Articles from 2026 – Page 2 of 45

Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Sept. 27, 2026

See the technology stories that people were reading on GeekWire for the week of Sept. 27, 2026. Read More

Washington climate tech founders score funding as AI boom drains investor cash

As investor dollars are channeled into data centers, a philanthropic effort stepped up to fund six early-stage Washington climate tech startups building hardware, bio-resins and energy storage. Read More

Podcast

Seattle and San Francisco: Big tech, political backlash and the AI boom

In a live joint recording of the GeekWire and Blue City Blues podcasts, GeekWire’s John Cook, historian Margaret O’Mara and journalist Jonathan Weber join Blue City Blues hosts David Hyde and Sandeep Kaushik to discuss the tech industry’s tensions with Seattle and San Francisco, and what the AI boom means for the future of both cities. Read More

The biggest unresolved question in AI right now, and more takeaways from Madrona’s IA40 Summit

Executives from Microsoft, Amazon, Anthropic and Stripe described AI agents stepping between companies and their customers, without settling who keeps the customer relationship or the data that comes from it. Also: why most companies are far behind Anthropic’s own gains from AI, and a split over relying on a single AI provider. Read More

Seattle voice AI startup Ultravox, formerly known as Fixie, acquired by Inworld

Inworld has acquired Seattle-based AI startup Ultravox for an undisclosed sum to enhance its real-time voice technology. Founded in 2022 as Fixie, the startup previously raised $17 million to build speech models capable of handling conversational turn-taking and interruptions. Read More

Space Northwest Symposium attendees in the lobby of a conference hall with Varda space capsule on display

Seattle Space Week shines a light on eight problems and prospects for pioneers on the final frontier

How high can the Pacific Northwest’s space industry rise? And what factors are holding it back? Experts share their perspectives. Read More

Seattle software engineer turned general contractor built an AI guide to the patchwork of permit rules

The site, kolmo.io/permits, serves as an un-gated database designed to answer the questions that usually send homeowners into a spiral of municipal PDFs. The AI-powered tool covers 457 verified rules across 80 jurisdictions in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties, linking each rule directly to specific city source pages and exact wording rather than forcing users to rely on rough guesses and Google searches. Read More

Amazon pledges $1B to data center communities, warns that local opposition threatens U.S. AI lead

Amazon says it will spend more than $1 billion over five years on community college, job training and other programs in the U.S. communities that host its data centers. The move responds to a growing backlash that AWS CEO Matt Garman says threatens the country’s lead in AI. Read More

SpaceX’s rideshare launch kicks off milestone mission for Starfish Space’s first Otter space vehicle

Falcon 9 rocket launches 130 payloads, including Starfish’s flagship spacecraft as well as Cowboy Space’s first satellite and a NASA astrophysics probe. Read More

Startup Spotlight: Porchlight uses AI to help foster human connection in senior care

With the tap of a single button on a device, a resident hears a prompt, records their memories, and lets the platform automatically generate a concise “Know Your Resident” briefing for care staff, as well as a private audio feed for family members. Read More

Tech Moves: Amazon GM departs for Scala; Flyhomes appoints 3 leaders; Heinz Marketing names COO

Amazon general manager departs to become CTO of Scala; Flyhomes appoints three leaders; and Heinz Marketing names new COO/president. Read More

Longtime Microsoft research leader Peter Lee and former LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky to depart

Two top Microsoft executives shared this week that they’re leaving the Redmond, Wash., tech giant: Peter Lee, the former head of Microsoft Research, and Ryan Roslansky, Microsoft executive vice president overseeing both LinkedIn and Microsoft Office. Read More

New JPMorganChase Seattle tech leader: How AI is changing what the bank looks for in engineers

Ture Armas, the new leader of JPMorganChase’s Seattle Tech Center, says AI is pushing engineers to work more closely with the business, changing how the bank hires. The center has more than 400 people and about 50 openings in AI, cloud and cybersecurity. Read More

Kindle gets a clicker: Amazon unveils $35 page-turning remote and refreshes its e-reader lineup

Amazon unveiled the Kindle Click, a $34.99 Bluetooth remote for turning pages, alongside a redesigned lineup of Kindle e-readers with flush screens, optional aluminum housings and user-replaceable batteries. Read More

Illustration: Elytra craft in lunar orbit with the moon in background

Starcloud’s AI computing payload will get a ride to lunar orbit on Firefly’s space vehicle

Prototype data center scheduled to make the trip to the moon to demonstrate Starcloud’s in-space processing capabilities in 2028. Read More

UW moves Global Innovation Exchange program to Microsoft’s campus in rent-free deal

The University of Washington and Microsoft celebrated the official opening of the Global Innovation Exchange’s new permanent home on the tech giant’s campus. Supported by a $42 million in-kind contribution from Microsoft, the rent-free facility embeds UW students and researchers alongside tech industry leaders. Read More

