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Trade Wars
IMTS 2026 - Manufacturers Mean Business
The Largest Manufacturing Show in the Western Hemisphere. IMTS 2026 will be held September 14-19, 2026 at McCormick Place, Chicago. The International Manufacturing Technology Show is a biannual magnet for big technologies and big ideas, but it’s revealing to know that the event is also a big draw for big businesses. Recently the organizers of IMTS 2026, AMT - the Assn. At the September 2024 event, which drew 89,020 registered visitors from 110 countries, the attendees were associated with many of the largest and most prolific businesses in the globIMTS 2026 will feature the latest in AI, automation, and digital manufacturing solutions, attracting industry leaders worldwide.
The event underscores the significant investment flow into U.S. manufacturing, totaling over $10.5 trillion, and highlights opportunities for growth and innovation. Attendees include major manufacturers and machine shops seeking solutions to improve efficiency, speed, and competitiveness in global markets. Registration for IMTS 2026 is open, offering a platform for networking, learning, and exploring new business opportunities in manufacturing technology.al economy.
Read more at American Machinist
Nvidia Introduces First PCs Designed for AI Agents
Nvidia unveiled the first prototypes in a new generation of personal laptop computers designed for running artificial-intelligence “agents,” using a newly designed version of the company’s signature AI chips. The new PCs will be as slim as 14 millimeters thick, and the lightest will weigh less than 3 pounds. To start, Nvidia will work with six manufacturers—Dell Technologies, Lenovo Group, Microsoft, HP, Asus and MSI—to build the laptops. PCs that use the chip will be “targeted at creators, AI developers and gamers” and priced at the premium end of the market, said Mark Aevermann, Nvidia’s senior director of product development. To power the new computers, Nvidia is introducing the RTX Spark, which it described as “the most efficient PC chip ever built.”
Eventually, there will be 30 laptop models and about 10 desktop models using the new chips, developed from Nvidia’s graphics-processing unit. Nvidia couched the new PC announcement as part of a broader shift in AI computing. In recent years, large AI labs have focused first on training large language models and then, once they are mature, running them efficiently using a process known as inference, which allows models to respond to user queries. Now, AI is moving away from the world of human users. The proliferation of tens of millions of AI agents—or autonomous bots that are capable of doing many tasks—has changed how companies like Nvidia design and market their silicon products and other tools. “AI is moving from answering questions to doing real work,” Ian Buck, Nvidia’s vice president for hyperscale and high-performance computing said.
Read more at the WSJ
Microporous Breaks Ground On $1.6B Va. Facility
Two years after local and state officials announced a billion-dollar investment, the first shovels hit the ground at the Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill. Battery component manufacturer Microporous is building a $1.6 billion facility expected to create 1,800 jobs in Pittsylvania County. Microporous, an advanced battery separator manufacturer, will be building a new manufacturing facility in Danville, VA. The plant will produce battery separators for lithium-ion batteries. It is set to hire 2,015 people to staff the facility. "This is a pivotal milestone for Microporous as we move from planning into execution," said John Reeves, CEO of Microporous in a press release.
Microporous plans to use its Virginia facility to manufacture battery insulators — components that prevent batteries from short-circuiting. CEO John Reeves says the project benefits both the company and the communities it’s entering. The facility is expected to take approximately 14 months to complete, with a targeted opening date as early as 2027.
Read more at WSLS
Blue Origin To Spend $600 Million To Expand Florida Rocket Plant
Blue Origin will expand its Cape Canaveral spaceport to the tune of $600 million and 830,000 square feet. According to a statement from the Florida governor’s office, the new factory Blue Origin plans to build will add an extra 500 aerospace manufacturing jobs to the site, carrying an average salary of $98,000. "Project Horizon is the latest and most ambitious chapter in Blue Origin's decade-long commitment to Florida," said Dave Limp, CEO of Blue Origin. “Since 2015, we’ve scaled to nearly 4,000 employees, invested more than $2.3 billion across 500 Florida suppliers, and expanded to 11 sites across Brevard and Orange Counties. And we’re just getting started.”
Construction of the multimillion rocket plant, which will assemble upper-stage rocket parts, will be partially funded by Florida’s Spaceport Improvement Program, or SIP, a partnership between the Florida Department of Transportation and Space Florida, itself a public corporation for supporting aerospace manufacturing in the state. SIP has spent $531 million in state investments to fund 48 major infrastructure projects since 2012; The amount SIP is spending for Blue Origin’s latest expansion as not disclosed.
