The Portuguese city of Lisbon will focus on the technology sector next week as it hosts the annual Web Summit conference. The event, also known as “Davos for geeks,” is expected to feature some of the biggest names in the technology industry at an interesting time for the sector. Last year it attracted more than 70,000 participants.
Main stage attractions will include leaders from Meta, Lovable, Qualcomm, and Microsoft, just to name a few. CNBC’s Arjun Karpal will be on the ground speaking with major companies, including the CEOs of Lyft, Oura, DeepL, and Cohere.
Portuguese Prime Minister Luiz Montenegro speaks at the opening ceremony of the Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, on November 11, 2024.
Pedro Nunez | Reuters
The event comes as the rise of AI-powered markets faces increased scrutiny from investors, a larger market voice, politicians and regulators. It’s been a rollercoaster week, with fears of a bubble in the sector shaking global markets after prominent short-selling investor Michael Burry made a massive $1.1 billion bet on AI darlings Nvidia and Palantir.
But will this take away the shine from AI at this week’s Web Summit in Portugal? If this program is anything to go by, AI is not only the main topic, it’s also the answer to almost every question. The heading panels are titled “Play Smarter: How AI is Changing the Game,” “The Age of AI,” “The Future of AI is Visual,” and “The AI Talent War.” There is no mention of bubbles or excessive valuations.
While the recent flogging of major AI stocks from Silicon Valley to London to Tokyo will certainly cast a shadow over the event, there is also something else that is causing headaches for tech executives preparing to arrive in Lisbon next week.
Private jets are reportedly jamming at Lisbon’s airport, forcing some planes to turn around and land at airports more than two hours away from the city. Organizers of the Web Summit told participants, “Please be aware that there is currently a lack of slots for private jets at Lisbon Airport and the smaller surrounding airports for the duration of the Web Summit.”
This week’s earnings:
Monday: CoreWeave, MedioBanca
Tuesday: Vodafone, Porsche
Wednesday: Infineon, Cisco Systems
Thursday: Siemens, Deutsche Telekom, Alibaba, Walt Disney
Friday: Richemont, Allianz
