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First Move with Julia Chatterley

Rescue Underway for 8 Trapped in Pakistan Chairlift; Exiled PM Thaksin Sentenced on Corruption Charges; Automaker VinFast to Expand U.S. Operation; Macy's Shares Tumble on Cautious Outlook; Accenture CEO: We are Entering the Decade of AI; Two Children Rescued, Six People still Trapped in Chairlift in Pakistan. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired August 22, 2023 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNNI HOST: A warm welcome to "First Move". Fantastic to have you with us this Tuesday and lots in today's news mix including a high

level meeting of the "BRICS", officials from the five member nations kicking off their three day summit in South Africa.

China's President Xi in attendance but of course Russia's President Putin a no show as expected he'll join virtually. The "BRICS" hoping to expand

their rankings to additional nations dissatisfied with the West. Call it more "BRICS" in the wall perhaps we're live in Johannesburg with the

latest.

And in business news, Microsoft's diplomatic dance the tech giant making fresh concessions to get its merger deal with Activision Blizzard approved

in the United Kingdom is it game on or game over for the $75 billion deal, a full report coming up.

Plus life in the VinFast lane, Vietnamese electric car company VinFast soaring more than 90 percent on its NASDAQ debut at one point actually been

faster sporting a larger market cap than either Volkswagen or Ford.

What does VinFast offer American consumers perhaps that others don't? Well, we'll be speaking to the company's CEO. And from EVs going fast to can the

bounce back last and has the August angst passed? U.S. stocks on track for a second day of gains.

You can see that before you the bulls trying to stem August losses even as benchmark U.S. bond yields surpass levels not seen since 2007, Europe also

managing strong and positive gains there as you can see.

And a better tone across the Asia session too with Chinese stocks enjoying an oversold bounce the HANG SENG rising after seven days of losses amid

ongoing concerns about China's economic woes China's search engine Baidu set to rally in U.S. training after eight earnings beat from them and

Softbank shares rallying almost one and a half percent too in Japan on news that it's planning to sell off its chip design arm.

This was a mega $32 billion purchase, if you remember back in 2016. And now it's set to IPO in the U.S. next month we'll discuss. A busy show as always

but first, we do begin in Pakistan where an urgent rescue mission is underway. Eight people including six children are trapped in a chairlift

dangling hundreds of meters over a mountainous region.

Officials say the children were heading to school when one of the chairlifts cables snapped. Sophia Saifi joins us now live from Islamabad.

Terrifying scenes Sophia for those into -- those people that are involved in this what more do we know about those rescue efforts?

SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN PRODUCER: Julia, this is completely transfixed the nation for the past couple of hours. They've -- this was part of their school run.

It's a beautiful part of Pakistan in the northwest of the country, but it's also an impoverished part of the country.

So these cable cars are not uncommon in that area where valleys and communities are connected by these kinds of rickety kind of village made

cable cars that connect these communities from one to the other. So it was a very run of the mill school run for that area that children in that cable

car that is suspended 900 feet above ground.

There's rocky terrain below and streams. It's been suspended this since nine in the morning when one of the cables snapped. We've been told one of

the children had a mobile phone and he's been speaking to people on the ground. We've know that two of the children are unconscious and come

slipping in and out of consciousness.

There have been efforts for a rescue operation that Senior SSG commandos were manning helicopters to try to reach the people in that cable car.

Initially, they've given medicine and food to the passengers to the people that they're trying to rescue. Apparently two of the children also vomited

inside that cable car.

Almost like a cage which is upturned and suspended above the valley. It is a very fragile and sensitive rescue operation. There have been many

attempts. There have been three times so far to get them out by commandos and by helicopters that are there.

The commander has been suspended from those helicopters but the wind created by the helicopters it is becoming precarious and causing the one

cable that is holding up that car to move and that is being seen as dangerous so it's a very slow and steady rescue operation.

[09:05:00]

The country's Prime Minister has called it an alarming situation and just about an hour and a half, it's going into sundown, the sun is going to set

and it's going to become even more dangerous. These kinds of incidents are not uncommon in Pakistan.

