Samsung Electronics has unveiled the Galaxy S26 series, featuring advanced AI experiences, powerful performance, and an industry-leading camera system designed to simplify everyday smartphone tasks.
The series, which includes the Galaxy S26, S26+, and S26 Ultra, handles complex processes in the background, allowing users to focus on results rather than device operations.
The Galaxy S26 Ultra introduces the world’s first built-in Privacy Display, a redesigned chipset, and improved thermal management. Together, these upgrades enhance AI performance, graphics, and CPU efficiency, while ensuring faster, cooler, and more reliable operation throughout the day.
Photography and videography are also upgraded with wider apertures, Nightography Video, Super Steady video, and AI-powered editing tools that make professional-quality content accessible to all users.
Galaxy AI streamlines daily experiences by proactively suggesting actions, organising information, and automating tasks. Features such as Now Nudge, Now Brief, Circle to Search, and upgraded Bixby allow users to interact naturally with their devices.
Integrated AI agents, including Gemini and Perplexity, support multi-step tasks across apps, from booking services to advanced searches, all with minimal input.
Samsung has embedded multiple layers of security and privacy in the Galaxy S26 series. From AI-powered Call Screening and Privacy Alerts to Knox Vault, Knox Matrix, and post-quantum cryptography, users can control data access and protect personal information.
With long-term security updates, seamless software, and Galaxy Buds4 integration, the S26 series aims to combine performance, convenience, and safety in a single, intuitive device.
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A EEWorld report explains how vertical power delivery (VPD) architectures are emerging as a response to the escalating power demands of modern AI processors (GPUs, ASICs and accelerators).
Traditional power-delivery networks (PDNs) route current laterally across circuit boards from external voltage regulators, which introduces resistance and inductance losses and generates excess heat, problems that worsen at the very high current levels typical of AI workloads.
In contrast, vertical power delivery relocates DC-DC converters and regulators beneath the processor, reducing the electrical path between the supply and load.
However, this reduces resistance and parasitic inductance, cutting I²R losses and improving transient response, critical for AI chips that experience rapid current shifts during computation. The cleaner power paths also help isolate high-speed signal traces from noise, enhancing signal integrity and electromagnetic compatibility.
Additional benefits include freed top-side board space for memory, optics and other components, which supports higher integration density without expanding board area. However, VPD introduces challenges such as thermal management and height constraints under the processor, requiring advanced packaging and heat-spreading solutions.
Emerging voltage-regulator technologies aim to match the speed of embedded regulators while avoiding their limitations in efficiency and die area consumption.
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Meta has committed to purchasing $60bn worth of AI chips from Advanced Micro Devices over five years, signalling one of the largest infrastructure bets in the sector despite ongoing concerns about an AI investment bubble.
The agreement includes a 10% stake in the chipmaker and large-scale deployment of next-generation hardware beginning later this year.
Analysts say the move signals a shift to secure compute capacity and cut reliance on Nvidia amid supply constraints. Talks with Google and ongoing in-house chip work signal a multi-vendor strategy to support expanding data centre operations.
Executives say the investment reflects a shift towards hosting AI workloads and infrastructure services. Custom processors built for performance and efficiency will complement AMD GPUs, supporting capacity expansion as enterprise demand rises.
Enterprise AI competition intensifies as Anthropic and OpenAI expand integrations and tools. Significant platform investments are reshaping semiconductors and signalling strong long-term confidence in AI computing demand.
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PhysicsX, a London-based startup founded by former F1 engineers and AI experts, is redefining engineering with its AI-driven physics platform.
Design and testing cycles are reduced from weeks or months to seconds. Engineers can now iterate rapidly and optimise systems across multiple industries, including aerospace, automotive, semiconductors, energy, and materials.
The technology enables teams to evaluate thousands of design variations simultaneously. Semiconductor firms speed up prototype development, electronics improve thermal performance, and mining boosts copper recovery for renewable energy and AI data centres.
PhysicsX achieves this using Large Physics Models and Large Geometry Models that base design evaluation on real-world physics rather than assumptions.
Predictive reasoning lets engineers simulate multiple parameter changes before acting. The approach shifts control from reactive adjustments to proactive optimisation, helping teams make faster, better-informed decisions.
PhysicsX also bridges disciplinary divides, enabling aerodynamics, structural, and thermal considerations to be optimised together rather than in isolation.
By combining speed, system-level insight, and predictive control, PhysicsX is shrinking the gap between cutting-edge research and practical industrial impact. The platform uses physics-based AI to improve efficiency, drive innovation, and support sustainable growth.
