Tuesday newspaper round-up: Energy price cap, Palantir, Newport Wafer Fab

(Sharecast News) - The energy price cap could reach nearly £3,000 in the Britain at the beginning of October, with the planned increase possibly being more than £1,000 according to a new forecast. It is expected to rise to £2,980.63 for the next period, which runs between October and December, after another spike in wholesale demand prices last week. - Guardian For a company tipped to provide the NHS's new overarching data platform, it is appropriate that Palantir Technologies is named after an all-seeing orb. Palantir, which draws its name from the powerful crystal balls deployed in JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, is the favourite to win a £360m contract for the NHS's Federated Data Platform (FDP). Covering everything from individual patients' data to vaccination programmes, waiting lists and medical trials, the FDP will aggregate data from multiple sources and different formats on to a single platform. - Guardian

The Bank of England must prop up the pound with a rapid increase in interest rates or risk a further surge in inflation, a senior policymaker has warned. Catherine Mann, a member of the Bank's rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), said that Britain is falling behind the US after the Federal Reserve embarked on a vigorous round of rate increases. - Telegraph

The Government could be forced to pay a compensation bill as big as the entire defence budget if a legal challenge launched today over the rejigging of the retail prices index succeeds. Analysts estimate that the Treasury could in theory be forced to pay compensation of as much as £40 billion to holders of index-linked government bonds tied to the RPI if the Government loses. - The Times

The owner of Britain's largest microchip manufacturer has rejected suggestions that it is controlled by China. The takeover of Newport Wafer Fab by Nexperia, a subsidiary of the Chinese smartphone maker Wingtech Technology, is the subject of a national security investigation which could potentially lead to the £63 million takeover being unwound. - The Times