Huntsman-Olin: The $300 Million Promise

Olin and Huntsman Performance Products logo on a blue tech-themed banner with a bright central light and circuit patterns.

The CIO role is the one to watch next. Whoever gets that seat inherits both transformation programs, both mid-flight ERP decisions, and a 24-month deadline with a nine-figure number attached to it.

Quantinuum’s $1.68 Billion IPO & the Race to Quantum Commercialization

Quantinuum opened trading on the Nasdaq last week (symbol: QNT), raising $1.68 billion in the largest traditional IPO to date for a pure-play quantum computing company.

Priced at $60 per share, above the marketed range of $53 to $55, and oversubscribed by a double-digit multiple before trading began, the debut caps a multi-year run of technical milestones, high-profile partnerships, and deepening enterprise engagement.

Computex 2026: AI Infrastructure, the PC Wars, and the New Connectivity Arms Race

Computex 2026

Computex has historically been a client- and consumer-focused event, but those markets now take a back seat to enterprise infrastructure and the components that define an AI factory. The key messages were all AI, all the time.

The keynotes were entirely semiconductor-first, with talks by three chip CEOs: Jensen Huang of NVIDIA, Cristiano Amon of Qualcomm, Lip-Bu Tan of Intel, and Matt Murphy of Marvell. Each painted a slightly different picture about where the AI buildout is headed.

NVIDIA Is Rewiring the Data Center with Light

NVIDIA Optics Supply Chain

NVIDIA is actively working to replace electrons with photons across the entire connectivity stack, from co-packaged optics at the switch level to optical fiber cabling throughout the rack and facility.

IBM’s Big Quantum Month: A $10 Billion Bet, a National Fab, and a 2029 Deadline

IBM Quantum Momentum

A version of this post previously appeared in a LinkedIn newsletter IBM revealed that it will invest more than $10 billion in quantum computing over the next five years, with the goal of delivering the first large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer by 2029. The disclosure, which arrived not via a press release but through an SEC […]

Memory & NAND Flash Crisis: May 2026 Update

What began as an AI-driven reallocation of manufacturing capacity toward HBM has compounded through consecutive quarters of record-breaking price increases, affecting enterprise IT budgets, consumer device pricing, and cloud infrastructure spending in equal measure.

Two Conferences, One Consensus on Enterprise AI

IBM Think + Atlassian

IBM Think 2026 and Atlassian Team ’26 both took place last week in different cities, for different audiences, and with different product portfolios on stage. IBM gathered infrastructure architects and enterprise IT executives in Boston, while Atlassian convened developer teams, platform practitioners, and collaboration leaders in Anaheim.

Data Center Power: The Transition to 800 VDC

Data Center Power

For the past two decades, power architecture has evolved incrementally around a familiar model: utility AC enters the facility, passes through switchgear, transformers, UPS systems, power distribution units, and rack power shelves, and is ultimately converted to low-voltage DC for CPUs, GPUs, memory, networking, and storage.

That model worked for conventional enterprise and cloud computing. It was good enough when racks consumed 10kW, 20kW, or even 50kW, but it becomes far more difficult as AI infrastructure pushes rack densities toward hundreds of kilowatts and, in some designs, beyond 1MW.

IBM’s AI Strategy: Play the Long Game, Not the Headlines

IBM Data Center

IBM reported 6% revenue growth, expanding margins, strong free cash flow, and software acceleration in its Q1’2026 earnings.

The more consequential signals, however, came from the strategic narrative beneath those figures. IBM is not competing for the most visible positions in AI, but rather building the infrastructure layer that enterprises will ultimately depend on, regardless of their more tactical AI choices.

ServiceNow Earnings: The Real AI Story Isn’t What You Think

ServiceNow

ServiceNow delivered a strong fiscal Q1 2026, exceeding guidance across revenue, margins, and bookings. This earnings call offers a clearer view of how AI is reshaping enterprise software and of ServiceNow’s role in that shift. The implications span pricing architecture, competitive positioning, labor economics, and how enterprises actually spend. 

P5G Alone Won’t Unlock Value

Handshake between a businessperson and a worker in safety gear over a glowing 5G chip, symbolizing industrial collaboration.

Investing in ecosystems, and building partnerships that actually matter will define the next decade of industrial connectivity.