But the level of how dangerous this specific incident is and for how many hours this has dragged on for has become a major talking point and a major

cause for concern in the country as everyone is praying and hoping that the rescue goes smoothly and those young people in that cable car are returned

safely to their homes by the end of the day, Julia.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, we pray with them. Sophia, thank you for that report, though. And if we get any further updates, we will come back to you thank

you. Now Xi Jinping says China and South Africa have a comprehensive strategic partnership and he wants to take it to a new level.

President Xi met with his South African counterparts as the "BRICS" Summit kicked off key figures from Brazil, China, Russia, India and South Africa

are meeting in Johannesburg. Together the "BRICS" countries account for more than 40 percent of the world's population.

And they'll be talking this week about expanding the group nearly two dozen countries including Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are asking to join.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is attending the three day summit virtually since he has a warrant out for his arrest from the International

Criminal Court for alleged war crimes.

David McKenzie joins us now. David, these nations China, India, for example, powerful, very powerful in their own right, I'm just trying to

imagine the sway they would have if you start to add nations like Mexico, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia to the mix?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Julia, I think that's partly the point. This is a move, pushed by China very much to

expand "BRICS" to become a kind of de facto counter counterpoint to the 7 and possibly even the G20 but certainly the G7.

I'm joined now, very good to have Pranjal Sharma, Economist, Economic Analyst and Author from India. You know, for many years, "BRICS" was seen

as China says jump and "BRICS" is how high is that still the case?

PRANJAL SHARMA, ECONOMIC ANALYST AND AUTHOR: Well, I think when it was conceived as an acronym, by Goldman Sachs, it was about the four, five

rising economies of the world beyond the OECD countries, the Europe and U.S. but I think it's evolved to a different level.

And what I see today, that President Ramaphosa inviting 50 heads of state and many of them from the African continent, I think it has become more a

concept than just a grouping of five countries.

MCKENZIE: These kind of concept sometimes fade with time, you've had the Belton road that certainly China still wants to push other initiatives.

Just my experience here in the last few hours, you get a sense of "BRICS" wants to be something more, is it a good move to expand to more countries?

Is that something that the Indian government, for example wants?

SHARMA: I think the Indian government's position is that expansion by itself is not -- they don't object to that. But I think what they want to

get into the details of the expansion, what are the terms the criteria and who will come in and why?

I think, in some ways, this is a summit where "BRICS" has to go back to its foundations and try to define what it is, and then take the next step

forward. Expansion would be one of the expressions of that.

MCKENZIE: The "BRICS" is an odd group of bedfellows in some way. You have the world's biggest autocracy in China, the world's biggest democracy in

India. How can India and China cooperate when it comes to "BRICS" when there's so much competition there?

SHARMA: Well, there is -- this is part of the key issue in "BRICS" and how do you reconcile some of these challenges? And therefore, I think the only

way ahead if "BRICS" is to survive, and you're right, David, that something like this could easily collapse because of the various contradictions.

So therefore, a common objective, if you redefine it from the perspective of working for the global south, as it were, where you say that these five

countries and the global south and some of the most important emerging economies in African Continent can work together then perhaps it has a

reason to be there. But otherwise, some of these contradictions are going to hobble the growth of "BRICS".

MCKENZIE: If it continues, as it is and expands into a greater format, what role will it play when it comes to World Economic Affairs? One of the

things that do seem to thread these countries together is a criticism of the World Bank, the IMF and other Western "Multilateral Lenders"?

SHARMA: I think the view today the global south does not have the voice that it deserves. I often say that we have legacy economies and we have

growth economies.

[09:10:00]

If you look at the world, they're the forecast by most global banks including IMF you see the biggest growth companies by GDP. They're not in

the West. They are in Asia and Africa. Now the question is do they have a say, adequate, safe? Now, United Nations World Bank, IMF are dominated by

the structures created after the war. But today, some of that is not relevant.

The economic center of gravity is shifting away from Europe and U.S. to that extent, and the fact that the consuming populations are here, you

know, as well that the growth of consumption in the West is plateauing.

If this is where the growth is going to be, then this region, it is variously described, as I said, growth economies or global south needs to

reinvent itself. I think the important point here is that "BRICS" again, coming back to the point your raise can work or a grouping like this can

work if they can work within each other.

