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University of Wisconsin launches College of Computing & AI

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has launched its College of Computing & Artificial Intelligence (CAI), the institution’s first new college in more than four decades.

The new college brings together the departments of Computer Sciences, Statistics and the Information School, building on the School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences established in 2019.

The college will focus on computing and AI education and research while promoting collaboration across fields including health, engineering, business, the social sciences, the arts and the humanities.

The university also plans to launch new academic programmes, recruit 50 faculty members over the coming years and expand partnerships with industry and government to strenthen research, education and innovation.

Why does it matter?

The creation of a dedicated College of Computing & Artificial Intelligence reflects the growing importance universities are placing on AI as a cross-disciplinary field rather than a specialised area within computer science. By bringing together expertise from multiple disciplines, the university aims to prepare students and researchers to address the technical, social and ethical challenges of AI.

The investment also highlights intensifying competition among higher education institutions to attract talent, research funding and industry partnerships in AI. Expanding faculty, academic programmes and collaboration with government and business positions the university to play a larger role in developing the next generation of AI research and workforce skills.

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Singapore proposes Digital Infrastructure Bill to strengthen cloud security

Singapore has launched a public consultation on a proposed Digital Infrastructure Bill that would establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for major cloud computing services and data centres.

Published jointly by the Ministry of Digital Development and Information and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), the draft legislation aims to strengthen the resilience and security of critical digital infrastructure while introducing mandatory environmental sustainability standards for data centre operations.

The Bill recognises digital infrastructure as a foundation of Singapore’s digital economy, supporting services ranging from digital banking and e-commerce to cloud platforms and public administration. Unlike earlier amendments to the Cybersecurity Act, which focused primarily on cyber risks, the proposal extends regulatory oversight to operational resilience, business continuity, disaster recovery and environmental sustainability.

A central feature is a new licensing regime for major foundational digital infrastructure (FDI) providers. Cloud providers generating at least S$100 million annually from Singapore-based customers through Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offerings would require a major FDI licence.

Cloud and colocation data centres with a critical IT load of at least 10 megawatts serving third parties would also fall within the regime. Licensed providers will be required to implement robust physical security and cybersecurity measures, maintain business continuity and disaster recovery plans, and report cybersecurity incidents and service disruptions to IMDA.

The Bill also establishes a separate licensing regime for data centres with a critical IT load of at least 3 megawatts. In addition to operational capability, applicants would be assessed against energy efficiency, water efficiency and broader sustainability criteria.

Beyond operational capability, applicants will be assessed on energy efficiency, water efficiency and broader sustainability considerations. Licensed operators will initially need to comply with facility-level Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) requirements, while the legislation enables future regulations covering IT equipment efficiency and water consumption.

Singapore’s Green Data Centre Roadmap and previous voluntary industry standards will therefore evolve into legally enforceable baseline requirements across the sector.

IMDA would receive broad enforcement powers, including the authority to grant, suspend and revoke licences, issue binding codes of practice, conduct investigations and impose financial penalties. The Bill also proposes amendments to Singapore’s Cybersecurity Act to ensure consistency across the country’s digital infrastructure framework. Public consultation remains open until 22 July 2026.

Why does it matter?

The proposed legislation reflects a growing shift in how governments view digital infrastructure. As cloud computing and data centres become increasingly critical to AI, financial services and public administration, policymakers are expanding regulation beyond cybersecurity to include operational resilience, business continuity and environmental sustainability.

Singapore’s approach could also serve as a model for other digital hubs. By combining resilience requirements, licensing, cyber oversight and sustainability obligations within a single regulatory framework, the Bill illustrates how governments are adapting infrastructure governance to support the rapid growth of cloud services and AI-driven computing.

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Saudi Arabia leads world in digital connectivity

Saudi Arabia has ranked first globally in the International Telecommunication Union’s 2025 ICT Development Index, which measures progress towards universal and meaningful connectivity.

The index assessed 164 economies using indicators grouped around universal and effective connectivity. Saudi Arabia’s Communications, Space and Technology Commission said the result reflects sustained investment in digital infrastructure and the country’s efforts to strengthen the competitiveness of its technology sector.

