Category: 3. Business

HERNDON, Va., 9 December 2025 – ST Engineering iDirect, a global leader in satellite communications, today announced that its Chief Technology Officer, Sridhar Kuppanna, has been named CTO of the Year (Solution Provider, Global) in the Leadership Excellence category at The Fast Mode Awards 2025. The award recognizes Kuppanna’s visionary leadership in advancing satellite technology and its integration into the global telecommunications ecosystem.

The inaugural awards program from The Fast Mode, a leading industry media, research and analysis platform, celebrates the organizations and leaders driving innovation in connectivity and digital transformation. The Leadership Excellence category honors executives whose work has significantly shaped the telecom industry through strategic vision, measurable achievements, and forward-looking impact.

Under Kuppanna’s leadership, ST Engineering iDirect has pioneered breakthroughs in cloud-native satellite ground systems, AI-driven network automation and 5G Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN). His strategic direction has been instrumental in unifying satellite and terrestrial networks, highlighted by the industry’s first demonstration of interoperability between a cloud-native ground system and a 5G Core. This work is paving the way for a standardized 5G-6G future where satellite connectivity is seamless.

“I am deeply honored to receive this prestigious award from The Fast Mode,” said Sridhar Kuppanna. “This recognition is a testament to the incredible talent and dedication of the entire ST Engineering iDirect team. Our focus is on building an open, standardized, and interoperable future where satellite and terrestrial networks converge. By harnessing the power of cloud, 5G, and AI, we are committed to delivering autonomous, intelligent networks that redefine the possibilities of global connectivity.”

As announced by The Fast Mode on 1 December 2025, winners will be honored at the LiveX Kuala Lumpur 2026 summit on 6 February 2026. The event will bring together industry leaders to explore the technologies and strategies shaping AI-first telecommunications.

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Media contact:
Donna Armstrong
Brodeur
Email: darmstrong@brodeur.com

MADRID, December 10, 2025 — MEDVIDA Partners, a Spanish insurer specializing in the acquisition, integration and optimization of life insurance businesses, has signed an agreement with Kyndryl (NYSE: KD), a leading provider of mission-critical enterprise technology services. Under this collaboration, Kyndryl will help MEDVIDA Partners improve the user experience for its professionals and strengthen the security, resilience, and robustness of its technology operations.

The collaboration aims to optimize the management of the insurer’s technology systems by applying high standards of quality, service and security, enabling the company to meet regulatory requirements and evolving market trends. In addition, the company will be able to leverage Kyndryl Bridge, an AI-powered open integration platform, with advanced capabilities in automation, governance, observability, and AI-driven insights for predictions and optimization.

“At MEDVIDA Partners, we count on top-tier partners like Kyndryl for the execution of our strategy of consolidation and modernization of technology assets,” said Thomas Esclavard, Chief Technology Officer, MEDVIDA Partners. “This collaboration allows us to rely on cutting-edge capabilities in cybersecurity, automation and observability, significantly strengthening the resilience and security of our operations. At the same time, it lays the foundation for a highly scalable infrastructure and operating model, ready to accompany the acquisition and agile integration of new businesses.” 

“We are proud that MEDVIDA Partners has trusted Kyndryl and its consulting services to support compliance with a demanding regulatory environment and the transformation of the systems that accelerate its operations,” said Antonio Rodríguez Perales, Vice President, Kyndryl Spain and Portugal. “We are committed to delivering innovation and strengthening security through the best technology to continue to bring value to our customers.” 

Kyndryl’s expertise in cybersecurity, cloud, IT consulting, mainframe modernization and digital workplace will enable it to provide MEDVIDA Partners with access to the technologies they need to support their business processes.

TDK Corporation (TSE:6762) announces that TDK has won the Gold Award from the WICI Japan Integrated Report Award 2025 for the second consecutive year. It is an award program organized by WICI Japan (the Japan chapter of the World Intellectual Capital/Assets Initiative-WICI).

WICI Japan established the WICI Japan Award for Excellence in Integrated Reporting in 2013 as a way to promote integrated reporting activities in Japan.

