01-26-26 -

Washington proposal to tax startup exits sparks backlash from Seattle tech le...
A new proposal to expand the capital gains tax in Washington state is drawing concern from startup leaders who say it could undercut incentives for building companies in the region. Read More

01-26-26 -

Rad Power Bikes sells for $13.2M as asset auction attracts bidders for bankru...
Rad Power Bikes has auctioned off some of its assets as part of the Seattle-based e-bike maker’s ongoing bankruptcy process,… Read More

01-26-26 -

Expedia Group lays off employees in latest cuts at Seattle travel giant
Online posts indicate that the layoffs impacted workers around the Seattle region and other locations. Read More

01-26-26 -

Leading nuclear project in the U.S.: TerraPower closes in on key permits for ...
In perhaps a matter of weeks, Bill Gates-backed TerraPower expects to receive federal permits to build the nuclear components of its first-of-a-kind, next-gen plant in Wyoming. Read More

01-26-26 -

Microsoft unveils Maia 200 AI chip, claiming performance edge over Amazon and...
Microsoft says its new Maia 200 chip outperforms Amazon's and Google's latest AI silicon on key benchmarks. The chip is already running Copilot and GPT-5.2 in production. Read More

01-25-26 -

Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Jan. 18, 2026
See the technology stories that people were reading on GeekWire for the week of Jan. 18, 2026. Read More

01-24-26 -

Microsoft and Amazon, together on housing: Tech giants find common ground in ...
Microsoft and Amazon are rivals in the cloud, but on the same page when it comes to Washington's housing crisis — literally, in the case of a joint op-ed and full-page ad in The Seattle Times. Read More

01-24-26 -

Microsofts private OpenAI emails, Satyas new AI catchphrase, and the rise of ...
This week on the GeekWire Podcast: Newly unsealed court documents reveal the behind-the-scenes history of Microsoft and OpenAI, including a surprise: Amazon Web Services was the Silicon Valley AI lab's original partner. We tell the story behind t...

01-23-26 -

Seattles ORCA transit system gets major tech upgrade with new Tap to Pay feature
Seattle's ORCA transit system is rolling out an upgrade that will let riders pay fares by tapping their credit card or smartphone — no dedicated ORCA card required. Read More

01-23-26 -

Light rail across Lake Washington a major connection for Seattle-area tech hu...
The completed 2 Line will ultimately connect downtown Seattle to downtown Bellevue and the Redmond Technology station at Microsoft’s headquarters campus. Read More

01-23-26 -

Tech Moves: Amazon employee retiring after 20 years; former Oracle and Micros...
A longtime leader for Fulfillment by Amazon retires and offers parting thoughts, while former executives with Oracle, Microsoft and LevelTen take new roles. Read More

01-23-26 -

Startup Radar: Seattle founders tackle nutrition apps, retail media, business...
Our latest Startup Radar spotlights four early stage tech startups in the region: Axel AI, DrunR, Eluum, and profileAPI. Read More

01-22-26 -

Reports: Amazons latest layoffs could begin next week
Amazon laid off about 14,000 workers globally in October. The company indicated that more layoffs could occur in 2026. Read More

01-22-26 -

Seattle startup Overland AI partners with CAL FIRE to use self-driving 4-whee...
Overland AI is expanding its reach beyond military applications. Read More

01-22-26 -

B.C. energy company General Fusion aims to go public via a $1B SPAC deal
Less than a year after layoffs and a public plea by its CEO for new investments, General Fusion announced a $1 billion deal with Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. III to go public. Read More

01-22-26 -

Air Force awards $4.9M contract to Seattle-area autonomous construction start...
AIM's technology works with existing equipment and is designed for dangerous or hard-to-reach places, including areas where equipment might be dropped in by parachute. Read More

01-22-26 -

The race to replace lithium: Seattle startup lands funding for salt-powered b...
Seattle startup Emerald Battery Labs raised just under $1.1 million in a pre-seed round to continue scaling its sodium-ion battery technology. Read More