CST said advanced telecommunications networks have helped support digital economic growth, attract investment and expand the role of technology across the economy.

According to the regulator, Saudi Arabia’s digital economy reached SAR 495 billion in 2024, accounting for 15% of the national GDP. The country’s ICT market was valued at SAR 180 billion in 2024, according to CST, which described it as the largest and fastest-growing in the MENA region.

The regulator also said mobile subscriptions reached 212% of the population, while average monthly data use per person was more than three times the global average.

The ranking supports Saudi Arabia’s broader digital transformation agenda, which links connectivity investment to economic diversification, emerging technology adoption and the growth of digital services.

Why does it matter?

Connectivity is a foundation for digital transformation. High-performing broadband and mobile networks can support cloud services, AI adoption, digital public services and new business models. Saudi Arabia’s ranking also shows how Gulf states are using telecommunications infrastructure as part of wider economic diversification strategies, with digital markets increasingly tied to competitiveness, investment and technological sovereignty.

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Amazon announces $48 billion investment in India by 2030

Amazon has announced an additional $13 billion investment to expand AI and cloud infrastructure in India, bringing its planned investment in the country to $48 billion between 2026 and 2030.

The company said the new funding will expand AWS data centre capacity in Mumbai and Hyderabad, giving startups, enterprises and government organisations access to AI chips, managed AI services, cloud technologies and developer tools.

The announcement builds on a $35 billion investment across Amazon’s businesses in India announced in 2025. Amazon said its cumulative investments in India from 2010 to 2030 now stand at more than $88 billion.

Beyond AI and cloud infrastructure, Amazon said it will continue investing in its e-commerce and logistics network. The company plans to launch more than 20 new fulfilment centres and over 100 last-mile delivery stations across India this year, with a focus on faster deliveries in smaller cities.

Amazon said it has digitised 12 million small businesses in India, supported 2.8 million jobs, enabled more than $20 billion in cumulative e-commerce exports and trained more than 10 million people in cloud skills.

The company said its long-term priorities in India include AI-led digitisation, export growth and job creation.

Why does it matter?

Amazon’s investment highlights India’s growing role as a major market for AI infrastructure, cloud services and digital commerce. Expanding AWS capacity in Mumbai and Hyderabad could strengthen access to AI compute and cloud tools for businesses, startups and public-sector organisations. The announcement also shows how global technology companies are linking data centre investment with national priorities such as small-business digitisation, skills development, exports and job creation.

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China links AI data centre to direct green electricity supply

China has launched what state media described as the country’s first AI data centre powered entirely through a direct green electricity connection, linking AI infrastructure more closely with renewable energy supply.

The facility has started operations in Zhongwei, in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, a western region that has become central to China’s computing and clean-energy strategy.

Operated by China Telecom Ningxia Branch, the data centre is built to a wind-powered liquid-cooling standard. According to the company, the facility achieves a Power Usage Effectiveness rating of 1.15, supporting high-performance AI computing while reducing energy use compared with conventional data centres.

The project is part of China’s wider effort to connect computing capacity with renewable energy resources. Ningxia has already hosted large-scale projects that directly supply green electricity to data centre clusters, including a 500 MW solar facility in Zhongwei linked to China’s computing-electricity coordination model.

Zhongwei is also a key node in China’s ‘Eastern Data, Western Computing’ initiative, which aims to shift data-intensive workloads from eastern economic centres to western regions with more land and renewable-energy resources.

The new facility is expected to support AI computing, data processing and industrial digital transformation. It could also increase demand for servers, AI chips, liquid-cooling equipment and other parts of China’s domestic technology supply chain.

The project highlights how energy availability and efficiency are becoming central to AI infrastructure policy, as countries and companies face rising power demand from data centres and advanced AI systems.

Why does it matter?

AI infrastructure is becoming an energy-policy issue. China’s green-powered data centre model shows how governments may try to match growing AI compute demand with renewable-energy deployment, regional data-centre planning and industrial supply-chain development. For China, the project also supports a broader strategy of moving compute workloads westward, reducing pressure on eastern cities and using renewable resources in regions such as Ningxia. The challenge will be proving that such facilities can deliver reliable AI computing at scale while genuinely reducing emissions across the full power and data-centre system.

