Cloud

• The European Union has launched a new technology sovereignty package focused on enhancing capabilities in artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and cloud infrastructure. • The initiative is designed to strategically reduce the EU's reliance on foreign technology suppliers and strengthen internal digital autonomy. • This move addresses critical vulnerabilities in cybersecurity, data governance, and legal frameworks to ensure more secure and independent digital standards.

• The European Union has launched a technological sovereignty package aimed at accelerating independence in AI, semiconductors, and cloud infrastructure. • The strategy focuses on expanding European alternatives for cybersecurity tools, internet technologies, and semiconductor software to reduce reliance on foreign providers. • Key initiatives include funding for open-source start-ups, investments in digital skills, and the implementation of new procurement guidance to increase public sector adoption of EU-developed solutions.

• The European Union is introducing new regulations for cloud computing, AI, and semiconductors to decrease its strategic dependence on foreign technology providers, primarily US tech giants. • This initiative follows a massive surge in data center investments, which are projected to reach a record $61 billion in 2025, though development remains heavily skewed toward the US. • To counter this imbalance, the EU plans to combine increased funding for data center construction with stricter sovereignty requirements to accelerate infrastructure growth within the bloc.

• The European Union has launched a tech sovereignty initiative to increase local production of microchips, cloud services, and artificial intelligence. • The strategy aims to reduce dependence on American tech providers and mitigate supply chain vulnerabilities, specifically citing recent tensions involving the Netherlands-based, Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia. • A primary goal of the initiative is to triple Europe's data center capacity over the next five to seven years to support domestic AI and cloud development.

• The European Commission has launched a new technological sovereignty package to shift the continent's digital strategy toward greater independence. • The Cloud and AI Development Act aims to triple Europe's data center capacity within five to seven years while accelerating AI adoption. • Brussels is integrating open-source solutions to ensure digital tools in cybersecurity, semiconductors, and internet technologies remain auditable and interoperable.

• The European Union has launched a tech sovereignty initiative to reduce its strategic reliance on American and Asian technology companies. • The plan focuses on boosting domestic capabilities in semiconductors, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence to mitigate vulnerabilities in the global chip supply chain. • A primary goal of the package is to triple Europe's data center capacity over the next five to seven years to support local AI development.

• The European Commission has proposed the Cloud and AI Development Act and Chips Act 2.0 to reduce the EU's reliance on U.S. Big Tech firms. • These new laws aim to tighten data control within critical sectors and advance the bloc's strategic goal of technological sovereignty. • The initiative is designed to close the competitive gap between Europe and its primary technological rivals, the United States and China.

• The European Commission has proposed the Cloud and AI Development Act, which introduces sovereignty tiers for cloud providers to reduce reliance on U.S. tech dominance. • Major U.S. firms, including Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, face potential hurdles in securing sensitive government data contracts due to conflicts with the U.S. Cloud Act. • The legislation aims to triple the EU's data center capacity and prioritize the use of EU-developed hardware and software within strategic sectors.

• The European Union unveiled a "tech sovereignty" package on Wednesday aimed at reducing the bloc's reliance on American and Asian technology companies. • The initiative focuses on promoting European alternatives for hardware and services, specifically targeting chips, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence. • This move follows supply chain vulnerabilities highlighted by a power struggle at Nexperia, a Netherlands-based chipmaker owned by a Chinese firm.

• The European Commission has introduced new tech sovereignty laws targeting the cloud, artificial intelligence, and semiconductor sectors. • These legislative measures aim to reduce the European Union's dependence on foreign technology providers and bolster the growth of domestic industries. • This move reflects a broader global trend toward technological nationalism, paralleled by Beijing's recent multibillion-dollar funding efforts to scale national AI champions like DeepSeek.

• A new survey reveals that European startups continue to rely heavily on US-based cloud and AI providers despite efforts to foster regional alternatives. • This dependency is driven by persistent capital gaps and the hope that using US infrastructure will make these companies more attractive for future acquisitions. • The trend highlights a strategic disparity, as founders find larger funding rounds and broader investor pools more accessible in the United States than in Europe.

• Mistral AI, the French artificial intelligence startup, is investing billions of dollars to develop its own AI cloud infrastructure to reduce reliance on American tech giants. • The company is expanding its offerings beyond large language models to provide the underlying computing power and infrastructure necessary for AI deployment. • This strategic move aims to establish European digital sovereignty by ensuring that AI development and data storage remain within the EU's jurisdiction.

• Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced plans to invest over $33 billion in cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure across Southeast Asia by 2039. • The investment strategy focuses on four specific markets: Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, where AWS already maintains regional infrastructure. • The Philippines was notably excluded from this investment list despite its status as one of the region's major digital economies.

• The European AI & Cloud Summit 2026 showcased EU-funded innovations focusing on artificial intelligence and cloud technology integration. • Two primary initiatives, ACHIEVE and EMAI4EU, were highlighted to demonstrate Europe's investment in technological capabilities and digital skills development. • The ACHIEVE project specifically targets small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and public sector organizations, providing training and technical support in cybersecurity, AI, and cloud computing.

• Amazon announced plans to invest over $33 billion in cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure across Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand by 2039. • These investments are projected to contribute more than $64 billion to the collective GDP of the four nations and support over 56,300 annual full-time equivalent jobs in the data center supply chain. • The move aligns with the rapid growth of the ASEAN region, which is expected to become the world’s fourth largest economy with a digital economy valued at $560 billion by 2030.