Where they're not dependent, for example, on aid based economy, can we get this grouping to do a private investment, private capital based economy? Or

will they continue to be aid based? I think that is the issue they have to grapple with.

MCKENZIE: Thank you very much. And it's very good to hear those perspectives. Of course, the "BRICS" bank called the new development bank

is one avenue Julia, they're trying to counteract the World Bank still small compared to the major multilateral lenders, but we will see if

concrete steps can be taken at this meeting to make this a more consolidated grouping, Julia.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's fascinating to that point, the economic center of gravity is shifting and so should the conversation. The question is, will

the financial flows and the resources to help achieve that? David, great to have you with us. Thank you, David McKenzie, there.

Now in the last 24 hours in Ukraine, Russia targeted the Zaporizhzhia region 96 times with shells and missiles according to a regional official,

one person lost their life and another was injured. Our Nick Paton Walsh is in Zaporizhzhia right now. Nick, it sounds like a night of air raid sirens

and terror for the people there. What was it like?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, in truth we're going to say it hasn't felt enormously different. And I think

that's what's important to recognize about numbers like 96 separate attacks. That is the daily reality of what Russia is doing to civilian

areas.

Here near Zaporizhzhia occasionally, you hear the sort of pressure waves from what sounds like incoming blasts hitting the city. Last night, we

could hear what definitely sounded like a drone most likely, Iranian made Shahed drones flying over our heads quite directly. And it is, I think, a

reflection of how regular Russian indiscriminate attacks often on civilian areas have been.

We rarely know from Ukraine whether military targets have been successfully hit for operational security reasons. But the reason we've been seeing this

rise around the Zaporizhzhia region of attacks, particularly that shocking number you referred to yesterday is essentially because of Ukraine's push

south, the counter offensive they're trying to prosecute.

Now some good news from Ukrainian officials from their perspective, in that they say now they're inside the village of Robotyne, frankly tiny, tiny,

tiny village at the census, giving it less than 500 inhabitants a couple of decades ago.

But now the focus of intense fighting between the Russian and Ukrainian sides, Ukraine saying they're now in there and saying they've evacuated

remarkably about 20 civilians who were indeed still managing to live inside there, despite the intense conflict around that particular area.

So increased suggestions perhaps from Ukrainians, they're seeing some progress. It's incremental, but unfortunately, because the nature of

defenses they're fighting against, that's the nature of what kind of progress they're going to report, but still no respite for civilians on the

receiving end of Russia's barrages, Julia.

CHATTERLEY: Nick, good to have you. Thank you. Nick Paton Walsh there! Now on to a dramatic day in Thai politics real estate tycoon Srettha Thavisin

has been elected as the new Prime Minister despite having relatively little political experience. He won the backing of both houses of parliament

Tuesday, just hours after Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was detained. CNN's Paula Hancocks has more on what led to his arrest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cheers from supporters welcome Thaksin Shinawatra walked back to Thailand. Bearing to a portrait

of the King amid speculation the ousted Prime Minister may seek a royal pardon.

Briefly meeting his followers Thaksin was taken into custody and to court where he was sentenced to eight years on corruption charges brought during

his 15 year self-imposed exile. Charges he denies. A doctor says he has underlying health issues and will be held in a separate room under 24 hour

supervision.

[09:15:00]

The Former Prime Minister was ousted in 2006 by a military coup, but it's still considered an influential and divisive figure. This supporter says I

am so happy and delighted because I've been missing him. I've joined his fight since it all began. The same day Srettha Thavisin, the candidate for

the Pheu Thai Party was voted in by Parliament to become Thailand's new Prime Minister. Speaking to CNN before the election, he said the economy

was the priority.

SRETTHA THAVISIN, THAI PRIME MINISTER- ELECT: Thailand has been in a bad economic situation for the last five to eight years. OK. We are kind of in

a --

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Thavisin only came second in the election but the progressive move forward party, which won the most votes, was blocked from

forming a government by conservative military backed parties. Pheu Thai has now aligned itself with two of those military backed parties a stunning

turnaround, reversing a campaign pledge to keep the military out of politics.

