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The AI data center race is getting way more complicated


Adjustments by Amazon and Microsoft reflect harsh realities: power grids that take years to expand, land speculators inflating prices, and overwhelmed utilities

Rather than signaling doubt about AI’s future, recent data center adjustments by Amazon and Microsoft reflect an industry confronting harsh realities: power grids that take years to expand, land speculators inflating prices sixfold, and utilities overwhelmed with requests for more electricity than actually exists. Beyond infrastructure constraints, the data center sector is moderating its energy demand forecast, going from five- to six-fold growth expectations to a more realistic three- to four-times increase. Unlike training, which happens in intensive but limited bursts to build models, inference runs continuously every time someone uses ChatGPT, asks Siri a question, or gets AI-powered search results.

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AI data center race