The Download: Namibia’s hydrogen hopes, and fixing AI evaluation

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The Download: Namibia’s hydrogen hopes, and fixing AI evaluation

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Namibia wants to build the world’s first hydrogen economy Factories have used fossil fuels to process iron ore for three centuries, and the climate has paid a heavy price: According to the International Energy Agency, the steel industry today accounts for 8% of carbon dioxide emissions.But it turns out there is a less carbon-intensive alternative: using hydrogen. Unlike coal or natural gas, which release carbon dioxide as a by-product, this process releases water. And if the hydrogen itself is “green,” the climate impact of the entire process will be minimal. HyIron, which has a site in the Namib desert, is one of a handful of companies around the world that are betting green hydrogen can help the $1.8 trillion steel industry clean up its act. The question now is whether Namibia’s government, its trading partners, and hydrogen innovators can work together to build the industry in a way that satisfies the world’s appetite for cleaner fuels—and also helps improve lives at home. Read the full story. —Jonathan W. Rosen This story is from the next print edition of MIT Technology Review, which explores power—who has it, and who wants it. It’s set to go live tomorrow, so subscribe & save 25% to read it and get a copy of the issue when it lands! Can we fix AI’s evaluation crisis? Every time a company launches a new AI model, its scores show it beating the capabilities of predecessors. On paper, everything appears to be getting better all the time. In practice, it’s not so simple. In fact, many now openly admit that the process of testing AI, using sets of exam-style questions called benchmarks, is broken. In response, a growing number of teams around the world are trying to address the AI evaluation crisis. One of them is Xbench, a benchmark project developed by HongShan Capital Group (formerly Sequoia China). It evaluates models not only on the ability to pass arbitrary tests, like most other benchmarks, but also on the ability to execute real-world tasks, which is more unusual. It’s also updated on a regular basis to try to keep it evergreen. Read more about Xbench in our story, and more about the broader efforts to tackle the evaluation crisis in this week’s edition of The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter about the latest goings-on in the world of AI. —Caiwei Chen The Anthropocene illusion Over six years and across four continents, the London-based documentary photographer Zed Nelson has examined how humans have immersed themselves in increasingly simulated environments to mask their destructive divorce from the natural world.Featuring everything from theme parks and zoos to national parks and African safaris, his images reveal not only a desperate craving for a connection to a world we have turned our back on but also a global phenomenon of denial and collective self-delusion. Check out a selection of his arresting images here.—Allison Arieff The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 US auto safety regulators are investigating Tesla’s robotaxis They’re probing incidents where the vehicles appear to violate traffic laws. (Bloomberg $)+ One video depicts a robotaxi driving on the wrong side of the road. (The Verge)+ The probe has started just one day after the service launched in Texas. (TechCrunch) 2 Officials fear Iran is planning a cyber retaliationIran-linked groups could cause quite a bit of havoc in the US. (WP $)+ The US says the conflict has triggered a “heightened threat environment.” (Axios)+ Donald Trump has set off a whole new wave of bombing disinformation. (Wired $) 3 Caregivers are struggling to cope with measles outbreaksThe virus is infecting children and adults alike around the US. (NYT $)+ RFK Jr’s planned dietary guideline shakeup is severely lacking. (The Atlantic $)+ How measuring vaccine hesitancy could help health professionals tackle it. (MIT Technology Review) 4 A man was killed by police after speaking with ChatGPTAlex Taylor, who struggled with his mental health, was convinced OpenAI had “killed” an entity called Juliet. (Rolling Stone $) 5 WhatsApp has been banned from US House of Representatives devicesThe Office of Cybersecurity believes it poses a high risk to data security. (The Guardian)+ Another app banned from the same devices? TikTok. (Reuters) 6 How AI is opening up a new digital divideBetween the nations with the computing power to build it, and the ones without. (NYT $)+ Meta’s data center is not winning over communities in Louisiana. (404 Media)+ The UAE wants to spend its way to becoming a tech superpower. (Rest of World)+ We did the math on AI’s energy footprint. Here’s the story you haven’t heard. (MIT Technology Review) 7 China’s EV factories are a must-see for touristsTens of thousands of people enter draws for the privilege each month. (Wired $)+ China’s EV giants are betting big on humanoid robots. (MIT Technology Review)8 Meta’s AI model has memorized nearly all of the first Harry Potter bookWhich suggests it’s storing books, rather than training on them. (404 Media) 9 How to get people to behave better onlineSuspensions really work. (Fast Company $)+ How to fix the internet. (MIT Technology Review) 10 Elon Musk does not use a computer 💻That’s his lawyers’ story, and they’re sticking to it. (Wired $) Quote of the day “It’s like announcing that, ‘I’m going to Mars’ and then, you know, going to Cleveland.” —Bryant Walker Smith, a University of South Carolina law professor, pokes fun at Elon Musk’s autonomous ride-hailing ambitions, Reuters reports. One more thing Inside the hunt for new physics at the world’s largest particle colliderIn 2012, using data from CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, researchers discovered a particle called the Higgs boson. In the process, they answered a nagging question: Where do fundamental particles, such as the ones that make up all the protons and neutrons in our bodies, get their mass?When the particle was finally found, scientists celebrated with champagne. A Nobel for two of the physicists who predicted the Higgs boson soon followed.But now, more than a decade later, there is a sense of unease. That’s because there are still so many unanswered questions about the fundamental constituents of the universe.So researchers are trying something new. They are repurposing detectors to search for unusual-looking particles, squeezing what they can out of the data with machine learning, and planning for entirely new kinds of colliders. Read the full story. —Dan Garisto We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.) + A fascinating new database ranks sea creatures by body size.+ Talking of oceanic monsters, it’s 50 years since Jaws first terrified us from setting foot in the water.+ After 62 years, U2’s The Edge is finally an Irish citizen.+ Fashion regrets? Sarah Jessica Parker has none.

