Makenzie Holland
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@CIODive reporter covering cloud and infrastructure. Chasing dreams and tacos 🌮
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Articles by Makenzie Holland
Enterprises contend with mounting AI costs as tools sprawl
Like with every scalable enterprise technology component, the bill for massive AI deployments eventually comes due. With the experimentation phase largely behind them, CIOs and other tech leaders have spent much of 2026 putting the spotlight on AI costs, aiming to bring runaway spending under control as adoption spreads throughout their organizations. It’s a tricky balance, as too tight a rein might block enterprises from reaching true innovation.
Google hikes capital expenditures to $205B, citing demand growth Original
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Google plans to increase its capital expenditures to $205 billion for its 2026 fiscal year to deliver compute capacity as demand rises, executives said during the tech company’s Q2 earnings call on Wednesday. The figure increased from original estimates of up to $190 billion and capital expenditures are expected to continue increasing significantly into 2027, CFO Anat Ashkenazi said during the call.
Big tech sovereign AI tools promise control, but drive lock-in Original
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Big tech companies are tapping into unmet needs around operational control with their global cloud and AI sovereignty initiatives, while deepening countries’ and companies’ reliance on their products, a study from the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence found. The study reviewed offerings from the most dominant companies with extensive global reach — Microsoft, Google, AWS, Nvidia and OpenAI.
Banks report operational changes driven by AI adoption Original
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Banking giants that spent years investing in AI are starting to see the technology’s effects on business operations — and their workforces. Over 200,000 Bank of America employees use AI-enabled capabilities, CEO Brian Moynihan told investors during the bank’s Q2 2026 earnings call on Tuesday.
How to keep AI costs in check as agentic drives usage
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Despite token costs coming down, businesses continue to grapple with managing AI costs as usage accelerates. The shift means IT leaders must rethink how to manage their investments while keeping the budget in check. AI sprawl is contributing to cost control headaches for enterprises, according to a Flexera study.
Wells Fargo debuts AI-powered teammate for financial advisers Original
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Wells Fargo is equipping its financial advisers, support teams and client associates with AI Teammate, an AI-powered chat capability that connects to the bank’s modernized central technology platform, according to a Wednesday announcement. AI Teammate allows users to query the bank’s Advisor Gateway platform in plain language and provides product, workflow and process summaries.
IBM stock tumbles after Q2 infrastructure revenue warning
This story was originally published on CIO Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CIO Dive newsletter. IBM infrastructure revenue dipped 7% in Q2, driven partly by shifts in customer spending, according to preliminary results shared by CEO Arvind Krishna in a Tuesday letter to investors. While the technology company anticipated a drop in infrastructure revenue, the decline was worse than expected, Krishna said.
Texas Capital picks U.S. Bank alum as chief digital, information officer
Mo Jamous joined Dallas-based Texas Capital as managing director, chief digital and information officer, effective immediately, according to a Monday announcement from the bank’s parent company. Jamous will lead the firm’s technology strategy and artificial intelligence initiatives and report to Rob Holmes, chairman, president and CEO of Texas Capital, the announcement said.
Texas Capital picks U.S. Bank alum as chief digital, information officer Original
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Mo Jamous joined Dallas-based Texas Capital as managing director, chief digital and information officer, effective immediately, according to a Monday announcement from the bank’s parent company, Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc. Jamous will lead the firm’s technology strategy and AI initiatives and report to Rob Holmes, chairman, president and CEO of Texas Capital, the announcement said.
Agentic AI strains legacy IT systems
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Agentic AI workloads are placing new strain on enterprise architecture, with one prompt triggering hundreds of actions that makes legacy IT systems financially unsustainable, according to Google’s 2026 State of AI Infrastructure report. Based on a survey of more than 1,400 senior IT leaders,83% said their infrastructure needs upgrades in order to support agentic AI systems.
SAP loosens ERP maintenance and support rules Original
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. The European Commission accepted SAP’s commitment to implement several changes to its aftermarket support services for on-premises ERP software, the executive arm of the European Union said Wednesday. The commission launched a formal investigation into SAP in September due to concerns that the company’s business practices restricted competition in the maintenance and services market.
Liberty Mutual preps legacy systems for AI scale Original
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. As AI takes industries by storm, Liberty Mutual Insurance is charting a strategic course through the deluge as it selects use cases for the technology while revamping its legacy systems. The insurance company in May launched a conversational AI auto insurance quoting app, allowing users of OpenAI’s ChatGPT to get a quote from Liberty Mutual through a chat-based interaction rather than filling out an online form.