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South African consumers may soon pay more for smartphones and laptops due to a global shortage of memory chips. The high demand is largely driven by AI data centres, which require powerful microchips to operate.
Tech experts report that major AI companies are acquiring large quantities of these chips for their own data centres, limiting supply for other industries. At the same time, importing chips from regions such as China has become more difficult because of trade tensions and tariffs.
Industry leaders, including Apple’s Tim Cook and Tesla’s Elon Musk, have expressed concern over the impact on production and business operations. The strain is being felt across the tech sector as companies compete for the limited supply of components.
With no immediate solution, the increased costs are expected to be passed down to consumers. Analysts warn that the combination of high demand, supply constraints, and global trade issues will make technology and appliances more expensive for consumers.
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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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US chipmaker Nvidia unveiled partnerships with Indian computing and infrastructure firms at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, as technology companies announced fresh investments. The agreements aim to expand AI data centre capacity and bolster India’s position in the global AI race.
Larsen & Toubro said it would work with Nvidia to build what it described as India’s largest gigawatt-scale AI factory, with planned sites in Chennai and Mumbai. Nvidia is also partnering with Yotta Data Services, which plans to deploy more than 20,000 Blackwell processors as part of a $2 billion investment.
The summit has drawn dozens of world leaders and ministerial delegations to discuss AI’s economic potential and associated risks, including job displacement and misinformation. India recently rose to third place in Stanford University’s annual AI competitiveness ranking, behind only the US and China.
Other deals followed. The Adani Group pledged $100 billion by 2035 for hyperscale AI-ready data centres, while Microsoft outlined plans to invest $50 billion to expand AI adoption in developing markets. Anthropic and Infosys also agreed to collaborate on AI agents for the telecoms industry.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leaders, including Emmanuel Macron and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, are expected to issue a joint statement on AI governance. Analysts caution that nonbinding declarations may shape norms, but rapid industry advances could outpace legislative safeguards.
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Derived from the Latin word ‘superanus’, through the French word ‘souveraineté’, sovereignty can be understood as: ‘the ultimate overseer, or authority, in the decision-making process of the state and in the maintenance of order’ – Britannica. Digital sovereignty, specifically European digital sovereignty, refers to ‘Europe’s ability to act independently in the digital world’.
In 2020, the European Parliament already identified the consequences of reliance on non-EU technologies. From the economic and social influence of non-EU technology companies, which can undermine user control over their personal data, to the slow growth of the EU technology companies and a limitation on the enforcement of European laws.
Today, these concerns persist. From Romanian election interference on TikTok’s platform, Microsoft’s interference with the ICC, to the Dutch government authentication platform being acquired by a US firm, and booming American and Chinese LLMs compared to European LLMs. The EU is at a crossroads between international reliance and homegrown adoption.
The issue of the EU digital sovereignty has gained momentum in the context of recent and significant shifts in US foreign policy toward its allies. In this environment, the pursuit of the EU digital sovereignty appears as a justified and proportionate response, one that might previously have been perceived as unnecessarily confrontational.
In light of this, this analysis’s main points will discuss the rationale behind the EU digital sovereignty (including dependency, innovation and effective compliance), recent European-centric technological and platform shifts, the steps the EU is taking to successfully be digitally sovereign and finally, examples of European alternatives
Rationale behind the move
The reasons for digital sovereignty can be summed up in three main areas: (I) less dependency on non-EU tech, (ii) leading and innovating technological solutions, and (iii) ensuring better enforcement and subsequent adherence to data protection laws/fundamental rights.
(i) Less dependency: Global geopolitical tensions between US-China/Russia push Europe towards developing its own digital capabilities and secure its supply chains. Insecure supply chain makes Europe vulnerable to failing energy grids.
More recently, US giant Microsoft threatened the International legal order by revoking US-sanctioned International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan’s Microsoft software access, preventing the Chief Prosecutor from working on his duties at the ICC. In light of these scenarios, Europeans are turning to developing more European-based solutions to reduce upstream dependencies.
(ii) Leaders & innovators: A common argument is that Americans innovate, the Chinese copy, and the Europeans regulate. If the EU aims to be a digital geopolitical player, it must position itself to be a regulator which promotes innovation. It can achieve this by upskilling its workforce of non-digital trades into digital ones to transform its workforce, have more EU digital infrastructure (data centres, cloud storage and management software), further increase innovation spending and create laws that truly allow for the uptake of EU technological development instead of relying on alternative, cheaper non-EU options.
