a technique called self-supervised learning, one can create pre-trained models for a vast amount of unlabeled data, IBM said.

“The model can learn the domain-specific structure it’s working on before you even start thinking about the problem that you’re trying to solve. This is usually text, but it can also be code, IT events, time series, geospatial data or even molecules.”

IBM cited an estimate by the University of Washington, where training a single GPT3-sized model requires the yearly electricity consumption of more than 1,000 households.

A standard day of ChatGPT queries is equivalent to the daily energy consumption of 33,000 households.

Ms. Jiao said IBM’s 13-billion parameter Granite model family is an example of a small language model with fewer error rates, “meaning you can make it smaller with a lot more accuracy.”

She also cited an IBM Institute for Business Value that found that 82% of Filipino chief executive officers said they would take more risks to keep their competitive edge.

About 58% said competitive advantage would depend on who has the most advanced generative AI.

IBM has also introduced its GenAI-powered employee support AskHR, which covers various processes such as payroll compensation, benefits, and rapid and expense routes.

The company said the chatbot and platform let managers and employees focus on more strategic work and important operational decisions. — Aubrey Rose A. Inosante

Rural Bank of Sta. Rosa sees revenues surge by 432% in May

THE RURAL BANK of Sta. Rosa (Laguna), Inc. saw its revenues surge by 432% to P66 million as of end-May from the end-2023 level after it was acquired by financial technology (fintech) firm Salmon Group Ltd. in January, its parent said on Wednesday.

“We are off to a strong start in building a robust financial institution by improving the bank’s products and services and enhancing our customer experience across both offline and online channels,” Salmon Co-Founder and Rural Bank of Sta. Rosa (Laguna) Chairman Raffy Montemayor said in a statement.

The bank’s loans jumped by 648% to P400 million at end-May from P54 million a year prior, Salmon said.

Meanwhile, on the funding side, deposits soared by 439% to P440 million as of May from P82 million at end-2023, it said.

This was driven by its “competitive” rates, such as its 8.88% interest rate per annum for time deposits exceeding P500,000 for a 12-month term, the fintech company added.

The bank used these deposits to acquire installment loans and cash loans from Sunprime Finance, Inc., its sister company that lends to underserved and underbanked Filipinos, it said.

The rural bank’s equity also surged by 1,075% year on year to P385 million as of June following a capital injection from Salmon.

The funding will allow Rural Bank of Sta. Rosa (Laguna) to invest in technology and people to prepare for its upcoming mobile app and debit card launch in the second half of the year, subject to regulatory approval, Salmon said.

The rural lender has also asked the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for approval to raise its authorized capital to P1.2 billion for the expansion of its offerings of financial service, enhancement of its technology and branch infrastructure, and to support its long-term growth, it said.

“We are excited to see the bank rapidly becoming the center of the group’s business in the Philippines. We hope that with our upcoming mobile app and debit card launch, Salmon will vividly show just how different our approach is to providing customer experience. Built around daily needs on a slick and intuitive mobile platform, Salmon hopes to give a new sense of financial freedom and inspiration to millions of Filipinos,” Salmon Co-Founder and Rural Bank of Sta. Rosa (Laguna) Director Pavel Fedorov said.

The International Finance Corp. last month said it is investing $7 million (about P404 million) in Salmon to help fund the capital of Rural Bank of Sta. Rosa (Laguna).

Salmon was founded in July 2022 and uses artificial intelligence-enabled technology and a proprietary credit engine to offer consumer loans. — A.M.C. Sy

​Meralco says tariff decision resulted from ‘transparent,’ ‘fair’ process

PHILSTAR FILE PHOTO

MANILA Electric Co.’s (Meralco) tariff for its lapsed period covering the years 2015 to 2022 was a result of a “transparent” and “fair” process, an official said.

The statement came after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) earlier announced that it denied motions from various parties filed in 2022 seeking to reconsider Meralco’s approved actual weighted average tariff.

