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<title>10 new startups emerge from the University of Washington, with healthcare dominating the lineup</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/10-new-startups-emerge-from-the-university-of-washington-with-healthcare-dominating-the-lineup/</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2026 21:57:38 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Lisa Stiffler]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Startups]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[CathConnect]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Climate Solutions International]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Colleague AI]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[CoMotion Labs]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[DetellaDx]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[KeenSight Health]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Nanosync Labs]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[PEAR-Net Society]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Precision Cognition Labs]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Prosthetic Fit 360]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Skape Bio]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[University of Washington]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=937130</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1260" height="840" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/UW-Startup-Founders-Graphic-1260x840.png" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/UW-Startup-Founders-Graphic-1260x840.png 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/UW-Startup-Founders-Graphic-768x512.png 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/UW-Startup-Founders-Graphic.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px"> The University of Washington's CoMotion program announced 10 startups that secured UW-licensed intellectual property over the past year. Eight are in healthcare, spanning diagnostic tools, medical devices and new therapeutics. The other two focus on K-12 education or climate change. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/10-new-startups-emerge-from-the-university-of-washington-with-healthcare-dominating-the-lineup/">Read More</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" width="1260" height="840" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/UW-Startup-Founders-Graphic-1260x840.png" alt="" class="wp-image-937144" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/UW-Startup-Founders-Graphic-1260x840.png 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/UW-Startup-Founders-Graphic-768x512.png 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/UW-Startup-Founders-Graphic.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Leaders of startups recently spun out of the UW, top row, from left: Hilco Boerlage of Precision Cognition Labs; Jan Whittington of Climate Solutions International; Elena Cant of DetellaDx; Sura Alwan of PEAR-Net Society; and Min Sun of Colleague AI. Bottom row, from left: Jingcong Zhao of KeenSight Health; Vigneshwar (Viggy) Sakthivelpathi of Nanosync Labs; Chris Norn of Skape Bio; Joelle Tudor of CathConnect; and Conor Lanahan of Prosthetic Fit 360. (CoMotion Photos)</figcaption></figure>
The University of Washington’s <a href="https://comotion.uw.edu/">CoMotion</a> program announced 10 startups that secured UW-licensed intellectual property over the past year. Eight are in healthcare, spanning diagnostic tools, medical devices and new therapeutics. The other two focus on K-12 education or climate change.
CoMotion, which operates as a collaborative innovation hub, reports that it and its predecessors have fostered 310 deep-tech companies over the past three decades, more than one-third of which are still active. Those businesses have raised $1.8 billion from investors in the past five years alone.
Here’s a look at the 10 startups:
<a href="https://cathconnect.com/">CathConnect</a> is a Seattle-based startup making urinary catheters that are easy to insert into a patient’s bladder and will safely disconnect if pulled out accidentally. The devices could help prevent the 450,000 traumatic catheter removals that occur in the U.S. each year, which lead to longer hospital stays, higher medical costs and increased infection risk.
CathConnect was launched by <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelle-tudor/">Joelle Tudor</a>, a former UW undergraduate researcher and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmalone45/">Michael Malone</a>, a UW doctoral candidate. 
<a href="http://www.climatesolutionsintl.com">Climate Solutions International </a>offers a software platform that helps government employees analyze factors like climate resilience, cost and carbon emissions for proposed infrastructure projects. The startup is the brainchild of <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jan-whittington-a6b68210/">Jan Whittington</a>, a UW urban planning professor who previously received funding from the World Bank to apply these strategies across 300 cities in 30 countries.
Climate Solutions International was selected for CoMotion’s <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/from-kelp-pots-to-kilns-uws-comotion-labs-reveals-8-startups-joining-its-newest-climate-cohort/">second Climate Tech Incubator</a>, a six-month program located at the Seattle Climate Innovation Hub, a public-private partnership in the city’s downtown.
<a href="https://www.colleague.ai/">Colleague AI</a> created an <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2024/chatbots-for-teachers-univ-of-washington-releases-free-ai-tool-for-quicker-better-lesson-plans/">AI tool and chatbots</a> to assist K-12 teachers craft lesson plans and streamline other classroom operations. The technology was developed by <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/min-sun-8382aa9b/">Min Sun</a>, a UW professor of education and Colleague AI co-founder, with substantial research and testing by educators.
The UW College of Education was selected two years ago as a national center for research and development on using generative AI as a teaching tool, a designation that included a $10 million grant to support Sun’s work.
<a href="https://comotion.uw.edu/startups/detelladx/">DetellaDx</a> is using AI and single-cell technology — a research tool that allows scientists to analyze genetic information in individual cells — to detect early stage cancers with a high degree of accuracy.  The diagnostic approach is based on research by <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-kennedy-12a0b526/%3e">Scott Kennedy</a>, an associate professor in the UW Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathology. DetellaDx’s initial focus is on women with a genetic predisposition for ovarian cancer.
<a href="https://keensighthealth.com/">KeenSight Health</a> aims to help clinicians communicate better with patients through its Clinical Intelligence Engine, a coaching software that reviews doctor-patient conversations and gives physicians practical feedback. The platform also incorporates patient history stored in electronic records and other resources.
KeenSight was co-founded by past and current UW professors <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/imbennett/">Dr. Ian Bennett</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/misbahkeen/">Dr. Misbah Keen</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/larry-mauksch-8028759/">Larry Mauksch</a>. The startup is based in Bellevue, Wash. 
<a href="https://nanosynclabs.com/">Nanosync Labs</a> has created wearable sensors that monitor brain health and sleep without invasive procedures. The devices and platform allow for continuous tracking of changes in brain pressure and deep sleep, a restorative stage essential for brain health. The sensors enable earlier detection of neurological conditions, benefiting patients with traumatic brain injury and sleep disorders.
The technology was developed in the UW lab of <a href="https://www.me.washington.edu/facultyfinder/jae-hyun-chung">Jae-Hyun Chung</a>, an associate professor of mechanical engineering. <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/viggysak/">Viggy Sakthivelpathi</a>, who earned a PhD from the UW, is Nanosync’s co-founder and CEO. 
<a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/pear-net.org/__;!!K-Hz7m0Vt54!hDyxVKFa37AbN2LtSpbXnjEgce4qRwlC2RtpWeL6XnSp_KMK29wkqj6zkON4DtDvExOiufjJRSpe$">PEAR-Net Society</a> provides resources to help medical and public-health experts understand whether medications, chemicals, infections, vaccines, or other exposures may harm a fetus during pregnancy.
The organization relies on two well-established databases documenting teratogens, factors that can cause birth defects. These include the Teratogen Information System, or TERIS, developed by <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/terisweb.pear-net.org/__;!!K-Hz7m0Vt54!hDyxVKFa37AbN2LtSpbXnjEgce4qRwlC2RtpWeL6XnSp_KMK29wkqj6zkON4DtDvExOiuWWnyhby$">Dr. Jan Friedman</a>, a UW graduate, and Shepard’s Catalog of Teratogenic Agents.
<a href="https://www.precision-cognition.com/">Precision Cognition Labs</a> has developed a tool for memory assessment that can detect mild dysfunction and track changes in cognitive performance. The assessment is faster and easier to use than tools that require in-person, clinical evaluations, allowing for more frequent checkups and longitudinal studies.
The startup is a joint venture between the UW and the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, where it is based. <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-stocco-phd/%3e">Andrea Stocco</a>, a UW associate professor and expert in computational psychiatry, is a co-founder and scientific director.
Prosthetic Fit 360 is building sensors that improve outcomes for patients with lower-limb prosthetics. The devices use trilateration, a technology that measures an object’s precise location by calculating distances from multiple known reference points. The startup was founded by <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/conorlanahan/">Conor Lanahan</a>, who earned his bioengineering and biomedical engineering doctorate degree from the UW. 
<a href="https://www.skape.bio/">Skape Bio</a> is using AI to create new therapeutics that target G protein-coupled receptors, or GPCRs. The receptors, which are located on cell membranes, detect hormones, neurotransmitters and other signals that trigger biological responses.
The Copenhagen-based startup was founded by Chris Norn in partnership with UW Nobel laureate David Baker and scientists from the UW’s Institute for Protein Design and the BioInnovation Institute in Copenhagen.
]]></content:encoded>
<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">937130</post-id> </item>
<item>
<title>Former Impinj CEO Bill Colleran tapped to lead Seattle AI coding startup Adronite</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/former-impinj-ceo-bill-colleran-tapped-to-lead-seattle-ai-coding-startup-adronite/</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2026 19:03:57 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Todd Bishop]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Tech Moves]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[adronite]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[ai coding]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Bill Colleran]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[broadcom]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Edward Rothschild]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Gatemore Capital Management]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Impinj]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=937170</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1260" height="1260" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/bill-colleran-1260x1260.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/bill-colleran-1260x1260.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/bill-colleran-150x150.jpg 150w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/bill-colleran-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/bill-colleran-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/bill-colleran-100x100.jpg 100w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/bill-colleran.jpg 2036w" sizes="(max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px"> Bill Colleran, a veteran technology executive who previously led Impinj and sold Innovent Systems to Broadcom, has joined Seattle-based AI coding startup Adronite as CEO. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/former-impinj-ceo-bill-colleran-tapped-to-lead-seattle-ai-coding-startup-adronite/">Read More</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="1260" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/bill-colleran-1260x1260.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-937188" style="width:350px" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/bill-colleran-1260x1260.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/bill-colleran-150x150.jpg 150w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/bill-colleran-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/bill-colleran-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/bill-colleran-100x100.jpg 100w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/bill-colleran.jpg 2036w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Bill Colleran is the new CEO of Adronite. </figcaption></figure>
</div>
<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/colleran/">Bill Colleran</a>, a veteran technology executive who previously led Impinj and sold Innovent Systems to Broadcom, has joined Seattle-based AI coding startup <a href="https://adronite.com/">Adronite</a> as CEO.
<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ephraimrothschild/">Edward Rothschild</a>, who co-founded Adronite in 2023 and served as its first CEO, is transitioning to chief technology officer, where he’ll continue leading the company’s product development, including its Adronite Context Engine and Codistry AI code generation tool, according to <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260707288446/en/Adronite-Appoints-Dr.-William-Colleran-as-Chief-Executive-Officer-to-Accelerate-Growth">a news release</a>.
The 15-person company raised a $5 million Series A led by Gatemore Capital Management <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/seattle-startup-adronite-raises-5m-to-help-enterprises-understand-their-codebases/">earlier this year</a>. The platform supports cloud, on-premises and air-gapped deployments, targeting midmarket companies and regulated industries.
Colleran has more than 35 years of experience in semiconductor and enterprise technology. He grew Impinj into a market leader in RFID technology, raising more than $100 million in equity financing. He <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2014/impinj-ceo-bill-colleran-resigns-14-years-replaced-co-founder-chris-diorio/">left the company</a> in 2014 and was succeeded by co-founder Chris Diorio. 
He was also CEO of Innovent Systems, which developed the world’s first CMOS Bluetooth chip and was acquired by Broadcom for approximately $500 million. 
More recently he founded lidar company Lumotive and led Seattle SaaS startup AnswerDash. He holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from UCLA and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. 
“Throughout my career, I’ve seen technology industries transformed when complexity becomes manageable,” Colleran said in a statement. “Software development now faces a similar challenge. AI can generate code at an incredible pace, but understanding complex software systems remains difficult for both developers and AI.”
Adronite’s platform aims to help developers and AI agents understand entire codebases rather than working file by file — a challenge especially acute for midmarket companies managing legacy systems without the tooling available to large enterprises. 
The company says its approach can cut token consumption by up to 40%, a claim that could resonate as engineering teams grapple with rising AI costs.
]]></content:encoded>
<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">937170</post-id> </item>
<item>
<title>Chicago software company plants flag in Seattle area as new leadership team seeks AI talent</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/chicago-software-company-plants-flag-in-seattle-area-as-new-leadership-team-seeks-ai-talent/</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2026 14:57:15 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[John Cook]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Startups]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Tech Moves]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[David Rostov]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Diego Panama]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Engineering Centers]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[LogicGate]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Seattle]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936994</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="400" height="400" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Diego-Panama.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Diego-Panama.jpg 400w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Diego-Panama-300x300.jpg 300w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Diego-Panama-150x150.jpg 150w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Diego-Panama-100x100.jpg 100w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Diego-Panama-200x200.jpg 200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px"> Governance, risk and compliance software company LogicGate recently signed a lease in Bellevue with space for up to 25 employees and expects to have about 20 people working there by the end of the year. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/chicago-software-company-plants-flag-in-seattle-area-as-new-leadership-team-seeks-ai-talent/">Read More</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="400" height="400" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Diego-Panama.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-928409" style="width:300px" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Diego-Panama.jpg 400w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Diego-Panama-300x300.jpg 300w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Diego-Panama-150x150.jpg 150w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Diego-Panama-100x100.jpg 100w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Diego-Panama-200x200.jpg 200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">LogicGate CEO Diego Panama. (LinkedIn Photo)</figcaption></figure>
</div>
Enterprise software company LogicGate is establishing a Bellevue, Wash., office and rapidly expanding its Seattle-area executive team, betting on the region’s deep technology talent pool as it embarks on a new chapter under newly appointed CEO <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/diegopanama/" type="link" id="https://www.linkedin.com/in/diegopanama/">Diego Panama</a>.
The Chicago-based governance, risk and compliance software company recently signed a lease in Bellevue with space for up to 25 employees and expects to have about 20 people working there by the end of the year. 
It also recently recruited two Seattle-area executives to its leadership team: veteran marketing executive <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mschultz3/" type="link" id="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mschultz3/">Michael Schultz</a> as chief marketing officer and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-rostov-5273a810/" type="link" id="https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-rostov-5273a810/">David Rostov</a> as chief financial officer, whose appointment is being announced today.
“The tech talent market here is really second to none,” said Panama, the former LiveRamp and Microsoft sales leader who <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/logicgate-appoints-diego-panama-as-chief-executive-officer-302758684.html" type="link" id="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/logicgate-appoints-diego-panama-as-chief-executive-officer-302758684.html">took the helm</a> of the company in April. “As we looked to create a hub with a vibrant office culture, Bellevue is really a stand-out option.”
The expansion comes as Panama succeeds co-founder Matt Kunkel in a planned leadership transition that the company hopes will position LogicGate for its next phase of growth.
“We are eyes wide open — this is hard to get right — and really proud/excited about how we are going about it,” said Panama. One of his main goals as CEO is to transform LogicGate from a cloud-based software-as-a-service business into an AI-centric company where agents and humans work seamlessly together.
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<figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1916" height="1830" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/rostov.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-937121" style="width:300px" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/rostov.jpeg 1916w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/rostov-1260x1203.jpeg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/rostov-768x734.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/rostov-1536x1467.jpeg 1536w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1916px) 100vw, 1916px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">David Rostov, the newly appointed CFO at LogicGate.</figcaption></figure>
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Founded in 2015 and now employing about 200 globally, LogicGate develops governance, risk and compliance software used by enterprises to manage regulatory, cybersecurity and operational risk. 
Rostov is a longtime Seattle technology finance executive who previously served as CFO at Avalara and Identity Digital before co-founding Aurion Biotech. Based in Seattle, he will oversee LogicGate’s finance and legal organizations while helping expand the company’s Pacific Northwest operations.
“We have a leadership team that can match the ambition of what we’re creating at LogicGate,” Panama said in a statement. 
Rostov said he was drawn by both the market opportunity and the company’s strategy around AI.
“Enterprise GRC is at an inflection point, and companies need a trusted AI-focused platform that scales alongside their risk and compliance demands,” he said in a statement.
The Bellevue office reflects the company’s belief that the Seattle region’s concentration of enterprise software, cloud computing and AI talent can help fuel its next stage of growth as it expands both its leadership team and its AI capabilities.
LogicGate’s investment also adds another enterprise software company to a growing roster of firms choosing the Seattle area as a base for executive leadership, alongside engineering and product talent. GeekWire’s <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/engineering-centers/" type="link" id="https://www.geekwire.com/engineering-centers/">engineering center list</a> now includes more than 100 companies with outposts in the region. 
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<title>Etzioni on AI: Does AI bolster or undercut democracy?</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/etzioni-on-ai-does-ai-bolster-or-undercut-democracy/</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2026 14:21:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Oren Etzioni]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[AI]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[democracy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Oren Etzioni]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=937043</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1260" height="814" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shastadam-1260x814.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shastadam-1260x814.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shastadam-768x496.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shastadam-1536x992.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shastadam.jpg 2047w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px"> As America marks its 250th year, the debate over AI's impact on self-government hinges on a crucial tension: while pessimists fear the concentration of its power, optimists champion the democratization of its access. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/etzioni-on-ai-does-ai-bolster-or-undercut-democracy/">Read More</a>]]></description>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="814" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shastadam-1260x814.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-937047" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shastadam-1260x814.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shastadam-768x496.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shastadam-1536x992.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shastadam.jpg 2047w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">An aerial view of Shasta Dam in California. After a July 4 visit, computer scientist Daphne Koller argued that America’s signature achievement is taking what was scarce and making it abundant: water into power at Shasta, electricity into a grid anyone could plug into, computation into a pocket. AI, she reasons, is the next chapter, “making abundant one of the world’s scarcest resources: powerful reasoning.” (Flickr Photo via <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usbr/50996989890/in/photolist-2kGqUoo-2kLQiug-2kGqVxn-r1Whw-rKSHzU-HSAUHe-pTqpmz-r1W7V-F6azd-hBy9R-hgnsFR-GDSWjF-acbKAi-2mgseyb-bD8qdb-9V5L1g-2mgou1Y-9V8yK9-2mgjAa5-2mgtC8y-2mgotSG-2mgpD61-2mgsf4z-2mgpDtv-2mgjAzi-9V8zG1-2mgseL5-2mgpD23-2mgjAcK-dE2SU7-BjSvw9-2mgtCuL-2mgjAwN-2mgjAHQ-2kVEKvW-qQ3fTp-2mgtCsb-26nQi5X-6CcaRr-2kVHBNg-2kVKh1C-2kVKh8w-2kVA8A6-2kVKgZf-2kVDAfr-2kVEKnj-2iTtrH6-2kVDAnW-8mU6Cg-GFYppr">Bureau of Reclamation</a>)</figcaption></figure>
America just turned 250. The founders designed self-government for a world of pamphlets and town meetings, and we now run their political architecture on AI. 
The birthday question is whether AI bolsters democracy or undercuts it. Serious thinkers have lined up on both sides with substantial arguments. 
Here is my scorecard, distilled from five books and seven articles, and then the question neither side asks: which is growing faster, power over AI or access to it?
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="960" height="285" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/aiscorecard.png" alt="" class="wp-image-937046" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/aiscorecard.png 960w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/aiscorecard-768x228.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px" /></figure>
Start with surveillance. 
Yuval Noah Harari argues in Nexus that a democracy is a distributed information network with self-correcting mechanisms: a free press, opposition parties, and courts that catch mistakes and fix them. A dictatorship is a centralized network that suppresses correction. For two centuries, centralization carried a built-in cost, because total surveillance required armies of human informants, and armies are expensive. AI removes the cost. It watches everyone, all the time, for pennies. The evidence is no longer hypothetical. A <a href="https://academic.oup.com/qje/article-abstract/138/3/1349/7076890">study in the Quarterly Journal of Economics</a> documented the feedback loop in China: local unrest leads to government purchases of facial-recognition AI, and those purchases suppress subsequent unrest. The authors titled their paper “AI-tocracy.”
The second argument is economic. 
Past technologies replaced particular workers, the switchboard operator, the toll collector, while creating jobs for the people who ran the new machines. AI’s ambition targets the entire workforce. Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson devoted a book, Power and Progress, to this worry, writing that “the current path of AI is neither good for the economy nor for democracy.” Acemoglu, a 2024 Nobel laureate, sharpened the point <a href="https://fortune.com/2026/02/22/who-is-daron-acemoglu-nobel-laureate-ai-job-layoffs-economic-inequality-donald-trump/">in Fortune this February</a>, warning that on the current path of job destruction and rising inequality, “U.S. democracy is not going to survive.”
The third argument targets the machinery of self-government itself. 
I sounded this alarm in <a href="https://hbr.org/2019/03/how-will-we-prevent-ai-based-forgery">Harvard Business Review</a> back in 2019, warning that AI was poised to make high-fidelity forgery of video, audio, and documents cheap and automated, with potentially disastrous consequences for democracy. Forgery is ancient. AI industrializes it. Security technologist Bruce Schneier <a href="https://www.schneier.com/essays/archives/2023/07/will-ai-hack-our-democracy.html">predicts</a> that AI will optimize lobbying and draft “micro-legislation,” tiny provisions that quietly benefit one group, and he observes that the technology mostly makes the powerful more powerful. He and Nathan Sanders <a href="https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/we-dont-need-reinvent-our-democracy-save-it-ai">began worrying in earnest</a> when an AI-written letter opposing AI regulation ran in the New York Times. Marietje Schaake supplies the institutional capstone in The Tech Coup: unelected companies now perform functions that once belonged to governments.
The prosecution rests. Now comes the defense.
On July 4, computer scientist Daphne Koller marked the country’s 250th birthday, and her own 37th anniversary as an immigrant, with a visit to Shasta Dam. In a <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/daphne-koller-4053a820_ai-activity-7479398762486968321-_BVv">reflection posted that day</a>, she argued that America’s signature achievement is taking what was scarce and making it abundant: water into power at Shasta, electricity into a grid anyone could plug into, computation into a pocket. She has done it herself; Coursera, which she co-founded, put an elite education in front of more than 150 million learners. AI, she wrote, is the next chapter, “making abundant one of the world’s scarcest resources: powerful reasoning.” The judgment once reserved for credentialed specialists now belongs to anyone who can frame the right question. Lawyers and doctors bill by the hour. AI answers by the second.
The economic counter comes from Acemoglu’s MIT colleague David Autor, who <a href="https://www.noemamag.com/how-ai-could-help-rebuild-the-middle-class/">argues in Noema</a> that AI can extend expertise to workers without elite credentials and thereby rebuild the hollowed-out middle of the labor market. Early evidence points his way. When a Fortune 500 firm gave its customer-support agents an AI assistant, productivity rose 15% on average, and the gains went overwhelmingly to the newest and least skilled workers, who improved in both speed and quality. <a href="https://academic.oup.com/qje/article/140/2/889/7990658">The study</a>, published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, found that the most experienced agents gained little. If the pattern holds, AI could compress the very gaps Acemoglu fears it will widen.
Reid Hoffman and Greg Beato’s Superagency states the optimistic case in general form: AI amplifies individual agency so broadly that the real danger lies in democracies ceding its development to less benevolent actors. In <a href="https://www.plurality.net/">Plurality</a>, Taiwan’s first digital minister Audrey Tang and economist Glen Weyl describe a decade of digital tools that found consensus across a polarized public on live legislation, from ride-sharing rules to pandemic policy. A controlled experiment backs them up. Google DeepMind researchers built an AI mediator, tested it on 5,734 Britons deliberating questions like Brexit and immigration, and <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq2852">reported in Science</a> that participants preferred the AI’s group statements to a human mediator’s, rating them clearer and less biased. The groups also ended up less divided. A town hall has never fit a million people. It might now.
I set the two columns side by side and noticed something odd: they never meet. The pessimists are arguing about who controls AI. The optimists are arguing about who gets to use it. Power and access are different questions, and both camps can be right at the same time.
Koller’s dam makes the point physically. Generation is concentrated, a handful of turbines owned by a few. The grid is distributed, and anyone can plug in. One machine does both at once. AI shares that anatomy: anyone can plug into a frontier model for $20 a month, while the frontier weights and the data centers that train them belong to a half-dozen companies.
Gutenberg adds the time dimension. The press broke Rome’s monopoly on scripture, and four centuries later it built Hearst’s empire; access and power traded places on the same machine. Both forces are real. The open question is which one moves faster, and the current fights over open weights, chip exports, and model ownership are fights that will help settle this question.
The founders faced a similar question about concentrated power and answered it by distributing the vote, narrowly at first, and later to nearly everyone. Koller ended her post with an obligation that fits the country’s 250th year: anyone given more than their share owes the work of making sure the next scarce thing does not stay scarce for long. Intelligence is the next scarce thing. Koller’s dam is already built, along with the frontier models and the data centers that train them. The choice in front of us is whether we also build the grid, providing broad, cheap access to AI for all Americans.
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<title>An agent in the empty chair: Amazon vets launch Primitive Labs, using AI to model customer behavior</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/an-agent-in-the-empty-chair-amazon-vets-launch-primitive-labs-using-ai-to-model-customer-behavior/</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2026 13:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Todd Bishop]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Startups]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[a16z Speedrun]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[adept]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[AI agents]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Amazon AGI]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Andreessen Horowitz]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[artificial intelligence]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[AWS]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[David Luan]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Gabriel Fong]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Generative AI]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Jean Farmer]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Nova Act]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Primitive Labs]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Rohit Talluri]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[San Francisco]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[startups]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Venture capital]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936723</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1260" height="895" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/primitive-labs-1260x895.png" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/primitive-labs-1260x895.png 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/primitive-labs-768x546.png 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/primitive-labs-1536x1091.png 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/primitive-labs.png 2000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px"> Founded by former Amazon AGI and AWS colleagues and backed by a16z Speedrun, Primitive Labs is building AI agents that stand in for a company's customers, letting product teams see how people will react to a new feature or design before it ships.
<a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/an-agent-in-the-empty-chair-amazon-vets-launch-primitive-labs-using-ai-to-model-customer-behavior/">Read More</a>]]></description>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="895" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/primitive-labs-1260x895.png" alt="" class="wp-image-937110" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/primitive-labs-1260x895.png 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/primitive-labs-768x546.png 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/primitive-labs-1536x1091.png 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/primitive-labs.png 2000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Primitive Labs co-founders, from left: CTO Jean Farmer, CEO Rohit Talluri and COO Gabriel Fong. (Primitive Labs Photo)</figcaption></figure>
<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohittalluri/">Rohit Talluri</a> learned the tradition at Amazon: always keep an empty chair in the room to represent the customer — a reminder of the people who will ultimately use whatever gets built.
Now, with AI coding tools creating software faster than ever, Talluri and his co-founders, fellow Amazon veterans <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jean-farmer/">Jean Farmer</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrieljfong/">Gabriel Fong</a>, recognize that the customer can be easily forgotten in the process. So they’re creating a seat at the table for AI agents.
That’s the idea behind <a href="https://primitivelabs.ai/">Primitive Labs</a>. The startup is building what it calls behavioral intelligence: systems that observe, reason and act as customers would across software platforms and devices, helping product teams learn how people will react to a new feature, design or marketing decision before it ships.
Traditional user research and focus groups can take weeks or months, so teams under pressure to ship quickly are tempted to skip them. Primitive Labs is automating that research with agents that simulate human behavior, aiming to make it a routine step in building software.
“It’s bringing humans back to the center of a world that’s created by AI,” Talluri said. “That is the goal here.”
The mission, according to <a href="https://primitivelabs.ai/introducing-primitive-labs">the startup’s launch post</a>, is to “make human behavior a first-class primitive of software development.” That’s the inspiration for Primitive Labs’ name. The idea is to build products that people will understand, trust and keep using — not the average user, but specific types of users in specific contexts.
