科技巨头全线“梭哈”AI

Big tech goes all in on AI

科技巨头全线“梭哈”人工智能

Investors are holding their breath. Four big-tech firms with pledges to spend upwards of $600bn this year on AI infrastructure report earnings on Wednesday. Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft, collectively worth almost $12trn, will provide an unprecedented snapshot of the state of AI computing.

投资者们正屏息以待。本周三，四家已承诺今年将在AI基础设施上豪掷逾6000亿美元的科技巨头将发布财报。Alphabet、亚马逊、Meta和微软，这四家总市值近12万亿美元的巨无霸，将为世人提供一幅展现人工智能计算现状的、史无前例的全景图。

The cloud businesses of Alphabet and Amazon are likely to benefit from their close relationships with Anthropic, an AI lab whose revenues surged in the past three months. Microsoft, which has had stronger links with OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, will be closely watched to see whether its software business, particularly its Copilot AI chatbot, is accelerating.

Alphabet和亚马逊的云业务或将得益于其与Anthropic的紧密盟友关系，后者是一家在过去三个月中营收激增的AI实验室。而与ChatGPT开发者OpenAI渊源更深的微软，则将受到密切关注，市场急于看清其软件业务（尤其是Copilot AI聊天机器人）是否正在加速增长。

The question for Meta is whether strong ad revenues and job cuts announced this month will help cover capital spending. A broad concern is whether all four can fulfil their spending plans. Data-centre construction is suffering from popular opposition in America, and chips and energy are in short supply. The mega caps are not all masters of their own destinies.

Meta面临的悬念在于，强劲的广告收入和本月宣布的裁员举措，是否足以抵消其庞大的资本支出。而市场普遍担忧的是，这四家巨头能否如愿完成支出计划。在美国，数据中心的建设正遭遇民间舆论的抵制，且芯片与能源供应依然捉襟见肘。这些超大市值公司，也并非在所有时候都能掌握自己的命运。

重点词汇与常见搭配（Collocations）

• Go all in on: 原为扑克术语“全压/梭哈”，引申为“全力以赴”、“孤注一掷”

• Hold one’s breath: 屏息以待，形容紧张或期待的时刻

• Upwards of: 超过，多于（常用于数字前，体现规模感）

• Infrastructure: 基础设施（AI领域通常指算力、数据中心等）

• Snapshot: 简况，缩影。在《经济学人》中常指对复杂情况的快速审视

• Surge: 激增，暴涨

• Capital spending (CapEx): 资本支出（指购买固定资产、升级设备等长期投入）

• Mega cap: 超大市值股

• Masters of their own destinies: 自己命运的主人

长难句标注与解析

1. 包含后置定语的结构：

Four big-tech firms with pledges to spend upwards of $600bn this year on AI infrastructure report earnings on Wednesday.

• 解析：主语是 Four big-tech firms，谓语是 report。中间的 with pledges… 是复杂的后置定语，修饰这四家公司，交代了它们共同的特征（承诺巨额支出）。

2. 包含定语从句与同位语的复合句：

The cloud businesses of Alphabet and Amazon are likely to benefit from their close relationships with Anthropic, an AI lab whose revenues surged in the past three months.

• 解析：an AI lab 是 Anthropic 的同位语，起解释说明作用；whose 引导定语从句修饰这个实验室。这种“套娃式”结构是《经济学人》提供背景信息的标配。

3. 带有非限制性定语从句与插入成分：

Microsoft, which has had stronger links with OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, will be closely watched to see whether its software business, particularly its Copilot AI chatbot, is accelerating.

解析：which 引导的非限制性定语从句补充了微软的背景；

• maker of ChatGPT 是 OpenAI 的同位语；

• whether 引导宾语从句做 see 的对象；

• particularly… 是插入语，具体化了软件业务的内容。

练习（Exercise）

请尝试将下列中文句子翻译成英文（利用文中出现的长难句型或常见搭配）：

题目： 尽管这家初创公司（startup）承诺将投入大量资金用于研发，但它是否能在这场竞争中掌握自己的命运仍未可知。

(提示：可以使用 “with pledges to”, “whether”, “master of one’s own destiny”)