Read more at Plant Services
MIT Bullish On Its Initiative For New Manufacturing At The One-Year Mark
One year into the launch of its Initiative for New Manufacturing, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is gaining traction toward its goal of helping modernize U.S. industrial systems. INM launched with financial support from seven consortium members last year: Amgen, Autodesk, Flex, GE Vernova, PTC, Sanofi and Siemens. First Solar has since joined as a consortium member.
The group’s goal is to help develop new technologies and systems, as well as accelerate the adoption of emerging technologies. It will also facilitate efforts to share knowledge across businesses and industry groups, scale workforce education programs and develop more entrepreneurship options. INM received 50 research proposals from faculty in its first year and so far has funded eight. This includes projects focused on agentic artificial intelligence, robotics and other technologies. John Hart, a co-director of INM likened this to seed funding for new startups, of which MIT has yielded many over the years. Other initiatives so far include MIT’s Technologist Advanced Manufacturing Program, which is training its first cohort of manufacturing employees at their organizations, among others.
Read more at Manufacturing Dive
Third Fire In One Month Forces Tennessee Metal Powders Plant To Close
Amaero Advanced Materials and Manufacturing is being forced to shut down operations at its Chattanooga, Tennessee following an explosion. Local news source ABC 9 reported an explosion on the morning of May 26 follows two previous incidents at the same site: On May 13, an explosion hospitalized two workers with severe burns, and two days later, another small explosion caused a second fire. ABC 9 cited local fire officials, who said the plant will be “closed until further notice” pending an investigation by Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Amaero is an Australian company that produces specialty metal powders and powder metallurgy services, including hot isostatic pressing, for the defense, aerospace, medical, petroleum, and heavy equipment industries. Hot isostatic pressing involves compacting powdered materials, metal or ceramic, into a sealed kiln that uses pressure and heat to fuse the powders together into a finished, low-porosity product suitable for high-demand industries. In February, another isostatic pressing facility in Canby, Oregon exploded, injuring one employee. “The safety and well-being of every member of the Amaero family is our highest priority — today and every day,” said Amaero CEO Hank Holland. Our thoughts are with our two colleagues and their families, and they remain our immediate concern. We have commenced a thorough root cause analysis to determine the cause of the incident, to identify any additional preventative measures and to reinforce our safety procedures and training.”
Read more at Plant Services
Siemens Entry Aims To Make Agentic AI More Affordable For Smbs
Siemens is claiming that its new entry into the agentic AI software market can shorten downtime in engineering and manufacturing reconfigurations—which take nearly 70% of a robot’s cost cycle—therefore making the machines more affordable for small to medium-size businesses in addition to improving factory floor operations. The company pitched its Eigen Engineering Agent as a brand-agnostic agentic AI, offering that the software product can replace manual coding or programming for programmable logic controllers (PLC), distributed control systems (DCS) and robotics applications, updating code or instructions to reflect new priorities and goals.
“We don’t attract the best of the programmers to the manufacturing floor. … So, getting programmers to come and code our PLCs or robotic systems? That was a scale-up bottleneck. And then add to that, the new generation of people who are coming in, they just know how to do vibe coding. They will not do syntax-based coding anymore,” Ujjwal Kumar, president of the Americas for Siemens’ Digital Industries Automation said. "The AI should be able to learn and reconfigure at a much faster rate than what was possible, say, five years back." Humans must always remain in the loop, however, Agentic AI is like an orchestra and humans are its conductors.”
Read More at Smart Industry
Texas Data Centers: Coming In Batches
Texas’ main power grid operator is laying the groundwork for more data centers to come online in the Lone Star State. The board of directors of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas is scheduled to vote tomorrow on whether to approve a new process to connect data centers to the grid. The proposed rules would pave the way for ERCOT to approve projects in batches that could include dozens of the power-hungry facilities.
The effort has set off a mad dash among developers wanting to be part of that “Batch Zero.” But it is also coming up against a growing chorus of lawmakers and grassroots groups who say the state should slow down and better study data centers’ impacts on power and water usage. If ERCOT’s board greenlights the rules on today, they will go to the Public Utility Commission of Texas for final approval later this month. The rules could serve as a blueprint for other grid operators across the country, said Ian Rock, chief technology officer of Terraflow Energy, which builds batteries for data centers.
Read more at Politico
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