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AI could usher in three-day work week: JPMorgan CEO

Naushad K. Cherrayil
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AI could usher in three-day work week: JPMorgan CEO

  • Urges corporates to act now—modernise data infrastructure, invest in AI readiness, and plan human-centric job transitions—to harness AI’s benefits and avoid social dislocation.
  • Calls on organisations to proactively plan for retraining, income support, redeployment, and, where appropriate, early retirement to smooth the transition for affected workers.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is urging the business community to embrace artificial intelligence (AI) now, asserting that the technology could eventually reduce the traditional work week to just three and a half days and dramatically reshape the future of work.

Speaking at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women conference during the America Business Forum in Miami, Dimon highlighted both the opportunities and challenges presented by AI. He predicted that, over the next few decades, AI’s impact across applications, jobs, and customer interactions would be transformative.

“My guess is the developed world will be working three-and-a-half days a week in 20, 30, 40 years, and have wonderful lives,” Dimon told attendees. He emphasised that companies must act now—modernising data infrastructure, investing in AI readiness, and planning human-centric job transitions—to harness AI’s benefits and avoid social dislocation.

While acknowledging that AI will eliminate certain roles, Dimon cautioned against denial: “People should stop sticking their heads in the sand.” He called on organisations to proactively plan for retraining, income support, redeployment, and, where appropriate, early retirement to smooth the transition for affected workers.

JPMorgan: A testing ground for AI innovation

JPMorgan Chase has positioned itself at the forefront of AI integration among global banks. Dimon revealed that roughly 2,000 employees are dedicated to developing AI solutions, with approximately 150,000 staff utilising large language models weekly for internal document management. AI use cases already span fraud detection, legal review, reconciliations, and marketing optimisation.

Recognising a knowledge gap within the organisation, the bank has introduced AI master classes aimed at senior management, ensuring leadership is equipped to leverage the rapidly evolving technology.

“You know, technology has downsides. It’s used by bad people.

But embrace it,” Dimon concluded, urging business leaders to adopt AI in all areas and start preparing for a radically different workforce landscape.

India drives global telecom spending growth as global market to hit $1.53tr in 2025

Naushad K. Cherrayil
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India drives global telecom spending growth as global market to hit $1.53tr in 2025
  • Pay TV segment faces slight contraction amid growing competition from Video-on-Demand and over-the-top platforms.
  • EMEA region will continue to outpace others, bolstered by hyperinflation-fueled nominal gains in Turkey, Egypt, and Nigeria.
  • Operators globally are sharpening their focus on margin improvement and technology-driven operational efficiency.
  • AI adoption is accelerating across network management, customer service, and fraud prevention, yielding tangible EBITDA improvements and supporting sustainable growth.

India is emerging as the leading growth engine for global telecommunications, helping to offset regional slowdowns as worldwide spending on telecom and pay TV services is projected to reach $1,532 billion in 2025, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Semiannual Telecom Services Tracker.

IDC’s latest forecast represents a 1.7 per cent year-on-year rise, slightly higher than previous projections. The improved outlook is fueled in large part by India’s exceptional performance, notably robust growth in mobile Average Revenue per User (ARPU), which pushes the region toward double-digit market expansion.

The surge is helping to counterbalance more modest projections for the wider Asia Pacific region, impacted by ongoing economic uncertainty in countries such as China, Japan, and Indonesia.

“India continues to outperform, with exceptional growth in mobile ARPUs pushing the market toward double-digit expansion and helping offset regional value erosion,” Kresimir Alic, Research Director, Worldwide Telecom Services at IDC, said.

Mobile, fixed data lead expansion

Globally, mobile services continue to dominate, driven by climbing data consumption and machine-to-machine (M2M) applications, which are countering declines in traditional voice and messaging.

Fixed data services are also on an upward trajectory as demand for high-bandwidth connectivity intensifies. By contrast, spending on fixed voice is expected to shrink further due to legacy technology declines not fully offset by newer IP voice services.