Founding team: Talluri, the Primitive Labs CEO, is joined by co-founders Farmer, CTO; and Fong, COO.
Fong and Talluri have worked together since 2020. At AWS in Seattle, Fong held product marketing and enterprise account roles, then led sales and marketing at the cloud consultancy DoiT International. 
At Primitive Labs, his role runs broader than sales and marketing, spanning product direction, customer development and operations. Talluri describes him as highly technical and a hands-on contributor to the company’s core product work.
Farmer and Talluri worked together at AWS on large-scale machine-learning infrastructure, including the SageMaker HyperPod training service, before both moved into Amazon’s AGI organization. 
Farmer worked on the Amazon Nova models’ ability to use software tools — designing how the models call tools and take actions, and building the systems to test and measure how well the resulting agents perform. That work included benchmarks for the Model Context Protocol (MCP), the emerging standard for connecting AI models to outside tools and data.
Roots in AI autonomy: Talluri joined the AGI Autonomy Lab, the group Amazon assembled around talent it hired from Adept, a San Francisco startup building AI agents that operate software on their own.
Amazon had brought on Adept’s CEO, David Luan, a former OpenAI executive, along with other co-founders <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2024/amazon-hires-founders-from-well-funded-enterprise-ai-startup-adept-to-boost-tech-giants-agi-team/">in 2024</a>, and licensed the startup’s technology, putting Luan in charge of the lab. Talluri worked there on computer-use agents and helped launch Nova Act, Amazon’s agentic computer-use model.
Talluri said he initially came close to leaving Amazon in 2025 to start a company, before leaders there steered him toward the Autonomy Lab to work under Luan (who has since left Amazon).
Funding: Primitive Labs has raised a pre-seed round, led by a16z Speedrun and joined by several small, newer venture funds and a group of angel investors. The company isn’t disclosing the funding amount.
Its launch post lists backers including Olive Tree Capital, Cloverfield Fund and Unexpected Investments (from former TechCrunch editor Josh Constine), plus angels such as Luan, Harsh Patel and Artur Kiulian, and others with backgrounds at OpenAI, Amazon, Google DeepMind, Databricks, Nvidia and Meta.
Primitive Labs will join a16z Speedrun’s cohort starting this month, and expects to raise its next round around the end of the program, in September or October.
Headquarters: The company is based in San Francisco, where it’s working part-time out of a16z’s Speedrun space, with plans to get its own office after making its first hires. 
Talluri, a University of Washington graduate who read GeekWire as a student and dreamed of launching a startup of his own, said the choice came down to San Francisco’s talent density and the pace of AI research there, plus the Speedrun program being there.
Primitive Labs posted <a href="https://primitivelabs.ai/careers">its first job listings</a> last week — for founding engineers, researchers and an intern, in San Francisco or New York.
Product status: The company is pre-revenue and working with a small group of early customers who are testing its product and helping shape it, including private previews with what Talluri described as Fortune 500 and Fortune 50 consumer-technology and e-commerce brands.
The company plans to launch its products in general availability later this year.
How it works: The agents work across devices including computers and phones, focused for now on digital products and customer journeys. The company says it has also explored using them to gauge reactions to physical products, such as brand and packaging.
The underlying research draws on computational cognitive science, continual learning and custom memory systems modeled on how people store information — work Talluri said the company plans to publish and partly open-source in the coming months. 
While other startups are working on agent-based simulation and automated testing of user interfaces, what sets Primitive Labs apart, Talluri said, is the focus on human alignment. That means building agents that faithfully represent a specific product’s users, and making that a standard layer of how software gets built. He described the key measure as behavioral fidelity, or how closely an agent’s choices track human decisions.
Asked whether the startup will keep a chair empty when it gets an office, in the Amazon tradition, Talluri didn’t hesitate. “100%,” he said. And yes, he said, they’ll be envisioning an agent sitting there.
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<title>Filing shows Amazon cut 57 tech jobs in Washington state in recent weeks</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/filing-shows-amazon-cut-57-tech-jobs-in-washington-state-in-recent-weeks/</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2026 20:09:28 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Lisa Stiffler]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[layoffs]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936977</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1260" height="945" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/amazonHQ-1260x945.jpeg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/amazonHQ-1260x945.jpeg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/amazonHQ-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/amazonHQ-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/amazonHQ-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/amazonHQ-630x473.jpeg 630w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px"> Amazon is cutting 57 jobs in Washington, including roles at the director and senior manager levels. The cuts include 16 software engineers as well as product managers and creative marketing employees working in Seattle and Bellevue offices. Nine remote employees were also let go. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/filing-shows-amazon-cut-57-tech-jobs-in-washington-state-in-recent-weeks/">Read More</a>]]></description>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="945" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/amazonHQ-1260x945.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-839371" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/amazonHQ-1260x945.jpeg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/amazonHQ-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/amazonHQ-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/amazonHQ-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/amazonHQ-630x473.jpeg 630w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Amazon’s headquarters buildings and the Spheres in Seattle’s Denny Triangle neighborhood in September 2024. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)</figcaption></figure>
Amazon has <a href="https://esd.wa.gov/employer-requirements/layoffs-and-employee-notifications/worker-adjustment-and-retraining-notification-warn-layoff-and-closure-database?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery">cut a total of 57 jobs</a> in Washington state across various teams, including roles at the director and senior manager levels, according to a filing made public Monday morning.
People impacted by the cuts include 16 software engineers as well as product managers and creative marketing employees working in Seattle and Bellevue offices. Nine remote employees, including investigation specialists and risk managers, were also let go.
Employees were notified of the layoffs throughout May and in early June, according to an Amazon filing with the Employment Security Department, released Monday under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. The roles are scheduled to end in August.
“[W]e filed a WARN notice because a few businesses across the company made organizational changes that each impacted a small number of employees — in most cases fewer than five employees per business,” said Brad Glasser, an Amazon spokesperson, via email. 
WARN notifications are triggered by state law when more than 50 Washington-based employees in total are laid off over a period of 30 days. 
“We don’t make decisions like this lightly, and we’re committed to supporting the employees who were impacted,” Glasser added. 
It’s a sign of the broader belt-tightening across the tech industry. Microsoft separately cut more than 600 jobs in Washington state on Monday morning, part of global layoffs <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-cuts-4800-jobs-about-2-globally-revamps-salesforce-and-launches-massive-xbox-overhaul/">eliminating 4,800 roles</a> across the Redmond company, primarily in sales, consulting and gaming.
The latest Amazon cuts follow layoffs of <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/amazon-layoffs-hit-nearly-2200-in-washington-state-more-than-half-in-core-product-and-engineering-roles/">2,198 Washington-based employees in February</a> and <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/amazon-confirms-16000-more-job-cuts-bringing-total-layoffs-to-30000-since-october/">2,303 in October 2025</a>. Globally, the company has eliminated roughly 30,000 positions in the past year, cumulatively amounting to the the largest workforce reduction in its history.
The multiple rounds of layoffs have hit wide-ranging positions and divisions, with software engineers the hardest hit. Corporate support, commercial functions, legal, tax, and ad sales positions have all seen cuts, as have Amazon’s core technology organization, gaming division and <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/amazon-lays-off-robotics-staff-in-latest-cuts/">robotics</a> unit.
The previous larger cuts were part of an effort to “reduce layers, increase ownership, and remove bureaucracy,” according to a <a href="https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-layoffs-corporate-jan-2026">memo </a>sent to employees and posted online <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/amazon-confirms-16000-more-job-cuts-bringing-total-layoffs-to-30000-since-october/">earlier this year</a> by Beth Galetti, senior vice president of people experience and technology.
Amazon’s corporate roles numbered around 50,000 in the Seattle area. 
Tech giants nationwide have made round after round of job cuts in the past year as they pour billions into AI data center expansions and gain labor efficiencies through the use of artificial intelligence.
<a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/aws-growth-climbs-to-28-as-amazons-big-ai-bets-start-to-pay-off/">Amazon reported</a> $181.5 billion in sales for the first quarter of this year, up 17% from a year earlier. Profits came in at $30.3 billion, boosted by gains tied to the value of its investment in Anthropic.
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<title>Seattle’s Cascade PBS spins out Local Public, a tech platform that builds streaming apps for stations</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/seattles-cascade-pbs-spins-out-local-public-a-tech-platform-that-builds-streaming-apps-for-stations/</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2026 16:00:21 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Kurt Schlosser]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Apps]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Cascade PBS]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Local Public]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[public television]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[streaming television]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[television]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936969</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1000" height="563" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/cascadepbsapp.png" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/cascadepbsapp.png 1000w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/cascadepbsapp-768x432.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px"> The goal is to provide local PBS stations nationwide their own branded, station-curated streaming apps — plus tools for fundraising and audience data — as an alternative to a one-size-fits-all national app. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/seattles-cascade-pbs-spins-out-local-public-a-tech-platform-that-builds-streaming-apps-for-stations/">Read More</a>]]></description>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1000" height="563" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/cascadepbsapp.png" alt="" class="wp-image-936983" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/cascadepbsapp.png 1000w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/cascadepbsapp-768x432.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A screengrab of the Cascade PBS streaming app as built by Local Public. (Local Public Image)</figcaption></figure>
Seattle’s <a href="https://www.cascadepbs.org/">Cascade PBS</a> has spun out its streaming app technology into a standalone company called <a href="https://www.localpublic.tv/">Local Public</a>, which is now building connected-TV and mobile apps for public media stations across the country.
The goal is to provide local PBS stations nationwide their own branded, station-curated streaming apps — plus tools for fundraising and audience data — as an alternative to a one-size-fits-all national app.
Local Public was originally created within Cascade PBS (KCTS-TV channel 9) to build apps for that station, which serves Western Washington and part of British Columbia. Supported by 10 <a href="https://www.localpublic.tv/partners/#founding-sponsors">Founding Sponsor partner stations</a>, a Local Streaming Initiative (LSI) was launched to expand the platform to serve stations nationwide. 
On July 1, Local Public launched as a public benefit corporation. Cascade PBS owns 100% of Local Public, but it’s expected to take on investment and be co-owned by a coalition of other PBS stations in the near-future.
In a <a href="https://www.localpublic.tv/celebrating-our-independents/">blog post</a> announcing the launch, Local Public CEO Kevin Colligan wrote that the company is aiming to build “a growing coalition of independent public media organizations working together while remaining deeply rooted in their own communities.”
Eighteen stations are currently using Local Public, according to Cascade PBS, including Arizona PBS (Phoenix), Houston Public Media, OPB (Oregon), Rocky Mountain PBS (Denver), Vegas PBS, WETA (Washington, D.C.), WHYY (Philadelphia), WQED (Pittsburgh), and others.
Colligan framed the launch against the backdrop of media consolidation, arguing that a shrinking number of corporations increasingly control what Americans watch and read, while local newsrooms have been gutted and replaced by centralized programming. 
He also pointed to the rise of low-effort, AI-generated content as a further threat to authentic local journalism and storytelling — one he said makes trusted, community-rooted public media more valuable, not less.
“We bring a startup mentality to public media’s longstanding tradition of community service,” Colligan wrote. “We are building technology that allows stations to move faster, collaborate more effectively, and reach audiences wherever they are.”
Local Public apps currently run on 10 platforms, including Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Google TV, Android TV, LG and Samsung smart TVs, iPhone, Android and a web video portal. NPR, radio and podcast integration is in development and expected to launch in fiscal year 2027.
The apps run on a centralized content management system, letting stations publish their own programming, build featured-content carousels and pull real-time viewer analytics. Stations can also message members and prospective donors directly within the app. The platform fully supports PBS Passport, the streaming benefit for recurring donors, and PBS Media Manager, the system stations use to manage and distribute video.
<a href="https://thedesk.net/2026/07/local-public-launches-pbs-member-stations-apps/#google_vignette">TheDesk.net</a> reported that Sacramento’s KVIE has already relaunched its streaming app through Local Public as KVIE Plus (stylized KVIE+), offering free access to the station’s full lineup of broadcast channels over streaming alongside local programming and acquired shows, movies and documentaries. Denver’s KRMA has relaunched its connected-TV app through the platform as well
Pricing for Local Public is <a href="https://www.localpublic.tv/pricing/">tiered by station size</a>, based on how many Passport-eligible members a station has at signup. Small stations (fewer than 15,000 members), for instance, pay an $8,000 onboarding fee and $60,000 annually.
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<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">936969</post-id> </item>
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<title>A ‘painful’ reset for Xbox: 3,200 job cuts, studio spinoffs, and a vow to return to growth in 2027</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/a-painful-reset-for-xbox-3200-job-cuts-studio-spinoffs-and-a-vow-to-return-to-growth-in-2027/</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2026 14:38:44 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Todd Bishop]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[activision blizzard]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Arkane]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Asha Sharma]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[candy crush]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Compulsion Games]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Double Fine]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Game Pass]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[gaming industry]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Helen Chiang]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[KING]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Minecraft]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Mojang]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Ninja Theory]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Undead Labs]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Xbox]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Xbox layoffs]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936970</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="866" height="665" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/xbox-new.png" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/xbox-new.png 866w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/xbox-new-768x590.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 866px) 100vw, 866px"> Xbox CEO Asha Sharma calls it the most significant restructuring in Xbox history: 3,200 job cuts, four studio spinoffs, a new COO, and a flattened management structure — all aimed at turning around a division she says has been losing 64 cents on every dollar invested in its studios. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/a-painful-reset-for-xbox-3200-job-cuts-studio-spinoffs-and-a-vow-to-return-to-growth-in-2027/">Read More</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="866" height="665" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/xbox-new.png" alt="" class="wp-image-932997" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/xbox-new.png 866w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/xbox-new-768x590.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 866px) 100vw, 866px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">(Microsoft Image)</figcaption></figure>
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma laid out a wide-ranging plan to overhaul Microsoft’s gaming division Monday, calling it the most significant restructuring in Xbox history and disclosing that the business has been losing 64 cents on every dollar invested in its game studios.
As detailed in <a href="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/07/06/resetting-xbox/">a memo to employees</a>, the changes include roughly 3,200 job cuts through the fiscal year — about 20% of the Xbox workforce — the spinoff of four game studios, a new COO, and a plan to flatten management from as many as 14 layers to no more than five.
“We will return to growth in 2027,” Sharma wrote. “History is full of companies that mistake longevity for inevitability. We will not be one of them.” 
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<div style="font-size:14px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:1px;color:#c0392b;margin-bottom:8px;text-transform:uppercase;">Related</div>
<a class="callout-img" href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/xbox-at-a-crossroads-25-years-later-microsoft-is-done-playing-around/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img decoding="async" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Xbox-briefing04-JPG-1024x683-1.jpg" alt="" style="width:100%;height:auto;display:block;border-radius:4px;" /></a>
<a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/xbox-at-a-crossroads-25-years-later-microsoft-is-done-playing-around/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="font-size:16px;font-weight:700;line-height:1.3;color:#1a1a1a;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:8px;">Xbox at a crossroads: 25 years later, Microsoft is done playing around</a>
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Sharma, a startup veteran and former Microsoft AI leader, was named Xbox CEO <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/who-is-asha-sharma-a-closer-look-at-microsofts-surprise-pick-to-lead-the-xbox-business/">in February</a>. 
“I know this is painful,” she wrote. “These changes will directly affect people who have poured their creativity into building XBOX. Many joined us through acquisitions, while others were recruited here, or sought us out because they loved this industry and loved XBOX. Today’s decisions do not reflect their talent or dedication.”
But she also reiterated what she said in <a href="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/06/10/next-100-days-xbox-reset/">a memo last month</a>: Xbox’s business is not healthy, operating at margins 3-10x lower than industry peers after years of heavy spending that failed to produce the expected growth. 
About 1,600 of the Xbox job cuts take effect Monday as part of <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-cuts-4800-jobs-about-2-globally-revamps-salesforce-and-launches-massive-xbox-overhaul/">a broader round of 4,800 layoffs</a> across Microsoft. The remaining Xbox reductions will come in the months ahead. Sharma acknowledged that a year-long restructuring “creates additional challenges” but said “it is not possible to make all the necessary changes in a single day.”
Sharma said the cuts reach across Activision, Bethesda/ZeniMax, Blizzard, King, Mojang, and Xbox Game Studios, though no publicly announced games are being cancelled.
Several game studios will be spun out as standalone ventures, removing the costs from Microsoft’s books while giving the studios a chance to survive on their own.
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Compulsion Games (South of Midnight) and Double Fine Productions (Psychonauts) will return to their management teams as independent studios, keeping their intellectual property and current projects. </li>
<li>Ninja Theory (Hellblade) and Undead Labs (State of Decay) will shift to new owners with funding to complete their current games. </li>
<li>In France, Arkane (Dishonored, Deathloop) is beginning a legally required consultation with its employee works council to determine its future. </li>
</ul>
Sharma will also take on direct oversight of game studios Mojang (Minecraft) and King (Candy Crush), Xbox’s two largest studios by monthly active players. 
In addition, she is establishing a new chief operating officer role with end-to-end financial responsibility across content, hardware, platform, and services. Helen Chiang, a nearly two-decade Xbox veteran who led Mojang and the Minecraft franchise, has been promoted to the role. Dave McCarthy, a 17-year Xbox veteran who helped build the platform, is retiring. 
Across the division, Sharma wrote in the memo, Xbox will cut vendor spending by 50% and reduce management layers from as many as 14 to no more than five.
The overhaul follows a 25-year period in which <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/xbox-at-a-crossroads-25-years-later-microsoft-is-done-playing-around/">Microsoft largely subsidized Xbox</a> as a strategic bet on the living room. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said that era is over, noting that YouTube creators make more money from Xbox games than Microsoft does.
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<title>Microsoft cuts 4,800 jobs, about 2% globally, revamps salesforce and launches massive Xbox overhaul</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-cuts-4800-jobs-about-2-globally-revamps-salesforce-and-launches-massive-xbox-overhaul/</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2026 13:34:56 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Todd Bishop]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Microsoft]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[AI]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Amy Coleman]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[amy hood]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[artificial intelligence]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Asha Sharma]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Brad Smith]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Frontier Company]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Game Pass]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[gaming industry]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Microsoft layoffs]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[tech layoffs]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[voluntary retirement program]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Xbox]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936959</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1260" height="945" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/msft-logo-1260x945.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/msft-logo-1260x945.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/msft-logo-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/msft-logo-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/msft-logo-2048x1536.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px"> Microsoft is cutting 4,800 jobs and overhauling its Xbox gaming business in what its new gaming CEO calls the biggest restructuring in Xbox history, while reshaping its sales and consulting division amid record AI spending and a 30% stock slide. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-cuts-4800-jobs-about-2-globally-revamps-salesforce-and-launches-massive-xbox-overhaul/">Read More</a>]]></description>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="945" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/msft-logo-1260x945.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-904209" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/msft-logo-1260x945.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/msft-logo-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/msft-logo-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/msft-logo-2048x1536.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters. (GeekWire File Photo)</figcaption></figure>
Microsoft is cutting 4,800 jobs, just over 2% of its global workforce, citing a need to revamp its sales and consulting division to keep pace with a rapidly changing tech industry, while overhauling its Xbox business in a push for long-term growth and profitability from gaming. 
The cuts include about 600 jobs in Washington state, home to Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters. That’s down from 3,200 job reductions locally a year ago. Combined with ongoing hiring, Microsoft’s workforce in the state is expected to remain stable at around 52,000 people.
About 1,600 of the 4,800 job cuts being announced Monday are in the Xbox division. Additional Xbox layoffs in the months ahead are expected to bring total job reductions in the gaming division to roughly 3,200, or about 20% of the global Xbox workforce, this fiscal year. 

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<div style="font-size:14px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:1px;color:#c0392b;margin-bottom:8px;text-transform:uppercase;">Related</div>
<a class="callout-img" href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/a-painful-reset-for-xbox-3200-job-cuts-studio-spinoffs-and-a-vow-to-return-to-growth-in-2027/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img decoding="async" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/xbox-new.png" alt="" style="width:100%;height:auto;display:block;border-radius:4px;" /></a>
<a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/a-painful-reset-for-xbox-3200-job-cuts-studio-spinoffs-and-a-vow-to-return-to-growth-in-2027/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="font-size:16px;font-weight:700;line-height:1.3;color:#1a1a1a;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:8px;">A ‘painful’ reset for Xbox: 3,200 job cuts, studio spinoffs, and a vow to return to growth in 2027</a>
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Microsoft is also spinning off four Xbox game studios to operate independently. 
In<a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/a-painful-reset-for-xbox-3200-job-cuts-studio-spinoffs-and-a-vow-to-return-to-growth-in-2027/"> an internal memo</a>, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma called it the biggest restructuring in Xbox history, saying the division has been “operating at margins that are 3-10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses” and that studios have been losing 64 cents for every dollar invested.
Overall, top executives sought to distinguish Microsoft from other tech giants, saying the cuts were minimized by the redeployment of more than 4,000 employees into new roles over the past year and a voluntary retirement program that let thousands more exit by their own choice.
By comparison, the company last year cut more than 15,000 jobs globally in two rounds of layoffs in spring and summer 2025 — the largest reductions in more than a decade.
The latest cuts come amid record capital spending on the company’s AI infrastructure, pressure from Wall Street to keep operating expenses in check, and a 30% stock slide that has wiped out roughly $1.2 trillion in Microsoft’s market value over the past nine months.
“Microsoft can only be a strong employer if it has a successful business,” said Brad Smith, its president and vice chair, in an interview with GeekWire. “We have to adapt to change.”
Before the latest cuts, the company’s total workforce was about 220,000 people. Across the company, Microsoft expects worldwide headcount to decline year-over-year, CFO Amy Hood said on an April earnings call. 
Amy Coleman, Microsoft’s chief people officer, said in a memo to employees Monday morning that the roles the company is eliminating today are not being directly replaced by AI.
At the same time, she acknowledged, “AI is changing how work gets done.” She added, “Some of the tasks we do every day can now be automated, and that means we all need to keep learning, keep building new skills, and keep adapting as the work evolves.”
However, the line from Coleman’s memo that may get the most attention internally is this: “We are still early on this journey, and there will be more changes ahead; other parts of our business will need to make similar changes.”
In an interview, Coleman stopped short of signaling further layoffs across the company. Instead, she described a larger shift in how Microsoft manages its workforce. That includes reskilling engineers for customer-facing and AI-focused positions, and exploring how to make voluntary exit programs a regular part of the company’s operations — not just a one-time offer, but potentially something employees could opt into annually or on an ongoing basis.
Coleman confirmed that about 30% of roughly 8,750 eligible U.S. employees accepted Microsoft’s first-ever voluntary retirement program in recent weeks, in line with the company’s expectations, which reduced the size of the reduction in force announced Monday. 
The cutbacks and changes in the company’s sales and consulting teams build on last week’s launch of the Microsoft Frontier Company, a $2.5 billion initiative to embed 6,000 engineers inside customers to deploy AI. The shift is reducing some traditional sales and consulting roles and resulting in more technical positions working directly with customers. 
“We’re seeing that we need more engineering excellence in the customer space,” she said. 
Smith said software development is undergoing its biggest shift in the more than 50 years since Microsoft’s founding. The widespread use of AI is making code cheaper and faster to produce, but he said that’s also creating demand for new kinds of roles and work.
“Some things like coding require less time of software developers,” he said. “At the same time, there’s new parts that are growing, whether it’s the product management or software design, or perhaps most importantly, working directly with customers.”
Update: A filing by Microsoft on Monday under the Washington state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act listed 605 positions being eliminated in Washington state.
The roles span software engineering, product management, sales strategy, data science, business program management, marketing, and game design, among others — ranging from mid-level individual contributors to senior managers, consistent with cuts that reach across both the company’s technical ranks and its sales and consulting operations.
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<title>Etzioni on AI: Elon Musk promised humanoid robots, but China delivered</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/etzioni-on-ai-elon-musk-promised-humanoid-robots-but-china-delivered/</link>
<pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2026 15:01:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Oren Etzioni]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[AI]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Elon Musk]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[humanoid robots]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Oren Etzioni]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Robotics]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Tesla]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[UBTECH]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936530</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1260" height="835" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/humanoid-1260x835.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/humanoid-1260x835.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/humanoid-768x509.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/humanoid.jpg 1506w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px"> While American tech giants are valued for the anticipation of perfect prototypes, Chinese manufacturers are winning the robotics race by getting paid for delivery. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/etzioni-on-ai-elon-musk-promised-humanoid-robots-but-china-delivered/">Read More</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="835" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/humanoid-1260x835.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-936533" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/humanoid-1260x835.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/humanoid-768x509.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/humanoid.jpg 1506w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The UWORLD U1 humanoid robot at its launch event in Shenzhen, China, on June 30. (UBTech Photo)</figcaption></figure>
On Tuesday in Shenzhen, the Chinese company UBTech <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ubtech-launches-uworld-u1-the-worlds-first-full-size-mass-produced-ultra-bionic-humanoid-robot-302815272.html">unveiled the U1</a>, a full-sized humanoid robot with silicone skin, blinking lashes, manicured nails, and an AI tuned to read your mood. It comes in male and female versions, and racked up more than 13,000 orders by the end of launch day, with deliveries beginning in September.
“It will never betray you, will always be loyal to you, and will love you unconditionally,” promised Michael Tam, the executive running UBTech’s consumer brand.
The sci-fi TV series “Humans” imagined lifelike android “synths” sold to ordinary families as helpers and companions, and it treated the idea as speculative fiction. A decade later, the fiction has a September ship date. What it does not have is an American logo.
Elon Musk announced the Tesla Bot in 2021 and has been re-announcing it ever since. He hoped for production readiness by 2023. Entering 2025 he targeted 10,000 units, then <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/25/tesla-is-reportedly-behind-on-its-pledge-to-build-5000-optimus-bots-this-year/">trimmed the goal to 5,000</a>. 
The unveiling of Optimus 3, promised for March of this year, slipped because the robot needed “finishing touches,” and as of Tesla’s April earnings call Optimus 3 is still MIA, with the reveal now promised for late July or August. Tesla is spending $20 billion in capital expenditure this year, with Fremont assembly lines converting from the Model S to Optimus. The robot is not vaporware; it’s merely years behind schedule.
Now look at what China shipped while Optimus was getting its finishing touches. 
In April, a bright-red humanoid named Lightning, built by smartphone maker Honor, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/world/china/humanoid-robots-race-humans-beijing-half-marathon-showing-rapid-advanc-rcna340842">ran Beijing’s E-Town half marathon in 50 minutes and 26 seconds</a>, roughly seven minutes faster than the human world record. The remarkable number is not the 50 minutes. It is the comparison to last year’s inaugural race, when the winning robot needed 2 hours and 40 minutes and most of the field fell over, wandered off course, or lay down at the starting line. The machines cut their time by two-thirds in 12 months.
Meanwhile, UBTech <a href="https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3334081/ubtech-wins-us37-million-deal-deploy-humanoid-robots-china-vietnam-border-crossings">won a $37 million contract</a> to deploy its Walker S2 humanoids at the Fangchenggang border crossing with Vietnam, where they guide travelers, patrol corridors, and inspect cargo. Barclays estimates China accounted for 85% of the world’s humanoid robot installations last year, and Beijing counts more than 140 domestic companies selling over 330 models.