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

Namibia wants to build the world’s first hydrogen economy

Factories have used fossil fuels to process iron ore for three centuries, and the climate has paid a heavy price: According to the International Energy Agency, the steel industry today accounts for 8% of carbon dioxide emissions.

But it turns out there is a less carbon-intensive alternative: using hydrogen. Unlike coal or natural gas, which release carbon dioxide as a by-product, this process releases water. And if the hydrogen itself is “green,” the climate impact of the entire process will be minimal.

HyIron, which has a site in the Namib desert, is one of a handful of companies around the world that are betting green hydrogen can help the $1.8 trillion steel industry clean up its act. The question now is whether Namibia’s government, its trading partners, and hydrogen innovators can work together to build the industry in a way that satisfies the world’s appetite for cleaner fuels—and also helps improve lives at home. Read the full story.

—Jonathan W. Rosen

This story is from the next print edition of MIT Technology Review, which explores power—who has it, and who wants it. It’s set to go live tomorrow, so subscribe & save 25% to read it and get a copy of the issue when it lands!

Can we fix AI’s evaluation crisis?

Every time a company launches a new AI model, its scores show it beating the capabilities of predecessors. On paper, everything appears to be getting better all the time.

In practice, it’s not so simple. In fact, many now openly admit that the process of testing AI, using sets of exam-style questions called benchmarks, is broken.

In response, a growing number of teams around the world are trying to address the AI evaluation crisis. One of them is Xbench, a benchmark project developed by HongShan Capital Group (formerly Sequoia China). It evaluates models not only on the ability to pass arbitrary tests, like most other benchmarks, but also on the ability to execute real-world tasks, which is more unusual. It’s also updated on a regular basis to try to keep it evergreen.

Read more about Xbench in our story, and more about the broader efforts to tackle the evaluation crisis in this week’s edition of The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter about the latest goings-on in the world of AI.

—Caiwei Chen

The Anthropocene illusion

Over six years and across four continents, the London-based documentary photographer Zed Nelson has examined how humans have immersed themselves in increasingly simulated environments to mask their destructive divorce from the natural world.

Featuring everything from theme parks and zoos to national parks and African safaris, his images reveal not only a desperate craving for a connection to a world we have turned our back on but also a global phenomenon of denial and collective self-delusion. Check out a selection of his arresting images here.

