Cloud Archives - Taking Stock

October 27, 2025October 24, 2025

AWS Outage Reveals Fragility of Global Cloud Dependency

It was just one week ago on Monday 20th October 2025, Amazon Web Services (AWS) experienced a major outage that rippled across the digital world, disrupting operations for millions of users and businesses.

The incident, which originated in AWS’s US-East-1 region, was reportedly traced to DNS resolution failures affecting DynamoDB—one of AWS’s core database services.

This technical fault triggered cascading issues across EC2, network load balancers, and other critical infrastructure, leaving many services offline for hours.

The impact was immediate and widespread. Major consumer platforms such as Snapchat, Reddit, Disney+, Canva, and Ring doorbells went dark.

Financial services including Venmo and Robinhood faltered, while airline customers at United and Delta struggled to access bookings. Even British government portals like Gov.uk and HMRC were affected, underscoring the global reach of AWS’s infrastructure.

World leader

AWS is the world’s leading cloud provider, commanding roughly one-third of the global market—well ahead of Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Millions of companies, from startups to multinational corporations, rely on AWS for everything from data storage and virtual servers to machine learning and content delivery.

Its services underpin critical operations in healthcare, education, retail, logistics, and media. When AWS stumbles, the internet itself feels the tremor.

20 Prominent Companies Affected by the AWS Outage (20th Oct 2025)

Sector	Company Name	Impact Summary
E-commerce	Amazon	Internal systems and Seller Central offline
Social Media	Snapchat	App outages and delays
Streaming	Disney+	Service interruptions
News	Reddit	Partial outages, scaling issues
Design Tools	Canva	High error rates, reduced functionality
Smart Home	Ring	Device connectivity issues
Finance	Venmo	Transaction delays
Finance	Robinhood	Trading disruptions
Airlines	United Airlines	Booking and check-in issues
Airlines	Delta Airlines	Reservation access problems
Telecom	T-Mobile	Indirect service disruptions
Government	Gov.uk	Portal access issues
Government	HMRC	Service delays
Banking	Lloyds Bank	Online banking affected
Productivity	Zoom	Meeting access issues
Productivity	Slack	Messaging delays
Education	Canvas	Assignment submissions disrupted
Crypto	Coinbase	User access failures
Gaming	Roblox	Server outages
Gaming	Fortnite	Gameplay interruptions

This outage wasn’t the result of a cyberattack, but rather a technical fault in one of Amazon’s main data centres. Yet the consequences were no less severe.

Amazon’s own operations were disrupted, with warehouse workers unable to access internal systems and third-party sellers locked out of Seller Central.

Canva reported ‘significantly increased error rates’. while Coinbase and Roblox cited cloud-related failures.

The incident serves as a stark reminder of the risks inherent in centralised cloud infrastructure. As digital life becomes increasingly dependent on a handful of providers, the potential for systemic disruption grows.

A single point of failure can cascade across industries, affecting everything from classroom assignments to emergency services.

AWS has since restored normal operations and promised a detailed post-event summary. But for many, the outage has reignited questions about resilience, redundancy, and the wisdom of placing so much trust in a single cloud giant.

In the age of digital interdependence, even a brief lapse can feel like a global blackout.

October 17, 2025October 17, 2025

Oracle Cloud reportedly to deploy 50,000 AMD AI chips, signalling direct competition with Nvidia

Oracle Bets Big on AMD AI Chips, Challenging Nvidia’s Dominance

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure has announced plans to deploy 50,000 AMD Instinct MI450 graphics processors starting in the second half of 2026, marking a bold strategic shift in the AI hardware landscape.

The move signals a direct challenge to Nvidia’s long-standing dominance in the data centre GPU market, where it currently commands over 90% market share.

AMD’s MI450 chips, unveiled earlier this year, are designed for high-performance AI workloads and can be assembled into rack-sized systems that allow 72 chips to function as a unified engine.

