Who will control Africa's AI infrastructure, and at what cost? In April, African Union ministers gathered in Tangier, Morocco, to discuss artificial intelligence at a moment when governments across the continent are racing to develop AI strategies, attract investment and expand digital infrastructure. Beneath the enthusiasm, however, sits a more fundamental question. As foreign technology companies invest in data centres, cloud services and AI systems across Africa, how much control will African countries ultimately have over the infrastructure on which those technologies depend? The debate reflects a broader shift in how policymakers are thinking about AI.

World's largest chipmaker does not rule out price rises as costs increase The world's largest chipmaker has told the BBC that inflation is pushing up the cost of doing business, and did not rule out price rises. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) makes the most advanced chips designed by companies such as Nvidia, AMD and Apple, so any increase in pricing could ripple through to the cost of AI infrastructure, and potentially over time, the prices customers pay for their electronic devices. However, the firm's chief financial officer, Wendell Huang, said it would not introduce sudden fourfold, fivefold price rises. We reflect our value, he said, pointing to its technology leadership and manufacturing excellence. In an exclusive and wide-ranging interview, Huang also denied that the AI boom was a bubble and that the firm's global expansion was due to geopolitical pressure.

WhatsApp launches totally private'incognito' conversations with its AI chatbot WhatsApp has introduced private chats with its AI chatbot which not even the tech company will be able to read in a new incognito mode. It means neither the user nor the AI's responses will be monitored if the feature is activated, and past conversations will disappear from the chat for the user. Will Cathcart, the head of WhatsApp, said he felt people wanted to have private conversations with AI on sensitive subjects including health, relationships and finances and didn't want them to be accessible. But a cyber security expert has told the BBC this could lead to a lack of accountability for WhatsApp if things go wrong, as they would have no access to chat history. WhatsApp is owned by Meta, which also owns Instagram, Facebook and Messenger.

Can the US legally seize a Venezuelan tanker? What are the implications of Trump's Somali'garbage' comments? United States President Donald Trump has often said that since he took office in January, the US has received trillions of dollars in promises of investments, and the dollar amount he cites changes. On his second day in office, January 21, Trump said the US had "already secured nearly $3 trillion of new investments". By May 8, that figure had risen to " close to $10 trillion ".

OpenAI is planning to spend $1.4tn on AI infrastructure over the next eight years. OpenAI is planning to spend $1.4tn on AI infrastructure over the next eight years. Amazon is in talks to invest more than $10bn (£7.5bn) in OpenAI, in the latest funding deal being struck by the startup behind ChatGPT . If it goes ahead, the market valuation of OpenAI could rise above $500bn, according to The Information, a tech news site that revealed the negotiations . Amazon, which is best known as an online retailer, is also the world's largest datacentre provider and its investment would help OpenAI pay for its commitments to rent capacity from cloud computing companies - including Amazon .

Depending on foreign-made open models is both a supply chain risk and an innovation problem, experts say. Since 2022, America has had a solid lead in artificial intelligence thanks to advanced models from high-flying companies like OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Anthropic, and xAI. A growing number of experts, however, worry that the US is starting to fall behind when it comes to minting open-weight AI models that can be downloaded, adapted, and run locally. Open models from Chinese companies like Kimi, Z.ai, Alibaba, and DeepSeek are now rapidly gaining popularity among researchers and engineers worldwide, leaving the US as a laggard in an increasingly vital area of AI innovation. "The US needs open models to cement its lead at every level of the AI stack," Nathan Lambert, founder of the ATOM (American Truly Open Models) Project, tells WIRED.

Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon are investing tens of billions in data centers. AI infrastructure is now a key driver of US economic growth. The amount of capital pouring into AI data center projects is staggering. Last week, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon reported their 2025 capital expenditures would total roughly $370 billion, and they expect that number to keep rising in 2026. The biggest spender last quarter was Microsoft, which put nearly $35 billion into data centers and other investments, equivalent to 45 percent of its revenue. Rarely, if ever, has a single technology absorbed this much money this quickly.

Three of the biggest US tech companies reported record profits and record infrastructure spending on Wednesday, fueling speculation about a possible AI market bubble. Three of the biggest US tech giants--Microsoft, Meta, and Google--sent investors a blunt message when they reported quarterly earnings on Wednesday: Their lavish spending on AI infrastructure is only just getting started. Meta said that its capital expenditure would total between $70 billion and $72 billion this year, up from its previous lower forecast of $66 billion to $72 billion. Next year, Meta's chief financial officer Susan Li said that she expected the company's spending would be "notably larger." The social media giant's soaring investment matches its soaring revenue: Meta reported raking in $51.24 billion last quarter, up 26 percent year-over-year.

Is artificial intelligence to blame for Amazon job cuts? Multinational technology company Amazon is laying off about 14,000 employees, the company has confirmed . A message sent out to staff on the company's website followed media reports that the group was planning 30,000 job cuts. News of the layoffs on Tuesday came just a few months after CEO Andrew Jassy said the rollout of artificial intelligence (AI) technology was likely to s pell job cuts . He also launched an "inefficiencies initiative" in which he invited workers to report unnecessary bureaucracy and inefficiencies that could be targeted for cost savings.

'Sovereign AI' Has Become a New Front in the US-China Tech War OpenAI has announced "AI sovereignty partnerships with governments around the world, but can proprietary models compete with Beijing's open source offerings? OpenAI has announced a number of projects this year with foreign governments to help build out what it has called their "sovereign AI" systems. The company says the deals, some of which are being coordinated with the US government, are part of a broader push to give national leaders more control over a technology that could reshape their economies. Over the past few months, sovereign AI has become something of a buzzword in both Washington and Silicon Valley. Proponents of the concept argue it's crucial that AI systems developed in democratic nations are able to proliferate globally, particularly as China races to deploy its own AI technology abroad.