UK government says data centres are now Critical National Infrastructure September 12, 2024 The UK government has officially designated data centres as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), as it looks to further boost investment in the UK’s critical hubs of digital information. With this new status, data centres will receive extra government support to protect crucial data, including NHS records, financial information, and personal smartphone data against major incidents [...]
Proposals submitted for huge £3.75bn data centre in Hertfordshire September 12, 2024 Technology Secretary Peter Kyle has hailed a proposed £3.75bn investment in a colossal new data centre in Hertfordshire. A planning application for what would amount to one of Europe’s largest data centre campuses, at 85 acres and taking up 2m square feet of floor space, has been submitted via a new company DC01UK. Construction will [...]
Tech chiefs warn Chancellor not to undermine growth with tax hike September 11, 2024 A sweeping hike in capital gains tax (CGT) risks “undermining the chancellor’s growth agenda” and could suck talent and investment away from Britain’s start-ups, some of the country’s top fintech bosses have warned. Industry bodies and tech chiefs mounted a co-ordinated push to topple the suggestion of a blanket rise in CGT yesterday as they [...]
Amazon Web Services plots £8bn investment in UK data centres September 11, 2024 Amazon Web Services (AWS) is planning to invest £8bn to build, maintain and operate a number of data centres in the UK over the next five years. The tech giant’s cloud division estimates the cash injection will contribute £14bn to the UK’s total gross domestic product (GDP) through to 2028, and will support an average [...]
Apple unveils Iphone 16 and plans AI tool launch in the coming weeks September 9, 2024 Apple has unveiled the Iphone 16 and revealed launch dates and features of its new artificial intelligence tool, Apple Intelligence.
Publishers rally as Google advertising antitrust trial restarts in US September 9, 2024 One month after a US court ruled that Google illegally maintained its monopoly on internet search, the tech giant is back in the dock. This time, Google’s lucrative online advertising business, which last year raked in nearly $240bn (£183bn), is under fire, with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and 17 states accusing its parent company, Alphabet, of monopolising digital [...]
Google accused of using its dominance to harm the competition September 6, 2024 Google has been accused of using “anti-competitive practices” which harm thousands of publishers and advertisers in the UK. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it has provisionally found that the US giant could be negatively impacting rivals over open-display advert technology. According to its findings, the watchdog said that when placing digital adverts on [...]
X-odus: Musk platform ‘distinctly not well received’ by marketers September 5, 2024 Marketers’ trust in Elon Musk’s X as an effective platform for advertising has plummeted since 2022, with advertisers anxious about the “brand safety” that the controversial social media channel offers. Approval ratings for the social media channel have plummeted to minus 21 per cent, down from plus 15 per cent just two years ago, according [...]
CMA clears Microsoft and Inflection AI partnership after merger ruling September 4, 2024 Britain’s competition regulator has today cleared Microsoft’s arrangements with Inflection AI, which included a licensing deal and the hiring of former Inflection employees. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced in April it was looking at three separate deals that potentially fall under UK merger law and, if so, whether they could have a harmful [...]
Apple has ‘significant concerns’ over CMA probe into its Safari mobile browser September 4, 2024 Apple said it has “significant concerns” with the UK competition watchdog investigation into the supply of mobile browsers. In 2022, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched a probe into the dominance of Apple’s Safari browser and Google’s Chrome browser, along with the possibility that Apple may be restricting the cloud gaming market through its [...]