Saudi stocks ended trading on Thursday with a decline, recording the lowest close since last January, amid a decline in leading and mid-cap stocks, in trades with a total value of about 3.7 billion riyals.
The main market index, TASI, declined during Thursday's session by 0.5 percent, closing at 10,393 points, losing 48 points, recording the lowest close since last January.
“Saudi Tadawul” announced the update of the market order mechanism in the main market and “Nomu - Parallel Market”, with the update being implemented as of Sunday, October 4th.
“Acwa Power” and “Saudi National Bank” shares fell by 2 percent to 163.50 riyals and 39.20 riyals, respectively.
The shares of “Almarai”, “Riyad Bank”, “Etihad Etisalat”, and “Dr. Sulaiman Al-Habib, Al-Awal, SABIC Agricultural Nutrients, Jabal Omar, and Makkah recorded declines ranging between 1 and 3 percent.
“Knowledge City” shares declined by 6 percent, amid profit-taking operations after the gains of the past sessions, while “Chemanol” shares led the declining stocks, falling by more than 9 percent.
On the other hand, “Raydan” shares topped the rise by 8 percent, followed by “Naseej” and “Raoum” shares with gains of more than 4 percent, then “DBS” by 3 percent.
Sable Company, one of the SALIC companies affiliated with the Public Investment Fund, announced the launch of its new strategy to provide integrated logistical solutions in the agricultural food sector, in a way that enhances the efficiency of supply chains and supports food security goals in Saudi Arabia.
The strategy focuses on three main pillars, including alignment with the objectives of “Vision 2030”, responding to market needs, and benefiting from the operational capabilities and network of Sable’s 14 branches in various regions of Saudi Arabia, in addition to strengthening partnerships with government agencies and the private sector.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sable, Abdul Rahman Al-Zoghaibi, said that the strategy represents a new stage in the company’s journey, and lays the foundation for the expansion of its business in areas that serve the agricultural food sector.
For his part, CEO Abdul Rahman Al Owais explained that the strategy enables the company to expand its services according to the needs of the sector, by raising the efficiency of handling, storage and transportation operations, taking advantage of its assets and investment spaces, and developing new solutions that serve the supply chain.
“Sable” was established by “SALIC” after the decision to transfer the operational work of storage silos, including purchasing and supplying wheat and strategic storage, from the General Authority for Food Security to “SALIC”.
The Chinese company “Tencent” has concluded a huge agreement with the American “Oracle” to rent computing capabilities based on about 100,000 advanced artificial intelligence chips that are not available in China, in a step that reflects the escalation of the race by Chinese technology companies to secure the computing power necessary to develop artificial intelligence models, amid tightening American restrictions on the export of advanced semiconductors.
The Financial Times reported, in a report citing people familiar with the matter, that the agreement represents the largest external leasing deal concluded by Tencent, and includes the use of multiple Oracle data centers in Southeast Asia.
According to the report, during the current year, the two companies reached an agreement spanning 5 years, with an estimated value of about $7 billion, with Tencent paying about 30 percent of the value of the deal in advance. This reflects the Chinese company's commitment to expanding its computing capabilities in the long term.
The deal highlights the significant increase in Tencent's needs for computing capabilities, as it intensifies its investments in developing and operating large language models and other artificial intelligence applications that require huge numbers of advanced processors.
Relying on Oracle data centers outside China allows the Chinese company to access computer infrastructure that is not available with the same ease in the local market, in light of the escalating US restrictions on Chinese companies’ access to the latest chip technologies.
The ability to secure advanced processors has become a crucial factor in the global competition for artificial intelligence, as the most advanced models require huge clusters of processing units to train and operate them. Therefore; Chinese technology companies are racing to secure capabilities available abroad, in parallel with increasing reliance on domestic alternatives.
The deal also comes at a time when Tencent is expanding its range of products related to artificial intelligence. The company recently launched a beta version of a new image generation model aimed at professional users, which provides capabilities that include creating images from text and converting images into new ones.
The agreement with Oracle represents an indication that competition is no longer limited to owning the chips themselves, but has extended to renting computing power from cloud computing companies and data centers in foreign markets.
Chinese technology companies face an increasingly complex equation. On the one hand; It needs to rapidly increase its investments to keep pace with global developments in artificial intelligence models, and on the other hand, its ability to obtain the latest American chips has become more restricted by export controls imposed by Washington.
In contrast, Beijing is pushing towards developing local alternatives and reducing dependence on American technology providers, as part of a broader strategy to achieve greater self-sufficiency in semiconductors and advanced technologies.
If the details of the deal are confirmed, its value of $7 billion, and its size of about 100,000 chips, highlight the amount of capital required to compete in the new generation of artificial intelligence. It also reveals that restrictions on the supply of chips to China are pushing major companies to seek new arrangements to access computing power outside the country's borders.