Why the gap? Talent is not the problem, and neither is money. The difference is the customer. 
Optimus’s most important customer has always been the Tesla shareholder, and a Musk keynote serves that customer just fine. The Walker S2’s customer is a border authority with a delivery date and a cargo queue that does not pause for a reboot. 
China’s supply chain proximity and its government’s decision to treat humanoids as a strategic industry help, but the deeper difference is that Chinese robot makers get paid for delivery while Optimus gets valued for anticipation. Only one of these incentive structures produces robots in a timely manner.
In fairness, the most useful robots in American homes and hospitals are not humanoid. Form follows task, and when the task is specific, the human form is expensive overhead. For instance, the da Vinci surgical system, which has operated on <a href="https://isrg.intuitive.com/news-releases/news-release-details/20-million-patients-benefit-da-vinci-surgery-globally">more than 20 million patients</a>, is four arms bolted to a cart, because a surgeon needs wrists steadier than human wrists and has no use for a reassuring face. The most successful household robot in history is a disc that eats dust. No one wants their Roomba to watch the sunset with them.
The humanoid shape is a bet on generality, on a machine that can use our doorways, our staircases, and our tools. That bet makes sense at a border crossing built for human bodies. It is far less obvious in the operating room.
Companionship has never required human form; ask anyone with a dog. The New York Times recently <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/us/elliq-ai-robot-senior-companion.html">told the story</a> of Jan Worrell, an 85-year-old widow on a remote stretch of the Washington coast, and her companion robot ElliQ, which resembles a small reading lamp. It has no face, no legs, and no silicone anything, yet it shares her morning coffee, nudges her toward chair yoga, and has become, in her words, “me and my robot.”
Hundreds of ElliQ units deployed through New York State’s Office for the Aging show the same pattern of daily attachment. A machine does not need a body to keep you company, and the ElliQ price tag is much lower. (Full disclosure: I serve on the board of <a href="https://www.intuitionrobotics.com/">Intuition Robotics</a>, the maker of ElliQ.)
So why did UBTech give the U1 lifelike skin, styled hair, and a face you can customize to resemble anyone you choose? 
Every new medium in memory has been pulled toward intimacy by its early adopters: the VCR conquered the living room on the strength of what people watched in private; the early internet monetized romance and its rougher cousins before it monetized much else; and app stores learned that “companionship” is a category with remarkable elasticity.
A humanoid robot with a skin warm to the touch is heading in a certain direction, whatever its maker’s official positioning. The company states that the U1’s skills don’t extend to the bedroom, then adds “for now.”
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<title>Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of June 28, 2026</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/geekwire-weekly-roundup-2026-06-28/</link>
<pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2026 15:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[GeekWire]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[GeekWire Weekly]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/2026/geekwire-weekly-roundup-2026-06-28/</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1200" height="630" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/geekwire-week-in-review1.png" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="GeekWire Week in Review" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/geekwire-week-in-review1.png 1200w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/geekwire-week-in-review1-620x326.png 620w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px"> See the technology stories that people were reading on GeekWire for the week of June 28, 2026. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/geekwire-weekly-roundup-2026-06-28/">Read More</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
Get caught up on the latest technology and startup news from the past week. Here are the most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of June 28, 2026.
Sign up to receive these updates every Sunday in your inbox by subscribing to our <a href="http://www.geekwire.com/newsletters/">GeekWire Weekly email newsletter</a>.
<h3>Most popular stories on GeekWire</h3>
<article class="teaser"><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/choosing-their-own-moment-why-these-longtime-microsofties-are-taking-the-buyout/" class="teaser-thumb"><img decoding="async" width="200" height="149" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/shawn-200x149.png" class="attachment-featured size-featured wp-post-image" alt="" loading="lazy"></a>
<h2><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/choosing-their-own-moment-why-these-longtime-microsofties-are-taking-the-buyout/">Choosing their own moment: Why these longtime Microsofties are taking the buyout </a></h2>
GeekWire spoke with several longtime Microsoft employees who are taking the company’s first-ever voluntary retirement program, about why they decided to leave and what they’re doing next. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/choosing-their-own-moment-why-these-longtime-microsofties-are-taking-the-buyout/">… Read More</a>
</article>
<article class="teaser"><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/as-business-concerns-mount-washington-gov-bob-ferguson-taps-amazon-microsoft-and-others-to-shape-economic-strategy/" class="teaser-thumb"><img decoding="async" width="200" height="133" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/EconomicDevelopmentCouncil-54-200x133.jpg" class="attachment-featured size-featured wp-post-image" alt="" loading="lazy"></a>
<h2><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/as-business-concerns-mount-washington-gov-bob-ferguson-taps-amazon-microsoft-and-others-to-shape-economic-strategy/">Gov. Bob Ferguson taps Amazon, Microsoft and others as concerns over Washington economy grow</a></h2>
The group includes leaders from technology, aerospace, organized labor, higher education, tribal governments, ports and economic development organizations who will advise the governor on policies aimed at strengthening Washington’s economy. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/as-business-concerns-mount-washington-gov-bob-ferguson-taps-amazon-microsoft-and-others-to-shape-economic-strategy/">… Read More</a>
</article>
<article class="teaser"><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-announces-2-5b-frontier-company-to-embed-ai-engineers-inside-customers/" class="teaser-thumb"><img decoding="async" width="200" height="133" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/20250404_Microsoft_117-200x133.jpg" class="attachment-featured size-featured wp-post-image" alt="" loading="lazy"></a>
<h2><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-announces-2-5b-frontier-company-to-embed-ai-engineers-inside-customers/">Microsoft unveils $2.5B ‘Frontier Company’ to embed AI engineers inside customers</a></h2>
“Microsoft Frontier Company” is a $2.5 billion initiative that will embed engineers inside customer organizations to build and run their AI systems. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-announces-2-5b-frontier-company-to-embed-ai-engineers-inside-customers/">… Read More</a>
</article>
<article class="teaser"><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/nvidia-recruits-longtime-microsoft-sales-leader-nick-parker-with-40m-pay-package/" class="teaser-thumb"><img decoding="async" width="200" height="133" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Computex_nick-parker-200x133.jpg" class="attachment-featured size-featured wp-post-image" alt="" loading="lazy"></a>
<h2><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/nvidia-recruits-longtime-microsoft-sales-leader-nick-parker-with-40m-pay-package/">Nvidia recruits longtime Microsoft sales leader Nick Parker with $40M+ pay package</a></h2>
Nick Parker, a 26-year Microsoft veteran who led its worldwide commercial sales business, is joining Nvidia as executive vice president of worldwide field operations, succeeding retiring sales chief Jay Puri. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/nvidia-recruits-longtime-microsoft-sales-leader-nick-parker-with-40m-pay-package/">… Read More</a>
</article>
<article class="teaser"><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-set-to-cut-thousands-of-jobs-next-week-spanning-xbox-sales-and-consulting/" class="teaser-thumb"><img decoding="async" width="200" height="150" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/msft-logo-200x150.jpg" class="attachment-featured size-featured wp-post-image" alt="" loading="lazy"></a>
<h2><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-set-to-cut-thousands-of-jobs-next-week-spanning-xbox-sales-and-consulting/">Microsoft set for new round of job cuts next week, spanning Xbox, sales and consulting</a></h2>
Microsoft is preparing another round of layoffs, spanning Xbox, sales and consulting, as it holds down operating costs while pouring more than $100 billion into AI infrastructure. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-set-to-cut-thousands-of-jobs-next-week-spanning-xbox-sales-and-consulting/">… Read More</a>
</article>
<article class="teaser"><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/tech-moves-amazon-music-names-vp-microsoft-departures-and-a-copilot-shakeup-veeam-adds-exec/" class="teaser-thumb"><img decoding="async" width="200" height="200" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hrishikesh-Aradhye_photo-credit-Noah-Berger-200x200.jpg" class="attachment-featured size-featured wp-post-image" alt="" loading="lazy"></a>
<h2><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/tech-moves-amazon-music-names-vp-microsoft-departures-and-a-copilot-shakeup-veeam-adds-exec/">Tech Moves: Amazon Music names VP; Microsoft departures and a Copilot shakeup; Veeam adds exec</a></h2>
Amazon Music names VP of product and tech; Microsoft’s corporate VP of Security, Compliance, Identity, Management & Privacy steps down while its Copilot platform undergoes a shakeup; Veeam appoints a chief marketing and customer AI officer; and <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/tech-moves-amazon-music-names-vp-microsoft-departures-and-a-copilot-shakeup-veeam-adds-exec/">Read More</a> <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/tech-moves-amazon-music-names-vp-microsoft-departures-and-a-copilot-shakeup-veeam-adds-exec/">… Read More</a>
</article>
<article class="teaser"><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/xbox-at-a-crossroads-25-years-later-microsoft-is-done-playing-around/" class="teaser-thumb"><img decoding="async" width="200" height="133" src="https://www.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Xbox-briefing04-JPG-1024x683-1-200x133.jpg" class="attachment-featured size-featured wp-post-image" alt="" loading="lazy"></a>
<h2><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/xbox-at-a-crossroads-25-years-later-microsoft-is-done-playing-around/">Xbox at a crossroads: 25 years later, Microsoft is done playing around</a></h2>
Microsoft is pressing its Xbox business for growth and stronger profits after 25 years of losses and thin margins. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/xbox-at-a-crossroads-25-years-later-microsoft-is-done-playing-around/">… Read More</a>
</article>
<article class="teaser"><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/taiwanese-ai-startup-sets-up-north-american-hq-in-bellevue-with-potential-for-500-employees/" class="teaser-thumb"><img decoding="async" width="200" height="133" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/gspeneural-200x133.jpg" class="attachment-featured size-featured wp-post-image" alt="" loading="lazy"></a>
<h2><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/taiwanese-ai-startup-sets-up-north-american-hq-in-bellevue-with-potential-for-500-employees/">Taiwanese AI startup sets up North American HQ in Bellevue, with potential for 500 employees</a></h2>
The company said it eventually envisions its Bellevue office growing into a core edge AI research and development center with more than 500 employees over the next decade. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/taiwanese-ai-startup-sets-up-north-american-hq-in-bellevue-with-potential-for-500-employees/">… Read More</a>
</article>
<article class="teaser"><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/anthropic-expands-in-seattle-as-ai-boom-offers-hope-for-struggling-office-market/" class="teaser-thumb"><img decoding="async" width="200" height="134" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/claude-200x134.jpeg" class="attachment-featured size-featured wp-post-image" alt="" loading="lazy"></a>
<h2><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/anthropic-expands-in-seattle-as-ai-boom-offers-hope-for-struggling-office-market/">Anthropic expands in Seattle as AI boom offers hope for struggling office market</a></h2>
The maker of the Claude AI model recently finalized a lease at Dexter Yard North in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, capping months of speculation about the company’s expansion plans in the region. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/anthropic-expands-in-seattle-as-ai-boom-offers-hope-for-struggling-office-market/">… Read More</a>
</article>
<article class="teaser"><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/zoom-snaps-up-seattle-startup-common-room-to-bolster-ai-powered-sales-tools/" class="teaser-thumb"><img decoding="async" width="200" height="141" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/commonroom1-200x141.jpg" class="attachment-featured size-featured wp-post-image" alt="" loading="lazy"></a>
<h2><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/zoom-snaps-up-seattle-startup-common-room-to-bolster-ai-powered-sales-tools/">Zoom snaps up Seattle startup Common Room to bolster AI-powered sales tools</a></h2>
Common Room emerged from stealth in 2021 with $52 million in funding and was the 2022 GeekWire Awards Startup of the Year. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/zoom-snaps-up-seattle-startup-common-room-to-bolster-ai-powered-sales-tools/">… Read More</a>
</article>
]]></content:encoded>
<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">936860</post-id> </item>
<item>
<title>Xbox at a crossroads: 25 years later, Microsoft is done playing around</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/xbox-at-a-crossroads-25-years-later-microsoft-is-done-playing-around/</link>
<pubDate>Sat, 04 Jul 2026 20:40:57 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Todd Bishop]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Games]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Microsoft]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[activision blizzard]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Asha Sharma]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Game Pass]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[layoffs]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Matt Booty]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Ninja Theory]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[peter moore]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Playstation]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[red ring of death]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Satya Nadella]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Steve Ballmer]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Video Games]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Xbox]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Xbox Game Studios]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936796</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Xbox-briefing04-JPG-1024x683-1.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Xbox-briefing04-JPG-1024x683-1.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Xbox-briefing04-JPG-1024x683-1-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"> Microsoft is pressing its Xbox business for growth and stronger profits after 25 years of losses and thin margins. Here's the math and the strategy behind the reset, with Xbox layoffs expected as soon as next week. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/xbox-at-a-crossroads-25-years-later-microsoft-is-done-playing-around/">Read More</a>]]></description>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Xbox-briefing04-JPG-1024x683-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-925464" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Xbox-briefing04-JPG-1024x683-1.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Xbox-briefing04-JPG-1024x683-1-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Xbox at a gamescom briefing in 2014. Microsoft is pressing its games division to turn a profit. (Microsoft Photo)</figcaption></figure>
In 2007, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 consoles started dying — overheating until three lights on the front blinked red, a defect gamers came to call the “red ring of death.” Microsoft’s response was to extend the warranty on every machine and take a charge of more than $1 billion to fix the problem, making it one of the costliest product failures in the company’s history.
Microsoft could afford it financially, but the bigger factor was strategy. Xbox was a bet on the living room, and for a company minting money on Windows and Office at the time, losing a billion or so was a justifiable cost of staying in the game.
<aside class="callout clearfix" style="border:1px solid #ddd;border-top:3px solid #c0392b;padding:14px;margin:0 0 10px 20px;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,sans-serif;max-width:300px;float:right;box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.4;">
<div style="font-size:14px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:1px;color:#c0392b;margin-bottom:8px;text-transform:uppercase;">Follow-up</div>
<a class="callout-img" href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/a-painful-reset-for-xbox-3200-job-cuts-studio-spinoffs-and-a-vow-to-return-to-growth-in-2027/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img decoding="async" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/xbox-new.png" alt="" style="width:100%;height:auto;display:block;border-radius:4px;" /></a>
<a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/a-painful-reset-for-xbox-3200-job-cuts-studio-spinoffs-and-a-vow-to-return-to-growth-in-2027/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="font-size:16px;font-weight:700;line-height:1.3;color:#1a1a1a;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:8px;">A ‘painful’ reset for Xbox: 3,200 job cuts, studio spinoffs, and a vow to return to growth in 2027</a>
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Nearly two decades later, that patience has run out.
“Going forward, this cannot continue,” the new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma wrote in <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/this-cannot-continue-microsoft-xbox-ceo-calls-for-reset-amid-reports-of-impending-job-cuts/">a memo to employees last month</a>, offering a blunt assessment of a business that has spent more than $20 billion over five years, only to see its core revenue fall by nearly half a billion dollars, running at a thin 3% profit margin, by Microsoft’s own internal measures.
With thousands of layoffs <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-set-to-cut-thousands-of-jobs-next-week-spanning-xbox-sales-and-consulting/">expected to be announced</a> across Microsoft as soon as next week, the Xbox division is likely to be among the hardest hit. 
The cuts reach across the company — including sales and consulting — part of a restructuring that has become routine around the close of Microsoft’s fiscal year. But for Xbox, they’re an early step in a broader effort to reset the business, rein in costs, and position the division for healthier profits.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has been blunt about it: the company has spent years subsidizing Xbox rather than profiting from it, and that era is over. The videos and livestreams of people playing Xbox games that fill YouTube generate more money than Microsoft makes from the games themselves, he noted in <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-on-xbox-we-have-to-turn-this-into-a-sustainable-business/">an appearance on the Hard Fork podcast</a>.
“No one can accuse Microsoft of not having invested for the last 25 years,” Nadella said. “And now we have to turn this into a sustainable business.”
<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Long-term strategic bet</h4>
Turning it around means breaking a pattern that runs through Xbox’s history.
Xbox launched in 2001 and lost money for most of its first decade. Microsoft absorbed the losses and stayed in — going up against Sony’s PlayStation and Nintendo — because it saw a strategic prize in owning a piece of the living room, and later mobile. Online gaming also gave the company early experience running services at scale, which fed its cloud ambitions.
Over time, the goal shifted from selling hardware to selling subscriptions. 
Xbox Live, launched in 2002, turned online play into recurring revenue. Game Pass, which arrived in 2017, let players pay a monthly fee — <a href="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/04/21/xbox-game-pass-update/">the top tier is about $23</a> — for a library of games, including Microsoft’s own new releases the day they come out. The idea was to get people paying for Xbox everywhere: consoles, PCs, phones and the cloud.
And when growth stalled, Microsoft doubled down. It paid <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2021/expect-microsofts-blockbuster-bethesda-acquisition-deal-gets-eu-approval/">$7.5 billion in 2021 for Bethesda</a>, the studio behind Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, then <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2023/analysis-microsoft-now-owns-activision-blizzard-which-shifts-the-balance-of-power-in-the-video-game-industry/">$69 billion in 2023 for Activision Blizzard</a> (whose games include Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo and the mobile hit Candy Crush) the largest acquisition in Microsoft’s history.
<h4 class="wp-block-heading">A series of economic headwinds</h4>
In recent years, almost everything about the economics of gaming has turned against Xbox at the same time.
Hardware loses money, and AI is making it worse. Microsoft sells consoles at or below cost, banking on games and subscriptions to make up the difference. But AI data centers are consuming so much memory and storage that chip prices have spiked. That has forced Microsoft to raise Xbox console prices, most recently a <a href="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/06/25/xbox-console-price-update/">$100-to-$150 hike this summer</a> that it blamed directly on component costs.
Xbox lost the console war. By most estimates, Sony’s PlayStation 5 has outsold the Xbox Series X and S <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-23/microsoft-pushes-xbox-studios-to-hit-higher-profit-margins">more than two to one</a>. A smaller base means fewer game sales and subscriptions to offset the upfront hardware losses. That has left Xbox a distant second for the entire generation.
Revenue is shrinking. Even setting aside the games it gained from Activision, Xbox’s annual revenue has fallen nearly $500 million over five years — while the money going into the business keeps climbing. It has been investing more to earn less. 
Microsoft’s <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000789019/000119312526191507/msft-20260331.htm">most recent quarterly filing</a> shows gaming revenue of $16.8 billion for the nine months through March, down about $1.1 billion, or 6%, from a year earlier.
Game Pass cuts into sales. Handing subscribers a new game the day it launches undercuts the roughly $70 they would have paid to buy it. The service delivers steady subscription income, but thinner economics on the games themselves.
Activision didn’t fix the margins. Even with one of gaming’s most profitable businesses folded in, Xbox earns only about 3 cents of profit on every dollar — well under the 17 to 22 cents typical in the industry. If the biggest acquisition in company history can’t move the margin, little will.
Every spare billion is flowing to AI. Microsoft is pouring more than $100 billion a year into the data centers and chips behind its AI push, trying to capitalize on the boom. Against a risk and payoff that big, a gaming business that barely breaks even feels like yesterday’s strategic bet.
<h4 class="wp-block-heading">What’s next for Xbox</h4>
The cuts have already started. In recent weeks, Microsoft has signaled plans to close or sell some studios, including Ninja Theory, maker of the acclaimed “Hellblade” series.
Shedding staff, studios and marketing will lift Xbox’s profit margins in the near term. What it won’t do is fix the underlying problem: a business can trim its way to a better number only so much before it has to generate more revenue.
Sharma’s plan, so far, is to concentrate on Xbox’s biggest franchises, funding blockbusters like Halo and Fallout while pulling back elsewhere. It’s leaning on Game Pass and <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/xbox-showcase-2026-new-ceos-first-broadcast-shows-off-gears-of-war-halo-spyro-and-more/">releasing most of its games</a> on PCs and rival consoles from Sony and Nintendo, reaching players well beyond Xbox’s shrinking base, even as it <a href="https://variety.com/2026/gaming/news/xbox-exclusives-showcase-blade-elder-scrolls-6-matt-booty-1236771373/">holds back a few new exclusives</a> like Gears of War to give owners a reason to stay.
Microsoft is also rethinking the console itself. In her memo, Sharma described a “hardware component crisis” that has left the company unable to make as many consoles as players want, and called for “a new business model and partnerships” for its hardware.
How far the reset ultimately goes is an open question. The Information <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/microsoft-considered-spinning-xbox-plans-new-halo-fallout-games">reported</a> that Microsoft has weighed making Xbox a standalone subsidiary, a joint venture, or a spin-off, though nothing is imminent.
<figure data-wp-context="{"imageId":"6a4db3774ae6a"}" data-wp-interactive="core/image" data-wp-key="6a4db3774ae6a" class="wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="796" data-wp-class--hide="state.isContentHidden" data-wp-class--show="state.isContentVisible" data-wp-init="callbacks.setButtonStyles" data-wp-on--click="actions.showLightbox" data-wp-on--load="callbacks.setButtonStyles" data-wp-on-window--resize="callbacks.setButtonStyles" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/PI-2007-Xbox-red-ring-ripped-1260x796.png" alt="" class="wp-image-936806" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/PI-2007-Xbox-red-ring-ripped-1260x796.png 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/PI-2007-Xbox-red-ring-ripped-768x485.png 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/PI-2007-Xbox-red-ring-ripped-1536x970.png 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/PI-2007-Xbox-red-ring-ripped.png 1610w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><button
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<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="12" height="12" fill="none" viewBox="0 0 12 12">
<path fill="#fff" d="M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z" />
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</button><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Microsoft’s response to the Xbox 360 “red ring of death,” July 6, 2007. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer / NewsBank)</figcaption></figure>
Whatever happens next, it’s clear that times have changed. In 2007, as the red ring of death crisis emerged, Peter Moore, who ran the Xbox business at the time, and his boss Robbie Bach went to then-CEO Steve Ballmer to ask for the money to repair and replace the failing consoles.
Ballmer didn’t flinch. “What’s it going to cost?” he asked, <a href="https://www.windowscentral.com/peter-moore-xbox-one-wouldnt-have-happened-if-steve-ballmer-had-not-saved-xbox-360">as Moore later recalled</a>.
Told it was $1.15 billion, Ballmer said, simply: “Do it.”
Moore credits that decision with saving Xbox. There would have been no Xbox One, he said, without Ballmer’s willingness to spend more than a billion dollars to protect the brand.
Nearly two decades later, Microsoft is done writing that kind of check.
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<title>Overland AI lands Marine Corps deal worth nearly $20M to build self-driving military vehicles</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/overland-ai-lands-marine-corps-deal-worth-nearly-20m-to-build-self-driving-military-vehicles/</link>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2026 14:54:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Todd Bishop]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Startups]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[8VC]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[APFIT]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Autonomous vehicles]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Byron Boots]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[defense tech]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Department of War]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[forterra]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[GeekWire 200]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Oshkosh Defense]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Overland AI]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Robotics]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[seattle startups]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Stephanie Bonk]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[U.S. Marine Corps]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[University of Washington]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936704</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1260" height="842" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/picture1-1260x842.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/picture1-1260x842.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/picture1-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/picture1.jpg 1430w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px"> Seattle-based Overland AI won a Marine Corps contract to produce more than a dozen autonomous ground vehicles, which the startup says makes it the first ground autonomy company to serve as the prime contractor on a military production deal. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/overland-ai-lands-marine-corps-deal-worth-nearly-20m-to-build-self-driving-military-vehicles/">Read More</a>]]></description>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="842" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/picture1-1260x842.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-936705" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/picture1-1260x842.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/picture1-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/picture1.jpg 1430w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Overland AI’s autonomous ground vehicles lined up at the company’s proving grounds. (Overland AI Photo)</figcaption></figure>
Seattle-based Overland AI has landed a U.S. Marine Corps contract to produce autonomous ground vehicles, a milestone the defense-tech startup says makes it the first ground autonomy company to serve as the prime contractor on a military production deal. 
The nearly $20 million agreement — $19.7 million, <a href="https://www.war.gov/News/Contracts/Contract/Article/4528154/contracts-for-june-26-2026/">according to the Department of War</a> — calls for Overland to deliver more than a dozen autonomous ground vehicles, along with the software that runs them. Initial deliveries are expected to begin sometime in early 2027.
The agreement was <a href="https://www.overland.ai/news/overland-ai-is-the-first-ground-autonomy-company-to-prime-a-production-contract-for-the-u-s-military">announced June 29</a>. The vehicles will work with a Marine Corps system that shoots down enemy drones. Overland’s vehicles will initially handle resupply for those crews rather than replace any existing vehicles, co-founder and CEO Byron Boots said in a media briefing, as reported by trade publications <a href="https://defensescoop.com/2026/06/29/autonomous-ground-vehicle-marine-corps-overland-ai-contract/">DefenseScoop</a> and <a href="https://www.defenseone.com/business/2026/06/marine-corps-inks-first-contract-autonomous-ground-vehicle-production/414517/">Defense One</a>.
Boots is a University of Washington machine-learning professor who leads the school’s Robot Learning Laboratory and is the Amazon Professor of Machine Learning at the UW’s Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. He co-founded Overland in 2022 with Stephanie Bonk, the company’s president, <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2023/new-startup-led-by-univ-of-washington-robotics-expert-tackles-off-road-autonomous-vehicles/">spinning it out of the UW</a>. 
The company’s technology is designed to let military vehicles drive themselves across rough, off-road terrain in places where GPS isn’t available. 
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Overland has grown to more than 100 employees and raised over $140 million in venture funding, including a <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/overland-ai-raises-100m-to-meet-growing-military-demand-for-autonomous-ground-vehicles/">$100 million round in February</a> led by the venture firm 8VC. It opened a 22,000-square-foot production facility in Seattle last year, and ranks No. 9 on the <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/geekwire-200/">GeekWire 200</a>, our index of the top privately held Pacific Northwest tech companies.
The company isn’t alone in chasing military ground autonomy. One of its rivals, Maryland-based Forterra,<a href="https://www.forterra.com/posts/forterra-and-prime-contractor-oshkosh-defense-secure-u-s-marine-corps-rogue-fires-block-2-production-award"> </a>won a larger, $92 million Marine Corps <a href="https://www.forterra.com/posts/forterra-and-prime-contractor-oshkosh-defense-secure-u-s-marine-corps-rogue-fires-block-2-production-award">production deal</a> earlier in June — but as the autonomy supplier under prime contractor Oshkosh Defense, rather than holding the contract itself. That’s the distinction Overland is claiming as a first.
Overland’s deal came through a Pentagon program called APFIT — short for Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies — which fast-tracks funding to move promising technology from prototypes into production. For Overland, it marks a step from testing and demonstrations into building vehicles at scale for the military. 
“We’re registering extremely high demand from U.S. operational units who want to incorporate this technology into their concepts of operation,” Boots said in the briefing, pointing to the war in Ukraine as evidence of a growing role for uncrewed vehicles.
Overland has been working for years with the Army, Marine Corps and Special Operations Command, also completing a multiyear DARPA autonomy program. The new contract builds on recent work integrating its self-driving technology into Marine Corps vehicles.