Seattle Times journalists picket over AI, calling for job protections in contract talks

Members of the Seattle Times Union held a lunchtime picket outside the newspaper’s offices Wednesday, calling on the company to guarantee that AI won’t replace any newsroom jobs. The company has agreed that AI won’t interview sources or write stories, but the union says other roles such as copy editors and photographers aren’t protected. Read More

UW starts construction on $231.1M chemistry hub set to open in 2029

The University of Washington broke ground on a $231.1 million Chemical Sciences Building set to open in 2029, featuring 104,500 square feet of state-of-the-art labs for instruction and research in quantum science, sustainable chemistry, and human health. The new five-story facility will replace the old Chemistry Library Building and pave the way for a full renovation of historic Bagley Hall. Read More

Report: Downtown Seattle lost 13,000 jobs in a year, while Bellevue’s tech hub boomed

Seattle lost 18,000 jobs between 2024 and 2025—with 70% concentrated downtown—while Bellevue added over 5,300, according to new Downtown Seattle Association data. Amid business claims that the JumpStart payroll tax is driving tech across the lake, Mayor Katie Wilson has moved to freeze tax rates in her new budget to give employers stability amid broader industry shifts. Read More

‘Agents are very harsh customers’: Microsoft exec warns many apps will lose pricing leverage

Microsoft’s Charles Lamanna says most business software will end up running behind AI agents rather than in front of users, leaving apps with less pricing power and customer loyalty. His comments come as Amazon blocks Meta’s Muse agent from shopping on its site. Read More

There’s a new No. 1 on the GeekWire 200 as AI and hardware reshape our Pacific Northwest startup index

Temporal, whose software keeps AI agents running reliably, is the new No. 1 on the GeekWire 200. Companies building AI software and advanced machinery for space, energy and defense lead the Fall 2026 update of our ranking of the Pacific Northwest’s top privately held tech startups. Read More

Spending management company Fraxion acquires Yellow Dog Software

Seattle-based spending management platform Fraxion has acquired Yellow Dog Software, an inventory tracking provider for hospitality, sports and retail businesses. Fraxion serves as a digital gatekeeper for business expenses by tracking, controlling and approving business expenses. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Read More

Meet the X-BAT: Full specs on the new AI-piloted fighter jet to be built in Washington state

X-BAT at a Glance: Measuring 26 feet long with a 1,000-nautical-mile combat radius, Shield AI’s autonomous strike fighter is designed to launch vertically from highways or naval decks—bypassing traditional runways entirely. Here is a detailed look at the aircraft’s specs, timeline, and capabilities as production sets to begin in Des Moines, Wash. Read More

Shield AI selects Seattle area to build X-BAT autonomous fighter jet, plans to add 4,000 jobs by early 2030s

Defense tech upstart Shield AI has selected the Puget Sound region as the manufacturing hub for X-BAT, bringing AI-piloted fighter production to the region and promising 4,000 jobs by the early 2030s. Read More

Kanu AI emerges from stealth with $11.7M to turn employee workflows into custom software

Founded by Y Combinator alum and former machine learning engineer Karan Grover, Seattle-based Kanu AI has raised $11.7 million to solve a persistent enterprise problem: valuable operational knowledge getting trapped in employees’ heads and spreadsheets. Led by Trilogy Equity Partners, the new funding will help scale Kanu’s platform, which automatically converts day-to-day employee workflows into permanent, production-grade software deployed directly within a company’s cloud. Read More

Pay-i rebrands as Ascerta and raises $18M to help enterprises track AI business value

The fresh capital brings total funding to $22.9 million for the Bellevue startup, which launched in May 2025 with a $4.9 million seed round. Read More

Illustration: Washington state map with logos for space ventures spread across the territory

Fresh figures suggest Washington’s space industry has doubled its economic impact … again

Space Northwest gathers statistics on the state of the state’s space ventures — and selects eight startups for its accelerator program. Read More

‘I’m not sure we’d make the same decision’: A rocket maker’s reality check for the Seattle region

Stoke Space CEO Andy Lapsa, whose company is building a fully reusable rocket, told a Seattle audience he isn’t sure he’d start the company in Washington state today. Read More

‘Losing a piece of my life’: As Amazon’s Mechanical Turk shuts down, gig workers recall the HITs

Launched in 2005 as a platform where human workers could perform quick digital chores that early software couldn’t handle, the marketplace became a fixture for researchers, remote freelancers, and data labelers worldwide — and its exit is triggering a wave of nostalgia and anxiety across online forums. Read More

Meadow AI lands $7M to scale ‘digital secret shopper’ platform for physical retailers and restaurants

Meadow AI develops an artificial intelligence “co-manager” platform that gives operators real-time visibility into physical locations. The software ingests video and audio feeds alongside labor and inventory data to continuously monitor team execution, service speed, and overall store conditions. Read More