01-21-26 -

Satya Nadellas new metaphor for the AI Age: We are becoming managers of infin...
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella riffed on some famous lines from tech leaders past this week in an appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and offered up his own trippy candidate to join the canon of computing metaphors.  Read More

01-21-26 -

Portland-based chip startup AheadComputing raises $30M for CPU tech
AheadComputing, a Portland, Ore.-based chip startup that designs and licenses CPU cores aimed at boosting performance for AI and data… Read More

01-21-26 -

Blue Origin unveils TeraWave, a global satellite network designed to handle t...
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture says it’ll be ramping up an ultra-high-speed satellite data network called TeraWave, which will… Read More

01-21-26 -

Code.org lays off 18 employees to ensure long-term sustainability at educatio...
Following the cuts, the staff now numbers 107 at the computer science education organization. Read More

01-21-26 -

Tech Moves: Former Microsoft CVP joins Amazon; Chronus names CEO; REI hires A...
Jigar Thakkar is now vice president of Amazon Quick Suite, a platform that uses agentic AI to automate business workflows, research, and data access. Read More

01-21-26 -

Starfish Space wins $52.5M contract to provide satellite disposal service for...
Seattle-area startup plans to use its Otter spacecraft to deorbit military satellites safely at the end of their operational lives. Read More

01-21-26 -

Gates Foundation, OpenAI launch $50M AI health initiative targeting 1,000 cli...
The Gates Foundation and OpenAI are launching a new partnership aimed at bringing artificial intelligence into frontline health care systems… Read More

01-20-26 -

Wildly productive weekend: Former Amazon execs vibe coding post sparks debate...
Dave Clark didn’t just get some chores done this weekend. He built an entire end-to-end customer prototype, reworked a deck,… Read More

01-20-26 -

Meta laying off 331 workers in Washington state as part of broader cuts to Re...
The heaviest hit facility is the Reality Labs office in Redmond, followed by the Spring District office in Bellevue, according to a state filing. Read More

01-20-26 -

Bill to tax short-term rentals returns in Washington state along with Airbnb...
Senate Bill 5576 would allow counties, cities and towns to impose a tax of up to 4% on short-term rentals used by vacation guests on platforms such as Airbnb and Vrbo. The bill failed to advance during the 2025 session. Read More

01-20-26 -

Seattle startup that brings hedge fund investing capabilities to anyone raise...
The company aims to give everyday investors access to strategies traditionally reserved for hedge funds and ultra-wealthy clients. Read More

01-20-26 -

Fire at Rad Power Bikes retail facility in California is latest trouble for S...
The Seattle-based e-bike company did not share a cause for the fire, which happened when the store was closed. Read More

01-20-26 -

The Microsoft-OpenAI Files: Internal documents reveal the realities of AIs de...
Internal emails, texts, slide decks, and deposition testimony reveal how Microsoft went from being sidelined at OpenAI’s founding to wielding decisive influence over the AI lab that launched the generative AI era — and how that power is now be...

01-20-26 -

Tech Moves: Ex-Pinterest CMO joins Microsoft AI; Anthropic hires former Micro...
Andréa Mallard, who spent the past seven years leading marketing at Pinterest, joined Microsoft AI as its new chief marketing… Read More

01-20-26 -

Pioneer Collective expanding its co-working space in downtown Seattle
TPC is taking over 6,600 square feet of space directly above its current location in the historic Guiry Schillestad Building at 2101 1st Ave. Read More

01-20-26 -

Engineers in the field: Washington state bets on AI to help save the future o...
A new initiative called Growing with AI will bring together the state's tech giants and diverse farming community to tackle pressing challenges in the agriculture industry. Read More

01-19-26 -

Washington lawmakers target addictive social media feeds in revived push for ...
This story first appeared in the Washington State Standard. Avery Ping had a knack for noticing who in a room might… Read More