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<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">936704</post-id> </item>
<item>
<title>Pet project: Seattle startup studio’s new app connects neighbors through their dogs</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/pet-project-emerges-from-seattle-startup-studio-a-new-app-that-connects-dogs-and-their-parents/</link>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2026 14:30:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Kurt Schlosser]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Startups]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Amish Patel]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Apps]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Conduit Venture Labs]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[dogs]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[pets]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Sniff]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=935984</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1260" height="945" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/patelchewie-1260x945.jpeg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/patelchewie-1260x945.jpeg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/patelchewie-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/patelchewie-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/patelchewie-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px"> Amish Patel's newest venture — born out of his Conduit Venture Labs startup studio in Seattle, is Sniff, an iOS app that turns the everyday moment two dogs greet each other on a walk into a lasting connection between their humans. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/pet-project-emerges-from-seattle-startup-studio-a-new-app-that-connects-dogs-and-their-parents/">Read More</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="945" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/patelchewie-1260x945.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-936294" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/patelchewie-1260x945.jpeg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/patelchewie-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/patelchewie-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/patelchewie-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Sniff founder Amish Patel and Chewie, his standard poodle. (Photo courtesy of Amish Patel)</figcaption></figure>
<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/amishpatel/">Amish Patel</a> knows his neighbors by their dogs’ names before he knows their own. It’s a pattern he noticed in his Seattle neighborhood — and one he’s now built an app around.
Patel’s newest pet project — born out of his <a href="https://www.conduitventurelabs.com/">Conduit Venture Labs</a> startup studio, is <a href="https://www.sniffpet.co/">Sniff</a>, an <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sniff-pets/id6749705889">iOS app</a> that turns the everyday moment two dogs greet each other on a walk into a lasting connection between their humans.
The idea traces back to Patel’s own block in Seattle’s Madrona neighborhood, where he moved with his standard poodle, Chewie, right before the pandemic. With no kids and limited ways to meet people, the neighborhood park became the default hangout — and a group text thread became, in Patel’s words, a real sense of community. The catch: most of those contacts were saved under names like “Glory’s mom” or “Louie’s dad.”
“The five people in Madrona that I hang out with, more often I met through him,” Patel said of Chewie.
Beyond widening Patel’s own social circle, Sniff has a greater societal objective — taking on loneliness and isolation, an epidemic cited in the U.S. Surgeon General’s 2023 <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf">advisory on social connection</a>.
“Younger people are having kids less, getting more isolated … we’re sitting on our phones, even though we’re all next to each other,” Patel said. “One out of four people don’t know their neighbors or talk to their neighbors.”
Dogs — and Sniff — could be an answer.
Sniff verifies that users are real people who actually live in the neighborhood they claim, using address and location data, and the app is geofenced so members can only discover dogs nearby. Inside the app, users see only dog profiles and photos — no human names or personal details — until a connection is made. Patel said artificial intelligence plays a role only on the trust-and-safety side — confirming identity and location — rather than in matching people up.
Once connected, neighbors can message through the app, arrange meetups, and lean on each other for help — dog walking, sitting, or just a hand when something comes up. Patel said the trust that builds from already knowing someone’s dog often translates directly into people who are willing to help.
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1043" height="523" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/sniffapp.png" alt="" class="wp-image-936295" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/sniffapp.png 1043w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/sniffapp-768x385.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1043px) 100vw, 1043px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Screenshots from the Sniff app show a profile, community boundary, events and more. (Sniff Images)</figcaption></figure>
The pilot is open in Madrona, Leschi, Madison Park, the Central District and Capitol Hill, but pet parents anywhere in Seattle can sign up today. Each neighborhood stays geofenced until it reaches enough engaged sign-ups, at which point Sniff opens it up — Madrona, the first to launch, already has about 100 people on the platform.
To help build momentum in each neighborhood, Sniff is partnering with the <a href="https://www.seattlechamberofconnection.org/">Seattle Chamber of Connection</a> — where Patel sits on the board — to recruit “Pack Leaders”: local dog owners who help organize meetups and informal introductions as their neighborhood’s user base grows.
Patel is a Microsoft vet who spent eight years on projects including Xbox Kinect and Microsoft Band, before moving into the startup world with stints at fitness wearable maker Katalyst and football helmet manufacturer Vicis. He landed an entrepreneur-in-residence role at Seattle startup studio Pioneer Square Labs in 2020, and two years later co-founded Conduit Venture Labs with Susan Paley, the former first CEO of Beats by Dre.
Conduit focuses on “hard-tech” ventures that blend hardware and software. Sniff is Conduit’s fourth in-house startup, following <a href="https://fluffypettechnologies.com/">Fluffy</a> — a computer vision platform for doggy daycares — and an audiobook AI venture in the loneliness space that Patel said is preparing for a public seed round this fall. A fourth project, in health tech, remains under wraps for now.
The Sniff app itself was built lean: a couple of developers, a product lead, and Patel splitting his time across the studio’s other projects. Patel said the team has since shifted to AI-assisted development to move faster, and is now searching for a CEO to take the project in-house full time as it raises capital and pursues some hardware-related features.
For all the talk of trust layers, geofencing and future hardware, Sniff’s entire premise still comes down to a dog doing what dogs do. The humans get the friendships, the favors, the group texts. The dogs, Patel said, get something simpler.
“They just get to be more social,” he said, “because we don’t keep them in our house with us while we’re doom scrolling through everything.”
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<title>Meet the 17 startups that took part in Creative Destruction Lab’s latest Seattle accelerator</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/meet-the-17-startups-that-took-part-in-creative-destruction-labs-latest-seattle-accelerator/</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2026 21:17:41 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Kurt Schlosser]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Startups]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Accelerator]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[creative destruction lab]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936574</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="868" height="642" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/cdl.jpeg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/cdl.jpeg 868w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/cdl-768x568.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px"> The nine-month, nonprofit program based at the University of Washington's Foster School of Business graduated 17 early stage companies. It's the fifth cohort since CDL launched its Seattle hub in 2021. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/meet-the-17-startups-that-took-part-in-creative-destruction-labs-latest-seattle-accelerator/">Read More</a>]]></description>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="868" height="642" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/cdl.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-936576" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/cdl.jpeg 868w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/cdl-768x568.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Emer Dooley, site lead for Creative Destruction Lab in Seattle, moderates an accelerator program session alongside mentors and startup founders. (CDL Photo)</figcaption></figure>
Startups innovating across advanced manufacturing and computational health made up the latest cohort of the Seattle accelerator run by <a href="https://creativedestructionlab.com/">Creative Destruction Lab</a> (CDL).
The nine-month, nonprofit program based at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business graduated 17 early stage companies. It’s the fifth cohort since CDL launched its Seattle hub in 2021.
CDL, which runs startup programs around the world, does not take equity from companies and relies on funding from founding members such as the UW and Microsoft. Founders in the cohort get access to mentors including startup founders, investors, and other leaders from across the Pacific Northwest.
Startups that have participated have collectively raised more than $330 million in follow-on venture capital funding since 2022, according to CDL.
The list below includes the companies that just graduated, with descriptions provided by CDL. See past graduates <a href="https://creativedestructionlab.com/companies/?location=seattle">here</a>.
Manufacturing
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://3dspark.de">3D Spark</a> — An AI-powered B2B platform that lets engineering, procurement, and sales teams rapidly evaluate and compare manufacturing methods for custom parts by analyzing manufacturability, cost, lead time, and CO₂ footprint. </li>
<li><a href="https://outrun.bot">Outrun Robotics</a> — An industrial automation company that builds and deploys capable, flexible, intelligent robotic workstations to automate stationary, repetitive work in factories. </li>
<li><a href="https://xronos.com">Xronos</a> — Empowers developers to rapidly and confidently design, test, and deploy software to automate the physical world. </li>
<li><a href="https://loadsters.com">Loadsters</a> — A lightweight, rechargeable, modular conveyor-belt system that makes it easier for ramp agents to load and unload cargo and luggage in narrowbody aircraft, for airlines and ground handlers. </li>
<li><a href="https://velodex.ai">Velodex Robotics</a> — Building general-purpose robotic manipulation, initially targeting high-volume production in the food industry. </li>
<li><a href="https://ailos-robotics.com">AILOS Robotics</a> — Builds the gearboxes robots need at every joint, making modern robotics lighter, faster, safer, more sustainable, and more affordable. </li>
<li><a href="https://r2-labs.io">R2 Labs</a> — Redefining industrial automation with the R2 Autonomy Controller (RAC), bringing vision, AI, and real-time intelligence to existing PLC-based systems. </li>
<li><a href="https://neuramill.co">Neuramill</a> — AI tools for high-precision manufacturing; the copilot for CNC, sitting between CAD and CAM. </li>
</ul>
Computational health
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://navis-bio.com">Navis Bio</a> — Software and AI tools for highly-customized intelligence on biopharma assets.</li>
<li><a href="https://cubtale.com">Cubtale</a> — The first parenting platform integrated with healthcare systems, delivering AI-powered, personalized care guidance and rich behavioral data analytics from birth to early childhood. </li>
<li><a href="https://vocxihealth.com">Vocxi</a> — A breath-based diagnostic platform that enables rapid, noninvasive detection of multiple diseases. </li>
<li><a href="https://elorahq.com">EloraHQ</a> — The operating system for frontline care: 90% less paperwork, 10x clients, and full revenue capture. </li>
<li><a href="https://vivosurgery.com">Vivo Surgery</a> — A cloud platform that captures and organizes surgical video into AI-ready data, accelerating precision training, connected operating rooms, and the future of autonomous robotic surgery. </li>
<li><a href="https://lind.care">LIND AI</a> — Helps health systems accelerate trial accrual by automating screening and surfacing the most eligible patients, with source-verified evidence at their fingertips. </li>
<li><a href="https://adentris.com">Adentris</a> — An AI-powered platform that integrates with EHR systems to continuously scan for quality-measure adherence and documentation issues before they lead to patient-safety risks or financial losses. </li>
<li><a href="https://exintherapeutics.com">Exin Therapeutics</a> — Develops gene therapies to repair circuit dysfunction, powered by an AI drug discovery platform. </li>
<li><a href="http://therassist.ai">Therassist.AI</a> — Helps psychotherapists close the quality gap by automating notes and guiding expertise in evidence-based psychotherapy.</li>
</ul>
Applications are now open for the 2026-27 cohort, with a July 24 deadline to apply. The program is conducted virtually with three in-person session days in October, February, and April. Founders can <a href="https://creativedestructionlab.com/application-triage/">apply here</a> or reach out to CDL Seattle venture managers: cdl-seattle@creativedestructionlab.com.
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<title>Nvidia recruits longtime Microsoft sales leader Nick Parker with $40M+ pay package</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/nvidia-recruits-longtime-microsoft-sales-leader-nick-parker-with-40m-pay-package/</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2026 19:43:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Todd Bishop]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Microsoft]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Tech Moves]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[AI]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[executive moves]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Jay Puri]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Jensen Huang]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Judson Althoff]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Microsoft Frontier Company]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Nick Parker]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Rodrigo Kede Lima]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936542</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1195" height="797" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Computex_nick-parker.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Computex_nick-parker.jpg 1195w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Computex_nick-parker-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1195px) 100vw, 1195px"> Nick Parker, a 26-year Microsoft veteran who led its worldwide commercial sales business, is joining Nvidia as executive vice president of worldwide field operations, succeeding retiring sales chief Jay Puri. The new role puts him in charge of global sales and customer relationships at the center of the AI boom. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/nvidia-recruits-longtime-microsoft-sales-leader-nick-parker-with-40m-pay-package/">Read More</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1195" height="797" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Computex_nick-parker.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-936555" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Computex_nick-parker.jpg 1195w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Computex_nick-parker-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1195px) 100vw, 1195px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Microsoft executive Nick Parker at a conference in 2018. (Microsoft Photo)</figcaption></figure>
Nick Parker, a 26-year Microsoft veteran who led the company’s worldwide commercial sales business, is leaving to become Nvidia’s new sales chief — a high-profile talent shift between two of the biggest players in the AI boom. 
Parker will join Nvidia as executive vice president of worldwide field operations, effective Aug. 24, according to <a href="https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/0001045810/000104581026000060/nvda-20260628.htm">a regulatory filing</a>. He succeeds Jay Puri, who is retiring after 21 years running Nvidia’s global sales operation and will stay on as a senior adviser. 
“Microsoft and NVIDIA are great partners and I look forward to continuing to nurture that fantastic relationship,” Parker wrote in <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nick-parker-0007aa46_after-26-incredible-years-at-microsoft-i-share-7478443274328899584-hbFU/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAAmZBMB4ZPLFVeakJlucqgeZbv9Gl1WRKU">a LinkedIn post</a> announcing the move.
The regulatory filing by Nvidia sets Parker’s base salary in the new role at $1 million, with a $5 million signing bonus and equity grants targeted at $40 million. The bulk of that, $35 million in restricted stock units, vests over roughly four years, while the additional $5 million in shares is tied to Nvidia outperforming the S&P 500 over three years.
The new role puts him in charge of global sales and customer relationships at the center of the AI boom, reporting directly to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang — one of the most consequential commercial roles in the industry, overseeing the operation that sells Nvidia’s chips to the world’s largest companies.
Parker, 55, rose through OEM, device and partner sales roles at Microsoft before being named president of industry and partner sales in 2022. After a promotion this year, he served most recently as executive vice president and chief business officer of Microsoft Worldwide Sales & Solutions, reporting to Judson Althoff, CEO of Microsoft’s commercial business.
Puri, 71, is credited with helping transform Nvidia from a consumer gaming brand into an AI infrastructure giant, building the enterprise sales operation Parker will now inherit.
On Thursday, Microsoft <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-announces-2-5b-frontier-company-to-embed-ai-engineers-inside-customers/">unveiled</a> a $2.5 billion initiative called the Microsoft Frontier Company, which will embed AI engineers inside customers. It will be led by Rodrigo Kede Lima, a longtime Microsoft sales and enterprise leader, most recently president of Microsoft Asia. 
]]></content:encoded>
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<item>
<title>Amazon Leo says its latest launch gives it enough satellites to start broadband internet service</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/amazon-leo-atlas-ula-launch-satellites/</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2026 17:42:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Alan Boyle]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Space]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Amazon Leo]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Atlas 5]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Project Kuiper]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Satellite]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[satellite broadband]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Satellites]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[united launch alliance]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Vulcan rocket]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936506</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1260" height="918" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/260702-amazonleo-1260x918.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="Night launch of Atlas 5 rocket with Amazon Leo satellites" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/260702-amazonleo-1260x918.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/260702-amazonleo-768x560.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/260702-amazonleo.jpg 1522w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px"> Competition with SpaceX's Starlink satellite network is expected to begin in earnest later this year. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/amazon-leo-atlas-ula-launch-satellites/">Read More</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="918" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/260702-amazonleo-1260x918.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-936509" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/260702-amazonleo-1260x918.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/260702-amazonleo-768x560.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/260702-amazonleo.jpg 1522w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">An Atlas 5 rocket lifts off from its Florida launch pad, sending 29 Amazon Leo satellites into orbit. (United Launch Alliance Photo)</figcaption></figure>
Amazon says the overnight launch of 29 satellites should clear the way for its <a href="https://leo.amazon.com/">Amazon Leo</a> network to start offering commercial high-speed internet service from space this year, in direct competition with SpaceX’s Starlink network.
United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket sent the satellites into low Earth orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 12:30 a.m. ET today (9:30 p.m. PT Wednesday).
This was the last of eight Atlas 5 launches that Amazon reserved for its satellites. Going forward, ULA will use its next-generation Vulcan rocket to support Amazon Leo’s years-long deployment schedule. Amazon has also made launch reservations with Blue Origin, Arianespace and SpaceX.
The latest liftoff boosts Amazon Leo’s constellation to 396 operational satellites. That will be enough to support continuous connectivity in the initial latitudes targeted for commercial service, according to Chris Weber, vice president of business and product for Amazon Leo.
“Still lots of work ahead — including raising all these new satellites to their assigned altitude — but we’ve completed enough launches for initial service this year, and future missions just add coverage and capacity,” <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/chris-weber_last-few-launches-were-big-for-amazon-leo-share-7478339959897120768-_ava/">Weber said in a LinkedIn post</a>.
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Atlas V launches Amazon Leo 8 (LA-08)" width="800" height="450" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kcH5RDZ9Kuo?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>
Amazon has been <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2025/amazon-leo-ultra-satellite-internet-service/">beta-testing the service for months with a select group of customers</a>, but connectivity hasn’t been continuous due to sparse orbital coverage. Amazon Leo’s business plan calls for launching commercial service within a limited zone concentrated at mid-northern and mid-southern latitudes, and gradually expanding the service area as more satellites go up.
“With hundreds of flight-ready satellites standing by at the Cape and a new, dedicated vertical integration facility ready to support Leo Vulcan 1 and subsequent missions, we have a clear path to increase launch and deployment cadence, helping us quickly expand network coverage following an initial service rollout later this year,” Melissa Wuerl, Amazon Leo’s director of launch systems, said in a statement released after the latest launch.
Amazon hasn’t yet announced pricing for satellite broadband service. The first-generation constellation, consisting of 3,232 satellites, is due to reach full deployment in mid-2029 — and Amazon has received regulatory approval for <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/fcc-amazon-leo-gen2-broadband-coverage-polar/">an even larger second-generation constellation</a>.
When Amazon Leo begins commercial service, it will still trail far behind SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network, which has more than 10,000 satellites in orbit and 12 million subscribers. The satellites for both Starlink and Amazon Leo are built in the Seattle area.
In the years ahead, SpaceX plans to beef up Starlink’s capabilities in the emerging market for direct-to-device satellite services. Amazon is aggressively targeting that same market through <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/amazon-and-apple-vs-starlink-globalstar-satellite-acquisition-comes-with-a-big-iphone-bonus/">its recent acquisition of Globalstar</a>. Under a separate agreement tied to the deal, Amazon Leo will start powering Apple’s iPhone satellite services starting in 2028.
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<title>Inside the race to power AI data centers with fusion energy — and the surprise detours along the way</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/inside-the-race-to-power-ai-data-centers-with-fusion-energy-and-the-surprise-detours-along-the-way/</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2026 17:24:43 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Lisa Stiffler]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Startups]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Sustainability]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Fusion]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[fusion energy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Helion]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Helion Energy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Positive Charge]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Zap Energy]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=932406</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1260" height="840" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/693c71e3b47b19d6823786cd_diva-1260x840.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/693c71e3b47b19d6823786cd_diva-1260x840.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/693c71e3b47b19d6823786cd_diva-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/693c71e3b47b19d6823786cd_diva-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/693c71e3b47b19d6823786cd_diva.jpg 2000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px"> While some tech giants are looking to the stars for nearly limitless clean electricity, the actual path to commercial fusion energy involves an unexpected down-scaling, an expansion to traditional nuclear power, and a tight 2028 deadline. Go inside Seattle-area fusion startups Helion and Zap as they try to harness the reactions that power the sun. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/inside-the-race-to-power-ai-data-centers-with-fusion-energy-and-the-surprise-detours-along-the-way/">Read More</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="840" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/693c71e3b47b19d6823786cd_diva-1260x840.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-926092" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/693c71e3b47b19d6823786cd_diva-1260x840.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/693c71e3b47b19d6823786cd_diva-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/693c71e3b47b19d6823786cd_diva-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/693c71e3b47b19d6823786cd_diva.jpg 2000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Zap Energy’s fusion device creates a purplish glow from its hydrogen plasma. (Zap Photo)</figcaption></figure>
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AI data centers face mounting community backlash and local moratoriums, while surging power demands knock tech giants off course from their climate ambitions. Could fusion be the solution to both problems, and could two Seattle-area companies provide the fix?
Helion Energy is betting on it. The company signed an unprecedented agreement to sell fusion energy to Microsoft for a Central Washington data center. Armed with a $1.5 billion war chest, Helion is sprinting to reach its 2028 deadline to flip the switch on that power plant, which it hopes will be the world’s first to commercially produce electricity from fusion.
The soaring demand for clean energy is driving interest and investment, said David Kirtley, Helion’s CEO and co-founder. “It’s enabled us to ramp up our timelines and go faster than we had originally planned.”
<iframe loading="lazy" src="https://omny.fm/shows/positive-charge/fusion-energy-wishing-upon-a-star-in-a-jar/embed?media=audio&size=wide&style=cover" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; fullscreen" allowfullscreen width="100%" height="180" frameborder="0" title="Fusion energy: Wishing upon a star in a jar"></iframe>
Nearby, competitor Zap Energy has raised $330 million and secured Department of Energy backing. While ambitious, the startup is taking a more cautious approach. Zap recently announced it will jointly pursue fusion’s conventional cousin — nuclear fission — as a near-term revenue source and a hedge on its fusion bet.
“This isn’t a pivot,” said Benj Conway, Zap’s president and co-founder. “By integrating them into a single platform, we can move faster, reduce risk and build a more enduring company.”
Helion and Zap belong to a global cohort of entrepreneurs trying to harness the power of the sun. Their goal is to create a “star in a jar” here on Earth to produce nearly limitless clean energy. For decades, researchers have chased this milestone — and some believe the industry is finally getting close.
<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Inside Helion’s sprint to 2028</h4>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="709" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Tiny-Merge-3-1260x709.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-927333" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Tiny-Merge-3-1260x709.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Tiny-Merge-3-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Tiny-Merge-3-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Tiny-Merge-3-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Helion Energy is building Tiny Merge, a fusion device that is one-eighth the size of its seventh generation protype and will serve as a testbed for faster iterations of its designs. (Helion Photo)</figcaption></figure>
A visit to Helion starts with a gauntlet of security hurdles: getting past an outdoor guard in a booth, ID checks and stowing phones in locked cubbies. Inside its R&D space in Everett, Wash., Helion operates Polaris, a 60-foot-long, seventh-generation prototype that uses magnets to compress plasma, the super-hot state of matter required for fusion. Here is how it works:
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>The Collision: The machine creates magnetic fields at both ends that launch and squeeze tiny blobs of plasma containing light atoms toward the center, where they collide at 1 million miles per hour.</li>
<li>The Capture: As the ions fuse and release energy, the plasma expands against the magnetic field. This movement creates an electric current captured directly as electricity, similar to regenerative braking in electric vehicles.</li>
</ul>
The commercial device will ultimately run on isotopes of hydrogen and helium, and aims to reach temperatures of 200 million degrees Celsius — more than 10-times hotter than the center of the sun.
But significant technical hurdles remain. In July 2025, Helion broke ground on its 50-megawatt plant, Orion, in Malaga, Wash. The facility must be operational in two years to meet its contract with Microsoft.
Helion’s approach has been to build larger and larger prototypes as it advances its technology, but the company took a detour this spring to build a fusion device about one-eighth the size of Polaris.
“This is where we’re building the next smaller machine, Tiny Merge,” said Manav Singh, Helion’s director of electrical engineering, on a recent tour. “Step in, right here.”
Behind a massive Wizard of Oz-worthy curtain was the downsized, tubular fusion device. It bristled with metal protuberances that will connect it to power sources to send surges of electricity into the machine. 
Tiny Merge could be viewed as a worrisome sign of backtracking to resolve technical issues. However, the company maintains its strategy always left room for smaller devices to allow for faster testing and iterations.
“There’s a few much more deep investigations we want to do,” Singh said. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking.
<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Zap’s dual core bet</h4>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="841" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/20241213-FUSE-Q-107-1-1260x841.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-875827" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/20241213-FUSE-Q-107-1-1260x841.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/20241213-FUSE-Q-107-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/20241213-FUSE-Q-107-1-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/20241213-FUSE-Q-107-1-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/20241213-FUSE-Q-107-1-630x420.jpg 630w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Zap Energy’s FuZE-Q fusion device. (Zap Photo)</figcaption></figure>
A four-minute drive from Helion sits rival Zap Energy. The startup is building its technology on a physics phenomenon known as the Z-pinch, which uses a powerful electrical current to generate its own magnetic field to confine plasma.
Zap’s system operates through a distinct process:
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Plasma Generation: Hydrogen gas is injected into the device and blasted with energy, creating a 2-foot-long strand of plasma resembling a tame lightning bolt.</li>
<li>Heat Absorption: When the Z-pinch triggers fusion, released neutrons are captured by a surrounding liquid metal blanket (bismuth in testing, lithium for commercial use).</li>
<li>Power Generation: The neutrons carry intense heat, which is then converted into usable energy.</li>
</ul>
Zap is running three fusion devices that measure about 12 feet long, each focused on fine-tuning a specific challenge in its system. 
Despite hitting key milestones, concerns about the timeline for reaching commercially-ready fusion triggered Zap’s move to add fission to its plans, making it the first fusion company to do so.
Zap is now working to deploy a 10-megawatt fission microreactor based on legacy Toshiba designs, giving it a more certain path to an operational power plant than fusion currently offers. 
The company says the two strategies share technologies that could accelerate the development of both. A key technical overlap is the use of liquid metals; the fission device is cooled by liquid sodium, which behaves similarly to the liquid bismuth and lithium used in its fusion design.
“Fission gives us a path to deploy. Fusion gives us a path to transform,” Zap CEO Zabrina Johal, said in April. “Bringing them together is how we do both.”
<h4 class="wp-block-heading">A global clean energy race</h4>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="709" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/DSC01080-1260x709.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-883558" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/DSC01080-1260x709.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/DSC01080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/DSC01080-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/DSC01080-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/DSC01080-630x354.jpg 630w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Construction on Helion’s planned Orion power plant in Malaga, Wash. (Helion Photo) </figcaption></figure>
More than 50 companies globally are pursuing fusion power, including two additional Pacific Northwest ventures: Seattle-based Avalanche Energy and British Columbia’s General Fusion.
Among the heavily funded contenders is Massachusetts-based Commonwealth Fusion Systems. Armed with nearly $3 billion, the company plans to build a plant in Virginia, home to the nation’s largest data center hub. China remains another major wildcard, investing billions of undisclosed dollars into its own domestic fusion ventures.
As work continues, enthusiasm grows alongside persistent skepticism. Some experts doubt cost-competitive fusion can ever be achieved, while others believe commercial viability is still decades away — too late to solve the immediate energy needs of the AI boom.
Laura Berzak Hopkins, deputy chief research officer at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, remains cautiously optimistic about the sector’s trajectory.
“We’ve made incredible progress, and we are reaching ever closer, but there still remain these major scientific and technological hurdles,” Berzak Hopkins said. However, she added, “new capabilities and new knowledge really bring us to this exciting cusp.”
Whether Helion and its peers will prove the skeptics wrong remains to be seen, but the data center energy crisis ensures the world will be watching.