Meanwhile, the traditional Pay TV segment faces slight contraction amid growing competition from Video-on-Demand (VoD) and over-the-top (OTT) platforms; however, it remains a cornerstone of bundled offerings from telecom companies.

The sector as a whole is forecast to register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.5 per cent over the next five years, despite a global business environment marked by protectionism, economic volatility, and persistent inflation in key regions.

Mixed regional dynamics and challenges

The Americas are expected to maintain a largely stable outlook, with minor upward revisions in several Latin American markets. The EMEA region—encompassing Europe, the Middle East, and Africa—will continue to outpace others, bolstered by hyperinflation-fueled nominal gains in Turkey, Egypt, and Nigeria.

Despite these regional differences, operators globally are sharpening their focus on margin improvement and technology-driven operational efficiency. AI adoption is accelerating across network management, customer service, and fraud prevention, yielding tangible EBITDA improvements and supporting sustainable growth.

By leveraging AI for predictive maintenance, dynamic pricing, and personalised service offerings, telecoms aim to bolster ARPUs and reduce churn, while also capturing new revenue opportunities from 5G and edge computing rollouts.

As IDC notes, these technological and strategic shifts position the industry for continued, if measured, growth—provided operators adapt swiftly to evolving regional and economic realities.

Poor password habits remain “widespread and worrisome”

Naushad K. Cherrayil
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Poor password habits remain “widespread and worrisome”
  • Most-used password was “123456,” appearing about 7.6 million times, followed by “12345678” (3.6 million uses), and other weak choices such as “admin,” “password,” and easily recognizable patterns like “Aa123456” and “12345.”
  • Most analysed passwords fall short of recommended security standards—65.8% were under 12 characters, and nearly 7% had fewer than 8 characters.

Despite years of warnings from cybersecurity experts, poor password habits remain widespread and worrisome, according to the latest findings from Comparitech.

The firm’s 2025 analysis, which examined over two billion real passwords leaked on data breach forums this year, reveals that millions of users continue to rely on easily guessed combinations—posing a significant risk for both individuals and the organisations they access.

The data shows the most-used password was “123456,” appearing about 7.6 million times, followed by “12345678” (3.6 million uses), and other weak choices such as “admin,” “password,” and easily recognisable patterns like “Aa123456” and “12345.”

Variations of common words and names, like “minecraft,” “welcome,” and “root,” also featured prominently, with “minecraft” alone being used nearly 90,000 times in various forms.

List of the Top 10 most-used passwords in 2025:

  1. 123456
  2. 12345678
  3. 123456789
  4. admin
  5. 1234
  6. Aa123456
  7. 12345
  8. password
  9. 123
  10. 1234567890

Researchers found alarming trends within the data:

  • 25 per cent of the top 1,000 passwords consisted solely of numbers.
  • 38.6 per cent contained the sequence “123,” and 3.1 per cent included “abc.”
  • Weak single-character passwords like “111111” and “********” ranked among the most common.

Most analysed passwords fell short of recommended security standards—65.8 per cent were under 12 characters, and nearly 7 per cent had fewer than 8 characters. Security experts generally advise passwords be at least 12–14 characters—16 or more is optimal—and include a mix of uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols to thwart brute-force attacks.

Comparitech cited Hive Systems research indicating that a 12-character password using a blend of numbers, letters, and symbols would take an attacker three billion years to crack, whereas a 16-character complex password could take up to 94 quadrillion years.

In stark contrast, a password of just numbers can often be compromised instantly, unless extended to 16 digits, which could still take a cybercriminal roughly 2,000 years.

Best practices for secure passwords:

  • Use more than 12–14 characters (16+ preferred)
  • Mix uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols
  • Avoid obvious patterns or common phrases
  • Opt for unique passwords on each site
  • Enable two-factor authentication wherever possible

Comparitech’s researchers stress that password complexity alone is not a guarantee. “Every password should be unique so that it cannot be used in credential stuffing attacks. When possible, users should enable two-factor authentication to prevent account takeovers even if a password is compromised,” the analysis concluded.

