Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:
Why building two data centers a week won’t fix AI’s bottleneck | TechRadar
By the end of the year, the top five hyperscalers – Meta, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet (Google) – will have collectively invested around $600 billion on AI-enabling infrastructure like data centers, with some estimates suggesting that as many as two data center facilities are coming online every week to keep pace with demand.
Commission proposes tech sovereignty package to strengthen Europe’s digital autonomy and resilience
The European Commission today presented the European Technological Sovereignty Package, a set of measures to strengthen Europe’s capacity in semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud and open source.
Google’s water stewardship commitments for local communities
Water is a critical component of data center development and operations. Because data centers generate heat from the servers and chips that power the digital world, they often rely on water to cut back on energy use for cooling. In many places, water cooling can reduce data center energy use by approximately 10% compared to air cooling. The aggregate water consumption of data centers is small — U.S. data centers use less than 1% of the water that Americans use on their lawns annually 1 — but we are focused on protecting local water resources in all aspects of our data center operations.
An economist’s case against the AI jobs-pocalypse
Labor economist Kathryn Anne Edwards isn’t worried AI will create a new class of permanently idle Americans — but argues it’s still time for the government to fix the social safety net
STARTUP GRIND PDX- is BACK · Luma
Startup Grind Portland is relaunching — and we’re not easing back in. We’re coming back loud, with a founder fireside that goes exactly where most events won’t: the real story. The hard calls. The pivots nobody saw coming. The version of building that doesn’t make the press release. This is the room where Portland’s startup community gets its gathering place back.
Pearl Culinary Farmers Market opens Sunday
The new market will debut this Sunday on the block where Mediterranean Exploration Company, Andina and Jenken restaurants are clustered.
Metro Council Appoints Juan Carlos González as New President
In a unanimous 5–0 vote Tuesday, Portland’s Metro Council appointed Juan Carlos González to fill former Council President Lynn Peterson’s seat as Metro Council president through the end of 2026.
With all the AI money sloshing around Skin in the Game isn’t enough anymore. I’m looking for Heart in the Game too. | Hunter Walk
Skin in the game is no longer sufficient. Now I look for heart in the game. The founders who want their companies on their tombstones not just bank accounts and speaker bios. Who won’t ditch their startups for job offers that screw their angels and remaining team members. Who gives a shit?
Hybrid work is not always the golden compromise employees expect – even as more companies implement it
As business scholars who study management and communication technologies, we have discovered a more complicated picture. Our research shows that employees actually have more mixed feelings about hybrid work, with some becoming disillusioned. In fact, a hybrid solution may not always be the sustainable compromise it’s hyped to be.
Anthropic Funding Pushed Startup Investment To Near-Record Levels In May As Exit Market Reopened
All told, global venture funding reached $92 billion in May, marking the second-largest monthly total on record, just behind February, Crunchbase data shows. Of that, Anthropic raised $50 billion, or 54% of the month’s total funding.
The Fallacies of AI-Assisted Programming – by Sam Keen
The assumptions we are importing all come from a world where the author was a single, minimally jagged, accountable human whose knowledge had edges it knew about. The new author breaks every part of that.
The Token Reckoning is Here and It’s Not What You Think
To be sure, negative AI stories seem to travel further than positive ones, and many companies are finding productive uses of the technology. So some caution is warranted. But ultimately, the industry will have to sort out the ROI question or risk a significant comedown.
Y Combinator Spring 2026 Batch – by Ollie Forsyth
Y Combinator’s Spring ‘26 Demo Day is two weeks away. We’re back with a full overview of the latest startups in the batch — what they’re building, which categories they’re focused on, and which partners coached them. We’ll also highlight the most exciting startups to watch and take a closer look at the teams behind them.
Building Software Is Learning – by Thorsten Ball
If you’re building something new and you don’t yet fully know how exactly it’s supposed to work, you will learn what exactly it is that you’re building as you’re doing it. Let me repeat: building new software is learning.
AI models are having their iPhone moment. What’s Next? – On my Om
I have been fortunate enough to have been involved with the last five cycles of technology. As a result, I have been able to see patterns in the history of technology. It doesn’t matter what the technology is – we go from shock and awe to ho-hum, go-to-work. A technology eventually becomes invisible to us.
Trump Signs AI Executive Order Asking Companies to Grant Government Early Access to Powerful Models – WSJ
President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday asking artificial-intelligence companies to give the administration access to powerful models 30 days before public release, just two weeks after shelving a previous version.
Hillsboro considers ‘pause’ on new data centers amid uproar over unchecked tax breaks – oregonlive.com
Hillsboro could become the first jurisdiction in Oregon to put a moratorium on new data centers as the city responds to community frustration over new tax breaks for the industry that extend into the 2050s.
Manny’s Choice wins Angel Oregon CPG 2026 – Portland Business Journal
Manny’s Choice snagged the top prize, a $150,000 check, from the angel investment group behind the program. The business imports European baking mixes, flour and sourdough starters. Products are marketed as non-GMO, unbleached, with no additives, enrichment or preservatives.
Dorkbot PDX: June Edition, Mon, Jun 8, 2026, 6:30 PM | Meetup
DorkbotPDX is a laid-back meetup and show-and-tell for those who make, modify and use technical tools to weird and imaginative ends. You might run into creative coders, electronic artists, circuit designers, retro computing archaeologists, video game devs, modular synth gearheads and cyberpunk DIYers.
PDX Code & Coffee @ Kiln, Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 9:00 AM | Meetup
Code and Coffee is an inclusive, informal co-working session. Drink some coffee, bring your laptop, and have engaging conversations. This is a great opportunity to learn from others, share your knowledge, and possibly collaborate on side projects, online courses, or even your day-to-day work tasks.
The FLP Paper, Wed, Jun 3, 2026, 6:00 PM | Meetup
The consensus problem involves an asynchronous system of processes, some of which may be unreliable. The problem is for the reliable processes to agree on a binary value. In this paper, it is shown that every protocol for this problem has the possibility of non-termination, even with only one faulty process. By way of contrast, solutions are known for the synchronous case, the “Byzantine Generals” problem.