Andy Jassy, chief executive officer of Amazon.Com Inc., during the GeekWire Summit in Seattle, Washington, U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021.
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The U.S. General Services Administration said Friday that the Defense Department has solicited bids from Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Oracle for cloud contracts.
The outreach comes after the Pentagon set aside a highly contested $10 billion contract that Microsoft had won and Amazon had challenged. The value of the new contracts is not known, but the Defense Department estimates it could run into the multiple billions of dollars.
The new effort, known as Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability, or JWCC, appears like it will bolster the top providers in global cloud infrastructure, Amazon and Microsoft, although it could also provide more credibility to two smaller entities.
“The Government anticipates awarding two IDIQ contracts — one to Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) and one to Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft) — but intends to award to all Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) that demonstrate the capability to meet DoD’s requirements,” the GSA said in its announcement.
An indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity, or IDIQ, contract includes an indefinite amount of services for a specific period of time.
The GSA said that only two U.S. cloud infrastructure providers, Amazon and Microsoft, appear able to comply with all of the Pentagon’s requirements, which include “tactical edge devices” that can operate outside of traditional data centers and support for all levels of data classification.
Amazon and Microsoft are the two companies that were the finalists for a single Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, contract. That contract was meant to go to a single provider and was expected to be worth up to $10 billion over 10 years. Microsoft won it in 2019, Amazon filed a protest and ultimately in July the Pentagon chose to cancel the contract.
Andy Jassy, currently Amazon’s CEO and previously head of AWS, argued that there was political interference in the award of the contract. Guy Snodgrass, who was speechwriter for former Defense Secretary James Mattis, asserted in a book that former President Donald Trump called Mattis and said to “screw Amazon” out of a chance to bid on JEDI. But the Pentagon’s inspector general determined that the contract did not seem to have been influenced by the White House.
The JWCC differs from JEDI because it’s designed to have the Pentagon rely on multiple cloud providers.
The Pentagon expects each of the IDIQ contracts to have a three-year base period and two year-long option periods.
Google spokesperson Ben Jose pointed to a blog post from last week that said the company planned to pursue a bid for the military contract, noting the Pentagon is the world’s largest employer. CNBC reported Monday that executives attempted to tactfully address growing employee concern over the contract and previously established artificial intelligence principles, after employees protested against Google’s plans to bid on the JEDI contract.
Amazon and Microsoft representatives didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Oracle declined to comment.
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Facebook and Instagram icons are seen displayed on an iPhone.
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Meta on Wednesday introduced new safety features for teen users, including enhanced direct messaging protections to prevent “exploitative content.”
Teens will now see more information about who they’re chatting with, like when the Instagram account was created and other safety tips, to spot potential scammers. Teens will also be able to block and report accounts in a single action.
“In June alone, they blocked accounts 1 million times and reported another 1 million after seeing a Safety Notice,” the company said in a release.
This policy is part of a broader push by Meta to protect teens and children on its platforms, following mounting scrutiny from policymakers who accused the company of failing to shield young users from sexual exploitation.
Meta said it removed nearly 135,000 Instagram accounts earlier this year that were sexualizing children on the platform. The removed accounts were found to be leaving sexualized comments or requesting sexual images from adult-managed accounts featuring children.
The takedown also included 500,000 Instagram and Facebook accounts that were linked to the original profiles.
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Meta is now automatically placing teen and child-representing accounts into the strictest message and comment settings, which filter out offensive messages and limit contact from unknown accounts.
Users have to be at least 13 to use Instagram, but adults can run accounts representing children who are younger as long as the account bio is clear that the adult manages the account.
The platform was recently accused by several state attorneys general of implementing addictive features across its family of apps that have detrimental effects on children’s mental health.
Meta announced last week it removed about 10 million profiles for impersonating large content producers through the first half of 2025 as part of an effort by the company to combat “spammy content.”
Congress has renewed efforts to regulate social media platforms to focus on child safety. The Kids Online Safety Act was reintroduced to Congress in May after stalling in 2024.
The measure would require social media platforms to have a “duty of care” to prevent their products from harming children.
Snapchat was sued by New Mexico in September, alleging the app was creating an environment where “predators can easily target children through sextortion schemes.”
A series of iPhone 16s on display inside the Apple store at Tun Razak Exchange in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Sept. 20, 2024.
Annice Lyn | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Britain’s competition regulators on Wednesday took aim at the mobile ecosystems of Apple and Google, pushing the two companies to make changes to areas like their app stores.
On Wednesday, the Competition and Markets Authority proposed designating the U.S. tech giants as having a “strategic market status” or SMS, after opening an investigation into the matter in January.
This designation is given to a large company that has “substantial and entrenched market power” and a “position of strategic significance” with respect to a digital activity in the U.K.
The CMA can force firms that are branded as having SMS to change or stop specific behaviors or practices in order to address competition concerns.
Apple and Google both took issue with the CMA’s proposals, effectively saying they would be bad for user security and consumers overall.
What has the CMA taken issue with?
