The problem is that at that scale, the alternative is building your own data centers. You'd probably want at least 2 in the US, 2 in Europe, 2 in Asia, maybe 1 in Africa and 1 in LATAM. So 8-10, and you need at least half of them ready "on time."
What does "on time" mean? You'll need to negotiate with local authorities, some friendly, some not. Data centers aren't exactly popular neighbors these days. Then negotiate with the local power utility. Fingers crossed the political landscape doesn't shift and your CEO doesn't sign a contract with an army using your product to pick bombing targets, because you'll watch those permits evaporate fast.
Then there's sourcing: CPUs, GPUs, memory, networking. You need all of it. Did you know the lead time for an industrial power transformer is 5+ years? Don't get me started on the water treatment pumps and filters you can't even get permitted without. What will you do in the meantime ? You surely aren't gonna get preferential treatment from AWS / Google / ... if they know you are moving away anyway. Your competition will.
The risk and complexity are just too big. AI/LLM is already an incredibly complex and brittle environment with huge competition. Getting distracted building data centers isn't enticing for these companies, it's a death sentence.
What does "on time" mean? You'll need to negotiate with local authorities, some friendly, some not. Data centers aren't exactly popular neighbors these days. Then negotiate with the local power utility. Fingers crossed the political landscape doesn't shift and your CEO doesn't sign a contract with an army using your product to pick bombing targets, because you'll watch those permits evaporate fast.
Then there's sourcing: CPUs, GPUs, memory, networking. You need all of it. Did you know the lead time for an industrial power transformer is 5+ years? Don't get me started on the water treatment pumps and filters you can't even get permitted without. What will you do in the meantime ? You surely aren't gonna get preferential treatment from AWS / Google / ... if they know you are moving away anyway. Your competition will.
The risk and complexity are just too big. AI/LLM is already an incredibly complex and brittle environment with huge competition. Getting distracted building data centers isn't enticing for these companies, it's a death sentence.