Good Morning and Happy Tuesday. Welcome to issue 65 of The Tech Stop.

Exploring AI-assisted cyber threats, AI-driven steel production, rising Treasury yields, and booming construction sales!

1. US federal agencies issued a joint warning about AI-assisted cyberattacks specifically targeting internet-exposed Siemens S7 industrial controllers — the same class of programmable logic controllers widely used in manufacturing and construction site management systems. More.

   
   POV: Isolate Siemens S7 or equivalent industrial controllers from public networks immediately and commission a full OT security audit.
   

2. Former SpaceX engineers are building a “Dark Factory”, fully automated, AI-driven robots, to produce steel infrastructure components at scale, serving AI data centre and small modular reactor customers. More.
   
   POV: Produce a shortlist of highest-volume, most repetitive steel fabrication processes that are candidates for a robotic automation pilot.
   

3. The 30-year US Treasury yield hit 5.31% — its highest since 2007 — driven by Iran conflict escalation, persistent inflation, ballooning government debt, and the cost of oil. Projects currently in bid or early-stage approval may no longer hit their IRR hurdles. More.
   
   POV: Flag any projects where IRR drops below hurdle rate before we commit further resources or submit fixed-price bids.
   

4. John Deere reported fiscal Q3 sales up 18% year-over-year, with customer backlogs now extending well into FY2027, driven directly by AI data centre and infrastructure construction activity. This is direct market validation that AI infrastructure build-out is generating sustained, multi-year demand for construction services. More.

   
   POV: Assess whether our current pipeline, equipment capacity, and skilled labour availability are positioned to capture AI infrastructure-related construction demand through 2027.
   
   Something to keep an eye on: Researchers have unveiled a new data centre prototype that uses living human neurons to process information.
   
   That’s another edition of The Tech Stop wrapped up, back in 7 days time! 🙌