Articles from 2026

Recycler rescues mysterious trove of rare aerospace hardware, and sets out to discover its past

Instead of obsolete laptops, gaming consoles or a mess of tangled cords, a drop-off at a Bellevue, Wash., electronics recycler turned up experimental 1970s microprocessors and early flight-control cables that were more like the ultimate tech time capsule. Read More

The code AI forgot: logcat.ai raises $2.55M to put agents to work on device operating systems

Seattle startup logcat.ai has raised $2.55 million in pre-seed funding to build AI agents for debugging and developing device operating systems. Founded by two former Esper engineers, the company is going after the low-level Android and Linux software inside phones, vehicles, and other connected devices. Read More

AWS EC2 and AI leader Dave Brown to exit, replaced by Amazon exec and Microsoft vet Dave Treadwell

Dave Brown is leaving Amazon Web Services after nearly 19 years, departing at the end of July for a new role outside the company. Dave Treadwell, a longtime Amazon executive who spent 27 years at Microsoft, will take over AWS Compute and ML Services on Aug. 1. Read More

JPMorgan Chase bets on Seattle to build its AI control layer

JPMorgan Chase is building out a new AI software infrastructure team, with a major presence in Seattle, focused on running AI across its data centers and outside providers in a way that controls costs, protects its intellectual property, and avoids tying its fortunes to any one vendor. Read More

M&Ms, solar panels and plain language: Inside the climate strategy of Slalom’s Meagan Breidert

Four years ago, Meagan Breidert shifted her career into climate work to tackle “big, challenging, complex problems” — landing a role as Slalom’s senior director of sustainability and impact. In this profile, Breidert shares her wish to get coffee and talk chocolate with the Mars CSO, her dream environmental innovation, and other insights. Read More

Startup Spotlight: Hedgehog bets that open-source networking will power the next generation of AI clouds

Founded in 2022 by CEO Marc Austin, a Cisco networking veteran, Hedgehog develops open-source software designed to make private AI data centers operate more like hyperscale clouds. Read More

As General Fusion makes historic Nasdaq debut, report shows global funding surged to $4.5B

General Fusion’s stock is trading up after it became the first fusion energy company to go public on a major… Read More

Vieu launches AI-ready map of business relationships, challenging tech incumbents

Vieu, a Seattle startup founded by former Microsoft leaders, launched its “Business Graph” — a live map of business relationships built from observed signals like shared work history and board affiliations, rather than the self-reported connections on LinkedIn. Read More

Apptio co-founders reunite to launch enterprise AI startup Thira with $21M in funding led by Madrona

Apptio co-founders Sunny Gupta and Kurt Shintaffer launched Thira, a Bellevue-based enterprise AI startup, with $21 million in seed funding led by Madrona. Thira is building AI agents to autonomously handle IT support tickets and other back-office work at large companies. Read More

Salesforce’s Tableau renews Fremont office lease, signaling long-term Seattle commitment

The renewal continues Tableau’s long association with Fremont, where the company added offices over the years to accommodate its rapid growth before its $15.7 billion acquisition by Salesforce in 2019. Read More

Motorola leads $125M round for Brinc, fueling 911 drone expansion amid U.S. import crackdown

Seattle-based 911 drone maker Brinc raised $125 million led by Motorola Solutions, at a valuation the company says has nearly doubled from a year ago. The funding will support expanded manufacturing and a new Seattle headquarters and factory later this year. Read More

Grunge meets slop: An AI time traveler visits 1992 Seattle when music, not tech, ruled the city

The AI-generated video is an interesting study in how technology that’s very much being built and hyped in Seattle can be used to illustrate what the city sort of looked like more than three decades ago. Read More

Tech Moves: Remitly CMO departs; Temporal names EVP; Veeam and Qualtrics leadership changes

Rina Hahn leaves role as Remitly’s CMO; Temporal promotes Preeti Somal to EVP amid reorganization; and Veeam and Qualtrics make leadership changes. Read More

Venture funding drops in Seattle area as AI boom reshapes startup world

Seattle-area startups raised $2.7 billion in the first half of 2026, down 40% from a year ago, even as U.S. venture funding hit a record $412.7 billion. The disconnect: AI mega-rounds are driving the national boom, and Seattle’s biggest deals were in fusion, space, and cybersecurity. Read More

Archives to avatars: Famed historian is moved by Microsoft’s AI-powered Theodore Roosevelt at new library

With the opening of the new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, N.D., earlier this month, visitors can interact with a lifelike, AI-powered avatar of Roosevelt and ask questions about his life, leadership and legacy. Read More

Augmodo raises $21M to push its spatial AI beyond just retail toward the broader physical workforce

Customer demand is pulling the Seattle startup’s technology into warehouses, facility maintenance, delivery, and other parts of the physical workforce. Read More

Etzioni on AI: Who disagrees with you about AI? Here’s what the research shows

Optimism comes from those with the most to gain, in the rising economies and inside the labs; doubts rise from those with the most to lose or the most to fear. Read More

Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of July 5, 2026

See the technology stories that people were reading on GeekWire for the week of July 5, 2026. Read More

What to know about Vinod Khosla, the Silicon Valley legend whose family is buying the Seahawks

He’s obsessive about talent, fiercely loyal to the leaders he picks, and relentless when told no. Here’s what Vinod Khosla’s four decades in tech and investing tell us about how the venture capitalist and his family are likely to approach owning the Seahawks. Read More

Podcast

Microsoft’s reset, a new era for Seattle startups, and how AI is changing everything for founders

On this week’s show, we’re on the GeekWire deck for our annual founder open house, where we dig into Microsoft’s latest round of layoffs — including a major Xbox shakeup — and the surprising rise of hardware companies on the GeekWire 200. Read More

Elon Musk’s Mars illusion

A look at the science behind Elon Musk’s goal of a million-person city on Mars, and why planetary scientists say terraforming the planet to make it habitable would take centuries, if it’s possible at all. The revenue Musk says will pay for the Mars effort comes from Starlink, the satellite network SpaceX designs and builds in Redmond. Read More

What’s Howard’s end? Former Starbucks CEO is ripping Washington state again

For the second time in the past 60 days, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has penned an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal that takes direct aim at the state’s political leadership, calling Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson “inept” and noting that Gov. Bob Ferguson continues to “burden businesses with one tax increase after another.” Read More

General Fusion set to become the first publicly traded fusion stock on a major exchange

British Columbia-based General Fusion on Friday completed its deal to become first publicly traded fusion stock on a major exchange.… Read More

Data vs. gut instinct: Seahawks coach leans into analytics to support, not drive, in-game decisions

“You don’t have to do what the numbers say,” Mike Macdonald said, adding that variables such as how a game is going, the feel for your own team, and gut instinct can all cancel out data suggestions. Read More

The awkward timing of the Xbox CEO’s new Federal Reserve gig

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma was named to co-lead a Federal Reserve task force on jobs and productivity — three days after announcing 3,200 job cuts across Microsoft’s gaming division. The gaming press is having a field day. Read More

Opinion: The WALL-E Economy

HashiCorp co-founder Armon Dadgar argues that convenience-driven apps and AI are pushing us toward the dystopia depicted in Pixar’s 2008 film, and makes the case for regulation and intentional living as the antidote. Read More

Why the video game industry may be sliding toward its next big crash

Commentary: The last couple of weeks have served as a capstone to what’s become a bad few years for the international video game industry. Now it appears the larger sector is headed directly into some significant crash, as several unsustainable practices all seem to be approaching a crisis point at once. Read More