This architecture is tailored for inferencing tasks—an area Oracle believes AMD will excel in. ‘We feel like customers are going to take up AMD very, very well’, reportedly said Karan Batta, Oracle Cloud’s senior vice president.

The announcement comes amid a broader realignment in the AI ecosystem. OpenAI, historically reliant on Nvidia hardware, has recently inked a multi-year deal with AMD involving processors requiring up to 6 gigawatts of power.

If successful, OpenAI could acquire up to 10% of AMD’s shares, further cementing the chipmaker’s role in next-generation AI infrastructure.

Oracle’s pivot also reflects its ambition to compete with cloud giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. With a reported five-year cloud deal with OpenAI potentially worth $300 billion, Oracle is positioning itself not just as a capacity provider but as a strategic AI enabler.

While Nvidia remains a formidable force, Oracle’s investment in AMD chips underscores a growing appetite for alternatives.

As AI demands scale, diversity in chip supply could become a competitive advantage—especially for enterprises seeking flexibility, cost efficiency, and innovation beyond the Nvidia ecosystem.

The AI arms race is far from over, but Oracle’s latest move suggests it’s no longer content to play catch-up. It’s aiming to redefine the rules.

September 30, 2025September 30, 2025

With all the new AI tech arriving in the new AI data centres – what is happening to the old tech it is presumably replacing?

🧠 What’s Happening to the Old Tech?

Shadow in the cloud

🔄 Repurposing and Retrofitting

Many traditional CPU-centric server farms are being retrofitted to support GPU-heavy or heterogeneous architectures.
Some legacy racks are adapted for edge computing, non-AI workloads, or low-latency services that don’t require massive AI computing power.

🧹 Decommissioning and Disposal

Obsolete hardware—especially older CPUs and low-density racks—is being decommissioned.
Disposal is a growing concern: e-waste regulations are tightening, and sustainability targets mean companies must recycle or repurpose responsibly.

🏭 Secondary Markets and Resale

Some older servers are sold into secondary markets—used by smaller firms, educational institutions, or regions with less AI demand.
There’s also a niche for refurbished hardware, especially in countries where AI infrastructure is still nascent.

🧊 Cold Storage and Archival Use

Legacy systems are sometimes shifted to cold storage roles—archiving data that doesn’t require real-time access.

These setups are less power-intensive and can extend the life of older tech without compromising performance.

⚠️ Obsolescence Risk

The pace of AI innovation is so fast that even new data centres risk early obsolescence if they’re not designed with future workloads in mind.
Rack densities are climbing—from 36kW to 80kW+—and cooling systems are shifting from air to liquid, meaning older infrastructure simply can’t keep up.

🧭 A Symbolic Shift

This isn’t just about servers—it’s about sovereignty, sustainability, and the philosophy of obsolescence. The old tech isn’t just being replaced; it’s being relegated, repurposed, or ritually retired.

There’s a tech history lesson unfolding about digital mortality, and how each new AI cluster buries a generation of silicon ancestors.

Infographic: ‘New’ AI tech replacing ‘Old’ tech in data centres

🌍 The Green Cost of the AI Boom

⚡ Energy Consumption

AI data centres are power-hungry beasts. In 2023, they consumed around 2% of global electricity—a figure expected to rise by 80% by 2026.
Nvidia’s H100 GPUs, widely used for AI workloads, draw 700 watts each. With millions deployed, the cumulative demand is staggering.

💧 Water Usage

Cooling these high-density clusters often requires millions of litres of water annually. In drought-prone regions, this is sparking local backlash.

🧱 Material Extraction

AI infrastructure depends on critical minerals—lithium, cobalt, rare earths—often mined in ecologically fragile zones.
These supply chains are tied to geopolitical tensions and labour exploitation, especially in the Global South.

🗑️ E-Waste and Obsolescence

As new AI chips replace older hardware, legacy servers are decommissioned—but not always responsibly.
Without strict recycling protocols, this leads to mountains of e-waste, much of which ends up in landfills or exported to countries with lax regulations.