AI will reshape financial services, and regulation will follow
The financial services industry is shifting from human-led to artificial intelligence-enabled, introducing tools such as AI agents that can execute tasks on behalf of customers. Regulation will play a pivotal role in speeding or restricting AI’s advancement in the industry, according to a June report from the Financial Conduct Authority, the U.K.’s primary financial watchdog.
AI will reshape financial services, and regulation will follow Original
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. The financial services industry is shifting from human-led to AI-enabled, introducing tools such as AI agents that can execute tasks on behalf of customers. Regulation will play a pivotal role in speeding or restricting AI’s advancement in the industry, according to a June report from the Financial Conduct Authority, the U.K.’s primary financial watchdog.
Albertsons works to scale merchandising intelligence platform
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Albertsons is working to enhance merchandising intelligence at scale for its grocery retail businesses in the field. The grocery giant is working directly with merchants, or store operators, to transform multiple platforms into a single space for decision-making with improved product, pricing, promotions and placement insights, said Karthik Iyer, group vice president, head of merchandising, transformation and AI, at Albertsons.
Microsoft pours $2.5B in push to embed engineers with customers
This story was originally published on CIO Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CIO Dive newsletter. Microsoft is spending $2.5 billion to launch a new operating business called the Microsoft Frontier Company, which will embed 6,000 engineering experts within customer operations to assist in deploying AI systems at scale, according to a Thursday blog post written by Judson Althoff, CEO of Microsoft Commercial Business.
AWS funnels $1B into forward deployed engineering hub Original
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. AWS is investing $1 billion into a dedicated forward deployed engineering organization that combines its frontier teams, composed of software engineers, with AI agents to build and deploy AI systems within a customer’s environment, the cloud giant shared in a Tuesday announcement.
Albertsons works to scale merchandising intelligence platform
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Albertsons is working to enhance merchandising intelligence at scale for its grocery retail businesses in the field. The grocery giant is working directly with merchants, or store operators, to transform multiple platforms into a single space for decision-making with improved product, pricing, promotions and placement insights, said Karthik Iyer, group VP, head of merchandising, transformation and AI, at Albertsons.
Senior execs worry about AI system lock-in
This story was originally published on CIO Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CIO Dive newsletter. Enterprises embedding AI into core operations and processes are getting locked into AI systems that can be difficult to change, IBM's Institute for Business Value revealed in a study based on insights from 1,000 senior executives published earlier this month. More than 7 in 10 respondents said it would be challenging to switch from their primary AI provider.
IA : une nouvelle fondation s’attaque au coût des tokens
La Linux Foundation a lancé la Tokenomics Foundation lors de la conférence FinOps X 2026, alors que l’envolée des coûts d’IA est au cœur des préoccupations des dirigeants. Cette nouvelle fondation, qui collabore étroitement avec la FinOps Foundation, travaillera sur les bonnes pratiques et des frameworks pour bien gérer le coût de l’IA quand elle est déployée à grande l’échelle.
The Magnum Ice Cream Company enlists six vendors to build tech stack Original
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. The Magnum Ice Cream Company struck long-term partnerships with six key technology vendors that will help establish the ice cream giant’s digital foundation, according to a Thursday announcement. The company selected Accenture, HCLTech, Kinaxis, Microsoft, Salesforce and SAP to build its future operating model in the aftermath of its 2025 spinoff from Unilever.
Neocloud providers will gain greater slice of AI cloud market by 2030
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Accelerating compute demand for AI workloads and rising regulatory concerns are leading enterprises to consider cloud options beyond traditional hyperscalers. By 2030, Gartner predicts that neocloud providers, which offer AI-optimized infrastructure, will earn 20% of the competitive $267 billion AI cloud market. AWS, Microsoft and Google account for the greatest shares of the cloud market overall.
Linux Foundation prepares open standard for AI agent verification
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. The Linux Foundation plans to build an open standard that will help verify AI agents working across the internet. The Agent Name Service will be built on the same infrastructure powering the internet — the Domain Name System — to securely identify autonomous agents at scale, the nonprofit shared in a Tuesday announcement.
Neocloud providers will gain greater slice of AI cloud market by 2030
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Accelerating compute demand for AI workloads and rising regulatory concerns are leading enterprises to consider cloud options beyond traditional hyperscalers. By 2030, Gartner predicts that neocloud providers, which offer AI-optimized infrastructure, will earn 20% of the competitive $267 billion AI cloud market. AWS, Microsoft and Google account for the greatest shares of the cloud market overall.
