How To Spend $50 Billion To Make The World A Be...
President Biden holds a semiconductor chip in this 2021 file photo. The White House is working out how to spend $52 billion that Congress has provided to spur U.S. chip manufacturing plants. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
How to Spend $50 Billion to Make the World a Be...
In response Lomborg argued that $50 billion was "an optimistic but realistic example of actual spending." "Experience shows that pledges and actual spending are two different things. In 1970 the UN set itself the task of doubling development assistance. Since then the percentage has actually been dropping". "But even if Sachs or others could gather much more than $50 billion over the next 4 years, the Copenhagen Consensus priority list would still show us where it should be invested first." [34]
Buffett didn't reveal everything he bought but did mention several highlights, including boosting Berkshire's stake in oil giant Chevron to $26 billion, up from $4.5 billion at the beginning of the year to make it one of the conglomerate's four biggest investments. Berkshire also spent billions buying up 14% of Occidental Petroleum's shares in the first half of March, and added to its already massive investment in Apple stock.
Over the next two decades, the spending required from the public and private sectors to build and operate enough fabs to give America a reliable supply for most of its needs will probably exceed $500 billion, including the initial $52 billion, semiconductor policy experts at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies told CQ Roll Call this week. Other experts said that estimate is reasonable.
And in just the last several years, China, South Korea, Japan and the European Union have announced about $260 billion in government spending in the next decade for their companies, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.
Worldwide cloud infrastructure services expenditure topped US$50 billion in a quarter for the first time in Q4 2021. Total spending grew 34% to US$53.5 billion, up US$13.6 billion on the same period a year ago. Industry-specific applications continued to diversify the use of cloud infrastructure services, especially in healthcare and the public sector. This combined with more workload migration and cloud-native application development as part of digital transformation projects, which increased demand for services. In addition, lasting pandemic-related consumption drivers, such as remote working and learning, ecommerce, gaming and content streaming, remained important contributors. New immersive use cases are emerging, such as the metaverse, which will drive future demand and the need for more powerful, distributed, intelligent and scalable services with lower latency. The leading cloud service providers are best placed to provide the infrastructure. The top three in Q4 2021, namely AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, collectively grew 45%, to account for a combined 64% share of customer spend.
For full-year 2021, total cloud infrastructure services spending grew 35% to US$191.7 billion, up from US$142.0 billion in 2020. The reopening of economies post-lockdowns and growing customer confidence during the year increased multi-year contract commitments with cloud service providers.
The U.S. Department of Commerce today outlined how it and other government agencies will disburse $50 billion from the CHIPS Act to chipmakers and other semiconductor-related groups. More detailed funding documents are expected by early February.
Around $28 billion, or nearly two-thirds of the total funding, will support Intel, Micron Technology, and other companies that make leading-edge logic and memory chips. Another $10 billion will help fund new manufacturing capacity for mature and current-generation chips, as well as specialty technologies like silicon carbide or carbon nanotube materials. An additional $11 billion is earmarked for the creation of a National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC), as well as an advanced chip packaging program and up to three new manufacturing institutes.
President Joe Biden told companies vying with each other for a sharply constrained global supply of semiconductors that he has bipartisan support for government funding to address a shortage that has idled automakers worldwide.
This is no longer the case. There are 2,755 billionaires in the world today, with an estimated wealth of $13.2 trillion. Even just 1 percent of this wealth (equivalent to a tax rate of 15-20 percent on the accrued income that billionaires have received with returns of 5-7 percent per year) would yield a flow of $130 billion per year. This can be compared with annual official aid (net ODA) of roughly $160 billion from all countries and multilateral institutions combined. Looking for contributions from billionaires has moved from a nice-to-have niche improvement to becoming part of the conversation on financing to solve large-scale global issues.
According to IDC, global spending on AR/VR in 2020 was estimated to be up to $18.8 billion, up 78.5% from 2019. Businesses across the globe are trying to find ways to stay competitive as consumers are looking for richer engagement points in the shopping experiences. From 2019-2023, the global VR/AR market will see a 77% compound annual growth rate.
The IRA invests over $50 billion into clean energy technologies and improvements that can lower energy bills; make our homes, workplaces, and schools healthier and safer; significantly reduce climate pollution; and prioritize delivery of those benefits and new technologies to low-income and environmental justice communities. Successful implementation of the Act will mean Americans have greater access to efficient electric appliances, weatherized homes, rooftop solar, residential geothermal, low-carbon building materials, and more.
These estimates are significant on their own, but they are just the beginning: several aspects of the law enable the federal government and states to go even further. For instance, the building retrofit tax credits are uncapped and extend for a decade, potentially enabling even more energy efficiency and electrification retrofits than currently envisioned. The law also includes more than $30 billion in flexible greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction spending for states and cities. The federal government, the largest real estate holder in the nation, will have new resources and requirements to address the GHG footprint of its properties. And new funding for embodied carbon labeling and Environmental Product Declaration systems for construction materials will help develop the market for lower embodied carbon in buildings nationwide.
The biggest deals included $2.8 billion raised by Chinese battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology, or CATL, $846 million from U.S. fuel cell company Plug Power, and $777 million from Chinese PV manufacturer JA Solar Technology.
Venture capital and private equity investment in renewables and storage increased 51% to $5.9 billion last year. Both this, and investment via the public markets, took place against the backdrop of buoyant share prices: the WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation Index, or NEX, which tracks about 100 clean energy stocks worldwide, rose 142% in 2020 to record levels.
Perhaps more important than recent sales, many U.S.-based automakers plan to rapidly expand electric-vehicle production this decade. For example, Ford plans to spend $50 billion through 2026 to expand its EV production, while GM plans to invest $35 billion through 2025. Both also have ambitious targets for global sales, with Ford targeting 2 million units by 2026 and GM 1 million by mid-decade. Other companies with a footprint in the U.S. are also preparing plans to scale up production in the region.
Another feature of many of these investments is that they are partnerships between automakers and battery producers. For example, the largest investment recently announced is a $5.8 billion joint project by Ford and SK Innovation for two 43 gigawatt-hour-capacity facilities in Kentucky. These partnerships allow battery companies to secure demand while allowing automakers to obtain supplies they need to produce EVs.
This is why Musk is denouncing a proposed billionaire tax in the United States Congress, which, if passed, would require him to pay $50 billion in government dues. Business Insider explained that Musk might be spending his $50 billion on SpaceX rockets and technology that will carry people to Mars. 041b061a72