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Amazon and Google Launch Multicloud Service for Faster Connectivity

FILE PHOTO: The logo for Google LLC is seen at the Google Store Chelsea in Manhattan, New York City, US, November 17, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The logo for Google LLC is seen at the Google Store Chelsea in Manhattan, New York City, US, November 17, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo
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Amazon and Google Launch Multicloud Service for Faster Connectivity

FILE PHOTO: The logo for Google LLC is seen at the Google Store Chelsea in Manhattan, New York City, US, November 17, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The logo for Google LLC is seen at the Google Store Chelsea in Manhattan, New York City, US, November 17, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

Amazon and Google introduced a jointly developed multicloud networking service on Sunday to meet growing demand for reliable connectivity the companies said in a statement, at a time when even brief internet disruptions can cause major outages.

The initiative will enable customers to establish private, high-speed links between the two companies' computing platforms in minutes instead of weeks, reported Reuters.

The new service is being unveiled a little over a month after an Amazon Web Services outage on October 20 disrupted thousands of websites worldwide, knocking offline some of the internet's most popular apps, including Snapchat and Reddit. That outage will cost US companies between $500 million and $650 million in losses, according to analytics firm Parametrix.

The new offering combines AWS' Interconnect–multicloud with Google Cloud's Cross-Cloud Interconnect, to improve network interoperability, according to announcements by the two cloud providers.

"This collaboration between AWS and Google Cloud represents a fundamental shift in multicloud connectivity," said Robert Kennedy, vice president of network services at AWS.

Rob Enns, vice president and general manager of cloud networking at Google Cloud, said the joint network is intended to make it easier for customers to move data and applications between clouds.

Salesforce is among the early users of the new approach, Google Cloud said in a statement.

AWS provides computing power, data storage and other digital services to companies, governments and individuals and is the world's largest cloud provider, followed by Microsoft's Azure and Google Cloud.

Tech companies including Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon are investing billions to build infrastructure that can handle surging internet traffic with the growing demands of artificial intelligence, as the need for computing power to support these services accelerates.

Amazon’s cloud business delivered robust growth in the third quarter, generating $33 billion in revenue; more than double that of Google's $15.16 billion.

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Technology

Google to Open German Center for 'AI Development'

Google has launched a massive AI investment drive in Germany. Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP
Google has launched a massive AI investment drive in Germany. Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP
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Google to Open German Center for 'AI Development'

Google has launched a massive AI investment drive in Germany. Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP
Google has launched a massive AI investment drive in Germany. Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP

Google will open an AI center in Berlin on Thursday, the latest sign of Europe's deepening reliance on US firms in cutting edge technologies despite the continent's stated aim to catch up with its rivals.

Germany's ministry for digital affairs told AFP the center will bring together cloud computing and data infrastructure, "AI development" operations as well as a space for cooperation between start-ups and research centers.

Europe is struggling to gain ground in the battle for AI dominance with the United States and China, which are pumping vast sums into the field and producing the most advanced models underpinning the technology.

The Google project is part of a 5.5 billion euro ($6.4 billion) investment drive into Europe's top economy announced by the US tech titan in November, planned to include a new data center.

The firm said at the time it would renovate its Berlin office to add three floors equipped with meeting rooms, a new conference room and a demo space but made no mention of an AI center in the capital.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz's coalition has signaled it wants to make progress in the area as part of efforts to revive the struggling economy, and there have been a flurry of announcements related to AI recently.

"I want technological leadership to once again become the core of our economic model," said Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil last month at the opening of an industrial AI hub, spearheaded by German telecoms giant Deutsche Telekom and US chip juggernaut Nvidia.

- 'Enormous challenges' -

But while efforts are being made to build up infrastructure and data storage capacities, the "challenges are enormous" for Germany, said Janis Hecker of the digital business association Bitkom.

The government still "underestimates the importance of these technologies for value creation, but also for sovereignty and the defense of our values", he said.

The United States builds more computing capacity each year than Germany has in total, the group says.

According to its calculations, one-thousandth of the proposed central government budget for 2026 is dedicated to AI, and only a fraction of a massive pot of funding to modernize the country's infrastructure is dedicated to cutting-edge technologies.

