This Month's Latest Tech News in Greenville, NC - Saturday May 31st 2025 Edition

Greenville, NC is rapidly solidifying its reputation as a driving force in America's tech and AI revolution, powered by local universities and statewide innovation initiatives.

East Carolina University (ECU), a Carnegie R1 research institution, recently celebrated two researchers - Dr. Stephanie Richards, whose patent-pending mosquito control device promises economic and public health impacts, and Dr. Patrick Briley, who developed an AI-driven digital platform to support speech therapy - receiving coveted NCInnovation grant funding for real-world impact.

Across the state, higher education institutions like N.C. A&T and North Carolina Central University are expanding AI education and equity, with NCCU's new Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Equity Research, backed by a $1 million Google.org grant, aiming to reach 200 students in its first two years and strengthen inclusive technology development.

As North Carolina celebrated its first official Technology Day this month, leaders emphasized collaboration, workforce growth, and the state's ninth-largest tech workforce - boosted by one-third female representation.

As Lenovo's VP Scott Tease noted during the event,

“The real value of AI is humans plus machines working together.”

To see how grant funding is being distributed for AI equity and workforce development, review the table below:

Program	Grant Amount
NCCU AI Institute	$1,000,000
NCCU AI Tutors Program	$45,000
NC School of Science and Math AI Summer Institute	$408,000
NC Business Committee for Education	$385,000
Appalachian State University Cybersecurity Program/AI PD	$100,000
NC Growth AI & Tech for Rural Communities	$100,000
Durham Public Schools Foundation	$25,000

Learn more about ECU's innovation leadership at ECU News Services, find details on state-wide AI degree programs with WUNC's coverage of North Carolina's AI education advances, and get an overview of North Carolina's Technology Day and AI ambitions at WRAL TechWire.

Greenville Technical College has officially broken ground on its transformative $18 million Center for Welding and Automation Excellence at the Brashier Campus, a direct response to the urgent workforce gap in welding, with 400,000 job openings nationwide and just one new welder entering the field for every four who leave.

This 44,000-square-foot facility, set to open in Fall 2026, will revolutionize training by consolidating classrooms, labs, and hands-on AI and robotic welding programs under one roof.

Funding combines a $15 million commitment from the South Carolina General Assembly with $2.9 million in federal equipment grants, empowering Greenville Tech to boost its robotic welding stations from 4 to 16 and total welding stations from 90 to 140.

The center features ground-floor labs for AI-powered welding, robotics, and advanced techniques like MIG, pipe, and laser welding, as well as second-floor breakout rooms and observation spaces for industry partners.

As Dr. Keith Miller, Greenville Tech president, explains,

“We look forward to solving the welding challenge in workforce development with the Center for Welding and Automation Excellence…our facility will be second to none.”

This investment is critical as projections suggest 320,500 new welding professionals will be needed by 2029, with an average annual median salary of $55,600.

For more on the center's vision and regional impact, visit the Greenville Technical College news release on the Center for Welding and Automation Excellence, in-depth coverage by the Greenville Journal's article on Greenville Tech breaking ground, or the detailed report from Greenville Business Magazine's detailed report.

Key Metric	Value
Facility Size	44,000 sqft
Total Project Funding	$18 million
Welding Stations	140 (was 90)
Robotic Stations	16 (was 4)
US Welding Openings (2025)	400,000
Median Welding Salary	$55,600

Sara, launched this month by CONVO GPT, is the latest AI-driven platform primed to transform sales and recruiting in Greenville and beyond, reflecting national trends shaping revenue technology in 2025.

Designed as an always-on AI agent, Sara harnesses agentic automation to handle everything from lead discovery and hyper-personalized outreach to intelligent meeting scheduling and follow-up - enabling teams to work smarter and close deals faster.

Platforms like Outreach and Salesloft are leading this shift, offering features such as AI revenue agents for outbound prospecting, dynamic forecasting dashboards, and seamless CRM integration, allowing sellers to operate more efficiently and gain critical insight into pipelines (see the latest Outreach May 2025 AI Revenue Release).

Meanwhile, the arrival of context-aware, autonomous sales agents is slashing manual work, driving pipeline growth, and delivering personalized engagement at scale, as explored in this comprehensive review of 2025's Best AI Sales Automation Solutions.

New entrants like Jeeva AI are also redefining the landscape with next-gen agentic AI, offering real-time lead enrichment and seamless multichannel engagement;

“Our platform's makeover represents more than just a new look - it's about empowering our users with the right tools to innovate without constraints,” said Jeeva AI CEO Gaurav Bhattacharya in a recent statement.