Neocloud providers will gain greater slice of AI cloud market by 2030
This story was originally published on CIO Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CIO Dive newsletter. Accelerating compute demand for AI workloads and rising regulatory concerns are leading enterprises to consider cloud options beyond traditional hyperscalers. By 2030, Gartner predicts that neocloud providers, which offer AI-optimized infrastructure, will earn 20% of the competitive $267 billion AI cloud market.
Overestimating AI threatens legacy mainframe migrations
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Leaders relying heavily on AI to carry out mainframe exit strategies should prepare for missed expectations, according to Gartner. More than 70% of projects started this year will fail due to overestimation of generative AI capabilities. Businesses risk cost overruns, technical debt and critical failures by focusing on AI, according to Gartner.
Tech vendors partner up to address enterprise AI pain points
As enterprises continue to invest in AI, they're encountering pain points around data readiness, governance, security and cost tracking before projects reach scale. Most technology leaders feel underprepared to handle the pace of AI deployment their organizations require of them, according to IBM data. Immature governance frameworks and a lack of visibility into where AI is running represent two key sticking points.
Foundation to tackle AI token cost management Original
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. The Linux Foundation launched the Tokenomics Foundation at the FinOps X 2026 conference this week as rising AI costs capture executives’ attention. The Tokenomics Foundation, working alongside the FinOps Foundation, will develop best practices and frameworks for managing enterprise AI use at scale, according to the foundation’s website. Tokens are used as a unit of measure for AI use and have become a method for pricing services.
Oracle, AWS among vendors working to curb rising AI costs Original
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Oracle introduced a limited rollout of token bundles to better align agentic AI pricing with derived value. As advanced AI models and agentic tools make their way into the enterprise, executives are contending with higher usage of tokens — a unit of measure often used to price AI services — and increased AI costs.
Shutterstock, Prudential Financial share AI cost strategies Original
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. CIOs are grappling with rising AI costs as token usage eats up budgets. Costs often center around the usage of tokens, the manageable fragments of data that AI models process and how AI model providers price inputs and outputs, said J.R. Storment, executive director of the FinOps Foundation, speaking during the keynote address at the FinOps X 2026 conference Tuesday.
Don't miss tomorrow's tech industry news
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Apple is opening up third party access to its Private Cloud Compute in support of Apple Intelligence workloads through a partnership with Google Cloud and Nvidia, according to a Monday blog post. Apple will run Apple Intelligence — its personal intelligence system for iPhones, iPads and Mac devices — on Google Cloud as part of the deal.
Don't miss tomorrow's tech industry news
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Choice Hotels Internationalpromoted technology executiveTony Pallas to the chief technology officer role as the multinational hospitality company prepares to expand its AI capabilities, according to a Monday statement. Pallas will report to Anna Scozzafava, the company’s chief data, AI and technology officer. His promotion comes amid a CEO transition, as Patrick Pacious, Choice Hotels’ president and CEO, stepped down last month.
Don't miss tomorrow's tech industry news
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. The Magnum Ice Cream Company is preparing for a digital renaissance following its spinoff from Unilever, an undertaking that Michael Friedlander, CIO of the Americas, described as a once in a lifetime opportunity. Home to some of the largest ice cream brands globally, including Ben & Jerry’s, Breyers, Magnum and Klondike, the company completed its exit from Unilever in 2025, becoming a standalone company.
Don't miss tomorrow's tech industry news Original
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. The European Union is taking steps to increase its technological strength. On Wednesday, the European Commission unveiled the European Technological Sovereignty Package, a set of proposals targeting cloud computing, AI, semiconductors and open source, in a bid to reduce reliance on U.S. tech giants.
Don't miss tomorrow's tech industry news Original
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Hewlett Packard Enterprise saw customer demand boom during its Q2 2026, leading to $10.7 billion in revenue, up 40% year over year. HPE’s cloud and AI revenue segment represented $7.7 billion of total revenue, an increase of 22.9% from the same period last year.
Don't miss tomorrow's tech industry news Original
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Nvidia is strengthening its position as a full-stack compute provider as it seeks to support agentic AI directly on devices. In partnership with Microsoft, Nvidia released RTX Spark, a chip powering Windows PCs purpose-built for personal AI agents. The company shared the news Monday during Nvidia GTC Taipei at Computex 2026.
Don't miss tomorrow's tech industry news Original
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Dell Technologies’ revenue soared in the first quarter of its fiscal 2027, driven by enterprise investments in AI infrastructure and compute power. The technology company’s revenue reached $43.8 billion for the quarter, up 88% year over year. AI was a powerful driver behind Dell’s record quarter. The company booked $24.4 billion in AI orders and saw $16.1 billion of AI-optimized server revenue.
