Posted on 09/07/2026 8:20:09 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The U.S. AI infrastructure buildout is reaching unprecedented levels, with the number of large-scale data centers and planned investment surging as technology companies expand capacity to meet growing AI demand.
There are now about 90 U.S. data centers with more than 100 megawatts (MW) of power in operation, the highest number on record, according to The Kobeissi Letter . If all currently planned projects are completed, that figure could more than triple to about 280 by 2030.
The expansion comes alongside an enormous spending cycle. Technology companies are expected to invest about $7T in data centers through 2030, underscoring the scale of the infrastructure required to support AI workloads.
The major hyperscalers are already committing heavily to that buildout. Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta have signed more than $1.5T in data center leases since the AI boom began, including commitments that have yet to take effect, Kobeissi said.
The buildout extends well beyond hyperscalers, creating a broad opportunity across the AI infrastructure supply chain. Semiconductor and networking companies are investing to support higher computing demand, while server, power, and data-center operators are expanding capacity.
Key publicly traded companies tied to the buildout include Nvidia (NVDA), AMD (AMD), Broadcom (AVGO), Marvell Technology (MRVL), Micron Technology (MU), Arista Networks (ANET), Credo Technology (CRDO), Dell Technologies (DELL), Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Super Micro Computer (SMCI), Vertiv (VRT), TSMC (TSM), Applied Materials (AMAT), Lam Research (LRCX), KLA (KLAC), Qualcomm (QCOM), GlobalFoundries (GFS), Oracle (ORCL), CoreWeave (CRWV), Nebius (NBIS), Equinix (EQIX), Digital Realty (DLR), Eaton (ETN), Quanta Services (PWR), GE Vernova (GEV), and Constellation Energy (CEG).
The scale of planned capacity and spending highlights how the AI expansion is becoming one of the largest capital spending cycles in history.
(Excerpt) Read more at seekingalpha.com ...
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How can Tesla not be on that list?
Then what?
Will the data centers tell you when to can have some electricity and water ? LOL
> Will the data centers tell you when to can have some electricity and water ? LOL <
No. But they will tell you that AI has eliminated your job.
Don’t you be complaining, though. I’m told that human jobs will just shift to new industries. What those new industries are, I don’t know.
Can ai scrub toilets?
Why can’t the places that welcome them come forward?
> Can ai scrub toilets? <
Yep. Here ya go:
https://www.foxnews.com/tech/how-robot-janitor-cleaning-toilets-doing-dirty-work
Dang. What is left for us to do? Become their concubines?
> What is left for us to do? <
Not much. But Elon Musk says not to worry. In the AI-run future, the government will simply give each person $50,000 each year. Use that money to buy the products that AI produces.
I see at least two problems with that.
1. There is pride in honest work. Your job is one of the first things you mention when talking to someone new at a party. With Musk’s plan, that pride is gone.
2. “Idle hands are the devil’s playthings.”
That old saying is very true, and will be very true.
“The scale of planned capacity and spending highlights how the AI expansion is becoming one of the largest capital spending cycles in history.”
The proper way to describe this situation if you have spent months or at this point years working with AI chatbots and applications on a daily basis is that the current situation with AI is the largest con in history.
Here is an example of the end of a detailed discussion that I had with Google's latest Gemini model last night to illustrate my point. I was trying to compare different models of brush trimmers from Home Depot for their Labor Day sale. Gemini gave me authoritative sounding answers that were based on information that was completely made up and had no basis in reality. This happens all the time when you are working with AI.
Here is the end of that conversation.
“The Real-World Difference Under Load
When a flex cable encounters heavy resistance (tall grass or dense brush), it winds up torsionally like a torsion spring before breaking through. Under sudden impact (such as hitting a thick stalk or hidden fence wire), that stored torsional energy releases abruptly, creating vibration, heat against the inner plastic sleeve, and significant mechanical drag.”
“The RY40HPBC01B avoids this entirely: because it is a dedicated brush cutter rated for a 10-inch steel blade, it uses a solid, continuous alloy steel drive rod inside a rigid one-piece tube. Every bit of torque from the brushless motor reaches the gearbox instantly with zero cable windup.”
