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Saudi Ministry of Communications, Microsoft Announce Center of Excellence to Enhance Digital Capabilities of Saudi Workforce

The Saudi flag. Asharq Al-Awsat
The Saudi flag. Asharq Al-Awsat
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Saudi Ministry of Communications, Microsoft Announce Center of Excellence to Enhance Digital Capabilities of Saudi Workforce

The Saudi flag. Asharq Al-Awsat
The Saudi flag. Asharq Al-Awsat

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, through its Future Skills initiative, and Microsoft have announced a new Center of Excellence to empower professionals across Saudi Arabia with the advanced skills needed to thrive in the new digital era and enhance the employability of the Kingdom’s present and future workforce.

The announcement was made on the sidelines of LEAP 2024, bringing together the world’s leading innovators, IT experts, and industry leaders to highlight the latest advancements in technology.

The new Center of Excellence is part of joint efforts between the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and Microsoft to enhance the digital capabilities of Saudi professionals and build the local talent pool, aligning with the goals of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 for a diversified and thriving economy.

This announcement reaffirms Microsoft’s commitment to empowering Saudi Arabia’s workforce to effectively leverage the latest cloud and AI technologies, as part of the company’s investment in a new cloud datacenter region in the Kingdom. Microsoft’s datacenter is poised to serve as a catalyst for digital innovation and economic growth, empowering local Saudi talent with relevant digital skills for cloud computing and AI.

Microsoft's dedication to talent development in Saudi Arabia is further exemplified by programs like the Global Skills initiative, benefitting over 108,000 professionals. Additionally, collaborations with the Ministry of Education have trained over 250,000 teachers and reached 5.6 million students through the Madrasti Codes program, with MS-Learn impacting more than 70,000 students.

Deputy Minister for Future Jobs and Capabilities Ibrahim Al-Nasser said the Center of Excellence marks a significant milestone in accelerating digital transformation and Saudi Arabia’s digital economy growth, contributing to the nation’s vision of a highly innovative and knowledge-based economy.

The Center of Excellence aims to develop the technical skills of students and the Kingdom’s workforce, featuring a Cloud Academy with Tuwaiq Academy, offering globally recognized, industry-endorsed skilling tracks in cloud computing, AI, IoT, and Generative AI.

President of Microsoft Arabia Turki Badhris highlighted the importance of a highly skilled workforce in driving innovation and economic growth. The Center of Excellence is designed to enhance the digital skills of various demographics, offering training programs and acting as a strategic knowledge partner for initiatives like the AI Community Skilling program with Noon Academy.

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Technology

US Allows Nvidia to Send Advanced AI Chips to China with Restrictions

An Nvidia logo and a computer motherboard appear in this illustration taken August 25, 2025. (Reuters)
An Nvidia logo and a computer motherboard appear in this illustration taken August 25, 2025. (Reuters)
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US Allows Nvidia to Send Advanced AI Chips to China with Restrictions

An Nvidia logo and a computer motherboard appear in this illustration taken August 25, 2025. (Reuters)
An Nvidia logo and a computer motherboard appear in this illustration taken August 25, 2025. (Reuters)

The US Commerce Department on Tuesday opened the door for Nvidia to sell advanced artificial intelligence chips in China with restrictions, following through on a policy shift announced last month by President Donald Trump.

The change would permit Nvidia to sell its powerful H200 chip to Chinese buyers if certain conditions are met -- including proof of "sufficient" US supply -- while sales of its most advanced processors would still be blocked.

However, uncertainty has grown over how much demand there will be from Chinese companies, as Beijing has reportedly been encouraging tech companies to use homegrown chips.

Chinese officials have informed some firms they would only approve buying H200 chips under special circumstances, such as development labs or university research, news website The Information reported Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of the situation.

The Information had previously reported that Chinese officials were calling on companies there to pause H200 purchases while they deliberated requiring them to buy a certain ratio of AI chips made by Nvidia rivals in China.

In its official update on Tuesday, the US Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security said it had changed the licensing review policy for H200 and similar chips from a presumption of denial to handling applications case-by-case.

Trump announced in December an agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping to allow Nvidia to export its H200 chips to China, with the US government getting a 25-percent cut of sales.

The move marked a significant shift in US export policy for advanced AI chips, which Joe Biden's administration had heavily restricted over national security concerns about Chinese military applications.

Democrats in Congress have criticized the move as a huge mistake that will help China's military and economy.

- Chinese chips -

Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang has advocated for the company to be allowed to sell some of its more advanced chips in China, arguing the importance of AI systems around the world being built on US technology.

The chips -- graphic processing units or GPUs -- are used to train the AI models that are the bedrock of the generative AI revolution launched with the release of ChatGPT in 2022.

The GPU sector is dominated by Nvidia, now the world's most valuable company thanks to frenzied global demand and optimism for AI.

