The race to build the infrastructure required for artificial intelligence is accelerating. Billions are being committed to data centers, power infrastructure and the compute required to train and run increasingly sophisticated AI models. At the same time, communities are questioning, opposing and, in some cases, attempting to stop the data centers being proposed in their towns and cities. That presents an uncomfortable contradiction. We are demanding more AI, more compute and more digital services, while some of the communities being asked...

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Most year-end tax guides are organized by strategy. You get a list of twenty moves and you work out which ones apply to you, which is backwards, because roughly fifteen of them will not. This one is organized by entity. Find the section that describes how your business is taxed, and everything in it is something you can actually use. The rest you can skip. One thing worth saying before the details: 2026 is not a normal planning year. Several provisions...

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With commercial real estate (CRE) loans continuing to reach final maturities and some facing more difficult refinancing conditions, movements in rates and spreads remain important for the near-term financing outlook. In August, Treasury yields ended only modestly higher despite substantial volatility, while Trepp-i balance sheet lending spreads remained tight. Trepp-i is a weekly spread survey that offers insights into capital availability and underwriting trends across the major property types, with data going back to 2010.  Commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) secondary...

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For international companies expanding to the U.S., real regulatory challenges begin the moment team members step onto U.S. soil to conduct business, or they hire locally. While historically the focus has been on market entry and customer acquisition, a shift in operational priorities may be needed ensure the mitigation of immigration, tax and employment liabilities. Although core U.S. immigration statutes remain unchanged, federal and state enforcement has intensified significantly. In this strict regulatory environment, an employee’s daily activities must align...

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What happened? President Trump on July 21 announced via social media a proposed tariff framework for imported generic pharmaceuticals to encourage domestic manufacturing. Under the announced framework, imported generic drugs would remain subject to no additional tariffs for a two-year transition period starting August 1, 2026. The tariff rate would then increase to 100% beginning August 1, 2028, and increase again to 200% beginning August 1, 2029. The announcement states that the existing policy applicable to patented, branded, and innovative...

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Welcome to the latest edition of the Stephenson Harwood Data and Cyber Update, covering the key developments in data protection and cyber security law in August 2026. In data regulation news, the ICO has opened a consultation on anonymisation and pseudonymisation for research, Ofcom has published its first major age-assurance report, the ICO has set out its expectations for police use of facial recognition, France's Constitutional Council has struck down the country's proposed under-15 social media ban, and the Austrian...

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Wilson Sonsini is pleased to present the Q2 2026 edition of The Entrepreneurs Report. We’ve compiled a range of data on venture, convertible note, and SAFE financing transactions in which the firm was involved during the second quarter, with the objective of identifying relevant trends in activity and valuation levels for the U.S. venture capital industry in general. Market Perspectives – Mid-Year Check-In: Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to dominate headlines in the first half of 2026, but deal activity is...

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There are several operational issues foreign businesses should be aware of when they are considering expanding into the U.S., including: Assessing whether the business will have a physical presence in the U.S., Day-to-day business management, such as inventory, online sales, and hiring U.S. employees, Determining whether the foreign parent or U.S. subsidiary will handle certain business expenses, and Managing any intercompany payments between the two entities. Another significant aspect to consider is how a foreign business will handle accounting for...

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