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New MIT development reduces energy use in AI systems

Researchers from MIT and Microsoft have developed a system called Murakkab to improve the speed and energy efficiency of agentic AI workflows.

Agentic workflows combine multiple AI models and external tools to complete complex, multi-step tasks, such as analysing video or generating code. MIT said these systems are becoming more important for cloud providers, but their fragmented design can waste computation, energy and money.

Murakkab allows developers to describe an AI application in high-level terms rather than manually specifying every model, tool, hardware choice and execution step. The system then identifies suitable models and tools, decides which components should run sequentially or in parallel, and selects hardware resources for cloud deployment.

The system can adjust configurations during execution based on user priorities such as accuracy, speed, latency and cost. It also gives cloud providers more visibility into workflows, allowing them to allocate computing resources more efficiently across multiple tasks.

In tests of video-question-answering and code-generation workflows, Murakkab met user requirements while using about 35% of the computational resources required by other methods. It also consumed about 27% as much energy and cost less than 25% as much as the comparison approaches.

In one case, the system reduced energy consumption by more than an order of magnitude with only about a 2% drop in accuracy. The researchers plan to expand Murakkab to more complex workflows and larger computing clusters.

Why does it matter?

Agentic AI systems are becoming more complex and resource-intensive, especially as cloud providers deploy workflows that combine many models, tools and hardware configurations. Murakkab points to a shift from optimising individual models to optimising the whole AI workflow and its cloud deployment. That matters because energy use, compute costs, and data centre capacity are becoming central constraints on AI growth.

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EU targets AWS and Azure under the DMA

The European Commission has informed Amazon and Microsoft of its preliminary view that their cloud computing services, Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, should be designated as gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act.

The move could extend the DMA’s reach into cloud infrastructure, a sector the Commission describes as critical to Europe’s digital economy and AI development.

The Commission opened market investigations into AWS and Azure in November 2025. It has now been provisionally concluded that both services act as important gateways between businesses and customers in the EU, despite not meeting the DMA’s standard quantitative thresholds.

According to the Commission, AWS and Azure benefit from large and established user bases, high switching costs, loyalty effects, broad cloud ecosystems and long-standing market positions. It also said their AI tool portfolios and partnerships are becoming increasingly important for cloud customers.

Amazon and Microsoft now have the opportunity to examine the investigation files and respond to the preliminary findings. If the Commission confirms its assessment, AWS and Azure would be designated as gatekeepers, and the companies would have six months to comply with DMA obligations.

The Commission said fair and competitive cloud markets are important for secure, sustainable and interoperable cloud services in Europe. It also linked the case to Europe’s wider technological sovereignty objectives, as cloud infrastructure underpins AI systems, enterprise software and public services.

Why does it matter?

The case shows how the EU competition policy is moving deeper into the infrastructure behind the AI economy. Cloud platforms are no longer just business services; they shape access to compute, data, AI tools, software ecosystems and switching options for companies and public institutions. If AWS and Azure are designated as DMA gatekeepers, the decision could affect cloud interoperability, customer lock-in and the balance of power between US hyperscalers and European cloud providers.

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China’s latest supercomputer strengthens AI ambitions

China has regained the world’s leading position in supercomputing after the LineShine system became the fastest computer in the latest TOP500 ranking, replacing the US’s El Capitan at the top of the list.

The achievement marks China’s return to first place for the first time since 2017 and highlights the growing strategic importance of high-performance computing in the AI era.

Unlike many recent AI-focused supercomputers that rely heavily on graphics processing units (GPUs), LineShine achieves exascale performance using conventional central processing units (CPUs).

Beyond topping benchmark rankings, the system is expected to support scientific research, advanced simulations, climate modelling, pharmaceutical development and the training of increasingly sophisticated AI models.

The announcement also reflects the broader ambition of China to strengthen technological leadership while presenting its innovation ecosystem as a contributor to global technological development.

Europe also remains a major player in high-performance computing. Four European systems rank among the world’s ten fastest supercomputers, while the EU continues to invest in AI factories, next-generation supercomputing infrastructure and collaborative research centres.

