Susana SchwartzMajor AI firms and data center operators navigate oppositional forces
In RCR AI TechTalk, Richard Miller talks of the three layers of the AI boom, and how each is moving at its own speed:
- Data centers and AI factories
- Software and GPUs
- Utilities and the Power Grid
He says the data center industry was always adaptable to growth, but the “big, fast change” typical of AI is a bit harder to keep up with, especially with hardware “eating the world,” rather than software driving the speed of change, as used to be the case.
This creates significant tension in how speed issues, particularly speed-to-power for data centers, gets reconciled and how the industry moves forward. Check out the interview here, and the article summarizing key points here. This dovetails into the big news today that Oracle is laying off thousands of employees (some estimates as high as 20,000-30,000) – the latest company pushing for massive amounts of “speed to power,” through HPC and data center capacity investment.
Susana Schwartz
Technology Editor
RCRTech
AI Infrastructure Top Stories
Vantage Data Centers talks AI scale: “When you purchase a chip, you want to be able to put that chip to use as quickly as possible,” says Jeremy Deutsch, president of APAC at Vantage Data Centers, who thinks scale is a defining requirement for AI.
War of trust: There’s a popular meme making rounds that light-touch regulation in the US has given us AI, whereas the fusty EU has produced the tethered bottle cap, but is the push for data sovereignty going to change the culture worldwide?
Speed disparity in AI layers: Rich Miller, founder of Data Center Frontier, explains the tension caused by the oppositional speed at which data centers, software and GPUs, and power/utility grids are developing, and the challenge that poses.
AI Today: What You Need to Know
OpenAI record-breaking funding round: Open AI has successfully closed a massive $122 billion funding round, with backing from industry giants including Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank, and wealthy investors for which it will open ETFs.
Inside Meta’s power deal: Meta’s $10 billion data center means El Paso Electric will shift cost to all customers after an initial one- to five-year “bridge” period where Meta will pay all of El Paso Electric’s cost to deliver power to its data center.
Oracle layoffs: Oracle is laying off what some say will be 20,000 to 30,000 employees in what it describes as a “broader organizational change” as it pivots toward massive, debt-funded AI investments for infrastructure and data centers.
China chooses Huawei chips: China has switched from Nvidia to Huawei Ascend 910C chips on one of its largest AI computing systems yet, with Shenzhen bringing a 10,000-card AI cluster online, built with domestically developed chips.
Texas Governor interim changes: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has issued his 2026 interim charges, which include an ask for Texas Senate committees to assess data centers’ impact on water use, power demand and tax incentives.
