Seattle's tech industry blues

Seattle's tech industry blues

From Make Me Smart by Marketplace

April 17, 2026 · 20 min · Episode 1555

About this episode

The episode discusses the recent layoffs in Seattle's tech industry, the role of AI, and local reactions to data center developments.

Recently, Seattle’s tech workforce has been hit by wave after wave of layoffs. Some company execs say it’s AI’s fault. KUOW’s Monica Nickelsburg joins Kimberly on today’s show to share what she’s hearing from tech workers. And, we’ll get into another side of the AI boom: the push to build more data centers and the pushback from locals. Plus, a round of Seattle trivia! Here’s everything we talked about today: "Booming" from KUOW Why Seattle tech companies are still laying off workers from The Seattle Times "From coder to shuttle driver: Where Seattle's laid off tech workforce is now" from KUOW "A small town in Central Washington is Microsoft's answer to the data center backlash" from KUOW "What produce prompted the creation of the Market?" from the Pike Place Market Foundation "Seattle doesn't have many unicorns. Does it matter?" From GeekWire "Scents from a Mall: The Sticky, Untold Story of Cinnabon" from Seattle Met "Seattle area expected to generate $845 million from FIFA World Cup" from Fox 13 Seattle We love hearing from you. Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email makemesmart@marketplace.org .

People in this episode

Host: Kimberly

Guest: Monica Nickelsburg

Topics covered

  • Seattle tech industry
  • layoffs
  • AI impact
  • data centers
  • local pushback
  • trivia

Keywords

  • Seattle
  • tech layoffs
  • AI
  • data centers
  • trivia
  • KUOW
  • FIFA World Cup

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: KUOW, The Seattle Times, Pike Place Market Foundation, GeekWire, Fox 13 Seattle

Places: Seattle, Central Washington

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