Volkswagen Faces A 37% Drop In Quarterly Profit Amidst Tariff Pressures

by News Editor

April 30, 2025

The automotive world is abuzz as Volkswagen, the German powerhouse, reports a significant slump in its first-quarter profits, battling the ongoing U.S. tariffs impacting the global car industry.

Volkswagen’s operating profit fell to 2.9 billion euros ($3.3 billion), down 37% compared to last year. However, the company saw a slight increase in sales revenue, up 2.8% to 77.6 billion euros, bolstered by robust vehicle sales in non-Chinese markets. Revenue growth highlights the positive turn, but challenges persist as the company previously warned of operating profit impacts due to special effects.

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Strategic Adjustments in a Volatile Market

Arno Antlitz, Volkswagen’s CFO and COO, emphasized a strategic focus on cost competitiveness alongside its extensive product lineup. The aim is to thrive even amidst the rapidly changing global landscape.

Key Q1 Highlights

Vehicle sales hit 2.1 million, marking a 0.9% year-on-year increase.
Western Europe reported a 29% surge in vehicle orders.
Net cash flow improved to -0.8 billion euros.

Looking forward, Volkswagen warns of challenging conditions due to political and trade uncertainties. Despite this, there’s an air of optimism as the industry adapts to new constraints.

Global Tariff Uncertainty Looms

The volatile landscape continues, with recent U.S. tariff alterations unsettling auto manufacturers. President Trump’s recent executive order aims to reduce cumulative tariffs, potentially easing some pressures. However, additional tariffs on auto parts pose ongoing challenges, adding layers of complexity to global supply chains.

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Mirendil Signs $100 Million Google Cloud Deal To Advance Self-Improving AI

by News Editor

August 6, 2026

AI startup Mirendil has signed a multi-year agreement worth more than $100 million with Google Cloud to secure computing infrastructure for its self-improving AI research.

The partnership reflects growing competition among AI companies to lock in access to high-performance computing, while cloud providers race to attract promising startups developing next-generation AI models.

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Backing The Next Stage Of AI Research

Mirendil plans to use Google’s Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), Nvidia GPUs and managed training infrastructure to develop AI systems capable of improving their own performance over time.

Known as recursive self-improvement, the concept focuses on building AI that can refine its knowledge and capabilities with minimal human intervention. The technology is attracting growing interest across the industry, with several startups and leading AI labs exploring similar approaches.

According to co-founder and Chief Executive Behnam Neyshabur, the long-term goal is to develop AI that can automate scientific research and accelerate discoveries in fields such as medicine, biology and materials science.

Compute Capacity Becomes A Strategic Asset

Training increasingly advanced AI models requires enormous computing resources, making long-term infrastructure agreements a critical competitive advantage.

Mirendil said Google’s combination of TPUs and GPUs allows workloads to be matched with the most suitable hardware, improving efficiency while reducing costs for customers.

For Google Cloud, the agreement strengthens its position in the race to provide infrastructure for frontier AI developers, while giving the company exposure to one of the industry’s emerging approaches to next-generation artificial intelligence.

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