Don't miss tomorrow's tech industry news Original
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Snowflake is putting billions behind its enterprise AI strategy. On Wednesday, the company expanded its collaboration with AWS, making a $6 billion infrastructure commitment to the tech giant over the next five years, according to a company announcement. The investment in AWS Graviton processors and AI infrastructure reflects growing demand among enterprises for running data and AI workloads.
Don't miss tomorrow's banking industry news
Northwest Bank tapped Chad Ballard as its CIO to modernize platforms and lead technology initiatives, the bank shared in a Tuesday announcement. Ballard joined the bank May 18, reporting directly to CEO Louis Torchio. Ballard brings 25 years of technology leadership experience to the role, most recently as CIO for shared services operations at Wells Fargo, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Don't miss tomorrow's tech industry news Original
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Northwest Bank tapped Chad Ballard as its CIO to modernize platforms and lead technology initiatives, the bank shared in a Tuesday announcement. Ballard joined the bank on May 18, reporting directly to President and CEO Louis Torchio. Ballard brings 25 years of technology leadership experience to the role, most recently as CIO for shared services operations at Wells Fargo.
Don't miss tomorrow's tech industry news Original
Infrastructure giant Nvidia reported revenue of $81.6 billion for the first quarter of the company's 2027 fiscal year, up 85% year over year, amid rising demand for AI infrastructure, executives said during the company’s earnings call Wednesday.
Don't miss tomorrow's tech industry news Original
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Blackstone and Google launched a new joint venture to provide data center capacity and Google Cloud’s Tensor Processing Units under a compute-as-a-service offering, the two companies said Monday. Benjamin Treynor Sloss, who has spent the last 22 years as an engineering executive at Google, will lead the venture as CEO.
Don't miss tomorrow's tech industry news Original
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Paramount CTO Phil Wiser is stepping down after more than seven years with the media company, according to a Friday LinkedIn post. The move comes less than a month after the company won a lengthy bidding war against Netflix for Warner Bros. Discovery, a transaction set to close in the third quarter of 2026. Paramount did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Don't miss tomorrow's tech industry news Original
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Companies today are facing disruptions on multiple fronts, from rising geopolitical tensions to ongoing supply chain turmoil, creating tension in the C-suite.
Levi’s passe à l’ERP prêt à porter
Agents et applications IA Le fait est que le groupe intègre déjà l’intelligence artificielle dans son ERP avec des agents qui traitent les commandes, gèrent les tâches de conformité liées aux fournisseurs et saisisent les factures. Levi’s a même collaboré avec SAP pour développer un processus de bout en bout qui ne prendrait que 20 minutes, contre 48 heures en moyenne dans le secteur.
Don't miss tomorrow's tech industry news Original
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. McLaren Racing is teaming up with Intel to provide real-time insights on significant amounts of data generated by its Formula 1 and IndyCar racing teams, the two companies shared on Thursday. Intel will provide trackside edge computing, which will enable real-time analytics on telemetry and simulation data, and assist with race day decision-making, the company said in an announcement.
Don't miss tomorrow's technology industry news
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. SAP is uniting its business technology, data cloud and AI offerings under a single SAP Business AI Platform to serve as a foundation for enterprises building and deploying AI, according to an announcement Tuesday during the company’s annual SAP Sapphire conference. The SAP Business AI Platform brings together the SAP Business Technology Platform, SAP Business Data Cloud and SAP Business AI.
Don't miss tomorrow's tech industry news
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Levi Strauss & Co. has standardized more than 80% of its business processes globally as part of its multiyear modernization initiative, a significant part of which included migrating onto SAP S/4 Fashion, a cloud-based ERP system, the retail giant said in a Tuesday announcement. Levi’s is a customer participant at this week’s SAP Sapphire 2026.
Don't miss tomorrow's tech industry news
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. SAP is uniting its business technology, data cloud and AI offerings under a single SAP Business AI Platform to serve as a foundation for enterprises building and deploying AI, according to an announcement Tuesday during the company’s annual SAP Sapphire conference. The SAP Business AI Platform brings together the SAP Business Technology Platform, SAP Business Data Cloud and SAP Business AI.
Don't miss tomorrow's banking industry news
U.S. Bank will undergo a multiyear modernization initiative in collaboration with Amazon Web Services. The bank will migrate hundreds of mission-critical applications to AWS and revamp its payment processing systems and wealth management platforms, according to a Thursday announcement.
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