TDK United Report 2025 (Integrated Report) was praised for its near-perfect integrated reporting and could be a model for other companies integrated reports. Also, it was highly acclaimed as a company whose management is carried out with integrated thinking, and whose medium- to long-term value creation capabilities are shown in an easy-to-understand manner in relation to each stakeholder, with the expectation that it will continue to increase its corporate value.

TDK’s Integrated Report was renamed “TDK United Report” starting in 2025. Based on TDK’s unique corporate culture of functional equality, the report is structured to show how the efforts of TDK United team members (employees) contribute to maximizing FCF (Free Cash Flow), reducing cost of capital, improving the expected growth rate, and enhancing corporate value.

TDK United Report 2025 can be downloaded on the TDK website.
https://www.tdk.com/system/files/integrated_report_pdf_2025_en.pdf

More details about the award can be found at the website below (only in Japanese).
https://wici-global.com/index_ja/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/20251202wiciaward.pdf

About TDK Corporation

TDK Corporation (TSE:6762) is a global technology company and innovation leader in the electronics industry, based in Tokyo, Japan. With the tagline “In Everything, Better” TDK aims to realize a better future across all aspects of life, industry, and society. For over 90 years, TDK has shaped the world from within; from the pioneering ferrite cores to cassette tapes that defined an era, to powering the digital age with advanced components, sensors, and batteries, leading the way towards a more sustainable future. United by TDK Venture Spirit, a start-up mentality built on visions, courage and mutual trust, TDK’s passionate team members around the globe pursue better—for ourselves, customers, partners, and the world. Today, the state-of-the-art technologies of TDK are in everything, from industrial applications, energy systems, electric vehicles, to smartphones and gaming, at the core of modern life. TDK’s comprehensive, innovative-driven portfolio includes cutting-edge passive components, sensors and sensor systems, power supplies, lithium-ion and solid-state batteries, magnetic heads, AI and enterprise software solutions, and more—featuring numerous market-leading products. These are marketed under the product brands TDK, EPCOS, InvenSense, Micronas, Tronics, TDK-Lambda, TDK SensEI, and ATL. Positioning the AI ecosystem as a key strategic area, TDK leverages its global network across the automotive, information and communication technology, and industrial equipment sectors to expand its business in a wide range of fields. In fiscal 2025, TDK posted total sales of USD 14.4 billion and employed about 105,000 people worldwide.

LINKOPING, Sweden and LOS ANGELES, Dec. 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Divergent Technologies, Inc. (Divergent) and Saab announced the delivery of initial fuselages for a Saab future product concept of an autonomous aircraft.

The fuselage, jointly designed and manufactured by Saab and Divergent, was developed and realized with no unique tooling or fixturing, instead utilizing Divergent’s fully digital, software-defined manufacturing assets. The Divergent Adaptive Production System (DAPS™) is an end-to-end structural engineering design and manufacturing system leveraging AI-driven design, industrial-rate additive manufacturing, and universal robotic assembly to deliver structures that are faster to develop, higher performance, and lower cost than their conventionally designed and manufactured alternatives.

Watch: Saab x Divergent – Creating Hardware as Software – Intro (YouTube)

The structure will be amongst the largest laser powder bed fusion structures to ever undergo powered flight, marking both a significant technical achievement in demonstrating the absolute scale of Divergent’s fixtureless assembly technology while highlighting the continued expansion of Divergent’s capabilities to ever more demanding applications. The full structure stretched 15 feet in length and comprised 26 unique printed parts, each joined and bonded in the company’s fixtureless robotic assembly cell.

“This collaboration with Saab highlights what becomes possible when ambitious aircraft concepts are paired with an end-to-end, software-defined manufacturing platform,” said Lukas Czinger, Co-founder and CEO of Divergent. “By tightly integrating digital design, additive manufacturing, and automated assembly, our teams were able to realize a large-scale fuselage structure aligned with Saab’s vision, while moving with a level of speed, flexibility, and structural integration that traditional approaches cannot match.”

