Latest Tech News in the US

This Month's Latest Tech News in Washington, DC - January 31st 2026 Edition

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

Too Long; Didn't Read: Meta confirms $800M, 715,000‑sq‑ft AI data center on 280 acres in Bowling Green, operational ~2027, ~100 permanent jobs and 1,000+ construction peak; PUCO's 85% prepayment rule shifts grid costs to data centers; O.H.I.O. Fund ... Read more

Too Long; Didn't Read: Pennsylvania logged $90B+ in AI and energy pledges - Blackstone $25B, FirstEnergy $15B, PPL $6.8B - fueling gigawatt projects, tens of thousands of construction jobs, CoreWeave's $6B (100–300 MW) Lancaster campus, Penn's 8.5 P... Read more

Too Long; Didn't Read: Cleveland's AI surge: Cleveland Clinic scales ambient AI (1M encounters, ~4,000 users, ~2 min saved/visit); Oracle–Cleveland Clinic–G42 partner; GE's Aurora cleared by FDA (98% better bone SPECT); Ohio mandates K–12 AI policie... Read more

Too Long; Didn't Read: Rochester's AI surge links new degree programs (Nazareth 16‑month MS; UR/ RIT initiatives), industry pilots (Visa agentic payments, Sutherland Sentinel AI®), open research (MagicTime: >2,000 time‑lapse videos), $2.3M workforce... Read more

Too Long; Didn't Read: Pittsburgh's AI surge tied to a July summit unveiling ~$90–92B in data‑center, gas, nuclear and hydro projects (Brookfield+Google ~670 MW). Regional VC hit $600.8M in Q2; potential job gains up to ~200,000. Short upskilling (1... Read more

Too Long; Didn't Read: Pantomath closed a $30M Series B (Aug 4) led by General Catalyst in Mason; UC scaled BearcatGPT to ~1,000 users and a CMMC‑compliant research cloud; Kroger reported a 15% eCommerce lift; Microsoft paused a $1B Ohio data‑center... Read more

Too Long; Didn't Read: Georgia unveils Horizons Innovation Lab for regulated GenAI pilots; Mercedes‑Benz to relocate up to 500 jobs to Sandy Springs by Aug 2026; UPS–Figure talks show ~4.05s throughput and 95% barcode success; Brookings ranks Atlant... Read more

Too Long; Didn't Read: Macon faces a turning point: Bolingbroke mega‑site rezoning denied (≈900–970 acres, nine buildings, ~1,000,000 gal/day water use, ≈$60M/yr tax potential). Local wins include Mercer's $75M downtown med campus, BrightFarms' 22,0... Read more

Too Long; Didn't Read: Chicago tech roundup (Aug 31, 2025): Illinois bans AI therapy (HB1806) with penalties up to $10,000; DuSable Lake Shore Drive faces AI speed‑camera study after ~16,000 crashes (2019–2024); ServiceNow bought Logik.ai (Q2 2025);... Read more

Too Long; Didn't Read: Aurora's August 31, 2025 tech roundup: new CIO Ram Tyagi unveils a five‑point AI/cloud agenda and 81 km fibre ring; Argonne's Aurora exascale (63,744 GPUs) boosts regional compute; Illinois SB2181 mandates data‑center energy/w... Read more

Too Long; Didn't Read: Victorville tech roundup (Aug 31, 2025): Nightfood's $41M LOI to convert a 155‑room Holiday Inn with Skytech robots (projected 25–40% uplift); $470K ShotSpotter rollout helped solve 3 incidents; FireSat's prototype detects 5×5... Read more

Too Long; Didn't Read: Elgin tech brief (Aug 31, 2025): ECC secured a $500,000 Seigle Scholar gift; ModMed donated an ophthalmology EHR supporting ~20 students/semester; Antora won $14.5M ARPA‑E; AI VC = ~31% of H1 2025; NAM optimism fell to 55.4% (... Read more

Too Long; Didn't Read: Illinois moves K–12 AI from debate to action: SB1920 requires ISBE guidance by July 1, 2026; Joliet schools urged to start teacher PD and pilots now. Recruit cuts ~1,300 jobs; Ranpak/Walmart AutoFill to cut packaging waste ~50... Read more

Too Long; Didn't Read: Savannah faces an AI inflection: Georgia Tech's $20M NSF Nexus supercomputer (400+ quadrillion OPS, 330T bytes memory, 10 quadrillion bytes storage) and DOE's Savannah River Site data‑center pick could drive jobs, grid upgrade... Read more