GeekWire

The Code.org founder, who earlier this year handed off the CEO role at the nonprofit, announced this weekend that he is the new CEO of Payam Music, a Bothell, Wash.-based piano school that he plans to expand nationally with backing from a prominent group of investors. Read More

See the technology stories that people were reading on GeekWire for the week of May 17, 2026. Read More

Twelve AI labs have raised more than $29 billion at a combined valuation approaching $130 billion, without shipping anything a customer can buy. Oren Etzioni examines what history says about how this story ends. Read More

SpaceX's IPO filing includes new details about the Starlink satellite factory in Redmond. Jeff Bezos talks wealth, inequality, and AI on CNBC. And John turns to ChatGPT and Gemini when FIFA's ticketing support falls short. Read More

Picnic, the Seattle startup that raised about $50 million on a vision of robots churning out pizzas in restaurants, stadiums, and other high-volume venues, has shut down and liquidated its assets after it was unable to pay its debts. A buyer has already been found for the company's assets and intellectual property. Read More

Bungie announced it will end development on Destiny 2 with a final update on June 9. Bloomberg reports the studio plans significant layoffs, raising questions about the future of the Bellevue, Wash.-based studio amid broader cost-cutting by Sony. Read More

Microsoft promoted Scott Van Vliet to Xbox CTO, while Smartsheet elevated Drew Gardner to the news created role of chief AI officer. Amazon saw some departures and arrivals, including a VP's exit for DoorDash. Read More

Lakshmi Agrawal, a senior at Interlake High School, and Anusha Arora, a sophomore who also attends Interlake, were among more than 1,700 students from roughly 60 countries who competed at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix. Read More

At a Bellevue Chamber panel, regional business leaders warned that Seattle’s aggressive tax policies threaten to undermine its world-class economic foundation. Read More

Yusuf Mehdi, one of Microsoft’s best-known and longest-serving business leaders, whose tenure has spanned 35 years from Windows 3.1 to… Read More

Temporal, the Bellevue workflow orchestration company valued at $5 billion, announced Thursday that it is becoming the front-of-shirt sponsor of Crystal Palace Football Club beginning with the 2026/27 season. Read More

Dr. Lynda Stuart is departing as the first CEO of the Fund for Science and Technology, the foundation created under late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's instructions. The change comes amid broader shifts in the Allen philanthropic ecosystem, including the departures of top AI researchers from the Allen Institute for AI. Read More

SpaceX disclosed in its S-1 filing that its Redmond, Wash., facility produces approximately 70 Starlink satellites per week, putting hard production numbers on the operation for the first time. The filing also reveals Starlink's financials and names several Pacific Northwest companies as competitors. Read More

The University of Washington professor emeritus is a longtime computer science educator, researcher and fixture in Seattle's tech community. Read More

Washington's tax debate fixates on regressivity rankings, but overlooks how taxes shape economic behavior — and whether progressive-looking systems actually produce better outcomes for working families. Read More

Seattle EV startup Electric Era is launching the CoPower Platform to bypass utility delays and provide rapid battery storage for power-hungry data centers. Read More

UiPath, the AI automation giant expanding in Bellevue, submitted the winning $100k bid for a premium World Cup suite experience donated by Microsoft, raising money for Seattle Children's Hospital through an auction organized by GeekWire. Read More

Brian Evergreen, a former Microsoft AI leader and author of Autonomous Transformation, argues that most companies are approaching AI backward — starting with the technology instead of a vision for what they want to create. In a live GeekWire Podcast recording, he explains how leaders can adjust their approach. Read More

As Amazon and Microsoft pour billions into AI, Seattle residents push back against new data centers over worries about rising energy costs and environmental impacts. Read More

A consistent picture emerged: Somasegar was kind, generous with his time, humble, and a steadying presence. To many, those qualities mattered even more than the investments and decisions he made. Read More