1
00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:08,720
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

2
00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:13,600
Speaker 2: This is the Bloomberg Daybak podcast, available every morning on Apple,

3
00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:16,760
Speaker 2: Spotify or wherever you listen. It's Thursday, the twenty second

4
00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:19,440
Speaker 2: of February in London. I'm Caroline Hepka and.

5
00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:22,160
Speaker 1: I'm Stephen Carroll. Coming up today. Shares in the AI

6
00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:26,280
Speaker 1: Giant and Video surge on yet another eye popping sales forecast.

7
00:00:26,520 --> 00:00:30,600
Speaker 2: One of Goldman Sachs's high flyers leaves as reports suggests

8
00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:33,000
Speaker 2: that others have also threatened to quit.

9
00:00:33,159 --> 00:00:35,800
Speaker 1: And we look at why a two point three billion

10
00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:39,599
Speaker 1: dollar rail projects spanning three African countries has more to

11
00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:42,199
Speaker 1: do with the growing ev battle between the US and

12
00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:43,800
Speaker 1: China than you might think.

13
00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:46,400
Speaker 2: Let's start with a roundup of our top stories.

14
00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:49,680
Speaker 1: Shares and the AI chip Giant and Vidia surged in

15
00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:53,240
Speaker 1: late trading, jumping by as much as eleven percent after

16
00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:57,280
Speaker 1: the firm delivered another eye popping sales forecast. The world's

17
00:00:57,320 --> 00:01:00,360
Speaker 1: most valuable chip maker says revenue in the current period

18
00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:03,320
Speaker 1: will come in at a better than expected twenty four

19
00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:07,679
Speaker 1: billion dollars. Fourth quarter results also sales past Wall Street estimates,

20
00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:11,440
Speaker 1: adding fresh momentum to a firm whose value has already

21
00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:14,600
Speaker 1: increased by more than four hundred billion dollars this year.

22
00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:18,280
Speaker 1: In Vidia CEO Jensen Hwang says the future looks even brighter.

23
00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:22,000
Speaker 3: We guide one quarter at a time, but fundamentally the

24
00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:27,000
Speaker 3: conditions are excellent for continued growth calendar twenty four to

25
00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:29,560
Speaker 3: calendar twenty five and beyond. And let me tell you

26
00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:34,640
Speaker 3: why we're at the beginning of two industry wide transitions.

27
00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:38,560
Speaker 1: In Vidia CEO Jensen Hwang, they're referring to on the

28
00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:42,319
Speaker 1: firm's earnings call to a transition from general to accelerated

29
00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:46,840
Speaker 1: computing and the shift to generative ai. Huang also says

30
00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:50,160
Speaker 1: that demand for Nvidia's newest products will continue to outstrip

31
00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:51,800
Speaker 1: supply for the rest of the year.

32
00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:53,240
Speaker 3: Now.

33
00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:57,240
Speaker 2: Minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting show that most

34
00:01:57,280 --> 00:02:01,279
Speaker 2: officials remained worried about the impact of cutting interest rates

35
00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:05,440
Speaker 2: too soon. A summary of the January gathering showed policymakers

36
00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:08,400
Speaker 2: want to see more evidence that inflation is firmly on

37
00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:11,680
Speaker 2: a path to two percent before they begin easing. Bloomberg's

38
00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:15,040
Speaker 2: chief US economist Anna Wong says that the minutes reveal

39
00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:17,960
Speaker 2: why the Fed is leaning towards higher for longer.

40
00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:21,800
Speaker 4: They have been surprised by how strong the economy is

41
00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:25,000
Speaker 4: relative to what they expected, and recall that a couple

42
00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:28,799
Speaker 4: days before the FOMC meeting in January, they received the

43
00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:33,120
Speaker 4: Q four GDP number, which really surprised to the upside.

44
00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:35,760
Speaker 4: And I think based on that assessment, they're thinking that

45
00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:39,360
Speaker 4: maybe the neutral rate is in fact higher than what

46
00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:40,399
Speaker 4: they thought.

47
00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:44,120
Speaker 2: Bloomberg's chief US economists Anna Wong there the minutes were

48
00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:47,399
Speaker 2: published as two FED policy makers also weighed in publicly

49
00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:51,079
Speaker 2: on the issue. Thomas Barkin says that recent data highlighted

50
00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:54,560
Speaker 2: how price pressures in some sectors are still too high,

51
00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:57,680
Speaker 2: whilst Michelle Bowman says that the time to cut interest

52
00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:00,640
Speaker 2: rates quote is certainly not now.