“The ERC ensured that the whole process for setting Meralco’s final rate for the lapsed period was transparent, fair, and complied with all legal requirements and due process as all interested parties were given opportunity to be heard and in fact, submitted their comments and participated throughout the entire proceedings,” Jose Ronald V. Valles, Meralco senior vice-president and head of regulatory management, told reporters in a text message on Tuesday.

“All DUs (distribution utilities) and the consumers cannot afford any further delays resulting from the prolonged lag in the resolution of the rate cases of all DUs that are pending at ERC,” he said.

Mr. Valles added that these delays “cause grave and irreparable injury to all parties, DUs and consumers alike.”

In an order released on June 14, the ERC denied motions filed in July 2022 by the National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms, Inc. and Romeo Junia. The regulator also denied the motion filed by former ERC Commissioner Alfredo J. Non.

The motions sought the reconsideration of the June 2022 decision and the dismissal of the case, according to the ERC, arguing that the decision was contrary to the aims and purposes of the ERC’s Rules for Setting Distribution Wheeling Rates and the intents of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act.

Mr. Valles said no tariff adjustments were given to distribution utilities despite their huge investments in terms of capital expenditure and operating expenses as the ERC has not set the rules to govern the lapsed period.

“The ERC correctly exercised its quasi-judicial rate-making power to fix the rate of Meralco, pursuant to the police power granted to it under the law,” he said.

Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT Inc.

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has an interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — S.J. Talavera

Trends in Philippines and global merchandise trade

CHUTTERSNAP-UNSPLASH

While the Philippines has the fastest GDP growth in the ASEAN, and was the third fastest among the Top 50 largest economies in the world in 2022 and 2023, our merchandise exports remain among the smallest among those Top 50. In 2023, our merchandise or goods exports was only $73 billion (FOB, or Free on Board, value) while Malaysia’s was $313 billion and Vietnam’s was $354 billion.

For merchandise imports, in 2023 the Philippines had $133 billion (CIF, or cost insurance, and freight, value) while Thailand’s was $290 billion, and Singapore’s was $423 billion (see table).

With such a great difference between our exports minus imports, our merchandise trade deficit is big, about $60 billion a year. We somehow compensate for our low merchandise exports with high services exports, like OFW remittances, business process outsourcing (BPO) here, and inbound tourism. The combined value of these three is significant so our current account balance (merchandise plus non-merchandise or services plus primary and secondary incomes) is not suffering too much, with a deficit of $18 billion in 2022 and $11 billion in 2023.

We need to further strengthen our goods or merchandise exports to help finance our necessary merchandise imports like oil, trucks, cars, computers, and electronic products.

One factor why we cannot significantly expand our exports is the low size and capacity of our electricity generation to power big manufacturing plants, warehouses, and storage areas for both raw materials and finished products.

In 2022, the power generation in terawatt-hours (TWh) of the ASEAN-6 were as follows: Indonesia, 333 TWh; Vietnam, 260 TWh; Malaysia, 183 TWh; Thailand, 180 TWh; the Philippines, 114 TWh; Singapore, 57 TWh.

The numbers somehow correspond to the numbers in exports. While Singapore has low domestic power generation, they complement this with power imports from Malaysia, and power use is concentrated in a small land area. Plus, they produce or re-export really high-end, high-value manufactured goods.

Of the global trade picture, China remains the largest exporter in the world with $3.38 trillion in 2023, followed by the US with $2.02 trillion, then Germany with $1.69 trillion.

This has implications on the on-going saber rattling in the Philippines over the territorial dispute with China. The big source of our cheap trucks and buses, cheap tractors and irrigation pumps, cheap computers and electronic products, is China. These goods help improve our farm productivity and transportation, our electronics manufacturing and other products.

And in Europe, Russia is the largest exporter of energy products. Nearly half of its total merchandise exports of $400 billion to $600 billion are gas, oil, and coal. Germany and Italy’s industrial muscle was largely powered by cheap gas from Russia. The economic sanctions they have implemented against Russia have boomeranged on their own economies via higher energy prices, higher inflation, and flattened industrial and manufacturing output.

Considering the trade data in Asia and taking into consideration the lessons of what is happening in Europe economies, the Philippines should prioritize diplomacy over saber rattling, and prioritize trade and investments over war preparations.