THITINAN PONGSUDHIRAK, CHULALONGKOM UNIVERSITY: Thavisin has comeback. Pheu Thai is leading coalition governments to protect and safeguard

establishment, which earlier Pheu Thai for many years of being subversive, accusing Thavisin of being usurped against the Crown.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Experts point to the irony of the former enemy becoming the current partner.

PONGSUDHIRAK: Pheu Thai support base is angry, upset and disappointed because this is a sellout.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Pheu Thai has said the coalition is necessary to break three months of stalemate since the election. The move also supports

the will of millions of voters who backed move forward, many of them young, hoping for deep structural reforms in Thailand.

This move forward supporter says I had high hopes for our future, my children's future it would have had better lives. I'm disappointed and I

don't know if the current ruling party will be betrayed. Thailand has seen more than a dozen successful coups since 1932. Paula Hancocks, CNN Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHATTERLEY: And just into CNN, the first of 19 co-defendants in the criminal case in Georgia, against Former U.S. President Donald Trump has

turned himself in. Scott Hall is a bail bondsman charged with crimes related to breaching the voting system in Coffee County, Georgia. These are

live pictures of the Fulton County jail where Scott Hall surrendered.

Donald Trump is expected to turn himself in on Thursday. OK, coming up on the show a Vietnamese car company with plans to rev up the E market in the

United States. I speak to the CEO of VinFast following last week's U.S. IPO that's next.

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[09:20:00]

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move", now what started out as a company selling noodles in Ukraine has now turned into one of the newest players in

the electric car market? VinFast was founded in 2017 by Vietnam's largest private conglomerate Vingroup.

Its first models were combustion engine cars but last year a complete change of gear switching immediately to producing EVs only. Now for

electric models are already in production with two more expected by year end. Now after VinFast shares had a red hot debut on the NASDAQ.

It also has big plans to expand U.S. operations. The company recently broke ground on a factory in North Carolina that should start production in 2025.

There is a lot going on. And joining us now I'm pleased to say is Madam Le Thi Thu The the CEO of VinFast, Madam Thy fantastic to have you on the show

once again.

First and foremost, congratulations on the IPO last week. It's a huge milestone, I think for Vingroup. But also a huge moment for you and the

team at VinFast, describe it how it felt?

LE THI THU THE, CEO OF VINFAST: Thank you very much, Julia, for having me on the call. Well, it was very exciting. We were pleasantly surprised by

the warm welcome of the market. We think that you know the market recognize our competency and our, you know, the market needs somebody like us. So

we're very, very excited.

CHATTERLEY: I mean there was some commentary that we're suggesting you have a bigger valuation than Ford, do you have a bigger valuation than

Volkswagen? I think we should point out there's only 1 percent of the shares available. So that creates volatility in this moment. Is that a

distraction from the border bold ambitions, I think of the company now? Talk about the plan from here.

THY: Oh, well, we as always we have we have variable plans ahead of us. While we got listed, we believe that the market is improving, so that would

help with the fundraising in the future. For now we have the backing of our parents company Vingroup and our Chairman with a total commitment of $2.5

billion.

That should get us to break even and profitability. And we are building the plant in North Carolina. We are focusing on manufacturing, delivering cars

expanding to them, or different markets. We are in Vietnam, North America, very soon in Europe and ASEAN in the Middle East. So there's a lot ahead of

us.

CHATTERLEY: I can tell, as your history proves. And you've already said it. You never lack ambition, bold ambition and tough changes, bold decisions,

market moves, whatever it is you have it in the firm's history, but there are a lot of people wondering why the United States there's huge

competition.

The clients are exacting. Some of them have criticized, some of the products I know, you've responded and said, look, we'll adapt. Why the

United States and why do you think you can take on big players like Tesla, for example? How many vehicles can you sell in the U.S.?

THY: I think exactly for the reasons that you just mentioned, the U.S. is a very difficult, very challenging market. And if we can make it there, we

pretty much can build our brand and can make it anywhere. I think we believe in the strong future in the U.S., especially with our new model,

the hybrid models where we welcome.

We joined forces with dealers to be able to expand to the market more quickly. So we have already received a lot of interest from many different

states. So I believe that and also the market is really big that if you take the view that the whole world and the whole market in the U.S. are

moving from internal combustion engine to EVs. The market is enormous and there's enough room for everybody. So we believe that we should be able to

take part in the market.