<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Sources and references</h4>
Podcast interviews:
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-kirtley-490b8230/">David Kirtley</a>, Helion Energy, CEO and co-founder</li>
<li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/manavsingh0/">Manav Singh</a>, Helion Energy, director of electrical engineering </li>
<li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/drmatthewthompson/">Matthew Thompson</a>, Zap Energy, senior vice president of fission technology and former vice president of systems engineering and pulsed power</li>
<li><a href="https://www.pppl.gov/people/laura-berzak-hopkins">Laura Berzak Hopkins</a>, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, associate laboratory director for Strategy and Partnerships, and deputy chief research officer</li>
</ul>
GeekWire’s related coverage:
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2025/helion-gives-behind-the-scenes-tour-of-secretive-60-foot-fusion-prototype-as-it-races-to-deployment/">Helion gives behind-the-scenes tour of secretive 60-foot fusion prototype as it races to deployment</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/helion-makes-big-bet-on-tiny-merge-fusion-testbed-to-meet-aggressive-microsoft-timeline/">Helion makes big bet on ‘Tiny Merge’ fusion testbed to meet aggressive Microsoft timeline</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2025/go-inside-zap-a-seattle-area-company-trying-to-build-a-star-in-a-jar-to-unlock-abundant-clean-energy/">Inside Zap: Fusion pioneer tries to build ‘a star in a jar’ to unlock abundant clean energy</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/zap-energys-nuclear-double-play-fusion-startup-is-the-first-to-add-traditional-atomic-power-to-its-lineup/">Zap Energy’s nuclear double play: Fusion startup adds traditional fission to its lineup, in industry first</a></li>
</ul>
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<title>Steamboats to software: Microsoft’s Brad Smith mines America’s founding for tech insights</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/steamboats-to-software-microsofts-brad-smith-mines-americas-founding-for-tech-insights/</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2026 16:03:26 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Todd Bishop]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[America 250]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[artificial intelligence]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Brad Smith]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Carol Ann Browne]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Copyright]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Intellectual Property]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[New York Times]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[OpenAI]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Privacy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Trifilm]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936479</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="981" height="654" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Brad-Smith-1.png" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Brad-Smith-1.png 981w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Brad-Smith-1-768x512.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 981px) 100vw, 981px"> Microsoft is releasing a six-part video series, hosted by President Brad Smith, that uses moments in American history — beginning with patents in Philadelphia and privacy in Boston — to reflect on technology and innovation questions facing the country as it turns 250. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/steamboats-to-software-microsofts-brad-smith-mines-americas-founding-for-tech-insights/">Read More</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="981" height="654" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Brad-Smith-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-936484" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Brad-Smith-1.png 981w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Brad-Smith-1-768x512.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 981px) 100vw, 981px" /></figure>
As the country marks its 250th birthday this week, Microsoft is rolling out an unlikely summer project: a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfUH9ENJCko">six-part series of short videos</a>, hosted by Microsoft President and Vice Chair Brad Smith, that look to American history for lessons relevant to technology and innovation today.
The premise is that every technology debate of the moment — over such issues as patents, privacy, and who gets to shape AI — has a precedent somewhere in the country’s past, and that we’d all benefit from remembering how we got here in the first place.
“We felt that the 250th anniversary of the country deserved some added reflection about the lessons of history, the role of technology, and the questions that we’re facing as a country,” explained Smith, a well-known <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2019/former-microsoft-security-experts-take-brad-smiths-tools-weapons-book/">history buff</a>, in an interview with GeekWire this week.
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="America's recipe for innovation is enshrined in the Constitution" width="800" height="450" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SfUH9ENJCko?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>
In the first episode, for example, he stands in Philadelphia’s Independence Square to explain how a steamboat demonstration on the Delaware River in 1787 helped inspire the Constitutional Convention to give Congress the power to grant patents. This was the basis for the intellectual property framework that Smith describes as a bedrock of American innovation.
Savvy viewers may see some irony in a company extolling the virtues of IP protections even as Microsoft and OpenAI defend themselves against a <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2025/microsoft-tries-to-keep-its-consumer-copilot-out-of-new-york-times-ai-copyright-case/">New York Times copyright suit</a> over the material used to train their AI models.
Asked about that, Smith made it clear he doesn’t see a contradiction.
“Every generation of technology has required a new round of legal thinking, legislation and oftentimes lawsuits, so that courts can sustain the balance that has always been needed between new innovation and the protection of things created already,” he said.
He also noted that Microsoft is often the party going to court to protect customers, pointing as one example to the company’s <a href="https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2026/06/28/protecting-privacy-as-a-fundamental-right-while-supporting-transatlantic-data-flows/">move this week to intervene</a> before Europe’s top court in defense of the European Union and U.S. data-protection framework.
The six-part series was overseen by Smith’s longtime chief of staff, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/carol-ann-browne-4491147/">Carol Ann Browne</a>, a Microsoft vice president; and produced by Kirkland, Wash.-based <a href="https://www.trifilm.com/">Trifilm</a>. The episodes, around 3 or 4 minutes each, will roll out in the coming weeks. Smith said they recorded during existing travel plans, working the shoots into stops on trips he was already taking.
The series travels next to a Boston courtroom for the birth of privacy rights, Henry Ford’s Detroit assembly line for the spread of new technology, Cincinnati for Tocqueville’s take on nonprofits, Great Falls, Md., for George Washington’s early infrastructure ambitions, and the Lewis and Clark expedition in Montana for the value of uniting competing viewpoints.
“The 250th anniversary of the country is quite rightly an occasion to honor the past, celebrate the past,” Smith said, explaining the motivation for the series. “But let’s make sure we get something out of the past that helps us be more successful in the future.”
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<title>Zoom snaps up Seattle startup Common Room to bolster AI-powered sales tools</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/zoom-snaps-up-seattle-startup-common-room-to-bolster-ai-powered-sales-tools/</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2026 15:28:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Kurt Schlosser]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Startups]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[common room]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[mergers and acquisitions]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Zoom]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936436</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1260" height="889" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/commonroom1-1260x889.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/commonroom1-1260x889.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/commonroom1-768x542.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/commonroom1-1536x1083.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/commonroom1-2048x1445.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px"> Common Room emerged from stealth in 2021 with $52 million in funding and was the 2022 GeekWire Awards Startup of the Year. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/zoom-snaps-up-seattle-startup-common-room-to-bolster-ai-powered-sales-tools/">Read More</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="889" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/commonroom1-1260x889.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-936461" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/commonroom1-1260x889.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/commonroom1-768x542.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/commonroom1-1536x1083.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/commonroom1-2048x1445.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Common Room’s co-founders, from left: Tom Kleinpeter; Viraj Mody; Francis Luu; and Linda Lian. (Common Room Photo)</figcaption></figure>
<a href="https://www.commonroom.io/">Common Room</a>, the fast-rising Seattle startup that built an AI-powered platform to help sales and marketing teams track buying signals across their customers, is being acquired by <a href="https://www.zoom.com/">Zoom</a>.
Terms of the deal were not revealed in a <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/07/02/3321315/0/en/zoom-to-acquire-common-room-bringing-buyer-intelligence-to-its-ai-revenue-platform.html">news release</a> on Thursday.
“When we founded Common Room in 2020, we set out with a simple vision: to transform how organizations connect with people,” Common Room co-founder and CEO <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindamlian/">Linda Lian</a> wrote in a <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7478435172795961344/">LinkedIn post</a>. “Over the past six years, we’ve had the privilege of building alongside our customers through one of the biggest shifts in enterprise software, the rise of AI.”
Zoom said the acquisition will extend its Zoom Revenue Accelerator platform “upstream,” pairing Common Room’s buyer intelligence with the conversation data Zoom already captures from sales calls — giving reps insight into which accounts are in-market and why to reach out before a call even happens.
“Revenue teams will now have a single, unified platform that will help them reach the right person at the right moment with the right message at every stage of a deal, cutting busywork,” Abhisht Arora, Zoom’s chief strategy officer, said in a <a href="https://www.zoom.com/en/blog/zoom-to-acquire-common-room/">blog post</a>.  
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="840" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/awardscommon.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-936463" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/awardscommon.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/awardscommon-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Viraj Mody, left, and Linda Lian, co-founders of Common Room, accept the Startup of the Year award at the 2022 GeekWire Awards in Seattle. (GeekWire File Photo / Kevin Lisota)</figcaption></figure>
Common Room <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2021/seattle-startup-common-room-emerges-stealth-mode-52m-funding/">emerged from stealth</a> in 2021 with $52 million in funding from investors including Index Ventures, Madrona Venture Group, Next Play Ventures, Greylock, 01 Advisors and a bevy of angel investors — Etsy CEO Josh Silverman; former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo; and former Axiom CEO Elena Donio.
Early customers included Notion and Pulumi, and the roster has grown to include <a href="https://www.commonroom.io/customers/">enterprises large and small</a>.
Lian, a former associate at Madrona Venture Group and senior product marketing manager at Amazon Web Services, co-founded the company alongside three other Seattle tech vets: CTO <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/virajm/">Viraj Mody</a>, a former engineering director at Dropbox and technical advisor to the CEO at Convoy; chief architect <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomkleinpeter/">Tom Kleinpeter</a>, previously a principal engineer at Dropbox; and design chief <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/francisluu/">Francis Luu</a>, who spent 10 years at Facebook.
Common Room was the <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2022/2022-geekwire-awards-revealed-community-celebrates-big-winners-in-pacific-nw-tech/">2022 GeekWire Awards</a> Startup of the Year and is No. 80 on the <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/geekwire-200/">GeekWire 200</a>, our ranked index of Pacific Northwest startups.
Zoom, the San Jose, Calif.-based company best known for its video conferencing platform, has expanded in recent years into AI-powered tools for sales, customer service and workplace collaboration. The publicly traded company reported nearly $4.9 billion in revenue over the past 12 months and has a market capitalization of roughly $25 billion.
“Joining Zoom connects our graph to the conversations sellers have every day where deals are actually won and to the AI that can act on it,” Lian said in a statement. “With Zoom’s scale, resources, and global reach, we’ll be able to accelerate our roadmap while continuing to serve and innovate for our customers.”
Arjun Bhatia, an equity analyst with William Blair, said in a <a href="https://williamblair.bluematrix.com/links2/pdf/01806021-bf19-4310-9db0-b8d2871eefb0">report</a> Thursday that the “transaction aligns with Zoom’s M&A strategy and priority of embedding AI more deeply into workflows and advancing its vision of becoming a broader system of action for enterprises.”
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<title>KredosAI raises $7M, led by BMW’s venture arm, to use AI to help companies collect late payments</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/kredosai-raises-7m-led-by-bmws-venture-arm-using-ai-to-help-companies-collect-late-payments/</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2026 13:23:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Todd Bishop]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Startups]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[artificial intelligence]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[auto lending]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Balaji Sridharan]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Baris Guzel]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[BMW i Ventures]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Dave Thoms]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[fico]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[fintech]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Funding]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[KredosAI]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Motley Fool Ventures]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Okapi Venture Capital]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[seattle startups]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[StartFast Ventures]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Symend]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[T-Mobile]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Venture capital]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936345</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1260" height="647" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Dave-Balaji-Pic-1260x647.jpeg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Dave-Balaji-Pic-1260x647.jpeg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Dave-Balaji-Pic-768x395.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Dave-Balaji-Pic-1536x789.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Dave-Balaji-Pic-2048x1052.jpeg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px"> KredosAI, an Issaquah startup founded by former T-Mobile executives, raised $7 million led by BMW i Ventures for its AI platform that helps companies collect overdue payments while keeping customers. The round brings its total funding to a little over $10 million. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/kredosai-raises-7m-led-by-bmws-venture-arm-using-ai-to-help-companies-collect-late-payments/">Read More</a>]]></description>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="647" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Dave-Balaji-Pic-1260x647.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-936346" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Dave-Balaji-Pic-1260x647.jpeg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Dave-Balaji-Pic-768x395.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Dave-Balaji-Pic-1536x789.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Dave-Balaji-Pic-2048x1052.jpeg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">KredosAI co-founders Balaji Sridharan, left, and Dave Thoms, who previously worked together at T-Mobile. (KredosAI Photo)</figcaption></figure>
<a href="https://www.kredosai.com/">KredosAI</a>, a Seattle-area startup that uses AI and behavioral science to help companies chase down late consumer payments, raised $7 million in a new funding round led by BMW i Ventures, the independent venture capital arm of automaker BMW Group.
The company, founded in 2021 by former T-Mobile executives <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/balajisridharaniot/">Balaji Sridharan</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-thoms-258313/">Dave Thoms</a>, is based in Issaquah, Wash. It focuses on the period after a bill is overdue but before the account gets sent to collections or written off. Its technology is able to tailor the wording, timing and channel of each overdue message based on a customer’s account history.
The premise, Sridharan said, is that most people aren’t being nefarious in their tardiness but are dealing with something more mundane, such as a forgotten due date, a short-term cash crunch, or possibly some kind of frustration with the service. 
“The majority of consumers who go late on payment actually want to pay,” he said. “There’s a very small subset of people that are fraudsters, but most of them want to pay.”
New investors Motley Fool Ventures and Walter Ventures joined existing backers Okapi Venture Capital, StartFast Ventures, SaaS Ventures and Stout Street Capital in the Series A round. Total funding to date for the company is a little over $10 million.
The BMW connection came through an introduction from an existing investor, Sridharan said. Having an automaker’s venture arm behind it matters, he added, as KredosAI moves deeper into auto lending.
Subprime auto-loan delinquencies have climbed to their highest levels since the 1990s. Lenders, Sridharan said, weigh the problem much the way telecoms do — balancing the cost of recovering a payment against the value of keeping the customer. That overlap, along with BMW’s footprint in the car business, made its venture arm a logical fit. 
KredosAI works with large enterprises, including some in the Fortune 50, though it doesn’t name most of them publicly. It got its start in telecom, which speaks to its roots: Sridharan and Thoms met at Bellevue-based T-Mobile. Sridharan spent eight years there, first running corporate strategy and later the carrier’s IoT unit, following an earlier stint at McKinsey. Thoms has spent much of his career in credit and collections at telecom and financial-services firms. 
Watching T-Mobile wrestle with millions of past-due accounts each month, they came to think there was a better way to handle the conversation with a customer who’d fallen behind. 
To decide what to send, the software weighs a customer’s account characteristics (how often they’ve been late before, their average balance, how long they’ve been a customer) while steering clear of off-limits signals like age. It reaches people through text, email and most recently RCS, along with AI voice agents the company began adding over the past year. 
The company says the approach delivers notable improvement: across its customers, it reports cutting write-offs by 11.5% and lifting customer lifetime value by 13.6% compared with conventional collections. It says its platform has handled more than 200 million customer interactions over the past two years, with revenue growing more than sixfold in that span. 
KredosAI is also a partner of FICO — the analytics firm best known for the FICO credit score — and integrates its technology into the FICO Platform, the software banks and other large companies use for credit decisions and collections.
The company competes with a range of collections-software players, including larger, more established <a href="https://www.symend.com/">Symend</a>, a Calgary-based company that also uses behavioral science to interact with late-paying customers. The field also includes online debt collectors and companies selling older collections software. 
The company has about 25 employees, roughly eight of them in the Seattle area. 
Sridharan said the funding will go toward sales and marketing, further product development around agentic AI and voice agents, and eventually international expansion. He expects to roughly double headcount over the next year, to 50 people or more. 
The additional funding, he said, “gives us a bit of fuel to go to market a little more aggressively than we have in the past.”
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<title>Microsoft unveils $2.5B ‘Frontier Company’ to embed AI engineers inside customers</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-announces-2-5b-frontier-company-to-embed-ai-engineers-inside-customers/</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2026 13:06:30 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Todd Bishop]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[accenture]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Amazon Web Services]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Anthropic]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[artificial intelligence]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Copilot]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[enterprise AI]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[EY]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[forward-deployed engineering]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Judson Althoff]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[layoffs]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Microsoft Frontier Company]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[OpenAI]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[palantir]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Rodrigo Kede Lima]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Satya Nadella]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936423</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1260" height="840" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/20250404_Microsoft_117-1260x840.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/20250404_Microsoft_117-1260x840.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/20250404_Microsoft_117-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/20250404_Microsoft_117-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/20250404_Microsoft_117-630x420.jpg 630w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/20250404_Microsoft_117.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px"> "Microsoft Frontier Company" is a $2.5 billion initiative that will embed engineers inside customer organizations to build and run their AI systems. The move follows similar efforts by Amazon, OpenAI and Anthropic, and expands work Microsoft was already doing through its consulting arm and partners. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-announces-2-5b-frontier-company-to-embed-ai-engineers-inside-customers/">Read More</a>]]></description>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="840" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/satya-1-1260x840.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-866098" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/satya-1-1260x840.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/satya-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/satya-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/satya-1-630x420.jpg 630w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/satya-1.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Satya Nadella says the industry shouldn’t “cede value to a few models that eat everything they see.” (GeekWire File Photo / Kevin Lisota)</figcaption></figure>
Microsoft is launching a new AI “company.” It won’t be a separate legal entity, and most of its 6,000 people already work at Microsoft. But the $2.5 billion behind it is real, and the stakes are big, given how many of its AI partners and rivals are racing to do basically the same thing. 
The tech giant on Thursday <a href="https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2026/07/02/microsoft-frontier-company-ai-engineering-that-amplifies-and-protects-your-intelligence/">announced</a> “The Microsoft Frontier Company,” which will embed engineers inside customers to build and run AI systems. It will be led by <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodrigo-kede-lima-51941129/">Rodrigo Kede Lima</a>, a longtime Microsoft sales and enterprise leader, most recently president of Microsoft Asia.
This practice is known in the industry as forward-deployed engineering, in which a company sends its own technical employees to work inside a customer’s operations to design, build, deploy and operate AI systems on-site rather than selling a tool and walking away. 
The model was <a href="https://fde.academy/blog/how-palantir-invented-the-forward-deployed-engineer-model">pioneered</a> two decades ago by Palantir, but in recent months the approach has become the hot new thing in enterprise AI. Amazon <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/30/aws-amazon-ai-forward-deployed-engineers.html">committed</a> $1 billion to its own forward-deployed engineering initiative just two days ago. (Some inside Microsoft suspect that its rival may have caught wind of what it was planning and moved to announce first.)
<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/04/anthropic-goldman-blackstone-ai-venture.html">Anthropic</a> and <a href="https://openai.com/index/openai-launches-the-deployment-company/">OpenAI</a> launched rival ventures in May to put engineers inside enterprise customers. Unlike Microsoft’s initiative, the <a href="https://deploy.co/">OpenAI Deployment Company</a>, as the ChatGPT maker’s venture is known, is an actual standalone entity — majority-owned by OpenAI but backed by more than $4 billion from a partnership led by the private-equity firm TPG.
Similarly, Anthropic <a href="https://www.anthropic.com/news/enterprise-ai-services-company">teamed</a> with Goldman Sachs, Blackstone and Hellman & Friedman on a $1.5 billion venture — not yet named — to embed engineers inside mid-sized companies, starting with the investment firms’ own portfolio businesses.
Microsoft is attempting to one-up them all. 
“This goes beyond what has been labeled as Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) and will be the largest, most capable, outcome-driven engineering organization in the industry,” wrote Judson Althoff, CEO of Microsoft’s commercial business, in <a href="https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2026/07/02/microsoft-frontier-company-ai-engineering-that-amplifies-and-protects-your-intelligence/">a post</a> announcing the new initiative Thursday morning.
Responding to questions from GeekWire, a Microsoft spokesperson called the new initiative “a purpose-built company with its own leadership and financial accountability” but stopped short of calling it a separate legal entity or standalone company. 
The spokesperson said the organization “brings together more than 6,000 industry, engineering and AI professionals, drawn primarily from Microsoft’s existing engineering and forward-deployed teams,” noting that it will “grow through a combination of internal talent and external hiring across engineering, AI, and industry roles.”
Separately, some consulting roles are among those expected to be impacted by <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-set-to-cut-thousands-of-jobs-next-week-spanning-xbox-sales-and-consulting/">the round of layoffs</a> anticipated next week.
Microsoft wouldn’t say whether the $2.5 billion is new spending or repurposed from existing budgets, or over what period it’s being spent. The company also hasn’t yet spelled out what the new organization means for the future of its existing consulting and services units.
Across the industry, this is happening now because the payoff from AI has <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/quantumblack/our-insights/the-state-of-ai">proven harder to capture</a> than many companies expected. Businesses across the economy have adopted tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot, only to find that impressive demos don’t automatically translate into results. The technology is powerful, but deploying it can be difficult inside a real company, with its own data, rules and entrenched ways of working.
So the AI providers have started sending their own engineers to work inside those companies, figuring out where the AI can actually help, then building it into their operations.
“Having the model alone doesn’t change your workflows or how you operate,” said Marc Nachmann, Goldman Sachs’ global head of asset and wealth management, in <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/04/anthropic-goldman-blackstone-ai-venture.html">an interview with CNBC</a> about the Anthropic partnership. “You need people who can combine the technology with what’s actually happening in the business and implement those changes.” 
The big AI providers have multiple reasons to do this. Each of them wants to get more businesses using its AI platform at higher volumes. All of them are looking to drive long-term demand for the AI capacity they’re collectively spending hundreds of billions of dollars to build.
Another big reason: AI models are <a href="https://skywork.ai/skypage/en/Analysis-of-the-Evolution-Path-of-%22Inference-Cost%22-of-Large-Models-in-2025-The-API-Price-War-Erupts/1948243097032671232">becoming commodities</a>, getting cheaper and more similar by the month. The big money for the likes of Microsoft is in <a href="https://sequoiacap.com/article/services-the-new-software/">selling the services</a> needed to make AI pay off inside a company, which is a far bigger market than just selling the models themselves.
Microsoft is pitching privacy and trust as a selling point. Its promise is that a customer’s data and hard-won knowledge stay the customer’s alone. Microsoft says it won’t feed them into training its AI models in ways that would hand the same advantages to the customer’s rivals. 
It’s also promising choice: customers can run whichever AI model fits the job, from OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, or open-source providers, not locked into using one.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has argued that a company should be able to exchange one AI model for another without losing all the institutional knowledge it has built up. 
That’s his test, as he put it, for whether a business still controls its own future.
“The last thing any of us want is a world where every company across every sector is ceding value to a few models that eat everything they see,” Nadella wrote in <a href="https://x.com/satyanadella/article/2066182223213293753?lang=en">a June 14 essay</a>. “If all the value is accrued by only a few models, the political economy will simply not tolerate it. There is no societal permission for an AI future that hollows out entire industries.”
Whether that vision of swappable AI models becomes a reality remains to be seen. There’s actually a risk for customers that the opposite will happen in the forward deployed engineering approach. Even if they can theoretically swap in a competitor’s AI model, working with Microsoft’s engineers means their systems naturally end up running on Microsoft’s cloud platform and related technologies, making it very difficult to jump ship.
It’s also not clear how new all of this really is for the company. Microsoft already runs a large in-house delivery arm — <a href="https://partner.microsoft.com/en-lb/solutions/industry-solutions">Industry Solutions Delivery</a>, the group that absorbed what used to be called Microsoft Consulting Services — with thousands of consultants and engineers building and deploying technology inside customer organizations. 
Microsoft also has programs like <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/fasttrack/microsoft-365">FastTrack</a> to help customers roll out its software, and over the past year it has been rolling out “forward-deployed engineering” teams with partners, including <a href="https://newsroom.accenture.com/news/2026/accenture-launches-microsoft-forward-deployed-engineering-practice-to-help-organizations-scale-ai-across-the-enterprise">a dedicated practice with Accenture</a> and a $1 billion, five-year <a href="https://news.microsoft.com/source/2026/05/21/ey-and-microsoft-announce-global-initiative-to-help-clients-scale-ai-enterprisewide-value-creation-and-move-beyond-experimentation/">alliance with EY</a>.
So ultimately the Microsoft Frontier Company is less a new company than a new push behind work the actual company was already doing, albeit bigger and better-branded than before.
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<title>K2 Space sets up an engineering office in the Seattle area to support big plans for big satellites</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/k2-space-satellite-engineering-office-seattle-area/</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2026 03:09:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Alan Boyle]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Space]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[engineering]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Engineering Centers]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[K2 Space]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Satellite]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Satellites]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936369</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1200" height="743" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/260701-k2space.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="Engineers work on satellite at K2 Space factory" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/260701-k2space.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/260701-k2space-768x476.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px"> California-based company builds 'mega-class,' high-power satellites for government and commercial customers. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/k2-space-satellite-engineering-office-seattle-area/">Read More</a>]]></description>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1200" height="743" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/260701-k2space.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-936372" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/260701-k2space.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/260701-k2space-768x476.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Engineers prepare a high-power satellite for testing at K2 Space’s manufacturing facility in Torrance, Calif. (K2 Space via PRNewswire)</figcaption></figure>
California-based <a href="https://www.k2space.com/">K2 Space</a> is establishing a satellite engineering hub in the Seattle area, adding to a thriving regional ecosystem of satellite ventures.
The Pacific Northwest operation will support the company’s drive to build large, high-power satellites for government and commercial customers. The satellites are manufactured at K2’s factory in Torrance, Calif. The company also maintains a policy and strategy office in Washington, D.C.
Since its founding in 2022, K2 Space has raised more than $500 million in capital and registered more than $1 billion in contracts. While many satellite companies focus on miniaturization, K2 Space is going big on satellite mass and power. K2 had its first “mega-class” satellite, dubbed Gravitas, <a href="https://spaceflightnow.com/2026/03/30/live-coverage-spacex-to-launch-119-payloads-on-smallsat-rideshare-mission-from-california/">launched into orbit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in March</a>. The two-ton, 20-kilowatt satellite carried a dozen undisclosed payload modules for multiple customers, including the Department of Defense.
That “go-big” approach is gaining traction: Last month, for example, the U.S. Space Force <a href="https://spacenews.com/k2-space-rocket-lab-win-key-supplier-roles-in-space-force-satcom-program/">confirmed that K2 Space would be one of the suppliers for its next-generation military communications network</a>. To serve the anticipated market, K2 Space says it plans to produce hundreds of satellites annually by 2030.
“As we carefully evaluated our expansion plans to align with our next phase of growth, the Seattle area was a natural fit, given its decisive reputation as an aerospace and engineering hub,” K2 Space CEO and co-founder Karan Kunjur <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/k2-space-opens-engineering-office-in-seattle-region-302816238.html">said in a news release</a>. “From flight software and autonomy to the low-level systems that drive our satellites’ most demanding workloads, our Seattle team will contribute to satellites operating at the edge of what’s possible.”
K2 Space currently has more than 300 employees, and several employees are already working in the Seattle area on a remote basis. Supporting those workers’ needs was one of the factors behind the decision to establish a Seattle-area office. A representative of K2 Space told GeekWire via email that the company was targeting the Bellevue area for the office, but was still finalizing a specific location.
Seattle already has arguably earned its place as America’s satellite city. More than half of <a href="https://orbitalradar.com/how-many-satellites-in-orbit">the world’s active satellites</a> were built in the region, primarily driven by SpaceX’s <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/spacex-is-churning-out-70-starlink-satellites-a-week-in-redmond-and-other-tidbits-from-its-ipo-filing/">Starlink manufacturing facility in Redmond</a>. Satellites for the rival Amazon Leo constellation (formerly known as Project Kuiper) are produced nearby at a <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2024/vips-amazon-project-kuiper-satellite-factory-kirkland/">factory in Kirkland</a>.
