Daily Dose Of Tech – Wednesday

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Your Daily Dose Of Technology News – November 12, 2025.

1. Africa Connectivity Boost: Vodacom Group Partners with Starlink-

– Vodacom Group announced a partnership with Starlink (the satellite broadband provider) to expand high-speed, low-latency internet access across Africa, especially in rural/underserved areas.

– The collaboration is pitched as a “crucial step” in bridging the digital divide, unlocking economic/education/innovation opportunities.

– This is directly relevant to connectivity infrastructure in Africa: satellite broadband (especially low Earth orbit tech) is increasingly seen as complementary or alternative to terrestrial infrastructure in remote/underserved regions.

– It signals that major telecom players are pivoting to hybrid connectivity strategies (satellite + fibre/cellular) to reach the “last mile” or beyond.

– For digital/economic development, improved connectivity is a foundational enabler of downstream technology innovation (remote work, digital education, IoT, etc.).

– For policy/regulators: Partnerships like this might prompt review of spectrum/licensing, rural subsidies, universal service obligations.

– For service providers/startups: New connectivity may enable business models previously unfeasible in remote regions.

For organisations in South Africa looking to expand into rural areas (education, health, IoT), improved connectivity options may reduce infrastructure barriers.

In Other News:

2. Digital Regulation: Australia’s Teen Social-Media Ban Enforcement-

– Major online platforms (e.g., TikTok, Snapchat, Meta’s Facebook/Instagram/Threads) are beginning to comply with Australia’s upcoming “under-16” social-media ban, scheduled to take effect December 10, 2025.

– Teen users will be offered options: download their data, freeze profiles, or risk deactivation. The measure is described as “world-first”.

– This sets a precedent for how jurisdictions may regulate youth access to social media, not just content but account existence — the platforms are being forced into technical and operational changes (account freezing, data export, age verification).

– For tech platforms operating globally, compliance burdens (local laws, age-verification regimes, privacy/data portability) will increase.

– For users/parents, such regulations affect access, rights to data, and platform experience for younger users.

– While South Africa may not have an identical ban yet, global regulatory trends are relevant: age-based access restrictions, enhanced verification, data-portability rights.

Platform providers in Africa might need to anticipate similar rules and design for compliance (especially with global platforms operating in multiple jurisdictions).

3. Big Renewable Power Deal: TotalEnergies & Google-

– TotalEnergies has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) to supply Google with about 1.5 terawatt-hours of renewable electricity from its Montpelier solar farm in Ohio, which is connected to the PJM grid (the largest grid in the U.S.).

– This is aimed at powering Google’s data centre operations in Ohio.

– The use of a large solar farm in Ohio is notable because it expands renewable supply in a region not typically seen as the “sunny solar belt.”

– From a sustainability and corporate-tech-policy perspective, it reinforces the framing of data-centres not just as computing hubs but as major energy consumers and thus decarbonisation targets.

– If large global players make such deals, similar models (PPAs, corporate renewables) may trickle into African tech and data-centre markets.

– For local businesses considering data centres or cloud infrastructure, the energy story is increasingly part of the decision-making and cost/risk environment.

It shows major tech infrastructure players (Google) increasingly tying their operations to long-term renewable energy commitments.

4. AI & Data Governance Warning: Eric Schmidt on Chinese AI Models-

– Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, warned that open-source AI models developed in China could become globally dominant, potentially posing a strategic challenge to US tech firms.

– He emphasised that many countries might adopt the free (or lower-cost) Chinese models rather than expensive Western alternatives thus creating a competitive/ geopolitical imbalance.

– It’s not just a tech story, but a geo-tech/strategic story: open-source models democratising AI can shift power dynamics.

– The concern is that Western companies may be out-paced or out-priced, and strategic control of AI technology may shift.

– For regulators, companies, both the innovation and competitive risk aspects of AI are increasingly salient.

– The availability of open-source models may lower entry barriers, but also raise questions about which models (and whose governance) will dominate Chinese, US, or local/regional ones.

The global competition in AI means that local/regional strategies (data sovereignty, model governance, open-source vs proprietary) are increasingly important.

5. US Export Control Rule on Hold – China/US Tech Tensions:

– The U.S. has formally postponed for one year a major “blacklist rule” targeting Chinese tech companies, which had been a key point of contention in US-China tech/trade policy.

– The delay is seen as a concession in recent trade talks, although the rule may return in 2026.

– Export controls and “blacklist” mechanics are powerful leverages in tech geopolitics, especially for semiconductors, AI, communications tech.

– The postponement signals either a de-escalation or at least a recalibration in US policy but not necessarily a permanent end.

– For multinational companies, this kind of policy uncertainty contributes to risk in supply-chains, compliance, investment decisions.

The shifting global environment may open windows (or risks) in sourcing, supply chain diversification, localisation efforts.

Odds And Ends:

6. Figma Opens Office in India:

– Figma, the design-tool company headquartered in San Francisco, announced a new office in Bengaluru, India.

