Digital sovereignty has moved to the boardroom as geopolitical tensions rise and cloud adoption accelerates. Organisations are reassessing infrastructure to protect autonomy, ensure compliance, and manage jurisdictional risk. Cloud strategy is increasingly shaped by data location, control, and resilience.
Regulations such as NIS2, DORA, and national data laws have intensified scrutiny of cross-border dependencies. Sovereignty concerns now extend beyond governments to sectors such as healthcare and finance. Vendor selection increasingly prioritises sovereign regions and stricter data controls.
Hybrid cloud remains dominant. Organisations place sensitive workloads on private platforms to strengthen oversight while retaining public cloud innovation. Large-scale repatriation is rare due to cost and complexity, though compliance pressures are driving broader multicloud diversification.
Government investment and oversight are reinforcing the shift. Sovereignty is becoming part of national resilience policy, prompting stricter audits and governance expectations. Enterprises face growing pressure to demonstrate control over critical systems, supply chains, and data flows.
A pragmatic approach, often described as minimum viable sovereignty, helps reduce exposure without unnecessary complexity. Organisations can identify critical workloads, secure enforceable vendor commitments, and plan for disruption. Early adaptation supports resilience and long-term flexibility.
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Finland is emerging as a key hub in Europe’s quantum computing landscape as startup IQM prepares to become one of the continent’s first publicly listed quantum firms.
The company is developing full-stack, open-architecture quantum systems designed for on-premise deployment or cloud access. It aims to advance the practical use of quantum computing across research and industry.
Founded in 2018, IQM has already delivered 21 quantum systems to 13 customers, highlighting growing European interest in commercial quantum technologies.
Analysts note that while challenges remain, meaningful breakthroughs are now occurring, signalling that quantum computing is shifting from purely experimental science to an operational industry.
IQM’s technology could support advancements in medicine, science, and computational research, enabling the solution to complex problems far beyond the reach of classical computers.
The firm exemplifies Europe’s ambition to build quantum capabilities independently of larger players in the US and China, positioning Finland as a strategic hub for next-generation computing.
The company’s work aligns with broader European efforts to foster innovation in quantum technologies.
By combining domestic expertise with open-access systems, IQM demonstrates how Finland is contributing to the continent’s emerging quantum ecosystem, bridging academic research and industrial application.
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Amazon Web Services has revealed that a Russian-speaking threat actor used commercial AI tools to compromise more than 600 FortiGate firewalls across 55 countries. AWS described the campaign as an AI-powered assembly line for cybercrime.
According to AWS, the attacker relied on exposed management ports and weak single-factor credentials rather than exploiting software vulnerabilities. The campaign targeted FortiGate devices globally and focused on harvesting credentials and configuration data.
AWS said the potentially Russian group appeared unsophisticated but achieved scale through AI-assisted mass scanning and automation. When encountering stronger defences, the attackers reportedly shifted to easier targets rather than persist.
The company advised organisations using FortiGate appliances to secure management interfaces, change default credentials and enforce complex passwords. Amazon said it was not compromised during the campaign.
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SK Telecom will present its end-to-end AI capabilities at MWC 2026, taking place from 2 to 5 March in Barcelona. Under the theme ‘AI for Infinite Possibilities’, the company will highlight AI infrastructure, models, and telecom applications.
The South Korea-based operator will showcase its AI data centre expertise, including infrastructure for a major Ulsan project and a high-performance GPU cluster. Its AI Data Center Infrastructure Manager will demonstrate real-time monitoring across integrated systems.
GPU-as-a-service solutions will also include the Petasus AI Cloud platform, AI Cloud Manager for resource optimisation, and the GAIA monitoring system. SK Telecom will introduce its AI Inference Factory, designed to integrate hardware and software into a unified stack for inference workloads.
In the telecom infrastructure space, the company will outline its AI-native network strategy, spanning embedded AI agents, AI-enabled RAN base stations, and on-device antenna tuning. Integrated sensing and communication technologies will preview autonomous networks and early 6G capabilities.
The booth will also feature SK Telecom’s 519-billion-parameter A.X K1 large language model and open-source variants. Applications for physical AI, including digital twins and robot-training platforms that link virtual and physical environments, will be demonstrated.
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Google has launched Gemini 3.1 Pro, an upgraded AI model for solving complex science, research, and engineering challenges. Following the Gemini 3 Deep Think release, the update adds enhanced core reasoning for consumer, developer, and enterprise applications.
Developers can access 3.1 Pro in preview via the Gemini API, Google AI Studio, Gemini CLI, Antigravity, and Android Studio, while enterprise users can use it through Vertex AI and Gemini Enterprise.
Consumers can now try the upgrade through the Gemini app and NotebookLM, with higher limits for Google AI Pro and Ultra plan users.
Benchmarks show significant improvements in logic and problem-solving. On the ARC-AGI-2 benchmark, 3.1 Pro scored 77.1%, more than doubling the reasoning performance of its predecessor.
