Aditya Birla group acquires Cargill's specialty chemical unit in US
The Aditya Birla Group has acquired Cargill Incorporated's 17-acre specialty chemicals manufacturing facility in Dalton, Georgia, marking its strategic foray into the US chemicals sector. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The acquisition was made through Aditya Birla Chemicals (USA) Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Aditya Birla Chemicals (Thailand) Ltd., and will bolster the group's Advanced Materials business. With this purchase, Aditya Birla Group's cumulative investment in the U.S. manufacturing sector now exceeds $15 billion.
'This acquisition represents Aditya Birla's strategic entry into the U.S. chemicals industry, extending the business model of our other successful manufacturing businesses in the United States, including Novelis and Birla Carbon,' said Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman of Aditya Birla Group.
'Our growth strategy in the United States is anchored in a commitment leverage our deep manufacturing expertise to support the revitalization of the growing American manufacturing sector. We look forward to investing in and expanding this foundational facility and identifying other strategic assets to drive growth,' he added.
With this acquisition, the Advanced Materials business welcomes 50 employees. The business plans to expand the facility's current capacity of 16,000 tons per year to over 40,000 tons over the next two years, affirming the business's commitment to local operations and job creation.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Time of India
34 minutes ago
- Time of India
DeepSeek aids China's military and evaded export controls, US official says
AI firm DeepSeek is aiding China's military and intelligence operations, a senior U.S. official told Reuters, adding that the Chinese tech startup sought to use Southeast Asian shell companies to access high-end semiconductors that cannot be shipped to China under US rules. Hangzhou-based DeepSeek sent shockwaves through the technology world in January, claiming its artificial intelligence reasoning models were on par with or better than U.S. industry-leading models at a fraction of the cost. "We understand that DeepSeek has willingly provided and will likely continue to provide support to China's military and intelligence operations," a senior State Department official told Reuters in an interview. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Como corrigir pele derretida (Faça isso todos os dias) Notícias | Beleza | Mulher Saiba Mais Undo "This effort goes above and beyond open-source access to DeepSeek's AI models," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to speak about U.S. government information. The U.S. government's assessment of DeepSeek's activities and links to the Chinese government have not been previously reported and come amid a wide-scale U.S.-China trade war. Live Events Among the allegations, the official said DeepSeek is sharing user information and statistics with Beijing's surveillance apparatus. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories Chinese law requires companies operating in China to provide data to the government when requested. But the suggestion that DeepSeek is already doing so is likely to raise privacy and other concerns for the firm's tens of millions of daily global users. The US also maintains restrictions on companies it believes are linked to China's military-industrial complex. US lawmakers have previously said that DeepSeek, based on its privacy disclosure statements, transmits American users' data to China through "backend infrastructure" connected to China Mobile , a Chinese state-owned telecommunications giant. DeepSeek did not respond to questions about its privacy practices. The company is also referenced more than 150 times in procurement records for China's People's Liberation Army and other entities affiliated with the Chinese defense industrial base, said the official, adding that DeepSeek had provided technology services to PLA research institutions. Reuters could not independently verify the procurement data. The official also said the company was employing workarounds to U.S. export controls to gain access to advanced US-made chips. The US conclusions reflect a growing skepticism in Washington that the capabilities behind the rapid rise of one of China's flagship AI enterprises may have been exaggerated and relied heavily on U.S. technology. DeepSeek has access to "large volumes" of U.S. firm Nvidia 's high-end H100 chips, said the official. Since 2022 those chips have been under US export restrictions due to Washington's concerns that China could use them to advance its military capabilities or jump ahead in the AI race. "DeepSeek sought to use shell companies in Southeast Asia to evade export controls, and DeepSeek is seeking to access data centers in Southeast Asia to remotely access US chips," the official said. The official declined to say if DeepSeek had successfully evaded export controls or offer further details about the shell companies. DeepSeek also did not respond to questions about its acquisition of Nvidia chips or the alleged use of shell companies. When asked if the US would