“In January 2026 Broadcom signaled the termination of its VMware Cloud Service Provider program in Europe,” CIPSE said in a statement. This unilateral decision ​removed all but a tiny minority of hand-selected partners and ​excluded most European CSPs from selling VMware products.”

In its complaint, CISPE also accused Broadcom of “ongoing abuse,” citing sharp price hikes—up to tenfold, with some customers reporting as much as 900 percent increases—along with product bundling  and commitment requirements based on projected rather than actual use, The Register reported.

“After imposing outrageous and unjustified price hikes immediately following the acquisition of VMware, Broadcom is now applying the ‘coup de grâce.’ We need urgent intervention to force them to change,” CISPE Secretary General Francisco Mingorance said, according to the publication.

In a statement responding to CISPE’s antitrust complaint, Broadcom said:

Broadcom strongly disagrees with the allegations by CISPE, an organization funded by hyperscalers, which misrepresent the realities of the market. We continue to be committed to investing significantly in our European VMware Cloud Service Provider partners… helping them offer alternatives to the hyperscalers and meet the evolving needs of European businesses and organizations.

CISPE currently has 50 members. It also names hyperscalers Amazon Web Services and Microsoft as “adherent members,” which CISPE claims don’t have voting rights and are prohibited from participating in certain activities.

In July, CISPE filed an appeal with the European General Court in an attempt to annul the EC’s approval of Broadcom’s VMware acquisition. That case is ongoing.

Rivr, a Zurich-based autonomous robotics startup known for its stair-climbing delivery robot, has been acquired by Amazon in a deal that signals the e-commerce giant’s interest in doorstep delivery. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Rivr co-founder and CEO Marko Bjelonic, who once described the four-legged wheeled robot to TechCrunch as a “dog on roller skates,” shared the acquisition news on LinkedIn. The Information was first to report the deal.

Bjelonic said in his LinkedIn post that the acquisition will “accelerate our vision of building General Physical AI through doorstep delivery, bringing robotics and AI closer to real-world deployment at scale,”meaning, in plain terms, that Amazon’s resources should help Rivr get its robots onto more doorsteps, faster.

Last year, Rivr launched a pilot program in Austin with Veho, package delivery company. Bjelonic said, at the time, he hoped to learn from the partnership with Veho and eventually scale to 100 bots by 2026. It’s unclear if the company was ever able to reach that milestone.

TechCrunch has reached out to Rivr for comment.

Rivr got the attention of Amazon long before its pilot program. The Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund and Bezos Expeditions invested in Rivr as part of a $22.2 million seed round that closed in 2024, according to Pitchbook. The startup, which had raised a total of $25 million, was last valued at $100 million.

Jeff Bezos is reportedly seeking $100 billion for a new fund, the likes of which will be used to buy up companies in major industrial sectors and, ultimately, modernize and automate them with AI, according to sources cited by The Wall Street Journal.

The effort is related to Bezos’ AI startup, Project Prometheus. Bezos, whose involvement with the company was originally reported in November, is serving as co-founder and co-CEO, alongside former Google executive Vik Bajaj.

Prometheus, which launched with $6.2 billion in funding, is focused on creating high-level AI models to improve manufacturing and engineering in aerospace, automotive, and other sectors. The new manufacturing fund will support that mission by buying up companies that will ultimately use Prometheus’ models.

According to the WSJ, Bezos recently traveled to Singapore and the Middle East in his mission to raise funds for the effort. The plan is to acquire companies in areas like aerospace, chipmaking, and defense.

TechCrunch reached out to Bezos via Amazon for more information.

If you aspire to a career in engineering then make sure you are keeping an eye on the professional lives of these six women.

During the month of March, SiliconRepublic.com is paying particular attention to careers and skills in the engineering space, and what better way to continue that coverage than with an exploration of some of the most exciting women in this field.

The following engineers have contributed greatly to their industries, through their work, discoveries, builds, and advocacy for themselves and others. 

Áine Brazil

A managing principal at structural engineering company Thornton Tomasetti, Salthill’s Áine Brazil holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Galway and a master’s degree in engineering from the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London. She was the first president of the Structural Engineers Association of New York and is a member of the American Concrete Institute, the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Institute of Engineers in Ireland. 

In her 30-plus-year career she has overseen several crucial projects; for example, she led the structural engineering team for the design of more than 3m square feet of high-rise office development in the Times Square area, as well as the expansion of New York Hospital spanning the FDR highway, the 60-storey 731 Lexington Avenue mixed-use project, and the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

She has been included on the list ‘New York’s 100 Most Influential Women in Business’, by Crain’s New York Business, and has authored numerous technical papers and lectured at universities throughout the US including Cornell, Princeton, and Columbia. 

Justine Butler

A chemical engineer with more than 18 years of experience in the pharmaceutical space, Justine Butler is currently the director of engineering at Jacobs Life Sciences for Ireland, the UK and the Nordic region. She has significant experience in leading teams and is responsible for the engineering design of a wide-ranging project portfolio. 

She is the first woman to hold this position at the organisation and is also among its youngest people working in a leadership capacity in her region. Butler was also the first young engineer to serve on Engineers Ireland’s council and executive committee after first chairing its young engineers committee. In 2024, she was honoured with the ‘Women in STEM – Engineering’ award, given by Engineers Ireland. 

Dervilla Mitchell

A former deputy chair of Arup Group, Dervilla Mitchell is a civil engineer with a background in the design of the built environment. She has led a number of major projects, including the Athletes’ Village for the London 2012 Olympics, Terminal 5 at Heathrow airport, Dublin airport’s Terminal 2, and Abu Dhabi airport’s Midfield Terminal. She is the co-chair of the Royal Academy of Engineering and also chairs the UK’s National Engineering Policy Centre’s decarbonisation group. 