The upgrade is intended to make AI reasoning more practical, offering tools to visualise complex topics, synthesise data, and enhance creative projects.
Feedback from Gemini 3 Pro users has driven the rapid development of 3.1 Pro. The preview release allows Google to validate improvements and continue refining advanced agentic workflows before the model becomes widely available.
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The European Parliament has disabled AI features on the tablets it provides to lawmakers, citing cybersecurity and data protection concerns. Built-in AI tools like writing and virtual assistants have been disabled, while third-party apps remain mostly unaffected.
The decision follows an assessment highlighting that some AI features send data to cloud services rather than processing it locally.
Lawmakers have been advised to take similar precautions on their personal devices. Guidance includes reviewing AI settings, disabling unnecessary features, and limiting app permissions to reduce exposure of work emails and documents.
Officials stressed that these measures are intended to prevent sensitive data from being inadvertently shared with service providers.
The move comes amid broader European scrutiny of reliance on overseas digital platforms, particularly US-based services. Concerns over data sovereignty and laws like the US Cloud Act have amplified fears that personal and sensitive information could be accessed by foreign authorities.
AI tools, which require extensive access to user data, have become a key focus in ongoing debates over digital security in the EU.
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Ericsson and Microsoft have integrated advanced 5G into Windows 11 to simplify secure enterprise laptop connectivity. The update embeds AI-driven 5G management, enabling IT teams to automate connections and enforce policy-based controls at scale.
The solution combines Microsoft Intune with Ericsson Enterprise 5G Connect, a cloud-based platform that monitors network quality and optimises performance. Enterprises can switch service providers and automatically apply internal connectivity policies.
IT departments can remotely provision eSIMs, prioritise 5G networks, and enforce secure profiles across laptop fleets. Automation reduces manual configuration and ensures consistent compliance across locations and service providers.
The companies say the integration addresses long-standing barriers to adopting cellular-connected PCs, including complexity and fragmented management. Multi-market pilots have preceded commercial availability in the United States, Sweden, Singapore, and Japan.
Additional launches are planned in 2026 across Spain, Germany, and Finland. Executives from both firms describe the collaboration as a step toward AI-ready enterprise devices with secure, always-on connectivity.
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Meta announced a multiyear partnership with NVIDIA to build large-scale AI infrastructure across on-premises and cloud systems. Plans include hyperscale data centres designed for both training and inference workloads, forming a core part of the company’s long-term AI roadmap.
Deployment will include millions of Blackwell and Rubin GPUs, plus expanded use of NVIDIA CPUs and Spectrum-X networking. According to Mark Zuckerberg, the collaboration is intended to support advanced AI systems and broaden access to high-performance computing capabilities worldwide.
Jensen Huang highlighted the scale of Meta’s AI operations and the role of deep hardware-software integration in improving performance.
Efficiency gains remain a central objective, with Meta increasing the rollout of Arm-based NVIDIA Grace CPUs to improve performance per watt in data centres. Future Vera CPU deployment is being considered to expand energy-efficient computing later in the decade.
Privacy-focused AI development forms another pillar of the partnership. NVIDIA Confidential Computing will first power secure AI features on WhatsApp, with plans to expand across more services as Meta scales AI to billions of users.
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Ericsson and Mastercard will integrate Mastercard Move into the Ericsson Fintech Platform to expand digital wallets and cross-border transfers. The partnership targets telecom operators, banks, and fintechs seeking to launch new payment services and reach underserved communities.
By combining Ericsson’s cloud-native fintech infrastructure with Mastercard Move’s money transfer network, the companies aim to simplify integration, deployment, and compliance. The integration is designed to reduce operational complexity and accelerate time-to-market for digital payment services.
Mastercard Move supports transfers in over 200 countries and territories and enables transactions in 150 currencies. Ericsson’s fintech platform operates in 22 countries, serving more than 120 million users and processing over 4 billion transactions per month.
The companies said the collaboration is intended to create new revenue streams and strengthen digital ecosystems in both emerging and developed markets. A global rollout will begin in the Middle East and Africa, where demand for mobile money and interoperable payment systems continues to grow.
Executives said the partnership will support faster, more secure cross-border transfers and promote financial inclusion. The integration aims to help telecom providers and financial institutions scale digital payment services and expand access to the digital economy.
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Mistral AI has strengthened its position in Europe’s AI sector through the acquisition of Koyeb. The deal forms part of its strategy to build end-to-end capacity for deploying advanced AI systems across European infrastructure.
The company has been expanding beyond model development into large-scale computing. It is currently building new data centre facilities, including a primary site in France and a €1.2 billion facility in Sweden, both aimed at supporting high-performance AI workloads.
The acquisition follows a period of rapid growth for Mistral AI, which reached a valuation of €11.7 billion after investment from ASML. French public support has also played a role in accelerating its commercial and research progress.
Mistral AI now positions itself as a potential European technology champion, seeking to combine model development, compute infrastructure and deployment tools into a fully integrated AI ecosystem.
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