An AI boom has driven stock markets to record highs and big tech firms are piling hundreds of billions of dollars into new tech, while consumers, workers and businesses are grappling with existential questions unleashed by the likes of ChatGPT and Claude. Some analysts say artificial intelligence will boost productivity and make businesses more profitable….
Travel bans, visa denials, safety fears, and record-high ticket prices are suppressing World Cup attendance–and threatening both FIFA’s promised $40 billion windfall and a U.S. tourism industry that was already struggling before the opening whistle. Ahead of kickoff, the 2026 men’s World Cup is beset with a slew of travel restrictions affecting entry to the…
A customer shops for gold jewelry at a gold store in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, on June 3, 2026. Costfoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images China’s wholesale prices rose at the fastest pace in nearly four years in May, driven by surging raw material costs due to the Iran war and an artificial intelligence investment…
SHENZHEN, CHINA – MAY 1: The Chinese national flag is seen in front of stacked shipping containers bearing MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company), Maersk, and Hamburg Süd branding at Yantian Port on May 1, 2026, in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China. Cheng Xin | Getty Images News | Getty Images China’s trade growth held up better than…
Every South African bank that has launched a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) – Capitec, FNB, Standard Bank, Nedbank and soon Absa – has built its mobile business on phone numbers it does not control. The international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) embedded in every Sim card belongs to the host network. The phone number –…
SK Hynix has topped US$1-trillion in market capitalization for the first time, joining memory rivals Samsung Electronics and Micron Technology in a historic, AI-fuelled semiconductor rally. Shares of SK Hynix jumped 14.9% on Wednesday, pushing the company’s market value to a record ₩1,680-trillion ($1.12-trillion) and cementing South Korea as the first country outside the United…
A SK Hynix flag (R) and a South Korean national flag (L) flutter outside the company’s Bundang office in Seongnam on Jan. 26, 2024. Jung Yeon-je | Afp | Getty Images London — Outsized returns for memory-related stocks have helped fuel substantial gains in U.S. and South Korean equity markets in recent years — but…
The goal of a DDoS attack is to flood a website, server, or online service with massive amounts of traffic. (Image source: 123RF) South African cyber security experts are raising concerns over the increasingly low ransom demands being issued by cyber extortionists targeting local internet service providers (ISPs) with distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. The experts…
SARS import duties have sharply slowed cross-border e-commerce growth and intensified competition between local retailers and global platforms. (Image source: 123RF) South Africa’s cross-border e-commerce sector is entering a slower, more competitive growth cycle, primarily as a result of the import duties introduced by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) in 2024. This is one…
Data centers are gobbling up land, driving up electric bills, and becoming a lightning rod for public discontent over big tech’s power in society. Maine’s legislature recently passed a data center ban in the state (but failed to override the governor’s veto). According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 14 states spanning the political…
