Rajnat Singh calls for stricter checks in India's defense manufacturing, insisting on quality implementation at all stages

Dubai is preparing to attract global attention with a new unique initiative. A special pedestrian walkway made of 24-karat gold is being created in the Dubai Gold District in Dubai, which is positioned as the first and longest gold walkway in the world.

According to Rashid Al Hamadi, Senior Director of Dubai Gold District, the opening of this walkway is scheduled for the end of 2026.

According to Gulf Today, this walkway will be located in the Dubai Gold District, which is situated in the Deira area. This area is a major center for gold and jewelry trade in Dubai. The Dubai Gold District was launched in January 2026, and according to official information, it concentrates all activities related to gold, jewelry, bullion, wholesale trade, and investments in one place. This entire zone includes over a thousand retailers.

According to an official representative of the Dubai Gold District, it was initially planned to open the gold walkway about two months after its announcement, i.e., by the end of 2026. However, the exact opening date has not yet been disclosed.

Although reports state that the walkway will be made of 24-karat gold, there is an important nuance. Currently, the Dubai Gold District has not disclosed the exact length of the walkway, the amount of gold used, construction technology, or the total cost. Therefore, it cannot be asserted that the entire walkway will consist of solid gold.

The goal of this project is not only to provide people with the opportunity to walk on the gold walkway. Dubai Gold District views this as part of a plan to stimulate tourism and further strengthen Dubai's position as a leading global gold trading hub.

Dubai Gold District reports that since the beginning of 2026, the area has seen a 20 percent increase in new wholesale gold offices, as well as a 15 percent increase in new stores related to gold, jewelry, gemstones, and luxury watches.

This idea did not arise suddenly. During the launch of the Dubai Gold District in January 2026, the Dubai Media Office announced plans to create the world's first 'Golden Street' here, which was planned to be developed as a special tourist attraction. At that time, it was stated that further information about the project would be published in stages.

At the same time, a record was set in Dubai for gold jewelry. A pair of traditional Indian-designed earrings from Joyalukkas Jewelry set a Guinness World Record for the heaviest and largest pair of gold earrings. According to the report, the total weight of these 22-karat gold earrings is 16.514 kilograms. Instead of being sold, they will be displayed permanently in Dubai.

Thus, Dubai may soon have an attraction where people will come not only to buy gold but also to experience the feeling of walking on a gold-made walkway.

Significant changes have occurred at Nvidia, a company specializing in AI and chip development. After 33 years, Jensen Huang resigned as CEO, and the company's leadership was passed to current CFO Colette Kress, who was appointed interim CEO.

The company began searching for a new CEO. Questions arose regarding the salary of the new interim CEO, as well as how much she earned as CFO and what the former CEO Jensen Huang received.

Information about Colette Kress's salary is presented in Nvidia's 2026 proxy statement. In 2026, Colette Kress's total package amounted to $14.34 million (equivalent to approximately 1290 million rupees). This amount includes not only salary but also stock, cash bonuses, and other benefits.

Her annual base salary was $898,577 (about 81 million rupees). Additionally, she received stock options worth $12.82 million and a cash bonus of $600,000. However, information on her salary after being appointed interim CEO is currently unavailable.

Jensen Huang's salary as CEO of Nvidia was significantly higher than Colette Kress's. According to Nvidia's 2026 proxy filing, Jensen Huang's total compensation in 2026 was $36.34 million, which is approximately equal to 3270 million rupees.

Colette Kress's total benefits were 1290 million rupees, whereas Huang received 3280 million rupees as CEO. Thus, there is a difference of about 1980 million rupees between their salaries.

Jensen Huang's departure became known when media reports surfaced about his extramarital affairs. Suspicion arose regarding his girlfriend that she might be a Chinese spy. The situation escalated, forcing him to leave the company.