—Allison Arieff

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 US auto safety regulators are investigating Tesla’s robotaxis
They’re probing incidents where the vehicles appear to violate traffic laws. (Bloomberg $)
+ One video depicts a robotaxi driving on the wrong side of the road. (The Verge)
+ The probe has started just one day after the service launched in Texas. (TechCrunch)

2 Officials fear Iran is planning a cyber retaliation
Iran-linked groups could cause quite a bit of havoc in the US. (WP $)
+ The US says the conflict has triggered a “heightened threat environment.” (Axios)
+ Donald Trump has set off a whole new wave of bombing disinformation. (Wired $)

3 Caregivers are struggling to cope with measles outbreaks
The virus is infecting children and adults alike around the US. (NYT $)
+ RFK Jr’s planned dietary guideline shakeup is severely lacking. (The Atlantic $)
+ How measuring vaccine hesitancy could help health professionals tackle it. (MIT Technology Review)

4 A man was killed by police after speaking with ChatGPT
Alex Taylor, who struggled with his mental health, was convinced OpenAI had “killed” an entity called Juliet. (Rolling Stone $)

5 WhatsApp has been banned from US House of Representatives devices
The Office of Cybersecurity believes it poses a high risk to data security. (The Guardian)
+ Another app banned from the same devices? TikTok. (Reuters)

6 How AI is opening up a new digital divide
Between the nations with the computing power to build it, and the ones without. (NYT $)
+ Meta’s data center is not winning over communities in Louisiana. (404 Media)
+ The UAE wants to spend its way to becoming a tech superpower. (Rest of World)
+ We did the math on AI’s energy footprint. Here’s the story you haven’t heard. (MIT Technology Review)

7 China’s EV factories are a must-see for tourists
Tens of thousands of people enter draws for the privilege each month. (Wired $)
+ China’s EV giants are betting big on humanoid robots. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Meta’s AI model has memorized nearly all of the first Harry Potter book
Which suggests it’s storing books, rather than training on them. (404 Media)

9 How to get people to behave better online
Suspensions really work. (Fast Company $)
+ How to fix the internet. (MIT Technology Review)

10 Elon Musk does not use a computer 💻
That’s his lawyers’ story, and they’re sticking to it. (Wired $)

Quote of the day

“It’s like announcing that, ‘I’m going to Mars’ and then, you know, going to Cleveland.”

—Bryant Walker Smith, a University of South Carolina law professor, pokes fun at Elon Musk’s autonomous ride-hailing ambitions, Reuters reports.

One more thing

Inside the hunt for new physics at the world’s largest particle collider

In 2012, using data from CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, researchers discovered a particle called the Higgs boson. In the process, they answered a nagging question: Where do fundamental particles, such as the ones that make up all the protons and neutrons in our bodies, get their mass?

When the particle was finally found, scientists celebrated with champagne. A Nobel for two of the physicists who predicted the Higgs boson soon followed.

But now, more than a decade later, there is a sense of unease. That’s because there are still so many unanswered questions about the fundamental constituents of the universe.

So researchers are trying something new. They are repurposing detectors to search for unusual-looking particles, squeezing what they can out of the data with machine learning, and planning for entirely new kinds of colliders. Read the full story.

—Dan Garisto

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ A fascinating new database ranks sea creatures by body size.
+ Talking of oceanic monsters, it’s 50 years since Jaws first terrified us from setting foot in the water.
+ After 62 years, U2’s The Edge is finally an Irish citizen.
+ Fashion regrets? Sarah Jessica Parker has none.

Stay Ahead

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Stay ahead with more perspectives on cutting-edge power, infrastructure, energy, bitcoin and AI solutions. Explore these articles to uncover strategies and insights shaping the future of industries.

Neoclouds roll in, challenge hyperscalers for AI workloads

When using an established cloud provider, dedicated infrastructure is cheaper than the public cloud if average utilization levels are maintained at 22% or above, Uptime Institute reports. When using a neocloud, this figure rises to 66%.

StorONE launches turnkey enterprise AI storage package

Thanks to the GPU integration, ONEai eliminates the need for a separate AI stack or external orchestration and cloud-based workflows. It offers full on-premises processing for complete data sovereignty and control over sensitive data. ONEai automatically recognizes and responds to file creation, modification and deletion, offering real-time insights into data

CPU interconnect technology CXL gains acceptance

The $3.4 billion may not seem like an impressive figure in this industry, but CXL chips average around $100. As CXL controllers find their way into one server vendor after another, the technology becomes widely available through increasing ubiquity. The four major server CPU vendors – Intel, AMD, Nvidia, and

Broadcom resets private cloud strategy with VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0

“Private cloud is not a location, but an operating model for our customers. We’re resetting the bar on what a good private cloud platform needs to look like in the industry. We’re catering to two key personas: the cloud admins who build and operate infrastructure, and the developers who need