CHATTERLEY: With the production capacity of that North Carolina plant when it gets going in 2025 is 150,000 vehicles I believe.

[09:25:00]

Are you talking about managing to sell that kind of number of cars on an annual basis? Or do you expect to ramp that up to I know the production

capacity in Vietnam is what 300,000 at this moment?

THY: Well, we have about 300,000 production capacity in Vietnam that we have planned to ramp up to 950,000 vehicles a year in Vietnam. Vietnam is a

very good manufacturing location. We have the lowest cost base, compared to many other OEMs.

Nobody has the cost base, the labor cost based, for example, and the whole supply chain that we have. So that's a big advantage. The manufacturing

complex in North Carolina wins that with 50,000 vehicles per year, but that can be ramped up as well.

CHATTERLEY: Talk to me about orders, because I know the VF 8 starts at around $46,000 You're not taking reservations for the VF 9 which I've taken

a look at to what can you tell me in terms of the kind of demand that you're seeing and what you hope to see in terms of ramp up of that now that

you've IPO and you have adverts, and you're out there sort of selling the brand.

THY: Like we have about I mean, we have actively try to convert the pre orders the will to into like, hot orders. And right now we have about, so

we reduced the numbers of pre orders. That's what I meant. And right now, we still have about 26,000 pre orders globally about 10,000 is from the

U.S. And about two thirds of that is for Vietnam. So by overwhelming number orders for Vietnam and a lot of people are waiting for the VF 9, the U.S.

CHATTERLEY: And you're confident that the production capacity that you have can meet that demand. You're saying it's not about demand its supply

question.

THY: No --

CHATTERLEY: And finally, what do you think is gone?

THY: I'm sorry, what?

CHATTERLEY: I was just going to say what do you think the biggest impediment? What's the biggest restriction on EV adoption today? Is it

price? Is it fear of being able to charge it? What do you think that the biggest holdback is for customers today?

THY: I think having the products for everybody having the product that fit everybody's budget is the biggest hope back to the adoption. I think the

charging in the U.S. is actually I mean, it's growing it's getting better. But we, for example, we have access to about 73,000 charging points in the

U.S. and that.

And with the growing number of charging points, and growing number of partners that we have, we believe that should be sufficient and continue to

continue to be better. But I think the issue is to have an EV for every budget. So our mission is to make EVs accessible to everyone.

And that's why we have a whole lineup of vehicles from the little one like the VF 3, which is like 15,000 ISH dollars EVs for very cute, very nice EV

too like the VF 9 full size for three rows SUV. So we have a vehicle for everybody. And that's what we trying to fulfill our mission to make EVs

accessible to everybody.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, I mean that to have an EV on the VA on the road at $15,000 or northwards of that I think would be a huge game changer in -- about.

Final question to bring it back to financial markets, if there were investors out there that didn't manage to get that teeny 1 percent that was

available? When might they get an opportunity perhaps to invest at some point in the future if you plan to raise more money or release more shares?

Can you give us a hint, madam Thy?

THY: Well, I think, we continue exploring the opportunities for follow on transactions. And I anticipate that we should be able to do the next few

months. Also the most of the shares will come out to blocker in the next six months to a year as well, so that when there will be more liquidity on

the market as well.

CHATTERLEY: Wow, we look forward to that and speaking to you again soon. Congratulations, once again on the U.S. launch and the IPO.

[09:30:00]

Madam Thy, the CEO of VinFast, great to chat to you once again, thank you.

THY: Thank you so much, Julia. Thank you thanks a lot.

CHATTERLEY: Thank you. OK, still to come, Microsoft to gaming out concessions to ensure British regulators approve its multibillion dollar

Activision Blizzard deals the details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move" and U.S. stock markets are open for business this Tuesday the Wall Street Tech bulls hoping that it's a

terrific Tuesday. What are we seeing? Well, we've got the major averages we've got the NASDAQ higher by some seven tenths of 1 percent.

So that's certainly in the lead the DOW JONES thinking about it relatively unchanged. As you can see, we've also got the U.S. Treasury yields ticking

higher once again. So I think equities watching certainly what the bond market, investors are doing. Macy's in the meantime shares pressuring the

retail sector specifically the company beating on earnings.