Discussions about China's rapid transformation, which involves shifting from industrial policy to technological breakthroughs, often focus on metrics of scale: thousands of kilometers of high-speed rail lines, record-breaking bridges, and millions of tons of concrete. However, beneath this physical spectacle lies a quieter but far more significant shift—a transition from merely connecting places to synchronizing the entire national economy.

This process represents a fundamental pivot toward resource reallocation, testing the continental state's ability to convert geographical expanse into an economic asset and whether these invisible connections can sustain the next phase of growth.

The most evident example of this shift is in the digital sphere. China's economic engine, its leading universities, and artificial intelligence laboratories are concentrated on the eastern coast. But training models and storing data requires energy-intensive infrastructure that needs cheap land, cool climates, and vast amounts of electricity—resources located thousands of kilometers inland.

Utilizing resources where they are most needed

Beijing's answer is the 'Eastern Data, Western Computing' initiative. Launched in 2022, this strategy is aimed not so much at laying cables as it is at spatial rebalancing: redirecting non-critical computing tasks away from overloaded coastal power grids into extensive server clusters in resource-rich inland provinces.

This dynamic is clearly visible in Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia province, which serves as a key northern hub for this initiative. The city, long known as China's 'potato capital,' is now positioning itself as the 'token capital,' utilizing the plateau's low temperatures and green energy to host data centers.

During a recent inspection of this center, President Xi Jinping called for the efficient, ecological, and safe development of computing infrastructure, emphasizing the need to ensure the operational effectiveness of completed projects and the timely completion of subsequent construction.

Ulanqab is not an isolated case but part of a nationwide restructuring. The scale is growing rapidly: according to the National Data Administration, by July 2026, China's total intelligent computing power will reach 2.45 million petaflops. More than 85 percent of this capacity is concentrated in eight national computing nodes and three designated computation and energy coordination zones—the main geographical points of the initiative.

For inland provinces, hosting digital economy server farms opens a rare opportunity to move up the value chain, stimulating local demand for high-speed fiber, green microgrids, and specialized engineering services. For these resource-rich areas, there is a chance to go beyond simply supplying land, energy, or raw materials and participate in more complex economic processes.

However, mere capacity is not enough to guarantee value. Early usage indicators show that the next challenge is ensuring that the infrastructure serves real demand. Improved coordination can help transform investments into productive capacity rather than leaving costly assets idle.

Energy as the foundation of growth

Electricity is another critical element of the equation. China's total electricity consumption reached approximately 10.37 trillion kilowatt-hours in 2025. While overall energy consumption increased by about 5 percent year-on-year, electricity use in information transmission, software, and IT has risen by 17 percent. This reflects the pace of growth in the digital economy's energy needs.

At the same time, the distribution of energy resources and demand centers in China is uneven. Many western and northern regions possess significant potential for wind and solar energy, while eastern coastal areas house large industrial clusters and population centers.

Large renewable energy bases and extensive transmission networks help connect these resources to consumers. Linking cleaner electricity with computing power and advanced manufacturing can create new opportunities for resource-rich inland regions.

The logic is simple: energy powers computation; computation supports business; and business can then use these resources to improve production, develop new services, and innovate. Each system becomes more valuable when working in concert with others.

Naturally, the benefits depend on investment efficiency, energy supply reliability, and the presence of real demand. But the broader trajectory is highly significant: infrastructure is capable of helping transform geographical advantages into new sources of industrial growth.

Infrastructure as a development strategy

In China, infrastructure has never been viewed solely as civil construction; it is the fundamental framework of national development. This concept explains why it is enshrined in China's Five-Year Plans. The core principle remains unchanged: geographical friction can be eliminated when vital resources become easier to access, cheaper to transport, and more rationally distributed across the continental territory.

What is being built is changing. The era where the main focus was on traditional 'hard' infrastructure has expanded to what is called 'new infrastructure.' These digital channels are specifically designed to support the real economy, acting as the nervous system for smart factories, automated supply chains, and green production.

The next chapter will be measured not only by what China builds but also by how effectively it can turn these connections into opportunities for sustainable growth.