Alberta Premier Warns Carney He Must Act to Quell Separatist Threat

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith played down concerns that the secession movement in her province will scare away investors, saying it’s up to the government of Mark Carney to prove Canada can be a more attractive place for capital. Polls show a significant minority of Albertans are interested in exploring independence from Canada, partly because they’re frustrated about environmental rules that limit the development of oil and gas. The cancellation of proposed crude oil pipelines including Energy East is the result of federal “anti-investment policies,” Smith said, and she argued Carney must reverse those measures if he wants to tamp down separatism. “They have to take responsibility for the fact that that sentiment is there,” the Alberta leader said in an interview with Bloomberg News in Calgary. “I’m telling him what the pathway is to have it subside, and I guess it’ll be up to him to choose whether or not he takes that pathway.” A survey published last month by the Angus Reid Institute said 36% of Albertans would likely vote to leave in a referendum on seceding from Canada. But the polling firm also found many of those people would be open to changing their minds if concessions are made to help the province’s No. 1 industry, such as scrapping the emissions cap and the ban on large oil tankers off much of British Columbia’s coast. Both were policies of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The tanker prohibition restricts Canada’s ability to ship Alberta oil to Asian markets, and is one reason the vast majority of its crude is sold to US refiners at a discount. Removing it is one of nine demands Smith made after Carney became prime minister. Smith reiterated that she doesn’t support secession from Canada but her government recently passed legislation that makes it easier for citizens to force referendums. A petition of just 177,000 voters’ signatures

Maersk Training Opens New Facility in Louisiana

In a release sent to Rigzone recently, Maersk Training announced the opening of a new maritime and safety training facility at Fletcher Technical Community College in Houma, Louisiana. The company stated in the release that this expansion marks a significant milestone in Maersk Training’s commitment to enhancing workforce development, safety, and operational performance in key industries across the Gulf Coast. “By combining world-class training expertise with Fletcher’s strong educational foundation, the facility will equip workers with essential skills and certifications to enhance safety and performance in real-world job settings,” Maersk Training said in the release. “Louisiana serves as an energy hub, playing a critical role in the nation’s oil, gas, and maritime industries,” the company added. “As one of the top oil and gas production areas in the world, the region is home to a substantial workforce dedicated to the energy sector. This makes Houma an ideal location for Maersk Training’s expansion, ensuring workers have access to high-quality, industry-specific training,” it continued. In its release, Maersk Training noted that the new maritime and safety training facility at Fletcher Technical Community College will primarily serve the offshore oil and gas industry and the maritime sector. The center will offer a wide range of industry-accredited training courses focused on offshore safety and survival, as well as industrial safety, according to Maersk Training, which said course certifications will be approved by industry bodies such as OPITO, OSHA, STCW, IADC, and API. “One of the most exciting aspects of the facility is its OPITO and STCW-certified courses, including Basic Offshore Safety Induction and Emergency Training (BOSIET) and Tropical Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (T-HUET),” Maersk Training said in the release. “Unique to this location, the training will utilize a twin-fall davit launched from a working barge into the intracoastal waterway, providing the most realistic OPITO-certified

Cheniere Approves Two More Trains for Corpus Christi LNG Expansion

Cheniere Energy Inc. said Tuesday it had made a positive FID (final investment decision) to add two “midscale” trains to the Corpus Christi LNG facility in South Texas. The Houston, Texas-based LNG producer “issued full notice to proceed to Bechtel Energy, Inc. for construction of CCL Midscale Trains 8 & 9”, a company statement said. The two trains will raise the terminal’s capacity by over 3 million metric tons per annum (MMtpa). In July 2023 the United States Department of Energy (DOE) granted CCL Midscale Trains 8 & 9 authorization to export to countries with a free trade agreement (FTA) with the U.S. The DOE has yet to grant the project a non-FTA permit. However, the agency has resumed issuing final orders on pending decisions paused by the previous administration last year, in support of President Donald Trump’s “unleashing American energy” agenda. Trains 8 and 9 will rise next to CCL Stage 3, which is also under construction. Stage 3 will have seven midscale trains with a total capacity of more than 10 MMtpa, raising the terminal’s capacity to over 25 MMtpa. Midscale trains 1-7 are permitted to export the equivalent of 582.14 billion cubic feet a year of natural gas to both FTA and non-FTA countries on a non-additive basis. In March Cheniere said train 1 of Stage 3 had been commissioned. Train 1 had already started production December 2024 and dispatched its first cargo February 2025, the company said earlier in a quarterly report. Cheniere said Tuesday Stage 3’s train 2 had begun production earlier this month. Currently Corpus Christi LNG has a production capacity of around 16.5 MMtpa from four trains. It has dispatched about 1,140 cargoes since 2018, Cheniere says on its website. In Tuesday’s statement the company said, “In addition, Cheniere is developing further brownfield liquefaction capacity

