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by e40 6 days ago
> I think this is because the demand is so extreme for datacenters now

Point to _any_ analysis that says the current building boom is anything but speculation.

xAI is renting out their DC space. I think I read that Google is, too.

DC buildout is purely a gold rush. A play to be the one left standing after all the weaker players die.

5 comments

> xAI is renting out their DC space. I think I read that Google is, too.

You’re probably thinking of Meta. Google renting GPUs is a less recent phenomenon, to say the least.

Inference is profitable and demand can't be met. They might eventually overshoot the mark but it hasn't happened yet and doesn't appear to be on the horizon.
Speculation isn't a dirty word and both can be true.

Demand is very high today and exceeds capacity. Builders think demand will continue to grow. This seems plainly correct. Firms may differ in how high demand will go, but it is still more than today.

Speculative demand is still demand.
You are trying to pick a fight with a post that isn't making the point you assume it is. All that guy is saying is that there is a rush to build them, which is objectively true.

Whether or not the datacenters return on the investment is a different question.

There's a demand for data centers, but maybe not a demand for actual usages of the data centers. That's the distinction I think they were trying to make by pointing to existing data centers not even being used to full capacity in-house (and being rented out instead).