The AI data center chip market is still surging, with Omdia projecting $286 billion by 2030, though growth is already slowing after a rapid 2022–2024 run and spending is expected to peak by 2026 before easing in subsequent years. Nvidia, meanwhile, sees “real possibilities” of bringing its Blackwell processors into China, a market that could grow 50% annually if U.S. licensing rules allow — underscoring how geopolitics is reshaping AI supply lines as much as technology demand. And beyond chips, finance is feeling the strain: from Citi’s new AI platforms to BNP’s hybrid advisory model to Zopa’s reskilling push, banks are working to balance productivity gains with the need to maintain personalized services. Let’s dive in.
Juan Pedro Tomas
Editor
RCRTech
AI Infrastructure Top 3
$286B AI chip forecast: Omdia forecasts the AI data center chip market to reach $286B by 2030, with growth slowing as Nvidia faces rising competition from custom ASICs, merchant ASSPs, and AMD GPUs.
Nvidia eyes China for Blackwell: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang signaled a “real possibility” of exporting Blackwell AI chips to China, highlighting a $50B market opportunity while navigating U.S. export rules and geopolitical restrictions.
AI in banking – Citigroup, BNP Paribas, UK jobs: AI is everywhere in banking — in Citigroup’s service platforms, in BNP Paribas’ strategic review, in the future of U.K. finance jobs. Here’s a grab-bag of the latest AI news from the finance sector.
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National AI push: The U.S. National Science Foundation launched a new program to build national-scale data systems and selected 10 datasets for integration into the NAIRR Pilot, aiming to boost AI research capacity and access.
$4T AI bet: Nvidia projects global AI infrastructure spending could reach $4 trillion by 2030 even as its revenue growth slowed last quarter with data center spending by hyperscalers expected to drive the buildout.
Chennai capacity boost: India’s Techno Digital opened a 36MW data center in Chennai its first since launching earlier this year adding 2,400 racks and 110kV substation capacity with further projects in Kolkata and Noida planned.
Thirsty clusters: Querétaro has become Mexico’s data center capital drawing billions in investment from Microsoft AWS and others but water-intensive cooling in the drought-hit region raises concerns as facilities multiply.
AI-friendly super PACs: Silicon Valley giants and investors, including Meta and Andreessen Horowitz, have pledged $200 million to new super PACs targeting politicians seen as unsupportive of AI, reflecting the industry’s growing political influence and scrutiny.
DC bottlenecks: AI datacenters face critical power challenges: limited grid capacity, extreme rack power densities requiring liquid cooling, interconnection delays, renewable energy constraints, and hardware supply bottlenecks—all threatening infrastructure growth.
DOL on AI: The U.S. Department of Labor issued guidance to states and territories on using federal funds to put programs in place to promote AI literacy in the domestic workforce.
Colo vs. edge: AI colocation centers power training of large-scale models with dense GPU setups while AI edge data centers push inference closer to users for low-latency processing and both are critical to distributed AI infrastructure.
Southeast Asia’s next DC hubs: Structure Research projects rapid data center growth in Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta through 2030, with hyperscale expansion, AI-driven demand, and Singapore spillover making both cities key Southeast Asian infrastructure hubs.