“Adopting Divergent’s additively manufactured and digitally designed structures in this effort has given our joint team unparalleled flexibility in this development process,” said Axel Bååthe, head of Saab’s Rainforest. “We see digital design and advanced manufacturing as a key enabler of our collaborative success in this project.”

Divergent
Divergent has created the world’s first end-to-end software-hardware production system for industrial digital manufacturing – the Divergent Adaptive Production System (DAPS™) – allowing customers to design, additively manufacture, and automatically assemble complex structures for automotive, aerospace, and defense applications. DAPS transforms the economics, speed, and scalability of defense vehicle manufacturing by optimizing designs, dematerializing structures, and eliminating upfront capex. For more information, please visit www.divergent3d.com.

Saab
Saab is a leading defence and security company with an enduring mission, to help nations keep their people and society safe. Empowered by its 27,000 talented people, Saab constantly pushes the boundaries of technology to create a safer and more sustainable world. Saab designs, manufactures and maintains advanced systems in aeronautics, weapons, command and control, sensors and underwater systems. Saab is headquartered in Sweden. It has major operations all over the world and is part of the domestic defence capability of several nations.

The Rainforest is Saab’s internal startup for transformative innovation, for more information please visit https://thernfrst.io/

SOURCE Divergent Technologies, Inc.

Developing business ideas in a commercial environment and connecting with entrepreneurs from around the world – this opportunity is offered to the start-up Atera Water through Porsche‘s new social flagship initiative ‘Start-up Your Dream’. This initiative supports fledgling companies worldwide with outstanding innovations that can contribute to improving living and working conditions of people, primarily in countries of the Global South. Furthermore, ‘Start-up Your Dream’ also targets founders who create chances for others with innovative business ideas in the areas of climate change, integration, or education.

After a visit to Porsche’s headquarters in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, the two Atera Water founders, Tai Kee and Dr Adrian Yeo, experienced another highlight: participating in the one-week Ignite program at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. This intensive training program provides entrepreneurial frameworks based on academic research with startups in the Cambridge ecosystem and globally. Participants benefit from practical teaching sessions as well as guidance from experienced entrepreneurs and innovators. Dr Adrian Yeo said, “Participating in the Ignite program enabled us to further develop our business idea and exchange ideas with other entrepreneurs on site.” Tai Kee added, “The keynotes, workshops, mentoring sessions, and networking events were very valuable to us and broadened our perspective.”

As part of ‘Start-up Your Dream’ Porsche supports the participation of the two Atera Water founders in the Ignite program in order to prepare them specifically for the next development steps of their start-up. “With this project, we support selected start-ups in bringing their innovative business ideas to market and in improving the living conditions of people in areas of social engagement important to Porsche,” explains Dr Philipp Metz, Head of the Strategic Field Partner to Society.

The kick-off for ‘Start-up Your Dream’ took place in summer 2025. During a visit to Porsche’s headquarters, the Atera Water founders gained comprehensive insights into Porsche’s world and culture. Until the end of the multi-month program, Tai Kee and Dr Adrian Yeo will benefit from numerous training modules, mentoring offers, and networking events designed to further strengthen their development.

Porsche: ‘Start-up Your Dream’

With ‘Start-up Your Dream’, Porsche is implementing a flagship project to provide support for start-ups. The initiative aims to reach as many people as possible in important social areas. The funding is based on the four pillars of education, networking, mentoring and financing and is individually tailored to the needs of the courageous and creative founders.

About Atera Water

Atera Water is developing water filtration technology designed to make clean drinking water available even in regions where water is scarce or polluted – with minimal use of chemicals. The start-up combines scientific excellence with practical use and sees itself as a partner to help solve global water problems. Atera Water combines innovation from membrane research with applied engineering to bring a cost effective and energy efficient filtration system to market maturity. Initial pilot deployments have shown promising results.

About Ignite

Now in its 27^th year, Ignite boasts an impressive track record: the program at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, has successfully launched numerous new business ventures and strengthened companies in their internal development and structure. Since its inception, more than 1,200 participants from 50 countries across Europe, Asia, and the Americas have benefited from Ignite. It is estimated that Ignite alumni have created around 300 business ventures that are still active today. The program is designed based on proven methods of academic and practical entrepreneurship education and provides a unique space at the heart of the Cambridge ecosystem.