01-19-26 -

Travel startup founder trades banking for basecamps, and makes bucket-list tr...
Preeti Suri is co-founder and CEO of Bellevue, Wash.-based AdventureTripr, a travel marketplace leveraging technology and AI to help facilitate multi-day outdoor excursions. Read More

01-18-26 -

Vega Cloud enters receivership, with millions in debt, in surprise turn for S...
Once a fast-growing cloud management startup with millions in revenue, Vega Cloud has entered receivership, saying it can no longer pay its debts. In the tight-knit Spokane tech community, Vega Cloud had been seen as a startup with the potential t...

01-18-26 -

Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Jan. 11, 2026
See the technology stories that people were reading on GeekWire for the week of Jan. 11, 2026. Read More

01-17-26 -

The start of a very long journey: NASAs Artemis moon rocket makes the slow tr...
SLS rocket is rolled out in preparation for sending humans around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. Read More

01-17-26 -

Amazon fixes Alexa ordering bug, Microsoft rethinks AI data centers, and came...
Amazon fixes an Alexa voice-ordering bug after a listener spotted a misleading comment on the GeekWire Podcast. We dig into the limits of voice commerce, Microsoft’s new “community first” approach to AI data centers, and what it says about g...

01-16-26 -

AI research boost: University of Washington expands infrastructure with $10M ...
Sen. Patty Murray said the funding will help provide a counterweight to AI development driven primarily by private capital. "If just billionaires are creating and using AI for their own projects that make money, then we lose out on most of th...

01-16-26 -

Rocketdyne redux: Seattle areas oldest rocket factory to get new ownership un...
Redmond facility will become part of Rocketdyne joint venture created by $845 million deal involving L3Harris and AE Industrial Partners. Read More

01-16-26 -

Tech Moves: Microsoft CVP jumps to Google; Seattle engineers launch new start...
A team of engineering vets from Microsoft, Meta and Stripe are launching a secretive startup, while GitHub names a VP and Atana appoints a CEO. Read More

01-16-26 -

What Microsoft has learned about housing, and why its urging the state to unl...
Microsoft is supporting a Washington state bill to open up underused commercial land for housing, asserting that the larger crisis is solvable only if lawmakers unlock land faster, streamline permitting, and treat housing as a connected system rat...

01-16-26 -

A new era of software development: Claude Code has Seattle engineers buzzing ...
More than 150 techies packed the house at a Claude Code meetup event in Seattle on Thursday evening, eager to trade use cases and share how they're using Anthropic's fast-growing technology. Read More

01-15-26 -

Microsoft campus library closes in broader shift to AI-powered digital learni...
Microsoft is closing its traditional employee libraries, including the longtime Redmond facility where authors gave talks and employees browsed books. The company calls it a shift to AI-powered learning. Read More

01-15-26 -

Meta layoffs hit Seattle-area VR studio Camouflaj, developer behind Batman game
A series of layoffs across Meta’s virtual reality division has affected the Bellevue, Wash.-based studio. Read More

01-15-26 -

Seattle-area startup MontyCloud raises Series B round to boost cloud operatio...
MontyCloud, a Redmond, Wash.-based startup that helps companies optimize their cloud operations, raised a fresh Series B round to fuel… Read More

01-14-26 -

Seattle skyscraper renamed to JPMorganChase Center as banking giant relocates...
One of Seattle’s tallest skyscrapers has a new name that reflects JPMorganChase’s growing banking and technology hub in Seattle. Formerly… Read More

01-14-26 -

Seattle-area startup Included acquired by Phenom in HR software deal
Included launched five years ago in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the widespread move by companies nationwide to better support racial and ethnic diversity throughout their operations. Read More

01-14-26 -

Big tech takes a backseat to big science in Washington governors annual address
While AI is generating all the buzz, it was Washington state's climate tech and healthcare innovation that got shoutouts in Gov. Bob Ferguson's State of the State address. Read More