News

On June 1, as he topped the list of Asia's richest, Masayoshi Son, the head of SoftBank Group, publicly stated that the wave of artificial intelligence is just beginning, and its scale could be '50 times' that of the internet boom over 20 years ago. Son remarked, 'I believe the scale of this AI wave is at least 10 times that of the internet era, and it could even reach 50 times.' At the time of these remarks, Son was in Paris, France. As a guest of French President Macron, SoftBank announced last weekend that it would invest in building data centers and other AI infrastructure in France. During a press conference at the French presidential palace on Monday, Macron announced that at the upcoming 'Choose France' investment summit, companies from various countries would commit to investing 93 billion euros in France. Macron added that more than half of this amount (45 billion euros) comes from SoftBank, aimed at constructing three data centers in the Hauts-de-France region with a total capacity of 3.1 gigawatts by 2031, with the potential for this investment to expand to 75 billion euros.

BlockBeats News, June 1st, Apollo Global Management's Chief Economist, Torsten Slok, stated that the artificial intelligence infrastructure investment frenzy in its early stages may exacerbate inflationary pressure, thereby limiting Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh's room for interest rate cuts. Slok pointed out that AI data center construction is driving rapid growth in demand for semiconductors, electricity, and labor. Major US tech companies plan to invest around $725 billion in capital expenditures this year for AI-related infrastructure construction. Although AI is expected to improve productivity in the long term, the massive short-term investment will increase costs and price levels, "not suppress inflation, but rather intensify it." Meanwhile, US inflation remains significantly above the Federal Reserve's 2% target level. Data shows that the US April PCE price index rose by 3.8% year-on-year, reaching a new high since 2023. Due to the AI investment frenzy, rising energy prices, and the impact of tariff pass-through effects, market expectations for the Federal Reserve's policy path are changing. Especially after Iran announced a suspension of indirect talks with the US, the market is concerned that an escalation of the Middle East situation will further drive up oil prices and inflation. On Monday, WTI and Brent crude oil prices rose by more than 6% intraday, the yield on the US 10-year Treasury bond rose to 4.51%, and the 2-year Treasury yield rose to 4.09%. The interest rate swap market indicates that traders have fully priced in expectations of at least one rate hike by the Federal Reserve before March 2027, while the probability of a rate hike this year is around 50% in October. Analysts believe that if energy prices continue to run at high levels and AI capital spending continues to expand, the Federal Reserve's future monetary policy may face a greater challenge of inflationary pressure.

BlockBeats News, June 1st, Cross-chain lending protocol Radiant Capital (RDNT) announced the initiation of a Project Sunset procedure. The team stated that since suffering a security breach in October 2024, the DAO has been working diligently for 18 months. However, due to the inability to achieve meaningful fund recovery, lack of additional funding, and depletion of operational funds, the project no longer has a viable path for further development. Radiant stated that the protocol will not shut down immediately but will enter a maintenance mode. The frontend interface will remain operational, on-chain smart contracts will remain accessible, and users can continue to perform operations such as asset withdrawal, loan repayment, and position management. Meanwhile, all development work will cease immediately, Borrow Caps will be adjusted to zero, RDNT token incentives will be halted, and treasury funds will only be used for essential operational expenses. The focus of future work will be on user security, fund recovery, and an orderly exit process. The team emphasized that ceasing operations does not mean abandoning fund recovery efforts. The claims portal will remain open, and if stolen funds are recovered in the future, the related assets will be returned to affected users. Currently, on-chain tracking, evidence collection, and asset recovery efforts are still ongoing. Radiant mentioned that although the protocol's development has formally reached its conclusion, the on-chain infrastructure will continue to exist, allowing users to safely exit the protocol and manage associated risks.