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CNCF and Andela Announce Partnership to Train 20,000+ African Tech Professionals

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2 years ago

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The partnership will upskill African tech talent on Kubernetes basics; extend opportunity as global borderless workforces grow

SALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America — The Cloud Native Computing Foundation® (CNCF®), which builds sustainable ecosystems for cloud native software, along with Linux Foundation Education, the training and certification arm of the Linux Foundation, has partnered with Andela, home to the world’s largest private tech talent marketplace, to train 20,000 to 30,000 African technologists in cloud native basics to enable them to excel in jobs globally as cloud native development grows.

The training—done at no cost to the participants—will begin next year and unfold over two to three years. Participants will have the opportunity to train for the Kubernetes and Cloud Native associate (KCNA) certification, which demonstrates a user’s foundational knowledge and skills in Kubernetes and the wider cloud native ecosystem, and the Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD), which certifies that users can design, build, configure, and expose cloud native applications for Kubernetes.

“This partnership showcases the global impact of CNCF’s education programs. By standardizing cloud native knowledge, developers across the globe can confidently work toward certifications that will enable them to land developer positions both within their own countries and globally,” said Chris Aniszczyk, CTO at the CNCF. “By partnering with Andela, which has a long history of training technologists in Africa, we see great opportunity in providing our training to communities that may otherwise not have access. Together we can create a win-win for companies that need workers and workers that need opportunities.”

According to Google’s Africa Developer Ecosystem Report 2021, the increased global demand for remote tech talent, which was accelerated by the pandemic, created more remote employment opportunities for African developers. Now, 38% of African software developers work for at least one company based outside of the continent.

“We are excited to partner with CNCF to extend training and, ultimately, enhance job opportunities for African workers. The continent is emerging as one of the most important markets in the world. It has the fastest-growing population of developers, and its young workforce will be key to solving the tech talent shortage,” said Carrol Chang, Andela CEO. “Organizations are looking for talent with advanced skill sets like AI and cloud native and this particular skill set is a perfect addition to the Andela marketplace.”

Training participants will take six to nine months to achieve the KCNA and CKAD certifications and will be selected from Andela’s talent marketplace, which includes 150,000 technology professionals globally with a large percentage from Africa. Andela’s talent marketplace in Africa spans 49 countries; including Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana. The company fosters an active community for marketplace participants and has worked with numerous companies, including Google, Meta, Microsoft, AWS, and Nvidia to train talent in technologies that offer vast workplace opportunities.

The need for cloud native developers continues to increase and a recent study by CNCF revealed that almost 55% of developers landed a new job as a result of training and certification courses. Almost 7 in 10 (67%) said it made them feel more engaged and fulfilled in their work. But 8 in 10 (81%) also said cost prevented them from completing certifications. 

“As a non-profit focused on growing open source and cultivating the IT talent needed to sustain it, partnerships – like this one with Andela – help us train and certify underrepresented groups, which is crucial to both our long-term success and amplify our impact,” said Clyde Seepersad, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Linux Foundation Education.

Additional Resources

CNCF NewsletterCNCF TwitterCNCF WebsiteLearn About CNCF MembershipLearn About the CNCF End User CommunityLinux Foundation Education websiteLearn about CNCF Training & Certification

About Cloud Native Computing Foundation

Cloud native computing empowers organizations to build and run scalable applications with an open source software stack in public, private, and hybrid clouds. The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) hosts critical components of the global technology infrastructure, including Kubernetes, Prometheus, and Envoy. CNCF brings together the industry’s top developers, end users, and vendors, and runs the largest open source developer conferences in the world. Supported by more than 800 members, including the world’s largest cloud computing and software companies, as well as over 200 innovative startups, CNCF is part of the nonprofit Linux Foundation. For more information, please visit www.cncf.io.

About Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is the world’s leading home for collaboration on open source software, hardware, standards, and data. Linux Foundation projects are critical to the world’s infrastructure, including Linux, Kubernetes, Node.js, ONAP, OpenChain, OpenSSF, PyTorch, RISC-V, SPDX, Zephyr, and more. The Linux Foundation focuses on leveraging best practices and addressing the needs of contributors, users, and solution providers to create sustainable models for open collaboration. For more information, please visit us at linuxfoundation.org

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see its trademark usage page: www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

About Andela

Andela operates one of the world’s largest private marketplaces of skilled digital talent. Its adaptive hiring model gives companies greater flexibility to quickly deploy qualified technical talent where it is most needed. The company’s exclusive AI-powered platform enables clients to select individual roles or engage fully managed teams up to 66% faster. Andela’s diverse talent ecosystem spans over 135 countries and is highly skilled in advanced technologies to support Application Development, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud & DevOps, Data Engineering, and more. The world’s best brands trust Andela, including GitHub, Mastercard, and Mindshare. Discover Andela.

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

Media Contact
Jessie Adams-Shore
The Linux Foundation
PR@CNCF.io

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SOURCE Cloud Native Computing Foundation

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From China Mobile’s Call Upgrade to the Commercial Launch of “Calling + AI” by Leading Operators: AI Is Reshaping the Value of Native Calling

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31 minutes ago

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July 25, 2026

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BEIJING, July 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On June 15, 2026, China Mobile announced a comprehensive upgrade to its traditional calling services, ushering in a next-generation calling experience defined by HD, intelligence, and security. This milestone not only marks a major leap in telecommunication innovation but also reflects a global, inevitable shift: the transformation of basic communication into intelligent, inclusive services.

Breaking Experience Barriers and Redefining the Paradigm of Basic Calling

Overcoming the limitations of traditional, voice-only interactions, China Mobile has leveraged its mature VoLTE/VoNR network foundation to deeply integrate AI models with HD audio and video capabilities. Without requiring users to change their phones or SIM cards, seven core AI functions are now seamlessly embedded into the native dialer interface.

These upgrades include Live Captions bridge communication gaps for the elderly and hearing-impaired; HD video calls and AI noise reduction create a crystal-clear, immersive calling experience; AI anti-fraud intercepts high-risk calls in real time to safeguard users’ assets. Furthermore, the introduction of Data Channel (DC) technology and visual call menus transforms standard calls into agile, interactive service windows, enabling multi-party collaboration and seamless business transactions directly within the call. Through this initiative, China Mobile has successfully evolved traditional calls from a mere voice pipeline into a secure, integrated information hub.

“Calling + AI” Becomes a Strategic Consensus Among Global Leading Operators

From a global perspective, China Mobile’s call upgrade is not an isolated milestone, but a microcosm of the global telecommunications industry’s broader transformation. Throughout 2026, major operators worldwide are accelerating the commercial deployment of “Calling + AI” solutions:

Deutsche Telekom launched Magenta AI, leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance calling across all scenarios;T-Mobile US introduced a network-side, real-time translation service covering over 80 languages, effectively breaking down cross-border communication barriers;Saudi stc rolled out English-Arabic bilingual simultaneous interpretation, which has now entered large-scale commercial trials;South Korea’s LG U+ launched its ixi-O intelligent calling assistant, shifting the user experience from passive responses to proactive smart interactions and earning three prestigious GLOMO industry awards.

The synchronized efforts of these global leaders confirm that basic calling services have officially entered a new era of AI integration. Deeply empowered by artificial intelligence, “Calling + AI” has become the definitive blueprint for the intelligent transformation of the global telecommunications industry. As operators continue to refine these native capabilities, the traditional voice network is poised to reclaim its position as the most secure, ubiquitous, and valuable entry point in the AI era.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/from-china-mobiles-call-upgrade-to-the-commercial-launch-of-calling–ai-by-leading-operators-ai-is-reshaping-the-value-of-native-calling-302834622.html

SOURCE China Mobile

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Trip.com Group Sincerely Accepts Administrative Penalty Decision Issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation of the People’s Republic of China

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4 hours ago

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July 25, 2026

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SINGAPORE, July 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Trip.com Group Limited (Nasdaq: TCOM; HKEX: 9961) today announced that it has received the administrative penalty decision issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation of the People’s Republic of China.

Trip.com Group sincerely accepts the decision and will adopt rectification measures in accordance with applicable laws and regulations to implement the decision’s requirements. The Company will strengthen its long-term governance mechanisms and strive to contribute to the sustainable development of the travel industry.

Trip.com Group’s management team will host a conference call at 8:00 AM U.S. Eastern Time on July 27, 2026 (or 8:00 PM Hong Kong Time on July 27, 2026).

