Blog

The Carrier Pivot: What Verizon’s AI Strategy Signals for the Next Phase of Private 5G

Michael McDowell February 11, 2026

What stands out is Verizon’s insistence that this is not speculative infrastructure building.

Call Notes: Compute Hardware & Semiconductor Ecosystem

Steve McDowell February 9, 2026

Every quarter I participate in a call for buy-side investment analysts focused on compute hardware and the broader semiconductor ecosystem. Here, I’m sharing the raw notes from that call.

Explainer: What Does It Mean to “Support Apache Iceberg” in a Storage System

Steve McDowell February 8, 2026

Over the past several years, “Apache Iceberg support” has quietly become table stakes in modern data infrastructure conversations. Storage vendors list it in press releases, lakehouse platforms lead with it and architects assume it.

Broadcom Heats the Wi‑Fi 8 Conversation

Michael McDowell February 4, 2026

Qualcomm is signaling readiness through ecosystem validation, while Broadcom is sampling silicon to OEMs to kickstart hardware development.

“Chips” is now the “C” in CES

Steve McDowell January 13, 2026

While the focus of CES 2026 remained on consumer electronics, this year felt different. More expansive, with the semiconductor industry dominating the pre-show with overlapping announcements that reveal diverging strategies for AI workload acceleration, manufacturing sovereignty, and market expansion beyond traditional computing segments.

Building the “Always‑On” Store – HPE’s Practical Approach to Retail at NRF 2026

Michael McDowell January 12, 2026

HPE’s presence at NRF 2026 shows a broader industry shift toward “always‑on” retail