Articles from 2026 – Page 6 of 36

Despite business angst, Washington climbs in CNBC’s state rankings — but still trails its former standing

Washington climbed three spots to No. 11 in CNBC’s annual America’s Top States for Business rankings, up from No. 14 last year, suggesting that many of the state’s underlying competitive strengths remain intact even as debate over its business climate has intensified. Read More

Microsoft’s carbon emissions climb 25% as tech giants grapple with AI’s energy toll

Microsoft’s annual sustainability report shows a 25% emissions jump fueled by AI energy demands, testing its 2030 climate goal to become carbon negative. But its chief sustainability officer remains optimistic that long-term investments in carbon reductions and a “portfolio approach” can still rescue their ambitious targets. Read More

Supply chain startup Auger, led by ex-Amazon operations chief, raises $50M and lands big customers

Former Amazon executive Dave Clark’s supply chain startup has raised $50 million in new funding, bringing its total to $150 million, as it builds a customer base that includes Meta, Fanatics, and Kimberly-Clark. Read More

T-Mobile exec Mike Katz exits after 28 years, as carrier reshuffles top ranks and taps ex-AT&T leader

T-Mobile’s longest-tenured Un-carrier architect is leaving after 28 years, as CEO Srini Gopalan reshapes the carrier’s leadership team and brings in a former AT&T executive. Read More

Tech Moves: Seattle tech exec named Dropbox CPO; Xbox VP among layoffs; C-suite changes at T-Mobile

Past exec at Amazon, Microsoft and Google is now Dropbox’s first CPO; T-Mobile appoints a new C-suite leader and promotes another; and Xbox VP Kevin LaChapelle is laid off in Microsoft’s big round of layoffs. Read More

The drive to make a better golf app: Former pro athlete bets big on ‘Barkie’ and AI as a caddie

Dane Renkert is co-founder and CEO of the Bellingham, Wash.-based startup that’s building an app that tracks scores by voice alone, settles betting games automatically, and never requires a golfer to look down at a screen. Read More

This startup lets companies teach AI about their brands — and the chatbots are listening

Optimly swept three awards at the Flywheel Investment Conference in Wenatchee and has closed an $800,000 pre-seed round backed by AI House, the Seattle startup studio formerly known as AI2 Incubator. The company builds a public index where brands can correct what AI chatbots say about them. Read More

Former GitHub CEO’s startup Entire unveils its answer to the crush of AI coding agents

Former GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke’s startup Entire is rolling out a distributed network for mirroring code repositories, making the case that centralized platforms like he once ran as part of Microsoft can’t handle the demands of AI coding agents on their own. Read More

10 new startups emerge from the University of Washington, with healthcare dominating the lineup

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. Read More

Former Impinj CEO Bill Colleran tapped to lead Seattle AI coding startup Adronite

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. Read More

Chicago software company plants flag in Seattle area as new leadership team seeks AI talent

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. Read More

Etzioni on AI: Does AI bolster or undercut democracy?

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. Read More

An agent in the empty chair: Amazon vets launch Primitive Labs, using AI to model customer behavior

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.
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Filing shows Amazon cut 57 tech jobs in Washington state in recent weeks

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. Read More

Seattle’s Cascade PBS spins out Local Public, a tech platform that builds streaming apps for stations

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. Read More

A ‘painful’ reset for Xbox: 3,200 job cuts, studio spinoffs, and a vow to return to growth in 2027

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. Read More

Microsoft cuts 4,800 jobs, about 2% globally, revamps salesforce and launches massive Xbox overhaul

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. Read More

Etzioni on AI: Elon Musk promised humanoid robots, but China delivered

While American tech giants are valued for the anticipation of perfect prototypes, Chinese manufacturers are winning the robotics race by getting paid for delivery. Read More

Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of June 28, 2026

See the technology stories that people were reading on GeekWire for the week of June 28, 2026. Read More

Xbox at a crossroads: 25 years later, Microsoft is done playing around

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. Read More

Overland AI lands Marine Corps deal worth nearly $20M to build self-driving military vehicles

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. Read More

Pet project: Seattle startup studio’s new app connects neighbors through their dogs

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. Read More

Meet the 17 startups that took part in Creative Destruction Lab’s latest Seattle accelerator

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. Read More

Nvidia recruits longtime Microsoft sales leader Nick Parker with $40M+ pay package

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. Read More

Night launch of Atlas 5 rocket with Amazon Leo satellites

Amazon Leo says its latest launch gives it enough satellites to start broadband internet service

Competition with SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network is expected to begin in earnest later this year. Read More

Inside the race to power AI data centers with fusion energy — and the surprise detours along the way

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. Read More

Steamboats to software: Microsoft’s Brad Smith mines America’s founding for tech insights

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. Read More

Zoom snaps up Seattle startup Common Room to bolster AI-powered sales tools

Common Room emerged from stealth in 2021 with $52 million in funding and was the 2022 GeekWire Awards Startup of the Year. Read More

KredosAI raises $7M, led by BMW’s venture arm, to use AI to help companies collect late payments

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. Read More

Microsoft unveils $2.5B ‘Frontier Company’ to embed AI engineers inside customers

“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. Read More