The region’s other satellite manufacturers include <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/tag/starcloud/">Starcloud</a> in Redmond, <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/tag/xplore/">Xplore</a> in Bellevue and <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/tag/portal-space-systems/">Portal Space Systems</a> in Bothell. South of Seattle, Tukwila serves as the home base for satellite production facilities operated by <a href="https://blacksky.com/">BlackSky</a> (formerly <a href="https://www.executivebiz.com/articles/blacksky-gen-3-satellite-leostella">LeoStella</a>) and <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/tag/starfish-space/">Starfish Space</a>.
California-based <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/cowboy-space-raises-275m-as-it-seeks-40-60-employees-for-new-satellite-and-rocket-hub-in-seattle/">Cowboy Space</a>, a data center satellite company formerly known as Aetherflux, has an engineering office in the Seattle area. Another California company focusing on satellite-based computing, <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2025/new-space-startup-with-several-seattle-ties-lands-3-5m-to-develop-orbital-data-centers/">Sophia Space</a>, has a Seattle presence as well.
Jeff Bezos’ <a href="https://www.blueorigin.com/">Blue Origin</a> space venture, which is headquartered in Kent, Wash., is gearing up for satellite projects including <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/blue-origin-terawave-satellite-network/">Terawave</a> and a proposed data-center constellation called <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/blue-origin-data-center-space-race-project-sunrise/">Project Sunrise</a>. Blue Origin’s <a href="https://www.blueorigin.com/careers/search?search=satellite">job listings</a> suggest that facilities in the Seattle area, Los Angeles and Denver will play roles in those operations.
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<title>No discs, more problems: What Sony’s all-digital PlayStation means for gamers and the industry</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/no-discs-more-problems-what-sonys-all-digital-playstation-means-for-gamers-and-the-industry/</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2026 00:25:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Thomas Wilde]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Games]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Circana]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Digital games]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[game preservation]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Mat Piscatella]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Microsoft]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[physical media]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Playstation]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[playstation 5]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[PlayStation 6]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Sid Shuman]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Sony]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Sony Interactive Entertainment]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[video game industry]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Xbox]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936339</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1260" height="840" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/sony-ps5-1260x840.png" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/sony-ps5-1260x840.png 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/sony-ps5-768x512.png 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/sony-ps5.png 1536w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px"> Sony will phase out physical discs for PlayStation games starting in January 2028, making all new titles download-only. The move ends trade-ins and lending, raises the cost of entry to the console market, and turns purchased games into licenses that can be revoked. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/no-discs-more-problems-what-sonys-all-digital-playstation-means-for-gamers-and-the-industry/">Read More</a>]]></description>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1536" height="1024" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/sony-ps5.png" alt="" class="wp-image-936363" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/sony-ps5.png 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/sony-ps5-1260x840.png 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/sony-ps5-768x512.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1536px) 100vw, 1536px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Sony’s PlayStation 5. (Sony press image)</figcaption></figure>
Sony announced on Wednesday morning that it plans to phase out physical media for future PlayStation games, which is a massive market disruption for an already reeling games industry. It ends trade-ins and lending, raises the overall price of entry for the PlayStation ecosystem, and turns your shelf full of games into licenses that can potentially disappear.
The news came via a <a href="https://blog.playstation.com/2026/07/01/physical-disc-production-ending-in-january-2028-for-new-games-releasing-on-playstation-consoles/">post on the official PlayStation blog</a> by senior communications director Sid Shuman. As of January 2028, all games for PlayStation platforms will only be available in digital formats, such as direct downloads.
“This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs,” Shuman writes. “This transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today.”
Analysts have expected an announcement like this for some time. As per <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/matpiscatella.bsky.social/post/3mp4ddpzqns2o">Circana senior director Mat Piscatella</a>, physical media sales in gaming have been on a steady downward turn since their peak in 2009, hitting an all-time low in 2025. In fact, several companies have sprung up since then that treat physical games as an exclusive collectible, such as Limited Run, Lost in Cult, and <a href="https://videogamesnewyork.com/">Videogames New York</a>.
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-bluesky-social wp-block-embed-bluesky-social"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="bluesky-embed" data-bluesky-uri="at://did:plc:bhqrrxt7yyfpwguioa7rwa7x/app.bsky.feed.post/3mp4ddpzqns2o" data-bluesky-cid="bafyreidj34ae7q4lqbn6jxbepvqvsikuh6ta47hgbqw5vu3ijp66i4z5o4">US new physical video game software spending. 12 months ending May 2007-2026:— <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:bhqrrxt7yyfpwguioa7rwa7x?ref_src=embed">Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social)</a> <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:bhqrrxt7yyfpwguioa7rwa7x/post/3mp4ddpzqns2o?ref_src=embed">2026-06-25T11:30:56.827Z</a></blockquote><script async src="https://embed.bsky.app/static/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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It’s not hard to see why Sony would make this move. We’re approaching the point that would usually mark the end of the PlayStation 5’s life cycle. Were it not for the ongoing <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/micron-ceo-expects-ram-shortage-to-last-through-2027-start-to-ease-in-2028" id="https://www.ign.com/articles/micron-ceo-expects-ram-shortage-to-last-through-2027-start-to-ease-in-2028">component shortage</a>, we’d likely have heard more about the PlayStation 6 by now. An all-digital PS6 theoretically uses fewer parts and the games are cheaper to publish, which lowers the per-unit cost for Sony as it develops the new hardware.
However, Sony’s decision to sunset physical media in a year-and-a-half is faster than most analysts’ craziest predictions, most of whom figured it’d take at least another decade to fully phase discs out. Even at its lowest point, per Circana’s math, physical media in video games represents $1.9 billion in consumer sales. That’s not insignificant.
Sony’s competitors have yet to react in any significant way. Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox, currently known under the codename Project Helix, is rumored to be an all-digital system, and Microsoft has famously been trying to get out of the physical media business since at least 2013. 
That year, Microsoft announced at E3 that the Xbox One would have significant measures in place to keep players from reselling their physical games, which led to widespread outcry online. The next day, Sony’s president went onstage and proclaimed the PS4 would do none of that — which gave it a big head of steam going into a console generation Sony went on to win. 
Thirteen years later, Sony is making Microsoft’s old bet.
The irony is that Sony itself underscored one of the biggest issues with ditching physical media last Sunday. <a href="https://kotaku.com/playstation-store-movies-digital-studio-canal-terminator-2000711013">On June 26</a>, Sony sent a number of users in the United Kingdom an email to notify them that due to the end of a license agreement, <a href="https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/legal/psvideocontent/">551 shows and movies</a> that were previously available on the PlayStation Network would be removed from the service. Consumers who’d previously thought they’d made a purchase were suddenly informed that it had actually been a multi-year rental.
That’s the central problem of the streaming era for end users: you only have anything in your digital library for as long as the library’s owner decides you do. An all-digital future means you own nothing. At best, you have limited viewership rights that can be revoked at short notice.
Most worryingly, however, the shift to an all-digital future effectively raises the cost of entry to the console market, at a point when the price of gaming is <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/surprise-valves-new-steam-machine-is-here-but-the-price-is-the-real-shocker/">already rising</a>. If there are no physical discs for the PlayStation 6, then you can’t swap discs with a buddy or defray a purchase by trading an old game back to a store.
This is a relatively sudden disruption to the console market, and through it, to the games industry as a whole. It’s likely to have a series of knock-on effects for the next few years, and sets an early tone for the upcoming 10th generation of console hardware. 
While it’s still possible that consumer outcry could get Sony to reverse course here, or offer some intermediary solution like USB disc drives, the end of physical gaming media has analysts and players alike asking a lot of tough questions about costs, preservation, and consumer convenience. The games industry is changing faster than expected in 2026, and is likely to be nearly unrecognizable by this time next year.
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<title>Private AI: Venice.ai, led by crypto vet Erik Voorhees and Seattle’s Jesse Proudman, raises $65M</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/private-ai-venice-ai-led-by-crypto-vet-erik-voorhees-and-seattles-jesse-proudman-raises-65m/</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Jul 2026 20:09:40 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Todd Bishop]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Startups]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[AI privacy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[artificial intelligence]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Betterment]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Coinbase Ventures]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[cryptocurrency]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Dragonfly]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Erik Voorhees]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Founder's Co-op]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Jesse Proudman]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[North Island Ventures]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[seattle startups]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Series A]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[ShapeShift]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Startup funding]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Venice.ai]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Washington millionaires tax]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936299</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1260" height="838" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Venice-Team-1260x838.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Venice-Team-1260x838.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Venice-Team-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Venice-Team-1536x1021.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Venice-Team-2048x1362.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px"> Venice.ai, a privacy-focused AI startup led by CEO Erik Voorhees and Seattle-based president and CTO Jesse Proudman, has raised $65 million in its first outside funding at a $1 billion valuation. The company offers a private alternative to mainstream AI services, saying it doesn't store users' prompts or responses. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/private-ai-venice-ai-led-by-crypto-vet-erik-voorhees-and-seattles-jesse-proudman-raises-65m/">Read More</a>]]></description>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="5203" height="3459" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Venice-Team.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-936319" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Venice-Team.jpg 5203w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Venice-Team-1260x838.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Venice-Team-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Venice-Team-1536x1021.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Venice-Team-2048x1362.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 5203px) 100vw, 5203px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The Venice.ai leadership team, from left: Austin Virts, VP of marketing; Jesse Proudman, president and CTO; Erik Voorhees, CEO; Jonathan Shapiro, head of strategy; Tim Shakarian, head of engineering; and Johanna Tseng, VP of business operations. (Venice Photo)</figcaption></figure>
<a href="http://venice.ai">Venice.ai</a>, a privacy-focused AI startup with strong Seattle ties, has raised $65 million in its first outside funding, valuing the 2-year-old company at $1 billion. 
The company positions itself as a private and unrestricted alternative to mainstream AI services, offering access to a range of open-source and commercial AI models. Venice says it doesn’t log or store users’ prompts and responses on its servers, keeping conversations on people’s own devices. It also strips out many of the content filters built into competing tools. 
The Series A round, announced Wednesday morning, was led by Dragonfly, a crypto-focused investment firm, with participation from North Island Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Archetype, Morgan Creek, Liquid2 Ventures and Seattle-based Founders’ Co-op. 
The company was founded in 2024 by crypto entrepreneur <a href="https://x.com/ErikVoorhees">Erik Voorhees</a>, its CEO. Voorhees founded the crypto exchange ShapeShift and has long argued against heavy government regulation of cryptocurrency.
Seattle tech veteran and serial entrepreneur Jesse Proudman is Venice’s president, CTO and co-founder. The two met as classmates at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma.
“We want Venice to be thought of in the consumer landscape on the same terms as a ChatGPT or an Anthropic,” Proudman said in an interview. “We want people to open their phones and have our app sitting alongside those apps.”
The case for privacy comes from how people are starting to use AI. As chatbots become go-to tools for sensitive matters — medical questions, legal issues, job negotiations, relationship advice — users hand over intimate details that accumulate in the databases of companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. 
That data, Proudman said, is only as safe as the company holding it.
“It only takes one breach, one disgruntled employee who is going through that data, a government subpoena, a change in government policy — and then all of that data no longer is private to you,” he said. “It can be health records, it can be legal questions, it can be job negotiations, it can be relationship advice.”
Venice’s answer is to create no central trove to breach or subpoena in the first place.
Marketing AI with fewer restrictions can make Venice more useful in some cases, but it also raises the misuse questions that lead mainstream services to build in guardrails in the first place. Proudman said Venice includes some safeguards to prevent abuse and illegal activity. 
The company nonetheless bills itself as an “AI safety company,” casting the surveillance of users’ thoughts — rather than the content of their prompts — as the greater danger. 
Proudman is based in Seattle, where he has spent more than two decades starting and selling technology companies. He founded cloud-computing company <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2015/ibm-acquires-seattles-blue-box-in-exit-for-private-cloud-startup/"></a>Blue Box, <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2015/ibm-acquires-seattles-blue-box-in-exit-for-private-cloud-startup/">which IBM acquired in 2015</a>, and crypto trading startup <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2025/seattle-fintech-startup-strix-leviathan-acquired-by-crypto-hedge-fund-parataxis/"></a>Strix Leviathan, <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2025/seattle-fintech-startup-strix-leviathan-acquired-by-crypto-hedge-fund-parataxis/">acquired by hedge fund Parataxis in early 2025</a>. Strix <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2021/strix-leviathan-spins-makara-robo-advisor-company-helps-people-invest-crypto/">spun out Makara</a>, a crypto investing startup, in 2021, and <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2022/betterment-gets-into-crypto-with-acquisition-of-seattle-startup-makara/">Betterment acquired Makara</a> the following year.
Proudman spent about three years as a VP at Betterment, where he started moonlighting on Venice in 2024 — building it nights and weekends before leaving to go full-time.
Venice says it reached 3 million users in April and turned profitable in the first quarter. 
“That hockey stick that we always hear about, and that I’ve spent 25 years trying to build companies to find, finally manifested,” Proudman said. 
Venice makes money through consumer subscriptions and paid access to its developer API. It also has its own cryptocurrency, the VVV token, which developers can buy and lock up to reserve a share of the company’s computing capacity instead of paying per use.
Proudman said Venice will use the funding to build its own data center infrastructure — owning the GPUs that power its service rather than renting computing capacity — and to invest in growth as it tries to establish itself as a mainstream consumer brand. 
The company has grown to about 45 employees, up from roughly 15 people a year ago, with six in Seattle. It operates as a remote team and doesn’t currently have an office. 
Whether Venice expands its Seattle footprint long-term may hinge on state politics. Proudman has <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/opinion-the-wrong-tax-at-the-wrong-time-for-washington/">publicly opposed</a> Washington’s new 9.9% “millionaires tax” — a state income tax on household income above $1 million that was signed into law in March and takes effect in 2028 — and said he won’t stay in the state if it does. 
He’s pinning his hopes on a repeal campaign that backers are trying to get on the November ballot. 
“I love it here … Seattle is a unique and phenomenal place to build a company, and I’ve been building companies here my entire life,” Proudman said. “I want to see us continue to be competitive against the Bay Area.” 
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<title>Taiwanese AI startup sets up North American HQ in Bellevue, with potential for 500 employees</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/taiwanese-ai-startup-sets-up-north-american-hq-in-bellevue-with-potential-for-500-employees/</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Jul 2026 17:48:33 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Kurt Schlosser]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Real Estate]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Startups]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[AI]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Bellevue]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[eNeural Technologies]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Greater Seattle Partners]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936184</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1260" height="840" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/gspeneural-1260x840.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/gspeneural-1260x840.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/gspeneural-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/gspeneural-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/gspeneural.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px"> The company said it eventually envisions its Bellevue office growing into a core edge AI research and development center with more than 500 employees over the next decade. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/taiwanese-ai-startup-sets-up-north-american-hq-in-bellevue-with-potential-for-500-employees/">Read More</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="840" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/gspeneural-1260x840.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-936185" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/gspeneural-1260x840.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/gspeneural-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/gspeneural-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/gspeneural.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">eNeural Technologies gets the lay of the land in Bellevue during a Greater Seattle Partners Spinoff program reception at Amazon’s Everest building in Bellevue. Pictured from left: Tom Florino, director, Worldwide Economic Development, Amazon; Rebecca Lovell, COO, Greater Seattle Partners; David Kou, SVP sales and marketing, eNeural Technologies; Lynne Robinson, City of Bellevue councilmember; Jesse Canedo, chief economic development officer, City of Bellevue; Eric Crowley, commercial section deputy chief, American Institute in Taiwan; Kelly Lee, commercial specialist, American Institute in Taiwan. (Photo courtesy of Greater Seattle Partners)</figcaption></figure>
Add another name to Bellevue’s growing list of AI tenants.
Taiwan-based <a href="https://www.eneural.ai/">eNeural Technologies </a>is setting up its North American headquarters in the city, joining a wave of AI companies — from CoreWeave to xAI to OpenAI — that have staked out office space east of Seattle over the past year.
eNeural plans to invest $3.5 million in the Seattle region over the next three years and create about 30 jobs, more than 20 of them AI engineering positions, according to <a href="https://greater-seattle.com/">Greater Seattle Partners</a>, the regional economic development group that <a href="https://greater-seattle.com/eneural-technologies-bellevue-wa-north-american-headquarters/">announced the expansion</a>. 
The company said it eventually envisions its Bellevue office growing into a core edge AI research and development center with more than 500 employees over the next decade.
The company builds lightweight, low-power AI software and chips that let devices — logistics equipment, vehicles, smart city infrastructure — run AI directly on-site rather than relying on the cloud. eNeural says its portfolio spans model optimization tools, self-learning edge platforms, and neural processing unit silicon IP, along with vision-language and large language model tools built for private, secure deployments.
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<div style="font-size:10px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:1px;color:#c0392b;margin-bottom:8px;text-transform:uppercase;">Related</div>
<a class="callout-img" href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/the-view-from-bellevue-seattle-has-the-foundation-for-future-growth-if-it-can-fix-its-taxes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img decoding="async" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Bellevue-Chamber-luncheon.jpg" alt="" style="width:100%;height:auto;display:block;border-radius:4px;" /></a>
<a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/the-view-from-bellevue-seattle-has-the-foundation-for-future-growth-if-it-can-fix-its-taxes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="font-size:15px;font-weight:700;line-height:1.3;color:#1a1a1a;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:8px;">The view from Bellevue: Seattle has the foundation for future growth — if it can fix its taxes</a>
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eNeural founder and Chairman Jiun-In Guo called the region “one of the most innovative technology ecosystems in the world” and said establishing an HQ in Bellevue gives the company access to “a unique combination of world-class AI talent, global technology leadership, and proximity to key enterprise customers.”
eNeural’s path to Bellevue ran through Greater Seattle Partners’ SelectUSA Seattle Spinoff program, which introduced the company to the region’s AI and tech ecosystem in 2025.
eNeural’s arrival adds to a run of AI companies moving in alongside tech giants Amazon and Microsoft and staking claims on the Eastside over the past year:
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>CoreWeave recently <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/bellevues-ai-boom-coreweave-doubles-down-on-office-space/">doubled</a> its footprint to 36,000 square feet at One Bellevue Center, expanding its engineering hub with dozens of open roles in the region.</li>
<li>Elon Musk’s xAI <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/elon-musks-xai-lands-in-bellevue-joining-openai-in-growing-eastside-ai-corridor/">unveiled</a> a 25,000-square-foot office in the former Epic Games space at Lincoln Square South.</li>
<li>OpenAI <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/inside-openais-new-bellevue-office-a-swanky-statement-about-ais-impact-on-the-seattle-region/">moved into</a> a new engineering office at City Center Plaza, a space built for 250 employees with room to grow to as many as 1,400.</li>
<li>Denver-based Crusoe <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2025/cloud-and-ai-infrastructure-company-crusoe-opens-new-office-space-in-downtown-bellevue/">opened</a> a 7,400-square-foot office in the Key Center building.</li>
</ul>
Seattle did notch a win of its own this week with the news that <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/anthropic-expands-in-seattle-as-ai-boom-offers-hope-for-struggling-office-market/">Anthropic is leasing</a> 113,000 square feet of space across multiple floors in a South Lake Union development.
The Bellevue office will serve as the eNeural’s primary hub for customer engagement, strategic partnerships, business development, and advanced AI engineering across North America.
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<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">936184</post-id> </item>
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<title>Tech Moves: Amazon Music names VP; Microsoft departures and a Copilot shakeup; Veeam adds exec</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/tech-moves-amazon-music-names-vp-microsoft-departures-and-a-copilot-shakeup-veeam-adds-exec/</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Jul 2026 17:08:28 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Lisa Stiffler]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Startups]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Tech Moves]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Afiniti]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Amazon Music]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[cambia health solutions]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Cascadia Sustainable Aviation Accelerator]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Copilot]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Earth Finance]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[F5]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Five9]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Jacob Andreou]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Microsoft]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Safe Software]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Seattle University]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Veeam]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Veeam Software]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=935895</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="370" height="370" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hrishikesh-Aradhye_photo-credit-Noah-Berger.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hrishikesh-Aradhye_photo-credit-Noah-Berger.jpg 370w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hrishikesh-Aradhye_photo-credit-Noah-Berger-300x300.jpg 300w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hrishikesh-Aradhye_photo-credit-Noah-Berger-150x150.jpg 150w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hrishikesh-Aradhye_photo-credit-Noah-Berger-100x100.jpg 100w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hrishikesh-Aradhye_photo-credit-Noah-Berger-200x200.jpg 200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 370px) 100vw, 370px"> Amazon Music names VP of product and tech; Microsoft's corporate VP of Security, Compliance, Identity, Management & Privacy steps down while its Copilot platform undergoes a shakeup; Veeam appoints a chief marketing and customer AI officer; and <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/tech-moves-amazon-music-names-vp-microsoft-departures-and-a-copilot-shakeup-veeam-adds-exec/">Read More</a>]]></description>
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<figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="370" height="370" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hrishikesh-Aradhye_photo-credit-Noah-Berger.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-936230" style="width:300px" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hrishikesh-Aradhye_photo-credit-Noah-Berger.jpg 370w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hrishikesh-Aradhye_photo-credit-Noah-Berger-300x300.jpg 300w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hrishikesh-Aradhye_photo-credit-Noah-Berger-150x150.jpg 150w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hrishikesh-Aradhye_photo-credit-Noah-Berger-100x100.jpg 100w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hrishikesh-Aradhye_photo-credit-Noah-Berger-200x200.jpg 200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 370px) 100vw, 370px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Hrishikesh Aradhye. (Noah Berger Photo)</figcaption></figure>
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— <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/aradhye/">Hrishikesh Aradhye</a> has joined Amazon Music as vice president of product and tech for the streaming service. He spent nearly 19 years at Google, most recently as senior director of engineering leading YouTube Music and Podcasts.
“The music industry is going through a tectonic shift that will unlock entirely new kinds of customer experiences through AI,” Aradhye said.
Earlier in his tenure there, he worked at Google Research, where he helped pioneer computer vision and machine learning systems for YouTube and Android.
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<figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="800" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Vasu-Jakkal.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-936231" style="width:225px" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Vasu-Jakkal.jpg 800w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Vasu-Jakkal-150x150.jpg 150w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Vasu-Jakkal-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Vasu-Jakkal-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Vasu Jakkal. (LinkedIn Photo)</figcaption></figure>
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— <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/vasu-jakkal/">Vasu Jakkal</a> is stepping down after six years as Microsoft‘s corporate vice president of Security, Compliance, Identity, Management & Privacy. She thanked colleagues and customers in a <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/vasu-jakkal_after-six-years-of-building-our-incredible-share-7477744392737320961-KCtV/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAAmZBMB4ZPLFVeakJlucqgeZbv9Gl1WRKU">LinkedIn post</a>.
“It’s been an epic journey — six years ago, we formed our Security customer solution area and the growth and impact of Microsoft Security over these past years has been incredible as we built the #1 security business in the world while keeping our mission of building a safer world for all at the heart of it,” Jakkal wrote.
Jakkal is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and previously held executive roles at FireEye and Intel. She did not indicate her next move.
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<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="1260" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Mika_Yamamoto-1260x1260.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-936232" style="width:225px" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Mika_Yamamoto-1260x1260.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Mika_Yamamoto-150x150.jpg 150w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Mika_Yamamoto-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Mika_Yamamoto-100x100.jpg 100w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Mika_Yamamoto.jpg 1332w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Mika Yamamoto. (Veeam Photo)</figcaption></figure>
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— <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikayamamoto/">Mika Yamamoto</a> was named chief marketing and customer AI officer for Veeam Software, a Seattle-based data protection and ransomware recovery company. It’s the latest in a string of leadership changes at Veeam, which has made four other executive hires or promotions this year.
Yamamoto previously worked for Seattle-area companies including F5, Microsoft and SAP, and joined Veeam from Los Angeles-based Blackline.
“She has experienced this industry from every angle — analyst, operator, executive leader — and has consistently put the customer and partner at the center of how companies operate,” CEO Anand Eswaran said in a <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260629449472/en/Veeam-Appoints-Mika-Yamamoto-as-Chief-Marketing-and-Customer-AI-Officer">statement</a>.
— <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/mary-jo-foley-whats-a-consumer-focused-outsider-doing-at-the-helm-of-microsofts-ai-push/">In case you missed it</a>, Microsoft has undergone a leadership shakeup within Copilot as the company works to turn its platform into a “super app.” Changes include:
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-andreou/">Jacob Andreou</a> has moved from corporate vice president at Microsoft AI to executive vice president of Copilot. He joined the company in 2025 from Greylock Partners and before that was at Snapchat-maker Snap.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/disgruntled/">Peter Sellis</a> has been named Copilot’s lead of design, growth and engineering, reporting to Andreou. He joins Microsoft from Discord and overlapped with Andreou at Snap, where Sellis was VP of product.</li>
<li>The reshuffle also comes with a departure. <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tmobrien/">Trevor O’Brien</a>, former VP of product for M365 Copilot experiences, has resigned from his role. “The past two and a half years have been inspiring, chaotic, intense, and deeply rewarding,” O’Brien said on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7475606041083158530/">LinkedIn</a>. He did not indicate his next move.</li>
</ul>
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<figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="800" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Niranjan-Vijayaragavan.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-936233" style="width:225px" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Niranjan-Vijayaragavan.jpg 800w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Niranjan-Vijayaragavan-150x150.jpg 150w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Niranjan-Vijayaragavan-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Niranjan-Vijayaragavan-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Niranjan Vijayaragavan. (LinkedIn Photo)</figcaption></figure>
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— Seattle-based tech executive <a href="http://linkedin.com/in/niranjan-vijayaragavan-81b0641">Niranjan Vijayaragavan</a> has taken the role of CTO at Five9, a cloud-based contact-center-as-a-service company. He joins Five9 from Nintex, where he served as chief product and technology officer. Other past employers include Avalara and Expedia Group.
“Five9 is at the center of one of the most important shifts in customer experience as AI reshapes how companies engage with their customers,” Vijayaragavan said in a <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260629534775/en/Five9-Appoints-Niranjan-Vijayaragavan-as-Chief-Technology-Officer-Rob-Hornish-as-Chief-Sales-Officer-and-Sven-Linsmaier-as-Executive-Vice-President-Transformation-and-Strategy">statement</a>. The company is based in San Ramon, Calif., but Vijayaragavan will remain in Washington.
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<figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="378" height="378" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/New-President-Photo-copy.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-936234" style="width:225px" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/New-President-Photo-copy.jpg 378w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/New-President-Photo-copy-300x300.jpg 300w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/New-President-Photo-copy-150x150.jpg 150w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/New-President-Photo-copy-100x100.jpg 100w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/New-President-Photo-copy-200x200.jpg 200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 378px) 100vw, 378px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Maura Mast. (LinkedIn Photo)</figcaption></figure>
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— <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mauramast/">Maura Mast</a> was appointed president of Seattle University, succeeding Eduardo M. Peñalver, who resigned to lead Georgetown University. Mast is the first woman and first mathematician to hold the top role at the Jesuit Catholic university.
“Our world urgently needs spaces of dialogue and discernment that actively work to heal deep divisions and build a more equitable society,” Mast said in a <a href="https://www.seattleu.edu/newsroom/2026/su-names-new-president.php">statement</a>, adding that SU can lead in these areas.
