World Street | Boeing's woes mount, Jamie Dimon warns of high rates, Tesla settles lawsuit and more

World Street offers a sneak peek into the world of business and economy.

Boeing faces FAA scrutiny over alleged Dreamliner fuselage issues. JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon anticipates interest rate hikes amid inflationary pressures. Tesla settles lawsuit over Autopilot-linked fatal crash. Intel unveils Gaudi 3 AI chip, aiming for speed and efficiency in big model training. Google unveils Arm-based chip to cut cloud computing costs — all this and more on this edition of World Street.

Boeing troubles keep growing

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is probing allegations from a Boeing engineer, Sam Salehpour, who said segments of the 787 Dreamliner's fuselage are inadequately joined and may rupture during flight after numerous journeys.

Salehpour, a former employee involved in the aircraft's development, outlined his concerns in discussions with The New York Times newspaper and in submissions to the FAA.

Chase's calculations

Jamie Dimon, the head of JPMorgan Chase, said his bank has prepared for interest rates to rise because of "persistent inflationary pressures". In his annual letter to shareholders, Dimon said the bank was ready for a "very broad range" of rates — from 2 to 8 percent or even higher — potentially pushed up because of high government spending and the need to curb price rises.

His comments come as US interest rates rest in the range of 5.25 to 5.5 percent, higher than they have been for more than 20 years.

Settlement secrets

Tesla has reached a settlement in a lawsuit concerning a fatal crash involving its Autopilot software. The family of the deceased Apple engineer accused Tesla of overselling the capabilities of the technology, while Tesla, led by Elon Musk, argued that the driver was distracted as he had been playing a game on his phone at the time of the crash. The terms of the settlement were not made public.

Semiconductor Sprint

Intel has unveiled its latest artificial intelligence (AI) chip Gaudi 3, as chipmakers rush to produce semiconductors that can train and deploy big AI models such as the one underpinning OpenAI’s hugely popular ChatGPT.

The Gaudi 3 chip is over twice as power-efficient as and can run AI models one-and-a-half times faster than Nvidia’s H100 GPU, claimed Intel. It also comes in different configurations that can slot into existing systems.

Google's Gambit

Google is trying to make cloud computing more affordable with a custom-built Arm-based server chip. Unveiled at its Cloud Next conference in Las Vegas, the chip is set to launch later in 2024. This move signals Google's efforts to align with competitors like Amazon and Microsoft, who have long adopted similar strategies.

While advertising remains the primary revenue source for Google parent Alphabet, cloud services are rapidly expanding and now contribute nearly 11 percent to company revenue.

Culture Correction

Binance's new CEO Richard Teng said the company has addressed its cultural issues following a $4.3-billion fine imposed by the US department of justice (DOJ). The DOJ accused Binance of adopting a "move first, ask forgiveness later" approach.

In November, Binance agreed to settle the charges by paying $4.3 billion to the US government, including a forfeiture of $2.5 billion and a fine of $1.8 billion.

Teng said Binance is prioritising sustainability, with a clear focus on compliance. "Therefore, we are strengthening our compliance program significantly."

(With agency inputs)