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IT minister says accord inked with Google for 45,000 scholarships this year

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IT minister says accord inked with Google for 45,000 scholarships this year

Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Aminul Haq has said that an agreement has been inked with Google for 45,000 scholarships, which will increase up to 450,000 next year.
At least 40 percent of the scholarships of Google will be for women.

He said this while addressing the Startups for Industries and IT Exports conference at the Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI), here on Friday.

The minister said that the Google company had earlier given only 15,000 scholarships last year, but these were increased after consultation.

The Federal IT Minister said that a building has been constructed in NED University at a cost of $ 1.6 million for gaming and animation, for further promotion and growth of this industry.

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Dignitaries including KATI Vice Patron Zubair Chhaya, Senator Abdul Haseeb Khan, Senior Vice President Nighat Awan, Chairperson of Standing Committee Maheen Salman, Former President Saleem-Uz-zaman, Masood Naqi, Razzaq Hashim Paracha, Ehtishamuddin, experts from universities, National Incubation Centers, students, teachers and start-ups participated in large numbers in the event.

Federal Minister Aminul Haque further said that the IT Ministry is working on the vision of 2050. The investment in Pakistan till 2020 was $ 75 million which increased to $373 million by 2021. Similarly, after the efforts of the Ministry, the regulatory duty on mobile has been abolished from March 30, he said.

The federal IT minister said that when he took over the ministry, he immediately formulated a mobile phone manufacturing policy to set up mobile phones manufacturing industry in the country, thus, the production of mobile phones was started within a few months.

Syed Aminul Haque further said that when he took over IT Ministry, there were five incubation centers working in major cities of the country, which have now been increased to eight in three years. He said that our focus is on promoting startups, gaming and animation in the country.

Earlier, the former chairman of KATI, Senator Abdul Haseeb Khan, said that entrepreneurs and startups are working very hard, but today there is no need for huge investment for startups.

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He said that research and development has an important role in IT. Right now startups are doing a great job which is needed in the industry.

Deputy Patron of KATI Zubair Chhaya said that when Federal Minister Aminul Haq took over his office, the IT exports were at the level of $ 1 billion, but at the end of the last financial year, exports of $ 2.6 billion were recorded.

He said that it is welcoming that Pakistan’s IT exports have increased and the neighbouring country’s exports last year were $149 billion.

Mahin Salman said in his speech that efforts are being made to prepare such curricula in professional educational institutions, which are needed in the industry. Earlier people used to get a large number of degrees but they didn’t get jobs. Now efforts are being made to provide professional training according to the needs of the present era in consultation with the industry.

She further said that the startups that exist today were only in the form of projects last year which have successfully launched today.

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Senior Vice President of KATI Nighat Awan speaking on the occasion called for abolishing the duty on the machinery and products used in the IT sector so that this sector can expand further in the country.

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Apple CEO says looking into possibility of building manufacturing facility in Indonesia

Apple CEO says looking into possibility of building manufacturing facility in Indonesia

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Apple CEO says looking into possibility of building manufacturing facility in Indonesia

Apple Inc will look into the possibility of building a manufacturing facility in Indonesia, its CEO said on Wednesday after meeting President Joko Widodo.

Apple CEO Tim Cook arrived in Jakarta on Tuesday, after visiting Vietnam. He met with Jokowi, as the president popularly known, and will be inaugurating an academy for Apple developers on the island of Bali.

“We talked about the president’s desire to see manufacturing in the country, and it is something that we will look at,” Cook told reporters after the meeting. 

Apple has based much of its key manufacturing of iPads, AirPods and Apple Watches in Vietnam and suppliers for MacBooks are also investing in the country.

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Apple has no manufacturing facilities in Indonesia but has established four Apple Developer Academies.

Indonesia has a huge tech-savvy population, making the Southeast Asian nation a key target market for tech-related investment.

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TikTok quizzed by EU on TikTok Lite launch in France, Spain

TikTok quizzed by EU on TikTok Lite launch in France, Spain

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TikTok quizzed by EU on TikTok Lite launch in France, Spain

ByteDance’s TikTok has been given 24 hours to provide a risk assessment on its new app TikTok Lite launched this month in France and Spain on concerns of its potential impact on children and users’ mental health, the European Commission said on Wednesday.

The move by EU industry chief Thierry Breton under EU tech rules known as the Digital Services Act (DSA) comes two months after he opened an investigation into TikTok over possible DSA breaches. 

The landmark DSA requires companies to do more to tackle illegal and harmful content on their platforms, with fines of up to 6% of their global annual turnover for violations.

The Commission on Wednesday said it had sent a request for information to TikTok, asking for more details on the risk assessment the social media company should have done before deploying TikTok Lite in the 27-country European Union.

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“This concerns the potential impact of the new ‘Task and Reward Lite’ programme on the protection of minors, as well as on the mental health of users, in particular in relation to the potential stimulation of addictive behaviour,” the EU executive said in a document seen by Reuters.

“TikTok must provide the risk assessment for TikTok Lite in 24 hours and the other requested information by 26 April 2024, after which the Commission will analyse TikTok’s reply, and then assess next steps.”

The Commission also asked for details on measures the company has put in place to mitigate systemic risks.

TikTok Lite, an app with a new functionality aimed at users aged 18+, was launched in France and Spain this month.

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SiTime introduces chip aimed at saving power in AI data centers

SiTime introduces chip aimed at saving power in AI data centers

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SiTime introduces chip aimed at saving power in AI data centers

SiTime (SITM.O) on Wednesday introduced a chip that it says is designed to help data centers built for artificial intelligence applications run more efficiently.

SiTime makes what are known as timing chips, whose job is set a steady beat for all the parts of a computer and keep them running together in sync, like a conductor in an orchestra directing multiple groups of instruments. The company says its new line of chips, called Chorus, can do so with 10 times more precision than older styles of timing chips.

SiTime CEO Rajesh Vashist said the company aims to help customers save electricity with that precision. SiTime’s chips themselves require less than a watt of power, but powerful AI chips such as Nvidia’s (NVDA.O) require more than 1,000 watts of power.

With a more precise clock to keep all the elements of a computer in sync, parts of the machine can be turned off for a few milliseconds at a time when they are not in use. Over the multiple years a power-hungry data center server might be in use, it can generate energy savings, though the amount will depend on how SiTime’s chips are used.

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“We deliver timing that they can rely on so that they can wake up their products and bring data more efficiently to them, rather than just running more often,” Vashist said in an interview.

SiTime said the chips will be available in the second half of this year.

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