Yet look at that stock warning that consumers are falling behind on credit card payments with delinquencies risings may see also being forced to mark

down merchandise to help sales too. The company citing, "macro-economic pressures impacting shoppers that stock down near 9 percent on earnings."

And Microsoft has made a major concession to British competition regulators to try and save one of the biggest tech takeover deals ever.

[09:35:00]

It's 69 billion dollar acquisition of video gaming giant Activision Blizzard. It comes off to the U.K. markets watchdog blocked the deal

putting it at odds with regulators in the EU and the United States. Anna Stewart joins me now. Well, the EU and the United States had issues too.

Let's be clear, but CMA has been the toughest critic of this deal because they're worried about competition in the cloud gaming market. What's the

concession here? And do we think it's enough?

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Yes, the FTC in the U.S. wants to block it. But couldn't the EU get some concessions? Will this be enough for the U.K.

regulator which remains the last big hurdle I would say? So the concession that's been added to the deal is Activation Blizzard will sell its

streaming rights outside of the EU to Ubisoft, which essentially means that Microsoft wouldn't be able to exclusively use its own cloud streaming

service.

Now, that's quite a big difference and also it means that it's not just Activision games on Activision, currently, but any games for the next 15

years. It's a major concession, and I think the CMA will look at this very carefully. Will it move the needle? The deadline for this latest

examination is October 18, Julia.

It could even open a Phase Two for further examination. This deal was first announced in January of last year, it's entirely possible. We will still be

talking about it in January of next year.

CHATTERLEY: And beyond. It's going to take a while even if this gets past it to get this deal done. Now, raise your arm. If you'd like to hear about

Softbank on IPO, I would Anna, I remember this deal being done in 2016. A whopping deal extraordinary too for the U.K. a technology sector, now what?

STEWART: Could be worth an arm and a leg if it IPO's once again.

CHATTERLEY: Yes --

STEWART: So this company Arm is something of a crown jewel in the U.K. tech sector. Softbank bought it in 2016, which meant it was delisted from the

London Stock Exchange. And now looks like to be listening in on the NASDAQ and the U.S. which has generated lots of negative headlines.

I have to say over here in the U.K., given it is really the crown jewel of our tech sector. It will be an interesting one. This is actually plan B for

Softbank, which wanted to sell it to Nvidia a bigger rival, but was blocked from doing that by regulators it was going to sell it for $40 billion.

Now we don't have the price range for the listing. We don't know how many shares will be sold. But currently, Reuters believes that it will be valued

around 60 to $70 billion. I think that's double what it was valued when Softbank bought it in 2016. The big question, will investors agree with

such a lofty valuation?

Yes, it's major arm when it comes to smartphones, something like 99 percent of smartphones in the world have a chip from this company in it. The bigger

question is given people have smartphones for longer and sales and dipping, can it lead in the AI race and that's where in video currently dominates?

So huge question marks they think about the growth of this company. But hey, we've not had a blockbuster IPO for a while so I'm excited.

CHATTERLEY: And that was about to say or any real IPO quite frankly previous conversation you know kept out of it. It's been a very quiet

market due to rising interest rates of course it's had a chilling effect. We shall see, Anna Stewart always armed and ready with -- Anna Stewart

thank you for that.

OK, still ahead, Accenture has its eyes on AI, the consulting giants spending billions of dollars expanding its artificial intelligence systems

and its urging clients to invest too. Accenture's CEO discusses all, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:00]

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move", shares of artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia are on the rise for a second straight session. Ahead of

its closely watched earnings report out Wednesday, Nvidia soared more than 8 percent Monday on hopes that corporate uptake of AI will rapidly expand

in the years ahead.

And shares of Zoom under pressure in early trade too, but announcing on its earnings call Monday that it has an "aggressive roadmap" for rolling out AI

features for video conferencing. In the meantime, IT services and consulting firm Accenture is set to supercharge its AI strategy as well as

Accenture investing $3 billion over the next three years.

Not just to beef up its own use of AI but to help clients utilize AI tools to their advantage too. Accenture also set to double its AI focus staff to

80,000 workers to help drive that strategy forward. And I'm pleased to say Julie Sweet to the CEO of Accenture joins us now.