Member of army squad sent with medics to assist suspected hantavirus patient recounts descent to remote islandThe hardest part of the parachute jump, according to Capt George Lacey, is falling backwards through the air. It is Saturday and Lacey, and his squad of six plus two medics, have just leapt out of an RAF transport, 2,500 metres over the south Atlantic.“The parachute can only go forward so quickly,” he says, meaning that it has to be pulled at precisely the right moment. “So you have to turn into the wind and basically fly backwards, which is a very weird sensation, as you can imagine.” Continue reading...

• Akamai Technologies announced a major cloud infrastructure services contract worth $1.8 billion over seven years with a leading frontier AI model provider, identified by Bloomberg as Anthropic. • The company's stock posted its best weekly performance since April 2013, gaining 42% for the week including a 27% jump on Friday to reach a record high. • Akamai provides cloud computing, cybersecurity, and content delivery services critical for accelerating websites, apps, and AI workloads amid surging demand for compute infrastructure.

• Anthropic revealed a new collaboration with SpaceXAI on May 8, 2026, to leverage specialized cloud compute resources for scaling its AI model training. • The deal provides Anthropic access to high-performance GPU clusters optimized for large-scale AI workloads, addressing compute shortages in the industry. • This partnership enhances Anthropic's competitiveness amid surging global AI demand, potentially accelerating releases of advanced models like Claude successors.

• Pinecone launched a new cloud region in Singapore to serve the Asia-Pacific market, expanding its AI knowledge infrastructure capabilities across the region. • The Singapore region deployment positions Pinecone as a key provider for enterprise AI applications requiring low-latency data access and localized infrastructure in Southeast Asia. • This expansion reflects growing demand from regional organizations for specialized AI infrastructure and vector database services supporting advanced analytics and machine learning workloads.

• Krutrim successfully pivoted to AI cloud services, achieving profitability and igniting a rally in India's tech sector as of May 5, 2026. • The shift validates India's domestic AI infrastructure development, positively impacting stocks like TCS, Infosys, and RIL. • This milestone signals a growth runway for Indian IT giants, reshaping competition against global players.

Russian pavilion to stay closed as outcry over Israel’s inclusion also grows – but nesting seagull provides some light reliefThe 61st Venice Biennale vernissage began on Tuesday under grey clouds and rain showers, as political tension, parties and protest dominated proceedings at one of the art world’s biggest events.Lubaina Himid, the British entrant, who has spent a career creating work that picks at her country’s colonial past, took over the UK’s pavilion with her large-scale paintings and sound collage that recalls a “perfect British summer’s day”. Continue reading...

• DeepInfra, a Palo Alto-based AI infrastructure company, secured $107 million in Series B funding to expand its global AI inference cloud platform. • The funding will be used to enhance the company's cloud infrastructure capabilities and support for AI model deployment across regions. • DeepInfra competes in the rapidly growing AI infrastructure market alongside companies like Together AI and Replicate, addressing demand for cost-effective inference services.

Exclusive: Scale model found in Christo’s studio leads to London realisation of internally lit Package on a CeilingChristo once wrapped up the Reichstag, suspended a curtain across a Colorado valley and covered up the Pont Neuf in Paris. Now, six years after the artist’s death, a London gallery is to create a monumental installation he designed in 1968, using a detailed scale model and drawings that had been presumed lost until their chance discovery.Christo had imagined a vast, internally illuminated suspended form, like a cloud, but technical constraints meant the plan was never brought to fruition. Continue reading...

• Meta reported $107bn in contractual commitments for Q1 2026 cloud services to fuel AI model development. • Aggressive investments include datacenter expansions and supply chain deals for AI hardware components. • Company expects AI breakthroughs later in 2026, pushing to monetize advanced research.

• Amazon Web Services achieved its fastest growth in nearly four years, fueled by AI solutions and enterprise adoption. • Key drivers include innovations like Bedrock and Kiro amid surging cloud spending. • AI is sparking a new wave of infrastructure investments in the US market.

• Aviatrix Inc. announced the launch of a new platform designed to contain artificial intelligence agents and enforce security controls across AI workloads without requiring changes to AI agents or code. • The platform extends Aviatrix's Cloud Native Security Fabric with two new products: Zero Trust for AI Workloads (now generally available) and Aviatrix AgentGuard (in early access), enabling IT teams to set policies that allow or deny access to external AI services and block shadow AI with allowlists. • The solution provides network-layer enforcement across workloads and regions, addressing the growing need to secure AI agents, large language model proxies, and agentic frameworks in enterprise environments.

• Google Cloud Next 2026 concluded with more than 250 announcements on products, customers, and ecosystem developments focused on AI and enterprise tools. • Key security features include Agent Anomaly Detection using LLMs to flag unusual AI agent behavior in real time and Chrome Enterprise's AI-aware extension threat detections now in preview. • Chrome Enterprise will soon offer shadow AI reporting to identify unsanctioned web-based AI and SaaS use by employees, enhancing visibility into shadow AI risks.

• Copperhelm raised $7 million in funding to launch an agentic cloud security platform leveraging AI agents for threat detection. • The platform automates real-time remediation at scale, addressing escalating cloud vulnerabilities in US enterprises. • This funding enables Copperhelm to commercialize innovative AI-driven cybersecurity amid rising breach incidents.