53
00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:04,280
Speaker 1: She was once tipped for the role of CFO at

54
00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:07,200
Speaker 1: Goldman Sachs, but Beth Hammock is leaving the Wall Street

55
00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:10,200
Speaker 1: giant after thirty years. She was most recently cohered of

56
00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:13,760
Speaker 1: Goldman's Global Financing Group. Her departure leaves behind a small

57
00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:16,320
Speaker 1: cohort of women in senior roles at the company, which

58
00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:19,200
Speaker 1: has never had a woman appointed to the role of chair,

59
00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:23,040
Speaker 1: chief executive Officer, President or CFO. It comes as the

60
00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:26,600
Speaker 1: Financial Times is reporting that two other top investment bankers

61
00:03:26,639 --> 00:03:29,760
Speaker 1: are threatening to leave the firm after being excluded from

62
00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:31,480
Speaker 1: a new operating committee.

63
00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:35,680
Speaker 2: Now to some UK news, the Labor Party has managed

64
00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:38,520
Speaker 2: to avoid a divisive vote on Gaza as the House

65
00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:42,120
Speaker 2: of Commons descended into chaos yesterday, leaving the Speaker of

66
00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:45,440
Speaker 2: the House of Commons fighting for his job. Bloomberg's James

67
00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:46,360
Speaker 2: Wilcock has more.

68
00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:50,000
Speaker 5: There was fury in the House of Commons last night,

69
00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:54,119
Speaker 5: but not at the issue being debated, the situation in Gaza.

70
00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:57,160
Speaker 5: This rage was directed towards the Speaker of the House,

71
00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:01,080
Speaker 5: Lindsay Hoyle. He changed parliamentary procedure which gave Labor a

72
00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:05,200
Speaker 5: way to avoid a Scottish National Party trap. SMP leader

73
00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:07,120
Speaker 5: Stephen Flynn was incandescent.

74
00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:11,680
Speaker 6: That is twoting myself and my colleagues in the Scottish

75
00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:18,000
Speaker 6: National Party with complete and utter contempt. And I will

76
00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:23,719
Speaker 6: take significant convincing that your position is not now intolerable.

77
00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:26,360
Speaker 5: The whole affair ended with a miserable oil trying to

78
00:04:26,440 --> 00:04:27,760
Speaker 5: draw a line under the affair.

79
00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:30,560
Speaker 6: And that's say again, I thought I was doing the

80
00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:33,919
Speaker 6: right thing and the best thing, and I regret it,

81
00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:36,320
Speaker 6: and I apologize.

82
00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:38,120
Speaker 5: Despite the apology, the speaker faces a motion of no

83
00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:41,880
Speaker 5: confidence in his role. Later today in London, James Wilcock

84
00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:43,120
Speaker 5: Bloomberg Radio.

85
00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:47,040
Speaker 1: One in four UK childcare providers could close in the

86
00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:49,680
Speaker 1: next year, according to a new reports. The news comes

87
00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:53,400
Speaker 1: as nurseries in preschools battle with rising casts. Bloomberg's team

88
00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:55,360
Speaker 1: out of Bio has the details.

89
00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:57,920
Speaker 7: Build as part of a master plan to boost productivity

90
00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:01,440
Speaker 7: and get women into the workplace. Government plans to increase

91
00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:05,360
Speaker 7: access to childcare may be backfiring. Research by the Early

92
00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:08,440
Speaker 7: Years Alliance has found providers are struggling to keep up

93
00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:12,480
Speaker 7: with wage rises and expanded free care without extra support.

94
00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:16,520
Speaker 7: The situation is so bad that eighty percent of operators

95
00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:19,520
Speaker 7: plan to push up fees in response. The cost of

96
00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:22,479
Speaker 7: childcare is a problem that has plagued working parents for

97
00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:26,840
Speaker 7: a number of years. Separate research from parental support organization

98
00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:30,240
Speaker 7: Pregnant then Screwed showed that a third of parents who

99
00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:33,720
Speaker 7: qualify for Early Years funding are considering quitting their jobs

100
00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:38,080
Speaker 7: or working fewer hours to cope with the expense. According

101
00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:41,640
Speaker 7: to Early Years Alliance CEO Nick Leach, it's a problem

102
00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:45,359
Speaker 7: that's reached breaking point. He says, it's vital that the

103
00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:49,080
Speaker 7: government acknowledges and recognizes the scale of the crisis we

104
00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:54,279
Speaker 7: are in and takes definitive action. In London, tiwa Ada Bio, Bloomberg.

