2020. Scaling Algorithms. 2025. Scaling Reactors

Software once disrupted the world; now energy disrupts software.

MIT Technology Review — “Meta and Microsoft are working to fire up new nuclear power plants.”

➤ If we told devs in 2010 that shipping apps in 2025 would require a nuclear reactor, they’d have laughed.
➤ But here we are.

MIT Technology Review — “OpenAI and President Donald Trump announced the Stargate initiative, which aims to spend $500 billion—more than the Apollo program—to build as many as 10 data centers (each of which could require 5 gigawatts, more than the total power demand from the state of New Hampshire).”

MIT Technology Review — “Apple announced plans to spend $500 billion on manufacturing and data centers in the US over the next four years.”

MIT Technology Review — “Google expects to spend $75 billion on AI infrastructure alone in 2025.”

➤ It’s really hard to ignore where the smart money’s going.

And now even the most traditionally cautious regions are stepping onto the field:

Reuters — “The European Commission is raising $20 billion to construct up to five ‘AI gigafactories’ as part of Europe’s strategy to catch up with the U.S. and China on artificial intelligence.”

➤ $325B from three US giants in a year vs $20B from 27 countries… Europe’s still behind, but the shift in posture is what really matters.

And Jensen Huang (NVIDIA CEO) seems to agree:

“Europe has now awakened to the importance of AI factories and the importance of the AI infrastructure. In just two years, we will increase the amount of AI computing capacity in Europe by a factor of 10.”

He also addressed the UK’s current position (London Tech Week):

“Britain lacked the computing infrastructure to deliver the full potential of its AI research base.”

That’s not a dig at the UK; it’s a pointer to new opportunities. Huang again:

“I think it’s just such an incredible, incredible place to invest. I’m going to invest here.”