NEOM Investment Fund partners with MemryX to scale energy-efficient Edge AI computing
Majid Mufti, CEO of NIF, commented: 'Our investment in MemryX marks another pivotal step toward realizing NEOM's vision of an AI-native, energy-efficient future. It also reflects our commitment to backing transformative, next-generation technologies that will define the new era of intelligent digital infrastructure. Through our partnership with MemryX, a stellar fabless innovator, we are accelerating the deployment of advanced computing at scale, while laying the groundwork for a new digital economy.'
MemryX's flagship AI accelerator, the MX3, delivers industry-leading efficiency, enabling low latency AI performance with a fraction of the power consumption of traditional GPU solutions. The technology's architecture is designed to support a wide range of edge applications, including intelligent video systems, smart industrial environments and autonomous infrastructure—core enablers of NEOM's digital ecosystem.
Keith Kressin, CEO of MemryX, said: 'NEOM represents one of the boldest technological visions of our time. This partnership with NIF validates our technology's relevance to future cities and autonomous digital environments. We look forward to working closely with NIF and NEOM to deploy Edge AI solutions that deliver real-world performance at scale.'
MemryX's software-first design enables seamless integration across diverse use cases, with a developer-friendly platform and performance benchmarks that are already supporting a growing ecosystem of customers.
Peter Watson, Head of Infrastructure Strategy, NEOM's Tech & Digital Sector, said: 'MemryX's breakthrough approach to Edge AI allows us to process vast volumes of video data locally, significantly reducing our dependency on centralized infrastructure and limited bandwidth. This unlocks smarter, more efficient systems across NEOM's digital ecosystem. We're excited to partner with MemryX as they continue to shape the future of AI and computing at the edge.'
The partnership with MemryX is part of NIF's expanding portfolio of investments, underscoring its role as a strategic investor and ecosystem developer. It reflects NIF's commitment to enabling NEOM's commercial success by advancing next-generation infrastructure, scaling frontier technologies and laying the foundations for a cognitive, AI-native economy.
About NEOM Investment Fund
NEOM Investment Fund (NIF) is the strategic investment arm of NEOM, accelerating the growth of its 15 knowledge-economy sectors. As the key enabler of NEOM's commercial success, NIF is prioritizing investments that unlock next-generation industries to turn NEOM's visionary goals into reality. NIF partners with likeminded innovative companies, investors, and entrepreneurs that are working on solving the world's most complex problems.
About NEOM
NEOM is an accelerator of human progress and a vision of what a New Future might look like. It is a region in northwest Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea being built from the ground up as a living laboratory - a place where entrepreneurship will chart the course for this New Future. It will be a destination and a home for people who dream big and want to be part of building a new model for exceptional livability, creating thriving businesses and reinventing environmental conservation.
NEOM will include hyperconnected, cognitive cities, ports and enterprise zones, research centers, sports and entertainment venues and tourist destinations. As a hub for innovation, entrepreneurs, business leaders and companies will come to research, incubate and commercialize new technologies and enterprises in groundbreaking ways. Residents of NEOM will embody an international ethos and embrace a culture of exploration, risk-taking and diversity.
About MemryX:
MemryX Inc. is a fabless semiconductor company that designs edge AI processing solutions powered by a proprietary compute-at-memory technology and dataflow architecture. By combining high performance and accuracy with low system power and a high-performance architecture, MemryX solutions are able to power AI needs for a number of industries, including transportation, IoT, and a wide range of industrial and consumer applications. MemryX is backed by leading investors including NEOM Investment Fund (NIF), Ospraie Management, HarbourVest, Arm IoT Fund, eLab Ventures, M Ventures, and Motus Ventures. MemryX has headquarters in Ann Arbor, Mich., with offices in Bangalore, India, Taipei and Hsinchu, Taiwan.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Gulf Today
2 hours ago
- Gulf Today
Less selection, More prices
With summer in full swing in the United States, retail executives are sweating a different season. It's less than 22 weeks before Christmas, a time when businesses that make and sell consumer goods usually nail down their holiday orders and prices. But President Donald Trump's vacillating trade policies have complicated those end-of-year plans. Balsam Hill, which sells artificial trees and other decorations online, expects to publish fewer and thinner holiday catalogs because the featured products keep changing with the tariff rates the president sets, postpones and revises. 'The uncertainty has led us to spend all our time trying to rejigger what we're ordering, where we're bringing it in, when it's going to get here,' Mac Harman, CEO of Balsam Hill parent company Balsam Brands, said. 