Investors just can't pull the plug despite datacenters facing AI power crunch

Investors are increasingly concerned about the availability and reliability of power for datacenters, yet most are still confident that investment in the sector will expand over the next several years, driven by demand for AI and cloud services. Operators of data facilities face a growing number of challenges, not least of …

[Mentat74]

If I were an investor...

I'd be more worried about this so called 'A.I.' bubble bursting...

[IGotOut]

Re: If I were an investor...

They'll be fine

It's you and I that'll be fucked.

What's that? My pension has just lost 90% of its value?

Hold on, all these items were 10% cheaper yesterday.

What do you mean, you want to pay all my debts off by tomorrow.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: this so called 'A.I.' bubble bursting...

Yes, in theory and the view of us Register{o|a}s that may (and perhaps ought to) happen, but isn't the whole "AI" thing by now already "too big too fail" ?

(See also Concord Fallacy, etc,)

[ChoHag]

Re: If I were an investor...

If the bubble can burst after the nuclear power stations have been built that'd be grand.

[IGotOut]

Investors

don't give a shit about profits and sustainability. It's all about growth and doing "something" even if that something is laying off 10,000 people for absolutely no fucking reason.

[Anonymous Coward]

They all think they'll be the ones to make a fortune by cashing out just before the bubble bursts, so of course they'll do/say whatever it takes to make the bubble bigger.

[David Hicklin]

So, who is going to blink first?

Sounds like they are like drug junkies who just can't kick the habit.

[cyberdemon]

AI is asset heavy

Ok, it takes a lot of expensive energy, but that is nothing compared to the cost fungible value of land and equipment.

Yes, equipment depreciates value, but maybe the coke snorting gamblers-with-other-peoples-money are betting on China invading Taiwan next year, in which case the equipment will appreciate value..

They are probably also betting on repurposing the same equipment for mining whatever meme-coin comes next to serve as a currency in the fallout shelters after all our pound notes and dollar bills become worth less than sheets of bog roll..

[johnrobyclayton]

Steps to AI Riches

Step the first:

Create a large language model of every investment blurb saying invest in us and tag it with the amount of investment it resulted in.

Step the second:

Add every bit of text about AI or ML from every scholarly article, piece of science fiction, and every bit of AI generated garbage that even slightly refers to AI or ML.

Step the third:

Generate the best inducements that can be made from the model.

Step the fourth:

Filter it through lawyers to filter out any enforceable commitments.

Step the fifth:

Advertise your product to potential investors.

Step the sixth:

Get money and sell out.

Step the seventh:

Buy an AI apocalypse doomsday bunker and pull the door in after you.

[Juha Meriluoto]

What if...

...we just stopped wasting energy and other resources on this "AI" thing?

[Pascal Monett]

"Investors are increasingly concerned"

. . that their investment is not going to give the returns they expect.

Do not tell me that they give a fig about sustainability or energy consumption when they continue to throw billions into this pseudo-AI malarky.

[A Long Fellow]

Definitely bubble behavior.

Reminiscent of both Global Crossing in 2002 (fiber/fibre carriers selling each other capability to froth the market) and of Zuckerberg's 2015 "pivot to video". In this case, the suckers at the table (apart from the public, which inevitably bails out the upper managers) are the regional companies building infrastructure in hopes of selling all that capacity. 2/3 will be acquired by bigger players, with wealth again flowing upward and concentrated into fewer hands. Meanwhile, your bills go up to pay for all that generation capability that was built and now needs to be mothballed/decommissioned.