KPMG is laying off 10% of their audit partners. Meta is also laying off 10% of their employees.
Widespread layoffs at major firms signal a broader reality: no white-collar job is truly secure. This is due to four forces: 1/ Increased competition driven by AI lowering barriers to entry 2/ The need for companies to heavily invest in technology (shifting budgets from labor to capital) 3/ Rapid automation outpacing job creation, and; 4/ ongoing corrections from overhiring during the COVID-era boom. Even top performers and senior leaders are vulnerable. Individuals should take responsibility for their career security by building networks, saving money, and exploring alternative income paths, emphasizing proactive planning to navigate inevitable, ongoing disruption in the workforce. Source: Robert Sterling
China is on track to become the world's dominant nuclear power producer:
China's total nuclear capacity is projected to reach a MASSIVE ~186 gigawatts if all planned projects are completed, surpassing the US at ~118 gigawatts and France at ~76 gigawatts, according to Global Energy Monitor. China currently ranks 3rd globally with ~61 gigawatts of installed nuclear capacity, well behind the US, at ~102 gigawatts. As a result, France, which generates ~69% of its electricity from nuclear power, the highest share of any major economy, is expected to fall from 2nd to 3rd place globally as China's buildout accelerates. The global nuclear expansion is centered on fission technology, which currently makes up ~10% of global electricity generation, with smaller modular reactors increasingly backed by both governments and private capital. The nuclear race is heating up. Source: Global Markets Investor
Trump envoy seeks to replace Iran with Italy in upcoming World Cup
Source: FT
Jensen Huang shared a simple framework for understanding the entire Al economy the "Five-Layer Al Cake."
His message is clear: Al is no longer just software. It's becoming foundational infrastructure, similar to electricity or the internet. The 5 Layers of the Al Economy 1) Energy - The Power Behind Al Al requires massive electricity to run data centers and train models. This is why nuclear, renewable energy, and power infrastructure are becoming critical to the Al race. 2) Chips - Turning Power Into Compute Al chips convert electricity into computing power. Leaders like NVIDIA, TSMC, and Broadcom. dominate this layer with GPUs, advanced semiconductors, and high-bandwidth memory. 3) Infrastructure - The Al Factories Massive GPU clusters and cloud data centers coordinate tens of thousands of chips to "produce intelligence." Neo-Cloud leaders like Oracle, Nebius, Coreweave and Iren are building the backbone of Al compute. 4) Models - The Al Brain Large models process data and generate intelligence across language, science, robotics, and simulations. Competition is intensifying between companies like Meta, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet. 5) Applications - Where Value Is Created The top layer is where Al transforms industries: autonomous driving, Al agents, robotics, enterprise software, and more.
The US data center buildout is falling behind schedule:
Nearly 40% of US data center projects due to complete in 2026 are AT RISK of missing their deadlines by more than 3 months, according to SynMax satellite analysis and IIR Energy data. More than 60% of projects scheduled for 2027 have yet to begin construction as of April 2026. The 2027 pipeline alone represents ~50 gigawatts of planned capacity, equivalent to the output of ~50 nuclear reactors, with the majority still showing no construction activity, according to SynMax Vulcan Platform and IIR Energy. The primary constraints are chronic shortages of specialist labor, gas turbines, and transformers, along with permitting hurdles that are pushing labor costs up as much as +30% in remote locations. Is the US data center 'boom' hitting the wall? Source: Global Markets Investor, FT
Don Tzu has dropped another quote.
Source: TT3
For anyone wondering whether the fossil fuel crisis in the Middle East is driving interest in clean energy technologies:
China's exports of batteries, EVs and solar products shot up in March to $21.9 billion! This is an all-time record and a 70% increase over March 2025. Source: Nicolas Fulghum
Betting odds of 1/2 on Starmer leaving office this year
Is the Gilt market facing another crisis? Source: Winston Smith