The conference call will be available on Webcast live at: http://investors.trip.com.

All participants must pre-register to join this conference call using the participant registration link below:
https://register-conf.media-server.com/register/BIb78e08d8f18340c4882a7e4ab961906b.

Upon registration, each participant will receive details for this conference call, including dial-in numbers and a unique access PIN. To join the conference, please dial the number provided, enter your PIN, and you will join the conference instantly.

For further information, please contact:
Investor Relations
Trip.com Group Limited
Email: iremail@trip.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tripcom-group-sincerely-accepts-administrative-penalty-decision-issued-by-the-state-administration-for-market-regulation-of-the-peoples-republic-of-china-302834599.html

SOURCE Trip.com Group Limited

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NAVER Partners with Brookfield and NVIDIA to Expand Korea’s National AI Factory Infrastructure Buildout

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5 hours ago

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July 25, 2026

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SAN FRANCISCO, July 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — NAVER, Brookfield and NVIDIA announced an expansion of Korea’s sovereign AI factory infrastructure. New investments will increase the initial NVIDIA DSX™ AI factory deployment from 55 megawatts to 200 megawatts.

Announced during Korea President Jae Myung Lee’s AI Summit visit to San Francisco, the planned 200-megawatt expansion will be built with the NVIDIA DSX platform at NAVER’s GAK Sejong hyperscale data center in Sejong, South Korea. The expanded infrastructure will provide Korea- and U.S.- based AI innovators with access to production-scale AI compute for building next-generation models, agents and AI-powered services.

Under the terms of the agreements, Brookfield will fund up to $9 billion as the exclusive capital partner, NVIDIA will invest $1 billion and NAVER will fund the remaining amount to finance the $10 billion project.

This builds on NAVER’s June announcement to extend its GAK Sejong data center with NVIDIA DSX, with a long-term path to gigawatt-scale sovereign AI infrastructure serving Korea’s enterprises, industries, government organizations and global AI cloud customers. Combining Brookfield’s capital with NVIDIA’s computing platform, the investment supports NAVER’s AI factory deployment.

“NVIDIA’s strategic investment and our infrastructure supply agreement with Brookfield have propelled NAVER’s vision for the AI Factory business into a robust execution phase,” said Haejin Lee, Founder and Chairman of NAVER. “Leveraging the solid partnerships with our global partners, we will drive technological innovation, foster a sovereign AI ecosystem, and spearhead efforts to strengthen South Korea’s AI competitiveness.” 

AI Factory Expansion and Open Model Collaboration to Fuel AI Innovators

NAVER, as an NVIDIA Cloud Partner, provides deep expertise in operating hyperscale infrastructure powered by the full-stack NVIDIA AI platform. The 200-megawatt AI factory, featuring NVIDIA Vera Rubin and Blackwell platforms, will establish a dedicated resource pool for emerging AI companies, providing the compute, software and support needed to develop and deploy competitive AI models and applications at scale.

This expanded infrastructure also builds on NAVER and NVIDIA’s collaboration on open model development for agentic and physical AI. NAVER is advancing its HyperCLOVA X models to be based on NVIDIA Nemotron™ 3 Ultra open models with its proprietary data and training expertise. NAVER is also the first Korean company to join the NVIDIA Nemotron Coalition, contributing to open model development across pretraining, post-training and reinforcement learning.

NAVER plans to launch an AI agent platform in Korea in the second half of the year, powered by NVIDIA Agent Toolkit software including NVIDIA NemoClaw™ blueprints. NAVER is also developing a Seoul World Model using proprietary urban street-view and spatial modeling data, built on NVIDIA Cosmos™ world foundation models.

About NAVER

Founded in 1999, NAVER is Korea’s largest Internet company and one of the world’s top tech companies. Leading cutting-edge technologies, NAVER operates the No.1 search engine in Korea and holds various business portfolios encompassing commerce, fintech, cloud, AI and robotics.

NAVER recorded sales of KRW 12.04 trillion (USD 8.18 billion) in 2025. TEAM NAVER continues to enhance its business portfolio and expand its global presence across Japan, North America, and Europe, while pursuing innovation through continuous research and development in future technologies.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/naver-partners-with-brookfield-and-nvidia-to-expand-koreas-national-ai-factory-infrastructure-buildout-302834577.html

SOURCE NAVER

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