Google Cloud Next 2026: Enterprise AI Enters Production

Google Cloud Next '26

Google Cloud Next 2026, held last week in Las Vegas, delivered a clear, consistent message: the experimental phase of enterprise AI is over, and the production phase of autonomous agent deployment has begun. Google made an incredible 260 announcements at the event, with most aligned with the idea that enterprises will increasingly operate through fleets […]

Nutanix .NEXT 2026: Beyond the Hypervisor

Nutanix NEXT 2026

Nutanix held its annual .NEXT user conference earlier this month in Chicago drew more than 5,000 attendees and over 100 sponsors. The event came at an inflection point for enterprise infrastructure, as the post-VMware market continues to consolidate, AI workloads move from pilot to production, and hardware supply constraints continue to complicate infrastructure planning.

MLPerf Inference 6.0: Software Gains & Broadening Competition Shake Things Up

MLPerf 6.0 Inference

MLCommons released MLPerf Inference v6.0 results, marking what the consortium describes as the most significant update to the benchmark suite to date.

The round introduced five new workloads, including a multimodal vision-language model, a text-to-video generation benchmark, and a new interactive scenario for the DeepSeek-R1 reasoning model.

Memory & Flash Crisis: March 2026 Update

Semiconductor

The global memory market entered 2026 in a state of structural supply constraint. AI infrastructure demand has reallocated semiconductor manufacturing capacity toward HBM for GPU accelerators, creating scarcity in conventional DRAM and NAND flash products.

“Chips” is now the “C” in CES

AI + Digital Transformation

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.

Call Notes: Q4 2025 Neocloud Market

Image of a Cloud

Just before the Holiday break, I participated in an advisory session on the current state of the neocloud market, which is continuing to experience significant growth as the demand for AI infrastructure continues unabated. Can it continue?

Here I’m sharing some of the notes I used for that discussion.

Call Notes: Memory & NAND Market Update (Dec 2025)

Just before the Holiday break, I participated in an advisory session on the current state of the memory and NAND market, which is experiencing a marked upturn driven by constrained supply of legacy DRAM products and surging demand from higher-margin products like HBM and DDR5.

Here I’m sharing some of the notes I used for that discussion.

The Ecosystem Takes Center Stage at AWS re:Invent 2025

Tech Ecosystem

AWS re:Invent 2025 has become an industry show, with this year’s event showcasing a partner ecosystem focused on agentic AI integration and unified observability. The conference featured major announcements from enterprise ISVs, security platforms, and enterprise software providers, all positioning their technologies to work seamlessly with AWS’s new AI capabilities.

SC25: Beyond Super Computing

SC25

Supercomputing 2025 delivered a clear message to enterprise IT leaders: the infrastructure conversation has fundamentally changed. The announcements from SC25 were about architectural transformation.

From rack-scale designs to quantum integration to facility-level engineering, the building blocks of large-scale AI and HPC systems are being reimagined.

Call Notes: Memory Market Supply Constraints and Rising Prices (Nov 2025)

Abstract image of earnings.

Legacy and mobile DRAM types, including DDR4 and LPDDR5X, face severely extended delivery lead times, while contract prices for DRAM and NAND flash are rising sharply. This is leaving Smartphone OEMs and SoC vendors with elevated memory cost burdens that threaten margins and will likely force higher device prices.

Call Notes: Q4 Semiconductor Tracker

Microsoft Azure Cobalt 100

We’re in a moment that’s less about individual chip performance and more about processing-at-scale. It’s all about sprawling AI racks, optics, interconnect, and custom silicon hungry for scale, speed, and a story.

Oracle AI World 2025: Bringing Cohesion to the AI Data Stack

Oracle AI World

Oracle AI World 2025 in Las Vegas was a clear demonstration of how far the company has come from its roots as a database vendor. This year’s event, as its new name might give away, was all about AI.

Oracle’s announcements centered on its Oracle AI Data Platform, a new Oracle database release, the new Autonomous AI Lakehouse, along with new advances in Oracle’s distributed cloud portfolio, and deepened multi-cloud partnerships with both Google Cloud and AWS. That’s a lot – and we’re just hitting the highlights.

IBM TechXchange 2025: Enterprise AI Comes of Age in Orlando

IBM TechXchange 2025

I’ve just returned from IBM TechXchange 2025 in Orlando, and if there was one overarching message from this year’s event, it was this: the era of AI experimentation is over, and IBM is ready to help enterprises bring it to production environments.I’ve just returned from IBM TechXchange 2025 in Orlando, and if there was one overarching message from this year’s event, it was this: the era of AI experimentation is over, and IBM is ready to help enterprises bring it to production environments.

