The logo of telecoms giant Orange displayed at Mobile World Congress 2024 in Barcelona, Spain.
Joan Cros | Nurphoto via Getty Images
French telecoms giant Orange on Tuesday said it’s partnering with Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Facebook-owner Meta to build custom artificial intelligence models designed to better understand regional African languages.
Orange said it’s working with OpenAI and Meta to develop custom AI models built on their respective Whisper and Llama open-source AI models — openly available systems that can be adapted to meet specific needs — that can understand West African languages not understood by most conversational systems.
Currently, much of the data major AI companies train their algorithms on originates in the United States, which means their models can lose important context, such as culture and language, when it comes to different regions like Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
That means it can be hard for those models to understand text and voice-based communications composed in less well-represented languages, according to Steve Jarrett, Orange’s chief AI officer.
“Having an open model, you’re able to do what’s called fine tuning, where you you introduce additional information to the model that wasn’t included when it was first trained,” Jarrett told CNBC in an interview. “We’re adding the recognition of West African regional languages that are not understood today by any AI.”
Orange plans to start by rolling out AI models that incorporate two West African regional languages, Wolof and Pulaar, which are spoken by roughly 16 million people and six million people, respectively, in early 2025.
Wolof is a language spoken in Senegal, the Gambia and southern Mauritania, while Pulaar is mostly spoken in Senegal.
The open-source AI models will be provided externally by Orange with a free license for non-commercial uses including public health and education, the company said. Orange plans to expand its custom AI model initiative to eventually cover all 18 West African countries.
“We’re operating in West African countries where a lot of these regional languages are being spoken in our contact centers, but where the current AI models don’t understand what these people are typing or saying,” Jarrett told CNBC.
Major large language models like OpenAI’s GPT, Meta’s Llama and Anthropic’s Claude aren’t well suited to Africans’ needs as they weren’t trained specifically on data originating from the region, according to Orange’s AI chief.
‘Sovereign AI’ push
The move taps into a concept that’s been gaining traction globally, known as “sovereign AI.”
The term refers to the idea that individual countries and regions should seek greater control over the core technological infrastructure upon which AI systems are built, by localizing data storage and processing to ensure they represent specific languages, culture and history.
Orange is also looking to localize data processing and the hosting of OpenAI’s models in European data centers. This, Orange said, will give it early access to OpenAI’s latest and most advanced AI models and help it build new applications such as AI-powered voice systems for customer service.
Jarrett said Orange is committing to using AI “responsibly” and “not always using the massive, large language model [LLM] for every problem” given environmental concerns associated with the technology’s huge energy requirements.
In addition to using AI systems to improve customer service, Orange is also using the tech to improve a core part of its business: mobile networks.
“On the network side, we use [AI] to not only optimize how we plan the network, but also how we operate the network right,” Jarrett told CNBC.
“The volume of data is so large coming from all the network equipment that with AI systems, we can help identify those patterns in the data that could help us identify and predict failures even before the customer notices.”
Shein is considering moving its headquarters back to China from Singapore in a bid to convince Beijing authorities to approve the online fast-fashion company’s Hong Kong initial public offering, according to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday.
The report said that Shein had gone so far as to consult lawyers about setting up a parent company in mainland China, citing people familiar with the matter. However, it added that there was no guarantee that Shein would act upon the preliminary discussions.
That comes after delays in Shein’s plans for an initial public offering in London that was filed over a year ago, according to Reuters, as the company struggled to secure regulatory approval.
Shein did not respond to a request for comment from CNBC.
A London listing had been seen as a potential boon for the Chinese-founded company, providing it more legitimacy for its international business and access to a deep and mature pool of Western investors.
However, the company has faced headwinds in Western markets this year, with the U.S. President Donald Trump removing a valuable tariff exemption that had helped it maintain low prices on small shipments from China. Lawmakers in some other Western markets are considering similar moves.
Lip-Bu Tan, CEO of Intel, departs the White House in Washington, DC, U.S., on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025.
Alex Wroblewski | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Trump administration is discussing taking a 10% stake in Intel, according to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday, in a deal that could see the U.S. government become the chipmaker’s largest stakeholder.
As part of a potential deal, the government is also considering converting some or all of Intel’s grants from the 2022 U.S. CHIPS and Science Act into equity in the company, the report said, citing a White House official and other people familiar with the matter.
At the embattled chipmaker’s current market value, a 10% stake would be worth roughly $10.4 billion. Meanwhile, Intel has been awarded about $10.9 billion in Chips Act grants, including $7.9 billion for commercial manufacturing and $3 billion for national security projects.
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Intel investors had initially welcomed news of the government investment, which resulted in a share rally of nearly 9% on Aug. 14.
The report noted, however, that it remains unclear if the idea has gained traction broadly within the administration or whether officials have broached the possibility with affected companies.