Platform	Key Features	Focus
Sara (CONVO GPT)	Always-on agent, recruiting integrations, no-code workflow	Sales & Talent Acquisition
Outreach	AI revenue agents, forecasting, CRM sync	Sales Productivity
Jeeva AI	Agentic lead discovery, dynamic outreach, self-serve	Automated Engagement

As Greenville businesses embrace these innovations, Sara offers a clear example of how local teams can leverage advanced AI to achieve measurable gains in sales and recruiting - ushering in a new era of autonomy and efficiency.

For a deeper dive into agentic AI's evolution and impact, check out Jeeva AI's announcement Jeeva AI's Next-Gen Sales Automation Launch.

Ullas Das, an accomplished IT Program Manager and AI Strategist in Greenville, NC, has been recognized as a visionary leader driving digital transformation within enterprises by integrating advanced AI and agile methodologies.

With over 15 years of experience, certifications in Scrum and SAFe, and current studies in the MIT No-Code AI Program, Das spearheads productivity improvements, risk reduction, and AI adoption by focusing on people, process, and technology.

His approach leverages collaboration tools and project management best practices, resulting in measurable benefits such as a 30% reduction in technical debt and a 14% year-over-year decrease in customer support requests through AI-powered solutions.

Das advocates for democratizing AI via no-code platforms like Knime and RapidMiner and is renowned for his mentorship, which has driven up to a 25% boost in agile maturity among teams.

The professional journey and philosophy of Ullas Das are detailed in the Shaping the Future of Digital Transformation by Ullas Das feature.

Highlighting the growing role of AI in workforce skills, recent initiatives such as Luxembourg's National Digital Inclusion Day also showcase leadership in digital transformation and the importance of digital citizen competencies, as reported by the Digital Inclusion Day 2025 Highlights AI, Citizen Skills & Awards.

In global enterprise infrastructure, leading firms like Verizon are implementing strategies to power next-generation AI demands, as seen in their latest innovations documented in Verizon unveils AI strategy to power next-gen AI demands, underscoring the pivotal role of visionary leaders like Greenville's Ullas Das in shaping tomorrow's business landscape.

TSMC, the world's top contract chipmaker, has set a new benchmark in Q1 2025 with a 60% year-over-year surge in net profit, propelled by unrelenting global demand for AI and high-performance computing chips.

The company's revenue climbed to NT$839.25 billion ($25.6 billion), a 42% jump from the prior year, far outpacing market expectations and solidifying TSMC's dominance, as advanced nodes (7nm and below) comprised 73% of wafer revenue.

This remarkable growth is detailed in the CNBC report on TSMC's quarterly results, which also notes that high-performance computing, much of it AI-driven, accounted for nearly 60% of total revenue.

Despite looming geopolitical uncertainty and potential US tariff hikes - tariffs currently paused at 10% but possibly rising to 32% - TSMC is pressing ahead with global investment, including an additional $100 billion pledged for US manufacturing.

A comprehensive review by Mitrade underscores TSMC's strategic capital expenditure of up to $42 billion for the year, targeting advanced 3nm and 2nm production capacity and doubling AI chip package capability to meet surging client orders from NVIDIA, AMD, and cloud leaders.

As TSMC's dominance continues, “TSMC's Q1 2025 report underscores its critical role in AI and HPC fields. With strong revenue, net profit growth, leading-edge technologies, and diversified customers, its performance sustainability is well-supported,” the analysis concludes.

For further insight into the impact of AI-driven revenue and ongoing tariff risks, visit the full TechMonitor breakdown of TSMC's Q1 numbers and investment strategies.

The table below summarizes TSMC's standout quarterly performance:

Metric	Q1 2025 Actual	YoY Change
Revenue	NT$839.25bn	+41.6%
Net Income	NT$361.56bn	+60.3%
Advanced Node Revenue	73% of total	Up from 67% (Q4 2024)
HPC/AI Revenue Share	59%	+7% QoQ

Nvidia has once again exceeded analyst expectations, delivering a record $44.1 billion in quarterly revenue - a 69% year-on-year increase - despite facing steep export restrictions and tariffs that have severely limited access to the $50 billion Chinese AI chip market.

Strong global demand for Nvidia's data center chips, particularly those based on the Blackwell architecture, compensated for an $8 billion projected loss in Chinese sales for the coming quarter and a $4.5 billion inventory charge on unsellable H20 processors.

“The engines of the world's AI infrastructure are being built in the United States for the first time. Adding American manufacturing helps us better meet the incredible and growing demand for AI chips and supercomputers, strengthens our supply chain and boosts our resiliency,” remarked CEO Jensen Huang, as Nvidia ramps up production at new Arizona and Texas facilities.

The company is strategically expanding worldwide, brokering major deals in the Middle East and beyond, and solidifying its central role in the AI revolution.

As Technology Magazine's analysis of Nvidia's revenue growth amid China market challenges highlights, Nvidia's diversified portfolio spans cloud, enterprise, and robotics, helping to insulate it from regional setbacks.

