Key Internet developments

South Korea moves to lead the AI era with OpenAI’s economic blueprint

Poised to become a global AI powerhouse, South Korea has the right foundations in place: advanced semiconductor production, robust digital infrastructure, and a highly skilled workforce.

OpenAI’s new Economic Blueprint for Korea sets out how the nation can turn those strengths into broad, inclusive growth through scaled and trusted AI adoption.

The blueprint builds on South Korea’s growing momentum in frontier technology.

Following OpenAI’s first Asia–Pacific country partnership, initiatives such as Stargate with Samsung and SK aim to expand advanced memory supply and explore next-generation AI data centres alongside the Ministry of Science and ICT.

A new OpenAI office in Seoul, along with collaboration with Seoul National University, further signals the country’s commitment to becoming an AI hub.

A strategy that rests on two complementary paths: building sovereign AI capabilities in infrastructure, data governance, and GPU supply, while also deepening cooperation with frontier developers like OpenAI.

The aim is to enhance operational maturity and cost efficiency across key industries, including semiconductors, shipbuilding, healthcare, and education.

By combining domestic expertise with global partnerships, South Korea could boost productivity, improve welfare services, and foster regional growth beyond Seoul. With decisive action, the nation stands ready to transform from a fast adopter into a global standard-setter for safe, scalable AI systems.

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Oracle and Google Cloud launch multicloud database service in Australia

A new chapter in Australia’s cloud computing landscape has begun as Oracle and Google Cloud introduce Oracle Database@Google Cloud to local customers.

The service enables organisations to run Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure hosted on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure within Google Cloud’s Melbourne data centre.

A collaboration that allows businesses to integrate Oracle’s enterprise database power with Google Cloud’s AI and analytics tools, improving decision-making, innovation and compliance with data residency requirements.

Through the Google Cloud Marketplace, Oracle and Google Cloud partners in Australia can now resell Oracle Database@Google Cloud, expanding access to multicloud solutions.

The launch marks growing demand for flexible, multicloud environments that blend high performance with AI-driven capabilities. Oracle’s Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure and Oracle AI Database 26ai will help enterprises enhance analytics, AI productivity and application development.

These technologies deliver faster processing, secure data handling and new AI-driven search and development features.

Industry leaders such as Accenture say the partnership represents a significant step toward integrated, data-centric innovation.

With Oracle and Google Cloud combining their strengths, Australian organisations can modernise IT foundations, scale operations and accelerate digital transformation across industries.

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UK tightens grip on Apple and Google mobile power

Apple and Google have been designated with strategic market status over UK mobile platforms. The CMA’s decision covers operating systems, app stores, browsers, and browser engines. Tailored conduct rules and special abuse oversight can now be imposed.

Regulators say entrenched power across iOS and Android risks limiting rivals and developers. The move is enabled by the UK’s DMCC framework and mirrors EU ambitions. Implementation will follow consultations on specific remedies for competition and consumer choice.

In Europe, gatekeeper rules already bite as Apple was fined €500 million over anti-steering. Alphabet faces preliminary findings over Play Store and search preferencing under the DMA. Further penalties could follow if non-compliance persists.

Both companies criticised the UK move, warning of harmed innovation and user experience. Google called the decision disappointing and disproportionate, while Apple attacked EU-style rules. The CMA also recently gave Google’s search and ads businesses SMS status.

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Kazakhstan to achieve full Internet access for all citizens by 2027

Kazakhstan aims to provide Internet access to its entire population by 2027 as part of the national ‘Affordable Internet’ project.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of AI and Digital Development Zhaslan Madiyev outlined the country’s digital transformation goals during a government session, highlighting plans to eliminate digital inequality and expand broadband connectivity.

Over one trillion tenge has been invested in telecommunications in the past three years, bringing average Internet speeds to 94 Mbps. By 2027, Kazakhstan expects to achieve 100% Internet coverage, speeds above 100 Mbps, and fiber-optic access for 90% of rural settlements.

Currently, 84% of villages already have mobile Internet, and 2,606 are connected to main fibre-optic lines.

The plan includes 4G coverage for 92% of settlements, 5G deployment in 20 cities, and 4G connectivity across 40,000 km of highways. Satellite Internet will reach 504 remote villages by 2025.

Madiyev also noted Kazakhstan’s strategic role in global data transit, with projects such as the Caspian Sea undersea fibre-optic line aiming to raise its share of international traffic from 1.5% to 5% by 2027.

An initiative that supports Kazakhstan’s ambition to become a regional IT hub by 2030, with the number of IT racks set to grow from 4,000 to 20,000, and at least nine Tier III-IV data centres planned.

The country has also launched the National Supercomputer Center ‘alem.cloud’ and the ‘Al-Farabium’ tech cluster to strengthen its digital ecosystem.

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China leads the global generative AI adoption with 515 million users

In China, the use of generative AI has expanded unprecedentedly, reaching 515 million users in the first half of 2025.

The figure, released by the China Internet Network Information Centre, shows more than double the number recorded in December and represents an adoption rate of 36.5 per cent.

Such growth is driven by strong digital infrastructure and the state’s determination to make AI a central tool of national development.

The country’s ‘AI Plus’ strategy aims to integrate AI across all sectors of society and the economy. The majority of users rely on domestic platforms such as DeepSeek, Alibaba Cloud’s Qwen and ByteDance’s Doubao, as access to leading Western models remains restricted.

Young and well-educated citizens dominate the user base, underlining the government’s success in promoting AI literacy among key demographics.

Microsoft’s recent research confirms that China has the world’s largest AI market, surpassing the US in total users. While the US adoption has remained steady, China’s domestic ecosystem continues to accelerate, fuelled by policy support and public enthusiasm for generative tools.