(iii) Effective compliance: Knowing that fines are more difficult to enforce towards non-EU companies than the EU companies (ex., Clearview AI), EU-based technological organisations would allow for corrective measures, warnings, and fines to be enforced more effectively. Thus, enabling more adherence towards the EU’s digital agenda and respect for fundamental rights.
Can the EU achieve Digital Sovereignty?
The main speed bumps towards the EU digital sovereignty are: i) a lack of digital infrastructure (cloud storage & data centres), ii) (critical) raw material dependency and iii) Legislative initiatives to facilitate the path towards digital sovereignty (innovation procurement and fragmented compliance regime).
i) lack of digital infrastructure: In order for the EU to become digitally sovereign it must have its own sovereign digital infrastructure.
In practice, the EU relies heavily on American data centre providers (i.e. Equinix, Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services) hosted in the EU. In this case, even though the data is European and hosted in the EU, the company that hosts it is non-European. This poses reliance and legislative challenges, such as ensuring adequate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data when it is in transit to the US. Given the EU-US DPF, there is a legal basis for transferring EU personal data to the US.
However, if the DPF were to be struck down (perhaps due to the US’ Cloud Act), as it has been in the past (twice with Schrems I and Schrems II) and potentially Schrems III, there would no longer be a legal basis for the transfer of the EU personal data to a US data centre.
Previously, the EU’s 2022 Directive on critical entities resilience allowed for the EU countries to identify critical infrastructure and subsequently ensure they take the technical, security and organisational measures to assure their resilience. Part of this Directive covers digital infrastructure, including providers of cloud computing services and providers of data centres. From this, the EU has recently developed guidelines for member states to identify critical entities. However, these guidelines do not anticipate how to achieve resilience and leave this responsibility with member states.
ii) Raw material dependency: The EU cannot be digitally sovereign until it reduces some of its dependencies on other countries’ raw materials to build the hardware necessary to be technologically sovereign. In 2025, the EU’s goals were to create a new roadmap towards critical raw material (CRM) sovereignty to rely on its own energy sources and build infrastructure.
Thus, the RESourceEU Action Plan was born in December 2025. This plan contains 6 pillars: securing supply through knowledge, accelerating and promoting projects, using the circular economy and fostering innovation (recycling products which contain CRMs), increasing European demand for European projects (stockpiling CRMs), protecting the single market and partnering with third countries for long-lasting diversification. Practically speaking, part of this plan is to match Europe and or global raw material supply with European demand for European projects.
iii) Legislative initiatives to facilitate the path towards digital sovereignty:
Tackling difficult innovation procurement: the argument is to facilitate its uptake of innovation procurement across the EU. In 2026, the EU is set to reform its public procurement framework for innovation. The Innovation Procurement Update (IPU) team has representatives from over 33 countries (predominantly through law firms, Bird & Bird being the most represented), which recommends that innovation procurement reach 20% of all public procurement.
Another recommendation would help more costly innovative solutions to be awarded procurement projects, which in the past were awarded to cheaper procurement bids. In practice, the lowest price of a public procurement bid is preferred, and if it meets the remaining procurement conditions, it wins the bid – but de-prioritising this non-pricing criterion would enable companies with more costly innovative solutions to win public procurement bids.
Alleviating compliance challenges: lowering other compliance burdens whilst maintaining the digital aquis: recently announced at the World Economic Forum by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, EU.inc would help cross-border business operations scaling up by alleviating company, corporate, insolvency, labour and taxation law compliance burdens. By harmonising these into a single framework, businesses can more easily grow and deploy cross-border solutions that would otherwise face hurdles.
Power through data: another legislative measure to help facilitate the path towards the EU digital sovereignty is unlocking the potential behind European data. In order to research innovative solutions, data is required. This can be achieved through personal or non-personal data. The EU’s GDPR regulates personal data and is currently undergoing amendments. If the proposed changes to the GDPR are approved, i.e. a broadening of its scope, data that used to be considered personal (and thus required GDPR compliance) could be deemed non-personal and used more freely for research purposes. The Data Act regulate the reuse and re-sharing of non-personal data. It aims to simplify and bolster the fair reuse of non-personal data. Overall, both personal and non-personal data can give important insight that research can benefit from in developing European innovative sovereign solutions.
European alternatives
European companies have already built a network of European platforms, services and apps with European values at heart:
Category
Currently Used
EU Alternative
Comments
Social media
TikTok, X, Instagram
Monnet (Luxembourg)
‘W’ (Sweden)
Monnet is a social media app prioritises connections and non-addictive scrolling. Recently announced ‘W’ replaces ‘X’ and is gaining major traction with non-advertising models at its heart.