The Cloud Has a Shadow

This isn’t just about silicon—it’s about digital colonialism, resource extraction, and the invisible costs of intelligence. AI may promise smarter sustainability, but its infrastructure is anything but green unless radically reimagined.

⚡ The Energy Cost of Intelligence

🔋 Surging Power Demand

AI data centres are projected to drive a 165% increase in global electricity consumption by 2030, compared to 2023 levels.
In the U.S. alone, data centres could account for 11–12% of total power demand by 2030—up from 3–4% today.
A single hyperscale facility can draw 100 megawatts or more, equivalent to powering 350,000–400,000 electric vehicles annually.

🧠 Why AI Is So Power-Hungry

Training large models like OpenAI Chat GPT or DeepSeek requires massive parallel processing, often using thousands of GPUs.
Each AI query can consume 10× the energy of a Google search, according to the International Energy Agency.
Power density is rising—from 162 kW per square foot today to 176 kW by 2027, meaning more heat, more cooling, and more infrastructure.

🌍 Environmental Fallout

Cooling systems often rely on millions of litres of water annually. For example, in Wisconsin, two AI data centres will consume 3.9 gigawatts of power, more than the state’s nuclear plant.
Without renewable energy sources, this surge risks locking regions into fossil fuel dependency, raising emissions and household energy costs. We are not ready for this massive increase in AI energy production.

Just how clean is green?

The Intelligence Tax

This isn’t just about tech—it’s about who pays for progress. AI promises smarter cities, medicine, and governance, but its infrastructure demands a hidden tax: on grids, ecosystems, and communities.

AI is a hungry beast, and it needs feeding. The genie is out of the bottle!

August 28, 2024September 12, 2025

How frothy is the AI data centre market for investors?

Nvidia investors have been on a rocket ride to the stars. But recently they have come back down to Earth, and it has become more of a roller coaster ride.

Benefiting significantly from the artificial intelligence surge, Nvidia’s market cap has increased approximately ninefold since late 2022 – a massive market cap gain.

However, after achieving a peak in June 2024 and momentarily claiming the title of the world’s most valuable public company, Nvidia then experienced close to a 30% decline in value over the subsequent seven weeks, resulting in an approximate $800 billion loss in market capitalisation.

Currently, the stock is experiencing a rally, bringing it within approximately 6% of its all-time peak. The chipmaker surpassed the $3 trillion market cap milestone in early June 2024, aligning with Microsoft and Apple. The question remains whether the company can reclaim and sustain that title.

Investors are closely monitoring Nvidia’s forecast for the October quarter, with the company anticipated to report a growth of approximately 75%. Positive guidance would imply that Nvidia’s affluent clients continue to invest heavily in AI development, whereas a lacklustre forecast might suggest that infrastructure investment is becoming excessive.

Should there be any signs of diminishing demand for AI or if a major cloud customer is reducing spending, it could lead to a notable decline in revenue.

July 30, 2024September 12, 2025

Microsoft shares drop on cloud miss as Azure revenue disappoints

Microsoft reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue for Q4

In extended trading on 30th July 2024, the stock experienced a quick decline as attention was drawn to the less-than-expected Azure revenue, despite management’s forecast for growth in the upcoming quarters.

The company’s total revenue saw a 15% increase compared to the previous year.

Despite surpassing earnings and revenue expectations, Microsoft’s shares dropped by up to 7% in extended trading on Tuesday, with investors concentrating on the underwhelming cloud revenue. However, executives offered a positive outlook, anticipating an acceleration in cloud growth during the first half of 2025.

Microsoft one day chart 30th July 2024

Microsoft’s cloud division holds significant interest for investors, as it competes with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google in the artificial intelligence (AI) work arena. These three tech giants are pouring substantial resources into enhancing AI capabilities, aiming to attract both startups and established companies as generative AI technology swiftly progresses.

For Amazon, AWS has served as a vital profit centre for the past ten years.