Cohesity Catalyst 1

The Cohesity Catalyst 1 announcements aren’t just about new features; they represent a cohesive strategy to simplify and secure the enterprise data landscape.

T-Mobile’s CBRS Bombshell

But now, they’ve pulled the rug out. They’re telling their partners to prioritize using T-Mobile’s own licensed mid-band spectrum for all new neutral-host projects.

Open Flash Platform Initiative Aims to Redefine Flash Storage for AI

Deal

Six industry participants recently launched the Open Flash Platform (OFP) initiative, backed by six founding members: Hammerspace, the Linux Foundation, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), ScaleFlux, SK hynix, and Xsight Labs.

The initiative purports to address the challenges presented by the next wave of AI-driven data storage, specifically the limitations of power, heat, and data center space.

MSP Quotes- Unfiltered Weekend Thoughts

Having spent most of my career on the enterprise client side, I’ve learned that an MSP’s quoting process isn’t just about them getting a number out the door. It’s about how they show up professionally.

Why Independent Advisory Matters: Navigating Private 5G Vendor Noise in a Complex Industrial Landscape

In today’s fast-paced technological world, making smart, strategic decisions about new tech isn’t just important—it’s absolutely critical. Every day, companies are bombarded with pitches, white papers (guilty!), and webinars from countless vendors, each promising their solution is the silver bullet. It’s what I like to call “vendor noise,” and it can be deafening, especially when […]

HPE + Juniper: The Green Light for an AI-Powered Networking Future

Well, folks, it’s official! After what was a long and winding road through regulatory hurdles, the U.S. Department of Justice has finally given the nod to Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) whopping $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks. This isn’t just any tech merger; it’s a monumental move that’s set to shake up the enterprise networking […]

HPE Discover 2025: The AI Evolution Takes Center Stage (and Everywhere Else) Day 1 Wrap Up

Las Vegas, Nevada – Antonio Neri took the stage at HPE Discover 2025’s opening day keynote, captivating a massive audience at the iconic Sphere in Las Vegas. Thousands of excited attendees filled the unique venue, buzzing with anticipation to hear HPE’s vision and groundbreaking announcements for the future of AI, hybrid cloud, and networking. The […]

Cisco Live Day 1 Recap

Cisco Live

San Diego- the sun’s shining, the breeze is cool, and Cisco Live! 2025 just kicked off, bringing all sorts of cool vibes and as expected, a boatload of announcements. But here’s the real talk: Cisco has come to play with their AI powered networking gear.

The Unsung Hero: How Edge AI and ZTNA are Transforming Industrial IoT Connectivity

Digital Transformation

As the number of connected devices explodes on sprawling factory floors, in remote oil & gas fields, and across utility grids, the dual challenge of handling massive data volumes and securing vulnerable endpoints becomes paramount.

The solution lies not just in more bandwidth but in the synergy of Edge AI and Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA).

HPE Aruba Networking Levels Up for the AI Age

HPE Aruba

Big news from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)! Its Aruba Networking crew just dropped some major upgrades for both wired and wireless networks. The goal? To tackle the huge demands of AI, IoT, and other super-fast apps, proving HPE’s serious about keeping businesses ahead of the game.

Quick Take: Dell Tech World 2025

Dell Logo

Last week I was back in Las Vegas for Dell Technologies World 2025. The company has a broad portfolio but was telling a single-minded story: Dell has a relentless focus on AI, emphasizing the Dell AI Factory and the shift towards on-premises enterprise AI solutions.

Arista Eyes VeloCloud: A Strategic Move in the Networking Game?

Arista Networks

The SDWAN world is buzzing with reports suggesting that Arista Networks is set to acquire VeloCloud, Broadcom’s software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) business. While no official announcement confirming the deal has been made, the potential acquisition has sparked considerable discussion about the strategic implications for both companies and the broader networking market.

HPE Strengthens Cloud and Edge Security Posture

HPE rolled confidently into RSAC Conference recently, and, I must say, they brought some interesting tech to the table. HPE has been around the network security block a time or two. But these latest moves, especially around GreenLake and the Aruba Networking gear, show that they’re serious about stepping up their security game.

Quick Take: UALink & OCP Join Forces

The Open Compute Project (OCP) Foundation and the Ultra Accelerator Link (UALink) Consortium have announced a strategic collaboration to standardize and deploy high-performance, open scale-up interconnects for next-generation AI and HPC clusters.