As digital threats evolve, security experts warn that organizations must continue to educate users—and enforce robust password and authentication protocols—to avert breaches and protect both personal and business data.

Meta to invest $600b in AI data centres in US in next three years

Ana Mary Joseph
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Meta to invest $600b in AI data centres in US in next three years
  • It’s the right strategy to aggressively front-load capacity so we’re prepared for the most optimistic cases, Zuckerberg says.

Company’s capital expenditure forecast for next year points to “notably larger” outlays, highlighting major investments in building and expanding AI data centres.

Meta Platforms announced a massive $600 billion investment in US infrastructure and jobs over the next three years, a bold strategy aimed at powering the company’s growing artificial intelligence (AI) ambitions.

The investment, one of the largest ever pledged by a technology firm, will fund the construction of AI-dedicated data centres, job creation, and other critical infrastructure projects.

The social media and technology giant, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has increasingly prioritised AI development with the stated goal of achieving superintelligence — the point at which machines can outperform humans in almost all intellectual tasks.

“It’s the right strategy to aggressively front-load capacity so we’re prepared for the most optimistic cases,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg told analysts during Meta’s recent earnings call.

Expansive AI infrastructure push

The scale of Meta’s commitment came to light after Zuckerberg informed US President Donald Trump at a White House dinner in September that Meta would invest at least $600 billion in the US over the coming years.

The company’s capital expenditure forecast for next year points to “notably larger” outlays, highlighting major investments in building and expanding AI data centres.

Last month, Meta secured a $27 billion financing package from asset manager Blue Owl Capital to help fund its data centre in Louisiana, currently its largest project worldwide.

In October, Meta announced a separate $1.5 billion investment in a Texas data centre, marking the groundbreaking of its 29th such facility globally.

The company’s expansive AI infrastructure push comes as competition intensifies within the tech industry to provide the computational power needed for advanced machine learning models.

Notably, OpenAI — creator of ChatGPT — recently signed a $38 billion agreement to purchase cloud services from Amazon, illustrating the scale and stakes of the AI infrastructure arms race.

Nvidia witnesses strong demand for Honeywell chips

Naushad K. Cherrayil
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Nvidia witnesses strong demand for Honeywell chips
  • Huang says “no active discussions” taking place to sell Blackwell chips to China

Nvidia is witnessing “very strong demand” for its latest Blackwell chips, CEO Jensen Huang said Saturday, underscoring not just the momentum behind the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) products, but also the crucial role of its manufacturing partners and suppliers.

At an event hosted by its longtime partner, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), Huang revealed that rising orders for Blackwell — Nvidia’s most advanced chip platform to date — have prompted a surge in the company’s appetite for wafers.

“Nvidia builds the GPU, but we also build the CPU, the networking, the switches, and so there are a lot of chips associated with Blackwell,” Huang said, highlighting the breadth of Nvidia’s technology stack.

TSMC CEO C.C. Wei, declining to disclose specific figures, confirmed that Huang’s requests for wafer supply were “confidential” but praised their ongoing collaboration.

“TSMC is doing a very good job supporting us on wafers,” Huang said. “Nvidia’s success would not be possible without TSMC.”

Growing pains

The strength of that partnership comes at a pivotal moment for Nvidia, which in October became the world’s first company to achieve a $5 trillion market valuation. In a nod to this achievement, TSMC’s Wei referred to Huang as the “five-trillion-dollar man.”

However, Huang also acknowledged the growing pains associated with such explosive growth, specifically the risk of supply shortages.

“Business is growing strongly, and there will be shortages of different things,” he explained. On the supply of memory chips — another critical component for AI hardware — Huang pointed to the company’s robust relationships with major suppliers SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron, all of whom have scaled up capacity to support Nvidia.

“They have all provided us with the most advanced chip samples,” he said, adding that any decisions around memory pricing remain up to the suppliers.