 

Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. is the president of Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. Research Consultancy Services, and Minimal Government Thinkers. He is an international fellow of the Tholos Foundation.

minimalgovernment@gmail.com

A Brown Company, Inc. to conduct 2024 Annual Stockholders’ Meeting on July 12 via remote communication

 

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Twice-stolen Titian painting headed for auction

CHRISTIES.COM

LONDON — Rest on the Flight into Egypt, an early work by Titian that was looted by Napoleon and then stolen in the 1990s before being found at a London bus stop, will be offered for sale at auction next month, with an estimated price of up to $32 million.

The painting, which auction house Christie’s says is being offered to the market for the first time in around 145 years, depicts Mary holding the infant Jesus with Joseph sitting nearby as they rest while fleeing into Egypt.

The artwork, part of the collection at British stately home Longleat House, will headline Christie’s Old Masters Part I sale on July 2, with a price estimate of £15 million to £25 million ($19 million to $32 million).

“It’s painted when Titian’s about 20 years old, around 1510 and it’s that ignition moment when Titian is bringing about a real revolution in painting, introducing a naturalism to religious painting that had never really been seen before,” Henry Pettifer, international deputy chairman of old master paintings at Christie’s, told Reuters on Tuesday.

“It’s incredibly rare for a picture of this importance to come to the auction market … there are very few important works by Titian in private hands.”

The painting was looted by Napoleon’s troops in Vienna in 1809. It was auctioned by Christie’s in 1878 when it was bought by the 4th Marquess of Bath, who took it to his home, Longleat House.

It was stolen from there in 1995, and following a reward of £100,000 ($125,000) being offered, it was recovered by an art detective seven years later when it was found in a carrier bag at a bus stop in southwest London, without the frame.

“A colorful history and an extraordinary story is always interesting in a work of art, because it is about storytelling,” Orlando Rock, chairman of Christie’s UK, told Reuters.

“The fact that it was good enough for Napoleon and it was good enough for Lord Bath is again another reminder of just how rare and beautiful this thing is.” — Reuters

Don’t do AI for AI’s sake

BOOMI CHIEF Technology Officer Matt McLarty spoke at Boomi World 2024 in Denver, Colorado on May 9. — CRAG

By Cathy Rose A. Garcia, Editor-in-Chief

DENVER, Colorado — Companies should consider how artificial intelligence (AI) can help solve real-world problems instead of looking at it as just another bandwagon, according to a US technology executive.

“Don’t just do AI for AI’s sake,” Boomi Chief Technology Officer Matt McLarty told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of Boomi World 2024 last month.

“Think about how AI can help solve unsolvable problems or problems you couldn’t solve before AI. How can AI optimize what you’re doing?”

He said companies that seek to digitalize would want to reduce friction, provide automation, and offer value-added and data-enriched services.

“If you look in those areas, that’s where AI can help even more,” Mr. McLarty said. “You can use AI to provide even more streamlined experiences, personalization… You can use AI to provide more automation, come up with new business models, new products and services.”

Boomi, an integration and automation company, wants to be front and center in helping companies get value out of AI.

“For companies that are thinking, ‘What do we do about AI?’ Well, what are you trying to do today? And just look at where you can apply AI. And that’s where I think we can help a lot because we can make it less about a giant technological hurdle,” Mr. McLarty said.

“We can help make AI understand your business and provide useful business outcomes, not just write poems, Shakespearean sonnets about cats or whatever.”

The Boomi executive said companies must ensure their AI will be grounded using their own data.

“If you want to get value out of AI, you need to ground it. And if you want to ground it, Boomi is the Earth,” Mr. McLarty said.

As part of its AI suite, the company last year launched a generative AI-powered conversational interface called Boomi GPT. Boomi GPT lets organizations create and generate processes using natural language prompts.

At Boomi World last month, the company unveiled the Boomi AI agent framework, which allows users to run AI agents built by the company or its partners.

