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I think the question here isn't whether AWS and Microsoft and Google are going to be the infrastructure layer. They are. I think the question is whether they are going to be able to, and specifically Amazon and Microsoft, break out of Seattle's reputation for being just kind of the plumbing of technology. I think that is the real question here.

Do they have to? Why? I think it, here's why. Taylor Soper, our colleague, had a really

great story at the beginning of the week that kind of set the tone for Seattle Tech Week.

And the question was, can Seattle own the AI era?

And for me, I think one of the ingredients, and he identified this, was the role of Amazon and

Microsoft.

And to go further, it's the question of whether Amazon and Microsoft can set the tone at the

application layer in this new era, the tone at the application layer in this

new era, not just at the infrastructure layer.

And if it's just the infrastructure layer, I think that's fine and it's perfectly good.

And it's kind of what it's been all along.

But are we going to see a step change in this region's place in the technology landscape, I think that's going to require

one of those companies or some other new startup, totally changing the landscape of the local

ecosystem with a breakout product that does all those kind of spin-off effects that we've

seen with other kinds of things.

Hi, and welcome to Geekwire.

I'm Geekwire co-founder, Todd Bishop.

And I'm Geekwire co-founder John Cook.

We are coming to you from Seattle, where we get to report each day on what's happening around us in business, technology, and innovation.

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