105
00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:59,880
Speaker 2: Radio, Manchester United's new shareholder, billionaire businessman Jim Ratcliff, has

106
00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:02,919
Speaker 2: asked fans for patients as he tries to help the

107
00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:06,360
Speaker 2: English club return to the pinnacle of the football world.

108
00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:10,400
Speaker 2: The innyof CEO, who paid one point twenty five billion

109
00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:13,359
Speaker 2: pounds for a close to twenty eight percent stake in

110
00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:17,120
Speaker 2: the club and also control over football operations, says that

111
00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:20,880
Speaker 2: he wants an overhaul, starting with plans for a new stadium.

112
00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:23,080
Speaker 2: Here's what he told MUTV.

113
00:06:23,800 --> 00:06:25,440
Speaker 8: We do need to look at the way forward for

114
00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:28,400
Speaker 8: the stadium, the redevelopment of that stadium. That clearly you

115
00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:30,680
Speaker 8: know two roads we could take. We could refurbish the

116
00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:33,279
Speaker 8: existing stadium, or we could we could look at building

117
00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:36,000
Speaker 8: a new stadium and that's that's what we're looking at

118
00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:36,520
Speaker 8: at the moment.

119
00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:40,240
Speaker 2: Jim Ratcliffe says that he expects to announce a new

120
00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:43,640
Speaker 2: task force next week with a possible plan for the

121
00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:47,560
Speaker 2: redevelopment around the new stadium. Now in a moment, we'll

122
00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:51,040
Speaker 2: dig into the blockbuster results and really is a word

123
00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:55,919
Speaker 2: that is earned for Nvidia's results. Will also bring you

124
00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:59,440
Speaker 2: the story about what is happening in Africa, a new

125
00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:03,360
Speaker 2: railway line, how the US is trying to wrestle back

126
00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:06,600
Speaker 2: influence in the region from China, and of course it's

127
00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:11,960
Speaker 2: all around critical resources for electric vehicles and batteries. So

128
00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:16,040
Speaker 2: that story in just a moment, but first this quarter

129
00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:17,480
Speaker 2: are right on the Bloomberg terminal.

130
00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:17,760
Speaker 4: Yeah.

131
00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:21,920
Speaker 1: Our opinion columist Davely spotted a new addition to the Apple

132
00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:25,280
Speaker 1: universe yesterday. It's a new sports app which has, as

133
00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:28,360
Speaker 1: you might expect, live scorer starts for various teams. It

134
00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:31,520
Speaker 1: doesn't include any of the top European football leagues. It

135
00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:35,200
Speaker 1: doesn't have the NFL or Major League Baseball in the US,

136
00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:38,560
Speaker 1: so Davely is wondering in as late as what exactly

137
00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:39,640
Speaker 1: Apple is up to.

138
00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:40,520
Speaker 7: Now.

139
00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:44,560
Speaker 1: They do have Major League Soucer on it in the US,

140
00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:47,400
Speaker 1: those matches are on Apple TV, so perhaps that's one

141
00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:49,880
Speaker 1: reason why Apple has chosen to right into this. But

142
00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:52,160
Speaker 1: what Dave is drawing attention to is that when you

143
00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:55,480
Speaker 1: open any particular match in the app, the first thing

144
00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:58,040
Speaker 1: that you see as a betting panel. Could this be

145
00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:01,320
Speaker 1: perhaps a move that Apple might be getting into online

146
00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:03,840
Speaker 1: sports betting. You can't bet in the app at the moment,

147
00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:06,680
Speaker 1: it's just there for information, but it might point to

148
00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:09,200
Speaker 1: perhaps the future directions to why Apple's taken this move,

149
00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:11,520
Speaker 1: given that they have so many competitors in this field

150
00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:14,000
Speaker 1: and don't currently have the data on many of the

151
00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:17,560
Speaker 1: world's most popular sports. So now that we've had US

152
00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:20,800
Speaker 1: gambling laws loose, and perhaps this is something Davely rights

153
00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:22,680
Speaker 1: that might be Apple might be interested in getting into it.