Prevalon brings 80-MW battery storage online for Idaho Power

Dive Brief: Prevalon Energy has brought online a four-hour, 80-MW battery storage project that will be owned by Idaho Power, the companies said Tuesday. Prevelon, a joint venture between Mitsubishi Power Americas and EES, in January said it signed a contract to build Idaho Power an additional 200-MW/800-MWh battery storage project. The project at the Happy Valley substation in Nampa, Idaho, started operating as Idaho Power has been lining up battery storage projects to help meet potential near-term capacity shortfalls and to prepare for a planned shift to 100% clean power by 2045. Dive Insight: Idaho Power has contracts to buy battery storage projects totaling 330 MW and it has entered into power purchase agreements to buy the output from storage facilities totaling 250 MW over 20 years, Idacorp, the utility’s parent company, said in a May 30 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission report. The Boise, Idaho-based utility owns about 230 MW of energy storage and has about 5,100 MW of generation on its system, including non-utility resources, according to a June investor presentation. Idaho Power could add 705 MW of 4-hour storage between 2026 and 2030, according to a summary of its draft integrated resource plan that was presented to a stakeholder group last month. The draft IRP also calls for adding 745 MW of solar and 700 MW of wind by the end of this decade as the utility converts its remaining 480 MW of coal-fired generation to gas. Idaho Power expects to file the IRP with utility regulators in Idaho and Oregon by the end of this month. The Idaho Public Utilities Commission in November approved a 150-MW, 20-year energy storage agreement under which Idaho Power will buy the output from the roughly $323 million Kuna project, which is owned by Aypa Power. Meanwhile, Idaho PUC staff is

As the GHG Protocol eyes the homestretch in its Scope 2 revisions, are the right voices being heard?

Roger Ballentine is president of Green Strategies. June and July are critical months for the once-in-a-decade update to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol’s Scope 2 rules — the rules that guide voluntary corporate investment in clean energy. Since the Protocol first issued its Scope 2 Guidance in 2015, the private sector has responded resoundingly — corporate investment has since enabled the deployment of 100 GW of new renewable energy. At a time when federal support for clean energy is receding and unprecedented increases in electricity demand are leading to new fossil generation development, ensuring the continued growth and impact of the voluntary market is a climate imperative. As the Protocol update process moves into its decision-making phase, that climate imperative would lead one to assume that the voices of those that make the decisions and approve the investments that drive the voluntary market would be front and center in the update process. That, however, is not at all clear. Evidence that the voices of the broad buyer community are not being adequately heard is reflected in some of the current front-running proposals of the Protocol’s Technical Working Group — the body developing the new Scope 2 Guidance. Under current Scope 2 rules, companies reduce Scope 2 inventories by matching their consumption on an annual basis with clean electricity purchased within broad market boundaries. The Technical Working Group, however, is evaluating proposals to scrap the current framework and replace it with requirements for companies to match their electricity consumption with clean electricity purchases on a granular hourly basis and only with procurements made within narrow geographic boundaries (sometimes called “24/7” accounting). Many companies, thought leaders and stakeholders (including this author) recognize that the decade-old Scope 2 guidance needs modernization. Consistent with the over-riding imperative that updates to the Scope 2 Guidance should be

Vallourec Signs Contract to Supply OCTG for Qatar Drilling

Vallourec said it has secured a large contract to supply oil country tubular goods (OCTG) for drilling operations in Qatar, representing over $50 million in potential revenue. The contract includes the supply of carbon steel OCTG products with premium connections, to be delivered in 2026 to support Qatar’s increasing onshore and offshore drilling activity, the company said in a news release. Vallourec said that the contract aligns with the goals of the Qatari government to increase the country’s oil production by 19 percent and liquefied natural gas (LNG) production by 85 percent by 2030. Vallourec Group Chairman and CEO Philippe Guillemot said, “Vallourec has been a reliable supplier to operators in Qatar for decades. This new order demonstrates our competitiveness in supplying significant quantities of premium tubes and connections. Vallourec will remain a key strategic partner in oil, gas or carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) projects in Qatar for the coming years”. Hydrogen Storage Solution Qualified by DNV Earlier in the month, Vallourec, said its vertical gaseous hydrogen storage solution Delphy was granted official qualification by global assurance and risk management firm DNV. Delphy enables the storage of up to 100 tons of hydrogen under maximum safety conditions, extending up to 100 meters underground and meeting “the challenge of complex and demanding industrial environments,” the company said in an earlier statement. The solution targets both green hydrogen producers and industrial players such as synthetic fuel producers, green ammonia producers, steelmakers, and refineries, Vallourec said. Vallourec said it has signed two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for Delphy: one with H2V for green hydrogen production and utilization projects, and one with NextChem Tech for green hydrogen and green ammonia projects. Around 50 projects in France and globally are currently under discussion, representing potential revenue of approximately $2.3 billion (EUR 2 billion),