The upbeat outlook on AI demand is echoed by suppliers themselves. South Korea’s SK Hynix recently reported that it had sold out all chip production for next year and will increase investment, betting on a prolonged AI-driven “super cycle.” Samsung Electronics also disclosed ongoing talks to supply its newest high-bandwidth memory (HBM4) to Nvidia.

Despite the surging global demand, Huang asserted that there are “no active discussions” about selling Blackwell chips to China, citing ongoing US restrictions designed to prevent advanced AI hardware from reaching the Chinese military and tech industry.

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AI investments define a new era for ‘Magnificent 7’ companies

Naushad K. Cherrayil
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AI investments define a new era for ‘Magnificent 7’ companies
  • NVIDIA emerges as the year’s most dramatic growth story while Amazon and Meta see AI payoff

The world’s seven tech giants—Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, NVIDIA, and Tesla—have closed their latest fiscal year on a dominant note, marked by surging investment in artificial intelligence (AI) and unprecedented capital expenditures.

The cohort, collectively referred to as the “Magnificent 7,” generated more than $2.08 trillion in revenue—a 14 per cent year-over-year increase—while recalibrating cash strategies and doubling down on technology for the next wave of digital transformation, according to GlobalData.

“The Magnificent 7 entered 2025 at an inflection point. The AI infrastructure boom underpins short-term earnings resilience, but aggressive valuations hinge on robust AI monetisation. US-China chip tensions could constrain hardware-dependent leaders like NVIDIA and Apple, while software giants may prove more resilien,” Murthy Grandhi, Analyst at GlobalData, said.

“The unfolding OpenAI alliance race—across Microsoft, Apple, and Alphabet—suggests ecosystem strength, rather than hardware alone, will underpin future moats.”

NVIDIA leads growth

Among the leaders, NVIDIA emerged as the year’s most dramatic growth story, more than doubling revenue to $130.5 billion, fueled by insatiable demand for GPUs powering hyperscale AI deployments across global cloud platforms.

The surge crowned NVIDIA with a historic distinction: it became the world’s first public company to achieve a $5 trillion market capitalisation in October 2025.

Amazon also delivered robust top-line results, driven by the reinvigoration of AWS and operational gains in its merchandising core, while Meta and Microsoft logged double-digit growth, reflecting successful pivots toward cloud and AI-enabled services.

Alphabet’s performance was anchored by its dominance in search and a rapidly scaling cloud business. Even as Apple’s revenue growth slowed to 6 per cent—a reflection of mature iPhone markets—services and new technology verticals drove upside. Tesla, by contrast, saw revenues plateau at $97.7 billion, underscoring the maturing electric vehicle space and intensifying industry competition.

R&D and capex hit record highs

A key storyline across the Magnificent 7 is unprecedented R&D intensity. Amazon led the sector with a staggering 88.5 billion R&D outlay, integrating AI innovations across retail, logistics, and AWS. Alphabet’s 48.8 billion spend focused on its Gemini AI and data-center optimisation, while Meta boosted its R&D by 19 per cent to $43.6 billion—a strong bet on AI and mixed reality despite ongoing losses in its metaverse division.

Microsoft and Apple, too, hiked their R&D budgets, with investments in generative AI, custom silicon, and device intelligence. NVIDIA’s outlay scaled to $12.9 billion as it invests in the future of datacenter and AI acceleration, while Tesla’s spend shifted toward autonomous systems.

Capital expenditure across the group soared by 27 per cent year-over-year, nearing $265 billion. AI infrastructure buildout—particularly datacentres and compute resources—dominated priorities for Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta, while Tesla and Apple maintained targeted approaches aligned with manufacturing and product strategies.

NVIDIA, though a smaller player by capex, tripled its investment to grow supply-chain independence.

Liquidity from pandemic-era highs continued to normalise, with group cash and equivalents settling at $238 billion as the fiscal year ended. Amazon and Apple retained the largest war chests, but companies broadly channeled more resources into R&D and capex in pursuit of longer-term AI leadership.

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