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Microsoft is scaling back its operations in Nigeria, significantly reducing its office space at the Kings Tower building in Ikoyi. The tech giant will decrease its occupancy from six floors to two, following the recent layoff of half its workforce in the country. This downsizing suggests a strategic pullback in Nigeria, with sources indicating that Microsoft may not renew its tenancy when the current lease expires in 2025. In an emailed statement, Microsoft explained, “Organizational and workforce adjustments are a necessary and regular part of managing our business. As we navigate these changes, Microsoft remains steadfast in our commitment to…
OpenAI has announced the selective launch of SearchGPT, an artificial intelligence-powered search engine with real-time access to information from the internet. This move marks OpenAI’s entry into a field long dominated by Google and brings it into competition with Microsoft’s Bing and emerging AI search services like Perplexity. The announcement, had an immediate impact on the market, with shares of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, dropping 3%. Google currently commands a staggering 91.1% share of the search engine market, according to Statcounter. OpenAI revealed that SearchGPT is currently in the prototype stage, with sign-ups open for a limited group of users…
LinkedIn, a subsidiary of Microsoft, has agreed to pay $6.625 million to settle a proposed class action lawsuit accusing the platform of overcharging advertisers by inflating video ad view counts. The preliminary settlement was filed on Thursday, 25th July, in the federal court of San Jose, California, and awaits approval from U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen. The case is titled In re LinkedIn Advertising Metrics Litigation, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 20-08324. The lawsuit, led by TopDevz of Sacramento, California, and Noirefy of Chicago, alleged that LinkedIn counted video ad “views” even when the videos played…
Japanese automaker, Toyota Motor Corporation, is planning to construct a new electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in Fukuoka, to supply batteries to the company’s factory producing Lexus vehicles, according to a report by the Nikkei business daily. Kyushu, situated in Japan’s southwestern Kyushu region, is fast becoming a major hub in Toyota’s supply chain for battery-powered vehicles, and a key export base for the Asian market. Although Toyota has not officially announced the details, a spokesperson confirmed the company is aware of the report and highlighted Toyota’s ongoing initiatives to bolster its EV battery production capacity. The Miyata plant of…
Innovate UK Global Alliance Africa, in partnership with the Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Digital Economy (MISDE) in Ekiti State, has launched the second edition of the Young Innovators Programme. This initiative aims to foster innovation and support the next generation of entrepreneurs by offering a US$9,000 cash prize to the winner, along with access to mentorship, training, and startup capital. The venture was established to create and strengthen UK-African partnerships, enhancing inclusive market access, funding, and investment opportunities through the transfer of innovation knowledge. The Young Innovators Programme is a cornerstone of this mission, focusing on building sustainable innovation…
The United Kingdom has officially joined a landmark agreement designed to boost the global economy by enhancing digital trade. After five years of negotiations, the UK and 90 other countries have finalized the E-Commerce Joint Initiative at the World Trade Organization (WTO). This agreement aims to make trade faster, cheaper, fairer, and more secure, offering significant opportunities for British businesses, workers, and consumers. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates the value of global digital trade to be around £4 trillion and growing. The E-Commerce Joint Initiative will commit all participating nations to digitalizing customs documents and processes,…
Vertiv has launched the MegaMod CoolChip, a liquid cooling-equipped prefabricated modular (PFM) data center solution engineered to enable efficient and reliable AI computing. The solution can be configured to support the platforms of leading AI computing providers and scaled to customer requirements. By bringing together the quality and process efficiency enabled by offsite fabrication with best-in-class AI-ready technologies, MegaMod™ CoolChip can reduce the time to deploy AI-critical digital infrastructure by up to 50%. With demand for AI-ready data center capacity outstripping supply, developers and operators are focused on bringing new capacity online as quickly as possible.Vertiv™ MegaMod™ CoolChip solution integrates…
stc Group and Ericsson have achieved a groundbreaking milestone, deploying the world’s first implementation of Automated Radio Resource Partitioning (RRP) on a 5G standalone network slice. The demonstration took place in a live network environment with a select group of users, and is a world first for the industry. This advanced software feature leverages intent-based automation to significantly improve efficiency and user experience by optimizing the allocation of network resources. Automated RRP is a cutting-edge software feature, based on intent-based automation, that involves the dynamic and intelligent allocation of radio resources to different configured slices to optimize network performance. Automated…
In the rapidly evolving ecosystem of digital governance, Nigeria stands out as a regional leader. According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) G5 Benchmark, The West African nation has reached the advanced standard, sharing this distinction with Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, and South Africa. This achievement underscores Nigeria’s progressive approach to regulation and digital transformation, setting an example for other countries in the region. Nigeria boasts one of the largest economies and ICT sectors in Africa, supported by a complex institutional framework for ICT, IT, and digital transformation. The country’s path to G5 regulation offers valuable insights for regulators and policymakers…
The CEO of Microsoft UK, Clare Barclay has expressed strong support for the new Labour Government’s emphasis on driving economic growth. However, she emphasized the critical need for an advanced, reliable, and robust digital infrastructure to achieve these ambitions. In response to the recent King Charles’ Speech, which outlined the Government’s mission to remove barriers to economic progress, Barclay welcomed the initiative. She remarked that this message signals the UK’s openness to business and readiness to attract investment. Such investment, she noted, could fund public services, alleviate the cost-of-living crisis, and create widespread opportunities. On the topic of regulation, Barclay…