Cisco backs quantum networking startup Qunnect

In partnership with Deutsche Telekom’s T-Labs, Qunnect has set up quantum networking testbeds in New York City and Berlin. “Qunnect understands that quantum networking has to work in the real world, not just in pristine lab conditions,” Vijoy Pandey, general manager and senior vice president of Outshift by Cisco, stated in a blog about the investment. “Their room-temperature approach aligns with our quantum data center vision.” Cisco recently announced it is developing a quantum entanglement chip that could ultimately become part of the gear that will populate future quantum data centers. The chip operates at room temperature, uses minimal power, and functions using existing telecom frequencies, according to Pandey.

HPE announces GreenLake Intelligence, goes all-in with agentic AI

Like a teammate who never sleeps Agentic AI is coming to Aruba Central as well, with an autonomous supervisory module talking to multiple specialized models to, for example, determine the root cause of an issue and provide recommendations. David Hughes, SVP and chief product officer, HPE Aruba Networking, said, “It’s like having a teammate who can work while you’re asleep, work on problems, and when you arrive in the morning, have those proposed answers there, complete with chain of thought logic explaining how they got to their conclusions.” Several new services for FinOps and sustainability in GreenLake Cloud are also being integrated into GreenLake Intelligence, including a new workload and capacity optimizer, extended consumption analytics to help organizations control costs, and predictive sustainability forecasting and a managed service mode in the HPE Sustainability Insight Center. In addition, updates to the OpsRamp operations copilot, launched in 2024, will enable agentic automation including conversational product help, an agentic command center that enables AI/ML-based alerts, incident management, and root cause analysis across the infrastructure when it is released in the fourth quarter of 2025. It is now a validated observability solution for the Nvidia Enterprise AI Factory. OpsRamp will also be part of the new HPE CloudOps software suite, available in the fourth quarter, which will include HPE Morpheus Enterprise and HPE Zerto. HPE said the new suite will provide automation, orchestration, governance, data mobility, data protection, and cyber resilience for multivendor, multi cloud, multi-workload infrastructures. Matt Kimball, principal analyst for datacenter, compute, and storage at Moor Insights & strategy, sees HPE’s latest announcements aligning nicely with enterprise IT modernization efforts, using AI to optimize performance. “GreenLake Intelligence is really where all of this comes together. I am a huge fan of Morpheus in delivering an agnostic orchestration plane, regardless of operating stack

MEF goes beyond metro Ethernet, rebrands as Mplify with expanded scope on NaaS and AI

While MEF is only now rebranding, Vachon said that the scope of the organization had already changed by 2005. Instead of just looking at metro Ethernet, the organization at the time had expanded into carrier Ethernet requirements. The organization has also had a growing focus on solving the challenge of cross-provider automation, which is where the LSO framework fits in. LSO provides the foundation for an automation framework that allows providers to more efficiently deliver complex services across partner networks, essentially creating a standardized language for service integration. NaaS leadership and industry blueprint Building on the LSO automation framework, the organization has been working on efforts to help providers with network-as-a-service (NaaS) related guidance and specifications. The organization’s evolution toward NaaS reflects member-driven demands for modern service delivery models. Vachon noted that MEF member organizations were asking for help with NaaS, looking for direction on establishing common definitions and some standard work. The organization responded by developing comprehensive industry guidance. “In 2023 we launched the first blueprint, which is like an industry North Star document. It includes what we think about NaaS and the work we’re doing around it,” Vachon said. The NaaS blueprint encompasses the complete service delivery ecosystem, with APIs including last mile, cloud, data center and security services. (Read more about its vision for NaaS, including easy provisioning and integrated security across a federated network of providers)