Porsche: Partner to Society

‘Partner to Society’ is a strategy field in sustainability at Porsche. With various initiatives, donations and CSR activities, the sports car manufacturer aims to assist regions around the world in preserving the environment, guaranteeing good working and living conditions and strengthening social cohesion. Under the motto ‘Creating Chances’, Porsche is particularly committed to self-help projects designed to empower people in their living and working environment – and to help make their very personal dreams come true.

Singapore, 10 December 2025 – Safran Electronics & Defence and ST Engineering have expanded their global cooperation into the defence domain through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). With the growth in the global defence market, the MOU will strengthen both partners’ cooperation across several areas including joint business development, technology integration, lifecycle support and sustainment services in order to meet customers’ operational requirements. This expanded partnership brings together complementary capabilities to deliver integrated and mission-critical solutions in the land, air, sea and space domains in Asia Pacific and worldwide. 

A key focus will be the integration of Safran’s core expertise in optronics, avionics and PNT (Positioning, Navigation and Timing) electronics with ST Engineering’s domain expertise in integrated defence solutions to deliver high-performance solutions that address the global demand for technology-driven defence modernisation.

“As ST Engineering grows its international defence business, strengthening partnerships with international counterparts is aligned with our commitment to deliver advanced, mission-ready solutions to our customers. Such partnerships reinforce our position as a trusted partner of choice in the global defence industry. This MOU with Safran builds upon the strength of our existing collaboration and leverages the complementary technical expertise that both sides will bring to drive innovation and excellence across multiple domains,” said Mervyn Tan, President, Defence & Public Security, ST Engineering. 

“ST Engineering and Safran Electronics & Defense have established a robust and reliable partnership in the worldwide aviation market. This MOU marks a significant expansion of this collaboration into the defence sector, demonstrating our strong commitment to mutual growth in this field . By combining our technological and industrial capabilities, we will jointly enhance innovation, operational readiness and lifecycle support thereby creating greater value and long-term capability for our customers,” said Alexandre Ziegler, Head of Defence Global Business Unit, Safran Electronics & Defense.

Annex: Photo of the MOU Signing Ceremony

Mervyn Tan, President, Defence & Public Security, ST Engineering (left) and Alexandre Ziegler, Executive Vice President, GBU Defense, Safran Electronics & Defense (right) marking the completion of the MOU signing with the presentation of a commemorative plaque.

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For media enquiries, please contact news@stengg.com.

India’s largest airline, IndiGo, says it has “normalised” operations after cancelling more than 3,000 flights last week due to what officials described as poor pilot roster planning, a crisis that left thousands of passengers stranded.

This came as authorities ordered IndiGo to cut 10% of its winter schedule – double the reduction first announced – a move that could see more than 200 daily flights cancelled.

Federal Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said the ministry “considers it necessary to curtail the overall IndiGo routes” to help restore stability.

He added that despite the 10% cut, “IndiGo will continue to cover all its destinations as before”.

The airline has also been ordered to submit its revised flight schedule to the regulator by Wednesday.

IndiGo operates over 2,200 flights daily and controls more than 60% of India’s domestic market.

Aviation analysts told the BBC slashing 10% of IndiGo’s daily capacity may worsen India’s aviation crisis in the weeks to come, as other airlines like Air India or SpiceJet do not have spare capacity.

“The government’s move may benefit passengers in the long term but for now they might have to pay more,” Sanat Kaul, an analyst, told the BBC.

India’s aviation ministry summoned IndiGo CEO Peter Elbers on Tuesday to explain how the airline was addressing the crisis and handling passenger complaints.

In a video note posted on X on Tuesday, Mr Elbers said that the airline has “fully stabilised” its operations.

IndiGo’s shares have lost 15% since 1 December as investors fear rising costs from operational disruptions and higher crew expenses under the new rules.

