Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by TeMPOraL 68 days ago
GPUs are consumables, not infrastructure. Model weights are the lasting thing.

It's always like that with software. You can still run an OS or a program made 20 years ago, in some cases that program may in fact have no modern replacements available (think niche domains) - meanwhile, in those 20 years, you've probably churned through 5-10 generations of computing hardware.

1 comments

This is completely false - GPUs are not consumables, they are factors of production.

Models are technologies. Without the GPUs the technology is not accessible.

You sound like someone who thinks they have a strong understanding of economics when they don't.

I had to look up "factors of production" to see what this was about.

Looks to me like, as with a drill bit, a GPU could be reasonably classified as either a consumable or a factor of production.

This is because GPUs wear out and fail; the smaller the features, the faster electromigration kills them.