AMD rolls out first Ultra Ethernet-compliant NIC

The UEC was launched in 2023 under the Linux Foundation. Members include major tech-industry players such as AMD, Intel, Broadcom, Arista, Cisco, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Nvidia, and HPE. The specification includes GPU and accelerator interconnects as well as support for data center fabrics and scalable AI clusters. AMD’s Pensando Pollara 400GbE NICs are designed for massive scale-out environments containing thousands of AI processors. Pollara is based on customizable hardware that supports using a fully programmable Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) transport and hardware-based congestion control. Pollara supports GPU-to-GPU communication with intelligent routing technologies to reduce latency, making it very similar to Nvidia’s NVLink c2c. In addition to being UEC-ready, Pollara 400 offers RoCEv2 compatibility and interoperability with other NICs.

Can Intel cut its way to profit with factory layoffs?

Matt Kimball, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, said, “While I’m sure tariffs have some impact on Intel’s layoffs, this is actually pretty simple — these layoffs are largely due to the financial challenges Intel is facing in terms of declining revenues.” The move, he said, “aligns with what the company had announced some time back, to bring expenses in line with revenues. While it is painful, I am confident that Intel will be able to meet these demands, as being able to produce quality chips in a timely fashion is critical to their comeback in the market.” Intel, said Kimball, “started its turnaround a few years back when ex-CEO Pat Gelsinger announced its five nodes in four years plan. While this was an impressive vision to articulate, its purpose was to rebuild trust with customers, and to rebuild an execution discipline. I think the company has largely succeeded, but of course the results trail a bit.” Asked if a combination of layoffs and the moving around of jobs will affect the cost of importing chips, Kimball predicted it will likely not have an impact: “Intel (like any responsible company) is extremely focused on cost and supply chain management. They have this down to a science and it is so critical to margins. Also, while I don’t have insights, I would expect Intel is employing AI and/or analytics to help drive supply chain and manufacturing optimization.” The company’s number one job, he said, “is to deliver the highest quality chips to its customers — from the client to the data center. I have every confidence it will not put this mandate at risk as it considers where/how to make the appropriate resourcing decisions. I think everybody who has been through corporate restructuring (I’ve been through too many to count)

Intel appears stuck between ‘a rock and a hard place’

Intel, said Kimball, “started its turnaround a few years back when ex-CEO Pat Gelsinger announced its five nodes in four years plan. While this was an impressive vision to articulate, its purpose was to rebuild trust with customers, and to rebuild an execution discipline. I think the company has largely succeeded, but of course the results trail a bit.” Asked if a combination of layoffs and the moving around of jobs will affect the cost of importing chips, Kimball predicted it will likely not have an impact: “Intel (like any responsible company) is extremely focused on cost and supply chain management. They have this down to a science and it is so critical to margins. Also, while I don’t have insights, I would expect Intel is employing AI and/or analytics to help drive supply chain and manufacturing optimization.” The company’s number one job, he said, “is to deliver the highest quality chips to its customers — from the client to the data center. I have every confidence it will not put this mandate at risk as it considers where/how to make the appropriate resourcing decisions. I think everybody who has been through corporate restructuring (I’ve been through too many to count) realizes that, when planning for these, ensuring the resilience of these mission critical functions is priority one.” Added Bickley, “trimming the workforce, delaying construction of the US fab plants, and flattening the decision structure of the organization are prudent moves meant to buy time in the hopes that their new chip designs and foundry processes attract new business.”

Microsoft will invest $80B in AI data centers in fiscal 2025

And Microsoft isn’t the only one that is ramping up its investments into AI-enabled data centers. Rival cloud service providers are all investing in either upgrading or opening new data centers to capture a larger chunk of business from developers and users of large language models (LLMs). In a report published in October 2024, Bloomberg Intelligence estimated that demand for generative AI would push Microsoft, AWS, Google, Oracle, Meta, and Apple would between them devote $200 billion to capex in 2025, up from $110 billion in 2023. Microsoft is one of the biggest spenders, followed closely by Google and AWS, Bloomberg Intelligence said. Its estimate of Microsoft’s capital spending on AI, at $62.4 billion for calendar 2025, is lower than Smith’s claim that the company will invest $80 billion in the fiscal year to June 30, 2025. Both figures, though, are way higher than Microsoft’s 2020 capital expenditure of “just” $17.6 billion. The majority of the increased spending is tied to cloud services and the expansion of AI infrastructure needed to provide compute capacity for OpenAI workloads. Separately, last October Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said his company planned total capex spend of $75 billion in 2024 and even more in 2025, with much of it going to AWS, its cloud computing division.

