🍃 Venezuela Tops Oil Reserves. India’s Aviation Workforce is in Shortage. Global RAM Prices at Record High.

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China cuts 87,000 solar manufacturing jobs. Uttar Pradesh signs MoU under the IndiaAI Mission to boost AI development and skills. Regional partners unite to strengthen Northwest Georgia’s healthcare workforce. Allen Town to collaborate with Penn College in providing pre-apprenticeship programs.

Purdue University has partnered with Google Public Sector to expand AI use across the institution. Taiwan to train 500,000 AI professionals. LEGO Education introduces hands-on tools to support AI literacy and computer science across K–8 classrooms.

Today's Topics

💼 Workforce. India’s CPL issuance declined amid aviation workforce shortage🍃 Green Skills. Venezuela held more than 6× the oil reserves of the US
🏭 Advanced Manufacturing. Global RAM prices up as AI boomed and supply chain crunched

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💼 India’s CPL Issuance Declined Amid Aviation Workforce Shortage

India's CPL issuances fell in 2024 following a year-on-year high, exposing severe aviation workforce shortages. India needs 30,000 pilots over 15-20 years, but currently has only 11,775, with training not keeping up to meet the target. Recent FDTL regulations, increasing rest from 36 to 48 hours, limiting night landings, were all contributors to the recent IndiGo crisis, cancelling 4,500 flights (December 2025), dropping on-time performance to 35%. New measures to revive the Indian aviation sector include additional funding for pilot training and streamlined clearances for new airlines to enter the Indian market.

🍃 Venezuela Held More Than 6× the Oil Reserves of the US

Venezuela recorded 303.2B barrels, over 6× US reserves, yet produces just 1M barrels daily versus Saudi Arabia's 10-12M. Recent political developments intensified resource control concerns, including US military action capturing the Venezuelan leader, with the US government announcing that major US energy companies will invest billions to revive the infrastructure. This exemplifies the resource curse and also supports the claim that petrostates are more likely to initiate conflicts, becoming targets of external intervention. Resource-rich yet politically fragile states face perpetual vulnerability as their wealth attracts geopolitical competition while undermining democratic development, trapping nations in cycles of dependency and instability.

🏭 Global RAM Prices Up As AI Boomed and Supply Chain Crunched

By late 2025, global RAM prices increased by 50-300%, driven by an acute memory shortage as AI development accelerated faster than supply expansion. Demand is highly concentrated among hyperscalers and AI leaders like NVIDIA and OpenAI, crowding out smaller buyers and enterprises. Limited fab capacity, long lead times, and HBM prioritisation for AI chips have made RAM increasingly inaccessible and costly, constraining broader tech investment. This shortage has also seeped into consumer technology, as new consumer tech products such as laptops have also risen in price due to RAM component scarcity. 

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