It added that the exact size of the stake remains in flux, and it remains unclear whether the White House will actually proceed with the plan. Intel and the White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s queries regarding the report.
Intel, once a dominant force in the U.S. chip industry, has fallen behind global competitors in advanced chip manufacturing. Reviving the former U.S. chip champion has become a national priority in Washington, with reports about a potential government stake in the company first circulating last week.
The company has been the largest recipient of the 2022 Chips Act, passed with bipartisan support under the Biden administration, as part of efforts by Washington to revitalize U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing.
The bill allocated $39 billion in grants for American semiconductor manufacturing projects, with funding committed to many of the world’s chipmakers such as TSMC and Samsung, as well as American chip companies such as Nvidia, Micron and GlobalFoundries.
U.S. President Donald Trump, though supporting the general goals of the Chips Act, has been a vocal critic of the bill and even called for its repeal earlier this year. While republican lawmakers in Washington have been reluctant to act on that call, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in June that the administration was renegotiating some of the bill’s grants.
If Intel’s Chip Act funds were to be converted into a potential government stake in the company, it could decrease the total amount of capital infused into the company as part of any deal by Washington.
However, it would serve as the latest example of the Trump administration’s interest in building government-backed national champions in strategic industries.
Intel has struggled to gain an advantage in the artificial intelligence boom and has yet to capture a significant customer for its manufacturing business despite spending heavily on it.
Some analysts have argued that government intervention is essential for the struggling chipmaker and for the sake of U.S. national security. Others contend that Intel’s problems are deeper than funding, and it is not clear how the government can help with that.
Analysts have also noted that Trump may be able to sway companies to buy Intel chips or assist indirectly, through tariffs and regulation.
On Tuesday, it was announced that SoftBank was investing $2 billion in Intel. According to LSEG, the investment is worth about 2% of Intel, making SoftBank the fifth-biggest shareholder.Masayoshi Son, Chairman & CEO of SoftBank Group, said: “This strategic investment reflects our belief that advanced semiconductor manufacturing and supply will further expand in the United States, with Intel playing a critical role.”
Intel investors had initially welcomed news of the government investment, which resulted in a share rally of nearly 9% on Aug. 14. Shares of Intel fell over 3% on Monday on the Bloomberg report, but rebounded by more than 5% in overnight trading on the trading platform Robinhood following news of a Softbank investment.
Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who was appointed in March 2025, met with Trump at the White House last week, after the U.S. president had called for his ousting due to his past ties to China.
After the meeting, Trump had changed his tune on the Intel chief, saying he had “an amazing story.” It’s unclear if a potential government stake in the company had been discussed at the time.
Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group Corp., speaks during the company’s annual general meeting in Tokyo, Japan, on Friday, June 27, 2025.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Intel and SoftBank announced on Monday that the Japanese conglomerate will make a $2 billion investment in the embattled chipmaker.
SoftBank will pay $23 per share for Intel’s common stock, which closed on Monday at $23.66. The shares rose about 6% in extended trading to $25.
The investment makes SoftBank the fifth-biggest Intel shareholder, according to FactSet. It’s a vote of support for Intel, which hasn’t been able to take advantage of the artificial intelligence boom in advanced semiconductors and has spent heavily to stand up a manufacturing business that’s yet to secure a significant customer.
“Masa and I have worked closely together for decades, and I appreciate the confidence he has placed in Intel with this investment,” Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said in a statement, referring to SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son.
Intel shares lost 60% of their value last year, their worst performance in the company’s more than half-century on the public market. The stock is up 18% in 2025 as of Monday’s close.
Tan took over as Intel CEO in March after his predecessor, Pat Gelsinger, was ousted in December.
Intel has been a major topic of discussion in Washington of late, due to the company’s role as the only American company capable of manufacturing the most advanced chips.
However, Intel’s foundry business, which is designed to manufacture chips for other companies, has yet to secure a major customer, a critical step towards stabilization and expansion. Last month, Intel said it would wait to secure orders before committing to certain future investment in its foundry.
Tan met with President Donald Trump last week after the president had called for the CEO’s resignation. The U.S. government is considering taking an equity stake in Intel, according to reports.
SoftBank, meanwhile, has become an increasingly large player in the global chip and AI markets.
In 2016, SoftBank acquired chip designer Arm in a deal worth about $32 billion at the time. Today the company is worth almost $150 billion. Arm-based chips are part of Nvidia’s systems that go into data centers.
SoftBank was also part of President Trump’s Stargate announcement in January, along with OpenAI and Oracle.
The three companies committed to invest an initial $100 billion and up to $500 billion over the next four years in the AI infrastructure project. Two months later, SoftBank led a $40 billion investment into OpenAI, the largest private tech deal on record.
“This strategic investment reflects our belief that advanced semiconductor manufacturing and supply will further expand in the United States, with Intel playing a critical role,” Son said in a statement.