Defense Procurement & SME Capacity: The Pentagon and SBA are setting up a Smaller War Plants Commission to map small suppliers’ production capacity and steer capital and contracts toward defense makers in critical industrial sectors, while a new memo pushes acquisition teams to use real cost and pricing info from primes and suppliers for deals $10M+—a big shift that could reshape how smaller vendors win work. Cybersecurity for SMBs: A new report warns ransomware crews are going after backup repositories directly, with recovery far worse when backups are compromised—so “we have backups” isn’t protection by itself. AI Infrastructure Push: AWS and NVIDIA plan to deploy 2 million additional GPUs to meet surging AI demand, signaling more compute spend that can ripple into startups and smaller AI builders. Workforce & Skills: Malaysia is leading ASEAN’s 2026-2030 green jobs agenda, emphasizing that the transition must be inclusive and skills-ready. State Economic Growth: California Jobs First awards $48.5M to drive regional innovation and job creation, targeting long-term growth pathways. Regulatory/Compliance Market: A market report projects biorisk management services to hit $4.91B by 2033 as regulated organizations buy more external risk governance, testing, and training.