Author: Chris Anu

The State IT Agency (Sita) has lashed out at the City of Tshwane after electricity was cut to one of its facilities in Pretoria, accusing the municipality of acting without due diligence and wrongly blaming the agency for unpaid electricity bills. In a strongly worded statement on Friday, Sita said claims circulating on social media – some amplified by municipal officials – that it owes Tshwane money for electricity are “factually incorrect” and amount to a misrepresentation of the circumstances that led to the disconnection. At the heart of the dispute is who holds the electricity account for the affected…

The Competition Commission has greenlit Stanlib to acquire Africa Data Centres without conditions. (Image source: 123RF, created via GenAI) The Competition Commission (CompCom) has recommended the Competition Tribunal approve the proposed transaction, whereby Stanlib intends to acquire Africa Data Centres (ADC), without conditions.Data centre operator ADC is a business unit of Pan-African technology group Cassava Technologies. In a statement issued yesterday, the competition watchdog says the primary acquiring firm is the Stanlib Infrastructure Fund II (Stanlib Fund II), an investment vehicle that focuses on renewable energy, digital infrastructure and logistics. The Stanlib Fund II, the firms it controls and its…

Image: Reuters TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, has finalised a deal to establish a majority American-owned joint venture that will secure US data, to avoid a US ban on the short video app used by over 200 million Americans. The deal is a milestone for the social media firm after years of battles that began in August 2020 when President Donald Trump tried to ban the app over national security concerns. Trump later opted not to enforce a law passed in April 2024 requiring ByteDance to sell its US assets by the following January or face a ban — a measure…

Petter Sveum, EMEA CTO, Cohesity. Data management firm Cohesity is hosting a webinar on 28 January at 10am, in collaboration with ITWeb, to discuss its Direct I/O architecture.Designed for NetBackup environments, Direct I/O aims to eliminate common bottlenecks to deliver fast, resilient backup and recovery during system failures or ransomware attacks. Moderated by writer and ITWeb Brainstorm contributor James Francis, the session will examine how the architecture affects performance, scale and operational efficiency.Petter Sveum, EMEA CTO at Cohesity, will explain how the technology helps companies minimise downtime and accelerate recovery after outages or cyber incidents. He will also explain why this storage…

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan. Laure Andrillon/Reuters Intel said it is struggling to satisfy demand for its server chips used in AI data centres, and forecast quarterly revenue and profit below market estimates, sending shares down 13% in after-hours trading on Thursday. The forecast underscores the difficulties faced by Intel in predicting global chip markets, where the company’s current products are the result of decisions made years ago. The company, whose shares have risen 40% in the past month, recently launched a long-awaited laptop chip designed to reclaim its lead in PCs just as a memory chip crunch is expected to…

HUMAIN and the National Infrastructure Fund (“Infra”) announced on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2026 in Davos, Switzerland, a Strategic Financing Framework Agreement of up to $1.2 billion to support the expansion of AI and digital infrastructure projects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Framework Agreement outlines non-binding financing terms for HUMAIN’s development of up to 250 MW of hyperscale AI data center capacity. These data centers will deploy leading edge GPUs for AI training and inference and support HUMAIN’s local, regional and global customers. In addition, Infra and HUMAIN have agreed to explore…

The modern workday no longer follows a predictable routine. It often begins in traffic, moves through a series of virtual meetings, shifts between home and office, and stretches well beyond traditional working hours. In this environment, performance depends not only on people and strategy, but on the quality and reliability of the technology that supports daily communication. Find out more about the modern work solutions available at Axiz Professional audio and video solutions form part of this working infrastructure, enabling clear communication and consistent collaboration across varied working environments. The emphasis is not on novelty, but on dependable performance across…

The VCA Retail Spend Monitor analyses retail sales activity over a seven-week period beginning on 1 November 2025. South African consumers significantly increased their online shopping during the 2025/26 holiday season, with e-commerce spending jumping 49.9% year on year, according to Visa’s latest Retail Spend Monitor.The annual report compiled by Visa Consulting and Analytics (VCA) tracks retail activity over a seven-week period, from 1 November 2025, and draws on Visa network data alongside survey-based estimates for non-card payment methods, including cash.While total holiday retail spend across all payment types grew 7.9%, the standout growth came from online channels, driven by early…

In a landmark shift for South Africa’s motor manufacturing industry, Nissan and Chery have agreed on the acquisition of Nissan’s manufacturing assets in Rosslyn, Pretoria, signalling the end of nearly six decades of Nissan vehicle assembly at the site and opening the door for Chinese manufacture on South African soil. Under the deal, which is still subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions, Chery SA will acquire the land, buildings and associated facilities, including the adjacent stamping plant, in mid-2026. The Rosslyn plant, opened in the mid-1960s, has been a cornerstone of Nissan South Africa’s operations for generations, producing models…

Globally, AI use continues to expand at unprecedented rates, with billions of daily interactions. A new report by marketing insight consultancy Human8 shows South Africans are increasingly concerned that the uniquely human element could be lost as artificial intelligence (AI) evolves, even as its benefits are embraced. The 2026 What Matters trend report, titled “Recalibrating Identities”, is based on a global survey conducted across 16 markets, including SA.The research included over 13 000 consumers, with 800 respondents from SA, providing a representative view of attitudes, behaviours and expectations toward technology, identity and brands. It reveals that while 63% of South…