February 19, 2024September 12, 2025

Energy hungry data centre power solution

The use of nuclear reactors for data centres is a controversial and complex topic that has both advantages and disadvantages

Nuclear reactors can provide a reliable, stable, and carbon-free source of electricity for power-hungry data centres, which are essential for the operation of various applications, such as artificial intelligence (AI).

Grid overload

Nuclear reactors can also reduce the dependence on the existing grid, which may be vulnerable to blackouts, fluctuations, or cyberattacks. On the other hand, nuclear reactors require a high initial investment, as well as strict safety and regulatory standards. Nuclear reactors also pose potential risks of radiation, waste disposal, and proliferation. Moreover, nuclear reactors may not be suitable for all locations, as they may face public opposition, environmental concerns, or geopolitical issues.

Small Modular Reactor (SMR)

One of the possible solutions to these challenges is to use small modular reactors (SMRs), which are advanced reactors with about a third of the power generation of a traditional, large nuclear plant. SMRs are designed to be more flexible, scalable, and cost-effective than conventional reactors, as they can be built off-site and transported to the desired location. SMRs can also be integrated with renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind, to create a hybrid system that can balance the power demand and supply.

However, the technology of SMRs is still in its early stages of development and deployment, and there are currently no data centres in the world that use built-in nuclear reactors. Therefore, it remains to be seen whether nuclear reactors will become a common or viable option for future data centres. The decision to use nuclear reactors for data centres should be based on a careful evaluation of the benefits and risks, as well as the alternatives and trade-offs, of each specific case.

It has been calculated that a ‘norma’ data centre (whatever that is), needs 32 megawatts of power flowing into the building. For an AI data centre, it’s closer to 80 megawatts.

AI systems are using all this extra electricity simply because they are doing so much more processing than standard computing. They are chewing through far more data.

As AI continues to develop, so too will the power requirement needed to run these monsters.

November 8, 2023September 12, 2025

Microsoft closes at all-time high

Microsoft ended Tuesday’s trading session at a record high of $360.53, following fresh optimism about growth from a key partner in artificial intelligence (AI). The increase gives the company a market value of about $2.68 trillion.

At a tech event on Monday 6th November 2023, Microsoft’s AI partner, OpenAI, announced a batch of updates, including price cuts and plans to allow people to make custom versions of the ChatGPT chatbot.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella attended and emphasized that developers building applications with OpenAI’s tools could get to market quickly by deploying their software on Microsoft’s Azure cloud infrastructure.

Microsoft has invested a reported $13 billion in OpenAI, which has granted Microsoft an exclusive licence on OpenAI’s GPT-4 large language model that can generate human-like prose in response to a few words of text.

Chatbot — Fictitious AI robot learning from a digital human online

Last week, Microsoft announced the release of an AI add-on for its Office productivity app subscriptions and an assistant in Windows 11, both of which rely on OpenAI models.

The future is looking bright for Microsoft right now.

November 7, 2023September 12, 2025

IBM pivots to AI – STOCK WATCH

An old well established and trusted tech brand pivoting to AI that has a high dividend yield is IBM, which has been around for more than a century and is known for both its hardware and software products.

IBM is investing heavily in AI, cloud computing, and quantum computing, and has recently acquired several AI start-ups, such as Instana, Turbonomic, and Waeg.

IBM also has a partnership with OpenAI, one of the leading AI research organizations, to provide cloud infrastructure for its AI models.

Investors who love IBM expect the company to grow its earnings by around 10% annually over the next five years. Investors were also impressed with IBM’s dividend yield, which is currently around 4.5%. Dividends are a great way to generate passive income.

IBM is not the only tech company that is pivoting to AI. Google, Microsoft, and Anthropic are competing in the field of generative AI, which can create text, images, music, and more from natural language prompts.

Integrate generative AI

These companies are attempting to integrate generative AI into their products and services, such as search engines, maps, word processors, office applications, chatbots, and more. Generative AI is seen as a game-changer for many industries and applications, and could potentially disrupt the dominance of Big Tech.