'We don't know which items we're going to have to put in the catalog or not.' Months of confusion over which foreign countries' goods may become more expensive to import has left a question mark over the holiday shopping season. US retailers often begin planning for the winter holidays in January and typically finalize the bulk of their orders by the end of June. The seesawing tariffs already have factored into their calculations. The consequences for consumers? Stores may not have the specific gift items customers want come November and December. Some retail suppliers and buyers scaled back their holiday lines rather than risking a hefty tax bill or expensive imports going unsold. Businesses still are setting prices but say shoppers can expect many things to cost more, though by how much depends partly on whether Trump's latest round of 'reciprocal' tariffs kicks in next month. The lack of clarity has been especially disruptive for the US toy industry, which sources nearly 80% of its products from China. American toy makers usually ramp up production in April, a process delayed until late May this year after the president put a 145% tariff on Chinese goods, according to Greg Ahearn, president and CEO of the Toy Association, an industry trade group. The US tariff rate may have dropped significantly from its spring high - a truce in the US-China trade war is set to expire on Aug. 12 - but continues to shape the forthcoming holiday period. Manufacturing activity is way down from a year ago for small- and medium-sized US toy companies, Ahearn said. The late start to factory work in China means holiday toys are only now arriving at US warehouses, industry experts said. A big unknown is whether tariffs will keep stores from replenishing supplies of any breakout hit toys that emerge in September, said James Zahn, editor-in-chief of the trade publication Toy Book. In the retail world, planning for Christmas in July usually involves mapping out seasonal marketing and promotion strategies. Dean Smith, who co-owns independent toy stores JaZams in Princeton, New Jersey, and Lahaska, Pennsylvania, said he recently spent an hour and a half running through pricing scenarios with a Canadian distributor because the wholesale cost of some products increased by 20%. Increasing his own prices that much might turn off customers, Smith said, so he explored ways to 'maintain a reasonable margin without raising prices beyond what consumers would accept.' He ordered a lower cost Crazy Forts building set so he would have the toy on hand and left out the kids' edition of the Anomia card game because he didn't think customers would pay what he would have to charge. 'In the end, I had to eliminate half of the products that I normally buy,' Smith said. Hilary Key, owner of The Toy Chest in Nashville, Indiana, said she tries to get new games and toys in early most years to see which ones she should stock up on for the winter holidays. This year, she abandoned her product testing for fear any delayed orders would incur high import taxes. Meanwhile, vendors of toys made in China and elsewhere bombarded Key with price increase notices. For example, Schylling, which makes Needoh, Care Bear collectibles and modern versions of nostalgic toys like My Little Pony, increased prices on orders by 20%, according to Key. All the price hikes are subject to change if the tariff situation changes again. Key worries her store won't have as compelling a product assortment as she prides herself on carrying. 'My concern is not that I'll have nothing, because I can bring in more books. I can bring in more gifts, or I can bring in just things that are manufactured in other places,' she said. 'But that doesn't mean I'm going to have the best stock for every developmental age, for every special need.' The retail industry may have to keep taking a whack-a-mole approach to navigating the White House's latest tariff ultimatums and temporary reprieves. Last week, the president again reset the rates on imports from Brazil, the European Union, Mexico, and other major trading partners but said they would not take effect until Aug. 1. The brief pause should extend the window importers have to bring in seasonal merchandise at the current baseline tariff of 10%. The Port of Los Angeles had the busiest June in its 117-year history after companies raced to secure holiday shipments, and July imports look strong so far, according to Gene Seroka, the port's executive director. 'In my view, we're seeing a peak season push right now to bring in goods ahead of potentially higher tariffs later this summer,' Seroka said Monday. The pace of port activity so far this year reflects a 'tariff whipsaw effect' - imports slowing when tariffs kick in and rebounding when they're paused, he said. 'For us consumers, lower inventory levels, fewer selections and higher prices are likely as we head into the holidays.' Smith, who co-owns the two JaZams stores with his partner, Joanne Farrugia, said they started placing holiday orders two months earlier than usual for 'certain items that we felt were essential for us to have at particular pricing.' They doubled their warehouse space to store the stockpile. But some shoppers are trying to get ahead of higher prices just like businesses are, he said. He's noticed customers snapping up items that will likely be popular during the holidays, like Jellycat plush toys and large stuffed unicorns and dogs. Any sales are welcome, but Smith and Farrugia are wary of having to restock at a higher cost. 'We're just trying to be as friendly as we can to the consumer and still have a product portfolio or profile that is gonna meet the needs of all of our various customers, which is getting more and more challenging by the day,' Smith said. Balsam Brands' Harman said he's had to resign himself to not having as robust a selection of ornaments and frosted trees to sell as in years' past. Soon, it will be too late to import meaningful additions to his range of products. 'Our purpose as a company is to create joy together, and we're going to do our very best to do that this year,' Harman said. 'We're just not going to have a bunch of the items that consumers want this year, and that's not a position we want to be in.' Associated Press