Julie, fantastic to have you on the show, it's a very splashy headline, I think. Can you just put that $3 billion over three years into context? What

proportion is that compared to the other investment spending you'll do in that time?

JULIE SWEET, CEO, ACCENTURE: Julia, it's a very significant portion of our investment, although one of the things that we really believe in is that in

order to help our clients, we need to invest at scale. And when you think about the ability to double our amount of people from 40,000 to 80,000 in

that period of time, given how much everyone is struggling with getting these important skills. We think this will really make a difference both to

Accenture and to our clients.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, the headline was the other catchy part of this as well. I mean, I know you've been training your staff, since 2019, to get them

comfortable with the concepts behind AI and what I think it's going to mean in the future, as best we know. And how hard is it going to be to hire

40,000 people for this purpose in an incredibly tight labor market? Where are you looking to hire?

SWEET: One of the advantages we have is that we already spend over a billion dollars a year in training our people. And we've demonstrated that

we can do that over different cycles. So for example, cloud was a big cycle. And many of the people that we trained in cloud make up that

workforce today.

And so our investment is not just around hiring, but it's about retraining our people. And this is going to be an important part of the future for our

clients. And we're helping our clients do the same.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's an interesting question. And I think a lot of the conversations around the impact of AI come back to jobs, whether there's

going to be jobs that are made superfluous in the short term, new jobs created in the longer term. And that period in produced between perhaps

where there is either a skills shortage or a skills gap and a mismatch.

How concerned are you whether it's for your business or for other businesses that we simply have a period of time where there aren't the

right workers, or the right jobs available for the workers that we have?

SWEET: Will be stepping back for a moment, Julia that we really see ourselves entering what I would call the decade of AI. And so it's

important to recognize that AI is a technology, including the exciting Gen AI that will have an incredibly powerful impact on the next decade.

How that impact is done really depends on how companies, governments and society embrace AI. And one of the big components of that will be to

recognize its power and then invest in being able to retrain as a company that went from less than 20 percent digital cloud insecurity to over 70

percent digital cloud insecurity in a six year period from 2014 to 2019.

[09:45:00]

We did so mostly by educating and training that should inspire companies and governments to recognize that if they embrace the change to AI, and

then invest in re skilling, this can be an incredibly positive impact for all.

CHATTERLEY: That's a mind blowing statistic in terms of transition, even before the pandemic hit, which I think says something about the

transformation of the business. How do you help CEOs that are perhaps watching this that you're discussing on a daily basis about how they even

begin to approach this?

I know one of the ways that I've seen you talk about is to just take it back to base principles and say, look, where can things like predictive AI

help us with our data analytics or where can generative AI with design and content creation, perhaps help us?

Can it be that simple in terms of the way that you think about how AI can help the business rather than just sort of throwing money at everything,

and perhaps investing in the wrong place, which is dangerous at this point in time too?

SWEET: Well, Julia, first of all, if you ever get tired of your current gig, you can certainly come to Accenture, because you just articulated very

well how some of the ways that we're talking about AI, so thank you. I would start and I always do start with CEOs with, as you said, the basics,

which is that, before you can even use AI, you have to have the right digital core.

And what do I mean by that? AI only works if you have data, in order to access data in real time, and quickly you need to be in the cloud, you need

to have modern systems that allow you to understand your talent that allow you to understand your financial data.

And this digital core is the differentiator right now between companies who are actually able to leap and use AI to grow more, to optimize their costs.

And those that cannot, because if you are not in the cloud, if you haven't invested in your data architecture, you're not actually able to take

advantage of that.

And keeping in mind today, only 40 percent of the workloads that could be in the cloud, which means there's a lot of haves and have nots. When you

think about who is going to be able to use AI and so much advice to CEOs is to get real and face where, are they in building the digital core and how

they can leapfrog? So that they're not left behind, where those who are ahead are embracing AI and transforming their industries.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's such a great point. We're at the beginning in the early stages of cloud transition, never mind adding on another layer with

artificial intelligence. And just one of the things obviously those CEOs have to think about. We're heading into Jackson Hole this weekend.