John Deere unveils more autonomous farm machines to address skill labor shortage

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Self-driving tractors might be the path to self-driving cars. John Deere has revealed a new line of autonomous machines and tech across agriculture, construction and commercial landscaping. The Moline, Illinois-based John Deere has been in business for 187 years, yet it’s been a regular as a non-tech company showing off technology at the big tech trade show in Las Vegas and is back at CES 2025 with more autonomous tractors and other vehicles. This is not something we usually cover, but John Deere has a lot of data that is interesting in the big picture of tech. The message from the company is that there aren’t enough skilled farm laborers to do the work that its customers need. It’s been a challenge for most of the last two decades, said Jahmy Hindman, CTO at John Deere, in a briefing. Much of the tech will come this fall and after that. He noted that the average farmer in the U.S. is over 58 and works 12 to 18 hours a day to grow food for us. And he said the American Farm Bureau Federation estimates there are roughly 2.4 million farm jobs that need to be filled annually; and the agricultural work force continues to shrink. (This is my hint to the anti-immigration crowd). John Deere’s autonomous 9RX Tractor. Farmers can oversee it using an app. While each of these industries experiences their own set of challenges, a commonality across all is skilled labor availability. In construction, about 80% percent of contractors struggle to find skilled labor. And in commercial landscaping, 86% of landscaping business owners can’t find labor to fill open positions, he said. “They have to figure out how to do

2025 playbook for enterprise AI success, from agents to evals

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More 2025 is poised to be a pivotal year for enterprise AI. The past year has seen rapid innovation, and this year will see the same. This has made it more critical than ever to revisit your AI strategy to stay competitive and create value for your customers. From scaling AI agents to optimizing costs, here are the five critical areas enterprises should prioritize for their AI strategy this year. 1. Agents: the next generation of automation AI agents are no longer theoretical. In 2025, they’re indispensable tools for enterprises looking to streamline operations and enhance customer interactions. Unlike traditional software, agents powered by large language models (LLMs) can make nuanced decisions, navigate complex multi-step tasks, and integrate seamlessly with tools and APIs. At the start of 2024, agents were not ready for prime time, making frustrating mistakes like hallucinating URLs. They started getting better as frontier large language models themselves improved. “Let me put it this way,” said Sam Witteveen, cofounder of Red Dragon, a company that develops agents for companies, and that recently reviewed the 48 agents it built last year. “Interestingly, the ones that we built at the start of the year, a lot of those worked way better at the end of the year just because the models got better.” Witteveen shared this in the video podcast we filmed to discuss these five big trends in detail. Models are getting better and hallucinating less, and they’re also being trained to do agentic tasks. Another feature that the model providers are researching is a way to use the LLM as a judge, and as models get cheaper (something we’ll cover below), companies can use three or more models to

OpenAI’s red teaming innovations define new essentials for security leaders in the AI era

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More OpenAI has taken a more aggressive approach to red teaming than its AI competitors, demonstrating its security teams’ advanced capabilities in two areas: multi-step reinforcement and external red teaming. OpenAI recently released two papers that set a new competitive standard for improving the quality, reliability and safety of AI models in these two techniques and more. The first paper, “OpenAI’s Approach to External Red Teaming for AI Models and Systems,” reports that specialized teams outside the company have proven effective in uncovering vulnerabilities that might otherwise have made it into a released model because in-house testing techniques may have missed them. In the second paper, “Diverse and Effective Red Teaming with Auto-Generated Rewards and Multi-Step Reinforcement Learning,” OpenAI introduces an automated framework that relies on iterative reinforcement learning to generate a broad spectrum of novel, wide-ranging attacks. Going all-in on red teaming pays practical, competitive dividends It’s encouraging to see competitive intensity in red teaming growing among AI companies. When Anthropic released its AI red team guidelines in June of last year, it joined AI providers including Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, and even the U.S.’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which all had released red teaming frameworks. Investing heavily in red teaming yields tangible benefits for security leaders in any organization. OpenAI’s paper on external red teaming provides a detailed analysis of how the company strives to create specialized external teams that include cybersecurity and subject matter experts. The goal is to see if knowledgeable external teams can defeat models’ security perimeters and find gaps in their security, biases and controls that prompt-based testing couldn’t find. What makes OpenAI’s recent papers noteworthy is how well they define using human-in-the-middle

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The Download: Introducing the Power issue

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