“Insane” Shortage of Computer Hardware?
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The AI boom is sort of nuts. Actually, it’s totally nuts. As I’ve been saying lately, it really seems like a giant bubble that is going to pop at some point. But there are so many elements to the craziness, and we keep learning of more.
Steve Hanley recently wrote about a data center planned for northern Utah that would require twice as much power as the state of Utah as a whole currently uses. “Robert Davies, a physics professor at Utah State University, believes the giant computer center will create a massive heat island capable of devastating the area’s ecology. He estimated the finished project would cover about as many square miles as Washington, D.C., making it the largest data center on the planet, and that it could produce enough heat to spike nighttime temperatures by as much as 28 degrees Fahrenheit [emphasis added] in the high desert valley where it will be located,” Steve writes. Even with all that I’ve read, that was a shocker.
In the face of enormous demand for computer hardware for all of these data centers, we got news a couple of days ago that Apple is rising prices on a bunch of its products. “In a statement shared with MacRumors, Apple said it raised prices because of the ongoing memory chip shortage, resulting from companies building out data centers with powerful AI servers. The supply-demand imbalance has led to skyrocketing prices for RAM and SSD storage chips used in a wide range of Apple products.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook said recently that raising prices was “unavoidable.” (Well, Apple could just cut into its massive profits a bit more, but we all know that’s not happening.) Apple’s full statement on the matters is as follows: “The consumer electronics industry is facing an unprecedented challenge. The rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage. We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly. We have shielded our customers from these increases so far, but we have now reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products, including today’s increases for iPad and Mac. We know this is not welcome news, and we are working tirelessly to find solutions.” So nice of Apple to shield its customers. Alas, the “altruism” only goes so far. 😀
Elon Musk has chimed in as well. Because of course. In response to Tim Cook’s message to customers and Wall Street, including saying the component price surge is unlike anything he’s seen “in any area in over 40 years,” Musk responded on his antisocial media platform: “Biggest price jump in anything I’ve ever seen, too. […] The production shortfall relative to demand is insane. MUCH higher production is needed.” Ah, yes, let’s just produce A LOT MORE. That will solve all the problems. Never mind all of the heat these computers create, or all of the CO2 emissions and air pollution from power hundreds of additional fossil fuel power plants.
One would almost think, “Hmm, wait, do we really need to explore computer hardware production and electricity usage so much? Is AI slop really that important?” It’s too bad we couldn’t survive and enjoy life without all of that AI and computer hardware. I mean, it’s not like we live on a uniquely livable planet full of diverse life and vibrance, unlike anything else we’ve discovered across the incomprehensibly vast universe.
Maybe it’s not the production shortfall that’s insane, but the actually insane levels of demand we’ve reached.
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