Khaleej Times
3 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
Trump job cuts: US space agency Nasa to lose nearly 4,000 employees, 20% of workforce
The US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) will lose about 3,900 employees under Donald Trump's sweeping effort to trim the federal workforce — at the same time as the president prioritises plans for crewed missions to the Moon and Mars. In an emailed statement, Nasa said around 3,000 employees took part in the second round of its deferred resignation programme, which closed late Friday. Combined with the 870 who joined the first round and regular staff departures, the agency's civil servant workforce is set to drop from more than 18,000 before Trump took office in January to roughly 14,000 — a more than 20 per cent decrease. Those leaving the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on the deferred resignation programme will be placed on administrative leave until an agreed departure date. An agency spokesperson said the figures could shift slightly in the coming weeks. "Safety remains a top priority for our agency as we balance the need to become a more streamlined and more efficient organization and work to ensure we remain fully capable of pursuing a Golden Era of exploration and innovation, including to the Moon and Mars," the agency said. Earlier this year, the Trump administration's proposed Nasa budget put a return to the Moon and a journey to Mars front and centre, slashing science and climate programs. The White House says it wants to focus on "beating China back to the Moon and putting the first human on Mars." China is aiming for its first crewed lunar landing by 2030, while the US program, called Artemis, has faced repeated delays. Nasa is still run by an acting administrator after the administration's initial pick to lead the agency, tech billionaire Jared Isaacman — endorsed by former Trump advisor Elon Musk — was ultimately rejected by the Republican president.
The National
8 hours ago
- The National
China proposes global AI co-operation organisation
China proposed a new global artificial intelligence co-operation organisation amid a patchwork of regulations among countries, as Beijing's competition with the US over the critical technology heats up. Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Saturday called for an international framework to regulate AI as its governance is fragmented, he said at the opening of the annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai. 'Global AI governance is still fragmented. Countries have great differences, particularly in terms of areas such as regulatory concepts, institutional rules,' Mr Li said. 'We should strengthen co-ordination to form a global AI governance framework that has broad consensus as soon as possible.' China's proposal comes just days after US President Donald Trump unveiled a three-pillar strategy that his administration refers to as America's AI Action Plan, after much anticipation from US technology companies. Accelerating artificial intelligence innovation, building AI infrastructure in the US and leading in AI diplomacy are the strategy's three main planks. The plan to export US AI technologies, for example through international data centre initiatives, may help the US to gain influence as other countries seek to join the race to provide computational power for AI. Hypothetically, it could also give the US a competitive edge over China, which also aims to be a dominant AI player. Beijing and Washington are locked in a rivalry with AI shaping up as a key battleground between the world's two biggest economies. An 'exclusive game' During the three-day World Artificial Intelligence Conference on Saturday, Mr Li said that AI could become an 'exclusive game' for a few nations and companies. 'Currently, key resources and capabilities are concentrated in a few countries and a few enterprises. If we engage in technological monopoly, controls and restrictions, AI will become an exclusive game for a small number of countries and enterprises,' Mr Li said. Going forward, China will seek to propel AI development in the Global South, Mr Li said, according to a Bloomberg report. China said it is considering Shanghai as the headquarters of the proposed global AI co-operation centre. Ma Zhaoxu, China's Vice Foreign Minister, told a gathering of representatives from more than 30 countries, including Russia, South Africa, Qatar, South Korea and Germany, that China wanted the organisation to promote pragmatic co-operation in AI and was considering putting its headquarters in Shanghai, Reuters reported. China's AI and semi-conductor sectors are showing strong growth, despite US export controls, according to a June report by Jefferies, an investment banking and capital market firm based in New York. Huawei debuts AI computing system At the same conference on Saturday, China's Huawei Technologies showed off an AI computing system, as the technology giant aims to capture market share in the country's growing AI sector. The CloudMatrix 384 system made its first public debut at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference. Semiconductor research group SemiAnalysis in April called it "China's Answer to Nvidia GB200 NVL72", the US chipmaker's most advanced system-level product currently available in the market. "This solution competes directly with the GB200 NVL72, and in some metrics is more advanced than Nvidia's rack scale solution. The engineering advantage is at the system level, not just at the chip level, with innovation at the networking, optics, and software layers," SemiAnalysis said in its April report.
