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Sovereignty or Symbolism? Why the MoD’s Google Cloud Deal and the Tech Prosperity Deal Need a Harder Look
The past few weeks have brought two seismic announcements for the UK tech sector. First, the Ministry of Defence’s £400 million deal with Google Cloud, promising a “sovereign” cloud for sensitive government workloads. Then, the UK-US Tech Prosperity Deal, a £150bn package of planned American investment in Britain, with Microsoft, Google, and others pledging billions.…
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Looking ahead to Civo Navigate London 2025
Over the past few years, Civo Navigate has become a useful barometer for where cloud and AI are heading. Our first event in Florida back in 2023 captured the early wave of AI enthusiasm. Conversations were exploratory; full of curiosity about what cloud-native infrastructure could enable in this new age of machine learning. By the…
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Why multicloud is the great promise that has yet to deliver
Multicloud has been hailed as the answer to the cloud conundrum for years. On paper, it promises flexibility and freedom from the grip of hyperscaler dominance. But in practice, few businesses have made it work. At Civo, our latest research found that while 60% of businesses have moved beyond single-provider cloud models, only 15% have…
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Unpacking the Industrial Strategy
The UK’s new Industrial Strategy comes with no shortage of big promises. It’s encouraging to see the government leaning into long-term thinking and putting tech innovation at the top of its agenda. On paper, it’s the kind of plan we’ve needed for a while, and as someone who’s spent years building tech in the UK,…
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Tech Sector Report Card: 3 Things Labour Got Right and 3 They Fell Short on During Their First Year in Office
Almost a year into Labour’s tenure, the mood across Britain’s tech scene is utterly divided. On one hand, we’ve seen a refreshing sense of urgency around AI, digital infrastructure, and upskilling. On the other hand, there are signs that we’re still stuck in old patterns, especially when it comes to where and how our technology…
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It’s Time to Own Our Digital Future: Findings from Civo’s Sovereignty Research
Since Donald Trump stepped back into power at the start of this year, the UK tech sector has been forced to confront a question many of us have long avoided: who actually holds the keys to the UK’s digital future? As Trump delivered his ‘Liberation Day’ speech, global markets braced for impact and energy costs…
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Why we need to be talking about sovereignty at London Tech Week
Every year, London Tech Week brings together ministers and industry leaders to set the direction for UK tech. And every year, we hear ambitious declarations about Britain becoming a global leader in AI, cloud, and next-generation infrastructure. This year, the stakes feel different. Recent trade negotiations have laid bare the frightening extent to which UK…
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Why Europe needs to rethink its digital future
Last week, Clara Chappaz, France’s digital and AI minister, declared that it’s time for Europe to end its dependence on U.S. tech giants. Extending President Macron’s now well-known metaphor of “carnivores and herbivores” in geopolitics, she called on Europe to “hunt as a pack” in defence of its digital future, calling for united action to…
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Has the Tide Turned on Hyperscaler Dominance? Reflections from KubeCon London
You don’t go to KubeCon expecting to hear about geopolitics. But over two days in London, almost every conversation circled back to the same issue: the escalating tension between the US and Europe and its ripple effects on cloud computing. The immediate spark? Recent US tariffs, which resulted in $1.8m trillion wiped from the Magnificent…
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CivoAI: Building the infrastructure layer for the AI era
Over the past year, I’ve spoken with countless developers and teams pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with AI. What I keep hearing is that the jump from idea to deployment is rarely smooth. Despite all the excitement around AI, there’s a growing frustration with what it takes to actually get models into production. Tooling…
Welcome to Mark Boost’s Blog
Mark Boost 