Legacy companies can pivot to a platform model, which is a business strategy that connects producers and consumers of value through a digital interface. Platform companies like Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Tencent have created value at stunning rates, and have grown rapidly and own large market shares.

Legacy companies can leverage their existing systems, such as customer relationships, data, and brand recognition, to create platforms that offer impressive and immersive products and services.

Other successful platform pivots are Disney+, which transformed Disney from a media producer to a media platform; Nike+, which connected Nike’s physical products with digital services; and John Deere, which created a platform for precision agriculture.

October 10, 2023September 12, 2025

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is a very important and relevant topic in today’s world. It refers to the practice of protecting systems, networks, and programs from digital attacks that can harm individuals and organizations.

Cyberattacks will all have malicious intent, such as accessing, changing, or destroying sensitive information; extorting money from users via ransomware; or interrupting normal business processes.

Cybersecurity aims to prevent or mitigate these attacks by using various technologies, measures, and practices.

There are many types of cybersecurity, depending on the domain or layer of IT infrastructure that needs to be protected.

Critical infrastructure security

This protects the computer systems, applications, networks, data and digital assets that a society depends on for national security, economic health and public safety. For example, the power grid, the water supply, the transportation system, the health care system, etc.

In the United States, there are some guidelines and frameworks for IT providers in this area, such as the NIST cybersecurity framework and the CISA guidance.

Network security

This prevents unauthorized access to network resources and detects and stops cyberattacks and network security breaches in progress. For example, firewalls, antivirus software, encryption, VPNs, etc. Network security also ensures that authorized users have secure access to the network resources they need, when they need them.

Application security

This protects applications from cyberattacks by ensuring that they are designed, developed, tested, and maintained with security in mind. For example, code reviews, vulnerability scanning, penetration testing, secure coding practices, etc. Application security also involves educating users about safe and responsible use of applications.

Cyberattacks will all have malicious intent, such as accessing, changing, or destroying sensitive information; extorting money from users via ransomware; or interrupting normal business processes.

There are many more types of cybersecurity, such as cloud security, endpoint security, data security, identity and access management (IAM), etc. Each type of cybersecurity has its own challenges and solutions.

Companies to watch

Cybersecurity companies such as CrowdStrike, Okta, Zscaler and Palo Alto Networks are valuable assets with businesses willing to pay good money to protect against hackers.

NOTE: Always do your own very careful research – none of these ‘suggestions’ are ‘recommendations’.

Remember: RESEARCH! RESEARCH! RESEARCH!

August 30, 2023September 12, 2025

Nvidia’s stock at record high after Google AI deal

Nvidia shares rose 4.2% Tuesday 29th August 2023 to close at a record high, after the company announced a partnership with Google that could expand distribution of its artificial intelligence technology (AI).

The stock’s bountiful run continued, now up 234% in 2023, making it by far the best performer in the S&P 500. Facebook parent Meta is second in the index, up 148% so far this year.

The record close comes less than a week after the company said quarterly revenue doubled from a year earlier and gave a forecast indicating that sales this period could rise 170% on an annual basis. The day after the better-than-expected earnings report, the stock climbed to a record intraday high of $502.66 before declining later in the afternoon.

Nvidia’s business is booming because its graphics processing (GPU’s) are being gobbled up by cloud companies, government agencies and startups to train and deploy generative AI models like the technology deployed in OpenAI’s ChatGPT as fasta as Nvidia can make them.

NVIDIA stock chart

Nvidia announcment

On Tuesday 29th August 2023, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang appeared at a Google conference to announce an AI agreement between the two companies.

Through the partnership, Google’s cloud customers will have greater access to technology powered by Nvidia’s powerful H100 GPUs.

‘Our expanded collaboration with Google Cloud will help developers accelerate their work with infrastructure, software and services that supercharge energy efficiency and reduce costs’, the Nvidia CEO reportedly said in a blog post.

Nvidia’s GPUs are also available on competing cloud platforms from Amazon and Microsoft.