Good morning, CIOs. As I note in my column for this week, it has been more than a generation since Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, its first and so-far last really big swing on the internet, and that was a modernization of the Depression-era Communications Act of 1934. Software, meanwhile, has been eating the world, as venture capitalist Marc Andreessen famously said.

Congress seems stuck in the past when it comes to technology, leaving courts and agencies to fill the void.

Ephemeral executive orders. The adoption of artificial intelligence is on the rise, stirring questions and concerns. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) held bipartisan information-gathering forums in 2023 for the Senate with an eye toward passing broad AI legislation, but nothing yet has come to pass.

Shortly after taking office for his second term, President Trump revoked President Biden’s 2023 executive order on AI. The reversal makes it clear ephemeral executive orders are no substitute for laws.

I make the case that it's time for lawmakers to dispel any uncertainty about what is considered fair play in internet service—and resume efforts to craft AI laws balancing the interests of public safety, fair play and innovation.

What do you think makes sense from the business perspective? Should Congress take a more active role or allow other branches of government to take the initiative? Use the links below and share your views.

Tech leaders pledge up to $500 billion in AI investment in U.S. OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle and other partners will start a joint venture called Stargate to build AI infrastructure. The companies are committing $100 billion to the venture and planning to invest up to $500 billion over the next four years. Its first project will be Texas.

The $100 billion sum includes some previously announced projects by the tech companies involved, people familiar with the matter tell the Journal's Deepa Seetharaman.

A boost for Oracle. Shares in Oracle jumped 7% on Tuesday on the reports, CNBC reports. Oracle shares soared 58% in 2024, their best performance since 1999, boosting co-founder and chairman Larry Ellison’s net worth by over $75 billion.

Antonio Neri, chief executive of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, said he is optimistic for the incoming Trump administration and thinks the U.S. is “incredibly well-poised to take advantage of these massive inflection points,” such as artificial intelligence.

Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei told the WSJ’s Joanna Stern that the startup is racing to secure the computing power needed to meet demand for its generative AI chatbot Claude. “The surge in demand we’ve seen over the last year, and particularly in the last three months, has overwhelmed our ability to provide the needed compute,” he said.

Google Chief Investment Officer Ruth Porat tells Bloomberg that President Trump needs to set “bold and responsible” rules around AI development and they need to be “aligned across geographies,” adding  “if you have a patchwork quilt that is going to impede investment.” Trump Monday revoked Biden’s 2023 AI executive order which called for federal oversight of powerful new AI systems.

2025 is going to be a big year for AI, Meta Global Business’s Nicola Mendelsohn told Bloomberg. Meta’s ad revenue has seen a 25% increase thanks to AI. Advertisers want to focus on growth, which can be boosted by using Gen AI tools provided by the platform.

Gartner: IT spending to grow 9.8% in 2025 to $5.6 trillion. The market research and consulting firm sees hardware upgrades for generative AI helping drive forecasted double-digit growth in data center systems, as well as devices and software.

IT services and hypescalers make up over 70% of 2025 spending, said John-David Lovelock, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner. “By 2028, hyperscalers will operate $1 trillion dollars’ worth of AI optimized servers," he said in a press release. 

Adding to the spend: Price hikes on various devices and software for AI functionality not necessarily requested by CIOs.

"While both consumers and enterprises will purchase AI-enabled PC, tablets and mobile phones, those purchases will not be overly influenced by the GenAI functionality,” he said.

The numbers. Spending on data center systems is expected to reach $405.5 billion, up 23.2% from 2024. Gartner projects software spending to hit $1.2 trillion, up 14.2%. IT services will reach $1.7 trillion, a 9% increase from 2024. Spending on devices will hit $810 billion, up 10.4%. Communication services rounds out Gartner's IT categories, with projected spending of $1.4 trillion.

Netflix is raising prices across its existing U.S. plans, aiming to capitalize on surging demand after the streaming service posted record subscriber gains in the fourth quarter. The company’s ad-supported tier will cost $7.99 a month, up from $6.99, while the cost of the premium tier is increasing by $2, to $24.99. (WSJ)

HPE said no customer information was compromised in a cyber incident last week linked to a gang that has targeted tech companies, including Cisco and Advanced Micro Devices. (Bloomberg)

Stripe cut 300 jobs, representing about 3.5% of its workforce, mostly in product, engineering and operations. The payments company, valued at about $70 billion in the private markets, still expects to increase headcount by 10,000 by the end of the year. (CNBC)

SandboxAQ, a quantum startup, said its large quantitative models will be available on Google Cloud. Cloud providers are looking to AI tech to fuel growth. (Reuters)

The SEC's new leadership said on Tuesday it had created a task force to develop a regulatory framework for crypto assets, in the first major move by President Trump's new administration to overhaul crypto policy. (Reuters)

President Trump is using the threat of imposing stiff tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico as soon as next week to pressure the two nations to start renegotiating a continental trade deal, according to people familiar with the matter. (WSJ)

Some of the highest profile defendants convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot were set free Tuesday, as President Trump’s broad grant of clemency drew mixed reactions within his own Republican party and among those who stormed the building that day. (WSJ)

Thousands of flights were canceled Tuesday and airports in Houston suspended operations as a winter storm hit Texas, Louisiana and other states along the Gulf Coast where snow is rarely seen. (WSJ)

The WSJ CIO Journal Team is Steven Rosenbush, Isabelle Bousquette and Belle Lin.

The editor, Tom Loftus, can be reached at thomas.loftus@wsj.com.