For a detailed breakdown of Nvidia's recent financial results and the impacts of trade policy, see the Associated Press report on Nvidia's earnings and AI chip market outlook.

To understand how Nvidia's U.S.-based manufacturing marks a pivotal shift for national tech strategy and job growth, explore the company's official update on its new American supercomputer factories at Nvidia's newsroom detailing U.S. manufacturing expansion.

This month, AI's visionary capacity for radical transformation drew comparisons to the legendary predictions of Baba Vanga, as experts and industry leaders anticipate a century defined by rapid technological evolution and ethical reckoning.

Across sectors, generative AI growth - epitomized by on-device AI from Apple and Google's Gemini 2.5 Pro - demonstrates how intelligence is becoming more deeply woven into daily life and business, setting the pace for a future where autonomous agents assist and collaborate without constant human oversight.

At the same time, experts stress that AI's potential must be matched by robust ethical guardrails and adaptive governance to address privacy, explainability, bias, and environmental impact.

AI breakthroughs in May 2025 for business leaders included bold predictions of artificial general intelligence arriving by 2026, and industry-wide mainstreaming of AI tools, which now power over half of manufacturing companies.

Concurrently, policymakers worldwide are enacting new standards and regulations; as detailed in a comprehensive analysis of global AI privacy and governance frameworks, frameworks like the EU AI Act and ISO 42001 emphasize transparency, accountability, and risk-based management.

Complementing these trends, leading experts agree that the future depends not just on algorithmic power but on intentional, sustainable, and human-centered AI design - ensuring that innovation remains anchored to public trust, privacy, and empowerment.

As one report from industry thought leaders on AI's future puts it,

“The future of AI depends on values and choices that prioritize transparency, sustainability, and human empowerment.”

Greenville Technical College is directly addressing the national skills shortage in welding through its groundbreaking Center for Welding and Automation Excellence, an advanced 44,000-square-foot facility at the Brashier Campus.

Slated to open for the fall 2026 semester, this state-of-the-art center will dramatically expand access to hands-on training, featuring a dedicated AI Welding Lab that utilizes artificial intelligence for greater precision and efficiency, a Robotics Welding Lab, and a Non-Destructive Testing Lab for structural integrity assessment.

These enhancements come at a critical time, with over 400,000 welding job openings nationwide and only one new welder entering the workforce for every four that leave.

As Dr. Keith Miller, president of Greenville Technical College, noted,

“We look forward to solving the welding challenge in workforce development with the Center for Welding and Automation Excellence. Our planning team visited similar enterprise campuses across four states. Borrowing ideas from some of the best, our facility will be second to none.”

Supported by $18 million in public funding, the facility more than doubles robotic welding stations - from 4 to 16 - and total welding stations from 90 to 140.

Greenville's efforts echo national trends, with comparable expansions like Pennsylvania College of Technology's 55,000-square-foot welding lab and Technical College System of Georgia's mobile welding initiatives, demonstrating how educational investment and innovation are crucial to narrowing the workforce gap.

For more on Greenville Tech's vision and details of the new center's offerings, visit the official announcement of Greenville Technical College's Center for Welding and Automation Excellence.

To compare with similar large-scale welding education expansions, review Pennsylvania College of Technology's Welding Expansion project, and for approaches to workforce agility, see the Technical College System of Georgia's mobile welding labs initiative.

Sara, CONVO GPT's cutting-edge AI employee based in Greenville, is redefining how local businesses approach automation with its seamless no-code and API integration, making advanced AI accessible without heavy IT resources.

Designed to operate autonomously across sectors like sales, recruiting, healthcare, and finance, Sara runs 24/7 - handling lead generation, candidate sourcing, customer engagement, and more, all while integrating easily into existing CRM, ATS, and marketing platforms.

The platform leverages drag-and-drop AI deployment and built-in workflow connectors via tools such as Zapier or Make.com, ensuring rapid, code-free rollout for businesses of any size.

This aligns with national trends showing that by 2025, 70% of new enterprise apps leverage no-code solutions, drastically cutting both cost and implementation time compared to traditional, developer-led AI methods.

As highlighted in sector research,

“No-code AI lets business users automate work, predict trends, and boost profits without coding skills.”

“Our conversational AI technology isn't just an incremental improvement – it's a complete game-changer for how businesses develop relationships at scale. The difference is immediately apparent in both conversion rates and customer satisfaction metrics,”

states Jeremy David, CEO of CONVO GPT. For a side-by-side look at the core differences driving this AI revolution, see the table below:

Factor	Traditional AI	No-Code AI (Sara)
Who Uses It?	Data scientists, engineers	Business users, domain experts
Deployment Time	Months or years	Days or weeks
Skill Level	Requires coding	No coding required
Typical ROI	High cost, long-term	Lower cost, rapid return
Customization	Deep, but complex	Limited, fast & scalable

To learn more about Sara and its deployment in Greenville business ecosystems, visit the official CMSWire launch coverage of Sara, the AI employee, explore the broad economic impact in the LITSLINK comprehensive guide to no-code AI platform growth, and understand the implications for digital marketing via the State of Martech 2025 industry report on AI's role in marketing automation.