Aviation Analyst Mark Martin said he expects IndiGo to face “more penalties for its actions” in the days ahead.

The carrier has been instructed to cap fares, expedite refunds and quicken baggage handover to affected customers.

Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, X and Facebook.

Deep in the Abu Dhabi desert, a vast AI campus a quarter the size of Paris is starting to emerge, the oil-rich UAE’s boldest bet yet on technology it hopes will help transform its economy.

Towering cranes clank as long, low buildings take shape below, the eventual home of data centres powered by five gigawatts of electricity — the biggest such facility outside the United States.

The campus will provide storage and computing capacity over a 3,200-kilometre (1990-mile) radius covering up to four billion people, said Johan Nilerud, chief strategy officer of Khazna Data Centers, a subsidiary of Emirati AI giant G42, which is spearheading the project.

Since the 1960s, oil has fuelled the United Arab Emirates’ rise from a desert outpost of nomadic tribes to a Middle East economic and diplomatic powerhouse.

Now, the UAE is hoping that AI can help fill the gap when oil demand inevitably wanes.

“The UAE is punching above its weight because it’s a very small country that really wants to be at the forefront,” said Nilerud.

“The idea is obviously to bring in international partners… to be this AI-native nation,” he added.

Phase one of the AI campus — the G42-built, one-gigawatt Stargate UAE cluster — will be operated by OpenAI and is backed by other US tech giants such as Oracle, Cisco and Nvidia.

And last month, Microsoft announced more than $15.2 billion in investments in the UAE by 2029, after injecting $1.5 billion last year into G42.

– Core subject –

The UAE has been betting heavily on AI since 2017, when it named the world’s first AI minister and became the second country after Canada to unveil a national AI strategy.

A year later, G42 was founded with backing from Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund Mubadala. Chaired by the UAE president’s brother, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, it offers a range of AI products and employs more than 23,000 people.

The UAE said it has pumped more than $147 billion into AI since 2024, including up to 50 billion euros ($58 billion) in a one-gigawatt AI data centre in France.

“AI, like oil, is a transversal sector, which can potentially have a leverage effect and an impact on different activities,” said professor Jean-Francois Gagne of the University of Montreal.

In 2019, Abu Dhabi opened Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), the world’s first AI-dedicated university. Last August, AI became a core subject in the country’s public schools from kindergarten up.

MBZUAI and Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute (TII) have since launched generative AI models including Falcon, which compared favourably with industry leaders and now has an Arabic version.

Keen to cut reliance on imported hardware and expertise, the UAE has made large investments in research, development and homegrown programmes.

TII opened a research lab with Nvidia to “push the boundaries” of generative AI models and develop robotics systems, said CEO Najwa Aaraj.

“Sovereignty and self-sustainability and domestic customisation of technology to local needs are all very, very important,” Eric Xing, president of MBZUAI, told AFP.

“And also difficult to achieve if you solely rely on importing and external… technical transfer.”

– Chips ahoy –

In the race for AI market share, the UAE is in the chasing pack behind the US and China, the clear leaders. But the small, desert country has its advantages, chiefly money and energy.

With oil, gas and year-round sun for solar power, it can quickly build electricity stations to feed data centres — a major obstacle elsewhere.

Deep pockets and unquestioned royal rule give it the freedom to plough billions into AI development and infrastructure.

And as the region’s business hub, with a population that is nearly 90 percent expatriate, the UAE has the edge on neighbour and AI rival Saudi Arabia in attracting talent.

All the while, the UAE has engaged in a balancing act between the US and China as it seeks imports vital for AI, including the specialist chips that make data centres work.

Last month, intense lobbying bore fruit when the US approved the export of advanced Nvidia chips to both the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

“They (UAE) clearly don’t want to be dependent on China, but that doesn’t mean they want to depend on the US either,” said Gagne.

But despite its progress and years of heavy investment, success in this complex, ever-changing sector is far from guaranteed.

“Right now, we don’t know what the right strategy is, or who the good players are,” Gagne said.

“Everyone is betting on different players, but some will lose and some will win.”

saa/th/aya/smw