H200s are roughly 18 months behind the US company's most state-of-the-art offerings, which will still be off-limits to China.

Nvidia's Huang has repeatedly warned that China is just "nanoseconds behind" the United States as it accelerates the development of domestically produced advanced chips.

On Wednesday, leading Chinese AI startup Zhipu said it had used homegrown Huawei chips to train its new image generator.

Zhipu AI described its tool as "the first state-of-the-art multimodal model to complete the entire training process on a domestically produced chip".

The startup went public in Hong Kong last week and its shares have since soared 75 percent -- one of several dazzling recent initial public offerings by Chinese chip and generative AI companies, as high hopes for the sector outweigh concerns of a potential market crash.

Technology

Apple Rolls Out Creator Studio to Boost Services Push, Adds AI Features

A customer compares his old iPhone with the newly launched iPhone 17 pro max at an Apple retail store in Delhi, India, September 19, 2025. (Reuters)
A customer compares his old iPhone with the newly launched iPhone 17 pro max at an Apple retail store in Delhi, India, September 19, 2025. (Reuters)
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Apple Rolls Out Creator Studio to Boost Services Push, Adds AI Features

A customer compares his old iPhone with the newly launched iPhone 17 pro max at an Apple retail store in Delhi, India, September 19, 2025. (Reuters)
A customer compares his old iPhone with the newly launched iPhone 17 pro max at an Apple retail store in Delhi, India, September 19, 2025. (Reuters)

Apple on Tuesday unveiled Apple Creator Studio, a new subscription bundle of professional creative software priced at $12.99 a month or $129 a year, as the iPhone maker steps up its push into paid services for creators, students and professionals.

The company has used its services business, which includes its Apple ‌Music and ‌iCloud services, to drive ‌growth ⁠in recent ‌years, helping counter slower hardware growth and generate recurring revenue.

Apple Creator Studio bundles some of the company's best-known creative tools into a single subscription, including Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro ⁠and Pixelmator Pro across Mac and iPad.

The ‌package also adds premium ‍content and ‍new AI-powered features to Apple's productivity apps ‍Keynote, Pages and Numbers, while digital whiteboarding app Freeform will gain enhanced features later.

Final Cut Pro will offer new tools such as transcript-based search, visual search and beat detection to ⁠speed up video editing, while Logic Pro introduces AI-powered features like Synth Player and Chord ID to assist with music creation.

The company's Photoshop-alternative Pixelmator Pro will be available on iPad for the first time and will offer Apple Pencil support.

The subscription launches January 28 on ‌the App Store, Apple said.

Technology

Social Media Harms Teens, Watchdog Warns, as France Weighs Ban

The TikTok app logo is seen in this illustration taken January 16, 2025. (Reuters)
The TikTok app logo is seen in this illustration taken January 16, 2025. (Reuters)
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Social Media Harms Teens, Watchdog Warns, as France Weighs Ban

The TikTok app logo is seen in this illustration taken January 16, 2025. (Reuters)
The TikTok app logo is seen in this illustration taken January 16, 2025. (Reuters)

Social media harms the mental health of adolescents, particularly girls, France's health watchdog said Tuesday as the country debates banning children under 15 from accessing the immensely popular platforms.

The results of an expert scientific review on the subject were announced after Australia became the first country to prohibit big platforms including Instagram, TikTok and YouTube for under 16s last month, while other nations consider following its lead.

Using social media is not the sole cause of the declining mental health of teenagers, but its negative effects are "numerous" and well documented, the French public health watchdog ANSES wrote in its opinion, the result of five years of work by a committee of experts.

France is currently debating two bills, one backed by President Emmanuel Macron, that would ban social media for under 15s.

The ANSES opinion recommended "acting at the source" to ensure that children can only access social networks "designed and configured to protect their health".

This means that the platforms would have to change their personalized algorithms, persuasive techniques and default settings, according to the agency.

"This study provides scientific arguments for the debate about social networks in recent years: it is based on 1,000 studies," the expert panel's head Olivia Roth-Delgado told a press conference.

Social media can create an "unprecedented echo chamber" that reinforces stereotypes, promotes risky behavior and promotes cyberbullying, the ANSES opinion said.

The content also portrays an unrealistic idea of beauty via digitally altered images that can lead to low self-esteem in girls, which creates fertile ground for depression or eating disorders, it added.

Girls -- who use social media more than boys -- are subjected to more of the "social pressure linked to gender stereotypes," the opinion said.

This means girls are more affected by the dangers of social media -- as are people with pre-existing mental health conditions, it added.

On Monday, tech giant Meta urged Australia to rethink its teen social media ban, while reporting that it has blocked more than 544,000 Instagram, Facebook and Threads accounts under the new law.

Meta said parents and experts were worried about the ban isolating young people from online communities, and driving some to less regulated apps and darker corners of the internet.