{"id":71954,"date":"2026-02-01T05:06:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T08:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tech.einnews.com\/article\/888386734"},"modified":"2026-02-01T05:06:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T08:06:33","slug":"tech-company-owner-wants-to-help-others-feel-prepared-for-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/02\/01\/tech-company-owner-wants-to-help-others-feel-prepared-for-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"Tech company owner wants to help others feel prepared for AI"},"content":{"rendered":"
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From his days at Applied Materials to his success with TechSovereign Partners, John Ghekiere has seen many changes in the tech industry \u2014 including the arrival of artificial intelligence. <\/p>\n

TechSovereign Partners LLC is a global semiconductor process and equipment consulting firm created by Ghekiere in 2024. He advises and works with deep tech companies, which specialize in cutting-edge technologies, often for research and development. He works with companies that have great startup ideas that are looking to become established in the industry. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe part we play is to take the actual technical deliverables, the idea that got the company started, and help it move toward the industry believing in it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe industry adopts it, it goes into a building or a manufacturing plant, and it works in that world.\u201d<\/p>\n

With his background in manufacturing semiconductor chips, Ghekiere has seen cutting-edge technology become a part of everyday life. He\u2019s watched the chips be integrated into all sorts of essential uses, from smartphones to cars.<\/p>\n

Like the internet, he believes AI is the next innovation to become part of the world\u2019s day-to-day infrastructure. Ghekiere kicked off the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce\u2019s Catapult Collective last summer with a presentation about AI \u2014 explaining what it is and opening discussions about apprehensions about the new technology. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe effort was to just give tangible commentary on how it can be readily implemented in the workplace. You have really great conversations afterwards too, because everybody\u2019s going through the same thing,\u201d Ghekiere said. \u201cPeople say, \u2018I don\u2019t really know what the heck this thing is \u2014 I got on chat GPT and I asked it to write a wedding reception speech in the voice of Stephen King. And it was funny, but how useful is that? Does it do something more?\u2019 Yeah, it does a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n

What it can do for productivity depends on the industry it\u2019s being applied to. During discussions, he heard from a good cross-section of the local economy: people who work in digital marketing, health care, manufacturing and education. <\/p>\n

He spoke to someone in digital marketing who had been utilizing AI to visualize multiple pitches for her customers. Because generative AI has been considered a threat to creative industries like marketing, Ghekiere wasn\u2019t sure what her opinion would be on AI. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe was actually pretty intrigued and excited,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat used to take her two to three days, she could do in a few minutes. In her experience so far, it didn\u2019t take opportunities away; it actually made it so that she could take on more clients in a given time frame.\u201d <\/p>\n

AI as a concept has been around for decades, but new systems slowly matured over the course of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s \u2014 eventually leading to the current age where there has been a surge of common-use AI tools, according to Tableau, a business intelligence software company. <\/p>\n

Ghekiere remembers when AI started showing up in more substantial ways, back during his time at Applied Materials. Using freeware, he saw an AI model that could tell the difference between a picture of a cat and a dog. That seems inconsequential in comparison to today\u2019s AI power, but back then, Ghekiere said he could see it being applied to multi-million-dollar manufacturing processes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then, I\u2019m like anybody else with ChatGPT. When it landed, I started using it pretty early, understanding how it could do what it does \u2014 change the way you work. It enabled me to go from having this idea about starting a company to getting everything necessary in two weeks, while working full-time. AI was key to that,\u201d Ghekiere said. <\/p>\n

Ghekiere used ChatGPT to assist in preparing the paperwork to start TechSovereign Partners after spending about six years as vice president of technology at Class One Technology. <\/p>\n

But that is the tip of the iceberg for Ghekiere\u2019s spanning career in tech, featuring companies all based in the Flathead Valley. <\/p>\n

Ghekiere was born and raised in Montana, moving around the state during his father\u2019s career working in the oilfields. His family settled in Columbia Falls when he was in second grade, and he went on to study chemical engineering at Montana State University. <\/p>\n

He got his professional start in 1997 at Semitool, and worked there for about a decade before it was purchased by Applied Materials. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re talking to companies like Intel and Samsung that\u2019s the kind of customer base for Semitool, then Applied, a much bigger company bought it and absorbed it into their broader product line. But they continue to market products to those same companies,\u201d he explained. <\/p>\n

He worked for Applied Materials for another decade before making a move to Class One Technology. <\/p>\n

And the more the merrier \u2014 Ghekiere believes advanced manufacturing companies and other tech-focused businesses that call Montana home are paving the way for bringing more of the industry to the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a massive economic stabilizer, especially in a place like this, where there\u2019s a lot of tourism, health care and home construction. All good, we need all those. But they don\u2019t necessarily and genuinely generate new wealth like Applied Materials or Class One Technology, or a Proof Research or Nomad GCS,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

As local businesses try to find ways to incorporate AI, Ghekiere said it\u2019s important for professionals to at least become familiar with the ways it can increase productivity. Because if it becomes the standard over the next several years, no one wants to be left behind. He likens it to completing a task by hand, when using a computer can make that task faster. <\/p>\n

As a new technology, it can be a bit disconcerting, but all society-changing innovations have been disconcerting, too, he added. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo be on the inside of technology is actually really fun, because you do get to see things emerging. When you\u2019re involved in the core technology, from the outside it maybe sounds ridiculous. But on the inside, you can maybe see it in a slightly different way. You can look at predictions by futurists or industrialists and think, \u2018this person is probably right, given where things are going,\u2019\u201d Ghekiere said. <\/p>\n

Reporter Taylor Inman may be reached at 758-4440 or [email protected]<\/a>.   <\/em><\/p>\n

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