Against this backdrop, Google's investments in Germany are a "big win", Bitkom believes.

But such investments add to concerns about Europe's technological dependencies on the United States at a time of strained ties under the administration of US President Donald Trump.

Even when American tech giants are not the main players in a project, they often still play a vital role in areas from providing cloud infrastructure to cutting-edge semiconductors.

At a summit on so-called "digital sovereignty" in November, Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron backed the idea of favoring European firms in a bid to develop regional champions.

"Sovereignty does not mean self-sufficiency, but strategic capacity for action," says Barbara Engels of the IW Institute.

She also welcomed Google's projects but said that "we must use this infrastructure while developing our own capabilities".

Antonio Krueger, head of the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), believes it makes no sense to try to overtake China and the United States in areas such as producing the most advanced AI models.

Instead, Europe should leverage its advantages in industry, he said, adding that data collected by companies can by use to train smaller AI models to "solve very specific tasks".

In this area, "the race is still wide open," he said.

Technology

AI May be Creating Instead of Destroying Jobs for Now, ECB Blog Argues

FILE PHOTO: A view of the European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, March 6, 2025. REUTERS/Jana Rodenbusch/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view of the European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, March 6, 2025. REUTERS/Jana Rodenbusch/File Photo
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AI May be Creating Instead of Destroying Jobs for Now, ECB Blog Argues

FILE PHOTO: A view of the European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, March 6, 2025. REUTERS/Jana Rodenbusch/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view of the European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, March 6, 2025. REUTERS/Jana Rodenbusch/File Photo

The increasing use of artificial intelligence by firms may be creating some jobs in the euro zone rather than destroying them as many fear, a European Central Bank blog post argued on Wednesday.

Economists have been debating whether AI could put white collar staff out of work, and a recent study by Germany's Ifo Institute found that more than a quarter of German firms expect AI to ⁠lead to job ⁠cuts in the next five years.

But the ECB's own Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises found that companies making significant use of AI are more likely to take on additional staff ⁠in the near term.

"In other words, AI-intensive firms tend, on average, to hire rather than fire," the blog post, which is not necessarily the view of the ECB, said.

Firms planning to invest in AI are also more likely to have positive expectations for future employment growth, the blog argued.

"This is true regardless of the level of planned AI investment ⁠and ⁠suggests that a pause in hiring due to investment in AI technology is also unlikely over the next year," the blog, written by two ECB staff economists, said.

However, the outlook may change on the longer horizon, the authors said.

Most of the gloomier surveys cover longer horizons than the ECB's own question and the outlook could change once AI starts to significantly transform production processes.

Technology

EU Experts to Start Work on Social Media Ban for Children Thursday

The TikTok Inc. building is seen in Culver City, Calif., Friday, March 17, 2023. (AP)
The TikTok Inc. building is seen in Culver City, Calif., Friday, March 17, 2023. (AP)
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EU Experts to Start Work on Social Media Ban for Children Thursday

The TikTok Inc. building is seen in Culver City, Calif., Friday, March 17, 2023. (AP)
The TikTok Inc. building is seen in Culver City, Calif., Friday, March 17, 2023. (AP)

An EU expert group is to begin work this week on whether to ban social media for children with the aim of coming up with recommendations by the summer, Brussels said Tuesday.

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen will attend the consultative panel's inaugural meeting on Thursday, having launched the initiative in September, the European Commission said.

Brussels is considering setting a minimum age to access social media after Australia in December required TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat and other top sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, or face heavy fines.

The EU panel will hold a series of meetings to then "advise the President and the commission as a whole on potential additional measures to put in place to protect our kids online," said commission spokesman Thomas Regnier.

The commission did not say who was on the panel.

Brussels is keeping a close eye on how successful the Australian ban proves, with legal challenges already filed against it.

France, along with Denmark, Greece and Spain, has been pushing for similar action at EU level.

Von der Leyen has advocated going further with a minimum age limit, but first wants to hear from experts on what approach the 27-nation bloc should take.

EU efforts to rein in the influence of big tech firms -- most of which are based in the United States -- have angered the administration of President Donald Trump.