– Until now, Figma supported India remotely via its Singapore office; the move reflects recognition of India’s growing design/dev community and user base.

– It is a sign of “tech expansion beyond the US & Europe” — India as a major hub not just for outsourcing or support, but for local product, community, and dev-ecosystem presence.

– For global-tech companies, establishing a local physical footprint signals long-term commitment and likely means hiring engineers, product, community roles locally.

For designers/devs in India (and by extension other emerging markets) this kind of presence often helps in localization, community building, and better support.

7. Digital & AI Innovation in Japan: NTT DOCOMO & NTT, Inc. Launch New “Large Action Model” (LAM):

– NTT and NTT DOCOMO announced the development of a new AI technology: the “Large Action Model” (LAM).

– LAM is trained on time-series data (customer interactions online & in store) structured in “4W1H” format (Who, When, Where, What, How).

– They claim the model can boost telemarketing orders for mobile & “smart-life” services by up to 2× compared with conventional methods.

– Notably, this model was trained in under one day (approx 145 GPU-hours on eight A100 40GB GPUs).

– It’s an interesting example of applying large-model/AI techniques not just for broad-language understanding but for predictive customer behaviour in a commercial context.

– Demonstrates how AI models are being applied in structured business-data (time-series, transactional) not just unstructured (text/image), suggests “large model” techniques are spreading into enterprise/marketing use-cases.

Use of rich time-series/persona data to drive predictive marketing will raise questions around consent, transparency, data governance.

8. Cybersecurity & Breach Activity:

– A blog post summarises this week’s breach-news: over 1.2 million records exposed in the University of Pennsylvania breach; a large phishing campaign impersonated Booking.com targeting hotels; and Google issued alerts about six major online scam vectors.

– Even as mega headlines focus on AI and connectivity, the “boring” plumbing of cybersecurity remains critical: data breaches, phishing campaigns, scam awareness.

– The scale of exposed records (1.2m+) indicates that even “prestigious” institutions are vulnerable, this serves as a reminder for all sectors.

– Phishing campaigns aimed at hotels show how digital supply chains (hospitality, travel) are targets, reminds us that white-collar and consumer-adjacent sectors are risk zones.

– Organisations should remain vigilant, both awareness/training and technical defences matter.

– Data hygiene, awareness of phishing/small-scale scams remain important despite the headline ‘AI’ buzz.

Opportunity exists to offer secure solutions and services geared to emerging-market contexts (affordable, piloted, localised security).

9. SAIA Agrobotics raises €10 million to automate greenhouses:

– The Dutch startup SAIA Agrobotics, spun out of Wageningen University & Research, announced a €10 million Series A funding round led by Check24 Impact with participation from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund and others.

– Their system moves plants to stationary robots for tasks like scanning, trimming and harvesting — the company claims up to 50% reduction in labour cost and ~20% yield increase.

– The funds will support a commercial rollout in 2026.

– Automated agriculture is becoming a major tech front, especially in Europe. This illustrates how robotics + AI is moving from lab to greenhouses, not just “funny robots”.

10. Market and Tech Stocks: AI Sector & Broader Sentiment:

– Global markets rose as optimism grew that the US government shutdown might be ending soon; technology stocks had a rebound.

– Separately, reports (e.g., from “BusinessTech Africa”) indicate that SoftBank Group sold its entire stake in Nvidia Corporation (about 32.1 million shares) for $5.83 billion in October 2025, stirring concerns about an AI-stock bubble.

– The dual narrative is interesting: on one hand, rebound and strong sentiment for tech; on the other, signs of caution in AI investment i.e., “are we in a bubble?”

– For tech investors and companies alike, balancing hype (AI growth stories) with fundamentals (supply chains, chips, power/energy, data centres) is important.

Understanding macro tech-cycle dynamics (funding, investor behaviour, stock valuations) can help plan funding rounds, product timelines, go-to-market strategies.

Summary:

* Sustainability meets tech infrastructure: Data centre power deals (TotalEnergies/Google) highlight how energy and tech are increasingly intertwined.
* Emerging-market expansion: Figma’s India office, Vodacom/Starlink in Africa highlight how new geographies are gaining importance in global tech roll-outs.
* AI strategy & competition: From Schmidt’s warning about Chinese open-source models, to Japan’s LAM model for marketing, to Google’s Private AI Compute (see separate report) — the AI space is heating up on multiple fronts (innovation, competition, governance).
* Regulation & privacy: Australia’s teen social-media ban and export-control delays in the US illustrate how government policy is increasingly shaping tech access, rights, and global flows.
* Cybersecurity & risk: Even with shiny innovations, core issues such as data breaches, phishing, and scam awareness remain critical.
* Market sentiment & investment caution: The rebound in tech shares is counterbalanced by underlying concerns about over-valuation in AI, making clear that many parts of the tech ecosystem are in flux.

If you need a summary on any specific topic or more detailed information on emerging tech trends, feel free to ask us @DawentsIT or visit our website at www.dawentsit.com

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