Tech:NYC Digest: August 18

August 18, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

Friday, August 18, 2023

We’re back with another summer Friday edition of the Tech:NYC Digest, featuring our Friday Five highlights in New York tech this week.

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China Tensions Could Create Midterm Vulnerabilities in Some Tech Markets (Wall Street Journal)

It isn’t often that Tech:NYC weighs in on US-China economic policy, but there are actually significant local impacts for startups in New York: Even though the semiconductor industry has its roots in the US, much of the manufacturing has moved overseas — a trend New York is trying to reverse. A lot of homegrown startups rely on seamless chips production — that’s why our president Julie Samuels shares thoughts about just how important it is for us to double down on investments in the new Micron campus upstate and alternate supply chains more broadly.

OpenAI bought the makers of a minecraft clone (The Verge)

The NYC-based digital product startup Global Illumination this week became OpenAI’s first public acquisition. No surprise: AI has been at the center of how they develop creative tools and digital experiences, so now, the entire Global Illumination team will join OpenAI to work on their core products, including what’s next for ChatGPT.

NYC Buildings Complying With Emissions Law Faster Than Expected (Bloomberg)

Local Law 97 is a landmark effort to reduce emissions by some of NYC’s largest buildings, and despite some doubt, it’s going well! Building owners are finding the resources and technologies to come into compliance — that’s largely a credit to the burgeoning climate tech sector right here in New York providing the tools to make green energy solutions easy and accessible.

Mayor Adams moves to streamline office-to-housing conversions (Gothamist)

In other infrastructure news: A new city program plans to turn 20,000 empty office spaces into apartments over the next decade by streamlining a confusing, burdensome zoning process. With the post-pandemic office market still searching for a boost — plus the city’s dire need for more affordable residential development — this is a major step to creating more housing more quickly.

Could this floating pool be an answer to New York’s extreme heat? (Fast Company)

A new initiative called +Pool thinks so, and they’re bringing a floating swimming pool to the East River to prove it.

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