Britain’s regulator focused on investigating Apple and Google’s mobile operating systems, app store and browser. One aspect of the investigation looked at whether there are barriers that may prevent other competitors from offering rival products and services on the U.S. tech giants’ mobile platforms.
Another part of the probe examined whether Apple and Google are using their position in operating systems, app distribution or browsers to favor its own apps and services.
And the final aspect of the investigation studied whether Apple and Google require developers to sign up to “unfair terms and conditions” in order to distribute their apps via the respective app stores.
The CMA on Wednesday said consumers and businesses have raised concerns about different issues across the two companies’ mobile ecosystems. But some of these include “inconsistent and unpredictable app review processes” and “inconsistent app store search rankings” that may favor the tech giants’ own apps.
The British regulator also took aim at the up to 30% commission charged by the firms on some in-app purchases and restrictions on developers telling customers about cheaper ways to pay or to subscribe outside of the app.
As part of Google and Apple’s review process to allow apps on to their app stores, developers raised concerns that the tech companies could have access to commercially sensitive data of their competitors, the CMA said.
Google’s Android operating system commands just over 61% market share in the U.K., while Apple’s iOS has just over a 38%, according to Kantar data. Google runs the Google Play store and Chrome browser, and Apple has its App Store and Safari browser.
What changes does the CMA want?
The CMA has laid out immediate changes that it wants to see, alongside some longer-term steps. The regulator said that it wants Apple to review apps for distribution in a “fair, objective and transparent manner.” This could include remedies such as Apple explaining delays or rejections and creating an avenue for businesses to raise concerns about the process.
Apple could also be made to publish a methodology for how it ranks apps in the App Store. The CMA has laid out similar remedies for Google.
The regulator is looking at how Apple and Google can make it easy for users to be steered by developers outside of an app to pay for services and products, thus avoiding their respective in-app purchase fee.
The CMA is also looking into ways to make it easier for users to transfer data between Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android to make switching easier.
For next year, the CMA said it is still looking at whether to require Apple to allow alternative app stores in iOS and the company’s iPad software. The regulator also said it is exploring whether to force Apple to allow users to download apps directly from a developer’s own website, a practice known as “sideloading.”
Apple and Google react
Apple said in a statement that the proposals from the U.K. “would undermine the privacy and security protections that our users have come to expect, hamper our ability to innovate, and force us to give away our technology for free to foreign competitors,”
“We will continue to engage with the regulator to make sure they fully understand these risks.”
Google’s Senior Director of Competition Oliver Bethell noted that both the Google Chrome browser and Android’s operating system are built on open-source code.
“These offerings enable great choice, security and innovation for users. That’s why today’s announcement is both disappointing and unwarranted,” Bethell said.
The Google executive highlighted ways in which Android has helped British developers and the economy.
“It is therefore crucial that any new regulation is evidence-based, proportionate and does not become a roadblock to growth in the U.K We remain committed to constructive engagement with the CMA for the duration of this process,” Bethell said.
U.S. tech giants face European scrutiny
Apple and Google’s regulatory problems on the continent of Europe continue to deepen.
Apple has been forced to make a number of changes to the way it operates in the EU this year. These include allowing developers to tell their users about cheaper alternatives and bypass Apple’s in-app payment system.
Apple has long argued that forced regulator-led changes to its operations could lead to privacy and security issues for users and confusing business terms for developers
In March, Google parent Alphabet meanwhile was accused by the EU of failing to comply with the DMA. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said Google is treating its own search services more favorably than those of rivals. The Commission added that Google’s app store is preventing developers from steering consumer to other channels for better offers.
The search giant is also looking to fight a 4.1 billion euro fine that has stemmed from an antitrust case dating back to 2018.
The Texas Instruments headquarters in Dallas, Texas, on Jan. 21, 2024.
N. Johnson | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Texas Instrumentsreported second-quarter results on Tuesday that beat analysts’ expectations for revenue and earnings. But the stock fell in extended trading due to a third-quarter forecast that missed estimates.
Here’s how the chipmaker did versus LSEG consensus estimates:
Earnings per share: $1.41 vs. $1.35 expected
Revenue: $4.45 billion vs. $4.36 billion expected
Texas Instruments said it expects current-quarter earnings between $1.36 and $1.60 per share, while analysts were looking for $1.50 per share. The company forecast revenue of $4.45 billion to $4.8 billion, for a midpoint of $4.625 billion. Analysts were expecting revenue of $4.59 billion.
Revenue increased 16% in the second quarter from $3.82 billion in the same period a year earlier. Sales in the company’s analog chip business, its largest, rose 18% to $3.5 billion, surpassing the StreetAccount estimate of $3.39 billion for the segment.
Net income rose 15% to $1.3 billion, or $1.41 per share, from $1.13 billion, or $1.22 per share, a year ago.
Texas Instruments is a key supplier of legacy semiconductors for automotive and industrial uses.
As of Tuesday’s close, Texas Instruments shares were up 15% for the year on broader market optimism for chips. In June, the company said it would spend $60 billion to expand chipmaking factories in Texas and Utah, a move that was praised by the Trump administration in its push to bring more technology manufacturing to the U.S.