Quick Take: Palo Alto Networks to Acquire Protect AI

Deal

Today, Palo Alto Networks announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Protect AI, which secures AI and ML applications. The deal is part of Palo Alto Networks’ broader strategy to expand its cybersecurity portfolio into AI risk management.

Quick Take: Databricks Acquires Fennel

Deal

Databricks announced the acquisition of Fennel, a specialized platform focused on feature engineering for machine learning applications. This acquisition bolsters Databricks’ capabilities in feature engineering, especially for real-time and streaming data applications.

OFC 2025: Optical Interconnects Take Center Stage in the AI-First Data Center

OFC 2025

AI is reshaping the data center, bringing networking along for the ride. It’s clear that optical networking is rapidly moving from a back-end concern to a front-line enabler of next-generation infrastructure.

AI workloads, with their massive datasets, distributed training pipelines, and high-performance compute requirements, demand interconnect solutions that combine extreme bandwidth with low power consumption and low latency. At last month’s OFC 2025 event in San Francisco, this shift was unmistakable.

Key Takeaways: Microsoft FabCon 2025

Microsoft Fabric

At Microsoft’s second annual Fabric Community Conference (FabCon) 2025, held earlier this month in Las Vegas, the company unveiled several significant announcements that together enhance its unified data platform. The updates to Fabric focus on improving data security, AI integration, and streamlined data management.

Dryad Networks: Using LoRaWAN to Protect Forests and Promote Sustainability

Dryad

Dryad Networks is making waves in the growing realm of environmental technology with its innovative use of LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network). Self-described as an “impact for profit” company, Dryad is on a mission to deploy ultra-early fire detection and environmental monitoring systems into remote, densely forested regions throughout the world. 

Quick Take: IBM Acquires Hakkoda, Expands Consulting Reach

Deal

IBM has announced its acquisition of Hakkoda, a New York-based data and AI consultancy, as part of its strategy to expand its consulting services, particularly in the financial services, public sector, and healthcare and life sciences industries.

Quick Take: Qualcomm Acquires VinAI’s MovianAI Division

Deal

Qualcomm last week announced its acquisition of MovianAI, the generative AI division of VinAI, a leading Vietnamese AI research firm within the Vingroup ecosystem. The acquisition will enhance Qualcomm’s generative AI R&D capabilities by bringing VinAI’s deep expertise in AI, machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing to its already-strong arsenal.

Metadata: The Silent Bottleneck in AI Infrastructure

IT Engineers

One of the most impactful but underappreciated architectural changes impacting storage performance for AI is how these solutions manage metadata. Separating metadata processing from data storage unlocks significant gains in performance, scalability, and efficiency across AI workloads. Let’s look at why metadata processing matters for AI.

Liquid Cooling is Front & Center at GTC 2025

Heatwave

One thing was clear at the just-wrapped NVIDIA GTC event: the race to cool the next generation of HPC and AI systems is intensifying.

Let’s take a quick look at some of our favorite announcements.

NVIDIA GTC 2025: The Super Bowl of AI

NVIDIA GTC 2025 Storage

If you thought AI was already moving fast, buckle up, Jensen Huang threw more fuel on the fire. NVIDIA’s GTC 2025 keynote wasn’t just about new GPUs; it was a full-scale vision of computing’s future, one where AI isn’t just a tool — it’s the foundation of everything.

Let’s look at what Jensen talk about during his 2+ hour keynote.

Quick Take: Google’s $32B Wiz Acquisition

Deal

Google today announced its intent to acquire cybersecurity start-up Wiz for a staggering $32 billion in an all-cash deal. This acquisition is one of the largest ever cybersecurity deals.

CoreWeave’s Wild Ride Towards IPO

CoreWeave

CoreWeave, the AI-focused cloud provider that’s that was early in catching and riding the generative AI boom, is officially gunning for the big leagues. The NVIDIA-backed company has filed for an IPO, looking to capitalize on the insatiable demand for AI compute.

That’s big news for the AI infrastructure world, where CoreWeave has rapidly positioned itself as a major player, taking on the likes of Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.

But before you start picturing ringing bells on Wall Street and champagne toasts, there’s more to the story. A lot more.

March Survey Round-Up: AI is Booming, But Data Quality & Security Haunt Leaders

Survey Says

Who doesn’t love a good survey? We’ve combed through a bumper crop of new surveys on AI and tech trends for 2025 to find the bottom line: Executives can’t pump the brakes on AI spending — but lousy data, security holes, and an alarming skills gap could cause serious headaches.

Let’s look at what we’ve learned from February’s batch of surveys tell us about the state of enterprise IT.