Tag Archive for: antitrust

Everyone wants to make AI chips, UK antitrust hawks eye cloud providers, and MGM rebuffs ransom demand


Generative artificial intelligence continued to dominate the news this week as Anthropic reportedly is raising an additional $2 billion from Google and others, and reports indicated that gen AI partners OpenAI and Microsoft are each looking to design their own AI chips during a severe shortage of graphics processing units from Nvidia.

Meanwhile, U.K. antitrust authorities zeroed in on cloud computing providers, in particular Amazon Web Services and Microsoft. On this side of the pond, the Justice Department’s antitrust case against Google plodded ahead, though some have doubts about the Federal Trade Commission’s similarly sweeping case against Amazon.

On the cybersecurity front, MGM Resorts International declined to pay a ransom following a costly attack that took out its systems, a contrast to Caesar’s Entertainment’s decision to pay $30 million after an attack last month.

Finally, chipmaking giant Intel keeps spinning things out, this time its programmable-chip business, to shore up its finances.

Hear more about this and other news in theCUBE Pod, John Furrier’s and Dave Vellante’s weekly podcast, out now on YouTube. And don’t miss Vellante’s weekly Breaking Analysis, coming Saturday, in which he will dig into how higher interest rates may depress tech spending for longer than many people may assume.

So here’s the news we reported this week:

AI everywhere

It appears Google isn’t out of the Anthropic AIverse yet: Anthropic seeks huge investment from Google just days after Amazon invested billions It’s quite a bit behind OpenAI on revenue apparently, but its enterprise focus and seemingly more open partnership strategy would seem to bode well.

Billions of dollars burning a hole in OpenAI’s pocket? Maybe, but they gotta get more compute somewhere: Report: OpenAI could develop custom AI chips

And late-breaking Friday, Microsoft also may do its own AI chip.

More fun with more realistic weird images: Microsoft integrates OpenAI’s DALL-E 3 into Bing for enhanced image creation

And just a whole heck of a lot of new gen AI-powered business applications — but aren’t they all today?:

Dell enhances its generative AI hardware and software portfolio…

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Apple hit with EU antitrust charge over mobile payments technology


An Apple logo hangs above the entrance to the Apple store on 5th Avenue in the Manhattan borough of New York City, July 21, 2015. REUTERS/Mike Segar//File Photo

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BRUSSELS, May 2 (Reuters) – Apple faces a possible hefty fine and may have to open its mobile payment system to competitors after EU antitrust regulators charged the iPhone maker with restricting rivals’ access to its technology used for mobile wallets.

This marks the second EU charge against Apple after EU regulators last year accused the company of distorting competition in the music streaming market following a complaint from Spotify (SPOT.N). read more

The European Commission said on Monday it had sent a charge sheet known as a statement of objections to Apple, detailing how the company had abused its dominant position in markets for mobile wallets on iOS devices.

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The Commission said Apple’s anti-competitive practices dated back to 2015 when Apple Pay was launched.

“We have indications that Apple restricted third-party access to key technology necessary to develop rival mobile wallet solutions on Apple’s devices,” EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

“In our statement of objections, we preliminarily found that Apple may have restricted competition, to the benefit of its own solution Apple Pay,” she said.

Apple, which could face a fine up to 10% of its global turnover or $36.6 billion based on its revenue last year, though EU penalties rarely reach the cap, said it would continue to engage with the Commission.

“Apple Pay is only one of many options available to European consumers for making payments, and has ensured equal access to NFC while setting industry-leading standards for privacy and security,” the company said in a statement.

Apple’s Frankfurt-listed shares fell on the news and were down 0.7% at 1216 GMT.

Apple Pay is used by more than 2,500 banks in Europe and over 250 fintechs and challenger banks. The NFC chip enables tap-and-go payments on iPhones and iPads.

Vestager rejected the company’s security argument.

“Our investigation to date did not reveal any evidence that would…

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Hillicon Valley – Biden budget boosts antitrust funding


Today is Monday. Welcome to Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Subscribe here.

Let’s get to it.

President Biden is proposing funding increases for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ)’s antitrust division as part of his $5.8 trillion proposal released Monday. 

Biden’s 2023 budget would increase the DOJ’s antitrust division funding by $88 million and the FTC’s by $139 million. 

The White House called it a “historic” increase in a fact sheet, saying it “reflects the Administration’s commitment to vigorous marketplace competition through robust enforcement of antitrust law.” 

The requests to increase the funding come as the DOJ and FTC push forward with antitrust cases against tech giants, including Google and Facebook parent company Meta. 

Recent White House warnings urging the private sector to shore up its cyber defenses have experts questioning why U.S. officials haven’t already defined what constitutes cyberwarfare.  

Although the experts praised the warnings, they said that the Biden administration should also prioritize defining what the thresholds are for retaliating against a major cyberattack.  

“We have to set up rules of engagement that are absolute, saying any cyberattack that is associated with a [hacking group] loosely tied with the Russian government or the Chinese government will immediately trigger the following actions,” said Emil Sayegh, president and CEO of data security firm Ntirety.  

The experts were weighing in on recent warnings issued by the White House urging critical sectors to prepare for possible Russian cyberattacks following new U.S. intelligence suggesting that the Kremlin is exploring “options for potential cyberattacks” against critical infrastructure. 

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MUSK MULLING TWITTER RIVAL

Tesla Inc. CEO Elon MuskElon Reeve MuskNASA announces renewed competition for moon mission contracts Equilibrium/Sustainability — Students create filter to remove lead from tap water On The Money — White…

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U.S. justice department accuses Google of dragging its feet in antitrust trial, Telecom News, ET Telecom


U.S. justice department accuses Google of dragging its feet in antitrust trialWASHINGTON: The U.S. Department of Justice accused Google of dragging its feet in providing documents in preparation for a trial on allegations that it broke antitrust law while the search and advertising giant said the government was being unreasonable.

In a joint filing late Thursday, the Justice Department said that Alphabet’s Google had balked at some search terms that the government wanted it to use to locate relevant documents. The Justice Department estimated the request to Google would produce 4.85 million documents.

It also said that Google had refused to agree to dozens of additional “custodians,” essentially people whose emails and other documents would be searched as part of pre-trial document production.

Google, for its part, said that they had reviewed more than 12 million documents for the government’s case, and expressed concern at the growing number of custodians whose documents were sought.

“The DOJ Plaintiffs’ proposal is unreasonable and not proportional to the needs of this case,” Google said in the filing.

The cases under discussion are the federal government and one of the state lawsuits against Google. Those actions are two of the five antitrust lawsuits filed against Big Tech last year.

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