Posts by Blake Coleman
The hidden workforce behind America’s semiconductor fab buildout
TL;DR What workforce problem is being overlooked in the U.S. semiconductor expansion? Fabs depend on a second-order semiconductor labor market outside their own payrolls: the engineers, chemists, operators, technicians, and specialists who produce and deliver semiconductor chemicals, gases, filtration, ultrapure water, CMP materials, and contamination-control systems. How much semiconductor manufacturing investment is moving into the…
Read MoreFive million industrial robots are running. Is the bigger story what comes next?
TL;DR How many industrial robots are operating worldwide? About 5 million industrial robots were operating in factories worldwide at the end of 2025, according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), up from 3 million in 2020. The installed base has more than doubled in seven years. How many new industrial robots are being installed?…
Read MoreERE’s AI training headline sends HR and TA the wrong message
TL;DR Will job seekers take lower pay for AI training? Some will. ICIMS found 14% of 1,000 U.S. job seekers would accept lower pay in exchange for AI training. The published result does not tell us how much less they would accept or show that taking a pay cut is the typical response. What pay…
Read MoreMore than skin deep: Deep tech in the South runs deeper than most people realize
TL;DR What states are considered the South? The U.S. Census Bureau defines the South as 16 states plus the District of Columbia. For this article, we are focusing on the 16 states: Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. Is the South…
Read MoreAI is like a box of chocolates
TL;DR Is AI changing how people work? Yes. AI is already changing how people write, build, analyze, create, communicate, make decisions, and solve problems. Is that a bad thing? Sometimes. Some jobs and tasks will shrink or disappear, while new work and new opportunities will emerge. The impact will not be evenly distributed. Is there…
Read MoreSix ways 9/11 changed engineering, medicine, and technology
TL;DR Did 9/11 change disaster robotics? Yes. The World Trade Center became the first reported lifesaving disaster deployment of Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) robots. The Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR) sent small robots into spaces people and dogs could not safely reach, exposing problems with communications, mobility, visibility, and human-robot interaction that…
Read MoreWho actually owns the AI stack, and where does the consolidation end
TL;DR What’s actually happening in AI right now? A small group of companies, mostly the biggest AI labs and chipmakers, are buying and building their way into chip design, energy, and cooling businesses that used to belong to separate specialists. Why is this happening now? Training and running frontier AI depends on a handful of…
Read MoreA housing ranking got our attention. The other signals told a bigger growth story.
TL;DR Why are so many of the top U.S. new-construction metros in the Southeast? Local housing supply matters, but the broader data points to a larger mix of population growth, migration, affordability, job creation, industrial investment, and available land. Eight of Realtor.com’s top 10 metros for new construction in 2026 are in the South, including…
Read MoreYour weight loss journey is also a data pipeline for retailers
TL;DR Does filling out a GLP-1 telehealth intake form send my data to advertisers? Often yes. Tracking scripts embedded in intake and checkout pages capture form entries, IP addresses, and device data, then pass them to ad networks like Meta, Google, and TikTok. Is that legal under HIPAA? It depends on the page. Authenticated patient…
Read MoreWeek 0 rankings: which college football schools actually lead in deep tech research
TL;DR Which school ranks first in deep tech research among the Power Four and Notre Dame? Stanford takes the top spot with a perfect 100 out of 100, built on an unusual combination of AI, semiconductor, robotics, and biotech research tied directly into the Silicon Valley economy. Which conference has the strongest deep tech research…
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