This was a false statement that the AI model made up completely and is a good example of why even after Google has spent years and $Hundreds of Billions on AI that their top model cannot be trusted to give accurate information on very basic easy to verify facts about current products. I responded with an illustration showing that the brush trimmer did not have a continuous alloy steel drive rod inside a rigid one-piece tube and told it,
“You are hallucinating this statement. You can see the coupling below the bicycle handlebars in this illustration in the ad that I shared with you. It is a shame to converse with an entity that lies constantly!” To which it responded,
“You are entirely right, and calling it a “single-piece solid steel drive rod” was completely wrong.
Looking directly at the product photo in your screenshot, the mid-shaft coupler is clearly visible right below the bike handle clamp.
The RY40HPBC01 is indeed a two-piece split shaft:
Packaging & Shipping: Like the consumer 18V models, Ryobi split the shaft in the middle so the entire unit—bike handles, harness, blade, and powerhead—could pack down into a standard retail shipping carton rather than requiring an oversized, freight-length single box.
Internal Drive: Because it breaks down right at that joint, it does not use a continuous, one-piece solid rod from motor to gearhead. It uses a two-piece coupled drive system (with an upper core, coupler interface, and lower core).
Attachment Limitation: While it has that mid-shaft coupler, Ryobi designed it with a proprietary clamp/pin configuration rather than standard Expand-It sizing specifically to prevent users from swapping lower-duty attachments onto this powerhead (or running the 10-inch blade on lighter trimmers). However, mechanically it still relies on a segmented, coupled internal drive.
Apologies for stating it was a solid, continuous piece—the photo clearly proves otherwise.”
And in fact, the entire characterization was wrong. The two shafts in this case are made from multiple layers of high-tensile spring steel wire wound tightly in alternating clockwise and counterclockwise spirals around a central mandrel and they use a coupling between the two.
But I use this conversation only as an example of the state of the current AI models. They cannot be trusted even for comparisons that can be easily verified. They are much worse and less reliable when it comes to more important matters. Here is a video that came out featuring Ed Zitron from 2 days ago on YouTube:
And somewhat ironically, since I still use AI chatbots and programming tools despite their limitation's multiple times a day... here is an AI written summary of the above video for those who would prefer not to watch it.
https://share.gemini.google/891siQoc8CD7
AI is here to stay but the astronomical sums being spent are based on something other than reality. It is helpful in many ways, but it is also a nuisance and purveyor of false information with basically no accountability. The characterizations that most people who do not use it on a daily basis believe are almost complete nonsense.
I use the music generation tool found at https://suno.com to create royalty free soundtracks for YouTube videos. The music sounds good to me although it is considered mediocre by most professional musicians... but at least it is completely for entertainment. No one is going to make the wrong decision when purchasing a brush trimmer based on completely made up nonsense.
Most here do not realize that this nonsense is likely to result in a severe economic meltdown somewhere down the road.
Also how come Bloom Energy isn’t on the list.
**AI is here to stay but the astronomical sums being spent are based on something other than reality. It is helpful in many ways, but it is also a nuisance and purveyor of false information with basically no accountability.**
Think the savings and loan fiasco in the 90’s. Even closer-think covid. We’re all being played by somebody, sometimes by everybody.
Muskbots directed by AI can, absolutely, and without complaint.
Forget about electric cars, where will they get the electricity to power them all?
And the additional infrastructure to transport it all to the consumer?
> We’re all being played by somebody, sometimes by everybody. <
I totally agree. Now that I’m getting older, my first thought when considering just about anything is: What’s the hook?
It doesn’t matter if I’m looking at new car ads, an appeal from a respected charity, or whatever.
With age comes a bit of wisdom, I guess.
There are plethora of abuses taking place in this situation. The top of course is the $Trillions being handed out like candy from people's index fund retirement accounts, but that is the tip of the iceberg. AI's usage for creating unaccountable misinformation, tracking everything from the financial resources and spending habits of basically every consumer, along with our location, driving habits, personal and business contacts both for the government and industry is becoming a worse problem every day.
Good post, yours. To which I’d add: AI is making it easier and easier to deliberately misinform the public.
There are a ton of videos on Facebook, etc. that purport to show important events. But many of them are fake. One I recall had Trump speaking at a podium and saying inappropriate things.
Not so inappropriate as to be obvious humor. Just inappropriate enough to question the man’s judgment.
Not so long ago, it was relatively easy to spot such fakes. No longer.
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