Amazon earnings preview: Amazon reports second-quarter results Thursday afternoon, with AWS growth expected to accelerate and capital spending on pace for a record $200 billion this year. How much patience do investors have left for the company's bet on AI?
Read more.
The global AI race is triggering an unprecedented infrastructure boom, with tech giants like Amazon and Microsoft pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into high-powered data centers to keep pace with demand. “It’s hard to get your mind around the scale,” Peter DeSantis, who leads foundational AI models at Amazon, said in a new report from The New York Times, adding that the company has doubled its computing capacity since 2022 and plans to double it again by next year to support AI leaders like OpenAI and Anthropic.
Seattle lands another $1B startup: Los Angeles-based defense and hardware tech startup Nominal is opening a permanent Seattle office and relocating key leadership to the region as it builds out its local engineering team. CEO Cameron McCord said the city is one of only a handful of U.S. markets with a deep concentration of engineers experienced in solving large-scale infrastructure and reliability problems. Read more.
Unorthodox paths lead to the final frontier: A panel at Seattle Tech Week highlighted how workers from barista counters, telecommunications, and non-aerospace fields are finding surprising career crossovers into the Pacific Northwest's growing commercial space industry. Read more.
Uncommon Thinkers 2026: Nominations are now open for this annual GeekWire award, in partnership with Greater Seattle Partners. Help us honor inventors, scientists, technologists and entrepreneurs who are transforming industries and driving positive change throughout the world. Now in its fourth year, winners will be recognized at the GeekWire Gala in December. Read more and submit a nomination.
The anime robots are coming: Tokyo entertainment giant Bandai Namco is opening one of its “Gundam Base” retail stores at Southcenter mall near Seattle, targeting fans of the model kits tied to the long-running Gundam animation series. Read more.
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An ad campaign pushing back on criticisms of tech data centers' massive energy and water use is being run across Oregon and six other states by local front groups backed by the Data Center Coalition, an industry group representing companies like Microsoft and Google. (Washington State Standard)
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Seattle startup Gradial was selected for the Microsoft for Startups Pegasus Program, giving its AI-driven marketing automation platform direct access to Microsoft's enterprise customer network. (Gradial)
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A developer wants to convert former Microsoft office buildings near Costco’s headquarters in Issaquah, Wash., into 262 affordable housing units. (Puget Sound Business Journal)
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Bellevue-based TV ad measurement company iSpot is expanding its partnership with FOX Advertising after completing an initial one-year agreement to track cross-platform campaign performance. (BusinessWire)
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Seattle-based e-commerce giant Coupang made its debut on the Fortune Global 500 list following a 14% revenue jump to $34.5 billion last year. (Yahoo! Finance)
Thanks for subscribing, and have a great day. — GeekWire editor Todd Bishop, [email protected]; reporter Kurt Schlosser, [email protected]; and reporter Lisa Stiffler, [email protected].
