Meta blames Trump tariffs for ballooning AI infra bills Meta's AI ambitions are going to cost more than expected thanks to increased competition and — who could have seen this coming? — the Trump administration's obsession with tariffs, which is driving up the price tag of key components. This revelation came amid Zuckercorp's Q1 earnings call this week when CFO Susan Li warned …
Yeah, it's typical billionaire cognitive dissonance, sometimes caused by brain-eating worms, and sometimes by transgender woolly mammoth mouse hairpieces. But luckily the Orange Caliphate will help us all separate the billionaire crybabies from the billionaire mamma's boys in all of this, and chihuahuas!
Well, it could be useful, or not. But mostly, it points to the fact that not all billionaires can twist themselves into topologically equivalent ideological yoga pretzels on their own. And it seems many could still rightly benefit from the help of an appropriate lamp-post, imho!
About 3 billion people, mostly for the purpose it was intended, keeping in contact and sharing content with others. Those who use the offered options and don't 'friend' people they do not know or do not like, have no problems with it and appreciate its core features. Problematic users tend to move with trends and are more likely to have switched to more recent services.
But obviously, not you or any hipsters out there who value the image they want to present of themselves to the world, over the day to day use of basic, viable tools.
"But obviously, not you or any hipsters out there who value the image they want to present of themselves to the world, over the day to day use of basic, viable tools."
Alas, with "social media" you can only keep in contact with other users of the exact same platform. Which means I would have to frequent half a dozen services on a regular basis.
But the worst part of Social Media is that they implement Saurons infamous Palentir stones from "The Lord of the Rings". Like Facebook, the Palentir stones showed it's user only what the stone's master wanted them to see.
Even in the 1950s, Tolkien could see how this works and where it leads. The Palentir stones were the downfall of everyone who used them.
Meanwhile, I can use text messaging without someone steering what I see.
AC» Saurons infamous Palentir stones from "The Lord of the Rings".
Would you please read about them in 'Unfinished Tales'?
The Palantiri were not Sauron's although he did finally get his hands on one (the Ithil stone).
Getting old is great. I don't remember where I left my glasses but I can recall facts from Tolkien that I read 40 years ago...
Hm.
Email works just fine for me. Going out for a beer and dinner, even better (dinner optional).
I realized I'm in a vanishingly small (rapidly vanishing, for that matter) minority and my "hipster" card expired several decades ago (we were called "hippies" back then) but I've never seen much use for "social" media, even before it, in its various incarnations, became a cesspit of hostility and mis/dis-informed toxicity or a giant behavioral database for marketers and manipulators.
I've somehow never felt the compulsion to impress my friends with photos and tales of my exotic vacations1 or my welter of offspring2.
My actual friends are acutely aware what a bozo I am and aren't going to be impressed, anyhow, so why bother?
As for a "curated" news feed. . . well, curate this3, Zucko.
Your mileage may vary, of course.
___________________
1 Since I don't take exotic vacations.
2 Since I don't have any.
Glancing at the headline I somehow got the impression that Meta capex could be somewhere between $7B and $72B, and it was one of the greatest things I have ever read. I had to look into the details and am somewhat disappointed to find out that it's more "reasonable" than that. So, not an expertly predicted range of dozens and dozens of billions of dollars then. This whole emotional process has really put me in touch with the fact that I am a tiny tiny mote in a vast vast universe. Need a sobbing in search of an exotic emotional support animal icon.
I think it's the original plan to spend $65B that's the bigger issue.
As the US talks about a shortage of Christmas toys, the $7B alone amounts to roughly $100 per child in the US. And while such kids' toys as are available will likely end up in the back of a cupboard come January, Zuck's not only buying toys in abundance, but actively building the storage in which to abandon them. It's a wacky world.
Simple solution, avoid tariffs by building the stuff in the USA. I think you'll find the skids well greased at this time for making it happen. Just avoid putting them in "blue states". CA and NY haven't been very "business friendly" lately... and with the latest robotics, GPU and discrete component production may ultimately cost LESS.
When you build things in China their tightly locked up supply system is leveraged upon you by a complex VAT structure that makes competing suppliers COST MORE. THEN you are "locked in" possibly with capital investment. And nothing stops them from cloning your designs for "china only" distribution. Taiwan is much better, and their engineers are competent, so THAT tariff structure will probably be worked out quickly.. But I understand Foxconn is building a USA foundry, etc. and that ends the tariff problem!
So only a short time from now tariffs won't matter much. You'll see. THIS has been the plan all along.
Make that "decades".
Oh, and the very companies that build the machinery to run these foundries are not located in the USA.
And they still need a lot of raw materials from China. Which just decided to block their export.
US politicians hobbled China's chip foundries by blocking export of Dutch machinery (ASML). The EU could do the same to the US if Mad King Orange I gets too demanding.
Good to see you have fuck all clue and all the usual racist tropes.
Most of the silicon isn't made in China, but sure, bring back low end manufacturing jobs and push the cost of hardware up so it can support US wage levels. That way people pay the same or higher prices than they would if they were paying the tango tariffs
Trump loves the uneducated like you.
Wow bob, you've really outdone your own level of ignorance this time.
Given how long it takes to build a fab, then look how you're going to run those plants.
Hint look at TSMC plant in the USA that had to employ many Taiwanese workers, because the USA doesn't have the people capable of performing the job.
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/semiconductors/50-percent-of-tsmcs-arizona-employees-are-from-taiwan-despite-recent-controversies-company-plans-to-hire-more-us-workers-over-time
Doh!
Biden (when he wasn't sleeping) got the Chips Act passed into Law. TSMC are (or were the last I heard) building a FAB in Arizona. Totally the wrong place if you ask me due to the water shortage... but they were.
Now that the Orange Jesus has take almost as bad a dislike to the EU as he has for China, those cutting edge machines to make the wafers are going to cost an awful lot more to import. That might dissuade TSMC from going ahead with the project. The laws of unintended consequences and all that but that is way beyond the understanding of Donald 'I know more about everything than anyone ever' Trump does not have the brain to understand that. Why? There is nothing in it for him personally. Pure and simple.
So, BombasticBob, what is the plan if Tariffs won't matter much? Remember, he's tariffing nations that did not have a trade surplus with the USA AND ones where Trump 1.0 negotiated a trade deal with last time around.
Please tell us this cunning plan. Every day, Trump comes up with more wild ideas that really do remind many of us with Baldrick.
If after spending gazillions on on these gigawatt facilities they find AI has about as much final use as Meta's VR fixation the question of what they will do with these resources arises.
Will they corner the Bitcoin market with the enormous computing power (although the $/GW-h might burn through any profit) or something more sinister like flogging the capacity to the likes of Palantir?
With the advance of technology much of the kit will approach obsolescence in 3 to 5 years and after that it wouldn't even be worth stripping out. Sure would be one hell of a garage sale if the whole lot were flogged off.
Half of Manhattan... would cover half of Manhattan - before the real estate agents have a jolly - that is an incredible amount of roofed, powered space. Would be a lot of water to deal with if it ever rained in the location. I assume the roof would have photovoltaics installed and with GW grid connections it would be an option to fill the space with batteries to suck up renewables and provide grid level storage.
Honesty the only real use (CHAT) AIs have for big corporations is selling to people who buy the hype and slurping your data, that's it. Any tasks these chat bots do can be done better by specific Apps that just do that one single thing or by real people (on minimum wage).
So if this leads to these chatbox becoming more expensive and so they get used less? Cry me a river.
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