154
00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:24,600
Speaker 2: I mean, perhaps the UK is a word of caution.

155
00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:29,440
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, if you like gambling, that's a

156
00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:31,520
Speaker 2: great thing, but in the UK there has been a

157
00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:35,240
Speaker 2: real explosion in terms of gaming and gambling in Britain,

158
00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:39,840
Speaker 2: so you know, it's still a fairly kind of controversial issue,

159
00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:42,959
Speaker 2: which which Dave points out. He says he calls it

160
00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:47,839
Speaker 2: a surprising move because to Dave Lee's mind, it would

161
00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:50,880
Speaker 2: seem to run counter to the brand image that Apple

162
00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:54,800
Speaker 2: has painstakingly built over the past several decades. You know,

163
00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:59,160
Speaker 2: can you bring gaming gambling into the sort of mainstream

164
00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:01,880
Speaker 2: on Apple? No, it was a nice spot by Dave

165
00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:03,720
Speaker 2: le of this new product indeed.

166
00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:06,040
Speaker 1: Well, let's turn to our top story this morning. In

167
00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:11,319
Speaker 1: Video shares surging post market after delivering another sales forecast

168
00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:15,080
Speaker 1: that beat consensus revenue in this period. The company says

169
00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:17,280
Speaker 1: we'll be about twenty four billion dollars assigned that it

170
00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:21,120
Speaker 1: continues to benefit from massive demand for its AI related products.

171
00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:23,720
Speaker 1: Joining us now for more, as Bimbergs Tech editor Vlad

172
00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:27,040
Speaker 1: savav vlag, great to have you with us. Just took

173
00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:29,920
Speaker 1: us through the scale of this. How strong are this

174
00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:30,800
Speaker 1: set of results?

175
00:09:32,559 --> 00:09:38,160
Speaker 9: Well, it's really difficult to properly encapsulated, just because for

176
00:09:38,840 --> 00:09:41,079
Speaker 9: at least four quarters now more than a year, and

177
00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:44,640
Speaker 9: Video has far and a waste of past or estimates.

178
00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:48,600
Speaker 9: And when you have that run by this quarter, expectations

179
00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:51,199
Speaker 9: will already sky high. And yesterday we're having a conversation

180
00:09:51,559 --> 00:09:54,800
Speaker 9: can and Vidia possibly match, let alone exceed them, And

181
00:09:54,840 --> 00:09:57,559
Speaker 9: it's done it again. And just for a bit of context,

182
00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:01,959
Speaker 9: over the twenty four billion dollars of sales that in

183
00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:05,120
Speaker 9: Video had, only two point nine billion were in the

184
00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:08,679
Speaker 9: traditional business that he came up in gaming GPUs. So

185
00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:10,720
Speaker 9: that used to be the bulk of his business only

186
00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:13,120
Speaker 9: a few years ago, now is just a fraction.

187
00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:15,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the CEO Jensen one, you had a little

188
00:10:15,920 --> 00:10:18,800
Speaker 2: bit of it earlier saying the AI demand has hit

189
00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:21,360
Speaker 2: the tipping point. What do you think he means by that?

190
00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:26,240
Speaker 9: Well, I'm not even entirely sure, because it is on

191
00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:29,080
Speaker 9: tipping point insofar as we've reached the peak and now

192
00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:33,120
Speaker 9: he's going to start tapering off really and videos demand

193
00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:37,640
Speaker 9: issues how it satisfies that demand. For the longest time,

194
00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:40,439
Speaker 9: he was the biggest advocate. He was saying this is

195
00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:42,640
Speaker 9: the future. As the future, you need to get on

196
00:10:42,679 --> 00:10:46,080
Speaker 9: board with this, But it wasn't really there. Chadgbt and

197
00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:48,880
Speaker 9: everything that open ai and its competitors have done has

198
00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:51,640
Speaker 9: triggered a rush for everybody to jump on board.

199
00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:53,000
Speaker 1: Now he's no.

200
00:10:53,040 --> 00:10:56,520
Speaker 9: Longer the futurists who's telling you what's going to happen.

201
00:10:56,640 --> 00:10:58,400
Speaker 9: He is the person trying to figure out how to

202
00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:02,160
Speaker 9: ensure smooth supply of these chips. So when is that

203
00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:06,280
Speaker 9: tipping point? I mean, maybe it's less extreme than it

204
00:11:06,360 --> 00:11:09,720
Speaker 9: was in the past, but it's still really high demand.

