Here's your morning TNB Tech Minute for Tuesday, October 28th. I'm Zoe Colkin for the Wall Street Journal.

Amazon announced layoffs for 14,000 workers, the first move and job cuts that are expected to affect up to 30,000 employees, according to people familiar with the matter.

That'd be roughly 10% of the company's corporate workforce.

The online giant is seeking to slim down and conserve cash, and the impacted departments include

human resources, cloud computing, and advertising, among others. Amazon is offering most laid-off

workers 90 days to look for a new role internally.

We're exclusively reporting Fireworks AI, a startup that helps developers access advanced

AI chips and use AI models, has raised $254 million in its latest funding round, valuing the

company at $4 billion. According to the company, the fundraise

was divided into two parts, with $230 million raised in the primary round and $24 million in the

second from the same investors. The fundraise comes as the industry moves from training and building

AI models to operating them, a process known as inference and marked by the increased everyday usage of tools like chat GPT.

And in other startup news, Substrate, a Peter Thielback startup, has raised more than $100 million for technology that could upend the global semiconductor industry, if it proves out. The company says

it's reinvented a key link in the microchip production process and plans to use its innovation

to build new manufacturing facilities in the U.S., a plan that's received attention from the Trump

administration, which wants to reduce dependence on overseas suppliers. The funding values the company at more than

$1 billion, but the startup faces doubts from government scientists and semiconductor experts

about whether it can actually deliver on its promised supply chain innovations in the three-year

timeline it's put forth. That's your TNB Tech Minute. Join us again this afternoon for more.