Mast will begin the job on Sept. 1 and joins SU from Fordham University, where she served as a dean and mathematics professor.
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<figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="800" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Jake-Gentry.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-936273" style="width:225px" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Jake-Gentry.jpg 800w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Jake-Gentry-150x150.jpg 150w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Jake-Gentry-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Jake-Gentry-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Jake Gentry. (LinkedIn Photo)</figcaption></figure>
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— The Cascadia Sustainable Aviation Accelerator named <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake-gentry/">Jake Gentry</a> as its executive director. Gentry helped create CSAA, which aims to make the Pacific Northwest a center for the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). He remains a senior director at Seattle’s Earth Finance and is leading the accelerator as part of that organization.
Hawaiian Airlines CEO Diana Birkett-Rakow praised Gentry’s appointment, saying in a statement that he has “the right combination of strategic depth, execution orientation, coalition-building instincts, and commitment to the work.”
Gentry previously held sustainability leadership roles with companies including Point B and Boeing.
— Seattle’s F5 has added <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavinmunroe/">Gavin Munroe</a> to its board of directors, where he will serve on the audit and risk committees. Munroe has decades of experience in financial services and most recently was chief information officer and transformation head at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
— <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/harini-gokul/">Harini Gokul</a>, a former leader at Microsoft and AWS and past chief customer officer at Entrust, has joined the board of Afiniti. The company builds AI software for call centers that aims to match customers with the appropriate agent. Gokul also serves on the Medina City Council.
— Safe Software, a data and AI enterprise integration platform based in Surrey, British Columbia, has named <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nabil-lodey-64bab58/">Nabil Lodey</a> vice president of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Lodey will help lead the company’s expansion in the UK and Ireland.
— <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/allison-gruber-2b695851/">Allison Gruber</a> is now VP and leader of Portland-based Cambia Health Foundation. She previously oversaw Cambia Health Solutions’ Strategy and Innovation team, where she led data-driven strategy initiatives.
— And some more folks are retiring from Microsoft, in addition to those featured Tuesday in a <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/choosing-their-own-moment-why-these-longtime-microsofties-are-taking-the-buyout/">GeekWire story</a> on the company’s first-ever voluntary retirement program:
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nirmic/">Nir Michaely</a>, Azure software engineering manager, closes out 26 years with the company.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-ballard-64383038/">John Ballard</a>, principal security researcher, departs after nearly 30 years.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-mattoni/">Kristen Mattoni</a>, senior product marketing manager, is leaving after 15 years.</li>
</ul>
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<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">935895</post-id> </item>
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<title>The cost of the AI boom: Amazon emissions jump 16% as company stands by net-zero pledge</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/the-cost-of-the-ai-boom-amazon-emissions-jump-16-as-company-stands-by-net-zero-pledge/</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Jul 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Lisa Stiffler]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Carbon footprint]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Clean energy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Climate change]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[sustainability report]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936019</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1260" height="945" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Wind-Wall-a-wind-farm-located-in-Californias-Tehachapi-Mountains-generates-carbon-free-energy-to-AWS.11-1260x945.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Wind-Wall-a-wind-farm-located-in-Californias-Tehachapi-Mountains-generates-carbon-free-energy-to-AWS.11-1260x945.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Wind-Wall-a-wind-farm-located-in-Californias-Tehachapi-Mountains-generates-carbon-free-energy-to-AWS.11-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Wind-Wall-a-wind-farm-located-in-Californias-Tehachapi-Mountains-generates-carbon-free-energy-to-AWS.11-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Wind-Wall-a-wind-farm-located-in-Californias-Tehachapi-Mountains-generates-carbon-free-energy-to-AWS.11-2048x1536.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px"> Amazon’s 2025 sustainability report reveals a 16% carbon emissions spike driven by AI data center expansion, even as the company maintains its 2040 net-zero goals. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/the-cost-of-the-ai-boom-amazon-emissions-jump-16-as-company-stands-by-net-zero-pledge/">Read More</a>]]></description>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="945" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Wind-Wall-a-wind-farm-located-in-Californias-Tehachapi-Mountains-generates-carbon-free-energy-to-AWS.11-1260x945.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-936101" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Wind-Wall-a-wind-farm-located-in-Californias-Tehachapi-Mountains-generates-carbon-free-energy-to-AWS.11-1260x945.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Wind-Wall-a-wind-farm-located-in-Californias-Tehachapi-Mountains-generates-carbon-free-energy-to-AWS.11-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Wind-Wall-a-wind-farm-located-in-Californias-Tehachapi-Mountains-generates-carbon-free-energy-to-AWS.11-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Wind-Wall-a-wind-farm-located-in-Californias-Tehachapi-Mountains-generates-carbon-free-energy-to-AWS.11-2048x1536.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Wind Wall, a wind farm in California’s Tehachapi Mountains, produces renewable energy for Amazon Web Services. (Amazon Photo)</figcaption></figure>
Amazon’s carbon footprint jumped 16% last year after several years of little or no increase. The company emitted nearly 80.9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2025. By comparison, that’s <a href="https://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/report_2025">slightly higher</a> than the nation of New Zealand’s emissions.
Amazon disclosed its climate-related data in its most comprehensive <a href="https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/2025-report">sustainability report </a>to date, which includes a breakdown of its carbon sources, water use and other environmental impacts.
Not surprisingly, energy use showed the biggest rate of increase in the 2025 carbon tally as Amazon and other tech companies are working to rapidly expand their data center capacity to meet AI computing demand. 
For the first time since 2019, the company also reported an uptick in its “carbon intensity” — a measure of how much carbon was emitted relative to each dollar of revenue. Amazon has promoted this metric as a sign that it can decouple its growth from its climate impacts. 
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<figure data-wp-context="{"imageId":"6a4db3778868b"}" data-wp-interactive="core/image" data-wp-key="6a4db3778868b" class="alignright size-full is-resized wp-lightbox-container"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="691" height="1212" data-wp-class--hide="state.isContentHidden" data-wp-class--show="state.isContentVisible" data-wp-init="callbacks.setButtonStyles" data-wp-on--click="actions.showLightbox" data-wp-on--load="callbacks.setButtonStyles" data-wp-on-window--resize="callbacks.setButtonStyles" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Amazon-2025-climate-report.png" alt="" class="wp-image-936088" style="width:300px"/><button
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<path fill="#fff" d="M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z" />
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</button><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">*Million of metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent. † Grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per dollar of revenue. ‡ Carbon emissions for 2025 were calculated using a market-based method, including the application of Environmental Attribute Credits (EACs). (2025 Amazon Sustainability Report)</figcaption></figure>
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Despite emissions moving in the wrong direction and ongoing data center-driven challenges, the Seattle-area company remains committed to its pledge of net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.
When it comes to that goal, “I remain confident and optimistic in the overarching vision and the long-term progress we continue to make toward it,” said Kara Hurst, Amazon’s chief sustainability officer, in the foreword to the company’s annual report.
The report highlights areas of success that include:
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Data center efficiency: Amazon’s data centers are 9% more efficient than the public cloud average and 30% more efficient than on-premises data centers at directing energy toward computing rather than cooling, lighting or overhead.</li>
<li>Data center water use: Amazon is <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/amazon-claims-data-centers-are-7-times-more-water-efficient-than-rivals-as-seattle-pauses-new-builds/">seven times more efficient </a>in its water use than the industry average thanks to its use of air cooling at most sites, most of the year.</li>
<li>100% clean energy overall: For the third year running, Amazon matched its company-wide electricity use with an equivalent volume of purchased clean energy, although it technically still draws on fossil fuels for some of its energy.</li>
<li>Electric vehicle fleet: It has the largest corporate EV fleet in North America, with more than 52,700 delivery vans worldwide. It’s halfway to meeting its 2030 goal of 100,000 EVs.</li>
</ul>
The company also reported improvements in reducing packaging and plastic use in delivered items; increasing use of low-carbon building materials in data center construction; and progress toward becoming water positive at its data centers, meaning it aims to replenish more water to communities than it uses.
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<div style="font-size:10px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:1px;color:#c0392b;margin-bottom:8px;text-transform:uppercase;">Related</div>
<a class="callout-img" href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/amazon-claims-data-centers-are-7-times-more-water-efficient-than-rivals-as-seattle-pauses-new-builds/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img decoding="async" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/AWS_IAD_Reclaimed_Water_Pipes.jpg" alt="" style="width:100%;height:auto;display:block;border-radius:4px;" /></a>
<a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/amazon-claims-data-centers-are-7-times-more-water-efficient-than-rivals-as-seattle-pauses-new-builds/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="font-size:15px;font-weight:700;line-height:1.3;color:#1a1a1a;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:8px;">Amazon claims data centers 7x more water-efficient than rivals</a>
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The Amazon-backed Climate Pledge — an effort to get other organizations to commit to net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 — has grown to 656 signatories after adding 107 companies this year. It marks a notable increase at a time when companies are growing <a href="https://hbr.org/2024/08/companies-are-scaling-back-sustainability-pledges-heres-what-they-should-do-instead">quieter</a> about climate commitments, with some stepping back from earlier goals.
But the surge in data center investment shows little sign of slowing, which will keep complicating Amazon’s path to lower emissions. CEO Andy Jassy said Amazon expects to spend a record <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/aws-growth-hits-3-year-high-custom-chips-top-10b-as-200b-capex-plan-rattles-investors/">$200 billion</a> in capital expenditures this year, including “AI, chips, robotics, and low-Earth orbit satellites.”
Not all reactions to that buildout have been positive — even within the company. Members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice this month <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/this-is-seattles-position-on-ai-city-council-votes-unanimously-to-pause-new-data-centers/">testified</a> before the Seattle City Council in favor of data center requirements for renewable energy and labor protections, though Amazon doesn’t operate any data centers within city limits.
In response to the sustainability report, the employee group was critical of the increased emissions and accused the company of pressuring carbon accounting standards bodies — including the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and the Science-Based Targets Initiative — to adopt weaker rules. 
More than 1,000 employees have <a href="https://www.amazonclimatejustice.org/open-letter" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">signed an open letter</a> drafted last year criticizing Amazon’s “warp-speed approach” to its AI development, the group added. 
In the report, Amazon CSO Hurst acknowledged that AI-fueled advances could catalyze sustainability solutions or slow progress toward climate goals. 
“But what alternative do we have,” she said, “but to continue to invest, learn, and move forward to try to solve one of the world’s most challenging issues?” 
Editor’s note: Story updated at 11:56 a.m. with comment from Amazon Employees for Climate Justice. 

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<title>Ballmer Group launches ‘MoveUp Washington’ as part of broader philanthropic restructuring</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/ballmer-group-launches-moveup-washington-as-part-of-broader-philanthropic-restructuring/</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Jul 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Kurt Schlosser]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Philanthropy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Andi Smith]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Ballmer Group]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[connie ballmer]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[MoveUp Washington]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Steve Ballmer]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Terri Ludwig]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=935882</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1260" height="840" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Andi-Smith-Headshot-1260x840.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Andi-Smith-Headshot-1260x840.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Andi-Smith-Headshot-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Andi-Smith-Headshot-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Andi-Smith-Headshot.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px"> The new organization will continue Ballmer Group's work improving economic mobility for kids and families, operating independently while still funded by Steve and Connie Ballmer. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/ballmer-group-launches-moveup-washington-as-part-of-broader-philanthropic-restructuring/">Read More</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="840" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Andi-Smith-Headshot-1260x840.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-936076" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Andi-Smith-Headshot-1260x840.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Andi-Smith-Headshot-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Andi-Smith-Headshot-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Andi-Smith-Headshot.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">MoveUp Washington will be led by Andi Smith, who currently heads Ballmer Group’s Washington state regional office. (Ballmer Group Photo)</figcaption></figure>
<a href="https://ballmergroup.org/">Ballmer Group</a>, the Bellevue, Wash.-based philanthropy founded by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and his wife Connie, is spinning out its Washington state work into an independent organization, one of three new regional groups launched Wednesday as part of a broader restructuring.
The new organization, MoveUp Washington, will be led by Andi Smith, who currently heads Ballmer Group’s Washington regional office. It will operate independently from Ballmer Group but continue to be funded by the Ballmers, carrying on the philanthropy’s existing mission of improving economic mobility for kids and families in the state.
Similar organizations are launching in Southeast Michigan and Los Angeles County — MoveUp Southeast Michigan and MoveUp LA — led by Kylee Mitchell Wells and Nina Revoyr, respectively, who currently lead Ballmer Group’s regional offices in those areas.
As the three regional groups become independent, Ballmer Group said in a news release that it will narrow its own focus to a smaller set of large, scalable initiatives aimed at improving economic mobility for kids and families nationally.
“Our intention is to ensure that these local philanthropies can be permanent, ongoing resources in each region, while we concentrate our national efforts on advancing economic mobility in new ways,” the Ballmers said in a statement.
Ballmer Group CEO Terri Ludwig, who helped guide the shift, will serve as a founding board member for all three new organizations while continuing to lead Ballmer Group.
Each organization will establish its own independent board and continue its existing regional work while evolving to meet local needs, according to Ballmer Group.
“Across these regions, our teams have demonstrated exceptional leadership and have distributed more than $1.5 billion in grants over the past decade,” Ludwig said in a statement.
Examples of past giving include:
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2021/ballmer-group-gives-38m-bolster-washington-states-ailing-mental-health-services/">$38 million</a> to strengthen mental health services in Washington, including graduate-level clinical education scholarships coordinated through the University of Washington’s School of Social Work.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2023/ballmer-group-giving-43m-to-uw-and-other-groups-to-boost-early-childhood-education/">$43 million</a> to the UW and other groups to boost early childhood education, including more than 1,500 scholarships over eight years.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2022/steve-and-connie-ballmer-putting-400m-toward-black-investment-managers/">$400 million</a> toward Black investment fund managers and Black businesses, working with firms including Fairview Capital and Goldman Sachs.</li>
</ul>
Ballmer Group team members currently working in Washington, Southeast Michigan and Los Angeles County will transition to the new organizations over the next year. Current grantees will continue to be supported throughout the process, with no disruption to existing commitments, according to Ballmer Group.
The Ballmers are still determining the long-term financial structure for the new organizations — an endowment is one option under consideration, though not something being established at launch.
Steve Ballmer, who served as Microsoft CEO from 2000–2014, is founder of USAFacts, a nonpartisan organization founded in 2017 to make government data more accessible and understandable. He’s also chairman of the Los Angeles Clippers NBA team.
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<title>Opinion: Governor’s new economic council snubs startups, forgets AI</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/opinion-governors-new-economic-council-snubs-startups-forgets-ai/</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Jul 2026 15:51:19 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Fitzgerald]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Civic]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Boeing]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Economic Development Council]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Gov. Bob Ferguson]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Microsoft]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[T-Mobile]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=935888</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1260" height="999" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ferguson-1260x999.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ferguson-1260x999.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ferguson-768x609.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ferguson.jpg 1411w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px"> Seattle angel investor Charles Fitzgerald argues that Gov. Bob Ferguson's new Economic Development Council is backward-looking, lacks startup and VC representation, and ignores AI — the single biggest force shaping Washington's economy. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/opinion-governors-new-economic-council-snubs-startups-forgets-ai/">Read More</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="999" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ferguson-1260x999.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-935903" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ferguson-1260x999.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ferguson-768x609.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ferguson.jpg 1411w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson. (Flickr Photo via <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wastategov/">Governor’s Office</a>)</figcaption></figure>
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson last week <a href="https://governor.wa.gov/news/2026/governor-ferguson-creates-economic-development-council">announced</a> an Economic Development Council to “identify practical actions that strengthen Washington’s economy, expand opportunity and help more Washingtonians succeed.”
To Ferguson’s credit, he may finally be recognizing that Washington’s business climate is deteriorating. 
While he didn’t admit any responsibility for that decline, the number of companies and highly successful job creators that have said “Bye Bob” and taken jobs to other states — <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/starbucks-plans-corporate-office-in-nashville-impacting-some-seattle-based-supply-chain-workers/" type="link" id="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/starbucks-plans-corporate-office-in-nashville-impacting-some-seattle-based-supply-chain-workers/">Starbucks</a> and <a href="https://news.mt.gov/Governors-Office/Gov-Gianforte-Announces-Janicki-Industries-Selects-Great-Falls-for-800-Million-Manufacturing-Facility" type="link" id="https://news.mt.gov/Governors-Office/Gov-Gianforte-Announces-Janicki-Industries-Selects-Great-Falls-for-800-Million-Manufacturing-Facility">Janicki Industries</a> to name two recent examples — cannot have escaped his attention.
<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Who’s who</h4>
The council’s composition gives us a glimpse into the governor’s economic mindset. Unfortunately, it isn’t forward-looking.
<aside class="callout clearfix" style="border:1px solid #ddd;border-top:3px solid #c0392b;padding:14px;margin:0 0 10px 20px;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,sans-serif;max-width:300px;float:right;box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.4;">
<div style="font-size:10px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:1px;color:#c0392b;margin-bottom:8px;text-transform:uppercase;">Related</div>
<a class="callout-img" href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/as-business-concerns-mount-washington-gov-bob-ferguson-taps-amazon-microsoft-and-others-to-shape-economic-strategy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img decoding="async" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/EconomicDevelopmentCouncil-54.jpg" alt="" style="width:100%;height:auto;display:block;border-radius:4px;" /></a>
<a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/as-business-concerns-mount-washington-gov-bob-ferguson-taps-amazon-microsoft-and-others-to-shape-economic-strategy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="font-size:15px;font-weight:700;line-height:1.3;color:#1a1a1a;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:8px;">Gov. Bob Ferguson taps Amazon, Microsoft and others as concerns over Washington economy grow</a>
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There are more nonprofits and governmental agencies than businesses. Except for one small homebuilder, none of the participating companies were founded this century. Calling the council a “historic convening” is unintentionally apt.
There is zero representation from entrepreneurs, the startup ecosystem or anyone building the industries of the future. The mayor of Cleveland remains <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/clevelands-mayor-seattles-future-a-conversation-about-what-happens-when-a-citys-economy-shifts/">better plugged into</a> our startup community than any politician in Washington.
The largest participants on the governor’s new council are notable for mass layoffs and shifting their workforces out of the state.
<a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/reports-amazons-latest-layoffs-could-begin-next-week/">Amazon</a> and <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/laying-off-15-000-employees-224339198.html">Microsoft</a> have each cut tens of thousands of jobs, as they become more capital-intensive and lean into AI-driven productivity. Boeing now has <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/boeings-wa-employment-fell-nearly-4-in-2025-while-total-head-count-grew/">nearly two-thirds of its employees</a> outside Washington state, and that shift <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/boeing-moves-more-787-work-from-washington/">continues</a>.
<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Oblivious to AI</h4>
Also missing from the governor’s framing is the single biggest force shaping the economy today: AI.
He namechecks quantum computing, advanced manufacturing, and clean energy, but omits AI. 
New jobs overwhelmingly come from young growth companies, and AI is driving new company formation. 
Beyond startups, AI is going to dramatically reshape knowledge work and boost productivity in every single organization (including, hopefully, government). 
It is impossible to talk about “the next chapter of economic prosperity for our state” without discussing the implications of AI.
<h4 class="wp-block-heading">The committee agenda</h4>
“The council will meet quarterly and submit advisory reports to the governor with its findings and recommendations.” 
The first report, in its entirety, should say “STOP DRIVING BUSINESS AWAY.”
Starbucks, perhaps not surprisingly, was <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/business/facing-cooling-wa-economy-gov-ferguson-turns-to-state-business-leaders/">not invited</a> to participate on the council, though Gov. Ferguson <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/business/facing-cooling-wa-economy-gov-ferguson-turns-to-state-business-leaders/" type="link" id="https://www.seattletimes.com/business/facing-cooling-wa-economy-gov-ferguson-turns-to-state-business-leaders/">tells The Seattle Times </a>he understands the coffee giant’s importance to the region and “has a direct line of communication with them.”
The governor <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/business/facing-cooling-wa-economy-gov-ferguson-turns-to-state-business-leaders/">suggests</a> he “would be open to more aggressive financial incentives to attract out-of-state business,” but why not prioritize keeping companies that are already here? 
The zero-sum view of job creation — that you must pay to lure companies from other states — reflects a profound ignorance of the magic of economic growth. 
Just nurture an environment conducive to growth. Effective and efficient delivery of public services, predictable taxes, and sensible regulation. But that would require changes in how state government operates today.
In other words, grow what you’ve got.
<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Learning from Cleveland</h4>
I have <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/a-warning-to-seattle-dont-become-the-next-cleveland/">argued</a> that the software era is ending, and we need to find our next economic act in Washington state. Prosperity is precarious and can’t be taken for granted. 
The governor was invited, through a representative, to join GeekWire’s <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/following-through-in-cleveland-a-geekwire-trip-report-plus-data-center-theater-and-the-spacex-ipo/">recent visit</a> to Cleveland but never responded. I still hope he can <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/what-we-learned-in-cleveland-about-seattles-future-advice-from-a-rust-belt-city-on-the-rise/">learn</a> from Cleveland as part of his interest in economic development.
Cleveland’s experience after its industrial economy fractured painfully demonstrates the potential downside we face. More than a half century later, that city is still working extraordinarily hard to recover. 
The mayor of Cleveland <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/clevelands-mayor-seattles-future-a-conversation-about-what-happens-when-a-citys-economy-shifts/">observed</a> that when the Rust Belt started to rust: “We didn’t pivot fast enough, and the world left us behind.” 
Today, every level of government in Ohio is laser-focused on jobs, economic growth and prosperity. Our state should be just as focused, especially as our economic tectonic plates shift.
It is a very positive milestone that our governor is seeking “the next chapter of economic prosperity for our state.” 
But committees don’t drive economic growth. It starts with “first do no harm.”
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<title>Anthropic expands in Seattle as AI boom offers hope for struggling office market</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/anthropic-expands-in-seattle-as-ai-boom-offers-hope-for-struggling-office-market/</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Jul 2026 15:39:33 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[John Cook]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[AI startups]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Anthropic]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[artificial intelligence]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Claude AI]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[commercial real estate]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Dexter Yard]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Expansion]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Hiring]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Office Space]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Real Estate]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Seattle]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Seattle Tech]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[South Lake Union]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936189</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1260" height="847" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/claude-1260x847.jpeg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/claude-1260x847.jpeg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/claude-768x516.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/claude-1536x1032.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/claude-2048x1376.jpeg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px"> The maker of the Claude AI model recently finalized a lease at Dexter Yard North in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood, capping months of speculation about the company's expansion plans in the region. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/anthropic-expands-in-seattle-as-ai-boom-offers-hope-for-struggling-office-market/">Read More</a>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="847" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/claude-1260x847.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-936197" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/claude-1260x847.jpeg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/claude-768x516.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/claude-1536x1032.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/claude-2048x1376.jpeg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Anthropic’s booth at AWS re:Invent in 2025. Its new Seattle lease puts it just up the street from Amazon. (GeekWire File Photo)</figcaption></figure>
Anthropic is embarking on a major expansion in Seattle, underscoring how artificial intelligence companies are emerging as one of the few bright spots in the region’s office market.
The maker of the Claude AI model recently finalized a lease at <a href="https://www.dexteryard.com/">Dexter Yard North</a> in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, capping months of speculation about the company’s expansion plans in the region.
Terms of the deal were not publicly disclosed, but <a href="https://www.costar.com/article/796349259/anthropic-takes-blockbuster-leasing-streak-to-seattle-ahead-of-ipo-ambitions">CoStar News reports</a> that the company leased 113,000 square feet of space across multiple floors in the north tower at 700 Dexter Avenue North. CoStar called it one of the largest office deals of the year so far in Seattle.
The expansion would significantly increase Anthropic’s footprint in Seattle, where the San Francisco-based company <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2024/amazon-backed-ai-startup-anthropic-is-growing-its-seattle-workforce/">established an engineering office in 2024</a> as it recruited talent from the region’s deep pool of AI researchers and software engineers. 
It would also place Anthropic next door to Amazon. The companies in April <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/amazon-doubles-down-on-anthropic-with-25b-investment-mirroring-its-openai-cloud-deal/">expanded their existing partnership</a>: Amazon committed to invest up to $25 billion in Anthropic, which simultaneously made a $100 billion-plus spending commitment to AWS over 10 years. 
The following month, Anthropic <a href="https://www.anthropic.com/news/series-h" type="link" id="https://www.anthropic.com/news/series-h">announced</a> $65 billion in funding at a $965 billion valuation, thought to be the last <a href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/anthropic-ipo-paperwork-9a48c35e" type="link" id="https://www.wsj.com/tech/anthropic-ipo-paperwork-9a48c35e">venture round </a>before an initial public offering later this year.
On Thursday, Anthropic <a href="https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-sonnet-5" type="link" id="https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-sonnet-5">released</a> Claude Sonnet 5, which the company says “can make plans, use tools like browsers and terminals, and run autonomously at a level that, just a few months ago, required larger and more expensive models.” 
Also this week, The U.S. Department of Commerce removed <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/12/anthropic-disables-access-to-fable-5-and-mythos-5-to-comply-with-government-directive.html">export controls</a> on the company’s <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/09/anthropic-mythos-claude-fable-5.html">Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models</a>, part of an ongoing back-and-forth with the Trump administration.
Anthropic’s Seattle lease provides hope that demand from AI companies could help revive parts of Seattle’s office market after several years of elevated vacancy driven by remote work and tech industry cutbacks. Seattle’s office vacancy rate <a href="https://kidder.com/market-reports/seattle-office-market-report/">inched up to 28%</a> during the first quarter, the highest in the region.
Other AI firms, including <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/inside-openais-new-bellevue-office-a-swanky-statement-about-ais-impact-on-the-seattle-region/" type="link" id="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/inside-openais-new-bellevue-office-a-swanky-statement-about-ais-impact-on-the-seattle-region/">OpenAI</a> and <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2024/databricks-set-to-raise-massive-10b-funding-round-looks-to-grow-seattle-area-footprint/" type="link" id="https://www.geekwire.com/2024/databricks-set-to-raise-massive-10b-funding-round-looks-to-grow-seattle-area-footprint/">Databricks</a>, have also expanded their Seattle-area office footprints in recent months. In those instances, the companies chose to grow in nearby Bellevue.
Dexter Yard, a two-building office and life sciences campus developed by BioMed Realty, opened in 2022 and was <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2023/seattle-biotech-startups-move-into-growing-science-cluster-in-south-lake-union/" type="link" id="https://www.geekwire.com/2023/seattle-biotech-startups-move-into-growing-science-cluster-in-south-lake-union/">designed</a> to accommodate both technology and biotech tenants. The north tower contains approximately 163,000 square feet of office and lab space.
Anthropic has a number of open engineering roles spread across Seattle, New York and San Francisco. The company says it expects all staff to be in one of their offices at least 25% of the time.
A spokesperson for Anthropic acknowledged the new lease, but did not respond to requests for additional comment.