205
00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:13,280
Speaker 1: Were there any concerns signal buying video in terms of

206
00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:16,439
Speaker 1: capacity and their ability to deliver to this massive demand?

207
00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:18,319
Speaker 3: Right?

208
00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:21,760
Speaker 9: Well, this is an ongoing thing. And the biggest bottleneck

209
00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:26,520
Speaker 9: that video faces is so called advanced packaging. It's the

210
00:11:26,559 --> 00:11:31,280
Speaker 9: final processes that put together the chip before it gets

211
00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:33,480
Speaker 9: added to graphics card and then gets bundled into a

212
00:11:33,480 --> 00:11:38,720
Speaker 9: bigger product. And Video's soul supplier for these chips is TSMC.

213
00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:42,720
Speaker 9: Over here in Taiwan. They have said that it's going

214
00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:44,400
Speaker 9: to be at least for the rest of this year,

215
00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:49,520
Speaker 9: they're going to have constrained capacity for advanced packaging. Once

216
00:11:49,559 --> 00:11:53,720
Speaker 9: that clears out, they're going to obviously increase capabilities and

217
00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:57,160
Speaker 9: production capabilities. I actually don't see it clearing out in

218
00:11:57,240 --> 00:12:00,000
Speaker 9: terms of just demand dwindling, because again when you look

219
00:12:00,280 --> 00:12:03,280
Speaker 9: even a video's close competitor, which is AMD, they are

220
00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:06,600
Speaker 9: saying and they are again ahead of estimates in terms

221
00:12:06,679 --> 00:12:10,599
Speaker 9: of their own A accelerators and sales in the coming quarters.

222
00:12:11,040 --> 00:12:15,079
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, So then I mean the other story is

223
00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:17,600
Speaker 2: to kind of zoom out and look at the sector overall.

224
00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:20,640
Speaker 2: I mean, other AI related stocks have also seen their

225
00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:24,280
Speaker 2: share price boost. Is that on expectations for the sector

226
00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:24,720
Speaker 2: over all?

227
00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:30,680
Speaker 9: Yes, exactly right. I mean Nvidia is clearly far and

228
00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:33,880
Speaker 9: away the biggest beneficiary, but in video, like I say,

229
00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:37,760
Speaker 9: it contracts with TSMC, So all those ships need to

230
00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:40,120
Speaker 9: be made and TSMC is making a good money out

231
00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:42,720
Speaker 9: of those. Then you have the likes of s k Heinix,

232
00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:45,480
Speaker 9: who is the key partner to Nvidia for providing the

233
00:12:45,559 --> 00:12:48,640
Speaker 9: memory chips that go with in video zone chips. You've

234
00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:52,120
Speaker 9: got ARM holdings that has rocketed over the past few months,

235
00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:55,760
Speaker 9: again on the strength of AI expectations and hopes. Everyone

236
00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:58,840
Speaker 9: in the more consumer and end user product market is

237
00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:02,679
Speaker 9: now starting to talk abo about selling AI smartphones and aipcs,

238
00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:07,280
Speaker 9: whether that's just marketing or genuine AI advances. So there

239
00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:10,840
Speaker 9: is I don't think that the terms crazy and frenzy

240
00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:15,439
Speaker 9: are too much for this. There is just insatiable appetite

241
00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:18,600
Speaker 9: both for stocks and for more AI hardware.

242
00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:21,400
Speaker 1: Okay, our tech editor of vladsavav, thanks so much for

243
00:13:21,480 --> 00:13:22,120
Speaker 1: joining us.

244
00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:25,680
Speaker 2: Now let's pivot then from the world of AI and

245
00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:30,280
Speaker 2: tech to railways. A two point three billion dollar rail

246
00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:34,480
Speaker 2: project that spans three African countries could be critical to

247
00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:39,280
Speaker 2: delivering the electric vehicle revolution. Bloomberg reporters have been traveling

248
00:13:39,280 --> 00:13:42,560
Speaker 2: across Angola and Zambia on the one hundred and twenty

249
00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:46,160
Speaker 2: two year old Lobiito Railway interviewing more than a dozen

250
00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:50,120
Speaker 2: executives and officials for this special report on the US's

251
00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:54,360
Speaker 2: efforts to compete with China in Africa on EVS and

252
00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:57,640
Speaker 2: joining us to discuss This is our Africa correspondent covering

253
00:13:57,679 --> 00:14:01,200
Speaker 2: Mozambiq and Zambia. Matthew Hill. Matthew, good morning, Thank you

254
00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:03,760
Speaker 2: so much for your time. This is a deep dive

255
00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:07,640
Speaker 2: piece with beautiful photography and you can see a little

256
00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:10,080
Speaker 2: snippet of the railway. Also, you've got a great map

257
00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:13,760
Speaker 2: on the piece about where these railway lines run from

258
00:14:13,800 --> 00:14:18,000
Speaker 2: Africa's Copper Belt out to the coast and why they're

259
00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:18,800
Speaker 2: so important.