It launched four new AI agents built into the platform, namely Boomi Answers, an agent that gives prescriptive help; Boomi DataDetective, which classifies data fields and protects sensitive data; Boomi DesignGen, an agent for autonomously building integrations; and Boomi Scribe, which automatically documents existing and built-by-AI integrations.

“What we’re doing is starting to think about these AI-based features not as features of the platform, but as discrete agents,” Mr. McLarty said.

He said there will also be third-party pluggable AI agents.

“Over time, this will be more of a partner certification effort where we’ll provide guidance on agent building, certification process, onboarding process. And that’s where the marketplace garden of agents will be,” he added.

Another category of agents will be those that its customers can build using the Boomi platform.

“I think the industry will move to this agent architecture,” Mr. McLarty said. “But there’s still time… We would probably be more likely to just help companies orchestrate some AI workflows before we would help, you know, refactor their whole environment into agents.”

Corporate profile

JORGE BERMUDEZ- UNSPLASH

ARE BUSINESSMEN joining the celebrity game along with movie stars, game show hosts, politicians, fugitive religious leaders, and sports figures? How did the once quiet figures of business get onto the social radar?

CEOs are getting publicly known, sometimes by their initials, even by those who don’t work in the companies they run. These admirers may just be looking for jobs or temporary support in the journey through life. Anyway, the wealth that endows prestige can sometimes be hard to check for accuracy, even rounded off to the nearest million. How much of it is borrowed, or merely claimed?

The size of a conglomerate in different industries (usually with property development in the portfolio) elevates its leader. With our dependence on external status symbols, like cars and residences, corporate metrics like revenues, market cap, profits, leverage ratios, or employment levels are disregarded. It’s enough for a company to be described as among the top 1,000 in the country for its CEO’s corporate profile to rise and be accorded celebrity status. When introduced to strangers, it is his business holdings that are mentioned. (He heads an online gambling organization that rakes in millions in cash every day.)

One criterion for celebrity status is ubiquity. A business with many branches in different parts of the country qualifies. Thus, the owner of a food chain or a line of apparel featured on big billboards (with Korean celebrities) can be more famous than an investment banker or the CEO of a publicly listed mining company.

Moguls can be accompanied by eye candy, usually in a different profession like interior decoration. If a celebrity partner is seen in online posts accompanying a mogul (she is just a business partner), even movie reporters jump into the fray to get set up for future cyber libel charges with their speculations.

Maybe because business achievements like increasing shareholder value by 60% are too abstract for celebrity hounds to appreciate, it’s what the CEO can buy, whether whole office buildings or private jets, that seem to make an impression. Fawning articles by the non-business media concentrate on lifestyle attributes. Road rage incidents do not qualify, even when driving a Benz.

Advocacy is becoming an important part of the CEO brand. Prevention of child abuse, protecting an endangered species (old employees), fighting malnutrition among young children, and mass weddings of live-in couples are already taken.

Even young tycoons have blazed celebrity niches when buying into a media company in the open market to be the second largest stockholder. This celebrity game can be expensive. It also elicits a negative reaction from the CEO’s stockholders.

It is perhaps a general lack of economic literacy in media that often consigns the ordinary CEO to obscurity except for those in the know. The same attributes that attach to politicians, although for them luxurious living is no longer something to flaunt — Sure, I get to wear all these expensive clothes to attend wakes.

In the case of entertainers, a new mansion is routinely posted in a virtual tour — this door was made by a famous artist. There is even reference to childhood as an informal settler bathing in the public pumping area — look where I am now.

Even celebrity features and interviews on the net have now expanded coverage to corporate CEOs. Opening shots, using black and white shadings, can feature a brooding expression on the CEO’s face (Q2 numbers were terrible) to project a troubled soul.

Business details on the executive, except perhaps for his long working hours and constant foreign trips in his own plane, have nothing to do with success in business. No mention is made of his cost-cutting efforts, succession planning, and the introduction of a paperless office — except in toilets.

Even for celebrities, CEO stories seldom deal with the business side — how the boss grew the business and increased the company’s revenues through targeted marketing strategies including the acquisition of failing companies that were rehabilitated. Being a good employer and increasing the company’s market cap, improved return on investment and a good business strategy should be the criteria for a business reputation.