With AI adoption accelerating across industries, Greenville businesses are increasingly leveraging digital leadership to drive measurable enterprise gains - mirroring national trends where over 50% of manufacturers and 35% of all enterprises now harness AI for core operations.

Strategic implementation ranges from predictive maintenance in manufacturing, saving Siemens $750 million annually, to AI-driven marketing that enables global brands like Coca-Cola to target customers more effectively while reducing ad spend.

A recent McKinsey report on empowering people to unlock AI's full potential highlights that

“the biggest barrier to scaling AI is leadership, not employees,”

with 92% of companies planning to increase AI investments over the next three years.

Locally, Greenville leaders are adopting best practices from enterprise case studies, such as deploying AI chatbots for compliance (GDPR, ISO 27001), optimizing supply chains, and integrating no-code AI agents for real-time decision support.

Data integrity emerges as foundational, as noted in M-Files' analysis of transformative AI trends for enterprise solutions, emphasizing curated, connected, and confidential data as key to unlocking AI's real business value.

Enterprise AI use cases delivering the highest impact include sales, software engineering, and customer service, with reported productivity boosts up to 40% and profitability increases of 38% according to S-PRO's enterprise review.

The table below summarizes selected case study outcomes:

Company/Area	AI Use Case	Measurable Impact
Amazon (Retail)	Personalized Recommendations	35% of sales via AI; Q1 2024 net sales $143B
Siemens (Manufacturing)	Predictive Maintenance	$750M annual savings; 25% fewer outages
Eightfold AI (HR/Recruiting)	AI Resume Matching	+42% qualified candidates; 26% faster fill rates

For organizations in Greenville, the challenge and opportunity lie in scaling these proven solutions and developing a digitally literate workforce empowered to redesign workflows and maximize AI-driven growth.

Explore more transformative AI case studies at GrowthJockey's business AI case study roundup.

Greenville's thriving tech workforce is fueled by a robust ecosystem of government initiatives, local partnerships, and grant funding aimed at expanding equitable access to skills and technology.

North Carolina's recent work-based learning grants exceeding targets trained 823 workers and partnered with 346 small businesses, with continued support through 2026 for critical certifications in cybersecurity, healthcare, and other high-demand fields.

Programs like NC Works, powered by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, support low- and no-income residents with funding for registration, tools, supplies, and supportive services - ensuring access to approved training programs that lead to meaningful employment (NC Works Training Funding details).

At the intersection of policy and community, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction also offers Innovation and CTE Grade Expansion Grants, incentivizing partnerships between schools, colleges, and regional industry to create employment pathways and align curricula with economic demand.

As Commerce Secretary Lee Lilley put it,

“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and we must support their growth while empowering employees to advance their careers.”

Available grants - ranging from capacity building to direct job training - provide millions in opportunities for nonprofits, schools, businesses, and students, with more than 270 actively seeking applications across the state (North Carolina technology grants application portal).

Greenville's model shows that sustained government investment and targeted grant programs are key levers for building a skilled, adaptable workforce ready for an AI-driven future.

Greenville, NC's latest achievements spotlight how strategic partnerships and a commitment to inclusive innovation can transform a region into a thriving tech hub.

East Carolina University's Carnegie R1 designation underscores its robust research culture, exemplified by recent NCInnovation grant awards supporting projects like Dr. Stephanie Richards' patent-pending wind tunnel for mosquito control and Dr. Patrick Briley's AI-powered stuttering therapy platform - each driving both public health advancements and economic development.

As highlighted by ECU leaders, the community's focus on real-world applications fuels local job growth and entrepreneurial momentum.

Broad-based efforts, including workforce convenings and collaborative city leadership events like CityVision 2025, ensure that workforce pipelines and municipal leadership are tightly aligned with innovation goals.

Greenville's recipe - blending educational excellence, grassroots tech entrepreneurship, and public-private investment - serves as a model for other emerging tech communities nationwide, as documented in in-depth coverage of Greenville's transformation.

As echoed by Dr. Sharon Paynter, “Our community has been excited about the potential for this program, and we have strong support from local stakeholders.”

“Supporting the translation of research into practical solutions is central to our mission, and we are proud to see our faculty advancing technologies that address public health and community needs. These projects exemplify the kind of innovation that drives regional growth and reflects ECU's commitment to engagement and economic development.” - Dr. Sharon Paynter, ECU chief innovation and engagement officer