260
00:14:20,760 --> 00:14:23,200
Speaker 10: Yeah, it's fascinating to see how you've got all these

261
00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:27,160
Speaker 10: minerals that have become so crucial to the world's energy

262
00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:32,480
Speaker 10: transition smack bang in the middle of Central Africa. And

263
00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:36,600
Speaker 10: now you've got the Lobito Corridor, which the US government

264
00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:41,720
Speaker 10: and the EU are backing, running out westwards to Africa's

265
00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:47,360
Speaker 10: Atlantic coastline in Angola. While at the same time, the

266
00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:51,760
Speaker 10: Chinese government is looking at spending over a billion dollars

267
00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:56,800
Speaker 10: in refurbishing a completely separate railway line that runs from

268
00:14:56,840 --> 00:15:01,560
Speaker 10: the Copper Bolt too but out eastwards to the Indian

269
00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:03,720
Speaker 10: Ocean coastline on Africa.

270
00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:08,040
Speaker 1: So talk us through these competing sets of investments then,

271
00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:11,240
Speaker 1: because we've talked for many years about the amount of

272
00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:13,720
Speaker 1: Chinese investment into parts of Africa as well. So it's

273
00:15:13,760 --> 00:15:16,400
Speaker 1: particularly interesting that the US and the EU are getting

274
00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:19,560
Speaker 1: involved in this line exactly.

275
00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:25,480
Speaker 10: And we've already seen the US International Development Finance Corp

276
00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:30,800
Speaker 10: committing two hundred and fifty million dollars to the existing line,

277
00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:38,040
Speaker 10: the existing Lobito line running through Angola. A consortium that

278
00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:41,920
Speaker 10: includes the commodity trader Traffic euro says it will spend

279
00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:46,000
Speaker 10: about five hundred and fifty five million dollars to increase

280
00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:52,640
Speaker 10: the capacity of that line. And then there's another planned

281
00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:58,240
Speaker 10: connection running southeastwards into Zambia into to connect the mines

282
00:15:58,680 --> 00:16:00,960
Speaker 10: in Zambia to the Lobi to a railway line, and

283
00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:05,160
Speaker 10: we've got the African Development Bank saying it will contribute

284
00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:08,200
Speaker 10: half a billion dollars to that of the total project

285
00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:12,560
Speaker 10: that is estimated at one point six billion dollars. The

286
00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:16,360
Speaker 10: US and the EU are financing the feasibility study for

287
00:16:16,520 --> 00:16:17,800
Speaker 10: that new project too.

288
00:16:19,480 --> 00:16:22,280
Speaker 2: I mean, is it really needed though? And is are

289
00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:24,800
Speaker 2: the companies going to use it because these aren't always

290
00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:27,480
Speaker 2: easy places in which to do business or in which

291
00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:28,960
Speaker 2: to operate railway lines.

292
00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:34,640
Speaker 10: That's a great question, and I'll start off by answering

293
00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:39,240
Speaker 10: just with the tidbit from the past. The Lobitho railway

294
00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:42,120
Speaker 10: line was actually cru of crucial importance to the US

295
00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:45,520
Speaker 10: before the uranium that went into the Manhattan Project actually

296
00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:48,680
Speaker 10: traveled across that railway line to the to the port

297
00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:54,160
Speaker 10: of Lobito. But certainly there is some skepticism now whether

298
00:16:54,680 --> 00:16:59,640
Speaker 10: the newly refurbished railway line that's run by private operators

299
00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:05,119
Speaker 10: will be cost effective. But I don't know. Minds, which

300
00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:09,600
Speaker 10: is building a giant copper complex in Congo, Africa's biggest

301
00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:13,119
Speaker 10: has already signed up to be a long term a

302
00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:16,720
Speaker 10: big long term user of this line along with traffic

