Latest Tech News in the US

This Month's Latest Tech News in the US - January 31st 2026 Edition

Key Takeaways * Big Four plan $475 billion in AI capex for 2026, forcing a shift to ROI over hype. * Agentic AI adoption surged 920% year-over-year in January, marking rapid developer uptake into production. * Coinbase disclosed an insi... Read more

Key Takeaways Atlanta IT job postings rose 13% from December 2025 to January 2026, signaling renewed hiring momentum. Pratt & Whitney announced a $200 million Columbus expansion on February 24, 2026. City of Atlanta committed $70 million to ventu... Read more

Key Takeaways DMV national-security startups drew VC investment up nearly 900% in under a decade. Congress approved a $901 billion defense budget prioritizing AI and advanced technologies. SBIR and STTR startup grant programs expired last fall and we... Read more

Key Takeaways CMU opened a 150,000-square-foot Robotics Innovation Center in Hazelwood Green on Feb 27, 2026. A federal SBIR funding freeze stalled Western Pennsylvania startups' multi-year grant tranches. Skild AI raised $1.4 billion in January... Read more

Key Takeaways Boston startups raised $922 million in February 2026, signaling a durable rebound in regional venture funding. Two Boston firms hit $1 billion valuations in February 2026, creating new local unicorns. Massachusetts life-sciences clinica... Read more

Key Takeaways AMD and Meta finalized an AI chip partnership reportedly worth up to $100 billion, cementing Austin’s chip hub role. OpenAI and SoftBank committed $1 billion to a data center campus in Milam County northeast of Austin. Apptronik raised ... Read more

Key Takeaways Anduril will ship its first autonomous jets from Arsenal-1 in spring 2026, signaling local defense production. Meta secured a 20-year nuclear power deal to feed its Prometheus AI supercluster in Ohio. Intel’s $28 billion Ohio One fab pr... Read more

Key Takeaways OpenAI closed a $110B commitment round, valuing it at about $840B in late February 2026. Block cut about 40% of its workforce, roughly 4,000 roles, in late February 2026. Anthropic raised about $30B, valuing it above the combined market... Read more

Key Takeaways Uber acquired Chicago parking startup SpotHero, marking a major local exit to a global buyer. Letter AI raised $40 million in February, signaling strong investor interest in Chicago AI. Chicagoland attracted $2.7 billion in growth capit... Read more

Key Takeaways NYC startups raised well over $1 billion in February, led by Runway, Vestwell, Vestwell, Talkiatry. New York passed a 2026 AI safety law requiring large developers to disclose safety protocols to the Attorney General. Mastercard announc... Read more

Key Takeaways Ford reallocated about $19 billion from EV capacity toward gas vehicles in February 2026. Battery electric vehicles made up 5.6% of nationwide U.S. auto sales in February 2026. SOAFEE is driving Detroit's shift to software-defined ... Read more

Key Takeaways Palantir relocated its headquarters to Miami-Dade on Feb 17, 2026, anchoring defense-AI hiring in Aventura. Ubicquia raised $106 million on Feb 24, 2026 to scale AI-driven smart infrastructure in Fort Lauderdale. Median advertised tech ... Read more

Key Takeaways Amazon cut 2,198 Washington roles in February, hitting core engineering teams in Bellevue. AI-related job postings in the Seattle area rose 108% year-over-year, signaling rapid demand for AI skills. Regional unemployment climbed to 5.1%... Read more

Key Takeaways North Carolina ranked #1 nationally in tech occupation growth, signaling sustained hiring momentum for Triangle workers. Microsoft confirmed plans for a 1,350-acre data center campus at the Person County Mega Park. About 60% of North Ca... Read more

Key Takeaways U.S. Army awarded Appian a $500 million low-code contract to modernize Army workflows. Federal CIOs put ATO modernization atop 2026 priorities to speed AI deployment rapidly. CMMC final rule is mandatory for DoD contracts in 2026, raisi... Read more

Key Takeaways Micron won environmental approval to build a $100 billion semiconductor megafab in Clay, NY. New York’s RAISE Act exposes frontier AI developers to civil penalties up to $3 million per violation. Empire AI announced a flagship research ... Read more