Julie, I just want to get your take on what CEOs are talking to you about in terms of concerns, risks, whether it's the outlook for the U.S. economy,

interest rates, and concerns about China. What's the thing that people are sort of coalescing around at this moment as being perhaps of greatest

concern?

SWEET: Right now, the big conversation is how to navigate? What looks to be an ongoing era of a lot of uncertainty, both on the economic side, and the

geopolitical side, as well as technology? And I think that's something that's really different. We always used to talk about geopolitical

uncertainty or economic uncertainty.

But the companies who are most focused on how to be resilient now see the trifecta, technology, geopolitics, and economics. And that is a different

way of looking at the world and in establishing strategy. And we're spending a lot of time on CEOs on how they embrace this new type of

resilience, which has to have technology at the center in order to be successful.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, we need AI because we need more hours in the day, quite frankly, to keep a grip on all of it, Julie, fantastic to chat to you. I

look forward to continuing the conversation. Thank you so much for joining us today. Julie Sweet, there the CEO of Accenture.

OK, still to come, in a global world, we can take connection for granted from communication to trade. We look at how one company in Ghana is taking

that connection digital.

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[09:50:00]

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back trade in Africa can often take longer and can cost more compared to other parts of the world. Just 12 percent of Africa's

total economic activity comes from regional trade that's the rate at least four times lower than in Asia and across Europe. But one Ghanaian company

is taking on these challenges by digitizing logistics across the continent.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Swapping the battery out on this electric motorcycle takes about eight minutes allowing drivers to recharge without

the wait. These bikes and the batteries belong to a Ghanaian startup called Kofa, which hopes to improve energy access across the continents.

DELA KUMAHOR, VICE PRESIDENT OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AT KOFA: Building out of battery network using transportation as sort of our primary use case

because that's how you get the highest use of energy out of the battery network. But our matches can be used for a variety of applications.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Kofa has open seven swap stations across Accra. The team designs this network in Ghana, but it imports most parts

from China, which can be a tricky process for a young company.

KUMAHOR: We're a startup and not a big team. And so anything that can remove a blocker for us is massive for us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Luckily for Dela, help happen to be a stone's throw away. Jetstream Africa is an e-logistics platform based just

east of Accra that is transforming cross border trade. The company simplifies the manual shipping process by centralizing it online.

MIISHE ADDY, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER OF JETSTREAM AFRICA: The import and export industry requires at least nine vendors, none of those parties work for the

same company. They don't use the same technology and many of them don't use any technology at all. They don't speak the same language, they don't use

the same currency and the cargo has to move through all of them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Jetstream Africa's digital one stop shop connects these different groups. Customers supply basic info about their

goods, and behind the scenes Jetstream Africa handles the rest. It also provides live tracking info and compiles analytics to help inform decision

making.

Several competitors across Africa offered digitized supply chain services. But Miishe says her company's approach to financing sets it apart.

ADDY: We finance customers not just on the customs duties or the freight costs, even the cost of their goods so that they can ship at their full

capacity for us even though it is risky to lend money to customers who can't get loans from banks. It's the only way I'm convinced it's the only

way that we're going to drive transformation in global trade in Africa.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Sub Saharan Africa scored lowest in the World Bank's ease of doing business rankings which measures factors like

time, cost and regulatory environment. But many experts think digital tools can help improve the region standing. Dela has been working with Jetstream

Africa since day one.

[09:55:00]

This year the team hopes to double the number of swap stations across Ghana, a target made possible by this partnership.

KUMAHOR: We're very proud to be where we are. And we're very lucky to have Jetstream is backing us and helping us towards that goal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHATTERLEY: Breaking news into CNN and its good news. Two of the children trapped in a chairlift in Pakistan have been rescued. That's according to a

military source. It now means six people including four children remain stuck in that chairlift dangling hundreds of meters over a mountainous

region.

They have been there for hours officials say the children were headed to school when one of the chairlifts cables snapped. Officials say the rescue

efforts have been hindered by strong winds and the sun is about to set there. Officials are sending food to those trapped inside. Any further

updates, we will bring them to you. For now, that's it for the show. "Connect the World" is up next, and I'll see you tomorrow.

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