What celebrity status finds more interesting is what the boss does outside of work which usually leads to the CEO’s coverage and personal preoccupation… and post-occupation.

 

Tony Samson is chairman and CEO of TOUCH xda

ar.samson@yahoo.com

Quezon City awards document digitalization contract to InfiniVAN

THE Quezon City local government awarded to Japanese telecommunications firm InfiniVAN, Inc. the contract to digitalize its city hall’s departments using a document management system (DMS) technology.

InfiniVAN was awarded the project to equip the city with an artificial intelligence-powered DMS suite with a bid offer of P29.5 million, based on a notice dated June 18.

“It’s not only Quezon City; all local governments have a problem with physical documents. Being the most, as far as we know, digitized city right now, we are going towards the digitization of the documents,” City Administrator Michael Victor N. Alimurung told BusinessWorld at the sidelines of the contract awarding on Tuesday.

InfiniVAN Senior Vice-President for Special Projects Koji Ishizaka said the company aims to digitalize the Quezon City Hall’s departments, as well as those of other local government units.

“Some departments, like the Business Permit and Licensing Office, City Assessors Office, and other major departments, already have some form of DMS,” InfiniVAN Business Development Manager for Special Projects Joshua Wan Remollo said.

The AI feature of the system will allow for less manual coding and physical storage of documents, Mr. Remollo said.

“Everything can be placed either on the cloud or through an on-premises solution for the storage of all the files. So, this is cost-effective, cost-efficient,” he added.

Asked about data privacy and cybersecurity concerns, he said InfiniVAN is using a DMS solution that has been certified by different institutions all around the world.

“We have already coordinated this with the Department of Information and Communications Technology and with other relevant government agencies in order to secure the different documents,” Mr. Remollo said.

He said InfiniVAN is “promoting the highest level of security for data encryption.” — A.R.A. Inosante

BSP extends P242.6M in loans in 2023

THE BANGKO SENTRAL ng Pilipinas (BSP) extended loans amounting to P242.6 million last year.

This was 99.9% lower than the loans granted in 2022, the BSP said in its 2023 annual report.

“Accordingly, total principal collections reached P247.2 million, likewise lower by 99.9% than in 2022,” the central bank said.

“This may be attributed to sufficient liquidity in the banking system, as reflected by banks’ non-availment of rediscounting loans and the National Government’s (NG) non-renewal of the P300-billion provisional advances it secured to address the adverse impact of COVID-19 in 2022.”

The BSP said there have been no past due loans recorded since 2014.

Meanwhile, existing past due loans slipped by 0.3% to P4.53 billion as of end-2023 from P4.51 billion at end-2022.

“This was on account of recoveries through cash collections, foreclosure proceedings, or dacion of real properties by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) of P4.4 million and the write-off of P10.5 million,” it added.

The central bank’s total outstanding loan portfolio inched down to P85.83 billion as of end-2023 from P85.84 billion a year prior.

The BSP said it introduced reforms in its facilities to “influence the volume of credit, consistent with its mandate of maintaining price and financial stability.”

These include changes in the computation of the peso rediscount rate as well as the US dollar and Japanese yen rediscount rates, the termination of the overdraft credit loan facility in check clearing and settlement that prohibited banks from incurring overdrafts, and the adoption of an investment policy statement of certain managed funds.

“The BSP remains steadfast in refining its credit facilities to ensure their effectiveness and adaptability to the evolving financial and digital environment. This commitment is integral to the central bank’s thrust toward a sustainable and inclusive financial system,” it added. — L.M.J.C. Jocson

Brad Pitt’s F1 movie set for release in June 2025

BRAD PITT and Damson Idris in the as-yet untitled Formula One Racing movie. — IMDB

BRAD PITT’S as-yet unnamed Formula One movie will be released globally on June 25 next year, with a North American debut two days later, F1 and Apple Original Films announced on Tuesday.

The film is being made with the cooperation of teams and drivers and directed by Joseph Kosinski, whose Top Gun: Maverick grossed $1.49 billion worldwide, with Jerry Bruckheimer as producer.