Key Takeaways Amazon announced 16,000 job cuts, the largest single January layoff to hit Bay Area tech. Ricursive raised $300 million in a Series A, marking one of the Bay Area's largest AI A-rounds. SB 53 requires frontier AI labs exceeding 10^... Read more

Key Takeaways EKKO chose downtown Atlanta for its U.S. headquarters on January 29, strengthening the city's fintech ecosystem. Georgia Senate began debating ending major data center sales tax exemptions on January 28. Metro Atlanta now hosts 17,... Read more

Key Takeaways Genentech doubled its Holly Springs bet to $2 billion, signaling a major push into Triangle biomanufacturing. A $10.8 billion life-sciences buildout is reshaping North Carolina industrial real estate, tightening warehouse availability. ... Read more

Key Takeaways D-Wave relocated its global HQ to Boca Raton with a $20 million FAU quantum-computer purchase to anchor local R&D. Florida advanced SB 1038 to let the CFO invest up to 10% of certain public funds in Bitcoin plus other digital assets... Read more

Key Takeaways SELF DRIVE Act raises AV exemption cap to 90,000 vehicles per year, boosting Pittsburgh's fleet growth prospects. Waymo plans robotaxi service in Pittsburgh, aiming to field over 2,000 vehicles by late 2026. Pittsburgh startups rai... Read more

Key Takeaways Boston Scientific agreed to acquire Penumbra for about $14.5 billion in a deal announced January 15, 2026. Massachusetts' biopharma pipeline grew 14% year-over-year versus 6.8% nationally. Massachusetts lost over 30,000 residents i... Read more

Key Takeaways Oracle and OpenAI proposed a $7 billion AI data center in Saline Township that would anchor regional AI infrastructure. Stellantis deployed autonomous inventory robots at Sterling Heights that achieved a 280x audit time reduction. Volks... Read more

Key Takeaways Columbus ranks among the fastest-growing U.S. tech hubs with 133 data centers supporting AI workloads. Intel pushed first fab production at its 'Ohio One' campus to 2030, shifting hiring toward construction-phase roles. Anduri... Read more

Key Takeaways Texas raised its R&D franchise tax credit from 5% to 8.722% effective Jan 1, 2026 Neurophos raised $110 million Series A to build photonic AI chips targeting exaflop-scale compute CesiumAstro announced a $500 million investment for ... Read more

Key Takeaways Chicago tech office demand rose 43% year-over-year in Q4 2025, the strongest growth among major U.S. metros. Median wages for AI, cybersecurity, data science roles in Illinois now exceed $100,000. More than 100 Chicago companies plan la... Read more

Key Takeaways Microsoft disclosed $37.5 billion in AI-focused capex, signaling sustained Eastside cloud investment. Amazon cut 16,000 jobs globally, intensifying local hiring pressure for Bellevue tech workers. Amazon's Bellevue 600 towers will ... Read more

Too Long; Didn't Read: Columbus ranks in the top 25% for AI talent, innovation and adoption (Brookings), with ~$60B in regional AI commitments, NG911 supporting 55 languages and 31,000+ texts, Microsoft pausing a $1B data center, SoftBank buying Lor... Read more

Too Long; Didn't Read: University at Buffalo launched a Department of AI and Society with a $5M state seed, seven AI+X bachelor's beginning Fall 2025, aiming for 300+ students/year by 2030; Empire AI's $500M+ compute cuts model training from ~2 week... Read more

Too Long; Didn't Read: New York's August 31, 2025 roundup: NYT inks a $20–$25M‑range AI licensing deal with Amazon; NYC Tech Week drew ~60,000 RSVPs across 1,000+ events; MTA pilots behavior‑detecting AI cameras; state bans AI child deepfakes and ma... Read more

Too Long; Didn't Read: Detroit's tech roundup (Aug 31, 2025): Apple/MSU open free Apple Manufacturing Academy Aug 19; Detroit Startup Fund deploys $700K for 26 grants; Michigan data‑center pipeline ~7 GW (3 GW near‑term); UM wins $5.5M for INSIGHT‑C... Read more