The growing investment in supercomputers reflects how computing infrastructure is increasingly being treated as a strategic asset alongside semiconductors, cloud infrastructure and advanced data centres.

As governments increasingly link AI capabilities with economic competitiveness, scientific leadership and national security, access to world-class computing resources is becoming one of the defining factors shaping the global technology balance.

Why does it matter?

The latest TOP500 ranking underline that computing capacity is becoming a defining factor in AI development and scientific competitiveness. As frontier AI models require ever-greater computational resources for training and inference, access to world-class supercomputers is emerging as a strategic advantage alongside semiconductor manufacturing and cloud infrastructure.

China’s return to the top of the rankings also highlights the geopolitical dimension of high-performance computing. At the same time, continued European investment in AI factories and supercomputing infrastructure reflects a broader effort to strengthen technological sovereignty and reduce dependence on external computing resources as countries compete for leadership in AI and advanced research.

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IMF and China sign MoU on AI and digital economy measurement

The International Monetary Fund and China’s National Bureau of Statistics have signed a new Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen cooperation on national accounts, macroeconomic statistics and statistical modernisation.

The agreement builds on a previous MoU signed in November 2023 and creates a framework for cooperation on implementing the 2025 System of National Accounts.

The cooperation will include work on measuring the digital economy, AI, cloud computing, digital intermediation platforms and data as an asset. It will also cover broader areas introduced in updated international statistical standards, including globalisation, economic well-being and environmental sustainability.

The IMF and NBS also agreed to deepen technical collaboration on the consistency and integration of macroeconomic statistics, including through the use of innovative data sources and analytical approaches.

The agreement includes cooperation between the IMF Big Data Centre and the NBS Big Data Application Centre, which hosts the UN Global Hub on Big Data and Data Science for Official Statistics.

Activities under the MoU will include high-level visits, expert consultations, technical workshops, joint analytical work and exchanges on statistical practices and methodologies.

The new MoU will take effect in December 2026, upon the expiration of the current agreement, and will remain in force until December 2029.

Why does it matter?

Measuring the digital economy is becoming harder as AI systems, cloud services, platforms and data-driven business models become more central to economic activity. Cooperation between the IMF and China’s statistics authority could support more consistent approaches to measuring these sectors under the 2025 System of National Accounts. Better statistical methods matter because governments, investors and international organisations rely on comparable data to assess growth, productivity, sustainability and the economic impact of digital transformation.

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Greek supercomputer DAEDALUS enters global supercomputer rankings

Greece’s DAEDALUS supercomputer has entered the international TOP500 and Green500 rankings, strengthening the country’s position in Europe’s high-performance computing landscape.

The system ranked 31st in the TOP500 list of the world’s most powerful supercomputers and 23rd in the Green500 list of energy-efficient systems. According to GRNET, DAEDALUS recorded a measured performance of 85.69 petaflops, making it the most powerful computing system ever ranked in Greece.

DAEDALUS is based on Hewlett Packard Enterprise architecture and uses NVIDIA GH200 accelerators. It also uses direct liquid cooling, combining high computing performance with energy efficiency.

The supercomputer and its data centre are located at the Lavrio Technological and Cultural Park of the National Technical University of Athens, inside the former Power Station building.

Once fully operational, DAEDALUS is expected to support researchers, universities, industry and public authorities working on demanding computational tasks. These include AI, cybersecurity, personalised healthcare, climate research, public administration and large-scale data analytics.

The system will also serve as the computational core of PHAROS, Greece’s national AI Factory under the European AI Factories initiative. Through PHAROS, Greece aims to expand access to AI infrastructure and support the development of AI applications across research, business and the public sector.

The project forms part of Greece’s wider digital transformation agenda and contributes to European efforts to strengthen technological capacity, AI infrastructure and digital sovereignty through high-performance computing.

Why does it matter?

DAEDALUS gives Greece strategic computing capacity for AI research, scientific modelling and public-sector digital transformation. Its role in PHAROS also links national supercomputing infrastructure to the EU’s AI Factories initiative, which aims to give researchers and companies access to advanced computing resources for AI development. The Green500 ranking matters as well, because Europe’s AI infrastructure push increasingly depends not only on raw performance, but also on energy efficiency and sustainable data-centre design.

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