What's up: Europe lags, U.S. tech hubs see a great reshuffle; What Is Big Tech Trying to Hide?

Good morning, CIOs. Geography is still destiny, even in a field as abstract as digital technology.

The Wall Street Journal's Tom Fairless and David Luhnow today look at how Europe, despite housing a larger population and similar education levels as the U.S., accounts for only four of the world’s top 50 tech companies. More below.

Closer to home, the WSJ's Isabelle Bousquette has an update on the great tech migration of the early 2020s when many tech professionals (and several companies) ditched the coasts for Texas, especially Austin. 

A number have since returned, citing the AI revolution in San Francisco, and its overall culture of innovation. New York is also drawing talent, fueled by an influx of AI companies that aim to sell to large enterprises.

Austin, meanwhile, has seen parts of its tech workforce contract, according to a new report from venture-capital firm SignalFire.

This is not over, of course. Says Thom Singer, chief executive of the nonprofit organization Austin Technology Council, “You can’t view a short-term slowdown following unprecedented growth as the end of the story.” Read the story.

Having largely missed out on the first digital revolution, Europe seems poised to miss out on the next wave, too, the WSJ reports. The U.S. and China are spending heavily on AI and other technologies that hold the promise of boosting productivity and living standards. In Europe, venture capital tech investment is a fifth of U.S. levels.

But it's not just venture capital holding Europe back. Investors and entrepreneurs say obstacles to tech growth are deeply entrenched: a timid and risk-averse business culture, strict labor laws, suffocating regulations, and lackluster economic and demographic growth.

Manufacturing services provider Sanmina agreed to acquire ZT Systems’ data center infrastructure manufacturing business from Advanced Micro Devices, the WSJ reports. The chipmaker acquired ZT Systems earlier this year and will retain its AI systems design businesses. AMD also will work with Sanmina as a U.S.-based new production introduction manufacturing partner.

Nvidia is talking with PsiQuantum about a possible investment, the Information reports. The quantum computing startup told the WSJ earlier this year that it planned to have a commercially useful quantum computer available as soon as 2027.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is buying 23andMe out of bankruptcy for $256 million, the WSJ reports, giving the company an unprecedented repository of human genetic information that has been building since 23andMe’s DNA-testing kits made a splash with customers years ago.

Big Tech is acting like it has something to hide, the WSJ’s Tim Higgins reports, with Amazon, Google and Apple all being accused of abusing legal privilege in recent weeks in battles to strip away their power. Their actions in court seemingly confirm what their many critics contend: that Big Tech needs to be reined in.

Microsoft’s GitHub unit unveiled a Copilot AI coding agent that takes coding work and informs people when the task is completed, CNBC reports. The agent is powered by Anthropic’s Claude 3.7 Sonnet AI model.

Fewer than 100 people to date have had brain-computer interfaces permanently installed. In the next 12 months, that number will more than double, according to the WSJ’s Christopher Mims, provided the companies with new FDA experimental-use approval meet their goals in clinical trials. 

President Trump’s mass-deportation push has instilled widespread fear among migrants. What it hasn’t done, so far, is stop many from showing up for work. (WSJ)

The U.S.’s deteriorating fiscal situation is threatening to spoil Wall Street’s good mood. Investors sold U.S. government bonds and the dollar on Monday, after Moody’s Ratings late last week stripped the U.S. of its last triple-A credit rating. (WSJ)

A trio of senators is seeking information about Paramount Global’s efforts to settle a lawsuit by President Trump against the company’s CBS News, probing whether the company risks violating a federal bribery statute. (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.