It will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures in cinemas and IMAX.

Seven-times F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton is a co-producer, with filming starting last year and continuing during selected grand prix weekends this season.

The production team have had a garage and pitwall stand as a fictional 11th “APX GP” team.

The plot sees Mr. Pitt, who is 60 years old in real life, star as a former driver making a Formula One comeback alongside Damson Idris, who plays his rookie teammate, at APX.

Other cast members include Academy Award winner Javier Bardem and best supporting actress nominee Kerry Condon.

Formula One said production of the movie would be completed at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December.

The sport is hoping the movie cements the appeal of the Netflix docu-series Drive to Survive that has boosted Formula One’s popularity and growth worldwide and particularly in the key US market.

Formula One now has three US races in Austin, Miami, and Las Vegas.

“We’ve already seen the great work and impact of the Netflix show and I think this will take it to new heights beyond that,” Mercedes driver Mr. Hamilton, who is joining Ferrari at the end of the season, said last year. — Reuters

Nvidia eclipses Microsoft as world’s most valuable company

FILE PHOTO: The logo of technology company Nvidia is seen at its headquarters in Santa Clara, California February 11, 2015. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith/File Photo

NVIDIA became the world’s most valuable company on Tuesday, dethroning tech heavyweight Microsoft as its high-end processors play a central role in a scramble to dominate artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

Shares of the chipmaker climbed 3.5% to $135.58, lifting its market capitalization to $3.335 trillion, just days after overtaking iPhone maker Apple to become the second-most valuable company.

Microsoft’s stock market value was $3.317 trillion as its shares dipped 0.45%.

Apple’s stock slipped over 1%, leaving its value at $3.286 trillion.

Nvidia’s stunning surge in market value over the past year has become emblematic of a Wall Street frenzy driven by optimism about emerging AI technology.

While Nvidia’s rally has lifted the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq to record highs, some investors worry that unbridled optimism about AI could evaporate if signs emerge of a slowdown in spending on the technology.

“It’s Nvidia’s market; we’re all just trading in it,” said Steve Sosnick, chief market strategist at Interactive Brokers.

Nvidia has also become by far the most traded company on Wall Street, with daily turnover recently averaging $50 billion, compared to around $10 billion each for Apple, Microsoft, and Tesla, according to London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) data. The chipmaker now accounts for about 16% of all trading in S&P 500 companies.

Nvidia’s stock has nearly tripled so far this year, compared with a rise of about 19% in Microsoft shares, with demand for its top-of-the-line processors outpacing supply.

Tech giants Microsoft, Meta Platforms, and Google owner Alphabet are competing to build out their AI computing capabilities and add the technology to their products and services.

An insatiable appetite for Nvidia’s AI processors, viewed as far superior to competitors’ offerings, has left them in tight supply, and many investors view Nvidia as the greatest winner to date from surging AI development.

“Nvidia has been getting a lot of positive attention and has been doing a lot of things very correctly, but a small misstep is likely to cause a major correction in the stock, and investors should be careful,” said Oliver Pursche, senior vice-president at Wealthspire Advisors in New York.

Tuesday’s gain lifted Nvidia’s stock to a record high and added over $110 billion to its market capitalization, equivalent to the entire value of Lockheed Martin.

The company’s market value expanded from $1 trillion to $2 trillion in just nine months in February, while taking just over three months to hit $3 trillion in June.

Since its blowout forecast about a year ago, the company has consistently breezed past Wall Street’s lofty expectations for revenue and profit, with demand for its graphics processors far outstripping supply as companies rush to embed AI applications.

Nvidia executives said in May that demand for its Blackwell AI chips could exceed supply “well into next year.”

Sharp increases in analysts’ expectations for Nvidia’s future earnings have outpaced its stellar stock gains, resulting in a fall in the stock’s earnings valuation.

Nvidia recently traded at 44 times expected earnings, down from over 84 about a year ago, LSEG data showed.

Increasing the appeal for its highly valued stock among individual investors, Nvidia last week split its stock 10-for-one. — Reuters

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