implement further export controls or sanctions against DeepSeek, the official said the department had "nothing to announce at this time." China's foreign ministry and commerce ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. "We do not support parties that have violated US export controls or are on the US entity lists," an Nvidia spokesman said in a prepared statement, adding that "with the current export controls, we are effectively out of the China data center market, which is now served only by competitors such as Huawei ." Access to restricted chips DeepSeek has said two of its AI models that Silicon Valley executives and U.S. tech company engineers have showered with praise - DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1 - are on par with OpenAI and Meta 's most advanced models. AI experts, however, have expressed skepticism, arguing the true costs of training the models were likely much higher than the $5.58 million the startup said was spent on computing power. Reuters has previously reported that US officials were investigating whether DeepSeek had access to restricted AI chips. DeepSeek has H100 chips that it procured after the US banned Nvidia from selling those chips to China, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, adding that the number was far smaller than the 50,000 H100s that the CEO of another AI startup had claimed DeepSeek possesses in a January interview with CNBC. Reuters was unable to verify the number of H100 chips DeepSeek has. "Our review indicates that DeepSeek used lawfully acquired H800 products, not H100," an Nvidia spokesman said, responding to a Reuters query about DeepSeek's alleged usage of H100 chips. In February, Singapore charged three men with fraud in a case domestic media have linked to the movement of Nvidia's advanced chips from the city state to DeepSeek. China has also been suspected of finding ways to use advanced US chips remotely. While importing advanced Nvidia chips into China without a license violates US export rules, Chinese companies are still allowed to access those same chips remotely in data centers in non-restricted countries. The exceptions are when a Chinese company is on a US trade blacklist or the chip exporter has knowledge that the Chinese firm is using its chips to help develop weapons of mass destruction. US officials have not placed DeepSeek on any US trade blacklists yet and have not alleged that Nvidia had any knowledge of DeepSeek's work with the Chinese military. Malaysia's trade ministry said last week that it was investigating whether an unnamed Chinese company in the country was using servers equipped with Nvidia chips for large language model training and that it was examining whether any domestic law or regulation had been breached.


India.com
2 hours ago
- India.com
Bad News for India as Donald Trump's air strikes on Iran likely to put India's Rs 334000000000 trade in trouble, PM Modi now plans to...
Prime Minister Narendra Modi New Delhi: The strikes by the United States on three nuclear sites in Iran on Saturday night have raised a big concern for India as well. According to the reports, if the conflict escalates, over USD40 billion worth of trade with key regions of West Asia at risk. However, it is important to note that if India has less to lose if the war remains contained. Talking to Moneycontrol, Global Trade Research Initiative's founder Ajay Srivastava said that any disruption to shipping lanes, port access, or financial systems in this corridor would 'severely impact India's trade flows, inflate freight and insurance costs, and introduce fresh supply chain risks for Indian businesses.' The US' involvement in the conflict has raised concerns that Tehran may choose to retaliate by attacking American military bases in the West Asian region such as in Qatar. Apart from that, Iran's parliament has approved a measure to close the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, their state-run Press TV reported on June 22. Iran's parliamentary vote is not binding, and a final decision has to be taken by the Supreme National Security Council. Trade Issues The recent developments are unlikely to significantly affect New Delhi's trade with Gulf nations, which exceeded USD 220 billion in the previous fiscal year. However, rising oil prices and potential disruptions in key maritime routes like the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea could pose serious challenges for Indian shipments. It is important to note that India's bilateral trade with other West Asia countries comprising of Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, at USD 41.8 billion in FY25. Out of this, with Iran and Israel, India's trade was only $5.4 billion in the previous financial year. India is especially vulnerable to a possible Strait of Hormuz closure. 'Nearly two-thirds of its crude oil and half of its LNG imports transit this route. Any closure could send oil prices soaring, sharply inflating India's import bill, worsening inflation, and putting pressure on the country's fiscal position. Shipping insurance premiums and freight costs are also expected to surge, squeezing not only India's energy markets but also broader trade between Asia and Europe,' Srivastava said.


Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Investors brace for oil price spike, rush to havens after US bombs Iran nuclear sites
A US attack on Iranian nuclear sites could push oil prices even higher and trigger a knee-jerk rush to safety, investors said, as they assessed how the latest escalation of tensions would ripple through the global economy. The reaction in Middle East stock markets , which trade on Sunday, suggested investors were assuming a benign outcome, even as Iran intensified its missile attacks on Israel in response to the sudden, deep US involvement in the conflict. US President Donald Trump called the attack "a spectacular military success" in a televised address to the nation and said Iran's "key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated". He said the US military could go after other targets in Iran if the country did not agree to peace. Iran said it reserves all options to defend itself, and warned of "everlasting consequences". Speaking in Istanbul, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tehran was weighing its options for retaliation and would consider diplomacy only after carrying out its response. Investors said they expected US involvement would cause a stock market selloff and a possible bid for the dollar and other safe-haven assets when major markets reopen, but also said much uncertainty remained. "I think the markets are going to be initially alarmed, and I think oil will open higher," said Mark Spindel, chief investment officer at Potomac River Capital. "We don't have any damage assessment and that will take some time. Even though (Trump) has described this as 'done', we're engaged," Spindel said. "I think the uncertainty is going to blanket the markets, as now Americans everywhere are going to be exposed. It's going to raise uncertainty and volatility, particularly in oil," he added. One indicator of how markets will react in the coming week was the price of ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency and a gauge of retail investor sentiment. Ether was down 8.5 per cent on Sunday, taking losses since the first Israeli strikes on Iran on June 13 to 13 per cent. Most Gulf stock markets, however, seemed unconcerned by the early morning attacks, with the main indexes in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait up slightly or flat. Israel's Tel Aviv main index was at an all-time high. Oil prices, inflation A key concern for markets centers around the potential impact of Middle East developments on oil prices and thus on inflation. Rising inflation could dampen consumer confidence and lessen the chance of near-term interest rate cuts. Saul Kavonic, a senior energy analyst at equity research firm MST Marquee in Sydney, said Iran could respond by targeting American interests in the Middle East, including Gulf oil infrastructure in places such as Iraq or harassing ship passages through the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait of Hormuz lies between Oman and Iran and is the primary export route for oil producers such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Kuwait. "Much depends on how Iran responds in the coming hours and days, but this could set us on a path towards $100 oil if Iran respond as they have previously threatened to," Kavonic said. While global benchmark Brent crude futures have risen as much as 18 per cent since June 10, hitting a near five-month high of $79.04 on Thursday, the S&P 500 has been little changed, following an initial drop when Israel launched its attacks on Iran on June 13. Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group, said oil prices would likely spike before leveling off in a few days as the attacks could lead Iran to seek a peace deal with Israel and the United States. "With this demonstration of force and total annihilation of its nuclear capabilities, they've lost all of their leverage and will likely hit the escape button to a peace deal," Cox said. Economists warn that a dramatic rise in oil prices could damage a global economy already strained by Trump's tariffs. Still, any pullback in equities might be fleeting, history suggests. During past eruptions of Middle East tensions, including the 2003 Iraq invasion and the 2019 attacks on Saudi oil facilities, stocks initially languished but soon recovered to trade higher in the months ahead. On average, the S&P 500 slipped 0.3 per cent in the three weeks following the start of conflict, but was 2.3 per cent higher on average two months following the conflict, according to data from Wedbush Securities and CapIQ Pro. Dollar woes An escalation in the conflict could have mixed implications for the US dollar, which has tumbled this year amid worries over diminished US exceptionalism. In the event of US direct engagement in the Iran-Israel war, the dollar could initially benefit from a safety bid, analysts said. "Do we see a flight to safety? That would signal yields going lower and the dollar getting stronger," said Steve Sosnick, chief market strategist at IBKR in Greenwich, Connecticut. "It's hard to imagine stocks not reacting negatively and the question is how much." Jack McIntyre, portfolio manager for global fixed income at Brandywine Global Investment Management in Philadelphia, said it was uncertain whether US Treasuries would rally after the US attack, largely due to the market's hypersensitivity to inflation. "This could lead to regime change (which) ultimately could have a much bigger impact on the global economy if Iran shifts towards a more friendly, open economic regime," said McIntyre.