The five UK fintechs tipped to reach unicorn status February 13, 2025 The UK fintech sector is experiencing lightning growth, with several companies on the road to gaining ‘unicorn’ status, a title given to privately held startups valued at over $1bn (£780m). According to Hurun’s recent index, a handful of fintech firms are leading the charge, with valuations of $500m and above. These firms span various financial [...]
Relx: revenue jumps thanks to AI demand February 13, 2025 Data group Relx has reported a seven per cent jump in revenue in 2024 as demand for its analytics and decision tools continued to grow. The information and analytics giant, which serves industries ranging from legal to risk and science sectors, saw adjusted profit rise 10 per cent to £3.2bn, while earnings per share increased [...]
UK savers back AI on pensions, but ‘not as a substitute for humans’ February 12, 2025 UK savers are open to artificial intelligence (AI) playing a key role in pension customer support. But, most would rather have a combination of AI and human interaction, rather than a fully automated system. A recent survey by pension scheme provider PensionBee found that of its 1,000 participants, 79 per cent favoured a hybrid approach. [...]
Elon Musk’s Tesla tumbles as BYD plans to use DeepSeek February 12, 2025 Elon Musk’s Tesla is on a sharp downward spiral, shedding 16 per cent in just over a week after Chinese rival BYD announced plans to develop autonomous vehicles with DeepSeek. Coming into Wednesday trading, the EV giant dropped for its fifth consecutive day. Its shares have plummeted 32 per cent since mid-December, when the firm [...]
BHP: Mining giant which quit FTSE appoints former RBS chief as chair February 12, 2025 Mining group BHP has announced the appointment of former RBS chief Ross McEwan as chair, following the retirement of incumbent Ken Mackenzie at the end of March. Stepping into this role, McEwan will oversee the selection of the mining giant’s next chief executive, as reported by Reuters. He will also consider renewing the firm’s plans [...]
France races ahead of UK in AI push February 10, 2025 French President Emmanuel Macron announced a €109bn (£90bn) investment in artificial intelligence (AI) on Monday, dwarfing the UK’s commitment to leading the global tech race. The funding, which was announced at the Paris AI summit, will come from both public and private sources, as Macron aims to position France as a major AI hub. The [...]
UK skills gap threatens to stall Starmer’s AI plans as firms looks abroad February 10, 2025 A severe shortage of the nation’s tech skills may stifle the government’s push to turbocharge artificial intelligence (AI) in the UK, a survey has warned. Keir Starmer announced the government’s AI opportunities action plan in January, in which he pledged to create over 13,000 jobs in the tech sector. But it may struggle to get [...]
Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta: Is big tech overspending on AI? February 7, 2025 Tech titans have projected pouring billions of dollars into artificial intelligence (AI) in 2025, yet Wall Street impatiently awaits returns on their investments. Amazon is leading the charge, having recently committed over $100bn to AI infrastructure this year, surpassing Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta. The four tech behemoths reported a combined $246bn investment in AI in [...]
Amazon shares plunge after tech giant misses earnings February 7, 2025 Amazon missed expectations for its cloud computing arm, raising concerns about the tech leader’s investment in artificial intelligence (AI). On Thursday, the tech behemoth told the market that its cloud division, Amazon Web Services, reported a fourth-quarter revenue of $28.7bn (£23.1bn), slightly below Wall Street forecasts of $28.84bn. The miss disappointed investors, who were already [...]
UK’s data centre ambitions threatened by grid red tape February 6, 2025 Delays connecting to the electricity grid may risk the UK’s position in the global AI race, as proposals for new data centres are pushed down the track, experts have warned. The National Energy Systems Operator (NESO) is grappling with a major backlog, and it is understood that any proposed big infrastructure project looking to hook [...]
