logo
Catch up on the highlights from our Channel Leadership Forum and Awards 2025

Catch up on the highlights from our Channel Leadership Forum and Awards 2025

Tahawul Tech7 days ago
"The new program reflects a strategic shift in how Cisco and its partners create and deliver value".
Learn more about the @Cisco 360 Partner Program below.
https://www.tahawultech.com/features/this-approach-ensures-that-the-partners-unique-strengths-are-recognised-and-rewarded/
#Cisco #WestconComstor #tahawultech
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

CEO Tim Cook says Apple ready to open its wallet to catch up in AI
CEO Tim Cook says Apple ready to open its wallet to catch up in AI

Zawya

time29 minutes ago

  • Zawya

CEO Tim Cook says Apple ready to open its wallet to catch up in AI

SAN FRANCISCO: Apple CEO Tim Cook signaled on Thursday the iPhone maker was ready to spend more to catch up to rivals in artificial intelligence by building more data centers or buying a larger player in the segment, a departure from a long practice of fiscal frugality. Apple has struggled to keep pace with rivals such as Microsoft and Alphabet's Google, both of which have attracted hundreds of millions of users to their AI-powered chatbots and assistants. That growth has come at a steep cost, however, with Google planning to spend $85 billion over the next year and Microsoft on track to spend more than $100 billion, mostly on data centers. Apple, in contrast, has leaned on outside data center providers to handle some of its cloud computing work, and despite a high-profile partnership with ChatGPT creator OpenAI for certain iPhone features, has tried to grow much of its AI technology in-house, including improvements to its Siri virtual assistant. The results have been rocky, with the company delaying its Siri improvements until next year. During a conference call after Apple's fiscal third-quarter results, analysts noted that Apple has historically not done large deals and asked whether it might take a different approach to pursue its AI ambitions. CEO Cook responded that the company had already acquired seven smaller companies this year and is open to buying larger ones. "We're very open to M&A that accelerates our roadmap. We are not stuck on a certain size company, although the ones that we have acquired thus far this year are small in nature," Cook said. "We basically ask ourselves whether a company can help us accelerate a roadmap, and if they do, then we're interested." Apple has tended to buy smaller firms with highly specialized technical teams to build out specific products. Its largest deal ever was its purchase of Beats Electronics for $3 billion in 2014, followed by a $1 billion deal to buy a modem chip business from Intel. But now Apple is at a unique crossroads for its business. The tens of billions of dollars per year it receives from Google as payment to be the default search engine on iPhones could be undone by U.S. courts in Google's antitrust trial, while startups like Perplexity are in discussions with handset makers to try to dislodge Google with an AI-powered browser that would handle many search functions. Apple executives have said in court they are considering reshaping the firm's Safari browser with AI-powered search functions, and Bloomberg News has reported that Apple executives have discussed buying Perplexity, which Reuters has not independently confirmed. Apple also said on Thursday it plans to spend more on data centers, an area where it typically spends only a few billion dollars per year. Apple is currently using its own chip designs to handle AI requests with privacy controls that are compatible with the privacy features on its devices. Kevan Parekh, Apple's chief financial officer, did not give specific spending targets but said outlays would rise. "It's not going to be exponential growth, but it is going to grow substantially," Parekh said during the conference call.

Dubai outstrips San Francisco for AI adoption and usage, report finds
Dubai outstrips San Francisco for AI adoption and usage, report finds

The National

time12 hours ago

  • The National

Dubai outstrips San Francisco for AI adoption and usage, report finds

Dubai ranks in the top five world cities in a new report on the adoption of artificial intelligence, beating San Francisco, widely considered the birthplace of the modern tech industry. Singapore took the top spot, according to Counterpoint Research, which sought to examine the affinity and readiness for AI among 100 of the world's largest metropolitan areas. Seoul received the study's second highest AI score, followed by Beijing, Dubai, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Abu Dhabi. The UAE is the only country from the Middle East with cities in the top 10 of the 2025 Global AI Cities Index. "Counterpoint analysed over 5,000 initiatives in the private and public sectors, strength of communications infrastructure, data centre and supercomputing initiatives, university output and strength of the start-up ecosystem, among other factors," the report said. Marc Einstein, a research director for Counterpoint, said Dubai "has an AI strategist in every government department". "All teachers are now being given AI training and they have a programme to train one million AI engineer," with Abu Dhabi "not far behind", he said. Mr Einstein said as a whole the Middle East is a region to watch in terms of AI adoption. He said that while cities in North America remain in the lead in the global AI race, China was starting to close the gap. Regulatory hurdles were blunting AI development in Europe, he said. Counterpoint Research's analysis on the Middle East echoes a report by the international Monetary Fund that indicated AI could help to boost gross domestic product by as much as 35 per cent in the UAE by 2030, and that the fast-developing technology could make up at least 12 per cent of Saudi Arabia's GDP. The UAE − the Arab world's second-largest economy − has expressed the desire to be an AI front-runner as it diversifies its economy from oil. The country's push has resulted in the establishment of start-ups, partnerships and investments from industry leaders such as Microsoft, Nvidia and OpenAI. Those types of investments also played a large role in Counterpoint's rankings. "In the 2025 AI City Index report, Microsoft emerged as the most active vendor as the company expanded its AI data centre footprint significantly, engaged in several AI training initiatives, and set up new AI innovation hubs," read the report. Counterpoint also said US-based Nvidia's partnerships with Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company, the Dubai operator known as du, helped propel the city's ranking in the recent study. The UAE's investments in AI have also led to the creation of language models such as Falcon Arabic, part of an effort to ensure aspects of Arabic culture are not left behind in the AI surge, as many large language models were initially based on English language data. In 2019, the UAE announced the establishment of a university dedicated to AI, Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence. Two years earlier, the Emirates was among the first country in the world to appoint an AI Minister, Omar Al Olama. This month, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, introduced a new classification system with "icons" to indicate when AI has been used in research and publications.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store