Good morning, CIOs. North Korea's army of hackers is not the nation's only tech workforce keeping security chiefs up at night.

The WSJ's Robert McMillan and Dustin Volz explore the world of "laptop farmers," part of a scam to infiltrate American companies and earn money for cash-strapped North Korea.

Farmers typically operate dozens of laptops meant to be used by legitimate remote workers living in the U.S., WSJ reports.

For companies employing the North Koreans, their data is at risk.

CrowdStrike recently identified about 150 cases of North Korean workers on customer networks, and has identified laptop farms in at least eight states. Read the story.

It's Nvidia day. The chipmaker’s earnings are due after Wednesday’s close, WSJ reports. Some analysts expect Nvidia to deliver higher sales and profits, driven by strong demand for its Blackwell chips.

Fresh off the Informatica news, Salesforce also will be reporting earnings Wednesday.

The European Union set out plans to slash regulation and set up a special fund to attract tech startups as the bloc plays catchup with the U.S. on financing and innovation, WSJ reports. Under the plans, the commission will seek to simplify rules, including on labor and tax law, so that startups can launch rapidly. 

• The Tech Industry Is Huge—and Europe’s Share of It Is Very Small

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said it would establish a new chip-design center in Munich, Germany, a win for the European Union as Brussels seeks to become more self-sufficient in the production of semiconductors. WSJ reports that the hub is expected to open in the third quarter this year.

A growing number of states are rolling out subsidies for satellite connectivity in rural areas rather than focusing such aid primarily on fiber connectivity, a change that could be a boon to Elon Musk’s Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper, WSJ reports. 

SpaceX launched the latest flight test for its Starship vehicle at around 7:30 p.m. ET Tuesday but fell short of carrying out planned experiments as the company lost control of the vehicle, WSJ reports. In a post on X, the company said the spacecraft came apart.

California’s population is growing again thanks in part to the H-1B visa program, which tech employers use to recruit talent, WSJ reports. In 2024, it brought nearly 79,000 skilled workers to California, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data. But that may be temporary. H-1B applications have fallen by 25% from a year ago.

The CEO of Getty Images tells CNBC that the company is spending millions in a lawsuit against Stability AI on allegations it copied 12 million images without permission. 

Prague accused state-linked Chinese hackers of hitting the Czech Republic’s foreign ministry’s unclassified networks, Bloomberg reports.

Wall Street is betting that the worst of President Trump’s trade war is in the rearview mirror. The latest example came Tuesday, when news of easing trade tensions between the U.S. and the EU powered a 2% increase in the S&P 500. (WSJ)

Russia’s successes on the front lines in Ukraine are a big reason why Vladimir Putin isn’t yet ready to sign up to President Trump’s peace efforts. Some of his neighbors fear the success of the war machine now driving its economy means he never will. (WSJ)

General Motors has abandoned a plan to pump $300 million into electric-vehicle motor production at its upstate New York plant and will instead invest $888 million to make the latest V-8 engines. (WSJ)

The WSJ CIO Journal Team is Steven Rosenbush, Isabelle Bousquette and Belle Lin.

The editor, Tom Loftus, can be reached at thomas.loftus@wsj.com.