Channel Brief: Intel Says Core Ultra 200V Chips Beat AMD, Qualcomm

AI data center spending looks likely to continue in 2025, with Microsoft alone saying it will invest $80 billion this year to build infrastructure to train and deploy AI models.

In a blog post, Microsoft president and vice chair Brad Smith described AI as a "golden opportunity" for American economic competitiveness, claiming AI is a world-changing general-purpose technology, as The Register reported.

To make progress, Smith said, requires new alliances and large-scale infrastructure investments, which is why Microsoft will invest approximately $80 billion in AI-enabled data centers around the world -- including more than half of that in the U.S.

Microsoft isn't the only one. Last year, Amazon reported that it was on track to spend $75 billion in capital expenditure on AI during 2024, and even more in 2025. "The majority of it is for AWS and, specifically, the increased bumps here are really driven by generative AI," CEO Andy Jassy said in November.

According to figures from Taiwan-based TrendForce, AI servers are projected to make up more than 70% of the total value of the server industry in 2025, adding up to about $298 billion.

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Grab your coffee. Here's what you need to know today.

Today’s Tech, Channel and MSP News

1. Intel intros new chips: At CES today, Intel announced its Core Ultra 200V processors will become available in commercial laptops starting this month, and promising to beat competing chips from AMD and Qualcomm in battery life and a variety of AI workloads. The Core Ultra 200V series, code-named Lunar Lake, will go into more than 30 commercial thin-and-light laptop designs from over 10 OEMS, including Lenovo, HP Inc. and Dell Technologies. These PCs will also come with Intel’s vPro management and security platform, which will support new security capabilities from ISVs ranging from CrowdStrike to TrendMicro and new integrations with Microsoft Intune, Omnissa and other PC management tools, Intel said.

2. Tenable CEO Amit Yoran has died: After a battle with cancer, Amit Yoran, CEO of Tenable, died unexpectedly Friday, the company announced over the weekend. Yoran was diagnosed in March 2024 and stepped aside as CEO in late 2024 after revealing he would need additional treatment. Tenable announced then that CFO Steve Vintz and COO Mark Thurmond would serve as co-CEOs of the company. In its statement Saturday, Tenable said it will continue operating under Vintz and Thurmond's leadership while the company’s board performs a CEO search. Tenable independent director Art Coviello has been named chairman, a role also held by Yoran. Prior to joining Tenable as CEO in late 2016, Yoran had founded and served as the CEO of NetWitness, which was acquired by RSA in 2011. Yoran was promoted from serving as senior vice president of products at RSA to become its president in 2014. Our sincerest condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues.

3. Pia CEO steps down: AI helpdesk automation platform Pia announced that CEO Gerwai Todd is stepping down from his role as CEO, effective immediately. Todd also serves as CEO of TimeZest, and the companies said Pia will pursue a dedicated full-time CEO. Todd will remain CEO of TimeZest. Todd oversaw Pia's alignment around an ambitious roadmap; launched AITriage, which reduces the time MSPs spend manually processing help desk tickets; led new pricing models to help more MSPs embrace Pia’s capabilities; and drove the growth of company’s customer base, especially in the U.S. To ensure a seamless transition, Pia will continue to operate under its CEO Executive Group, while establishing a Growth Advisory Committee to guide the company’s future direction and maintain continuity as it conducts a comprehensive, global search for its next leader.

4. ControlUp names new VP of customer experience: Digital employee experience vendor ControlUp announced today that Beau Dolinsky has been appointed as the company’s Vice President of Customer Experience. Dolinsky’s expertise in partner-led delivery models and customer success initiatives has consistently resulted in increased efficiency and substantial revenue growth. He joins ControlUp from Zoom, where he launched new professional services and customer success strategies that grew market share. Prior to his position at Zoom, Dolinsky worked at Citrix for more than a decade, most recently serving as Global Head of Customer Experience Partnerships, where he successfully managed the growth and maturity of the company’s Partner Customer Success Management program. A graduate of Florida State University, Dolinsky holds dozens of technical licenses and certifications validating his expertise in end-user computing technologies from Citrix, Microsoft, IGEL, and more. Congratulations!

5. OWC's CES product announcements: Other World Computing has made some new product announcements at CES. First, the OWC ThunderBlade X12, a professional-grade RAID solution, which represents the next step in OWC’s Thunderbolt 5 solutions, the company said, and the OWC USB4 40Gb/s Active Optical Cable, for long-distance connectivity without compromising speed or reliability. OWC also announced the general availability (GA) of the OWC Thunderbolt 5 Hub.

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