It’s been a exceptional information 12 months within the international expertise trade. From the continued rise of synthetic intelligence to the disruption that has swept by the semiconductor trade, 2024 was a 12 months of immense change and disruption.
These are the women and men who had been on the forefront of all of it on the worldwide stage. Presenting TechCentral’s International Newsmakers of 2024…
5. Sundar Pichai
This 12 months might have turned out rather a lot worse than it did for Google (and Alphabet) CEO Sundar Pichai. Google began the 12 months trying like a laggard in synthetic intelligence because the world targeted its consideration on the improvements popping out of ChatGPT developer OpenAI. However by the top of the 12 months, Google had caught up – and thru all of it, Pichai by no means appeared to panic, exuding a relaxed confidence that his firm had the technical nous to compete on the slicing fringe of AI. It did.
On Pichai’s watch, Google launched Gemini 2.0, an AI mannequin that has received reward for its pace and superior capabilities. AI solutions are actually additionally baked into search outcomes – and far of the time are helpful (even when it’s unhealthy information for publishers that is determined by click-throughs from the search big).
Learn: Google says it has cracked a serious problem in quantum computing
Google additionally this 12 months made important strides in quantum computing, unveiling a brand new quantum chip referred to as “Willow”, able to fixing advanced issues approach past the attain of classical computer systems, demonstrating once more that the corporate has a few of the greatest brains within the enterprise.
In fact, it wasn’t all constructive information for Google and Pichai in 2024: the corporate is dealing with an antitrust lawsuit from the US authorities that might see it compelled to promote its Chrome internet browser and even face a possible breakup. It’s the most important antitrust case in opposition to a tech firm for the reason that US sued Microsoft within the late Nineteen Nineties – and it might finish badly for Google.
4. Mark Zuckerberg
Final 12 months was not one Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg will keep in mind with fondness. His $50-billion guess on the metaverse was a dud, and the sky-high price despatched Meta’s share value into freefall as buyers questioned the technique. The tide turned in 2024, nevertheless, with Meta eschewing the digital world-building for synthetic intelligence.
Learn: Mark Zuckerberg’s shirt places him within the firm of Roman emperors
Zuckerberg additionally underwent a serious private model overhaul (simply take a look at his radical new coiffure). Whereas final 12 months he was trying morose a lot of the time – who wouldn’t have as billions in shareholder wealth evaporated? – he now appears to be like extra just like the cat that acquired the cream. The rise in Meta’s share value means Zuckerberg is now the third richest individual on the planet with a web price of $211-billion – behind solely Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. All in all, it was a banner 12 months for Zuckerbucks, as US President-elect Donald Trump likes to name him.
3. Lisa Su and Pat Gelsinger
What a 12 months it’s been within the chip trade. There’s Nvidia, in fact, which continued to experience the AI wave to a $3-trillion market cap (see our quantity 2 newsmaker), however there was loads of different exercise within the semiconductor house in 2024.
US chip maker Intel, arguably at its weakest in many years, made the headlines this 12 months for all of the fallacious causes: large monetary losses, dwindling market share, the rise of ARM-design processors in private computer systems and an incapability to compete in AI chips with Nvidia. In the long run, it price CEO Pat Gelsinger – the Prodigal Son who returned to the fold and who had been touted at one of the best individual to steer the troubled firm’s turnaround – his job. However can anybody save Intel at this level? All eyes are actually on Intel’s board, who should decide a succesful successor. It could be Intel’s final shot at saving itself from an ignominious breakup.
Learn: How Lisa Su constructed AMD right into a chip powerhouse
Then there’s AMD and its CEO Lisa Su, who confirmed that with decided onerous work, even a relative minnow can obtain nice issues. AMD’s power-efficient CPU designs, together with these constructed on the brand new Zen 5 structure, have develop into the popular alternative of players and people who demand high-performance desktop computing. This, mixed with the transfer to ARM-based chips by Apple and a few PC distributors, is piling the stress on Intel.
Learn: Intel board misplaced confidence in CEO Pat Gelsinger
Su, who many don’t know is a (distant) cousin of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, was named by Time journal as its CEO of the Yr for her pivotal function in reworking AMD into a number one semiconductor firm. She’s pushing onerous to compete straight with Nvidia for AI information centre enterprise whereas maintaining its rival on its toes within the GPU market.
The web end result? AMD, whose market capitalisation was as soon as dwarfed by Intel’s, is now price greater than twice as a lot.
2. Jensen Huang
Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang is arguably the face of the AI revolution. Nvidia’s share value was at a low of $47.32 on 2 January however rose steeply for a lot of the 12 months, fuelled by the trade’s insatiable demand for AI chips, reaching a document excessive in November of $152.89, giving it a market valuation north of $3.5-trillion.
Learn: The trillion-dollar man: who’s Nvidia’s Jensen Huang?
In comparison with different Large Tech founders, Huang’s 3.5% stake in Nvidia is relatively tiny, however his web price has nonetheless surged to an estimated $113-billion on the time of writing. Nvidia is now one in every of solely three corporations on the planet – the others are Apple and Microsoft – to surpass a $3-trillion market cap, a feat it additionally achieved in 2024.
1. Elon Musk
In some years, it’s troublesome to choose the worldwide newsmaker in tech, however in 2024 the selection couldn’t have been extra apparent: Elon Musk is TechCentral’s International Newsmaker of the Yr. The world’s richest individual – on the time of writing, he had amassed a private fortune of a staggering $458-billion – has not often been out of the information this 12 months.
From backing Donald Trump to win the US presidency to turning into the co-head of the US division of presidency effectivity (Doge), the South African-born Musk is now, doubtless, the world’s strongest and influential businessman.
In fact, if Musk was working in Africa and sponsored an African authorities chief’s election to excessive workplace, he’d be accused of crony capitalism at greatest – and bare corruption at worst.
Learn: Musk, Ramaswamy to steer US division of presidency effectivity
The place Musk finds the time for every thing he does is a thriller. Not solely was he on the stump for Trump for a lot of the second half of 2024, however he additionally has a lot of advanced – and fast-growing – companies to supervise.
Amongst his many achievements in 2024, these had been among the many standouts:
- SpaceX’s valuation topped $350-billion for the primary time, making it the world’s most useful start-up. And did you see the profitable catch of the Starship rocket booster on its launch pad? Outstanding stuff, and a key step in Musk attaining his burning want to get to Mars and make people a multiplanetary species.
- xAI, Musk’s synthetic intelligence start-up, achieved a valuation of $50-billion. He’s decided to win the AI race, regardless that he’s chasing well-funded rivals like OpenAI/Microsoft and Google for the crown. Might he (ab)use his newfound political energy to realize an unfair benefit – and stick it to OpenAI’s Sam Altman, with whom he feuded for a lot of the 12 months?
- Tesla’s valuation hit a brand new document excessive above $1.5-trillion, making all different automotive makers appear like minnows as compared. Whether or not that type of valuation is in any approach warranted is open to a lot debate.
- Musk’s private wealth exceeded $400-billion (and almost topped $500-billion), making him the primary individual in historical past to amass a private fortune that giant. In fact, a lot of it’s on paper solely, tied up in Tesla inventory.
No matter you consider Musk – and views are sharply divided – he actually is the one alternative for the highest spot in TechCentral’s International Newsmakers of 2024. Will he high the record once more subsequent 12 months? We received’t guess in opposition to it. — (c) 2024 NewsCentral Media
TechCentral will publish its South African Newsmakers of 2024 on Friday.