303
00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:21,399
Speaker 10: euro that was signed this month. Congo's mining industry is

304
00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:26,280
Speaker 10: growing at a very rapid rate, and Zambia has massively

305
00:17:26,320 --> 00:17:30,240
Speaker 10: ambitious plans too for its copper mining industry. And if

306
00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:34,400
Speaker 10: this momentum continues, the people that I've spoken to say

307
00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:39,480
Speaker 10: that the infrastructure will definitely be needed. Just quickly looking

308
00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:43,880
Speaker 10: at how people currently get how mines currently get their

309
00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:47,320
Speaker 10: copper to port a lot of that goes by by

310
00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:51,040
Speaker 10: truck down to the port of Durban in South Africa,

311
00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:55,520
Speaker 10: which is about three thousand kilometers away, and it can

312
00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:58,440
Speaker 10: take more than a month to make that journey. Lobito

313
00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:02,439
Speaker 10: on the railway every about five days so far, so

314
00:18:02,800 --> 00:18:04,040
Speaker 10: that gives you a bit of an idea.

315
00:18:05,359 --> 00:18:07,960
Speaker 1: What about China's response to this, You mentioned that they're

316
00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:10,280
Speaker 1: funding a separate railway. Are they going to be in

317
00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:11,119
Speaker 1: direct competition?

318
00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:18,000
Speaker 10: Exactly. We've seen already this month China making a proposal

319
00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:23,080
Speaker 10: to the Zamian and Tanzanian governments to revive the old

320
00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:26,840
Speaker 10: Tazara railway line that Mao Zedong financed and hoped to

321
00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:30,679
Speaker 10: build back in the nineteen seventies that runs in the

322
00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:35,200
Speaker 10: exact opposite direction to Lobito and ends at the Darsalam

323
00:18:35,320 --> 00:18:42,400
Speaker 10: port in Tanzania. And essentially these two railway lines will compete.

324
00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:47,159
Speaker 2: How do you think then, of all of this huge

325
00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:51,440
Speaker 2: amount of investment, African nations win because you know you're

326
00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:56,120
Speaker 2: teasing at what is competition, perhaps conflict between great powers

327
00:18:56,359 --> 00:18:59,960
Speaker 2: on the continent of Africa.

328
00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:04,040
Speaker 10: Countries like Zambia, Congo and Angola can only benefit from

329
00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:09,360
Speaker 10: this competition, not only in terms of increasing the efficiencies

330
00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:13,840
Speaker 10: of their mining industries, but also, as the US government

331
00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:18,800
Speaker 10: points out, having a much more efficient link to markets

332
00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:24,240
Speaker 10: will help agricultural producers in a part of the world

333
00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:30,160
Speaker 10: that has very fertile soils and very underutilized soils. It

334
00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:35,639
Speaker 10: can also help boost industrialization by lowering costs and also

335
00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:39,760
Speaker 10: increasing efficiencies of the government of Zambia and Congo want

336
00:19:40,359 --> 00:19:46,440
Speaker 10: more value added to their metals in countries they both

337
00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:50,240
Speaker 10: want to start developing battery industries, and when you've got

338
00:19:50,359 --> 00:19:54,640
Speaker 10: much more efficient infrastructure connecting to markets, that can only help.

339
00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:58,199
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Daybreak Europe, your morning brief on the

340
00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:01,320
Speaker 1: stories making news from London to Wall Street and beyond.

341
00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:05,560
Speaker 2: Look for us on your podcast feed every morning, on Apple, Spotify,

342
00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:07,600
Speaker 2: and anywhere else you get your podcasts.

343
00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:10,680
Speaker 1: You can also listen live each morning on London DAB Radio,

344
00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:13,440
Speaker 1: the Bloomberg Business app, and Bloomberg dot Com.

345
00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:16,240
Speaker 2: Our flagship New York station, is also available on your

346
00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:20,960
Speaker 2: Amazon Alexa devices. Just say Alexa play Bloomberg eleven thirty.

347
00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:22,640
Speaker 2: I'm Caroline Hepka.

348
00:20:22,359 --> 00:20:24,800
Speaker 1: And I'm Stephen Carroll. Join us again tomorrow morning for

349
00:20:24,920 --> 00:20:27,320
Speaker 1: all the news you need to start your day. Right

350
00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:33,160
Speaker 1: here on Bloomberg Daybreak, Europe