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<title>Microsoft set for new round of job cuts next week, spanning Xbox, sales and consulting</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-set-to-cut-thousands-of-jobs-next-week-spanning-xbox-sales-and-consulting/</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Jul 2026 01:30:34 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Todd Bishop]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Microsoft]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[AI]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[artificial intelligence]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Asha Sharma]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Challenger Gray & Christmas]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Cloud Computing]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[layoffs]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Microsoft layoffs]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Satya Nadella]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[tech layoffs]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[voluntary retirement program]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Xbox]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936134</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1260" height="945" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/msft-logo-1260x945.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/msft-logo-1260x945.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/msft-logo-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/msft-logo-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/msft-logo-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/msft-logo-630x472.jpg 630w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px"> Microsoft is preparing another round of layoffs, spanning Xbox, sales and consulting, as it holds down operating costs while pouring more than $100 billion into AI infrastructure. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-set-to-cut-thousands-of-jobs-next-week-spanning-xbox-sales-and-consulting/">Read More</a>]]></description>
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Microsoft is preparing to cut thousands of jobs next week, continuing to rein in operating costs as the company pours unprecedented sums into AI infrastructure. 
Business Insider <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-job-cuts-layoffs-sales-consulting-2026-6">broke the news</a> Tuesday afternoon, saying that the cuts will impact less than 2.5% of the company’s global workforce of about 220,000 people. It includes not just Xbox, where cuts <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-on-xbox-we-have-to-turn-this-into-a-sustainable-business/">have been signaled for weeks</a>, but also layoffs in sales and consulting.
GeekWire confirmed the details of the report with a person familiar with the company’s plan. Microsoft isn’t commenting on the report.
The timing follows a familiar pattern. Microsoft often restructures its operations around the close of its fiscal year on June 30, and the cuts would come just as the new year begins. 
The reductions were bigger last year. Microsoft laid off more than 15,000 people in two rounds of cuts a few weeks apart: <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2025/microsoft-cuts-nearly-3-of-global-workforce-about-6000-jobs-in-latest-push-for-efficiency/">about 6,000 in May 2025</a>, then <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2025/microsoft-cuts-another-4-of-its-workforce-about-9000-jobs-in-continued-push-for-efficiency/">around 9,000</a> (roughly 4% of the company at the time) in early July 2025.
One difference this year: Microsoft’s first-ever <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/choosing-their-own-moment-why-these-longtime-microsofties-are-taking-the-buyout/">voluntary retirement program</a>. About a third of the approximately 8,750 eligible U.S. employees took the buyout, reportedly allowing the company to cut a smaller share of its workforce through layoffs than a year ago. 
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<div style="font-size:10px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:1px;color:#c0392b;margin-bottom:8px;text-transform:uppercase;">Related</div>
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<a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/choosing-their-own-moment-why-these-longtime-microsofties-are-taking-the-buyout/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="font-size:15px;font-weight:700;line-height:1.3;color:#1a1a1a;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:8px;">Choosing their own moment: Why these longtime Microsofties are taking the buyout</a>
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The company is on pace to <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-earnings-preview-after-a-357-billion-wipeout-tech-giant-gets-another-chance/">spend more than $100 billion</a> building AI and cloud infrastructure in the fiscal year that just ended — up from $88.7 billion the year before — with about two-thirds going to the chips that power AI. 
Microsoft shares closed Tuesday at $373.02, down 19% over the past month and near a 52-week low, as Wall Street questions whether its heavy AI spending will pay off.
The layoffs come amid a broader wave of restructuring across the tech industry, which has shed more jobs than any other sector this year. U.S. tech companies have announced 123,653 cuts so far in 2026, up 66% from the same stretch of 2025, according to <a href="https://www.challengergray.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Challenger-Report-May-2026.pdf">a report</a> from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. 
Across all sectors, not just tech, AI was the most commonly cited reason for job cuts in May — the third straight month it has led the list. The 38,579 cuts attributed to AI were the most in any month since Challenger began tracking the cause in 2023. For the year, AI has been linked to 87,714 cuts, already surpassing the 54,836 attributed to it in all of 2025.
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<title>NASA considers sending a spare Mars rover to the moon to rev up preparations for lunar base</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/nasa-spare-mars-rover-to-moon-base/</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 30 Jun 2026 22:28:36 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Alan Boyle]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Space]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Blue Moon]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[lunar lander]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[mars]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Moon]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[NASA]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[PROMISE rover]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936083</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1260" height="709" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/260630-promise-1260x709.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="Test rover at JPL" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/260630-promise-1260x709.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/260630-promise-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/260630-promise-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/260630-promise.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px"> Space agency provides updates on lunar lander missions — and teases a World Cup soccer-ball moonshot. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/nasa-spare-mars-rover-to-moon-base/">Read More</a>]]></description>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1260" height="709" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/260630-promise-1260x709.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-936092" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/260630-promise-1260x709.jpg 1260w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/260630-promise-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/260630-promise-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/260630-promise.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">An engineering development version of the NASA rovers currently operating on Mars takes a spin at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. (NASA via YouTube)</figcaption></figure>
NASA is considering repurposing an engineering development version of the nuclear-powered Mars rovers for a different destination: the moon’s south polar region.
The plan calls for turning the test rover, which is currently sitting at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, into a lunar explorer named PROMISE (“Polar Rover for Observation, Mapping and In-Situ Exploration”). 
During an update on the space agency’s long-range plan to build a moon base, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman stressed that the PROMISE mission was still being defined, but added that “there’s very little that would hold us back from making use of that hardware.”
NASA is already planning to send a rover called <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2025/nasa-order-blue-origin-viper-rover-moon/">VIPER</a> (“Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover”) to the moon by the end of next year. But Carlos García-Galán, NASA’s program manager for the Moon Base effort, said PROMISE would bring some capabilities that VIPER lacks. For example, PROMISE’s plutonium power source makes that rover more suited for exploring permanently shadowed lunar craters that are thought to contain valuable water ice.
“VIPER uses solar power, so we’re constrained to the terrain that we put it on, how much illumination that’s going to get, the time of year, where it can go,” García-Galán explained. “It could certainly not potentially go into some of these permanently shadowed regions and stay deep in there — and then, based on the lunar nights, it will have a lifespan that’s limited.”
In contrast, the nuclear-powered <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity/">Curiosity rover</a> is still going strong 14 years after landing on Mars, and the <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2021/nasas-perseverance-rover-touches-start-years-long-search-life-mars/">Perseverance rover</a> is still persevering after five years of operation.
Today’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXTBJz5MGbA">Moon Base update</a> provided a status report on several aspects of NASA’s plans to build a permanent base on the moon in the 2030s. Among the highlights:
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>A robotic lunar lander that’s being built by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture “looks like it’s almost done,” García-Galán said. The <a href="https://www.blueorigin.com/blue-moon/mark-1">Blue Moon Mark 1 lander</a>, dubbed Endurance, had been due for launch this year on Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, though a recent <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/blue-origin-new-glenn-rocket-explodes-on-pad/">New Glenn explosion</a> raised questions about the timeline. Isaacman said launching New Glenn was still “Plan A” for the Blue Moon mission. If the launch slips past mid-2027, NASA will look at other options, García-Galán said.</li>
<li>Two other missions for the first phase of the Moon Base program are also progressing. Astrobotic’s Griffin 1 lunar lander appears on track for launch this year, while Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander “is looking pretty good,” García-Galán said.</li>
<li>NASA announced that it would <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-awards-more-moon-base-science-previews-new-opportunities/">fund four more robotic lunar lander missions</a> during Phase 1 of the Moon Base program, which runs through 2029. <a href="https://www.astrobotic.com/astrobotic-awarded-2-nasa-contracts-for-clps-moon-base-missions/">Astrobotic</a> has been awarded $297.9 million for two deliveries. NASA will give $144.2 million to <a href="https://fireflyspace.com/news/firefly-aerospace-awarded-144-million-nasa-clps-contract-for-accelerated-blue-ghost-lunar-mission/">Firefly Aerospace</a> and $148.3 million to <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/articles/intuitive-machines-secures-sixth-nasa-204400680.html">Intuitive Machines</a> for one delivery each. Each lander will carry <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis/clps/tiny-nasa-cameras-to-picture-interaction-between-lander-moons-surface/">cameras to document the effects of rocket blasts</a> on lunar soil, deposit <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/retroreflectors-from-apollo-mars/">reflective location markers</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqRNDYP4HYU">monitor the lunar radiation environment</a>. Other payloads could be added to each mission.</li>
<li>Isaacman pressed García-Galán to promise that one of the robotic landers would carry a soccer ball to the moon if the U.S. wins <a href="https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments/mens/worldcup/canadamexicousa2026">the World Cup</a>. “We will absolutely find a space,” García-Galán replied. Isaacman said that would serve as “a little bit of motivation” for the U.S. team. “We’re going to one-up Alan Shepard and the <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/when-astronaut-alan-shepard-hit-golf-shot-heard-round-world-180976903/">golf game on the lunar surface</a>,” the administrator told García-Galán. “We’re going to get the soccer ball there. I don’t know which lander it’ll wind up going on. I’ll leave that to you guys to handle the payloading.”</li>
</ul>
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<title>Blue Origin decides not to re-create ruined pad but will move on to a different launch concept</title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/blue-origin-next-gen-launch-concept/</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 30 Jun 2026 19:12:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Alan Boyle]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Space]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Blue Origin]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[New Glenn]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=936036</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1207" height="805" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/260630-blue.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt=""Road to Space" sign at launch pad" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/260630-blue.jpg 1207w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/260630-blue-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1207px) 100vw, 1207px"> Jeff Bezos' space venture still plans to return to flight this year, with a hybrid launch processing system that can be used for two Florida pads. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/blue-origin-next-gen-launch-concept/">Read More</a>]]></description>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1207" height="805" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/260630-blue.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-936039" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/260630-blue.jpg 1207w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/260630-blue-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1207px) 100vw, 1207px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A tarnished “Road to Space” sign stands near Blue Origin’s damaged launch pad in Florida. (Blue Origin Photo)</figcaption></figure>
One month after <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/blue-origin-new-glenn-rocket-explodes-on-pad/">a New Glenn rocket explosion damaged its Florida launch pad</a>, Jeff Bezos’ <a href="https://www.blueorigin.com/">Blue Origin</a> space venture has decided to shift its focus to a new concept for future launches.
“To return to flight this year, we’re not rebuilding the same pad,” Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said in an <a href="https://www.blueorigin.com/news/new-glenn-return-to-flight">online update</a>. Instead, the company will move ahead with a plan that it already had been working on for Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 36.
The concept of operations, or ConOps in rocket lingo, calls for a hybrid horizontal/vertical configuration for launch preparations. Blue Origin had already planned to employ the hybrid system for a second pad that’s currently in development for its <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2025/blue-origin-supersizes-new-glenn-rocket/">super-sized 9×4 New Glenn rocket</a>. Now the system will be used for the old pad as well as the new one, “creating a common ConOps across two pads,” Limp said.
In a <a href="https://x.com/davill/status/2071971375255064604">post to X</a>, Limp said the plan “has the added benefit of increasing our flight cadence.”
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="embed-x"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">We're not rebuilding the same pad for New Glenn. We're moving to a horizontal/vertical hybrid configuration to get us flying again this year at 36A. We were already working on something similar for 9×4 at 36B. Let me explain what that means. We mate the stages horizontally in… <a href="https://t.co/5I0f8GEojs">pic.twitter.com/5I0f8GEojs</a>— Dave Limp (@davill) <a href="https://x.com/davill/status/2071971375255064604?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 30, 2026</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
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The explosion on May 28, which took place while Blue Origin was preparing its New Glenn rocket to launch 48 satellites for the Amazon Leo constellation, dealt a heavy blow to Blue Origin’s launch plans. The Federal Aviation Administration called a halt to launches until Blue Origin traced the cause of the blast and took corrective actions.
In today’s update, Limp said “early analysis points to the aft section of the first stage” as the source of the anomaly. He voiced confidence that the root cause would be found and fixed.
He said the blast destroyed the pad’s lightning tower, transporter-erector and hydraulic cylinders, “but we caught a lot of breaks, too, and intend to make the most of them.”
Limp reported that the launch complex’s Integration Facility, tank farm, vehicle access tower and water tower were all in good shape, and that reconstruction of the pad has started. Blue Origin has moved three New Glenn upper stages and a twice-flown booster nicknamed “Never Tell Me the Odds” out of the Integration Facility as part of the pad cleanup process, he said.
Blue Origin’s launch manifest includes missions aimed at <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2025/blue-origin-blue-moon-lunar-lander-nasa/">sending an uncrewed Blue Moon Mark 1 lander to the lunar surface</a>, putting a more advanced Mark 2 lander into Earth orbit for crewed testing during NASA’s <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/nasa-overhauls-artemis-moon-program-blue-origin/">Artemis 3 mission</a>, and <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/nasa-taps-blue-origin-to-deliver-lunar-rovers-for-moon-base-initiative/">delivering several rovers to the moon</a>. New Glenn is also in the lineup to launch satellites for Amazon Leo and AST SpaceMobile.
Limp said Blue Origin is “continuing to build vehicles at rate in our world-class manufacturing facilities, maintaining flight readiness, and preparing to come back stronger than before.”
“Our road to space doesn’t pause here. We will return to flight by the end of this year,” he wrote. “It’s worth it.”
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<title>Choosing their own moment: Why these longtime Microsofties are taking the buyout </title>
<link>https://www.geekwire.com/2026/choosing-their-own-moment-why-these-longtime-microsofties-are-taking-the-buyout/</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 30 Jun 2026 17:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Todd Bishop]]></dc:creator>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Kurt Schlosser]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Microsoft]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Aileen Hannah]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Briand Sanderson]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[buyout]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Denise Hazlick]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[James Whelan]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[JP Szambelan]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Justin Long]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[retirement]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Scott Thurlow]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Shawn Mrzena]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[voluntary retirement program]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.geekwire.com/?p=934823</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<img width="1200" height="896" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/shawn.png" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/shawn.png 1200w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/shawn-768x573.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px"> GeekWire spoke with several longtime Microsoft employees who are taking the company's first-ever voluntary retirement program, about why they decided to leave and what they're doing next. Their reasons range from timing and finances to fatigue with the pace of change, and their next chapters include startups, a doctorate, conservation work, a return to the trades and, yes, actual retirement. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/choosing-their-own-moment-why-these-longtime-microsofties-are-taking-the-buyout/">Read More</a>]]></description>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1200" height="896" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/shawn.png" alt="" class="wp-image-935994" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/shawn.png 1200w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/shawn-768x573.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Shawn Mrzena, one of several longtime Microsoft employees who spoke with GeekWire about the voluntary retirement program, perched on a table of his own making in his workshop. After nearly 25 years, he’s heading back to the trades. (Photo courtesy of Shawn Mrzena)</figcaption></figure>
<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnmrzena/">Shawn Mrzena</a> is trading the AI firehose for a welding torch.
In his nearly 25 years at Microsoft, Mrzena has lived through the industry transitions that defined the company’s modern era: the move from on-premises software to hosted services and then the cloud, a succession of CEOs, and now the all-out push into AI.
He also reinvented himself, starting in sales, moving into a business-architect role, then helping to establish and build the company’s data-privacy business. He’s grateful for everything he experienced, likening his Microsoft career to an MBA that no paid education could match. 
But AI is moving faster than anything before it, and in his late 50s, he decided he didn’t need to chase the next big thing again. He has accepted Microsoft’s voluntary retirement offer. 
In the process, he’s taking matters into his own hands, literally. Mrzena, the kind of person who’ll spot a discarded pallet and haul it home to build a table, plans to go to school for welding and metal fabrication, with an eye toward doing part-time fabrication work. It’s a return to his early career, when he worked in the arts and ran printing presses.
“I love the trades,” he said, “because I can feel it and touch it.” 
Mrzena is part of roughly 7% of Microsoft’s U.S. workforce, an estimated 8,750 employees, deemed eligible for its first-ever voluntary retirement program, <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-will-offer-voluntary-retirement-to-thousands-of-employees-in-a-first-for-tech-giant/">announced in April</a>.
Over the past few weeks, GeekWire has interviewed and emailed with several longtime Microsoft employees who took the offer — from sales, engineering, marketing and other corners of the company — to find out what drove their decisions and what’s next for them. 
Their specific reasons for taking the offer vary, but a few themes run through their stories: gratitude for long careers at the company, a sense that the timing was finally right and, in some cases, ambivalence about where Microsoft and the industry are headed in the AI era. 
For some, the decision was also shaped by a steady drumbeat of layoffs at Microsoft and across the tech industry. Rather than wait to find out whether the next round of cuts had their name on it, they chose to take their fate into their own hands and leave on their own terms.
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<a class="callout-img" href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-puts-a-price-on-its-voluntary-retirement-program/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img decoding="async" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/20250227_182738-1260x945.jpg" alt="" style="width:100%;height:auto;display:block;border-radius:4px;" /></a>
<a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-puts-a-price-on-its-voluntary-retirement-program/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="font-size:15px;font-weight:700;line-height:1.3;color:#1a1a1a;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:8px;">Microsoft puts a price on its voluntary retirement program</a>
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The program is part of Microsoft’s effort to trim costs and reshape its workforce while pouring tens of billions into AI. For a company that laid off more than 15,000 people last year, with additional cuts possible, a voluntary offer is also a gentler way to thin its ranks. 
It’s open to U.S. employees at the senior director level and below whose age and years of service add up to at least 70. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-employees-learn-details-of-voluntary-retirement-package-heres-what-the-company-is-offering/">The package</a> includes a lump-sum payout reaching up to about 39 weeks of pay, or roughly nine months’ salary, depending on level and tenure. 
For many, the bigger draw is health coverage. Microsoft pays it in full for the first year, then lets retirees and their families stay on its plans at COBRA rates for up to four more. The tradeoff: because they’re leaving voluntarily, those who take it generally can’t collect unemployment. 
The “VRP,” as the voluntary retirement program is known inside Microsoft (yes, there’s even an acronym on the way out the door), has received widespread attention inside and outside the company, driven in part by people dreaming of leaving their own workplaces behind. 
Update: About 33% of eligible employees took the retirement, which was within a range of about 30% to 40% that executives had been expecting, according to a person familiar with the numbers. (Microsoft previously declined to provide official numbers.) 
Business Insider <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-job-cuts-layoffs-sales-consulting-2026-6">reported Tuesday evening</a> and <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-set-to-cut-thousands-of-jobs-next-week-spanning-xbox-sales-and-consulting/">GeekWire confirmed</a> that Microsoft plans to cut thousands of jobs next week, less than 2.5% of its global workforce.
Judging from LinkedIn, at least, it has seemed like half the company is leaving, given the crush of longtime Microsofties saying goodbye in advance of the July 1 departure date. The public farewells are largely grateful and often nostalgic, and the responses celebratory. 
But the program has also surfaced concerns. 
Some of those eligible for early retirement were frustrated with the rollout, saying the gap between the announcement and the details fueled weeks of speculation and left people confused. 
Others, reflecting on their careers, point to deeper, longer-running issues inside the company: the constant churn of managers and reorgs that made it hard to finish anything, and a sense that the collaborative culture of Microsoft’s recent era is slipping away.
For those staying behind, there’s another worry: the loss of institutional knowledge and experience as so many longtime employees head for the door at once.
The program puts no restrictions on future employment, and some of those GeekWire interviewed say they aren’t really retiring at all. They range in age from their late 40s to their 60s. One is heading to a startup, another is finishing a doctorate, and a third is moving into conservation work. Others will take a breather before deciding on a second act. 
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<figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="536" height="581" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/aileen-hannah.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-936000" style="width:275px" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/aileen-hannah.jpeg 536w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/aileen-hannah-277x300.jpeg 277w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/aileen-hannah-200x217.jpeg 200w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/aileen-hannah-92x100.jpeg 92w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 536px) 100vw, 536px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">(Photo courtesy of Aileen Hannah)</figcaption></figure>
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<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/aileen-hannah-54581221/">Aileen Hannah</a> spent 24 years at Microsoft in a range of marketing and partner roles, joining the company’s U.K. subsidiary in 2002 and moving to Redmond in 2010. Along the way she changed countries, raised a daughter and made lifelong friendships.
Now in her mid-50s and divorced, her daughter grown and back in London, she had long been working toward a move into conservation work somewhere in the world, just on a longer timeline. She has no regrets about the years or the pay: she put her daughter through college, has a home she loves, and gets to leave while she’s “still young enough to enjoy it all.” 
When the offer came, she decided a financial and healthcare cushion to make the leap now was worth more than maximizing her final paychecks.
She doesn’t consider it retirement at all. “I consider that Microsoft is releasing me back into the wild,” she said, with no fixed plans beyond “a plate full of possibilities.”
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<figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1793" height="2100" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/justin-long.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-935999" style="width:275px" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/justin-long.jpeg 1793w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/justin-long-1076x1260.jpeg 1076w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/justin-long-768x899.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/justin-long-1311x1536.jpeg 1311w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/justin-long-1749x2048.jpeg 1749w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1793px) 100vw, 1793px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">(Photo courtesy of Justin Long)</figcaption></figure>
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<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-long-77ab7484/">Justin Long</a> spent his entire 28-year career in Microsoft’s Office and M365 engineering organization, with a hand in building, testing and shipping every version of Office since Office 2000. For the last seven years, he was a people manager.
In his early 50s, married 27 years with no children and debt-free, he had been working with a financial adviser and planning to retire at 55. The timing worked out: he was already stepping back into an individual-contributor role and had lined up a strong new manager for his team, so his departure wouldn’t leave them in the lurch. 
The payout, he says, means he won’t have to touch his 401(k) for roughly a decade.
The offer flipped his thinking, he said, from “I’ll put in a few more years” to “hey wow, I can actually retire now.” He intends to make it a true retirement, starting with a trip to Kauai, scuba lessons, and more time on photography, 3D printing and gardening.
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<figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="923" height="1085" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/james-whelan.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-936001" style="width:275px" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/james-whelan.jpeg 923w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/james-whelan-768x903.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 923px) 100vw, 923px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">(Photo courtesy of James Whelan)</figcaption></figure>
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<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/whelanjamesm/">James Whelan</a> grew up near Manchester, England, and joined Microsoft’s U.K. arm in 2000, transferring to Redmond in 2012. He moved from enterprise messaging support to a field-engineering role that sent him across Europe, then into partner work and identity engineering, in organizations now part of Microsoft’s Entra and Azure groups.
His retirement comes strangely early. He’s 49, and started just before his 24th birthday. “I’ve been at Microsoft for half my life,” he said. He first heard about the program from a neighbor’s text while visiting friends in Arizona.
When he crunched the numbers, the timing made sense. He wanted to choose his own moment, he said, rather than have it chosen for him.
He isn’t leaving the workforce. The payout isn’t enough to retire on, but it lets him “control my own destiny” and pick his next move. First, a short vacation to mark the start of the next chapter.
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<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1156" height="1260" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/denise-hazlick-1156x1260.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-936002" style="width:275px" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/denise-hazlick-1156x1260.jpeg 1156w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/denise-hazlick-768x837.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/denise-hazlick-1409x1536.jpeg 1409w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/denise-hazlick-1878x2048.jpeg 1878w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/denise-hazlick.jpeg 2025w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1156px) 100vw, 1156px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">(Photo courtesy of Denise Hazlick)</figcaption></figure>
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<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/denise-hazlick-099705/">Denise Hazlick</a> spent 17 years at msnbc.com, the former Microsoft-NBC venture, before joining Microsoft’s partner organization in 2013, where she ran marketing and communications through the company’s pivots to the cloud, to skilling and certification, and lately to AI.
A former journalist, now 61, she counts nearly three decades tied to Microsoft. She was promoted three times and leaves as a director, and after moving to Texas under the hybrid-work policy in 2023, she had been planning to retire this year anyway. 
Procrastinating just long enough to qualify made the package “a no-brainer,” with the extended healthcare a significant draw. More than the package, though, she was ready. 
“The industry and the company are changing,” she said, “and frankly, I just don’t have the energy or desire to shift yet again.” 
She doesn’t think of herself as fully retired, “just retired from Microsoft.” Her immediate plan is no plan: six months to reset before deciding what comes next.
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<figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="807" height="933" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/JPSzambelan.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-936003" style="width:275px" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/JPSzambelan.jpeg 807w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/JPSzambelan-768x888.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 807px) 100vw, 807px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">(Photo courtesy of JP Szambelan)</figcaption></figure>
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<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpszambelan/">J.P. Szambelan</a> spent nearly 16 years at Microsoft, starting in its consulting arm and working across the Office, Windows and Surface teams, including work on Windows 10, Surface devices and HoloLens. For his last eight years, he focused on the security business and its relationships with industry analysts. 
Szambelan found the work fulfilling and felt fairly rewarded, he said. Two to three years ago, he began planning his exit in earnest, working with a financial adviser toward what he called “vocational freedom.”
He didn’t think he qualified at first, since his age and years of service fell just short of 70, but the company rounded up, pushing him past a financial milestone he’d been aiming for. After nearly 16 years, he also felt a sense of completion.
It isn’t a true retirement. He’ll be starting work at a startup in July, one he chose for its equity upside. “I’ve still got the fire and strong desire to go build something new,” he said.
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<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1167" height="1260" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/scott-thurlow-1167x1260.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-936004" style="width:275px" srcset="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/scott-thurlow-1167x1260.jpeg 1167w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/scott-thurlow-768x829.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/scott-thurlow-1423x1536.jpeg 1423w, https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/scott-thurlow.jpeg 1609w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1167px) 100vw, 1167px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">(Photo courtesy of Scott Thurlow)</figcaption></figure>
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<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sthurlow/">Scott Thurlow</a> joined Microsoft in 1993 as one of the original program managers behind Outlook, shipping its first versions before leaving for Expedia in 2003. He returned in 2007 and worked on Bing, the messaging backend behind Teams, and, most recently, the Copilot team.
Married, with a daughter in college, he lives in Bellevue. About three years ago, he started chipping away at a doctorate in his spare time, which he jokes turned his decision into “a race condition between finishing my degree or retiring.” The offer answered it.
The healthcare offered under the Microsoft package gives him the runway to finish the degree without wrestling with Washington’s insurance marketplace. Leaving Microsoft also frees him to pursue his research, which focuses on how organizations can keep humans overseeing engineering work as AI takes on more of it. As an outsider, he can finally interview competitors like Google, Amazon and Meta without the baggage of a blue badge.
Beyond the degree, he’s keeping things open: “True retirement plans? No freaking clue.”
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<figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="691" height="744" src="https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Briand-Sanderson_headshot.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-936005" style="width:275px"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">(Photo courtesy of Briand Sanderson)</figcaption></figure>
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<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/briandsanderson/">Briand Sanderson</a> joined Microsoft in 1998 as a program manager on Internet Explorer, shipping IE5 through 6, after helping build the pioneering Mosaic browser at the University of Illinois. Over 25-plus years he also helped launch the original Microsoft Surface and, more recently, worked on the company’s Cloud and AI organization.
Now almost 59, he says the decision was “less about leaving and more about timing.” Treated fairly and leaving on good terms, he wanted to go out “on a high note, on my own terms, and with gratitude rather than burnout.”
It’s a true retirement from corporate technology, although he says he would “be a terrible retiree if I just stopped.” He’s turning to photography, which he taught before the pandemic, along with gardening and travel. 
“After a career spent building windows so other people could see more,” he said, “I’m picking up a camera and framing the view myself.”
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