Email
Microsoft’s Outlook and Google’s gmail
Tuta (mail/calendar), Proton (Germany), Mailbox (Germany), Mailfence (Belgium)
Replace email and calendar apps with a privacy focused business model.
Search engine
Google Search and DuckDuckGo
Qwant (France) and Ecosia (German)
Qwant has focused on privacy since its launch in 2013. Ecosia is an ecofriendly focused business model which helps plant trees when users search
Video conferencing
Microsoft Teams and Slack a
Visio (France), Wire (Switzerland, Mattermost (US but self hosted), Stackfield (Germany), Nextcloud Talk (Germany) and Threema (Switzerland)
These alternatives are end-to-end encrypted. Visio is used by the French Government
Writing tools
Microsoft’s Word & Excel and Google Sheets, Notion
Most of these options provide cloud storage and NexCloud is a recurring alternative across categories.
Finance
Visa and Mastercard
Wero (EU)
Not only will it provide an EU wide digital wallet option, but it will replace existing national options – providing for fast adoption.
LLM
OpenAI, Gemini, DeepSeek’s LLM
Mistral AI (France) and DeepL (Germany)
DeepL is already wildly used and Mistral is more transparent with its partially open-source model and ease of reuse for developers
Hardware
Semi conductors: ASML (Dutch) Data Center: GAIA-X (Belgium)
ASML is a chip powerhouse for the EU and GAIA-X set an example of EU based data centres with it open-source federated data infrastructure.
A dedicated website called ‘European Alternatives’ provides exactly what it says, European Alternatives. A list with over 50 categories and 100 alternatives
Conclusion
In recent years, the Union’s policy goals have shifted towards overt digital sovereignty solutions through diversification of materials and increased innovation spending, combined with a restructuring of the legislative framework to create the necessary path towards European digital infrastructure.
Whilst this analysis does not include all speed bumps, nor avenues towards the road of the EU digital sovereignty, it sheds light on the EU’s most recent major policy developments. Key questions remain regarding data reuse, its impact on data protection fundamental rights and whether this reshaping of the framework will yield the intended results.
Therefore, how will the EU tread whilst it becomes a more coherent sovereign geopolitical player?
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The cost of running AI systems is shifting towards memory rather than compute, as the price of DRAM has risen sharply over the past year. Efficient memory orchestration is now becoming a critical factor in keeping inference costs under control, particularly for large-scale deployments.
Analysts such as Doug O’Laughlin and Val Bercovici of Weka note that prompt caching is turning into a complex field.
Anthropic has expanded its caching guidance for Claude, with detailed tiers that determine how long data remains hot and how much can be saved through careful planning. The structure enables significant efficiency gains, though each additional token can displace previously cached content.
The growing complexity reflects a broader shift in AI architecture. Memory is being treated as a valuable and scarce resource, with optimisation required at multiple layers of the stack.
Startups such as Tensormesh are already working on cache optimisation tools, while hyperscalers are examining how best to balance DRAM and high-bandwidth memory across their data centres.
Better orchestration should reduce the number of tokens required for queries, and models are becoming more efficient at processing those tokens. As costs fall, applications that are currently uneconomical may become commercially viable.
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Leading Chinese AI developers have unveiled a series of advanced models ahead of the Lunar New Year, strengthening the country’s position in the global AI sector.
Major firms such as Alibaba, ByteDance, and Zhipu AI introduced new systems designed to support more sophisticated agents, faster workflows and broader multimedia understanding.
Industry observers also expect an imminent release from DeepSeek, whose previous model disrupted global markets last year.
Alibaba’s Qwen 3.5 model provides improved multilingual support across text, images and video while enabling rapid AI agent deployment instead of slower generation pipelines.
ByteDance followed up with updates to its Doubao chatbot and the second version of its image-to-video tool, SeeDance, which has drawn copyright concerns from the Motion Picture Association due to the ease with which users can recreate protected material.
Zhipu AI expanded the landscape further with GLM-5, an open-source model built for long-context reasoning, coding tasks, and multi-step planning. The company highlighted the model’s reliance on Huawei hardware as part of China’s efforts to strengthen domestic semiconductor resilience.
Meanwhile, excitement continues to build for DeepSeek’s fourth-generation system, expected to follow the widespread adoption and market turbulence associated with its V3 model.
Authorities across parts of Europe have restricted the use of DeepSeek models in public institutions because of data security and cybersecurity concerns.
Even so, the rapid pace of development in China suggests intensifying competition in the design of agent-focused systems capable of managing complex digital tasks without constant human oversight.
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