Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, emphasized the importance for Europe to develop its own artificial intelligence technologies. Speaking in Vienna on September 14, she warned that continued dependence on foreign AI systems could give trade partners leverage over Europe in diplomatic and economic negotiations.
George Osborne, OpenAI's head of countries, shared with Bloomberg at Mark Carney’s investment summit in Toronto that the company is considering partnerships for data centres in Canada, attracted by the available land and energy resources. This comes as OpenAI paused its British data centre project in April, citing regulatory challenges and energy costs. The company is looking to expand its infrastructure where conditions are more favorable.
Enflame Technology, an AI chipmaker supported by Tencent, saw its shares close 179% above the IPO price on the first day of trading on Shanghai’s Star Market. The company raised approximately 6.12 billion yuan ($911 million) during its initial public offering. Shares opened at 410 yuan, significantly higher than the initial offering price of 142.18 yuan.
A Texas judge has ruled that TikTok violated state law by falsely assuring parents that its app was safe for children. District Judge Cory Liu determined that TikTok deliberately misled the public about the safety measures of its platform, issuing the ruling through summary judgment, which means the decision was made without a full trial.
The United Arab Emirates is set to invest €40 billion ($46.4 billion) in Germany, focusing notably on the construction of new data centres with a total capacity of approximately one gigawatt. This investment package was unveiled during a joint announcement on 10 September amid the state visit of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to Germany, highlighting the strengthening economic ties between the two nations.
ElevenLabs has successfully listed five of its services on the software section of the UK government’s G-Cloud 15 framework, as noted on the Digital Marketplace. These offerings include conversational agents, transcription, dubbing, and text-to-speech capabilities. Interestingly, just three months earlier, the government had entered into an agreement with ElevenLabs which stipulated no purchases. This development marks a notable shift in government-cloud service engagements, as initially reported by TNW in June.
OpenAI has temporarily stopped accepting new sign-ups for the $200 ChatGPT Pro tier, citing overwhelming demand for its Astra model that is putting a strain on their systems. The restriction affects only certain regions, as European organizations encounter an additional limitation because Astra has yet to deploy a data zone within the EU. Consequently, there is currently no paid option that processes data entirely within the EU boundaries. The pause applies exclusively to new subscriptions and does not impact existing users.
Pony.ai and Verne have initiated Europe's first fully driverless passenger rides in Zagreb, with no driver present and Uber managing bookings. Their goal is to deploy over 2,000 robotaxis across Europe, although current EU regulations limit annual approvals for fully automated vehicles to 1,500 units. This marks a significant milestone in autonomous transportation on the continent.
Amazon has officially released its Quick desktop assistant for macOS and Windows, targeting enterprise IT users as a secure, governed alternative to shadow AI tools. The service operates within standard European AWS regions, ensuring all data processing remains inside Europe. However, it is currently not listed among services for the AWS sovereign cloud available in Brandenburg.
BNP Paribas predicts that the prolonged upswing in corporate bond markets is nearing its end as major tech firms, known as hyperscalers, prepare to flood the market with approximately $400 billion in bond sales next year. This surge contributes to a record $3.7 trillion in net fixed income supply. The European Central Bank has observed a similar pattern, noting that US tech companies now represent nearly 10% of new euro-denominated bond issuances.