China also leads the world in AI-related intellectual property, with over 1.5 million patent applications accounting for nearly 39 per cent of the global total.

The rapid adoption of home-grown AI technologies reflects a strategic drive for technological self-reliance and positions China at the forefront of global digital transformation.

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EU expands AI reach through new antenna network

The European Commission has launched new ‘AI Antennas’ across 13 European countries to strengthen AI infrastructure. Seven EU states, including Belgium, Ireland, and Malta, will gain access to high-performance computing through the EuroHPC network.

Six non-EU partners, such as the UK and Switzerland, have also joined the initiative. Their inclusion reflects the EU’s growing cooperation on digital innovation with neighbouring countries despite Brexit and other trade tensions.

Each AI Antenna will serve as a local gateway to the bloc’s supercomputing hubs, providing technical support, training, and algorithmic resources. Countries without an AI Factory of their own can now connect remotely to major systems like Jupiter.

The Commission says the network aims to spread AI skills and research capabilities across Europe, narrowing regional gaps in digital development. However, smaller nations hosting only antennas are unlikely to house the bloc’s future ‘AI Gigafactories’, which will be up to four times more powerful.

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Meta champions open hardware to power the next generation of AI data centres

The US tech giant, Meta, believes open hardware will define the future of AI data centre infrastructure. Speaking at the Open Compute Project Global Summit, the company outlined a series of innovations designed to make large-scale AI systems more efficient, sustainable, and collaborative.

Meta, one of the OCP’s founding members, said open source hardware remains essential to scaling the physical infrastructure required for the next generation of AI.

During the summit, Meta joined industry peers in supporting OCP’s Open Data Center Initiative, which calls for shared standards in power, cooling, and mechanical design.

The company also unveiled a new generation of network fabrics for AI training clusters, integrating NVIDIA’s Spectrum Ethernet to enable greater flexibility and performance.

As part of the effort, Meta became an initiating member of Ethernet for Scale-Up Networking, aiming to strengthen connectivity across increasingly complex AI systems.

Meta further introduced the Open Rack Wide (ORW) form factor, an open source data rack standard optimised for the power and cooling demands of modern AI.

Built on ORW specifications, AMD’s new Helios rack was presented as the most advanced AI rack yet, embodying the shift toward interoperable and standardised infrastructure.

Meta also showcased new AI hardware platforms built to improve performance and serviceability for large-scale generative AI workloads.

Sustainability remains central to Meta’s strategy. The company presented ‘Design for Sustainability’, a framework to reduce hardware emissions through modularity, reuse, and extended lifecycles.

It also shared how its Llama AI models help track emissions across millions of components. Meta said it will continue to

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Data Act now in force, more data sharing in EU

The EU’s Data Act is now in force, marking a major shift in European data governance. The regulation aims to expand access to industrial and Internet of Things data, giving users greater control over information they generate while maintaining safeguards for trade secrets and privacy.

Adopted as part of the EU’s Digital Strategy, the act seeks to promote fair competition, innovation, and public-sector efficiency. It enables individuals and businesses to share co-generated data from connected devices and allows public authorities limited access in emergencies or matters of public interest.

Some obligations take effect later. Requirements on product design for data access will apply to new connected devices from September 2026, while certain contract rules are deferred until 2027. Member states will set national penalties, with fines in some cases reaching up to 10% of global annual turnover.

The European Commission will assess the law’s impact within three years of its entry into force. Policymakers hope the act will foster a fairer, more competitive data economy, though much will depend on consistent enforcement and how businesses adapt their practices.

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Public consultation: EU clarifies how DMA and GDPR work together

The European Commission and European Data Protection Board have jointly published long-awaited guidelines clarifying how the Digital Markets Act aligns with the GDPR. It aims to remove uncertainty for large online platforms over consent requirements, data sharing amongst other things.

Under the new interpretation, gatekeepers must obtain specific and separate consent when combining user data across different services, including when using it for AI training. They cannot rely on legitimate interest or contractual necessity for such processing, closing a loophole long debated in EU privacy law.

The Guidelines also set limits on how often consent can be re-requested, prohibiting repeated or slightly altered requests for the same purpose within a year. In addition, they make clear that offering users a binary choice between accepting tracking or paying a fee will rarely qualify as freely given consent.

The Guidance also introduces a practical standard for anonymisation, requiring platforms to prevent re-identification using technical and organisational safeguards. Consultation on the Guidelines runs until 4 December 2025, after which they are expected to shape future enforcement.

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AI Infrastructure Partnership and BlackRock consortium acquire Aligned Data Centers

A consortium comprising the Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership, MGX, and BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners has announced the acquisition of Aligned Data Centers for an estimated forty billion dollars.

The move marks a major step towards expanding the infrastructure underpinning global AI and cloud growth.

Aligned, headquartered in Dallas, operates more than fifty campuses and five gigawatts of capacity across the US and Latin America. The company is known for its patented air, liquid, and hybrid cooling systems that enhance efficiency and sustainability, particularly in high-density AI environments.

Under the consortium, Aligned will accelerate the development of scalable and energy-efficient data facilities to meet rising global demand.

The Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership was founded by BlackRock, GIP, MGX, Microsoft, and NVIDIA to advance large-scale AI infrastructure investment.

Backed by sovereign wealth funds from Kuwait and Singapore, it aims to mobilise thirty billion dollars in equity and up to one hundred billion, including debt.

The Aligned acquisition represents its first major investment and positions the company as a cornerstone of the group’s strategy.

Executives from BlackRock, MGX, and GIP said the deal reflects a shared commitment to building sustainable, resilient infrastructure for the AI era.

Aligned CEO Andrew Schaap added that the partnership would strengthen the company’s global reach and innovation capacity, redefining standards for digital infrastructure in an increasingly AI-driven economy.

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