Tech5: Google tops Q3 expectations, OpenAI planning own chip, TCS wins contract in Ireland, and more

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, beat street expectations with fiscal third-quarter revenue of $88.3 billion, which is a 16 percent rise from the same three months last year, in constant currency. Image: Shutterstock

Alphabet tops expectations with gains in Google’s core business

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, beat street expectations with fiscal third-quarter revenue of $88.3 billion, which is a 16 percent rise from the same three months last year, in constant currency. That number breaks down into $76.5 billion for Google’s main business, led by search, and $11.4 billion for Google Cloud Platform, according to the company’s October 29 press release.

The two businesses together account for more than 99.5 percent of Alphabet’s revenues and all of its profits. The numbers compared with analysts’ expectation of $86.4 billion, according to Investing.com. Google’s earnings of $2.12 per share also topped expectations of $1.84.

The numbers allayed investor concerns that Google’s multi-billion-dollar investments in AI may not pan out soon enough. CEO Sunder Pichai said in earnings conference that the AI investments, including in infrastructure, models and products and platforms, were driving sales in its main ad business as well as the enterprise cloud unit.

AMD falls, OpenAI teams up with TSMC, Broadcom for own chip: Reuters

Chipmaker AMD, on the other hand, offered a forecast that was in line with expectations and, therefore, didn’t enthuse investors intent on repeated AI-led beats. Shares fell. Revenues were a little bit ahead of expectations at $6.82 billion. That compared with market expectation of $6.71 billion, CNBC reported.

AMD is the second-biggest maker of graphics processing units that are used in AI computing in data centres and so on. Market leader Nvidia, however, has a dominant lead for now.

Meanwhile, OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has teamed up with TSMC and Broadcom to build its first in-house chip, designed to support its artificial intelligence systems, Reuters reported earlier today. OpenAI is also buying AMD and Nvidia chips to meet its surging infrastructure needs, according to Reuters.

TCS wins contract to run Ireland’s ‘My Future Funds’ IT systems

Tata Consultancy Services has won a 15-year contract from Ireland’s Department of Social Protection to implement and support the country’s new auto enrollment retirement savings scheme, known as the “My Future Fund”, the Indian IT company said in a press release on October 29.

The system will cover the automatic enrollment of nearly 800,000 workers in Ireland, according to TCS, which will offer its BaNCS core banking software platform to oversee the administration of the scheme, enrollment, record management, and benefit disbursement. The related IT services will be delivered from a local TCS centre, in Letterkenny, Ireland.

TCS, India’s biggest and one of the world’s largest IT services providers, didn’t give details on the value of the contract.

Competition Commission approves acquisition of Thoughtworks stake

The Competition Commission of India has greenlit the acquisition of additional shares in Thoughtworks Holding by AP Funds and Temasek. Tasmania Midco, an SPV fully owned by Apax Partners, will facilitate the acquisition, according to a press release on October 29.

The proposed transaction concerns an acquisition by the investment funds advised by Apax Partners of additional shareholding in Thoughtworks such that the software company will be wholly owned by the AP Funds once the deal is concluded, according to the release.

Temasek, through its subsidiary Nevado Investments, will retain approximately 10 percent equity in Thoughtworks as a minority non-controlling investor. Thoughtworks, a technology consultancy, specialises in IT consultancy and managed services and has a significant share of its operations out of centres in India.

EvoluteIQ secures $20 million to expand AI automation platform

EvoluteIQ yesterday announced a $20 million investment led by Round2 Capital, with support from Nordea Growth Fund, DCAP Select, and PH Ventures. The funding aims to enhance its AI automation platform and support overseas expansion, according to a press release.

The London-and-Bengaluru startup has seen significant growth, expanding its customer base in key sectors such as healthcare and BFSI, with strong adoption of its EIQ platform among Fortune 500 companies, according to the release.

The platform offers an integrated, user-friendly solution designed to streamline automation without requiring extensive technical skills. Evolute has also raised an undisclosed amount of conventional debt, according to Tracxn, a private markets intelligence provider.