Georgina Molloy

A programme manager for energy performance at the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), Georgina Molloy is also the chair of the Engineers Ireland Women in Engineering group. As part of her role there, Molloy chairs a committee of 12 engineers with the aim of achieving better gender balance and supporting women who have chosen a career in the engineering space.

She is a chartered structural engineer with more than 20 years of experience working in consulting engineering practices large and small, and has spent a considerable portion of that time in scaffold and temporary works design and construction. Molloy is particularly passionate about working on refurbishment projects and enjoys being part of teams that bring old builds of historical importance back to life.

Norah Patten

Set to be the first Irish person in space, Norah Patten is an aerospace engineer and bioastronautics researcher at the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS). She has received multiple recognitions for her contributions to the industry, such as a 2015 ’emerging space leader’ award, an appearance in Limerick’s ‘top 40 under 40’ for 2018, and an IIAS ‘science educator’ accolade, among others.

She is a regular keynote speaker, an author and an advocate for other women in the industry. Later in the year, Patten will join Kellie Gerardi of the US and Dr Shawna Pandya of Canada as crew members aboard Virgin Galactic’s new Delta vehicle for a space mission organised by the US-based IIAS.

Anisa Pjetri

A former senior structural engineer and project manager at AtkinsRéalis, Anisa Pjetri is now an associate director at the company. She earned a BSc in civil engineering in Albania and an MSc in structural engineering in London before relocating to Ireland, where she earned a chartership from Engineers Ireland and took up a position at AtkinsRéalis.

Pjetri has 12 years of international expertise in designing, planning and overseeing the construction of a wide variety of buildings, structures and infrastructure for residential, commercial, medical, industrial and hospitality projects. In 2025, she was a finalist for the Chartered Engineer of the Year award. 

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Peter O’Brien has received the 2025 Semi European Award, which recognises those who have had an impact on global semiconductor innovation.

Tyndall National Institute’s photonics expert Prof Peter O’Brien has been honoured by the global semiconductor industry for his work in the sector.

O’Brien is the head of research for photonics packaging and systems integration at the University College Cork-based deep-tech institute. He has received the 2025 Semi European Award, which recognises leaders whose work has had a significant impact in global semiconductor innovation.

Semi is a global industry association representing companies and research organisations across the semiconductor and electronics development and manufacturing supply chain.

O’Brien has been recognised for his contributions to photonics electronic packaging, his leadership in Europe’s semiconductor pilot lines, and his work in developing specialised training programmes for up-and-coming researchers in the field.

“It is a great honour to receive the Semi European Award for 2025,” said O’Brien. “Through this award, I would like to recognise my many collaborators around the world. Working together, we accelerate research and development, turning early ideas into impactful breakthroughs.”

Prof William Scanlon, the CEO of Tyndall, added: “Prof O’Brien’s leadership and vision have placed Tyndall at the forefront of advanced packaging globally, and his contributions are shaping Europe’s semiconductor future.”

Meanwhile, Eric Beyne, a senior fellow at the Belgium-based nanoelectronics and digital tech research and innovation hub IMEC, received the Special Service Award at the ceremony earlier this month for his contributions to high-density interconnection and packaging technologies, and helping advance next-gen semiconductor integration techniques.

“We are honoured to recognise Peter O’Brien and Eric Beyne for their outstanding contributions to advancing semiconductor innovation and strengthening Europe’s technology ecosystem,” said Semi Europe president Laith Altimime.

“Their leadership and vision have helped drive transformative progress across the industry while inspiring the next generation of engineers and researchers, reflecting the spirit of collaboration and innovation that continues to propel the semiconductor industry toward a more resilient, digital and sustainable future.”

Tyndall has made several major announcements this year. The Cork-based research institute recently announced a €100m expansion project.

It is also co-ordinating I-C3, Ireland’s National Competence Centre in Semiconductors, leading Ireland in a major €50m European initiative called Photonics for Quantum, and supporting a new €2.5bn pilot line to develop EU’s semiconductor leadership.

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Picture a VP of finance at a large retailer. She asks the company’s new AI analytics agent a simple question: “What was our revenue last quarter?” The answer comes back in seconds.

Confident.

Clean.

Wrong.

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That exact scenario happens more frequently than many organizations would care to admit. AtScale, which enables organizations to deploy governed analytics environments and semantic consistency, has found that simply increasing model parameterization alone cannot address the AI governance and context issues enterprises face.

When AI systems query inconsistent or ungoverned data, adding more model complexity doesn’t contain the problem, it compounds it. Organizations across industries have acted quickly to develop agentic AI, deploying systems that analyze data, generate insights, and trigger automated workflows. In response to this trend, the AI models have adapted to react quickly via larger model parameters, increased computing power, and additional features. The underlying assumption has been that as long as the model gets large enough, the eventual result will be reliable.

However, there are indications that this assumption may not hold up. Recent TDWI research found that nearly half of respondents characterized their AI governance initiatives as either immature or very immature. This may have more to do with data lineage and the business definitions on which these models are based than with the models’ capabilities.

At AtScale, there’s a consistent theme among our clients: When inconsistent data definitions followed organizations into their AI layer, the problems didn’t stop there. They propagated forward, typically at greater speed and with less transparency than the previous layer had offered.

Performance and responsibility are separate jobs. A model reasons. A governance layer defines what the model reasons over, constrains how it applies business logic, and ensures outputs can be traced back to a source of record. One cannot substitute for the other.